In the freezing chambers of Flurious' base, the Frosty Monster sat on his throne of ice. He drummed is frigid fingers on the arm of the throne. After a moment he stopped.
"CYBERCHIP!" He yelled angrily.
Just then, CyberChip stumbled into the cold room. He slid around slightly from the ice that lay on the floors.
"Yes, your Excellency?" CyberChip asked nervously, still trying to get his bearings on the frosty floor.
"Did you infect the red ranger with the virus as planned?" Flurious asked, rising from his throne, ready to strike if CyberChip's answer wasn't to his liking.
"Yes, the task is complete. In just mere hours, he shall be completely evil, and ready to serve as our comrade." CyberChip stated proudly.
"Excellent." Flurious hissed, sitting back in his throne. "The ranger won't know what hit him." He finished with a laugh, stroking the arm of his chair.
In Moltor's lair, the fiery reptile was laughing up a storm. Lava Lizard's danced proudly around him. The hot lava in the base bubbled as if it was pleased with Moltor's actions as well.
"That pathetic brother of mine thinks he can out do me?! I have the crown, AND one of the jewels. All I have to do is get the jewel from my icicle of a brother, Flurious, and the other three from those pesky rangers. And I will succeed. My victory shall begin with me swiping that jewel from Flurious." Moltor explained, pacing around his volcano base. After pacing a few more steps he stopped and looked to the dancing Lava Lizards.
"Lava Lizards! Go and raid my brother's chambers until you find that jewel. Leave no glacier unturned! No go!" Moltor commanded pointing the way out for the lizards, which nodded in agreement and ran out of the volcanic base in a fury. When all the lizards left for their quest, Moltor went to rest in his throne.
"My dimwit brother will be of use in one way. That red ranger will be annihilated in mere hours! Leaving the others without a leader! Perfect…so perfect." Moltor sneered with an evil chuckle.
Back at the Hartford mansion, all the rangers were playing pool, all except for Mack. Mack was down in the base of the mansion on the computers researching…something. Meanwhile, the others were looking at one another between shots. They were having a pretty good time, but they couldn't help feel that something was…off. Dax shot the 3-ball in one of the corner pockets.
"Has Mack seemed a little different ever since our battle with that computer thing?" Dax asked coming back from his shot. The rangers all gave Dax a look of agreement.
"Well, he did get fried by that monster earlier," Ronny began, picking up the pool chalk, rubbing on the pool stick, "No wonder he seems a little grouchy, I know I would be." She finished as she aimed for the 9-ball and missed. Will stood with his pool stick on his shoulders, his arms draped around it.
"Yeah, but he never works alone in the base. I mean, he's usually hanging out here with us, or at least reading one of his adventure books." Will said, watching each shot.
"Will's right." Rose said, walking around the table, looking for a clear shot. "Mack never wants to be alone. I wonder if that shock might have corrupted something in his android DNA?" Rose explained, looking at the others, then shot the 8-ball in the hole, winning the game. Tyzonn laid down his pool stick.
"Maybe we should talk to Mr. Hartford about this. I mean it is his son. And he created him, maybe he can explain what's going on, if anything." Tyzonn said, looking at his friends. All the others laid their sticks on the table.
"Let's go." Ronny said, then she and the others left to go find Mr. Hartford.
Meanwhile with Mack…Mack was typing vigorously on the large keyboards that the base had. The orange, evil glow had returned to his eyes.
"I've got to find where Moltor's hiding that last jewel. Flurious has one. The rangers already have three." Mack said glaring at the large monitor before him. Then he paused for a moment. He looked over his right shoulder he saw a large box that contained the three jewels the rangers worked hard to obtain. He approached the box. It was a simple box. It was black and very shiny, barring the Overdrive symbol in the center of it. Mack grabbed it then gave an evil grin and slowly began to open the box. He pulled out the three jewels. He held them up to the light. Each jewel glistened a beautiful color.
"Mack!" he heard a female voice yell, causing him to drop the jewels. He quickly scurried to pick them up. The voice was Rose. Her and the other rangers had entered the base, Mr. Hartford with them.
While still on the ground, trying to get the jewels, Mack froze. He clenched his eyes shut tightly, he shook his head back and forth for a moment. When he opened his eyes, they were back to normal. The rangers ran to him and also grabbed the three jewels. Andrew went down to floor level with Mack.
"What were you doing with the jewels, Mack?" Andrew asked, his voice a mixture of anger and concern. Mack gave the room a once over, and then looked at Rose and Will holding the jewels in their hands.
"What…? I don't…know. I don't even remember coming down here." Mack said hesitantly, looking at the floor. Dax then stepped forward, shaking his arm as if making a discovery.
"Whoa, I've heard of this! People just randomly forgetting what they were doing or who they are." Dax walked to Mack and helped him stand, Andrew standing as well. Dax placed his arm on Mack's shoulder. "Your name is Maaaack." Dax explained slowly, trying to get through to Mack as if he didn't speak English. The others gave him a strange, one eyebrow look.
"Dax is right…well kinda." Will intervened. "How do you not remember coming down here?"
"Who knows? Maybe I need time to 'recharge'." Mack said, giving his father an angry look. Then started to walk away. Andrew ran in front of his, putting his arms out trying to stop him.
"Wait son. What happened today on the battlefield? Please, tell me everything that went on?" Andrew said looking at his son with worried eyes.
"What's going on, do you think I did something?" Mack asked feeling insulted.
"No one's saying that. Just please tell us what happened today." Andrew said starring at his son, hoping that, whatever he said, would be the truth.
"Well," Mack began, rubbing the back of his neck, "We were going to collect the fifth jewel in Greece. We found it, then all of these Lava Lizards showed up. Then Moltor appeared as well as Flurious. We fought the both of them for a while. Somehow, Moltor got the jewel and escaped and Flurious sent out a freaky computer monster. We fought him but nothing worked, so we came back here to regroup." Mack explained point by point. The other rangers looked at one another in confusion. Then Rose stepped forward.
"Aren't you forgetting something, Mack?" she asked sweetly. She was concerned for him.
"What are you talking about? That's everything that happened." Mack said looking at Rose in utter confusion.
"You don't remember being zapped by that beast?" Dax asked widening his eyes. Mack looked at the two strangely.
"Zapped by a beast? What? I wasn't zapped by anything." Mack said with a small chuckle, he thought his friends might be joking. At least that's what he hoped. The rangers shot each other another look of worry.
"Mack, that monster attacked you. Badly." Will said looking up at Mack, his arms crossed. Mack looked to his teammates and took a step back.
"You guys are starting to scare me. Is this a joke? Is this supposed to be funny?" Mack asked, mildly starting to panic. Andrew looked to him.
"No, son. No joke. That monster attacked you and then we find you messing around down here with the jewels. What were you doing?" Andrew asked, he had taken the jewels from Rose and Will and placed them back in the shiny box.
"I'm telling you I don't remem-" Mack began but was cut off by his own shriek of agony. He stumbled forward. His father caught him and held him upward.
"Son, are you alright?" Andrew asked deeply concerned while still holding him up. Mack gripped his head tightly. Then pushed his father off him gently. He put his hands back at his sides.
"I'm fine. I need to go for a walk." Mack stated beginning to leave the base.
"Is that a good idea?" Ronny asked, watching Mack leave hesitantly.
But before Mack could even answer, he hit the tile floor hard on his knees, his head hanging. The others ran quickly to him.
"Son?!" Andrew gasped.
"Mack?! What's wrong?" Rose asked placing her hand on his back. Mack slowly looked up, his eyes glowing orange once again. He turned his head slowly, a robotic whirring sound emitting from his head.
"What's wrong? I don't have the jewels!" Mack said in an evil voice, his voice was lower than usual. The rangers backed up in fear, looking at Mack. Then he sprang to his feet, and made his way to the rangers, throwing punches and kicks their way. They tried to hold him off.
"What do we do?" Rose shouted, holding one of Mack's arms tightly, he struggled to break free.
"I don't' know! We can't hurt him!" Tyzonn added, gripping Mack's other arm. But Mack soon broke free. And once he did, he took the other rangers down with relative ease. He grabbed the box of jewels and looked down at the rangers writhing on the floor as well as Mr. Hartford, who he had taken down in the progress.
"Thanks…Mr. Hartford." Mack said evilly, then teleported out of the base. That was the one thing about Mack that hadn't changed. He still hated his father, and from the way it seemed, he always would.
