The other rangers were already there when Rocky and Adam arrived. It was night, and judging from the looks of it, most of the rangers had already been in bed. Kat and Tanya were both in their pajamas, and even Billy was in his flannel sleepwear. Tommy and Jason weren't exactly wearing their pajamas; judging from their disheveled gi pants and tank tops, they'd been in the middle of sparring.
Not that it mattered; when Ranger business called, they answered, no matter what the time was.
"Rangers," Zordon said as they all lined up in front of his control panel, "I'm sorry for calling on you at such a time, but King Mondo has unleashed several monsters in Angel Grove."
"Several?" Tommy asked.
Zordon gave as much of a nod as they'd ever seen him give, just as grave as everything else he did. "He has sent two waves, each causing a separate disturbance on opposite sides of town. No doubt this is part of his plan to divide and conquer. The largest concentration is in the park; Prince Gasket has deployed the monsters Silo and Wolfbane from the Machine Arena with a group of cogs. Tommy, Jason, and Rocky, you will need to teleport there."
"And what about us?" Tanya asked.
"Tanya, I will need you, Adam, and Katherine to go to the school. Main Drain is attempting to drain the generator, and it is imperative that you stop him before he can become any more powerful."
Assignments given, the Rangers all began to take their places. Just as Adam was about to join Kat and Tanya, Rocky stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful, okay?" he asked. It wasn't that he doubted Adam could take care of himself; he was one of the most capable people Rocky knew. He just…didn't like the idea of being separated. This whole think reeked of a trap, and it would've been bad enough if he'd been there to have Adam's back.
"Same to you," Adam replied.
Rocky smiled. "Yes, sir!" With a quick squeeze of Adam's shoulder and an offhand wave, Rocky stepped back to join Tommy and Jason on the other side of the Command Center.
As soon as everyone was in position, they all morphed in unison, and just like that, they were off.
In a flash of red, gold, and blue, the three Rangers appeared in the park. It was dark out, but even in the limited light of the streetlamps, they could make out the source of Zordon's concerns. Down at the base of the hill, near the beach, several visibly inhuman forms traipsed around in front of them.
Of course, they all stopped the moment the Tommy announced their arrival. "Isn't it a little past your bedtime?" he shouted to the creatures as they neared their location.
Suddenly, all eyes were on them.
"Rangers!" snarled Wolfbane. "About time you showed up. Now the fun can really begin!"
Jason snorted. "No need to hold off on our account."
"Come on," Rocky said. "Let's take these guys down." The faster they could get that done, the faster they could join back up with the other Rangers.
"You can try!" Silo cried, and with a howl from Wolfbane, the battle began. Cogs rushed the three Rangers, but the annoying little robots didn't stand a chance. Fueled by testosterone, exasperation, and a general frustration at being called out on a Saturday night, the three teenagers ripped through the cogs in record time.
When the numbers were a lot more manageable, Jason called to Tommy a few yards away, "Come on, let's get these guys!"
"I'll cover you," Rocky said, dispatching a few more cogs even as he spoke. The two monsters were up close to each other, and it was clear the battle plan was to take them both on at the same time. Normally, Rocky would have been all too eager to get in on the action, but he knew that Tommy and Jason were a lot like he and Adam; the two were inseparable, and together, they were devilishly hard to bring down.
And, of course, there was the whole dating thing, too….Sometimes, Rocky wondered if it was something in the water. Or maybe it was just the spandex.
He was getting off track, though. There were still some more cogs to take on, and he leapt into the fray. He'd let Jason and Tommy double-team the two monsters, and he'd step in if he was needed. Otherwise, he'd just pummel these cogs until they got the green to go.
Green. God, even the word got his heart pounding faster. It didn't seem quite fair that he had that much of an effect on Rocky. He couldn't wait until he finished up here; maybe they could pick up where they'd left off, maybe snuggle up and watch one of those bad horror flicks that they loved so much.
With new incentive driving him – thoughts of resuming his night alone in the house with Adam – he threw himself into the fight with more vim and vigor than before. With any luck, this wouldn't take long at all….
"I've never really noticed how creepy this place was at night," Tanya muttered as they walked through the halls of the school. They had to get the boiler room of the school, and the only way to get there was through the janitors' room.
Adam, for one, hoped they got there soon. Tanya was right about how creepy the school looked at night. With all the students gone, and most of the lights out, it looked sort of...hollow. Abandoned. So, maybe not so much creepy as depressing. Either way, he would be happy to do what they needed to and get the heck out of dodge.
He didn't get a chance to say anything, though, because Kat beat him to it. "How much farther is it until we're there?" she asked. She and Tanya were both pretty new to the school, and though Adam hadn't even been there a year, the question was obviously addressed to him.
"It should be up in the Science Wing," he said, "so just up ahead." And sure enough, as they turned the corner into the Science Wing, they came upon the door labeled Janitor. "Well, looks like this is it," he said. With one gloved hand, he pushed the handle of the door, relieved to find that it gave. The janitors could rarely, if ever, be bothered to lock the doors, and luckily they hadn't chosen today to change their ways. Pushing the door open as quietly as he could, he gestured for the other two Rangers to go inside.
As it turned out, the janitor closet was not, in fact, a closet. Well, there was a sort of closet, but in the back, there was a stairwell which was exactly where they were going.
"We're following you," Kat whispered, motioning for Adam to take the lead again. He wasn't really used to this; between Tommy, Jason, and Rocky, he rarely assumed the leadership role. He was much more comfortable as a follower. Still, when times called for it, he did what he had to do, and this was one of those times.
"All right, try to stay quiet," Adam instructed. "If we can get the jump on him, we might be able to finish this quick and go help the others." Because instead of one monster and cogs, they had two and cogs, and Adam wasn't really fond of those odds.
As gracefully as he could, he started down the stairs. It was really dark down there, though there were lights coming from the end of the staircase. Behind him, he heard Tanya start to trip, and he quickly turned and grabbed her arm to steady her.
"Thanks," she said quickly.
He nodded, and he would've smiled at her, but his helmet would've made the gesture sort of pointless. "Watch your step," he said instead. He didn't want one of them to trip and hurt themselves.
As he reached the bottom of the steps, he came to a half-open door. Light poured in through the crack, and while Tanya and Kat fell in behind him, he chanced a glance around the door.
Sure enough, the whole place was alight with impossibly bright light. It wasn't warm like light bulbs or sunlight, but rather a blue electric glow that made his pupils dilate even through his visor. When his eyes adjusted, he could see figures moving back and forth.
"Cogs," he muttered. Lots and lots of cogs, all crowded around what looked to be the source of the light. Judging from the loud hum that seemed to echo in his chest, he was going to guess that source was the generator.
"Ready?" Kat asked.
"As I'll ever be," was Tanya's response.
"All right, then," Adam began, "on three. One..." He wrapped his fingers around the knob of the door. "Two…" His muscles tensed in preparation of the coming fight as Tanya and Kat tensed behind him. "Three!"
He flung the door open, and the fight was on. Cogs were on them in seconds, but he was doing his best to get past them. He had to get to that generator. "I'm going after Main Drain!" he called to Kat and Tanya, but if they heard him, they gave no indication. He didn't blame them; they had their hands full with the cogs. After dispatching a handful of cogs that got in his way, Adam made it to the source of the problem. "Main Drain!" he shouted. The monster ignored him, so Adam summoned his Zeo Hatchet and used it to knock Main Drain's spiny arms away from the generator from which it was drawing power.
Main Drain recoiled with a growl. "Power Rangers!" he snarled. To Adam's surprise, though, that snarl morphed into something else.
A laugh.
Main Drain was laughing at him, and for the longest moment, he didn't know why. Then he heard Kat scream.
"Adam!" Tanya shouted. "Help!"
He turned, and to his horror, he found his friends not only surrounded by cogs, but by two monsters that hadn't been there before. He recognized them both – Mace Face and Tarantabot – from previous battles, but they'd only ever fought them one at a time. Seeing them there, the two of them (three, including Main Drain), sent Adam's stomach sinking to the pit of his gut. There was no way the three of them could take on all of the monsters and the cogs; they had to retreat, until they could regroup with the others.
Only, before he could do anything, he felt one of Main Drain's spiked arm's wrap around his shoulders. The spines scraped furrows across his chest, but that wasn't what hurt. What hurt was the current still flowing between those spikes. They sparked off Adam's suit and tensed every muscle in his body in what had to be the most painful cramp Adam had ever felt.
Adrenaline alone kept him from crumpling to the ground like an unfortunate tasing victim, and closing his hands around the burning spikes, he threw all of his weight forward and flipped over the arm. He landed on his feet, barely, and with a back kick hard enough to throw Main Drain off balance, he ran towards where Tanya and Kat were being held. The cogs tried to form a wall to keep him from them, but he managed to jump over them. He wasn't happy about running, but they had to get out of here.
He reached Kat first. She was being held by Mace Face, but as she saw Adam running towards her with his Zeo Hatchet, she started to struggle. Adam got to her right as she had freed an arm.
"Jump!" he shouted, and Kat did. The moment her feet were clear, he dove, swiping a leg at Mace Face's feet. The thing was top heavy, and just as Adam thought it would, it went down. With her free arm, Kat drove an elbow into the shoulder of the arm holding her, and managed to kick off of her captor and land on her feet.
"Thanks, Adam!" she called.
He nodded, and started towards a struggling Tanya. "Don't mention it."
Tanya wasn't being held like Kat was, but she had her hands full taking on Tarantabot. As much as Adam would've liked to put the monster down, though, he knew getting everyone out safe had to be the priority. He just had to find some way to get Tanya free too.
His opening came as Tanya was sent sailing by a hit from the Tarantabot. He and Kat ran to her and he ended up half dragging her to her feet. He knew that hit had to hurt, but she had to get up. Still, she wasn't walking on her own, and there was no way they would be able to get her out without a distraction of some sort.
And suddenly, he felt that familiar sinking in his gut. He had to get Kat and Tanya out, and to do that, they needed a distraction.
He would be the distraction.
"Kat, help Tanya out," he said, handing Tanya to his friend. Kat pulled her arm over her shoulder, but she didn't start for the stairs.
"What about you?" she demanded.
His lips set in a grim line beneath the mask. "I'll hold them off until you two get clear, and then I'll be right behind you," he said.
"No, Adam, you can't—"
"Just go!" Adam shouted, and turned back to the fight just in time to block an incoming hit from Tarantabot. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kat hesitate. "Go!" And finally, she did.
He'd only looked for a second to make sure that she was gone, but that second was all that Main Drain needed. With a sparking fist, the monster sent a punch square into Adam's ribs. All the air left his lungs in a rush, and he was sent sailing into the door through which Kat had just helped Tanya.
Agony ripped through Adam's whole body as the cogs and monsters descended on him. Hits bludgeoned his sides and back and everywhere else the monsters could reach, and everywhere he'd touched Main Drain, his skin felt like it was on fire.
"Adam!" Kat screamed through the door.
"I'll be fine! Go!" he shouted. "Get the others!" In a last ditch effort, he pushed himself off the ground and tried to send a kick into Mace Face's chest plate. He thought it would throw him off enough to let Adam slip through the door.
Instead, he felt razor sharp claw close around his ankles, pulling his leg out straight and nearly throwing him off balance. He saw Tarantabot raise a fist, saw it coming down towards his outstretched knee, and everything seemed to go in slow motion.
Kat and Tanya had only just managed to scramble up the stairs when they heard Adam scream.