Episode 4: What are Friends For?

We open to see everyone doing their usual business aboard the ship,
Lucy painting her nails on the coffee table
Dr K reading a book of some sort
John sleeping on the Captain's chair
And Rina setting up plates on the dinner table

Ziggy: "Food's ready!"

John's eyes shot open and he dashed to his seat almost instantaneously.

John: "Food!"

Rina: "Hey, where's Troy?"

Lucy: "Dunno, said he was going out."

Rina: "Out where?"

Ziggy(With a pot in hand):
"Maybe he's on a date?"
*John snatches pot and pours half the mashed potatoes on his plate*

Rina: "*chuckle* I don't think Troy would give any girl the time of day, you know how seriously he takes being a ranger."

John(Mouthful of food):
"He's probably out training."

Lucy: "Ugh, close your mouth man, that's gross."

*John chews loudly with his mouth open in response*

Rina: "Training? Well, he's gotta be hungry, right?"

Lucy: "You know Troy, he's always a bit more serious than the rest of us. Unlike our -Captain- here!"

John(Mouthful):
"What!? I can be serious! Right Doc?"

Dr K(Sits down):
"You don't want me to answer that."

John: "Oh come on! OW! *clutches cheek*
Bit my tongue..."

Rina: "This is the 6th time he's missed lunch since we've been on Earth... I'm gonna go look for him."

Ziggy: "You sure?"

Rina: "You know how I worry for him. Don't worry, I'll be back soon!"

Rina exits the ship

Ziggy: "Shoulda made more potatoes..."

*cue opening theme song*

Cut to onboard Zantron's head ship, Prince Cyon seems to be muttering about "Those Pesky Pirates"

6: "Excuse me, Your Highness."

Cyon: "Skip the formalities, what is it now?"

6: "I have taken this opportunity to bring forth another Zantron general. Here he comes now."

A quiet black and red monster with a sword entered the cockpit and bowed.

6: "General Blade, Your Highness."

Cyon: "Hmm, what can you do?"

Blade: "This."
He takes out an apple, throws it in the air, slices it repeatedly for Cyon to catch.
When he puts his sword away, the apple is split into 8 pieces.

Cyon: "Is this...*picks up apple slice* a bunny?"
*eats it*
"Still, a good apple."

Armis: "We're not looking for Magicians, we're looking for generals that can take down those pirates."

Harpe: "You think you can do that?"

Blade: "Oh, easily. I'll come back and bring them to their knees personally for you Harpe."

Harpe: *blush* "Well... go on then, I look foward to it."

Cyon: "Yes yes, go! Zantron can only wait so long!"

Blade leaves the room.

*silence*

Armis: "I think he likes you."

Rina is seen walking through the woods looking intensely at her morpher.

Rina: "Says he should be right..."

Troy(In the distance):
"Ayah! Huuh, Hyah!"

Rina: "Troy?"

Troy: "Oh, hey Rina."

Rina(glaring): "You uh, you weren't at lunch."

Troy: "Yeah, I was busy training."

Rina: "Troy, you're so serious, when are you ever gonna lighten up a bit and just... take a break?"

Troy: "I'm only trying to get stronger, more skilled. You know, so we can beat Zantron."

Rina: "We beat Zantron as a team, that's how it is, that's how we'll win. Yes you're supposed to train, but you should be spending time with us and learn to relax a little more."

*Morphers ring*

Dr K: "Troy! Rina! It's a Zantron attack! I sent you the coordinates!"

Troy: "Roger that, we're on our way!"

Rina: "We'll discuss this later."

The 2 ran off to fight the attacking General.

Speaking of which, we cut to Blade slicing up tables and parked cars in a street and is being followed by a group of Droids. They move up to a higher vantage point.

Blade: "Well, let's see if I still got it. Time to slice up that building!"

Troy: "Not so fast!"
Troy and Rina appear

Rina: "You think you can just walk around and do whatever you want, destroying stuff!"

Blade: "Yes I do. Who's gonna stop me? You?"

*John, Lucy, and Ziggy slide down from the ship*

Lucy: "Try -us-!"

John: "Let's do this guys!"
*flips ranger key*

All: "Power Change!"
"Pirate Force!"
"Pirate Force Red."
"Pirate Force Blue."
"Pirate Force Yellow."
"Pirate Force Green."
"Pirate Force Pink."
John: "Power Rangers..."
All: "Pirate Force!"

Blade: "So, the Space Pirates worth over 3,000,000 Z's stand before me...
*calmly* Attack."

John: "Let's do this guys!"

The 5 Rangers took on the Droids no sweat.
Troy decided to go straight for Blade himself.
Swords clashed and clinked as Troy took him on one-handed.

Their swordfight led them to the parking complex below.

Blade: "Not bad rookie."

Troy: "There's more to me than you *slash* think!"

Blade: "Hmph, one handed, a sign of arrogance. You must be as weak as your friends up there. Especially the Green one."

Troy: "Don't go insulting my friends now..."
*strike, strike, slash*
"If you have to resort to insults, maybe it's -you- who's weak!"

Blade: *knocks Troy back* "Weak, hm? Then get ready for -this-!"
*moves sword in a counter clockwise motion, creating dozens of other swords surrounding him*

Troy: "What the-"

Blade: "Swords of Hades!"

Swords began to fly out and attack Troy like no tomorrow.
He was able to hold off the swords for a little bit, but he was clearly outnumbered.
With one final strike, Troy was demorphed and drained of energy.

Blade: "Hmph, Rookie. If the others are like you, then this conquest will be easy!"

*walks away*

Troy barely gets on one knee by the time the others arrive.

Rina: "Troy! Are you okay?"

Troy: "I'm gonna defeat him. And show him who's boss..."

John and Ziggy demorph and help Troy up and walk.

Rina demorphs and takes a deep sigh.

Rina: "Troy..."

*commercial break*

Meanwhile back on the ship.

Rina looks at the couch and notices something fishy.
She observes it and sees Troy's jacket laying there.

Rina: "Oh no..." *runs to Treasure Chest*

She looks and looks but can't seem to find what she's looking for.

Lucy: "What's up?"

Rina: "The Megaforce Red key is gone!"

Lucy: "Uh-oh, that means..."

Rina: "He's out there training when he should be resting!"

Lucy: "Rina, I know what you're thinking, but maybe you should let him train. *turns to get a mint from the table*
He's gotta be alone for a reason."

She turns around and Rina's gone... Batman style.

Rina is seen walking through the same forest path as before and she sees Troy training.

He's seen training blindfolded with his sword, slicing bottles and dodging around. He rips the blindfold off and takes out his morpher, inserting a Ranger Key.

"Megaforce!"

As Megaforce Red he sliced and diced with one hand no problem. This continued for 5 mins until he inserted his Blue Ranger Key.

"Pirate Force!"

He grabs a basic sword from the dirt and uses it in conjunction with his Pirate Saber.

Rina takes a good hard look at Troy. She senses his body movements, analyzing his body language.
Was he fueled by rage?
Anger?
Revenge?
Sadness, even?
No, he was above all that. Troy was motivated, but not angry. He simply wanted to overcome this obstacle.
The others were easier to figure out, Rina could easily tell with a 3 second glance what they were feeling.

But Troy had always been a mystery until now.
Always the leader talk, like he's hiding something.
And he had that aura about him that gave off a mysterious vibe.

Now she understood.

Troy simply wants what's for the best. He skips lunch so he can train more. He's always training, doing pushups, or jogging.
He'd never hurt an innocent person
He's just a born leader who's being a subordinate with a hint of "mysterious quiet new kid" mixed in.

He puts what he does over who he is.

Maybe later she'd try and figure out who he really is…

Rina probably figured at this point there's no stopping him, so she left her sword next to his water with a note attached to it.

After a good 15 min sword session, Troy decided to get some water.
He found Rina's sword with a note attached:

Troy,

Listen, I left you my sword so you can use it to train.
Don't be afraid to show us who you are, that's what breaks are for anyways! Trust me, you can show us the real you, maybe even tell us about your life before being a Power Ranger.
I mean, hey, what are friends for?
-Rina

PS Took on your Pirate Blaster, figured it was a fair trade =)

Troy chuckled and drank some water. He picked up Rina's sword and with a smirk on his face resumed training.

Rina got back to the ship to see John sitting in his chair looking for a Ranger Key.
Without looking up:
John: "You learn something yet?"

Rina: "Yeah, if Troy wants to talk to us he'll talk, but it -is- his personal business. He just needed to know that he -can- talk to us."

John(smirk): "So, do you think he's ready?"

Rina: "Maybe, we'll see."

*onboard Zantron's head ship*

Cyon: "Whaddya mean you couldn't finish them!"

Blade: "I'm sorry... the Blue Pirate seemed to give me more trouble than anticipated."

Cyon: "Go back down there, and don't stop until the Pirates are finished!"

Blade: "Yes, Your Highness."

6: "Be wary of the Blue Pirate."

Blade: "Hm? What do you mean?"

6: "He uses dual swords when he's serious."

Blade: "D-dual? *walks over to Harpe* You didn't tell me -that-!"

Harpe: "It's no problem, an easy fix."

Scene change to Troy in the woods at night.

He's seen with Rina's sword along with his own. He slices all around him in a frenzy.

When he stops, at least 30 bottles hit the ground.

Troy: 'Alright, I can take him!'

SpongeBob French Narrator:
"Tomorrow."

It's peacefully quiet onboard the ship, not a noise present with the exception of Dr K typing away and eating cereal.

Lucy was in the best sleep she'd had in years. Blissfully dreaming away...

Dr K: "Guys! Zantron attack!"

Lucy: "Ugghh, man..."

We cut to Troy walking through the woods towards Blade, with both swords in hand.

Eventually this leads him to the Beach, where he and Blade stood, ready for action.

Blade: "You think you can stop me now, Rookie?"

Troy: "I -know- I can stop you now."

Blade: "Then let's dance!"

Troy: "Power Change!"
"Pirate Force!"

They both charged at each other, slicing and dicing at each other's swords.

Blade: "You've improved since last time... but so have I! Swords of Hades!"

The many swords flew out and Troy simply slashed at all of them no problem.

Troy: "Hyah, ugh! Ah!"

Until 3 Dreaders snuck up from behind and restrained him.
Troy was struck 4 times before he fell over.

Unbeknownst to either side, Rina saw the whole thing.

Rina: "No! You coward!"

Blade: "After him, you're next!"

Troy: "No!"

Blade: "Now then rookie, any last words?"

Rina flips her Ranger Key.
Rina: "Power Change!"
She began to charge toward Blade.
"Pirate Force!"

She tried to run towards Troy but was restrained by a group of Droids.

Rina: "Troy!"

Blade: "Now to end this!"

But before he could move another muscle, he was shot repeatedly.

John: "Hmph, not fighting fair eh? Good thing I don't either!" *Slashes and Shoots a Dreader*

Lucy: "Troy, we'll leave this creep to you!"

Ziggy(Barely holding off a Dreader):
"Yeah, we've got this!"

Troy: "Thanks guys!"
With the Odds Evened, Troy charged at Blade to finish their fight.

Meanwhile, the other 4 were still off fighting Droids and Dreaders.
Rina: "You guys came? How did you know about Troy?"

Ziggy: "John has a big mouth, but I knew beforehand what was going on!"

Lucy: "Same here!"

They took out the remaining Troops of that particular group.

John: "After all, what are friends for, right?"

Rina: "*nods* Right!"

Another group of Dreaders prepared to fire at them.

Lucy: "Guys! *holds up Ranger Key*"

Dreader: "Fire!"

All: "Power Change!"

As the Pirate Rangers were engulfed in an explosion...

"Jungle Fury!"

The 4 popped up and John used some Martial Arts to attack.
John: "C'mon, that all you got!"

Ziggy began to charge at another acting very wacky.

Lucy threw another into the air where Rina sliced it 3 times before kicking it back.

John: "We can't ease up on them now!"
All: "Power Change!"
"SPD!"

"Delta Blasters!"
"Deltamax Strikers!"

All: "Fire!"

They all shot at the Dreaders, finishing them off.

Troy meanwhile was easily holding off Blade's many Swords.

Troy: "You see! Now you see that I'll never stop! I'll never give up! This is the will of the human spirit!"

With that, Troy sliced through one of the swords and straight toward Blade's face.

Blade: "Oh really now..."

He took a step back and dozens of swords came flying out of his body.

Back on the head ship...

Harpe: "Blade started to worry, so I gave him a little upgrade."

6: "He must defeat the Pirate Rangers now."

Back on Earth

Blade: "The human spirit is no match against me!"

Troy tried to hold off the attacks but was ambushed from behind by 2 swords.
He couldn't hold them off, and he collapsed.

Troy: "Argh, no, I can't lose!"

Blade: "Now to finish you for real!"

Rina: "Troy!"
*John holds her back*
"He needs our help!"

John: "No, he just needs more swords! Troy! *throws sword*

Lucy: "Here, take mine too!" *throws sword*

Ziggy: "Here you go Troy!"

Troy: "Thanks guys!"

With that, Troy posed epic-ly with 3 swords in one hand, and 2 in the other.

Blade: "5 Swords, now you're just amusing me! Enough with this child's play!"
*launches swords*

But Troy easily dispached the swords with a whirlwind-esque manuver.

Troy: "Amused yet?"

He opened his Ranger Key Buckle and summoned 5 Blue Ranger Keys, inserting each into a seperate sword.

"Limit Break!"

Troy: "Blue 5-Bladed... SLASH!"

The spirits of each Ranger Key flew out and charged toward Blade
(Now for each strike, imagine you're hearing the respective roll call, only slightly echoed)

"Megaforce Blue!"
"Go Go Samurai!"
"Blue Mystic Ranger!"
"Power of Water!"
"Galaxy Blue!"

With that, Troy jumped and finished him off with 2 strikes.

Blade: "Argh... no..."

*Onboard head ship*

Cyon: "No, no, no! Get up! You can't be finished! Not yet!"

Harpe: "He's not. *fires growth ray*"

The ray managed to affect not only Blade, but the 3 Dreaders as well.

The Dreaders all switched to flying mode as Blade rode them.

Troy: "What!?"

John: "Talk about persistance."
*takes out morpher, dials 5504*

"Summon Megazord!"

They all hopped in the main ship.

Dr K: "Activating Zord Decompression."

All: "Pirate Megazord, ready!"

John: "Mystic Dragon, come to us!"

All: "Ranger Key, activate!"

"Summon Legend Zord!"

John: "Mystic Pirate Megazord..."

All: "Ready!"

The Megazord charged after Blade and tried to breathe fire on him, but missed by a few feet.

Blade tried to launch swords at the rangers, but they were easily dodged. They were then hit with fire and became grounded.

All: "Pirate Cannon, activate!"
John: "Fire at will!"

The cannon took out the last Dreader, leaving Blade defenseless.

Rina: "Mystic Dragon! Finish him off!"

Mystic Dragon charged and created 3 rings around Blade, finishing him off for good.

John: "Chalk one up to the Space Pirates!"

*several hours later*

It was nearing sunset, Troy seemed to be carrying something with oven mitts on.

Troy: "Um guys..."
*everyone turns around*
"Here you go."
Troy set down a plate of cookies.

Everyone acting excited ran and got their share of cookies.

Ziggy: "This is amazing! Is this... mint?"

Lucy: "Thanks Troy!"

John: "Oh yes! Thank you Troy!"

Troy: "Yeah... um, it's no problem guys."

While everyone is busy eating cookies, Rina pulls Troy aside.

Rina: "You don't need to act so strong around us, we want to know the real you. Okay?"

Troy: "*chuckle* Alright, I'll try not to miss Lunch... *smiles*
as much."

Rina: "'As much?' Troy you better be kidding!"

The camera zooms out to the outside of the galleon, where through the windows, Troy with a big smile seems to be running from Rina who's chasing him with a rolled up newspaper while the other 3 argue over who gets the most cookies. And Dr K using Kai to snag one for herself.

NEXT TIME ON POWER RANGERS PIRATE FORCE!

All: "The Police!?"

John: "I have a bad feeling about this..."

Ziggy: "What's the worst that could happen?"

?: "You're under arrest for acts of Piracy!"

Armis: "We shouldn't fight with brute force."

Dr K: "You need do do -exactly- what I say!"

Ziggy: "That's just who we are."

Episode 5: Emergency!

?: "I don't know if I can trust you..."

A/N: Another chapter has come and gone, looks like trouble is gonna stir within the rangers next episode…

Really though, a -tiny bit- of backstory will be revealed next ep as to why Ziggy and Dr K are in the PR dimenson. But have YouTube on hand if you'd like BGM playing during the next episode!

Sayonara!

-Shade