The morning sun began to creep in through the blinds and curtains of the silent and motionless room. The dust in the air danced around through the beams of light in a slow, almost beautiful dance. It truly was a peaceful morning.
BRRRRRING! BRRRRRING!
The loud ringing of the phone broke the serenity of the morning, and in the bed that was situated on the far wall of the room in a corner, movement began beneath a pile of sheets and blankets, followed by groaning. The phone kept ringing, and the groaning just got louder and more dismissive. Finally, the phone stopped ringing and the answering machine picked up.
"Yeah, you've reached me, kinda. I can't pick up the phone right now 'cuz I'm not here, or I'm too lazy to get up right now. Just do your thing and I'll get back to ya… eventually." the voice of a charismatic young man said in the recording on the machine, followed by a beep.
"Paris, get your lazy ass up!" the voice of a young woman came through on the machine. "I know you're there, and I know you hear me. I've got something important to tell you. So, just go ahead and put on some clothes and some deodorant and get your butt over to the Youth Center before noon."
With that, the young girl hung up, and a chunk of the blankets were moved just enough so the face of a young man with black, messy hair became visible on the bed. The young man's eyes fluttered rapidly, trying to adjust to the bright morning light. As they did that, he began to look in the general direction of his alarm clock.
"Damn, Karen, it's 11 a.m." he began to grumble at the phone call he had just missed. "Don't you know it's Saturday today?" he added as he pushed the rest of the mess of blankets off of his body and stood up, wearing just a pair of red and grey rugby-styled boxers and a pair of white socks.
He began to stretch and survey his loft apartment, and the rather messy state it was in. There were clothes thrown all about the floor, along with pizza boxes and beer bottles all over the place as well. His big screen TV was still on Cartoon Network from the night before, though he had no clue what was playing other than some dumb-looking kid's show. Paris made his way over to the TV to turn it off, rubbing his bare tattooed arms with his hands to warm up a bit from the nippy morning air in his loft. After that, he then made his way to his bath room so he could take a shower, then get dressed, and make his way to meet up with his friend at the youth center.
It was a regular day at the Angel Grove Youth Center. Well, as regular as it has been since its new management. The noon Pilates class was starting soon, while a few of the private trainers were standing around a water cooler staring at some of the people working out on the weight machines. There were a good amount of people at the tables by the smoothie bar, and the man behind the bar seemed to be dishing out advice like there was no tomorrow to this young, blond woman, dressed in a yellow tank top, a pair of Daisy Dukes, and white sneakers.
"Okay, seriously, Carrie." The man behind the bar said to you young woman as he was fixing her a smoothie. "You say your boss has been up to some rather suspicious things, right? Well, the only logical thing to do is to sleep with him to find out what's going on."
"Corey, I'm being serious here." She said with a strong British accent as she jokingly smacked him on the arm. "Up until 2 weeks ago, Mr. Monroe never had a problem with me going into the North garage, but, just one day, the door's lock code was change, and he told me that it was because of a special project. I'm the head of the bloody development department! I should have known about this." She paused for a moment, and then looked back to the bartender. "Anyways, he's twice my age, and you know that."
Corey handed Carrie her smoothie, as he crossed his arms and gave her a look of annoyance as he rolled his eyes. "So? For a guy who's pushing 40, Austin Monroe is damn good looking." The look on Carrie's face was telling that she wasn't caring about Corey's opinion about her boss. "Okay, okay. I'll be serious for a moment. Have you ever though he's trying to give you a surprise for you? Like a present?"
"Nah, Mr. Monroe is nice, but he's rather stingy. He's up to something. I just know it." Carrie said as she took a drink from her strawberry and mango smoothie. "And I'm gonna find out what."
"Curiosity killed the cat." Corey said as he walked away to tend to another customer.
Carrie gave a playfully shocked look to the man behind the bar. "Screw you, you bloody slag!"
A smile came across her face as she picked up her smoothie and started to walk away from the bar. As she made her way across the bar area of the Youth Center, she didn't notice the entrance of a young man in a red hoodie and large black sunglasses from the entryway behind her, and as she walked away, he scanned the room.
"Paris, over here" came the voice of a young woman on the opposite side of the bar area.
Paris just laughed as he made his way over to the young Asian girl with dark violet hair, vibrant green hoodie, and a black skirt with black pants underneath. It wasn't the clothes she was wearing that made Paris laugh. No, it was the fact that she had decided to climb up on her chair to wave Paris down, even though it was completely unnecessary to do so.
"So, Karen," Paris said as he reached the table and sat down "what's so freakin' important you had to wake me up early on a Saturday morning?"
Karen just sighed and gave Paris a look of slight irritation before she picked up the Saturday morning news paper that was lying on the table they were at. She handed it to Paris and he noticed that it was already turned to the 'Entertainment' section.
As Paris looked down, the first thing he noticed was his own face along with that of Karen, a young black male, and a young Hispanic male, coupled with the headline I'm Just Sayin' They're Gonna Be Big in big, bold letters.
"Oh, SNAP!" Paris shouted as his eyes got big and round.
A large smile grew across Karen's face. "Go on, keep reading!" she urged Paris as she moved behind him and pointed to the article with a frantic finger.
Paris eagerly complied, as he began to read the review from his band's previous night's performance.
On the other side of the youth center, a young man with brown, highlighted spiky hair and a slightly rugged, unshaved face walked out of the locker rooms. He was wearing a rather plain blue windbreaker suit, white tennis shoes, and was listening to music on his iPod, not really paying attention to the going-ons of the others at the Youth Center.
He made his way down to the large workout floor, and over to one of the punching bags that were set up. The young man took of his jacket, revealing his bare, tattooed arms. Double-checking to make sure his iPod was secure, he turned up the volume to full blast and began to punch the bag to the beat of the techno music blasting into his ears.
The young man was so immersed into his workout that he didn't even notice the approaching person behind him until he felt a tap on his shoulder. Needless to say, this startled him a bit, and he sent his right elbow launching backwards, striking the gut of the person behind him. Realizing what he just did, he turned around, shocked that he just hit someone. When he saw the face of the person, wrenched in pain, he felt even worse.
"Hey… Bryan…" Paris greeted his friend, trying to get his breath back that had just been knocked out of him by the elbow to his gut. "…How'ya… DAMN! That… really hurt…"
Bryan was still stunned that he had just elbowed his best friend in the gut. "Paris! That was a complete accident! I so didn't mean to do that!" Bryan squatted down a bit to help his friend stand back up, and the two moved over to a bench by the wall. By this time, half the Youth Center was paying attention to what had just happened, most of them laughing as this wasn't the first time something like this had happened to Paris around Bryan.
The two sat down, and while Paris took some deep breaths, Bryan took out his earphones and kinda just stared at Paris. "Paris, really, you know you shouldn't walk up and do crap like that when I'm working out."
With a large grin, Paris grabbed one of the earphones up that were laying on the bench, the music still blaring. "Well, if you didn't blast your music so loud, I wouldn't of had to tap you".
Bryan to could tell his friend was teasing around now, with the grin he had across his face. "Okay, touché, man." Bryan let out a good laugh, and then turned back to his friend. "So, what's so important that I had to elbow you in the gut for?"
"Well, your mom called. She needs someone to go work on her plumbing and thought I was just the right man to do so." Paris replied with an even larger grin.
"Good for you." Bryan said rather flatly. "Now, what did you really wanna tell me?"
Paris pulled out the page of the newspaper from his back pocket and handed it to Bryan and pointed out the headline to his friend.
Bryan began to read the article, and as he got further and further into it, he couldn't help but feel happy for his friend. "Paris, this could be your band's big break!" He turned to his friend and hugged him. "Congrats, man! You, Karen, Ren, and Glen deserve it!" Just then, after hearing the giggling of a young woman, the two quickly pulled apart and looked at the direction of the laughter.
Standing there, sipping her smoothie was the other Carrie the two knew. She walked up to them and sat down between the two. "Aww, wasn't that a sweet moment, ladies?" she said, her British accent seemingly making the teasing of the two worse.
"Well, before you interrupted us, me and Bryan were about to begin a nice, long make-out session." Paris quipped as he opened his mouth and began to flick his tongue towards Bryan, while the other young man did the same in return. "You can join in, if you wanna, though."
Carrie just laughed. "I'll take a rain check."
An eerie mist rolled across the floor of the dark, desolate room. There was very little light, save for a few dim rays filtering through an exhaust port where a large fan stood still. The little light that filtered in bounced across the jagged and rocky walls of the room, and in the center the outline of a rather large rocky object stood on an elevated platform. This room had not been disturbed in over 10 years, but, that was about to change.
One of the far walls began to vibrate violently, and two large sections of the wall that had not moved in over a decade began to slide open. More of the mist flowed into the room as if the wall was a dam that had been holding it all back. As the mist flowed into the room, two women walked trough the doorway.
Even though the light was low, their general features could still be made out. The taller of the two was clad in golden armor, an armored headdress, sharp bladed finger tipped armor gloves, and long platinum blond hair. The other figure was also blond, but she was wearing loose, flowing silk robes that, even in the low light seemed to be revealing in some spots.
"It's, like, so dark in here." the woman in gold armor said with disgusted as she put her hand on her hip. "Heron, do something about it, won't you?"
The other woman scoffed at the demand from the woman in gold. "Fine, Aires" She raised her arms up into the air rapidly and, with a clap, torches appeared on the wall and illuminated the room.
Now that the room was more illuminated, more things were revealed. The large object in the middle of the room was not a rock, but, in fact, was a throne. Along the walls of the room were large carved out murals of humanoid creatures. Some of them looked like large birds, while the others looked dried and crack all over, as if they were made out of stone in real life as well. All over the throne room, the letter Z was prevalent everywhere on just about everything.
The two women were more visible as well. Both seemed to look in their twenties, but the woman in gold armor, Aires, had a rather stuck up 'better than you' look plastered on her face. Her slightly upwards tilted face and squinty left eye only made the pretentious look only worse. Heron, on the other hand, looked a bit dazed, as if happy hour had started a little bit early for her.
Aires turned to Heron, impressed with her companion's instant illumination of the room. "That's hot, Heron." Aires said to the sorceress beside her, in a rather out there tone of voice.
"Oh, shove it, Aires." Heron said, slightly irritated, as she made her way out of the doorway she was standing in, and across the room to another wall that had and indention in it just like the door she had just entered through. "Lady Toxia will be here any minute now. We need to get this throne room as presentable as possible."
Aires slowly made her way out of the doorway and over to one of the walls with the lifelike stone murals. As she ran her fingers across the stone, her face twisted into a look of disgust. "Tengu and putties? Oh, how so 1995."
The tips of her clawed gloves began to glow slightly, then she rammed the glowing tips of her right hand's fingers into the mural. The creatures that were on the wall began to glow, then began to merge together and multiply on the mural. Then, with a surge of power across the wall, about a dozen of the new creatures leaped from the mural and onto the ground in front of Aires.
The creatures' faces looked as if a large black bird's beak was sliced off a beast and used as a helmet. Scaly silver skin covered much of the things arms, legs and torso, with violet armor covering their upper body, forearms, and lower legs, each piece of armored elaborately decorated, and the letter 'T' on every piece in silver. From the back of their heads, long, sleek black feathers flowed out, and their hands and feet were very bird-like, tipped with razor-sharp talons.
A devious smile grew across Aires' face. "Ah, these new Raptor Warriors will do nicely."
As Aires created the new warriors, Heron clapped her hands together, then placed them against the wall she stood before. Just like the doorway to the throne room had done earlier, this wall began to slide apart to reveal a large balcony, overlooking the planet Earth.
Heron walked away and over to the area in front of the throne. It began to rotate around, so that the seat of the throne was turning away from her. Aires and her newly created Raptors also made their way over beside Heron. As they all kneeled down, a bold of energy shot through the now-opened balcony onto the throne. Energy began to shoot into the entire building from the throne, causing the flames Heron created to subside, yet the room stay illuminated. Also, the fan on the wall the throne was facing began to rotate again after 10 years. As the castle began to breath life once again, the throne started to rotate to face the kneeling beings. As the throne rotated to a stop, a young, blond woman stood up. Her fur coat was cropped off under her bustline all across, with the remainder of the sleeves of it were leather instead. Gold chains and trinkets decorated her busty chest, petite wrists, and the latches of her high heeled leather boots that came up to her knee caps. Her very barely-there leather shorts made sure the flawless skin of her long legs were completely visible. As she moved one of her delicate hands up to move a strand of her thick, blond hair out of her face, she gave a devious smile. "Well, I guess baby brother's old palace is a little rustic, but I guess it will do for now." She made her way down from the platform to Aires and Heron. "Stand and report."
"Lady Toxia," Heron began as she stood up to look at her mistress. "Everything is in place for you to take over Angel Grove. I personally made sure to rip every last circuit out of that pestering Alpha whatever-number-it-was before it could reach anyone." She then snapped her fingers, and a large crystal appeared in her hands. "I also recovered the Zeo Crystals, so we should have no problems with the 'You-Know-Whos'."
Aires then suddenly stood up. "And, these new Raptor Warriors will rip anyone and anything that dares stand up against you, Lady Toxia."
Toxia's wicked smile grew larger. "Well, then there is no time to waste. I want Angel Grove to be mine by sundown." She walked towards the balcony, swaying her hips with each stride, with Heron, Aires, and the Raptor Warriors fallowing behind her. With a flash of light and energy, the throne room was empty again, and they were on their way to Angel Grove.
At the Youth Center, Paris, Bryan, and Carrie were sitting at a table as a young man in a green 'Angel Grove Youth Center' shirt and baggy khaki shorts brought over a large platter of nachos from the bar. "Here you guys go" the young man said with his British accent. As he put the platter down, he looked over at Carrie. "Hey, Mum asked me to tell ya' she wanted ya to come over tonight."
Carrie kinda chuckled at her little brother, "Arighty, Li. Tell her that I should be around about nine." She patted her brother on the top of his head, and waved him away. She turned back to Paris and Bryan, who were already devouring the platter of food.
"Aww, how cute" Paris said with a mouth full of nachos. "Makes me wish I had a little brother to embarrass sometimes"
"No, you just have Lilly, who hates your guts." Bryan chimed in.
"Ah, yes. I keep forgetting you've got yourself and older sis, though, you've never told me why she hates you." Carrie said as she grabbed a chip that was piled with cheese, ground beef, and jalapenos and took a bite out of it. "All you keep telling me is that it's something that happened between you, her, and him" She moved her gaze over to Bryan.
Paris just grinned. "Well…" he paused for a bit. "Nah… you're not ready for it. I'll end up telling you, one of these days..." He took another chip from the pile and right before he took a bite from it, he added. "…or maybe I already have."
Carrie just looked at Paris, wondering why he always had to act so silly. She began to shake her head. "You crazy, bloody Americans, I swear, you all emulate that show Family Guy WAY too much."
"Well, it's better than reality TV." Bryan said to Carrie.
"Touché, I'll give you that." Carrie said back with a bit of a smile.
The three broke out into a fit of laugher that caught the attention of Corey over at the bar. "What a crazy bunch of kids."
"You're like, what? Two years older than them all." said a young-looking Hispanic male wearing a baseball cap and black jacket, watching a soccer game on the television set behind Corey.
"Oh, shut up, Mike." Corey said as he swatted the young man's arm. "At least I'm not old like you. And, just for giving me sass, no more soccer for you. It's time for some boring Saturday news."
Corey reached back and changed the channel from ESPN to a random news channel, and they were reporting over the crazy action of some blond celebutant.
Carrie noticed the changed in channels and the current special report. "Hey, you slag!" she shouted to Corey "If I cared about those little tramps, I'd watch E!"
Corey just dismissed her comment and went back to work, while Paris and Bryan began to laugh.
"Seriously, you Americans are so obsessed with these little tramps and train wrecks." Carrie began. "No wonder your culture is going to shit."
"Ah, but that's the great thing about America." Paris said. "Being a total whore makes you instantly famous."
Bryan busted out laughing. "Well, if that's the case, you should be a Hollywood A-Lister by now, Paris."
All three broke out laughing at what Bryan had just said, and having a good time, when, all of the sudden Carrie heard something. "Hey, guys. Be quiet for a moment, I think I hear something."
"Meh, its more than likely a car alarm in the parking lot" Bryan said.
"No, it sounds like some sort of siren." She said as she stood up.
Just then, the two guys heard it too, as well as everyone else in the Youth Center. Many of the people's faces were rather confused, Carrie being one of them. But, across a select few people's faces, fear arose.
"I wonder what that siren is." Carrie said, facing away from the two young men. "Hey I said…"
When she turned around, she saw the looks on their faces, and she didn't like what she saw. Both of them had lost the happy attitudes they had just moments before, and the look was replaced with that of fear and worry.
"Paris, Bryan, what the hell is going on?" Carrie demanded, now extremely concerned with the current situation "What the hell is that noise?"
After a bit of silence, Bryan spoke up. "You know how Angel Grove gained an infamous reputation of being attacked constantly back in the mid-90's? Well, about a month after the first attack, a warning system was set up." Bryan moved his head up and stared Carrie right in the eyes. "That siren going off right now means the city is under attack."
The look on Carrie's face quickly matched the ones that were on Paris' and Bryan's. "But… I thought everything was fine now. I mean…" Carrie quickly became at a loss for words. "It could just be a malfunction in the system, couldn't it?"
Just then, on the flat screen TV behind the bar, a reporter came on, interrupting the current special. Corey quickly sushed the Youth Center as he turned up the volume of the TV as the female brunette reporter on screen began to speak.
"This is Jordan Waller coming to you with breaking news. We have just received confirmation that the city of Angel Grove is, in fact, under attack after over a decade of no disturbances. I repeat, downtown Angel Grove is under attack by an unknown force." The reporter brought her hand up to her earpiece. "Okay, I've just been told that we currently have a camera team that is streaming live footage from the scene of the attack by city hall. We now go on scene with our camera man near the attack."
The screen cut from the news desk to the streets of what was once downtown Angel Grove. Where cars and people once populated as they carried out their business of their daily lives, now was fire and chaos. Sliver bird-men creatures, about 15 or so visible on the screen, were charging about the street, chasing down and attacking pedestrians. One of the bird-men caught a young police officer and began viciously clawing at the man's face as the two fell out of the line of sight of the camera behind a car. The screams of terror and the crackling of flames could be heard as well. Just then, the calm voice of a woman came across through the audio.
"Look, Aires. I've found a man, and he's carrying something. I think it's what they call a camera.
The camera man quickly turned the camera around as he did, and two women with a group of five of the Raptors were standing in the sight of the camera.
Heron took a step forward. "They use this device to spread images throughout the world. This will be prefect for Lady Toxia's announcement."
An evil smile grew across Aires' face. "Raptor Warriors, bring me that camera…" she started to walk up "…but the man is useless. Get rid of him."
The camera man began to beg for his life, but it was too late. The Raptors rushed the man and his camera as his screams were heard, and little red drops appeared on the lens. All the sudden, it cut back to the news desk, with the reporter horrified.
As she realized that she was back on air, she tried her hardest to regain a bit of her composure. "For those of you who are just now tuning in, the city of Angel Grove, after a decade of silence, is under attack. It is being advised that if you are within the downtown area to barricade yourself into a room of an office, and to avoid parking garages, cars, and any first or second-floor windows. All routs to downtown Angel Grove are being blocked off, and it is being advised for the citizens of the city to remain indoors. A voluntary evacuation is in place right now, as well. We will keep you updated on this breaking news as it develops."
As the report was going on, cell phones began to ring left and right, as well as people calling their loved ones to see if they were alright or to tell them the news. Also, people began to talk to one another, and one question kept coming to the minds of people.
"Where are the Power Rangers?"
Sitting down at the table, Paris, Bryan, and Carrie didn't really know what to do. As they sat there, stunned, Paris felt his phone began to vibrate. He grabbed it from his pocket and noticed the caller was his father. "Dad? You all right?"
From the speaker of the phone, the voice of Paris' dad spoke. "I'm fine, Paris, but I need you to listen to me. I need you to find Carrie and I want you two to get over to the raceway, and get here quick."
Paris was confused. "Carrie is right here with me, but why do you want us to go to the Raceway?"
"Paris, you just need to listen to me." His father said, in a rather snappy tone.
"Okay, okay!" Paris said, kinda defensively.
"I'm sorry for snapping, but, please, get here soon." His father said, now in a calmer yet still anxious tone.
"Okay, dad." Paris said as he hung up the phone and looked over at Carrie. "My dad wants us two to go to the Raceways."
"What? At a time like this?" Carrie said, concerned. "I can't leave my little brother alone while I go run-a-bout."
"Don't worry about Li, Carrie" Corey said as he emerged from behind the bar with a shotgun and cocked it. "If anything tries to get en here, they won't get through in one piece. Anyways, he's still on the clock, and the Big Boss around here is like a freaking slave-driver. He wouldn't let Li off even if the world was coming to an end."
As Paris and Carrie stood up to leave, Bryan stood up as well. "Like hell am I staying here by myself! I'm coming with you guys."
"Bryan, you'll be safer here." Paris said, concerned for his friend.
"Paris," Bryan said as he walked over beside his friend "I'm going with you two, rather you like it or not."
Carrie turned around and scoffed at the two. "Paris, just drop it and let him come with us." Paris tried to argue with her, but she just stared him down.
"Okay, okay. Let's go, Bryan." Paris said, in defeat.
The three made their way swiftly to the parking lot of the Youth Center. Bryan turned to Paris and Carrie. "Umm… who's car are we taking."
Carrie pulled out her keys. "Mine. I've got a jeep. 4-Wheel drive is always useful in a disaster situation, you know, just like in the movies. Also, your Cavalier is kinda a piece of crap, too, Bryan."
"You got me there." Bryan replied.
The three piled into Carrie's jeep, and as soon as Carrie started up the vehicle, she threw it in reverse, pulled out quickly, and then sped off forward from the parking lot of the Youth Center towards the Angel Grove Raceways.
As the trio pulled up into the parking lot of the main building of the Raceway, the large, cylindrical tower of neon lights that was illuminated every night dominated the buildings around it. Even on a sunny day like this one, with the neon lights off, it was still rather impressive. It was situated in a large clearing between the four major garages of the raceway. Standing by the doorway of one of the garages was a man dressed in black slacks and a black dress shirt, who appeared in his mid to late 30's, even with his unshaven face.
Bryan, Carrie, and Paris hopped out of Carrie's jeep and made their way over to the man. "Okay, dad," Pairs said "what's going on? What is so important that you wanted me and Carrie to come here?"
Even though his son was talking with him, Austin Monroe was paying more attention to Bryan being there. "Why is your sister's ex-boyfriend here?"
Paris went to speak up, but Carrie cut him off before he could speak. "Mr. Monroe, Bryan asked to join us. We didn't see the harm of bringing him."
Austin placed his hand on his chin, in thought. After a moment, he looked back up and spoke. "Well, actually, this is a rather good thing. It means I don't have to go on and look for a third person now." He then turned his attention back to his son. "And, if you want to see why I called you here, just come with me. I'll explain as much as I can along the way, and show you the rest."
Austin began to make his way into the building, and Bryan, Carrie, and Paris began to follow close behind. As they navigated through the garage, Austin began to speak. "About four or five years ago, when I was still working for the military and I was based in Texas, my department found something… a signal, to be more precise. Though we never fully decoded it, we found out two things. The first thing, it was coming from Earth and directed in the general direction of the Horsehead Nebula. Secondly, the general gist of the message was a 'Earth is ripe for the picking'. Well, ultimately, it was ruled by the defense department that the signal was related to Incident 03BBH08. That's government talk for the attacks on Blue Bay Harbor back in 2003. Well, I was personally never satisfied with their conclusions due to a few inconsistencies. First off, the message was sent from the middle of Arizona, not Blue Bay Harbor. Also, the message first appeared only a few hours before the first sign of attack on the city, which, I don't care how advance an alien civilization is, it would take more than two hours to travel that great of a distance."
"Um, I hate to interrupt, Mr. Monroe" Bryan said from behind Austin. "But, what does that have to do with us and what's going on now."
"Well, if you would let me finish, it has everything." Austin snipped back. "So, as I was saying, I didn't like these inconsistencies. So, I began investigating them on my own, ultimately costing me my job, which freed me up to do more hands-on research, and took over this raceway to keep researching my funding. I didn't get too far into the mystery until about a year ago when I discovered something in the mountains north of the city. I brought it back here, and it was pretty much the key for this mystery that had pestered me for all those years."
And, with that, Austin stopped in front of the door to the North Garage. He turned to face the three young people behind him. "So, since I had discovered that information, I called in a few favors to a few people, and, for the past year, I have been getting things ready for this day."
Austin turned back around and keyed in a few numbers into the door, opening it. Carrie was rather stunned to see the door that once lead to the garage was now an elevator. Austin looked at her. "Yes, Carrie. This is why you haven't been able to get inside of here for the past 2 weeks. I've been preparing for what's happened today, and I completed the conversion of the North Garage into a holding bay."
Austin's words confused not only Carrie, but Bryan and Paris as well. Austin walked into the elevator and motioned them to follow him. They were very curious on the reasons he had asked for him to be there, and, now, they were intrigued on this 'holding bay' he had mentioned. So, one by one, they walked into the elevator. Once they were all in, Austin keyed in another set of numbers, and the elevator began to move down. After only a few seconds of going downwards, the three understood what type of holding bay Austin was speaking of as they gazed out of the glass sides of the elevator.
Situated in a large, underground garage were three rather large, rather fast-looking cars. One was red, another blue, while the third one was yellow. Large scaffolding was all about the cavern, much of it supporting the platforms the three large cars rested on.
"Dad, what the hell are those things?" Paris asked, kinda awe-struck.
"Those three things would be the Speed Hunter, the Speed Preceptor, and the Speed Tracker." Austin explained. "They will be your Zords."
"Whoa! Wait!" Bryan shouted. "Did you just say 'Zords'? As in 'Zord' zords?"
"Yes, Bryan" Austin replied "as in the same type of Zord that Power Rangers of the past have piloted before. They are kinda standard-issued when one becomes a Ranger, so I'm told."
"But, Mr. Monroe, didn't you just say that they were 'our' Zords?" Carrie asked, pointing to herself and her two male companions.
Austin kinda laughed. "I think you all need your hearing checked, because, I swear, you three aren't hearing me. Yes, they are YOUR Zords."
The elevator finally came to a stop, and as the door opened, Austin walked out and motioned the three to follow. "Now, it's time for you three to get your morphers."
But, as Austin started to walk towards another door, he noticed that the three were not moving. He walked back over to them, and asked "Why aren't you three following me?"
"Well, Mr. Monroe." Bryan said, "as much as I've always wanted to be a ranger when I was little… well… are you sure I'm the right guy for the job? I mean, I'm a good fighter and all, but, come on, there is a lot more at stake than personal honor here."
"I'm gonna have to agree with Bryan, sir." Carrie said as she took one step forward. "This is a lot of responsibility to thrust on us three."
Austin sighed. "Yes, I do know it is a lot to throw on you three, but if I didn't believe that any of you could do this, do you think I would, in my right mind, offer any of you this chance?" He walked up to them. "I know this is a lot to ask for you, but, please, all three of you, don't do this because I'm asking you to, but for those people in Angel Grove who are terrified and are in danger right now. You three are being given the chance and the power to do something great." He turned his gaze directly to his son. "I know I haven't always been there, Paris, and that we've had our ups and downs, but, please, son, I'm begging you, not for my sake, but for the sake of the people in the city and your other friends who are in danger right now, please do this."
Paris was silent. He looked down to the ground for just a moment, and then rose his head up. "I'll do it," he started to say "but, this doesn't mean I'm not pissed off at you. It would have been nice for some warning."
Bryan walked up beside Paris "Well, I can't let you have all the fun" he smirked. "You can count me in as well.
"You two boys are going to need someone to take care of you, then." Carrie spoke up. "Mr. Monroe, sir. I'm up for it as well."
"Now, let's not waste any more time. There are people in danger and you still need a basic crash-course in everything." Austin said as he started to quickly walk towards the door he was heading to earlier, with the other three close behind.
As the door slid open, the four were in this large, white and silver circular room. Large, glass pillars with neon rings around them rose from the floor to the ceiling, and in the center was a large circular platform with 4 control consoles on it. Lights were flashing and alarms were blaring, and images of the attack on downtown were flashing about in mid-air above a set of crystals on the opposite side of the room.
Austin lead the other three to the center of the chamber. He pressed a few buttons on one of the consoles and from the center of the platform a piece of it opened up and a metallic stand rose from the ground. Resting on the stand were three opened cell phones and three cartridges; one red, one blue, and the third was yellow. Austin picked up one of the phones and displayed it to the three people in front of him. "These are your Speed Cell Morphers. They also double as cell phones," he turned his gaze to his son "but don't go out giving the number to every last person you meet." He then pressed a button on the side of the upper part of the phone, and the top of the cell flipped open. Austin then picked up the red cartridge and inserted it into the slot and closed the top. "You insert the Speed Chips like so, press this nice big yellow button on the key pad, and yell out 'Speed! Shift! Change!' with the option of doing some really redundant yet possibly cool pose after you have morphed."
Austin ejected the Speed Chip, flipped the cell closed and tossed the two items to his son. "Congrats, Paris, you're the new Red Ranger. Bryan, Carrie, you'll will each be the Blue and Yellow Ranger, respectively."
The two reached onto the table ant took a Speed Cell and their respectively colored Speed Chip. Paris looked at each one of them. "Okay, guys. We really don't have time to waste. Let's get this show on the road!" Paris brought the Speed Cell up across his chest and pressed the button on the side of the Speed Cell, just as he father had shown him, as
"Okay!" Bryan and Carrie both shouted as the did the same.
Paris brought the Speed Cell out away from his body as he used his other hand to put the Speed Chip into the Cell. "Speed Chip, set!"
In unison, the three set their Speed Chips, close the lids on the Cells, and brought the devices back towards their right shoulders. With their left hands, they reached back to press the yellow button.
SPEED!
SHIFT!
CHANGE!
Bright light the color of their Speed Chips engulfed the three. Within seconds, where Paris, Bryan, and Carrie once stood were now three warriors clad in Red, Blue, and Yellow.
"Oh my God!" Bryan shouted "I can't believe we're Power Rangers!"
"You three can celebrate later." Austin said as he made his way to another consol. "You three need to get to downtown and stop the attack."
"Mr. Monroe" Carrie said from behind her helmet "how are we suppose to get there? It's all blocked off, and even if they let us through the road blocks, it would still take at least 20 minutes to get to that area, and who knows how much more damage they can do in that amount of time."
"Well, you're not walking there, Carrie." Austin said as began to press buttons. "I'm teleporting you there. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe."
Before the three could say anything else, energy the color of their suits began to wrap around them, and then the three shot off upwards to in beams of light.
"Good luck, you three." Austin said in a solemn tone of voice. "You'll need it."
A Raptor Warrior held the camera on its shoulder with its talon-tipped hands, while Heron examined the device. "So primitive, though it will get the job done without me having to use too much of my powers."
"Oh, just hurry up, already, Heron" Aires said as she paced about. "The world must know of Lady Toxia's coming, and their ultimate doom."
Heron clapped her hands together and electricity crackled around it. "There, now every one of the 'Televisions' on this world will see our Mistress' announcement."
"Excellent" came the voice of Toxia from behind her two generals as she stepped in front of the camera. "People of Earth, your time is coming to an end. I am Lady Toxia, and I have come to extract revenge against this world! By sundown today, the city of Angel Grove shall be in shambles, and nothing will stand in my way!" She broke out into vicious laughter. "You will all suffer, so help me!"
"Hey, bimbo, wanna recant that statement?" came the voice of a young British woman out of nowhere.
"Who said that?" Toxia demanded as she, her two generals, and the Raptors began to look around, stunned.
"We did!" the voice of an up-beat young man spoke.
The women and creatures on the ground shot their gazes up to the sound of the voice. From the top of the three story Angel Grove First National, three warriors in colored suits stood on the roof, looking down.
"It can't be!" Heron shouted, stunned. "I destroyed that Alpha unit and recovered the Zeo Crystals!"
Bryan pointed his white-gloved finger at Heron. "Yeah, I've got no clue what you're talking about." He then turned his head over to Paris. "I think it's time to do it to it!"
"Stopping injustice in its tracks! Red Speed Ranger!"
"Searching. Understanding. Protecting. Blue Speed Ranger!"
"Bringing joy to the Roads! Yellow Speed Ranger!"
All three ranger brought their balled-up fists towards their faces, and spoke in unison. "Blazing down the Highway of Justice! Speed Power Rangers!"
Toxia stepped forward. "I don't care who you are. You humans all die the same!" She extended her hands forward, and bolts of energy shot towards the Speed Rangers.
The bolts struck the building, causing the upper section of the façade to blast away in a large explosion. The Speed Rangers were thrown from the building by the blast, and struck by chucks of debris. As they landed on the ground, the Raptor Warriors began to charge at them.
"Paris, get out of the way!" Bryan shouted as he pushed Paris over as a Raptor leaped in the air and was bringing its razor-sharp talons down. But, before the claws could strike, the creature was thrown back by the blast of a laser. Bryan turned around, surprised to see Carrie standing with her blaster gun drawn out.
"Silly boy. Did you forget you have a gun on your hip?" Carrie quipped as she shot a few more of the Raptors in their chests, making sparks fly from their armor.
"Woops. I guess I did." Bryan said, with a chuckle.
Paris stood up and pulled out his blaster from its holster, and noticed a button on the side of it. "I wonder what…" he began to say as he pressed it. Suddenly, the handle shifted to become straight with the barrel of the gun and a long blade extended from it. "Nice." Paris said as he charged the rushing Raptors and began to cut them down with his blaster.
Bryan stood up and pulled out his blaster and switched it to Blade Mode as well, following behind Paris in the fending-off of the Raptors.
Toxia became enraged, seeing her Raptor Warriors being defeated by the Rangers. "ARRRGH! Am I going to have to do everything here myself!" She shouted as she focused a large ball of energy into the palm of her hand and shot it towards the Rangers. It landed behind the trio and the group of attacking Raptors, sending them all flying forwards from the force of the explosion. Toxia then turned around and began to shoot beams of energy at the buildings of the surrounding area, causing fire, glass, and rubble to rain down upon the street.
Paris struggled to get back to his feet. "We've gotta stop her!"
"No one shall stop my Mistress" Aires stated as a long, boomerang-like sword appeared in her hand.
"No one" Heron restated, a pair of Sais appearing in each of her hands.
The two women took an offensive stance and charged at the rangers. Aires brought her blade down on Paris with all her strength, but he parried her strike with his Blade Blaster, though he was struggling to keep her back. She kneed him in his ribs, and with that was able to finish bring down her strike, sending a stream of sparks flying as the blade slashed the Red Ranger.
Bryan and Carrie weren't faring too well against Heron, either. For an thin and weak-looking woman, Heron was deadly fast and deadly accurate with her Sais, dashing back and forth, causing sparks to flow from the Blue and Yellow Rangers.
Heron jumped back to stand by the side of Aires. The two women gave one another a look, then charged their weapons and sent beams of energy shooting out, striking the three Rangers in the chests. As the sparks of damaged flowed, the three were propelled backwards.
"You know." Bryan said as he grasped his chest in pain. "This isn't going too well."
Paris' Speed Cell began to beep, as he pulled it out from the holster from the back of his belt. "Dad, this isn't the best time for chit-chat."
"No shit, son." Austin replied. "Press the buttons on the front of your suit's belts. It will summon your weapons."
"Gotcha!" Paris said as he hung up the phone and put it back into it holster. He stood up and did like his father had said and pressed the red button on his belt. His arms enveloped in glowing red light, and, in a flash, were now armed each with red gauntlets. "Speed Knuckles, Power up!"
Carrie and Bryan stood up as well and pressed the buttons as well.
A long, blue staff with a pincher-like device at one end appeared in Bryan's hands. "Speed Staff, Power up!"
Materializing in Carrie's hands were two daggers. "Speed Daggers, Power up!"
"Oh, look. They got new weapons." Aires snipped. "Not like that will do them any good."
"Let's see about that!" Paris shouted as he clashed his two fists together, making a few sparks fly as the collided. He then quickly kneeled down and lauched himself into the air. Aires and Heron quickly dodged the attack, but as Paris landed, he caused a large section of the street to cave in from the force of the impact. "Damn, I hope the city doesn't charge me for that."
Bryan charged at Aires with his staff. With it's long reach, he was able to keep a good distances from her. She leaped back a few steps, then made a quick dash at the Blue Ranger, able to get close to him. He was able to parry her attack with the grappling device at the top of the staff, making Aires unable to pull her sword back, but also prevented him from attacking as well.
"Your silly stick can't help you now!" she growled.
"Oh, really?" Bryan responded as he twisted a section of the staff off with a hiss of compressed air and swiftly brought it down onto his opponent's ankles, tripping her. As he twisted the staff back to one piece, he quipped "Don't call this a silly stick again."
Carrie and Heron were dashing back and forth, clashing their four weapons together in a dazzling array of glimmering steel and sparks. "You're not too bad for a human, but I'm far more skilled with my Sais, Sister" Heron made a sudden jab at Carrie, but the Yellow Ranger quickly dodged out of the way and grabbed the other woman's arm between her own arm and the side of her chest."
"And I hate it when cheap little whores like you call me sister." Carrie pulled her free arm back and delivered a powerful punch to Heron's face. She then spun her around and threw her over to where Aires was struggling to get back up.
The three rangers regrouped in front of the two generals, and Paris stepped forward. "It's time to end it with you two." The wheels on his helmet began to spin rapidly and he launched himself forward. His gauntlets began to glow as he accelerated. "Red Line Crusher!" Paris delivered powerful blows to the two generals, sending them launching backwards in a flurry of sparks.
Aires and Heron were launched violently backwards, landing at the feet of Toxia. Heron spoke, very weakened. "I'm sorry, my Lady. We have failed you."
Toxia walked past the two generals lying on the ground. "I'll deal with that matter later. Right now, I have a set of rangers to kill." Toxia's hands began to flow with energy once again.
"Guys, watch out!" Paris shouted as the three rangers leaped out of the way as Toxia shot off another blast of powerful energy from her fingers.
"Hold still, you worthless rangers!" Toxia sneered "You are only making your deaths longer and more painful than they already will be!" She let out another blast of powerful energy that the rangers once again barely managed to dodge. "Stop testing my goddamn patience and just die already!" Toxia shouted in a pure rage as energy just began to gush from her fingers like water from a broken dam as she let out a fierce scream of rage.
The beams of energy began to level the surrounding buildings, as Toxia refused to stop her vicious rage-induced attack.
"She'll level the city if she keeps this up!" Carrie shouted to Paris over the booming sounds of crackling energy and collapsing buildings.
"Hey, I wonder if our weapons can combine." Bryan suddenly let out. "You know, like the original rangers' weapons did."
"It's worth a shot." Paris said as he quickly ducked his head down to dodge one of the stray beams of energy.
The three rangers touched the tips of their weapons together, and nothing happened.
Beneath the helmet, Paris face was rather stunned. "Well, we're fucked."
"No, we're not!" Carrie said as she slammed her daggers onto the tops of Paris' gauntlets. The two daggers stuck in place. She then turned to Bryan "Now, I bet you can use your staff like a baseball bat and launch Paris!"
The two men looked at each other, kinda confused beneath the helmets, but then turned back to their female companion, and Paris spoke up. "Well, what do we got to loose?"
Paris then shot himself up into the air, barely dodging one of Toxia's blasts. Bryan and Carrie then both shot up into the air after him. Carrie grabbed a hold of Bryan's foot and launched him up higher that Paris, while Bryan spun around with his staff. Paris' feet caught a hold of the shaft of the staff, and with the force Bryan had put behind it, the Red Ranger was launched like a speeding bullet towards Toxia. "Blazing Speed Bullet!" The Red Ranger cut through the streams of energy and crashed into the area where Toxia stood. With a massive explosion, the flow of energy stopped.
"PARIS!" the two other rangers shouted as they landed on the ground as they saw that all was there where Toxia once stood was a large ball of fire.
Carrie brought her hand up to her mouth. "I didn't think that would happen" she said, fighting back the tears.
As she was about to break down in tears, they saw movement. As they hoped their companion was alright, the looked on with anticipation. They were soon met with two blast of energy to their chests, sending them flying back. There stood Toxia, a bit worse for wear than before.
"Good going getting the Red Ranger killed. Saves me on a bit of work." Toxia sneered.
"Hey, excuse me, but I think you left your purse back in the fire" the voice of a young man came from behind her.
"Oh, thanks" Toxia said as she turned around and was greeted to a spinning kick to the face from the white boot of the Red Ranger. Toxia landed beside her two generals, and Bryan and Carrie rushed on Paris.
"Oh, I though we got you killed." Carrie said, holding back tears.
"Meh, I'm the Red Ranger." Paris cracked. "I think there is somewhere saying I can't die my first time out."
Bryan put his white glove to his helmet. "Have you been smoking crack? Because I'm pretty sure that's a total lie."
Just then, the three rangers were reminded that they were currently fighting off evil space bimbos trying to destroy the city when Toxia stood up once again and let out a primal scream. "You Rangers! I will rip you from…"
Suddenly, Toxia collapsed, and Heron and Aires rushed to her side. Heron looked at Aires. "She's exhausted all her energy. We must get her back to the palace immediately." With a snap of her fingers, Heron teleported herself, Aires, and Toxia away from the ruined downtown.
Back in the Power Chamber, Paris, Bryan, and Carrie were a little beaten up, but, for the most part, were okay. Austin was scanning the three, who were still in their ranger suits, but with their helmets off. "Well" he said as he looked at the data on the scanners "you three might be sore for a day or five, but you'll live."
"So," Bryan began to speak as he rubbed his now-sore left shoulder "I'm guessing she's not going to give up."
"They never do." Austin said with a somber look. "And, I'm hoping you three don't either."
Paris stood up and looked at his father, a bit irritated. "Even though I'm still pissed you decided to just drop this on me, I'm not pissed off enough to just up and quit. That Toxia chick really hates Angel Grove for some reason. I couldn't call myself a true human being if I abandoned this now."
A smile grew across Austin's face, and he busted out laughing. "You know, I've heard an extremely similar line from someone else before, Paris."
"Who, dad?" the curious Red Ranger inquired.
"Your Grandmother." Austin replied, busting out laughing.
Paris was rather confused. "So, what that Gram said something like that before? I don't really see how it's funny."
"Ask her, one of these days." Austin said as he walked off.
Paris just shrugged, then walked back over to his friends. "Well, I'm guessing we don't have to be here anymore, so…" he rubbed his chin in thought "…I guess we should go out and, well…"
"Yeah, what DO you do after just barely saving the day?" Carrie asked, understanding what Paris was thinking.
"I don't know about you two, but I'm exhausted, and need some sleep." Bryan said as he demorphed and started to make his way out of the Chamber.
"Hmmm, sleep DOES sound good right now." Paris said as he did the same as Bryan. Carrie shrugged and demorphed as well, and the three rangers left the chamber together to go home and get some sleep.
As they left, Austin watched them. "I only hope that Paris is just like Mom. He'll need her spirit to get himself and his friend through this."
In the palace on the moon, Toxia sat on the throne, exhausted. Heron walked over to her, and kneeled down. "My Lady Toxia, your fit of rage has temporarily exhausted your energies, for now. You must rest, or else you may over-extend and kill yourself."
Toxia shot her general a glance of pure annoyance. "Fine. I'll rest for now."
Aires walked up to the other side of Toxia. "For now, we can slowly wear down the rangers, and, by the time you have recovered, they will be no mach for your might."
A devious, yet still exhausted smile grew on Toxia's face. "Well, my dear Aires, that plan just might work." Toxia went to stand up, but quickly fell back into her chair. "Aw, screw it. I can destroy the rangers tomorrow. Right now, I just need to sleep."
Heron and Aires stood up and walked away, to leave their mistress alone in the throne room. Toxia gave one final glace at the view of the earth from the seat of her throne. "I will destroy Angel Grove, and take over the Earth. This is for my baby brother, Zedd." And, with that, the evil woman fell into a deep sleep.
Next Time on Speed Rally:
With the constant threat of Toxia ready to attack
the city at any moment, Paris, Bryan, and Carrie
try to carry on with their normal lives the best
they can. But, will one of them slip up and let
out their secret?
