Author's Note: I'm back with another chapter. I wanted to take another direction with this chapter. So I hope you guys like what I have in store. Enjoy.
Rise of the Dark Rangers
Chapter 4
A New Battlefield
In the Dark Fortress Lord Zedd congradulated his Rangers on a job well done.
"Excellent work my Dark Rangers! I couldnt have done a better job myself, and next time we'll have them obliterated forever!" he proclaimed. The dark lord lifted his staff in the air in celebration.
The Dark Rangers chuckled at the prospect. The crew stood unmorphed infront of thier master.
"For the time being I want you to continue your lives as teenagers so that you can antagonize them in either form. The Rangers will be so sick of seeing you they wont know what to do with themselves!" he said.
"Sounds like the perfect plan O Dark One." said Hilary.
The rest of her team snickered thier agreement.
"Attack them on one front, berate them on the next." said Justin.
"Precisely!" said Zedd.
"Thier going to be so sick of us, they'll have no problem breaking their three cardinal rules." said Zane.
"Yes you catch on fast dont you? As you all know Zordon has three basic rules the Rangers must follow or lose the protection of thier powers. They cannot escalate a battle unless I or someone else forces them, they cannot use thier powers for personal gain, such as making themselves famous. And the most important rule of them all is that they cant reveal thier identites to anyone. If any of these three rules are broken they will be immediately stripped of their powers and rendered useless which will make them that much easier to destroy." said Zedd.
"Sounds like fun, when can we start?" asked Justin.
"Soon my boy, soon. But in the meantime let's make them as uncomfortible in thier skin as possible. By assulting them on all sides, they'll have no means of escape from their responsiblility as Rangers." the Dark Lord said.
"Oh yeah, this is going to be sweet." said Hilary.
"I trust you know how to do it?" he said.
"Just leave the rest to us." smirked Zhane.
"They wont know what hit them." said Tina.
"By this time tommorrow, they'll be begging Zordon to relieve them of thier powers." said Blake.
"As for you Green Ranger, you may resume your regular duties as a fireman and whatever else it is you do until I call you again." Zedd ordered.
"Yes master." the fireman said.
"Let's make thier lives a living hell." Justin said.
"Right." his teen counterparts said and teleported out leaving the Green Ranger behind.
"You will have no memory of any of these events until I call you." Zedd told him.
"Yes master, I live to serve you." he said.
"Excellent, now begone." he said.
The Green Ranger teleported out of the Dark Fortress leaving Zedd to his devices (to plot). The next day school was in session at Angel Grove High as Jason made his way to class he was shouldered across the back by Justin. The Red Ranger spun around.
"How's it going Jason?" he said and knocked his books out of his hands.
Jason crouched down and gathered his books never taking his eyes off him. Justin kicked the pile scattering books and papers across the floor. Jason shook his head and started picking up papers. Justin grabbed him by the back of his shirt.
"Hey I'm talking to you!" he told him.
Jason grabbed him by his shirt and stood up half way.
"What is going on here?" Ms. Applebee yelled. The plump teacher stood there with her hands on her hips waiting for an explaination.
Justin brushed him off and walked away leaving Jason to pick up his books.
"Is there any problem?" she asked.
"No Ms. Applebee." he said and stacked the papers in his arm.
"I'm sorry Jason, some of those students can be real jerks." she told him.
The Red Ranger looked up at him as he met up with his friends and rounded the corner.
"Believe me, you dont know the half of it." he said. Billy strolled up the hallway and crouched down next to him.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Justin happened." he said looking up at where his adversary disappeared.
"You mean the Dark Red Ranger." Billy whispered.
"Yeah." he answered.
"Seems as though their trying to make our lives harder, they certainly dont miss a beat." The Blue Ranger said.
"Let's get to class." Jason said scooping up the last of his books and papers.
"Wait up!" Billy said picking up a loose scrap of paper and racing after him.
A while later they joined the others in Ms. Applebee's class. And the teacher stepped through the door with some news.
"Good morning class, before we begin I would like to introduce some new students would you come in please?" she asked.
Their faces fell when they saw who walked through the door.
"Oh no." Jason said.
"You got to be kidding me!" said Zach.
"Why us?" muttered Billy.
It was none other than thier arch enemies.
"Class as you know from earlier we have some new students from Stone Canyon. Would you like to introduce yourselves to the class?" she asked.
"I'm Justin Rouge."
"Zhane Lightning."
"Blake Strange."
"Tina Bloodsby."
"Hilary Hartless."
The Light Rangers all looked away, none of them could stand to make eye contact.
"And what about you on the end?" Ms. Applebee asked.
Next to the door was a tall young man in a green and black plad shirt jacket with a black t-shirt underneath and blue jeans and had short brown hair and blue eyes.
"I'm Kyle Grayson." he answered brightly.
Kim, Jason and the others looked up when they heard the last one's name.
"Kyle Grayson? Your on KIXX-FM." said Jason.
Ms. Applebee looked over at him.
"Yeah that's right." Kyle said.
"How can you be on the radio? Your like the same age as us." said Kim.
"My dad knows the station manager. Its kind of a long story." he explained.
"All right you can tell them all about it later, everyone take your seats." Ms. Applebee told them.
The Dark Rangers all took their seats in the back alongside Bulk and Skull. Kyle sat apart from them on the far left side of the room about three or four seats from the door.
"So you have a show on KIXX 94.5?" Kim asked.
"Yeah I'm on in the evening." he smiled.
"I'm Kimberly." she said shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you." he said.
"Kyle these are Jason, Tommy, Zach, Billy and Trini." she smiled back.
"How's it going guys?" he asked.
"Hey!" said Jason.
"Its cool to meet you man, That's my favorite station." Zach said shaking his hand. The new guy laughed.
"Its really to meet you." Trini said.
"Its great to meet an on-air audio broadcasting personality." Billy said.
"Uh what?" he said.
"He said its cool that your a DJ." Trini translated.
"I knew that." he replied.
"If I can have everyone's attention?" came Ms. Applebee's voice.
"Sorry." said Jason. The rest of the team apologised while she proceeded to give the lesson.
While this was going on the Dark Rangers went out of thier way to annoy thier counterparts by shooting spitwads at Jason and the others. Bulk and Skull joined in on them, the guys tried to ignore them as much as possible. Until one hit him behind the ear forcing Jason to yell at them.
"Knock it off!"
"What's going on back there?" Ms. Applebee asked.
"Nothing." Skull said.
"Give me the straws." she ordered.
Everyone in the back row groaned.
"Come on, I want all of them." she said.
The evil Rangers were comtemplating whether to turn on her, when Tina convinced them otherwise.
"Let's just play along for now. We can get away with alot more later." she told them.
The group handed over thier straws, while Bulk and Skull put up a bit more resistance.
"Boys...do I have to give you detention this early in the week?" Ms. Applebee asked.
The guys finally relented and turned over thier straws to her.
"Thank you." she said turning her back to them.
"Lard butt." Skull muttered.
"What was that?" she asked.
"Nothing." he covered. She gave him a stern look before returning to the front of the class.
"Good one." Justin whispered.
"Thanks, I've had a lot of pratice." Skull said.
"You think that's good wait till you get a load of this trick." Tina said as Ms. Applebee sat down in her chair.
As soon as she touched the seat she sprang up in agony, the good Rangers jump and look back at the evil Rangers. Ms. Applebee reached behind her and pulled out a tack. Jason, Trini, Billy and Zach got up to check on her.
"Ms. Applebee are you all right?" Jason asked.
"Somebody put thumbtacks in my chair!" she yelled.
The team looked at the back of the room.
"And I think I know who it was." Zach said.
"We had nothing to do with it." Justin said innocently.
"Yeah you cant pin this on us." said Hilary. Bulk and Skull laughed at the intentional pun and high-fived each other before high-fiving Justin and Blake.
"Nice one." said Skull.
The seven teenagers cast an evil glare at the newcombers and knew it was going to be a long week. A while later they were at the Youth Center after school where the guys were sparring. Billy was at the bar drinking a fruit concoction with Trini and Kimberly. Jason, Zach and Tommy were sparring in one of the martial arts training circles on the far side of the gym. Kyle was on one of the exercise machines getting pumped, working on his arms while other students were scattered about doing thier thing. It wasnt long until Bulk and Skull walked in with some new friends.
"Oh no look who's here." Trini said. Billy and Kimberly looked to thier left and saw them.
"Oh great that's all we need." said Billy.
"Hey guys...we'd like you to meet some new friends." Bulk said putting his arms around Justin and Blake's shoulders.
"Yeah, some new friends. hahahahaha!" cackled Skull.
Kim and Trini groaned as they turned around in thier seats to face them.
"These guys alot like you only cooler!" said Bulk.
"I'd disagree with that." Billy said under his breath.
"Hey you got a problem with that geekwad?" Bulk said grabbing Billy by his tank top.
"Leave me alone Bulk." he said.
"Why dont you guys do everyone a favor and buzz off?" asked Kim.
"We could say the same about you." said Hil.
"Oh-ho!" said Skull.
"Stay out of this. Guys come on let's get out of here, its starting to smell in here." Kim said gathering her stuff.
"You want to throw down missy?" said Hil.
"And fight below my level? I dont think so." she said. Hil threw a punch at Kim.
The Pink Ranger shrieked and dodged it. Billy got between them to keep her from hurting Kim. And took a swing at Billy.
"Come on!" Jason said and the others followed.
Bulk grabbed Billy by the shirt and Hil hit him but not hard enough to phase him. Billy held Hil's wrists as Bulk swung at him, the Blue Ranger dodged it causing Bulk to trip over his feet and plow into the bar stools. The others began attacking Billy, Trini got between one of them and blocked one of the attacks. Jason, Zach and Tommy rushed over. Skull swung at Billy and missed Kim kicked him in the chest knocking him to the ground. Zhane managed to punch Billy in the face knocking him back a couple steps while Trini defended him. Jason grabbed Zhane by the arm and was met with a punch to the face and knocked him to the floor. While Zach and Tommy tried to break up the fight until finally Ernie came out with arms waving ordering them to stop.
"This is not cool! All of you out!" he yelled at the Dark Rangers.
The team just looked at him.
"Get out!" he yelled. Justin and his crew scoffed at him and left. It was rare to see Ernie this angry.
"Man what is up with them?" he asked his regulars.
"I wish I knew." said Zach.
"Jason you all right?" Ernie asked.
"Yeah I'll be fine." he said being helped up by Ernie.
"Come on let's put something on that eye." he said leading him around the back.
"What was that all about?" Kyle said walking up to them.
"Its a long story." said Kim.
"We'll tell you about it later." said Tommy.
"Hopefully that's the last we'll see of them for a while." Trini said.
Back at the Command Center Zordon kept close watch on the goings-on.
"This is worse than I feared, Lord Zedd has taken his battle to the next level. Alpha teleport the Rangers here at once, there's something I need to discuss with them."
"Yes Zordon." Alpha said pressing a series of buttons.
The communicators went off simotaniously causing several of the Rangers to clap thier hand over the devices to silence them.
"What was that?" asked Kyle.
"Uh our watches are synchonized." Zach said.
"Yeah we really need to be somewhere." Kim told him.
"Jason are you coming?" Billy asked.
"Yeah." he answered from the kitchen.
"Are you sure your all right?" Ernie asked.
"Yeah I'll be fine, thanks." he said giving him the steak.
"Keep it." he said.
"I wont be needing it where I'm going." he said laying it down.
"All right, just be careful." Ernie said. The Red Ranger looked at him strangely.
"In case you run into them again." he said.
"Right, got ya." he said and took off with the others.
Ernie just shook his head.
"Sometimes I wonder about those guys." he said.
"We'll catch you later Kyle!" Trini said as they ducked into the hallway.
"We read you Alpha." Jason said.
"Teleport to the Command Center at once." he replied.
"Right." replied Jason. The team changed into a colored beams of light and faded through the ceiling.
A while later they reappeared in the Command Center.
"What's up Zordon?" Jason asked.
"As you already know Lord Zeed has doubled his efforts in assulting you off the battlefield. By doing this he is trying to get you to break the three sacred rules of being a Ranger. You need to be on your best guard and am especially disappointed in you Kimberly." he said.
"Why me?" she asked.
"By responding to her threats you were giving them exactly what they wanted." he told her.
"I know, I'm sorry that wasnt very smart." she said.
"Your forgiven. Being under Lord Zedd's spell makes them very unstable and very scepitble to react violently I want you all to be careful whenever you encounter them." Zordon told them.
"That doesnt even begin to cover it. Have you figured out a way to beat them?" Jason asked.
"Not yet, the new spell Zedd's using is complex. Instead of mind control, Zedd is letting thier hearts desire take control of them giving them free reign and allowing them to be completely evil." said Zordon.
"You mean..." Zach said.
"They want to be evil." Billy concluded.
"Great how are we suppose to break a spell that let's them do what they want?" Jason asked.
"I'm still working on that. Unfortunatly I havent found anything that might work yet." said Zordon.
"What about the Green Ranger?" asked Billy.
"I sense no evil in his heart." Zordon said.
"Then Lord Zedd must be controlling his mind." replied Billy.
"Do you think we'll be able to break the spell on him first?" Jason asked.
"It's possible." Billy said.
"If it is then we need to try and break the spell on him first. It might be easier if we can get him on our side." Trini reasoned.
"Even if we can, there's no guarentee in him helping us." said Zordon.
"Yeah but at least then we'll have one less Ranger to worry about." said Kim.
"Its worth a shot." Tommy said.
"We also need to consider how strong his link is to Zedd." Zach threw in.
"Zach's right." said Billy.
"Looks like we got a long road ahead of us." said Tommy.
Later that day the fireman returned to his residence, still in his fireman's gear he walked through the door and set his things down next to the door.
"Hey dad your home late." said Kyle.
"Yeah well you know how it is, I can be on call for days on end. Its all part of being a fireman." he said.
"Yeah I know." Kyle said.
"Dad!" a young boy came rushing in to hug his dad.
"Its so good to see you." he said.
"Hey there's my future fireman!" Travis said ruffing his 12 year old son's head.
"How long are you staying?" he asked.
"I dont know Carter, until they need me again." his dad said.
"You must be famished." his older son said.
"Oh man, I feel like I havent eaten in days." he said.
"Let's see what's in the kitchen." Kyle said as the family went in to fix dinner.
"Hey dad can we have pizza this time?"
"Ha ha. We'll see Carter." Travis said putting his arm around his son's shoulder.
Author's Note: All right so what did you think of that? Quite a few suprises huh? So what do you think of the suprise twist? Who's your favorite Dark Ranger? What should be thier morphing call? A. Its Dark Morphin' time!, B. It's Evil Morphin Time!, or C. It's Menacing Time! Let me know what you think and what you think thier new morphing call should be.
Please review
White Avalanche Ranger