Dedications: Big thank you to the following: Kiba1278, Grapejucie101, XxXPixieDust005XxX, Jessfairy88, 13turtles24, K drama queen, JellyBean Productions, Dunk234, Rotris, xotiptopxo, Dandelion657, CamaroDude1989, Kaigirl16, SchoolBoredom and Fanficchica123 for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Very much appreciated.
Chapter One: Road to Corinth
I don't own Power Rangers RPM. But I do own any original characters that are of my own creation.
Title: Corinth's Black Sheep
Summary: My name is December Landsdown, Demi for short. For years my parents have wanted me to be exactly like my older sister. When the Venjix virus is unleashed they may just get their wish... just not in the way they'd expect.
Listen carefully, OK? We don't have a lot of time.
It started three years ago. The world internet federation reported the appearance of an aggressive new computer worm - the Venjix virus. A year later, it was estimated that Venjix had already infected 37% of the world's computer systems. By then, it was too late. Venjix took control of the world's communications, power, and defense systems.
It built armies of advanced robotic soldiers that laid waste to everything in their path. There was no stopping them, and Venjix declared victory.
"I am Venjix. Your world is now my world, and your time is now over."
But it is not over - not yet. If you can hear my voice, please go now to the domed city of Corinth. It is the only place we can be safe. But you have to make it inside the city walls before the defense shield is activated. Please... hurry.
~*Corinth's Black Sheep*~
Explosions could be seen everywhere as several military groups escorted thousands upon thousands of civilians inside the domed walls of Corinth City. As the civilians ran for their lives, other soldiers had opened fire on the computer-controlled guns that had been created by Venjix.
"Colonel Truman," one of the soldiers called frantically, running over his boss.
"Easy, son," the colonel said. "Get yourself together and give me a proper report."
Unlike those around him, the colonel didn't seem at all fazed by the screams of innocents, and his calmness did nothing to help the situation along. Many people were rather surprised by his cool demeanor, especially giving everything that was happening, but it was probably due to his many years as a service of the military, he had been on enough battlefields to remain calm under pressure.
"Yes, sir," the soldier nodded, taking a deep breath. He hesitated, reluctant to speak, before addressing his boss once again. "They've broken through the west corridor into zone delta, sir. We can't hold them off."
The colonel removed his sunglasses and turned to the soldier.
"Eagle squad?"
"We lost all contact with air support over an hour ago, sir," the soldier reported sadly. He knew that the colonel's sons were the main focus of Eagle squad, and he hated to be the bearer of bad news when family was involved. "What should I do, Sir?" he said, waiting for further instructions.
The colonel sighed and nodded over his shoulder. "Go shoot at something," he said, dismissing his soldier.
"Sir, yes, sir." The soldier nodded, hurrying off to help his team-mates.
Nearby, a bus was driving into the city, carrying a load full of civilians. The driver ground to a halt when he reached the inside of the city walls and opened the door.
"All right," he said, in a strong Scottish accent. He picked up a half-destroyed Grinder from the half destroyed steps and tossed it off of the bus. "You no-good pile of worthless crap!"
A young man approached the bus. He was around medium height, quite muscular, with short dark hair, dark eyes, and a scar under his left eye. "Demi? Nia?" he asked.
"Uh, I don't have a Demi," the young driver said, looking around the bus. "But I have a Niamh? Five-years -"
"Daddy!"
Flynn, the bus driver, glanced over his shoulder at the little girl in the front seat. She was staring at the man out in the waste.
"Nia!" the man outside the bus cried, scooping up his little girl as she jumped in to his arms. The toddler buried her head in her father's shoulder and started sobbing. "Thanks mate," the guy nodded at Flynn. "I owe you one."
"Just trying to help," Flynn said.
"What's your name?"
"Flynn McAllister."
"Michael Jacobs. Best get these people beyond the city walls, Flynn," Michael added, "they're powering up the walls as we speak."
Flynn nodded. "Aye. I'll get myself out, too, if you don't mind." He said. "All right, next stop Corinth square."
Michael nodded and turned back to his daughter as Flynn pulled off. "Nia," he soothed, hugging her close and kissing the side of her head. "Nia, where's Mommy and Demi?"
"I... we... we got separated..." Niamh sobbed. "Daddy, what if they -?"
"Shh," Michael soothed, rubbing his daughter's back. "They'll be OK. C'mon, let's get you to your new home."
He turned and hurried off, making it inside the city walls just as Colonel Truman and his men ordered the immediate evacuation of everyone who was still outside and ordered them to get back inside the dome. They couldn't wait any longer.
"Stand by to raise the shields!"
"But sir," the soldier beside him frowned. "You sons, they're still -"
"On my signal!" Colonel Truman ordered. "Seal all city gates. Raise the shields."
"Seal all city gates," the soldier repeated into his walkie-talkie. "Activate defense dome - all grids."
As the doors started to close, Michael stopped and turned to the sound of a motorcycle in the distance. He could vaguely make out two passengers, but he couldn't be sure exactly who they were.
"Daddy," Niamh said, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder. Her eyes were rimmed red from where she had been crying, but now she was a little calmer. "Can we go home now?"
"Soon, baby," Michael promised as he watched the motorcycle grow closer. As soon as it was close enough, the driver turned the bike onto its side and skidded straight under the metal gate, with seconds to spare.
With the doors closed, the city reverted back to its holographic perfection. The sky returned to its natural blue colour, white fluffy clouds lingered far and wide, hiding the warzone that was still going on outside of the dome.
"Now?" Niamh asked.
Michael chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, sure," he said. "We can go home now. Daddy just has to do one more thing. OK?"
"OK," Niamh nodded. Her eyes roamed over to the two who had arrived by Motorcycle and gasped. "Daddy," she said, pointing at the driver, "Lookie! It's Summer!"
Michael looked over to where his daughter was pointing and, just like Niamh, was very surprised to find Summer Landsdown removing her helmet. Her gaze met his and she smiled, dropping her helmet and, excusing herself from her passenger, she run towards him.
"Michael!" Summer gasped, hugging him. "Nia! You're alright!"
"For the most part," Michael nodded, motioning to the scar under his eye. "Summer, how long have you been here? What of your parents? Andrews?"
"They're fine," Summer said. "They made it here before me. Andrews -" she broke off as tears welled in her eyes. "Oh, Michael, Andrews died to save me! It's why I had to save Scott - one of the pilots of Eagle Squad -" Michael nodded. He knew who Scott Truman was. "Andrews said that he was waiting to see the real me... but I -"
Michael touched her shoulder to calm her. "He'd be really proud of you, Summer," he said. "You showed true bravery and courage for endangering your life and saving another."
"What about Demi?" Summer asked. "How many has she saved? I bet she tops me, right?"
"I'm sure she would have," Michael nodded. "But it's not about keeping score, Summer; you've done everything your sister would've done. It was very December of you."
Summer laughed light. "Where is Demi?"
Michael sighed and looked down at Niamh, before looking at the gates over Summer's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Summer," he apologized. "We got separated in the evacuations. I'm afraid she and Sam didn't make it."
~*One Year Later*~
The wind whistled blowing dust clouds of deserted sand dunes. There was no human civilization around for miles, any humans who hadn't made it into Corinth city in time had been abandoned and left to perish at the hands of the Grinders, toxic gasses, natural sources, some had even been taken hostage by the Venjix and re-created into hybrids for his own personal robotic army.
The silence was cut by the sound of an engine as a beat-up old black car sped across the waste. Inside were two passengers.
The driver was a young man, he was wearing a mask over his face to protect him from inhaling the toxic fumes, the second was a young blonde female, she was currently asleep in the passenger's seat, her eyes shielded from the sandstorms by double-glared black glasses, and she had a scarf around her mouth for the exact same reason as her companion.
Static particles of music echoed from the radio, and the driver of the car reached over to fiddle with the station. The music disappeared and was replaced with an even worse signal of map co-ordinates. He sighed, unsure on whether or not to trust these directions.
Holding up his water bottle, the driver slammed on the brakes and glanced at the blonde beside him. He shook his head and opened his car door, he needed to refill his water bottle, but waking his companion now would have been a waste of time. After saving her from a group of Grinders a year ago, he had promised her that he would get her to Corinth.
Popping the trunk open, the young driver reached for his last bottle of water and poured it into his smaller bottle. He lifted his mask slightly and took a drop, before closing the trunk and getting back into the driver's seat. He slammed the side door, startling his companion awake.
"Here," he said, nudging her shoulder and offering her the water bottle.
"Thanks," she said, lifting her scarf and taking a few drops.
The driver nodded and restarted the engine. No words were spoken between the two of them; it had been this way for a year now. The comfortable silence was all they needed, the two companions didn't need conversation to survive; they both knew that their relationship was a strange one; they were both complete strangers just trying to survive.
A few miles ahead, the driver stopped the car again and got out. He reached for his water bottle and approached one of the last flowers that continued to grow from the sand. There weren't many beautiful sights to witness anymore; the Venjix had completely obliterated everything and anything across the whole world. To see something so fragile and beautiful was a rarity.
Kneeling in front of the ground, the driver plucked the flower from the sand and returned to his car, he paused, hand on the handle and looked around. His companion, who had also heard something, pushed open her door and got out; looking at the driver from across the roof.
"Grinders," she murmured, recognizing the sound of the robotic foot soldiers.
"We have to go," he said. "Now!"
The girl nodded and quickly rounded the car. The driver took her by the arm and led her to a nearby dune. Pushing her down, he motioned for her to be quiet and snuck a peak over the top of the dune; the Grinders were searching his car, clearly confused on how they could have lost two humans.
"Do you know how to fight?" the driver asked.
"Martial arts since I was six," the girl answered.
The driver smirked and nodded. "On three..." he whispered.
"One..."
"... Two..."
"... Three!"
The two companions pushed themselves over the sand dune and rushed at the grinders, taking them by surprise. The girl grunted as she flipped two grinders over her shoulders, she was a lot stronger than she looked, and, catching onto the arms of another two, heaved them together with a metallic clang. She gasped, however, when another grinder landed on top of the fury and aimed is laser at her.
"Whoa!" she squeaked, diving aside.
The driver growled and kicked the grinder off of his car. His excuse would be that he didn't want to scratch the paint work, but the young female knew better, she just understood not to say anything. Her companion wasn't the affectionate of sorts, and besides, they were strangers, remember? There was no friendship or connection between them. He had no reason to save her... again.
"C'mon," the driver said, grabbing her hand and pulling her back to the car. They jumped in, started the engine, and took off again leaving the destroyed Grinders behind.
A safe distance away from anymore patrolling grinder parties, the driver pulled out a map and got out of his car for a third time. His companion had fallen back to sleep, the flower he had taken from the ground was hooked in her hair, resting on her ear. She looked peaceful as she slept, the driver noted.
Popping a yellow sucker into his mouth, the driver held up a compass, failing to notice another young man approaching him.
"Hold it right there!"
The driver went to turn around, but the voice yelled again.
"Eyes front! Hands up!"
The driver pulled the lollipop out of his mouth and raised his hands, dropping the sucker into the sand.
"OK. OK, now, my friend, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," the voice told him. "I'm going to count -"
"No."
"Wait. What 'No'?" the voice asked. "How can you say no? I-I-I haven't even told you my demands yet. Now you've made me lose my train of thought."
"You want to start over?" the driver offered.
"No... no, let's just... let's just keep going," the voice said. "Uh... I need to take your car. Well, let's say 'borrow.' I-I need to borrow your car, OK? That sounds better.
The driver chuckled. "And those are your demands, huh?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah," the voice said. "Nonnegotiable."
"Can I say something now?"
"Sure."
"No," the driver repeated.
"OK, that's fine," the voice said. "Now I wasn't going to bring this up, because it's kinda rude, but I'm the one holding the blaster here! Plus I'm a desperate and dangerous -"
"You're not holding a blaster," the driver said, turning his head slightly.
"I think I am! What else would it be?"
"It feels like a four and a half inch outtake muffler. Kinda like the one you might have pulled off that rig over there."
The driver nodded his head in one direction.
"Uh... maybe... I mean, that's an interesting theory but... a smart guy like me, he might, uh -"
The driver turned around, quicker than a cheetah, and slammed his fist down on the muffler, snapping it in half. The attacker, who was a foot smaller than him, stumbled backwards, tripped over his own two feet and hit the sand with a thump.
"OK! Not the face!" he cried, putting his hands up to protect himself.
"Do you have any food, water, or gas?" the driver asked.
"Um, no, that's some of the other stuff I was planning to borrow from you."
The driver sighed in frustration and returned to his car. His companion was starting to stir, probably disturbed by all the screaming that the younger lad had done after he had been taken by surprise.
"What's going on?" she asked, reaching under her sunglasses to rub her eyes. "Did we find Corinth?"
"Not yet," the driver said. "Buckle up."
The female nodded and did as instructed, before looking up as her door was opened by a spiky head kid in a black jacket, white shirt and tie. "Who are you?" she asked him.
"Who am I?" he repeated. "Who are you?"
The female turned her head to the driver, and shrugged. "What's going on?" she asked.
"He wanted the car," the driver said, realizing that this was the most that he and the female had spoken in the given length they had been together.
"Uh," the female nodded.
"71 degrees, 5 minutes..." said a female voice from the radio.
The spiky haired kid smirked and looked back at the two companions. "You're looking for Corinth city. Hmm? Am I right? Yeah, sure, I mean..." he reached for the compass, which was now on the dashboard, "the radiation, uh, 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," the driver said, reaching across the female to shut her door. "Now clear off."
"No, wait," the spiky haired lad pleaded. "You can't leave me out here. Look, I really am from Corinth," he handed then an ID citizen card.
The female took it and read it, before passing it to the driver.
"Ziggy? Your name is Ziggy?" the driver asked.
The female giggled.
"Yeah," the attacker, Ziggy, smiled.
"What you doing out here, Ziggy?" the driver asked.
"Well, you know, that's a long story." Ziggy said taking back is ID card. "I'd be happy to tell you the whole thing on the way."
"I'd rather you not," the female grumbled.
The driver nodded. "What she said," he agreed, pulling his arm back from the female and opening his door. He pulled down his seat and Ziggy managed to squeeze into the back, before they were off again.
Despite the driver and female not wanting to talk, Ziggy hated awkward silences, and had to say something to break the one that had appeared between him and his new friends. "So, you still haven't told me your names," he said.
"I don't know," the driver said.
"You don't know if you wanna 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."
"You know," Ziggy said, dropping the relaxed look and leaning forward in his seat. "If we're going to be partners, I feel we should work on our communications... OH WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!"
The driver slammed hard on the breaks. The female squeaked and flew forward into the dashboard. Opening his window, the driver could see Corinth city somewhere in the distance.
"See, Ziggy promises, Ziggy delivers." Ziggy smirked. "Corinth city."
"Ziggy promises, Ziggy delivers, eh?" the female asked. Ziggy nodded. "Too bad you couldn't deliver that silence that you promised."
Ziggy shot her a look, before turning to the driver. "Now, we probably want to pull off the road here and just wait till dark."
"We can't stop," the driver said.
"What?" Ziggy asked.
"We're running on fumes," the driver explained, looking at the gas gage. It was empty. "If I kill the engine now, we might never get it started again."
"No... this is a joke, right?" Ziggy asked. "You're not serious."
The female smirked. She knew that the driver was very serious, and the terrified look on Ziggy's face, as the driver sped off, down the dirt road towards Corinth, was enough to make her smile grow bigger.
"OK, stop, time out!" Ziggy yelled desperately. "We need a reality check! Alright, let me spell this out for you. No one has ever run the barricade into the city during daylight. Understand? No one."
"Well, I'm as close to no one as you're ever going to meet," the driver smirked.
The female laughed.
"What are you laughing at?" Ziggy asked her. "Am I the only one who sees the seriousness behind this situation? We could all die!"
"What's the matter, Ziggy?" the female asked. "You want to live forever?"
Ziggy shook his head at the disbelief of the situation. "OK, well, if you two want to act recklessly then you can just drop me off right here," he reached for the female's door, ready to make his escape; she slapped his hand away and glared at him.
The female frowned as she turned back to the front and spotted a group of Grinders on motorcycles following them through the side mirror. "We got company," she announced.
Ziggy turned and glanced out of the back window. "It's the perimeter patrol," he said, his eyes widening. "And they're right on top of us."
"Here," the female said, putting a stash of yellow lollipops into Ziggy's lap. "Make yourself useful and give these when needed." She turned back to face the front and dived for a small bag that was at her feet, she placed it in her own lap and felt around inside, pulling out two small black objects and rolled them in her hands; she tapped a black button on the top of them and several red lights flashed at once. Leaning out of the window, the female tossed the balls carelessly at the Grinders, blowing them sky high.
While the female tossed more and more detonators at the Grinders, the driver reached down and grabbed a circular piece of metal. He stuck the sucker onto it before tossing it backwards out of the window. The metal hoop landed on a motorcycle and it blew up.
The female laughed at the explosion.
Ziggy looked out of the back window, eyes wide.
"Remind me, uh, never to get on your bad sides," Ziggy said.
"Trust me," the driver smirked. "You're already there."
The female nodded in agreement, blowing several more Grinders sky high.
"OK, uh, close call," Ziggy said, looking around, "but I think we've got enough time to, uh, to turn around and back up before we hit the - the Venjix barricade!"
"When you are going to get it, Ziggy?" the female answered. "We're not stopping."
More Grinders swarmed the sand dunes in front of the barricade and opened fire. Their lasers hit the car, knocking it off course, and the driver struggled to maintain control.
"We can, uh, we can still turn back," Ziggy laughed, nervously.
"Silence!" the female shouted. "It means no talking!"
The driver smirked and threw another piece of metal out of the window. He didn't know his companion too well, but he knew her a lot better than he knew Ziggy, or that Ziggy knew her, so that also meant that he knew that she may have been small, but she was not to be messed with.
~*Corinth's Black Sheep*~
Inside the city, the colonel sat at his desk, staring at the picture of his eldest son, when someone approached him.
"Colonel, we're picking up an incoming bio signal," the young man said. "Outside the dome, sir."
The colonel jumped to his feet and walked up behind a woman working at the computers. "Talk to me, Vasquez," he said.
"A single vehicle driving straight through the middle of the Venjix barricade," the female soldier said. "Definitely human - one or more bio-fields."
"Which is it?" the colonel asked. "One or more?"
"The scan must be off, sir," the female shrugged. "It's reading 2 1/2."
The colonel nodded and looked to the first man.
"Alert Dr, K," he ordered.
~*Corinth's Black Sheep*~
"I never learned to play a musical instrument," Ziggy said, sitting back in his seat and staring at a yellow sucker, while the two up front continued to throw detonators out of the window. They seemed to have plenty with them. "I always wanted too, you know? I mean, who knows, I could have been the greatest clarinet player."
"HOLY CRAP!" the female squeaked as a grinder rode up beside her and swiped the detonator she had just thrown out of the window. It soared back in at her, and landed in the back sea with Ziggy. "Oh, crud!"
"What do I do? What do I do?" Ziggy panicked.
"Get down!" the driver shouted, swerving to avoid a blast from the grinders.
The female ducked and clutched her head with her arms, forcing them into her knees. She heard the driver say something, but didn't quite catch it as it was muffled against her enclosed ears; then there was an explosion and, when she looked up, it was raining debris as the Venjix Barricade was blown to bits.
With the barricade out of the way, the trio had clear access to the city.
~*Corinth's Black Sheep*~
"They made it!" the soldier announced.
The colonel walked over to his desk and sat, facing a white computer with a giant K on the screen.
"Dr. K?"
"Lower the shields," the computer ordered. "And open the gate, please, colonel."
"There's going to be an infiltration before we can power the shield back up," the colonel pointed out.
"Understood, my team is on the way."
The colonel looked up at his right hand man and nodded.
~*Corinth's Black Sheep*~
The gates to Corinth opened and the dynamic duo that Ziggy had the pleasure of knowing, finally arrived within the city walls.
"Don't relax," the female said, as Ziggy sighed in relief. "We're not out of the clear yet."
Just behind the car the Grinders, and Venjix's newest attack bot, had followed them beyond the gates.
"Uh, what do we do?" Ziggy asked. "Explosives?"
The female shook her head. "My last one detonated the barricade," she explained. "We could do a little hand-to-hand ourselves," she suggested, looking at the driver. He looked considerate when three teens, all wearing black jackets with different coloured trimmings rushed out in front in front of the car to face the attack bot.
"Ready?" the boy in the middle, he was wearing red, called.
"Ready!" the other two nodded.
"RPM, GET IN GEAR!"
Ziggy grinned. "Or we could just sit back, relax, and let the Power Rangers deal with the monster." He nodded.
The female and driver frowned and exchanged looks, before turning to Ziggy.
"The what?" they asked at the same time.
"Rangers," Ziggy repeated, blinking in confusion. "Power Rangers."
Again, the driver and female exchanged short glances.
"What's a Power Ranger?"
To Be Continued...
Copyrighted ©
A/N: Don't forget to review!
Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx
Chapter updated Sunday, April 18th, 2013 at 04:56am
