Chapter 21 – Misty Mountain Hop
Ferbruary 24 1997 – Machine Empire Moon Base
King Mondo paced slowly across the floor of his throne room, quietly simmering with rage. Not only had the rangers acquired the powers of the gold ranger but his malfunctioning creation, Louie Kaboom, was still causing him problems. He needed a way to eliminate both of these nuisances and soon, he didn't think that his circuitry could take much more of this.
"Stop pacing dear", Queen Machina said as she entered the throne room, "your oil with boil".
"I can't help it my queen", he replied, "I've got too many things to worry about right now".
The queen sighed, "Sometimes I wonder if this is all worth it", she began, "all of these defeats won't be good for young Sprockets development".
"You know that Dark Specter won't allow us to withdraw", he snapped, "just saying such a thing is treason". Machina bowed her in deference and allowed her husband to continue pacing.
She walked over to their viewing station and located the rangers down on Earth. Machina saw them in the hallway of their high school, promoting their latest cause, "Look at them", she began, "why bother saving the environment when we're going to take over anyway".
King Mondo walked over to the viewing station and stood behind his wife. As he studied the images a plan slowly began to formulate, "That's it, I know how to eliminate the rangers and Louie Kaboom once and for all". He moved away from the screen and looked over the balcony, "I'll choke the air on their planet with pollution. Soon they won't be able to breathe and they will simply drop dead from the lack of oxygen".
"But what about Louie", the queen asked, "he doesn't need oxygen to live".
"Strictly speaking no", Mondo began, "but his internal systems need fresh air to keep his processors cool. Without oxygen he won't be able to keep cool and his microchips will literally melt".
"Your evil knows no bounds", Machina praised, "now which bot did you want to use for this?"
"All of our monsters have been miserable failures", Mondo stated, "I will lead this mission myself, that way it will be a guaranteed success".
If King Mondo could smile he would do so right now. With the Earth fully polluted and his main threats destroyed, there would be no one left to oppose his conquest of the planet. Turning on his heel, he left the throne room to begin planning.
Angel Grove High
It was after school and the teens were busy taking down their environmental awareness display. Trini had the idea for the display as part of her final project for biology class and the majority of visitors had been very impressed. Part of the project was to try and gather volunteers to help clean up the lake and the surrounding shoreline. Unfortunately most of the ranger's battles took place in that area, leading to a build up of scrap metal and broken robot parts. The teens felt partially responsible for the damage caused so it was a project they happily supported.
As Jason removed the banner from the table, the new gold ranger was eagerly awaiting his first full run out as a ranger again. Billy had run some tests on his powers and discovered that Pyramidas could be combined with the red battlezord. The giant pyramid could also carry the Zeo zords and form the Zeo Ultrazord. According to the readings it would be significantly more powerful than any other zord combination ever.
Jason was also a little nervous, this would be the first time he would be on regular ranger duty for over two years. His one off appearance as the original red ranger a few months ago didn't count to him. He was just providing backup to the main team of rangers but now he was fully part of the action again.
He was pulled from his thoughts by someone approaching from behind. Jason turned around and saw Ashley Hammond, one of the cheerleaders from the year below, standing in front of him, "Did I miss the chance to sign up for cleaning duty?" she asked.
"Not at all", Jason replied as he handed her a clipboard, "I didn't realise you were a keen environmentalist?"
"Well the lake is one of my favourite spots and I'm fed up of seeing the rubbish built up along the shore", she replied. Ashley handed the clipboard back to Jason but then let out a deep cough.
The gold ranger looked down at the signup sheet and saw that the cheerleader had added more than her name to the list, "Didn't want to volunteer alone I see?"
"I'm sure TJ, Carlos, Cassie and Charlotte won't mind", she laughed but before she could continue, she was struck by another coughing fit that had her doubled over.
Jason frowned at the sight of Ashley bent over in pain, "That's a nasty cough you've got there, do you want to me to get some water?"
Ashley shook her head, "No thanks, I know exactly what the problem is". She reached into her purse and pulled out an inhaler. Ashley took a deep puff from the device before placing it back in her purse, "My asthma only plays up when the pollution level's high, another good reason to clean up the city I suppose", she smiled. "Well I'd better get going, catch you later Jason".
As he watched Ashley disappear down the corridor, he began to mull over what she had said. When he had arrived at school today the air was clear and the weather forecast hadn't predicted high pollution levels. He glanced out the window and saw that the atmosphere was hazier than usual. His old ranger sense began to tingle, something didn't feel right. He approached the other rangers, who had gathered a bit further down the corridor, "Guys I think Mondo might be up to something".
"I know you're eager to wear the uniform again bro but we haven't heard anything from Zordon", Tommy replied with a smile.
"I've just got this feeling that something's wrong", he replied. To help explain his point he dragged Billy to the nearest window, "take a look at that".
Billy took one look at the smoggy atmosphere and agreed that something definitely wasn't right. "Curious the acumination of polluting particles in the upper atmosphere isn't following any pattern that I'm aware of".
"So it's a bit dusty", Rocky replied, "is that a massive problem".
"Depends what's causing it", Trini stated before turning to Billy, "could you use the laptop to run a detailed analysis?"
Billy nodded, "An excellent idea, I'll need somewhere quiet to make sure no one sees what we're up to". He paused for thought for a moment before snapping his fingers, "I know just the place, follow me everyone".
He led the others down the corridor and in the direction of the IT department. They passed the main classrooms before the former blue ranger stopped in front an unmarked door. He opened it up and went inside without knocking and the others followed close behind. Inside the room were a couple of workbenches that were littered with computer parts and half built computers. The room wasn't very big but all eight of them were able to fit inside with a little bit of room to spare.
"Hey this room is restricted", they heard a familiar voice call out from a small cupboard in the corner. Xander stepped out of the small room and shook his head when he caught sight of the teens, "Oh it's you lot, you could knock next time you know".
"Sorry about that", Tanya apologised for the group, "but this is an emergency. We need somewhere secure to fire up your old laptop", Billy pulled the old government issue device out from his laptop bag.
Xander sighed, "Ok place it over there", he said pointed to a free area on one of the workbenches. "What's the emergency this time?"
"Not sure yet", Tommy replied, "the atmosphere outside has gone really hazy and Billy wanted to use the weather program to see what's happening".
Xander nodded, "The program on there has a delay of about ten minutes so you won't be able to see what's happening in real time". He opened the draw nearest to him and pulled out a small device, "I created something to overcome the delay and obtain the data from the GPS satellites directly".
He threw the box over to Billy who look it over with suspicion, "Is this legal?" Xander responded with a non committal shrug, "Right probably best not to ask", he added. Billy plugged the device in and loaded up the weather program. The images on screen showed a large cloud spreading out slowly across the Earth and the thickness of the cloud seemed to be increasing.
"That's not natural is it?" Kat asked and pointed at the screen, "look the outer edges of the clouds are a perfect circle".
"You're right Kat", Billy agreed with the pink ranger before turned to Jason, "looks like you were right".
"I really wish I wasn't though", Jason replied, "can we find out where the clouds are originating from?"
"Billy the program can calculate that using it's built in mathematical algorithm", Xander stated, Billy nodded but everyone else was completely lost.
The former blue ranger typed away furiously on the keyboard as the program begin to follow his instructions. After a couple of moments it settled on a location at the foot of the mountains outside of the city, "Ok I've found it, the center of the cloud mass is in that area".
"Then let's go check it out", Tommy stated to the rangers, "Billy, you and Trini go back to the Power Chamber and see if Alpha can work on anything from his end". Billy nodded and the non rangers made some room for the others, "It's morphin' time".
"Zeo Ranger I Pink"
"Zeo Ranger II Yellow"
"Zeo Ranger III Blue"
"Zeo Ranger IV Green"
"Zeo Ranger V Red"
"Gold Ranger Power"
As the six rangers teleported away, Billy closed down his laptop and placed it into its bag, "You're welcome to come with us", Trini said, "we could use an extra pair of eyes".
"Thanks but I need to find Aimi and warn her", he replied.
"Are you sure?" Billy stated, "according to the computer the build up of gases will make any kind of movement difficult in the near future".
"If Trini was out there by herself, would you leave her behind?" he asked. Billy nodded slowly in acknowledgement of his point, "Beside I've got this just in case", he reached into a cupboard and pulled out a gas mask.
"Is there anything you don't have stored in this room", Trini smiled.
"Best to be prepared for any situation", Xander replied simply, "now you two get going I'll be fine".
Billy took off his communicator and threw it over to Xander, "Take that, when you catch up with Aimi use it to teleport both of you to the Power Chamber". Xander nodded in appreciation before Trini took hold of Billy and teleported them both away.
Mountains outside Angel Grove
When the rangers landed the first thing they noticed was the thick layer of pollution in the area. Their helmets blocked out the toxic fumes and also enhanced their sight so they could still see but even then it was difficult to keep moving.
"I can't believe the Machine Empire you stoop to this", Adam commented as he followed closely behind Tommy.
"They seem much more ruthless that Rita and Zedd were", Jason added as his used the golden power staff to provide a little extra light.
"Whatever's causing this should be just ahead", Tommy said from the head of the queue.
The rangers paused in front of a large machine that looked like a giant organ. The numerous pipes spouting out from the top of the machine were belching out thick smoke in to the atmosphere. Around the machine were a number of electrical panels providing power, "So how do we stop this thing?" Tanya asked the others.
Rocky looked over the computer screen, "The writing's in some weird alien language", he began, "I don't know where the off button is".
As the others tried to operate the computer, Jason made his way over to one of the electrical panels. If he could find a way to cut the power, it might stop the smoke production. Unfortunately there was no obvious off switch on these either. He then remembered that he was carrying his power staff in his hand. Turning the pointed end toward the ground he rammed it straight into the electric panel. In a shower of sparks the panel exploded, sending the gold ranger flying into the air. He landed in a heap near the other teens.
"Jason!" Kat cried, "are you ok?"
"Yeah, terrific", Jason grumbled as he struggled to get to his feet.
"Are you trying to become the first ranger to be pensioned off twice", Tommy joked as he helped his best friend up.
Jason shook his head to clear some of the cobwebs, "It worked didn't it". Indeed it had, the machine was still producing smoke but it was nowhere near as thick as earlier. Slowly but surely the pollution began to thin.
"For once I wish that you pesky rangers would stay out of my way", they all heard from behind them. Out of the haze stepped King Mondo, staff in hand and ready for a battle, "I had the perfect plan to eliminate all of my enemies in one go and you just went and ruined it".
"I apologise for wanting to breath", Rocky called out sarcastically.
"So where's your latest monster then Mondo" Tommy added, "aren't you going to taunt us about how we can't possibly win this time".
"Oh you really won't win this time red ranger", Mondo replied. "There's no monster this time, I decided to end your existence myself. You should feel honoured, there aren't many who have been granted that privilege".
The other rangers were surprised, they hadn't see Mondo fight before so they had no idea how strong he was. He didn't look the most mobile of robots but appearances could be deceptive. As Mondo readied his staff, the ranger adopted their own fighting stance. This was the opportunity they had been waiting for, a chance to eliminate the head of the Machine Empire. They could only hope they were strong enough to overcome his power. With a battle cry, the two sides charged towards each other.
TO BE CONTINUED