Syber Series Chapter 4 – Turning The Tides
The wailing of the sirens in the air was almost deafening to the citizens of Angel Grove. In only a few short minutes, the three mechanical beasts that had been unleashed on the city were causing unbelievable destruction to every building they came across. The sirens meant to warn citizens to stay inside and out of harm's way were of no use, as the machines were devastating so much of the city that no one was safe inside or outside of the buildings.
The Police had responded quickly, and were trying to do their best to evacuate the citizens safely, but they realized it was a losing battle when the rubble that had been falling to the ground began to form into hundreds of Mechanizers that immediately began attacking and detaining the fleeing citizens.
The Rangers felt powerless as they watched the destruction, running through the streets and trying to help as many people as they could. They had tried teleporting moments before the invasion began, but found their communicators completely disabled. They weren't sure if that meant there was something wrong with their communicators, or if there was something wrong at the Power Chamber.
"We have to hurry; this is getting too far out of hand!" Tommy shouted as he kicked a Mechanizer that was attempting to hold down a mother and her young son. It swung back around and Tommy blocked the incoming punch before spinning around using the Mechanizer's own force to flip it over on the ground and then he slammed his foot through the Mechanizer's head.
"Tommy, are you even sure this thing is still there?" Adam asked as he jumped into a spin kick to another Mechanizer's head. Tanya and Justin were helping the mother and her son to stand up and ushering them to flee towards the Police they could see stationed at the end of the street.
"Yes. Billy told me he left it at his house in case of emergencies. It's our only option for getting to the Power Chamber right now." Tommy answered as they looked around to make sure no more Mechanizers were in the immediate vicinity causing trouble.
"What about this Billy's parents? What are we going to say to them?" Justin asked.
"Billy told his parents the truth before he left. They're one of the few people of Angel Grove we trusted with our secret. There won't be any issues there." Tanya replied.
"I just hope everything is ok with Alpha and Zordon." Adam added as they continued along down the streets, trying to head towards Billy's house.
"I just hope Syberia isn't taking this chance to spread the invasion past Angel Grove. It's gonna be hard enough to handle all of this without having to worry about covering other cities too." Tommy said.
They continued along, taking care of a few more groups of Mechanizers along the way and were relieved when they finally came upon the street Billy used to live on. Tommy realized they were in luck as they approached Billy's house; his parents were outside packing up their car.
"Tommy!" Billy's dad yelled as the Rangers ran up. "What in the world is going on out there?"
"We're in big trouble and need to get into Billy's garage." Tommy answered as they all started to walk towards the back of the house. Billy's dad followed, pulling his keys out of his pocket as they went.
"Billy said you might be needing this, but I honestly thought you all had everything under control these days. It's been so peaceful!" He answered as he began fiddling with the lock to the garage.
"Yeah, so did we. But right now we're stuck without powers or any way to get back to our base to do something about it." Adam responded.
"We really appreciate your help here, Mr. Cranston!" Tanya added as he finally opened the garage lock and pulled the door up.
"I just hope this old thing still works!" He replied as they all entered the garage and he removed the tarp from the old VW Bug that was parked away tightly in the garage. "I think Billy affectionately named this the 'Rad Bug' if I remember correctly!" He stated with a smile.
"When this is all over, I'll bring this back Mr. Cranston. I know how important it was to Billy." Tommy stated as he hugged Billy's dad.
"Don't worry about it, just go save the world! And be careful!" Mr. Cranston demanded as the four Rangers piled inside the car.
Down in Florida, Kimberly had spent the better part of her morning listening to music and cleaning her apartment. She found the tasks easily suited to keeping her mind busy and not thinking about home. Her coach had started to notice that she was distracted and suggested to her that she take the day to clear her mind and find resolution to her distractions so they could continue their training. She was trying, but kept coming back to the fact that she just missed it, and wasn't sure if her desire to compete outweighed the hole she was feeling currently.
As she was finishing with a few dishes in the kitchen, a knock at her door brought her out of her head. She quickly made her way over and answered it to find Eric on the other side once again. She smiled and gave him a hug.
"Hey! Coach gave me the day off, so I was thinking we should go to the beach!" She said as she let him in and started back to the kitchen.
"You haven't seen the news, have you?" Eric asked as he picked up her remote control and turned on the TV. "It's on every channel." He said as Kimberly began walking back to see what he was talking about.
"What's on every channel?" She asked as she stood next to him and watched the news broadcast he turned on. A woman in a blazer with short brown hair was speaking on camera while sirens could be heard in the background.
"No discernible path can be determined as to where these machines are heading, but the destruction continues to pile up in downtown Angel Grove. Officials have been attempting to evacuate as many people as they can, but the militarized forces filling the streets are quickly overpowering their efforts. It is unclear as to whether or not the attack on Angel Grove will spill into surrounding cities, but the President has ordered evacuation for the entire state of California."
"What the hell is going on?" Kim asked as she looked to Eric. The screen quickly switched to live footage from Angel Grove, depicting the large Zords that were attacking Angel Grove. Kimberly quickly noticed the Rangers were nowhere to be seen.
"Reports have been coming in that these machines seem to be piloted by 3 beings that could only be described as "A New version of the Power Rangers" but we have yet to confirm if the reports are accurate or not. The Power Rangers have not been seen since the attack began, begging the question on all of Angel Grove's minds, where are the Power Rangers?"
"This is completely insane. I mean, I know you said attacks used to happen all the time in the last few years, and I've even seen a few news reports about it, but nothing you told me ever sounded as heavy as this." Eric stated
"I can't believe this is happening…. Who are those guys?" She asked, more to herself than to Eric.
"No idea. But this is scary Kim. What if this starts happening everywhere?" He asked. Kim began to shake her head in response.
"No, the Power Rangers will be there, I know they will." Kim said with a determined face. "Eric, I have to make some calls. I need to check on my friends. Can I call you later?" Kim asked as she started to push him toward the front door.
"Yeah, a-are you sure? I can stay?" He stated apprehensively as she opened the front door.
"I'm sure. I appreciate it, I really do, but you should be with your family right now. If this does start happening everywhere, I promise, I'll come find you." She said as she kissed him on the cheek. "I promise."
"Ok, just call me when you can, let me know what you find out?" He asked.
"Of course!" She responded as she hugged him and they said their goodbyes. As soon as the door was closed, Kim ran straight to her bedroom and opened her dresser drawer to pull out the spare communicator all the old Rangers had. They decided a long time ago that they would all keep them in case of emergencies, like this.
"Alpha, come in." She spoke into the communicator as she brought it up to her face. The familiar error sound chimed that let her know communication systems were down. "What is going on?"
As the Rad Bug touched down inside their base, the Rangers looked around warily. The control panels around the Power Chamber were all smoking, and the lights had all gone out, leaving only the flashing lights of the alarms to provide any sight to the Rangers. They stepped out of the car cautiously, finding the silence alarming.
"Man, this place is trashed!" Tanya said as she looked around in shock.
"Alpha?" Tommy called out, looking around the Power Chamber for signs of the Android.
"Rangers!" Alpha cried out quietly. The Rangers turned to the back of the room to see Alpha laying in a pile of glass on the ground at the foot of the display cases for their old suits. His chest looked badly singed and was still smoking, like the consoles around the room. They all ran over quickly to his side.
"Alpha, are you alright?" Tanya asked as they helped him to sit up carefully.
"A few of my systems were damaged in the explosion, but my self repair program has already begun working. I should be fine in a few hours." Alpha responded with ragged speech, seeming as though his power cells were on the verge of shutting down. "Somehow the feedback surge redirected to us, causing all of our systems to overload. I tried to back away from the console, but the blast knocked me all the way back here. How did you manage to get here?"
"We used Billy's Rad Bug." Adam answered. "Everything seems to be down." He added as he looked around the room.
"Including Zordon." Justin said as he nodded to the empty warp tube.
"I'm so sorry Rangers, I don't know how this happened!" Alpha answered, his speech slightly slurring.
"They did it Alpha." Tommy answered. "Somehow they got in here last night and disabled the Zords and did something to our systems to make this happen."
"Ay yi…" Alpha's voice cut out as the lights on his body and visor turned off. The Rangers looked to each other with looks of worry on their faces. "yi Rangers!" He cried out suddenly, startling the Rangers. "My system control module is shorting out Rangers. I may not have much time before I shut down to finish repairs."
"What can we do to help Alpha?" Justin asked.
"I'll be fine, and once I'm back I can get our systems repaired and bring Zordon's connection to our dimension back online." Alpha answered.
"How do we get our powers back Alpha?" Tommy asked.
"You need to…" Alpha's voice cut out again as his systems shut down once more. This time a single red button on his chest began flashing.
"What's this?" Adam asked as he pushed the button. Suddenly static started playing from one of the consoles along the wall. As they all turned to see the source, one of the viewing monitors lit up to show an image of Billy on the screen.
"Finally! I thought you guys would never call!" He cried as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"Billy!" Tommy smiled as he stood up and walked over to the screen. "How?"
"You pressed the red button, didn't you?" Billy asked, smiling when Tommy nodded in answer. "I set up a subroutine in Alpha's system banks before I left. If he was ever damaged severely, it automatically sends me a signal. If he shuts down, the button is basically a speed dial to call me. I know I should have told you guys that, but I knew none of you would be able to resist pressing the big blinking light for long. I've been sitting here waiting to hear from someone for the last 30 minutes since I couldn't get through to you!" Billy said as he started to look around. "I can't see very much in there, but it doesn't look good. What's going on Tommy?"
"We're in big trouble. The short story is, a feedback surge took out all of our systems and took our powers away. Everything is down, and now so is Alpha and even Zordon lost his connection to the Power Chamber. There's a major attack happening and I don't know what to do or how to fix any of it." Tommy answered as it looked like he was close to breaking down.
"Tommy, I'll help you get through this. That's what friends do." Billy said as he gave Tommy a reassuring smile and then turned slightly to the side. "Alpha regularly uploads a backup of the Power Chamber files to me, just in case anything happens." Billy said as he began typing on something on his end that sounded like a keyboard. "If I'm reading this right, it seems you guys created your new powers using the Power Chamber's main frame and a direct tap into the Morphing Grid?"
"We did. But, we are back to using the Zeo powers currently." Tommy answered.
"Oh, well that one's easy then. The feedback surge must have disrupted your connection to your individual crystals. The five of you just need to touch your individual subsections of the Zeo crystal to rebind to it and bring your powers back online."
"Does it have to be all five of us? Katherine is currently missing and being held hostage." Tommy asked.
"Tommy…." Billy began, "what the hell is going on there?" Tommy hung his head in response.
"Hell is exactly right. We're losing, big time."
"I'm coming back. Get Alpha moved onto a table, I'll work on him when I get there and try to get him online again."
"Are you sure? Everything is down, I have no idea when we'd be able to send you back." Tommy warned.
"Yes. You obviously need my help, and you're going to get it." Billy said as he ended the communication.
Back in the city, fighter jets were finally showing up on the scene and began firing upon the large Zords, to no effect. All three continued their rampages ignoring the attempts to slow them down. Neither the gunfire nor the missiles they tried using against them seemed to be having any effect.
In the streets of Angel Grove, military tanks had also arrived and began firing their weapons at the Mechanizers over running the streets to much greater effect. But even though their weapons were able to destroy the Mechanizers, more continued to form in their place. The damaged buildings all around continued to provide materials for creating the creatures, and currently most buildings barely looked like skeletons of their former selves. Most of the people had been evacuated except for the Police and military forces that were doing all they could to try and contain the threats they were faced with.
Deep in the streets, some stragglers were still trying to find a safe way out of danger, but with the constant influx of more and more Mechanizers, almost no where seemed to be clear for escape. Two teenagers were trying to hide from a small group of Mechanizers that was currently rampaging through the street they were on, seemingly in search of any people left. The two teens had found a dumpster to hide behind and were currently trying to eye around for an easy exit.
"Bulky, these things are everywhere! How are we going to get out of here?" The skinnier of the two asked.
"I don't know Skull, let me think!" The larger teen spat back. "Where are the Power Rangers? Shouldn't they be here taking care of all this by now?"
"Maybe these things are keeping them too busy to help. We should stay put, you know the Rangers always find us!"
"And maybe these things will enjoy wearing our rib cages at hats!" Bulk angrily responded. "The Power Rangers aren't coming. We have to figure out a way out of this ourselves! Maybe we can even be the heroes!"
"Bulky… I think we better move quick." Skull said as he started grabbing at Bulk's jacket.
"Not until it's clear!" Bulk responded. "We're safer here."
"I don't think so!" Skull cried as he forced Bulk forward. As they looked back, a Mechanizer had its bladed hand embedded in the dumpster where their heads had been a moment before. The two teens screamed as they scrambled to get up. The Mechanizer wrenched its hand free and began to walk towards them as several others caught sight of them and also made moves to box them in.
"This is not how we go out! We go out fighting Skull, are you with me?" Bulk shouted as he shook Skull's shoulders.
"Yeah, these guys are gonna have to work for our rib cages!" Skull replied as he frowned and rubbed at his midsection. Bulk raised his fists and began to cry out as he charged at the Mechanizer. He barreled through and used his momentum to swing a punch at the Mechanizer's face, but it collided with the metal creating a loud hollow banging noise and Bulk recoiled holding his fist.
The Mechanizer grabbed him by the shirt and hoisted him in the air with one hand before tossing him back several feet, using him to knock down Skull as well. They both cried out as they hit the ground and scrambled to try and get up as the Mechanizer began to approach them again. They both looked up as one of the Mechanizers was kicked from behind and forced to tumble forward. As the other Mechanizers turned to look, two more young men stood before them, both with dark hair and standing firm. One of them in black held a metal rod in his hand and swung it around like a sword, and the other in blue had a long pole tucked behind his arm.
"Boy are we glad to see you!" Skull stated happily as they both darted around the Mechanizer and joined the two boys.
"You guys need to get out of here. Jason and I can handle this." The boy in blue responded.
"Rocky, you should go with them. You shouldn't risk hurting your back again." Jason said as he swung the metal rod around again and eyed the Mechanizers that were grouping up before them.
"What, and let you have all the fun? I don't think so. I'm not letting you face these guys alone." Rocky answered before turning back to the other two. "Go, now. Find somewhere safe and stay there." Bulk and Skull nodded as they took off running, yelling good luck behind them.
"So, these are the guys that put a hurt on our friends." Jason said as they stepped forward and the Mechanizers regarded them both. "Let's show them why that was a bad idea." Rocky nodded as the two of them jumped forward and began to fight with the machines.
"I know; the reports have been playing all morning." Kim stated into the phone as she paced around her living room. "I've been trying to get in touch with anyone out there, but phone lines are all busy and my communicator isn't working. What if something is seriously wrong Trini?"
"I don't know, but there's not much we can do. My communicator is down too, so it's got to be something with the Command Center, not us." Trini answered on the other side of the line. "And you don't think whatever is attacking is from this Divatox lady?"
"No, the creatures I keep seeing on the news don't look anything like what Divatox had. And I also don't think she has anywhere near the smarts to pull off an attack like this. I mean it when I say that chick is seriously lacking in brains. I think this is something new, and obviously way stronger." Kim answered. "It's driving me crazy not being able to do anything right now, I don't know how you guys did it after you left."
"It was hard, for sure. When you guys lost your powers and the ThunderZords, Jason Zack and I were watching the news reports constantly. It broke our hearts not being there with you, and I can imagine you're feeling that way now." Trini answered. "But it gets easier. They'll handle this, somehow. They're still the Power Rangers, and you know they'll find a way. "
"Jason is still in town there too. Gosh, I hope he made it somewhere safe through all this." Kim said as she held her hand up to her forehead.
"I'm sure he did Kim, you know Jason, he can definitely take care of himself."
"With all of this going on…." Kim said as she watched the live footage of more attacks from the army being brushed off by the large Zords on her TV "I think all bets are off."
Having been in low light conditions for a while, the Rangers had to shield their eyes from the bright light of Billy's teleportation beam. As he materialized before them, he looked around and frowned at the state the Power Chamber was in.
"Geeze, this is going to take days to fix!" He responded as he spotted Alpha on a table and moved over to him, ready to get straight to work. "Has he powered back on at all yet?"
"No, not yet." Tommy answered as he pat Billy on the shoulder. "It's really good to see you man."
"How did you get here so fast? Not that I'm complaining!" Tanya asked as she hugged Billy.
"I had already called in a favor for a ride before you guys called. I had a feeling you would need help but I had no idea it would be this bad." Billy answered as he opened Alpha's chest plate to examine the damage inside. "So, fill me in." Adam nodded and proceeded to tell the story of Syberia's appearance and all the ups and downs the Rangers had faced the last four days, including Kat's capture and now the attack on the city that made them lose connection to their powers, all while Billy worked on Alpha's insides to try and get him back online again.
"And now we're here, stuck with no way to help and no way to get our powers back without Katherine." Adam finished.
"You don't necessarily need Kat, you need someone to bond with the crystal. I would do it, but we know how that story ends." Billy responded morosely.
"rebind with the subsections of your Zeo Crystals to get your powers back!" Alpha suddenly cried out as his systems came back online. He looked over to Billy and the lights on his visor began to flash quickly. "Billy! What on Earth are you doing here!" He cried.
"Helping. Now stay still unless you want me to fry your positronic circuitry." He answered as he finished soldering within the droid's chest. As he finished and set his tools down, he closed up Alpha's chest panel and smiled. "There, now at least you'll stay online while your self repair program continues to run."
"Man we've missed you!" Tommy cried as he hugged Billy. "Alpha, we need to get our systems back up. I need to get to Kimberly so we can fix our powers and help the city before it's too late. And no arguing, she's the choice I'm making and without Zordon here, I'm in command." He ordered.
"I'll help." Billy said as he helped Alpha to get down off the table and the two set to work at the control consoles.
"In the meantime, we need to figure out how they disabled our Zords and get it fixed. We're going to be completely useless even with our powers if we can't fight their Zords. Are you guys up to it?" Tommy asked as he turned to the others.
"Of course we are." Adam responded. As the three of them turned to head to the Zord holding bay, Tommy furrowed his forehead and turned to Billy.
"What ride did you call to get here?" He asked. Billy looked up and smiled at Tommy as the lights began to come back on throughout the room.
"Man, these guys just don't quit!" Jason panted as he swung the small metal rod he had been using for a weapon into the side of another Mechanizer's head, knocking it to the ground.
"Sure makes you appreciate putties with the easy off switch!" Rocky responded as he ducked a punch from a Mechanizer and then spun into a sweeping kick to knock it down. "I haven't seen any civilians in a while, do you think most of them managed to get evacuated?"
"Let's hope so. Without the Rangers here fighting these things, I'm pretty sure the government is going to start stepping up their attacks to try and contain these guys. Especially if the city is empty." Jason answered as they began to jog down the street they were on.
"I hope everything is ok. It's not a good sign that the Rangers have been out of the fight for this long." Rocky added.
"No, it's not. And I hate that our communicators aren't working either. I haven't seen anything this bad since Tommy." Jason responded.
"I'm starting to understand why you guys were always worried about Rangers working for the other side again. This is absolutely nuts out here!" They came to a stop as another tank rolled through on the intersecting street they were about to cross. A soldier that was standing up in the hatch looked to the two boys and frowned.
"You kids need to get out of here before you get hurt!" He called out to them. Jason and Rocky ignored his warning and continued along their path. As they made their way through the streets, they finally came within view of the large blue Zord that was currently sweeping its tail along the street, sending abandoned cars that were littering the streets flying.
"I bet this beats being held captive to be sacrificed to an evil lava monster!" Rocky joked as they watched the destruction.
"Dude, I was locked in a bilge for hours with Bulk and Skull smelling like rotten sushi while using horrible accents. I welcomed the evil lava monster." Jason responded with a smile. At that moment, another squadron of fighter jets flew overhead and launched a barrage of missiles at the large Zord, and the two teens watched as the missiles simply had no effect. The Zord turned its head in the direction of the jets and fired a stream of electricity from its eyes that collided with the jets in a fiery explosion, making both boys jump.
"Man, I never realized how unprepared Earth is for dealing with all this." Rocky said as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"We're lucky to have the Power Rangers. Let's just hope they fix whatever is keeping them and get here soon!" Jason replied.
The both looked up to the sky as a sudden rumble began to overtake the area. The clouds were growing dark as lightning began to strike, drawing even the large Zords' attentions. As the rumbling grew louder and louder, all three Zords began to move back in closer together as a large mass broke through the clouds and began to descend from the sky. Jason and Rocky both smiled widely as they looked at each other and Jason spoke, "Now we're in for a show!"