The doors swung open as five teens walked the base.
"Here we are," Scott smiled. "Home, sweet, home."
"We call it the garage," Summer explained to Dillon, showing him the five cars and the mechanical tools.
"See if you can guess why," Flynn laughed as he rolled out from under a pink car. Hayden's eyes widened as she jumped into his arms.
"You fixed it!" she smiled. "Thank you!"
Dillon looked around, before his eyes settles on a red and black car in the middle of the garage.
"Yours?" he asked Scott.
"All seven hundred horses," Scott smiled proudly, walking up to the driver's side.
"Cute toy," Dillon smirked.
"Cute?" Scott asked. "No, Hayden's car is cute. Summer's bike is cute. This..."
Scott ran his hand softly over the side of the car.
"This, is my baby."
"He sounds like Daniela," Hayden whispered to Summer and Mike.
"Well," Summer smiled, walking over to the computers and leaning on the back of a chair. "These are the real toys."
"So where did all this stuff come from?" Dillon asked.
The chair under Summer spun around as Kaylee looked up at the future Black Ranger.
"These toys," Kaylee said, holding up Summer's yellow morpher, "Come from me. I designed and built them. And, with some help from Dr. K, I got the weapons and the Zords up and running."
Kaylee turned to the white computer screen.
"Dr. K, the door please," she asked.
The doors to a second room opened up and Flynn lead the way.
"Once I retired from the Ranger business, I started working on morphers for a new team. I figured evil wouldn't rest, so I wanted to be prepared in case I was right," Kaylee explained. "I created the RPM morphers."
Suddenly, lights turned on behind the Rangers and Dillon, revealing the RPM Ranger uniforms. Red, Pink, Blue, Yellow, Dark Green, Light Green and Black.
"Bright Yellow, Blue, Pink, Red and Green Spandex?" Dillon asked, looking over the uniforms.
"THEY ARE NOT SPANDEX!" Dr. K yelled from her computer station.
"Dr. K can get a little defensive about his work," Summer warned the rebel.
"The material is a self assembling nano fibre, formed with an intercellular shape memory aloe."
"My mistake," Dillon frowned. "Now, is it machine washable or dry clean only?"
"You've seen this in action. You know what it can do."
"We still haven't worked out all the kinks though," Kaylee explained.
"Like?" Hayden asked.
"The wedgies!" Kaylee frowned, reaching to the back of her pants. "After five teams, you'd think I would have figured them out!"
Hayden rolled her eyes, wondering if she was actually related to this woman.
"Look, this is all very impressive, but I don't belong here," Dillon sighed. "I'm not cut out to be your black power dude."
"Ranger operation Series Black," Dr. K corrected.
"Whatever," Dillon groaned. "I'm no superhero. Besides, I got plenty of places to go..."
"Promises to keep," Summer reminded him, stepping up in front of him and looking in his eyes.
"Something like that," Dillon sighed.
"The only place you have to go, is back into that cell," Mike said.
"And just how long do you think that's going to hold me?" Dillon asked, standing over Mike. The two boys glared at each other until Hayden and Summer broke them apart.
"Guys," Scott said, putting a hand on both Mike and Summer. "Forget him. This chump will never make it through basic testing anyways."
"Testing?" Dillon asked. "What testing?"
-----RPM-----
"The acute physical and mental qualities needed for Black are extremely rare," Summer explained as Dillon was being scanned by a laser.
"There's only been one other person capable of wearing the suit, without dying," Hayden continued, before receiving a glare from Scott.
Flynn turned off the laser and lead Dillon to his first test: the spinning ball.
"Three dimensional orientations," he smiled.
Summer watched the future black Ranger, holding a stop watch in her hand to monitor the time. Hayden stood beside her, poking her arm relentlessly.
"Can I try after?" she asked. "Can I? Please? Please!"
Kaylee shook her head, wondering if she actually gave birth to that child.
Dillon stepped out from the ball once he was done and looked up at the others.
"Was I supposed to be dizzy?" he asked.
Summer looked over at him and smiled before programming another laser, then leading him to his next challenge.
"DIE!" Hayden yelled out playfully, throwing pink balls at Dillon as he either dodged them, or kicked them away. "Why won't you die?!"
Dillon took a second to smirk at her and then kicked one of the balls in her direction, nearly knocking her head off.
"Whoa..." Mike breathed, exchanging looks with Summer, then Scott, who was not happy.
His next challenge put him in a chair as the simulator created an earthquake. Flynn watched the black Ranger in awe as he fell asleep.
It was official. Dillon was unstoppable. No matter what the test was, he flew past it. Reading a newspaper as the room caught fire, doing push ups with a rock on his back, a rock that weighed a little over a ton. Submerging his head underwater (he started making bubbles). Nothing wore him down.
"This cannot be possible!" Kaylee frowned, looking over the results. "Not even Tori scored this high! I didn't even score this high!"
"His biotic implant is giving him the extra reflexes and co-ordination skill." Dr. K explained as Kaylee nodded.
"I don't care!" Scott yelled. "I'm sorry; I just don't trust this guy!"
"I don't trust him either, okay!" Flynn frowned. "But it's not like we have a whole line of people stretching around the corner, do we?"
"Guys, we have no choice!" Kaylee told them. "Series Black needs to be operational before the city's defences are breached once again."
"Venjix is getting stronger. At this rate, I don't think Hayden can even survive his next attack."
Mike and Flynn looked over at Scott, as if begging him to reconsider.
"I still don't like this guy," Scott sighed.
-----RPM-----
"Corinth city," Hayden smiled. "It's a self sustained, self contained living environment. Everything's recycled; everything's programmed... even the weather."
Hayden looked up to the sky as the clouds started moving around actively.
"I know what you're trying to do," Dillon said. "You're trying to show me what it is you're trying to protect."
"We're trying to show you why it's worth fighting for," Summer answered.
"You're trying to make me care."
"Once your DNA is bonded to the Series Black, there is no going back. We would be trusting you with all this."
"DON'T!" Dillon snapped, scaring Summer as she stepped back. "You can't..."
"Why not?" Summer asked.
"I'm just not that kind of person, okay?" Dillon said, lowering his tone once he saw he scared Summer. "Someone trusted me to save them once and I-"
"You're still out there looking for them," Summer smiled. "Even if you can't remember who they are... or if they can't remember you."
"What?" Dillon frowned. "How do you...?"
"You're the kind of person I want saving me," Summer finished as tears burned her eyes. "I don't know why Dillon, but I trust you. Please don't let me down."
Summer ran off, pushing past Scott and Mike. The two boys, plus Flynn ran after her, while Hayden stayed behind.
"What was that about?" Dillon asked, looking over at Hayden, who was watching the sky.
"Three years ago, Summer was attacked by an army of robots. She could have died that day had it not been for one of her best friends. He jumped in and bought her time to run. But she didn't get far before he was killed," Hayden explained. "Summer's been afraid of robots ever since. She's facing her fear, and it's not bad now, but... it still haunts her. She can't remember her friend's face anymore because she doesn't want to. She doesn't want to remember that night. Everything for her is a blur. She just knows she lost her best friend."
Hayden walked off, following her cousins and friends as the rain started to fall. Dillon looked around the park he was in, and noticed families hiding under umbrellas, and people running with suitcases over their heads.
His eyes stopped on two kids, one boy, one girl. The boy was holding up an umbrella and invited the girl underneath. The two looked into each other's eyes, before the boy playfully pushed the girl into the rain. The girl laughed as she tried to get under the umbrella, but the boy started running away. They were having fun. Just the two of them.
"Here!" ten year old Dillon smiled, putting up an umbrella as the rain started to fall. He smiled as a young girl walked up beside him and smiled back. He couldn't make out her face though. "You okay?"
"Yep," the girl said, turning to Dillon, but her face still wasn't clear.
Once the rain stopped, Dillon found his team under a tree. They were wet, but they were waiting for him.
"So," Summer smiled. "You'll do it?"
Her tears were dry, and she looked like she hadn't even shed one, but Dillon still saw the pain in her eyes. He smiled as he nodded.
"One condition."
"You have conditions now?" Scott smirked.
-----RPM-----
Ziggy stepped to the side as one of the prisoners tried to grab him from inside his cage. He smirked as he looked over at the guy, then stuck out his tongue in a teasing manner.
"Hey, look, I'm sorry. I would love to stay, I really would, but I got some work with this little group... I don't know if you've heard of them. They're called... The Power Rangers!"
All the prisoners started to yell as Ziggy ran for the door, stopping in front of Summer.
"Hi, Ziggy Grover, reporting for duty," he said, shaking hands with the yellow Ranger. He leaned in and whispered, "I'm a huge fan."
Summer nodded slowly, trying to smile as Ziggy moved onto Flynn. The blue Ranger offered his hand, but Ziggy refused it.
"No, no, I'm here for the big thing!" he smiled, pulling Flynn into a hug. Flynn was taken by surprise and Hayden noticed when Flynn looked over at her, asking for help.
Ziggy finally let go and walked up to Mike.
"Love the colour!" he smiled, hugging Mike. The D-Green Ranger shook his head, but laughed as he patted the boy on the back.
Scott turned to Dillon, a little surprised by Ziggy's attitude, before the boy hugged him.
"Dillon, why him?" Scott asked.
Dillon just shrugged as he looked at Ziggy.
"He can make shadow puppets."
"Dill Pickles! My brother from another mother!" Ziggy smiled, hugging his friend.
"Ziguardo," Dillon smiled, earning strange looks from his teammates. "Long story."
Hayden was last to receive a hug, but due to her smaller size, she felt as if it was more of a choke hold then a friendly greeting. When Ziggy let go, she breathed deeply and shook her head.
"Wow..."
"Ziguardo," Dillon started. "Meet the team, over there is Sunshine, followed by the Hulk, Bug Zapper, Red and finally Princess."
"Excuse me?" the five teens asked.
"When did you... how did you?" Hayden frowned. "No nicknaming us!"
"Wait... I think I got this!" Ziggy smiled, "Summer, Flynn, Mike, Scott and Hayden?"
"Yep, and this," Hayden turned as Kaylee walked into the prison room, "is my mom."
Ziggy nearly choked on his words as he spotted former Green Ranger, Kaylee Ann Hanson-Brooks.
"No... way. She's your mother?"
"I'm waiting for Dr. K to give me the DNA results," Hayden smirked.
-----RPM-----
Back in the base, Dillon had just installed his Series Black uniform before morphing. After he watched as the five others morphed.
"So, how does it feel?" Flynn asked, putting his hand on Dillon's shoulder.
"Like I'm wearing a thong," Dillon frowned. "Seriously."
"KINKS!" Kaylee called from her chair.
Ziggy stood up from his seat, putting his popcorn down as he applauded.
"That has got to be the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life!" he exclaimed. His eyes suddenly widened when he remembered he had a camera on him. "Wait. Don't move! Hold that pose! It's perfect!"
The Rangers exchanged glances before posing for a picture. Ziggy smiled as he pushed the button, then looked at the picture he had taken.
"Perfect! It's great!" he smiled. He then stopped and took a closer look. "Oh... no wait... Yellow, your eyes were closed, let's try another one."
"Can he even see my eyes?" Summer asked, looking over at Mike, who shrugged.
"Black, can I see a smile, you're a Power Ranger!" Ziggy continued. "Have fun with it!"
"Okay, just take the picture!" Dillon groaned. Ziggy nodded, this time setting up the picture so he was in it. Unfortunately he was covering the Blue Ranger, the Pink Ranger and half of the Yellow Ranger.
Ziggy jumped when he felt a hand slam down on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Kaylee staring at him.
"I'm kind of ruining the special Ranger moment, aren't I?" he asked, backing away, back to his seat, "Maybe stepping on tradition just a bit? Totally cool, I understand, just pretend like I'm not here!"
He moved his fingers over his lips, as if zipping them shut as he walked back to his seat.
"OH, just one thing though!" he said. "What's with the spandex?"
The lights started to flicker as the computer screen behind Kaylee turned from white to red.
-----RPM-----
"Talk about sensitive," Ziggy groaned as he knelt down on the floor, scrubbing it with a toothbrush.
"Would it be cliché if I told you that you missed a spot?" Dr. K asked.
Summer and Hayden passed by at that moment and laughed.
Flynn walked into the room with a pillow and smiled as he tossed it to Dillon.
"Welcome aboard," he said. "There's no turning back now, is there?"
"Okay, so you've got Summer and Hayden's rooms over there," Scott pointed to a yellow and pink door, then moved his finger to a Blue, Red, Green and Black door. "And our room's just up there."
Mike walked up behind Dillon and noticed the pocket watch he had with him. He heard the soft lullaby and laughed.
"Do you sleep with that thing?" he asked.
"I would if I slept," Dillon sighed.
Summer and Hayden passed by the Black Ranger. When Summer heard the pocket watch, she leaned in a little closer to hear it better.
"I know I've heard it before, in the holding room... but it sounds familiar..." she told the Black Ranger.
"I found it," Dillon explained. "I found this with me three years ago. It's the first thing I remember."
"Hayden, do you remember that tune?" Summer asked, turning to her cousin.
"I think Aunt Kira sang something that had that as a melody," Hayden shrugged. "But that was way back when we were kids. I wouldn't remember the words now, and I'm sure your mom doesn't either."
Hayden gently tapped Summer on the back as she walked off. Summer nodded, as if to say goodnight, before taking the watch from Dillon.
"Do you mind?" she asked.
"Not at all," Dillon smiled. Summer smiled back, and turned the watch over, reading what was on the back.
A life without love is like a year without Summer.
"I remember hearing that..." Summer frowned.
"It's a quote," Dillon explained. "You probably heard it in school."
"Yeah... probably," Summer smiled. Dillon nodded as he walked off, leaving his watch with Summer. She looked down at it again, reading the last part.
... A year without Summer.
"Why is Summer capitalized?" she asked herself, closing the watch to make the music stop. She stuffed it in her pocket and walked to bed.
-----RPM-----
Dillon woke up with a start. He tried to breathe normally as his dream flashed through his mind. He was standing in a room, and someone was looking at him. It was the same person as in the memory at the park, but he still didn't see her face. The only thing he saw was his watch as the person gave it to him.
"My dad gave me this on my birthday. Hold onto it."
That was all she said as she gave him the watch.
He jumped out of bed and quickly got changed. He then raced down to the garage where Ziggy was still awake.
"Ziguardo," he called. "Do you know a way out of the city?"
Ziggy looked up at Dillon and frowned.
"Out? You mean... you mean out? Out?"
"Just tell me."
"They burn propane gas at the station at dawn," Ziggy started. "But you've only got like, two seconds between burns..."
Dillon had all he needed. He tapped Ziggy on the back as he ran off for Scott's car.
"Dude, you can't just go!" Ziggy called after him. Hayden walked out from her room and saw Dillon sitting in Scott's car. She ran to stop him.
"Watch me!" Dillon frowned, stealing the keys and driving off. Hayden jumped in front of the car, hoping that Dillon would stop, but he knew her powers, so he kept driving, running her over.
Ziggy covered his mouth with his hand as he watched Dillon drive over Hayden. When he was gone, Ziggy ran over to her and knelt down beside her.
"Hayden! Hayden you okay?" he called.
"Me? Yeah," Hayden coughed, looking down at her arm, which was bent in two. Ziggy tried holding down his dinner.
"Want me to call your mom?" he asked, panicked.
"No... um..." Hayden looked around nervously. Ziggy didn't know about her powers. What if he turned her in? But her arm was killing her so much.
"I'll go get a doctor! Or your mom! Hayden you need help!" Ziggy yelled.
Hayden decided she had better calm him down before he woke anyone up, especially Summer.
"I'll be fine, look," she said, putting her arm back into place. Ziggy watched as the swelling died and Hayden started moving her fingers. "Good as new."
"You're... you're a..."
"Ziggy, please..." Hayden begged, standing up and putting her hands on his arms. "If you tell anyone other than the team, Dr. K and my mom, they're going to hunt me down and lock me up! And they might go after the others. You can't..."
"Won't tell a soul," Ziggy smiled, winking at Hayden.
Suddenly, the alarms went off, waking up the other Rangers.
"Some kind of substance dispersed inside the city is prompting the shield frequency," Dr. K announced. "We have multiple power breaches."
Summer walked out from her room and noticed Scott's car was missing, but the red Ranger was still present. She stopped in her tracks and dropped onto the stairs.
"Dillon..."
"He went in my car!" Scott frowned, running to the spot where his car used to be.
"I'm trying to find the source!" Flynn called, working on the computer as Hayden and Mike looked over his shoulder.
"But my car!" Scott frowned.
"Screw the car!" Hayden yelled. "Attack, city. Doomsday!"
"But... my car! Nobody touches my car!"
"Dill Pickle is as close to no one as you're going to meet," Ziggy sighed.
-----RPM-----
Dillon sat in Scott's car, just a few feet away from the doors where the propane was burning. A woman was speaking on the radio, giving off co-ordinates to the city of NewTech and Corinth.
The Black Ranger just sat there, pondering whether he should attempt to leave or not.
-----RPM-----
"You guys just keep getting uglier," Scott frowned as he and the other Rangers arrived face to face with the newest monster.
"Are you sure that's a guy?" Hayden asked, tilting her head to the side. "I just see a whole lotta ugly. That... oh, shit. I'm sorry. It is a monster!"
"You're too late!" the monster yelled. "I've already released the mist and a thousand Grinders are loose in the city."
"Engine cell, activate!" Scott called as he and the Rangers pulled out their hand blasters. The Rangers charged through the Grinders, destroying them with their weapons as they ran by.
"NO!" the monster yelled. "My Grinders!"
"And you're next!" Hayden smirked.
The rangers pulled out their individual weapons as they turned their attacks on the monster. For a while, the monster was taking one hell of a beating, until he retreated, leaving the Rangers to battle the Grinders left in the city, as he destroyed it.
"C'mon guys!" Mike called, taking off down the path leading to the center of the city.
Before the Rangers could reach the center of the city, the monster had grown to an enormous size, causing all of them to groan. Hayden whipped out her morpher and called her mom.
"Can you send the Zords?" she asked. "We've got bug problems."
"Wish I could, Hay," Kaylee frowned. "But something's jamming the signal."
"My guess," Mike sighed as Grinders appeared from nowhere. "It's them."
"They have something that's interfering with our connection to the Zord bay," Dr. K explained. "Try locating the one with a remote of some sort and destroy it."
"Easier said than done Dr. K," Summer sighed estimating the number of robot heads. "There are hundreds of them!"
The Grinders suddenly started running forward, attacking the Rangers from every direction. Normally the foot soldiers would have been easy, but there was a good group on every Ranger, making the odds terrible for the heroes.
"I can't get them off me!" Summer yelled, kicking one in the face, only to have three grab onto her.
"Energy levels are dropping!" Flynn shouted as he clutched his ribs.
"Dropping?" Mike frowned. "Levels are reaching critical!"
-----RPM-----
"No, there pinning us down!" Ziggy heard from Scott over the radio.
"Guys, we're almost outta juice!" Flynn said.
"There in trouble!" Ziggy yelled, running over to the computers and standing over Kaylee.
"I know... but I can't access anything until they destroy the Grinder jamming our signals!" Kaylee yelled, slamming her fists down on the keyboard.
"What can I do?" Ziggy smiled.
-----RPM-----
The Rangers fell to the ground as their suits blinked away, and then came back.
"Not good," Hayden coughed.
-----RPM-----
Ziggy watched the monitors desperately before turning back to the computer.
"Doc, can you tap me into this radio transmission?" he asked.
"Don't ever call me Doc," Dr. K said.
"Just, tell me how to do it!" Ziggy yelled, losing his patience. "I want to help!"
-----RPM-----
"We need to conserve energy," Scott told his team as he pushed away a Grinder.
"Wanna tell us how?" Mike frowned.
Summer was slashed across the chest, before falling to her knees, unmorphed.
"I'm out of power!" she yelled.
Mike jumped in front of her, covering her before he too was attacked by a Grinder and forced to Power down. Not long after him, Scott went down, followed by Flynn.
"Mom! I need backup!" Hayden yelled, running over to her friends and standing between them and the Grinders. "I don't care from where! I need help!"
-----RPM-----
Dillon didn't know how, but all of a sudden his radio was broadcasting the fight going on between the Rangers and the foot soldiers. He frowned as he looked down at it, but still kept driving towards the burning propane.
But when he heard Summer scream, he sharply turned the wheel and drove the other way.
-----RPM-----
"Summer!" Mike and Scott yelled as the yellow Ranger flew through the air, landing a few feet behind them.
"Pick on someone your own size!" Hayden yelled, running into the Grinder that attacked her cousin. She realised her mistake when all the Grinders started to move closer to her. "Mom... help."
"I'm trying Hayden, just hold on," Kaylee said.
"I don't think I can!" Hayden yelled. Her eyes widened when she saw the Grinder holding a little machine. "Wait! I think I found it!"
She jumped up to her feet and ran for her target. She jumped into the air, and kicked the Grinder's hands, knocking the machine out. It smashed into pieces as it hit the ground.
"YES!" she heard Dr. K and her mother exclaim.
"Hayden, behind you!" Summer yelled, but it was too late. Hayden failed to notice the Grinders behind her had a blaster. They fired it at the poor girl, hitting her square in the chest as she turned around to get a look.
"HAYDEN!" Scott yelled as he watched his youngest Ranger flip through the air and land on a destroyed car.
"She'll... she'll heal, right?" Flynn asked, trying to get to his feet, but falling once he reached his knees.
"Depends," Mike frowned. "Is she bleeding... a lot?"
Before Mike's question was answered, a red and black car sped past them before stopping. Dillon jumped out and smirked.
"RPM, Get in Gear!" he yelled.
"If you scratched my baby, I'm going to make you wish you never came back!" Scott yelled.
"You four take care of big and ugly, I'll keep the Grinders busy."
"But Dillon, there must be hundreds of them!" Flynn yelled.
"And we can't form the Megazord without Hayden!" Summer added. Dillon reached into the car and pulled out a few of his circular bombs.
"Try using this," he said, throwing them to Summer. She caught it and frowned.
"The hell do I do with these?" she asked.
"Turn them on, and throw them at the monster!" Ziggy's voice told her over the communication system.
"Then get your asses, and Hayden's back here!" Kaylee added.
Summer nodded, handing each of her friends one of the bombs.
"How do you turn it... oh... I got it!" Mike yelled, throwing his bomb up into the air. The other did the same. Once the bombs reached the right height, they exploded.
The ground shook as fire and smoke filled the sky above them. When the smoke cleared, Scott smiled.
"Enemy is down, down and out," he said into the communication system. He turned to Dillon, but noticed he was too far to hear him, so he kept the line of communication open as he spoke. "Ranger Black, give me a status update, now."
"I'll be fine," Dillon said, and the Rangers could tell by his tone that he was smirking.
"No, I mean my car! Tell me about my car!"
"Ranger Black, out."
"Dillon! Dillon! DAMMIT!"
-----RPM-----
"Aunt Kaylee!" Mike yelled, running into the garage with his team behind him, Flynn carrying an unconscious Hayden. "She's not healing. We pulled every piece of metal out... but she's... just... not."
"Blood loss," Kaylee sighed, taking her daughter from Flynn. "It's being a bitch."
"Will she be okay?" Summer asked.
"If I can get some blood into her," Kaylee smiled.
"Where are you going to find blood?" Ziggy asked.
"From me..."
Kaylee looked over her shoulder and smiled as a girl walked up behind her, pink lights shining around her. She was taller than Kaylee, with curly blonde hair instead of straight and appeared to be at least nineteen, maybe twenty years old. What stuck out was the tattoo on her wrist that matched the forty year old's.
"Sammy."
To Be Continued