Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers
Chapter 29 – The Road to Corinth
In November of 2009 Alpha received a distress call from his, and Zordon's, home planet of Eltar. It was enough to have him call in the Rangers, and not just some of them, but all of the ones he deemed family.
"Alpha, what's going on?" Tommy asked. He, Kim, Kira and Connor were the first to teleport in, along with little Eric, after having received the emergency call.
"Aye yai yai! It's terrible!" The robot cried and Tommy and Kim were brought back to years ago when such pronouncements were basically a daily occurrence. They received no more information then that until the rest of the Rangers, from Originals to Space, arrived.
"I have received a distress call from Eltar." Said Alpha once they were all assembled. "But Eltar was destroyed." Said Billy. "You and Zordon said so years ago. There's no life left on the planet."
"Or so we thought." Alpha said. "After Zordon and I left Earth to return to Eltar all those years ago with the intent of revitalizing the planet, Zordon sensed life on Eltar, though we were never able to find it. It appears that Zordon was right and that life still exists on Eltar."
"And now they're being attacked." TJ surmised.
"Yes but it is much worse then that!" Alpha cried, punching in a few buttons and making the Viewing Globe light up. The images that appeared were far from anything they wanted to see, and even not what they expected. It reminded them greatly of The Countdown, with monsters attacking on all fronts and darkness overtaking everything. But it was the fact that the images changed to show different planets, and not just Eltar, that had them truly scared.
"This isn't just an attack on Eltar." Jason said. "What's going on? How could someone launch an all out attack like this without us even knowing?"
"Have you heard anything Karone?" Kat asked. The former Queen of Evil shook her head.
"Nothing. There's been talk of dissatisfaction about me doing nothing to get revenge on the Rangers, but no more then there always is."
"So whoever is launching the attack is a completely unknown entity." Said Andros. "Alpha have you had any other word from Eltar, or anyone else?"
"No, none."
"Meaning we have to assume the worst." Muttered Trini.
"That they're too injured or dead to contact anyone." Kira added. "We have to help them! This attack will destroy that whole galaxy. And it may not be the first galaxy they've conquered."
"They could come to this galaxy next." Said Connor, agreeing with his mate. "We may be small, but conquering the planet that originated the Power Rangers?"
"It'd be the crowning glory for any evil villain." Zack muttered.
"Yes, and quite literally." Karone added. "If whoever this is gains enough momentum, evil beings across the whole universe will rally behind them and start fearing Astronema less. If that happens, either I'll be forced to step in and wage war on you guys again to prove that I am still the Queen of Evil, or do nothing and lose what control I have over them."
"And if that happens it's a free for all." Said Zhane. "We'll be at war once again anyways."
"So basically we have to stop them here and now." Said Tanya. "There's no other choice."
"Yeah but how?" Aisha asked. "Look at the size of that army! It rivals the one we fought during The Countdown and until Zordon sacrificed himself we were screwed in that battle just by the sheer number of them!"
"Yeah but we have numbers of our own now." Said Ashley. "There's a lot of Ranger teams out there, we can contact some of them, get them to help us. One Ranger is worth ten foot soldiers."
"But there are thousands of them." Rocky countered, knowing they had to do something but trying to be realistic about this. "We may have numbers now but there aren't even a hundred of us. If we were to even have a chance it would take every team of Ranger out there."
"Then that's what it takes." Said Kim.
"But we can't leave Earth unprotected!" Cassie cried.
"Cassie's right." Adam agreed. "Leaving Earth without a single team of Rangers is just the sort of opportunity any evil villain would take advantage of."
"But what choice do we have?" Kim asked. "If we lose this fight, Earth won't be safe anyways and we'll have another Countdown on our hands without Zordon to save us."
"That's not exactly true." Kira spoke up. "I can use my power to-"
"NO!" The entire room cried, though led by Connor. After the incident in 2025 when Kira had discovered her power, the family had been informed of this development and all were in agreement that she was never to use it again. Kira harrumphed but said no more on the subject for the moment. Connor sent her a sideways glance, knowing that with her the subject was far from closed, but agreeing that now was not the time.
"We can offer some protection to Earth." Alpha suggested finally.
"Like what?" Asked Carlos.
"The Command Centre has many features designed to protect the Earth that have never had to be used before." He answered. "The Command Centre is capable to creating a shield that can surround the entire planet, stopping any intruders from entering the atmosphere. It would not hold forever, but it would hold long enough for you to return to Earth. I can also expand the power of the plasmatic gems in the transport core to expedite teleportation. Should you need to return, you could teleport across millions of light years almost instantaneously."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Tommy said. With no other options available to them, the Rangers agreed that it was the best thing to do. They had to stop whoever this new villain was and it was going to take every single one of them to do it. While none of them liked leaving Earth without any Rangers, they were leaving Earth as protected as possible with means to return immediately if needed. So, it was with heavy hearts that the Rangers split up and began contacting every other team of Rangers, telling them all there was an emergency and for them to meet at the NASADA Sapceport. For those Rangers with children, they made a de-tour to the Command Centre to drop their children off, all of them feeling better that their kids were in the securest place probably in existence. Alpha promised to watch over them all and all mentors, tech advisors and significant others were informed, along with Bulk, Skull and Ernie, who promised to keep an eye on things as well as to help Alpha with the kids. Aside from Eric, Lily, Anthony and Laurina, all of the future S.P.D. Rangers were there, along with some newer additions to the family in the form of Jessica, Aisha and Rocky's daughter, Marcus, Tanya and Adam's son, Derek, Zack and Angela's son, Angela naturally joining her son in the Command Centre, Aidan, Kat and Billy's son, and Jane, Eric and Taylor's daughter. The only Ranger child not coming to the Command Centre was Annabelle, Merrick and Princess Shayla's daughter who would stay with her mother on the Animarium, which was almost just as protected as the Command Centre thanks to the Animarian Warriors. So far no other Rangers had kids, and, as far as anyone knew, weren't pregnant, and if they were it would be far too early to tell.
After goodbyes were said, the parent Rangers were teleported to NASADA, meeting up with a large crowd; thankfully the Astro Megaship was large enough to accommodate them all, even if there had to be two debriefings, for while Andros said the ship was big enough for them all, one room of it was not. No one liked the news of there being another war going on that could potentially arrive on Earth, though they were all in agreement that a pre-emptive strike was their best option for ensuring that the war didn't reach Earth, or spread beyond their control; they all hoped that hadn't already happened. Along the way, the Rangers contacted their friends from other planets, namely the Lost Galaxy Rangers, the Aquitian Rangers, and Trey of Triforia, all of whom said they'd meet them at Eltar. Even with the Astro Megaship going at top speed, it took them just over a day to reach the planet; only when they came out of hyperspeed it wasn't to the sight they'd expected to see.
"This can't be right." Andros muttered. "DECA, you sure we're at the right co-ordinates?"
"Affirmative." She answered.
"Alpha come in." Andros then called on the comm.
"Go ahead Andros." He responded seconds later.
"We've arrived at Eltar but there's no one here. There's no siege ships, no army. It's peaceful."
"That can't be." The robot cried. "The distress signal from Eltar is still being sent out. The images I am receiving are the same as what you all saw before leaving."
"Send them to us." Andros said before telling DECA to summon the others. He realized belatedly, as nearly eighty Rangers proved him wrong that they all couldn't fit into one room, that he should have been more specific in which 'others' he was talking about.
"What is it Andros?" Tommy asked.
"We've arrived at Eltar." He said, pointing to viewport. "Yet, these are the supposedly live images Alpha is sending me." He punched a button and the viewport closed over to act as a screen. The scene changed to one of enemy ships attacking the planet, with explosions large enough to be seen from space. "Notice a difference?" No one said anything as what was happening sunk in, along with a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs.
"I am receiving a transmission from the Red Galaxy Ranger." DECA's voice sounded, coming across loud and clear over their silence. Karone pushed her way forward and hit the comm button, opening communications with her friends.
"Leo! Something's-"
"Karone….Rangers…"
"Leo? Leo you're not coming through clear!"
"It's…you…back…come…closer…"
"Leo!" Karone cried, not liking the sound of this at all.
"It's a trap." Kira muttered, voicing everyone's thoughts seconds before a blast of energy left Eltar surrounding the Astro Megaship and bringing it crashing down to the planet's surface.
-C/K-
Earth…5 years later.
The last five years had been hard on all survivors who had made it to Corinth before the dome closed. The Venjix Virus had appeared out of nowhere and within a matter of months had overtaken all computers on Earth. He began making armies of robotic soldiers and sent them to destroy the planet. And destroy it they did, until all that was left were barren wastelands, a few cities in ruins that stood out like an oasis in the desert, toxic air, polluted water, and a death toll so high it was far easier to compare those who had survived against the approximate population of Earth before Venjix, rather then try to count those who had died. The entire planet had been razed to the ground, but it wasn't over, not yet. There was one stronghold that still resisted Venjix: the domed city of Corinth, located on the east coast of what used to be the United States. No one knew why the Power Rangers didn't come to help them as they always had in the past, though most reached the rather accurate conclusion that they'd been taken out first to prevent any resistance against Venjix. That surprised no one, Venjix was highly intelligent after all, but it shook them to their core to know that their saviours were no match for this enemy. Except, perhaps that wasn't entirely true. While no Rangers had fought Venjix when he'd launched his attack, a new team of Rangers, the RPM Rangers, had appeared to protect Corinth and were managing quite well against Venjix and his Attack Bots.
Scott Truman, Flynn McAllistair and Summer Landsdown had been chosen by the mysterious Dr. K, who appeared only as a computer screen and was the only known expert on Venjix, to protect what remained of the human race as Ranger Operators Series Red, Blue and Yellow. Not long after they fought Venjix for the first time, the three were joined by Ziggy Grover and Dillon who became Ranger Operators Series Green and Black respectively, and joined the fight for humanity. Shortly after their arrival, Dr. K lost a bit of his mystery by leaving the computer screen behind and revealing himself to actually be a girl, one who could not have been much older then eighteen or nineteen.
Together, under Dr. K's mentorship, the five Rangers kept Venjix at bay. A few months into their fight, Dillon began to have flashbacks of his past. Dillon didn't know who he was, he didn't even know if his real name was Dillon. At some point he'd been captured by Venjix and implanted with Venjix technology, making him half machine, half human. The only thing he knew was that he had a sister out there somewhere and his only clue was a tiny music box in the form of a pocket watch. The Rangers went searching for more clues to his past, and along the way were met by Venjix himself, in his first physical body, along with two more Rangers. Ranger Operators Series Gold and Silver, Gem and Gemma, were old friends of Dr. K's who she thought had died during Venjix's attack. She'd given them the Gold and Silver Morphers and they'd been using them ever since the piss off Venjix. Shortly after Gem and Gemma joined the team, the Rangers found a factory out in the wasteland where Venjix was using humans he'd captured for slave labour. There, Dillon discovered that his sister had been one of the workers until recently, bringing him one step closer to finding her.
Dillon wasn't the only one who'd had flashbacks to his past. Scott was the son of Colonel Truman, the man in charge of all of Corinth and a rather hard man who'd appeared to favour Scott's older brother Marcus, an Air Force pilot who'd died in the Battle for Corinth before the dome had closed. Scott learned that his father didn't have a favourite son, but still struggled with his hard exterior, and trying to earn his father's approval. Flynn had spent his time before Corinth traveling the globe, searching for his place in life. Flynn wanted to help people no matter the cost, but most people didn't share his 'no matter the cost' attitude, not even his father who told his son that heroes only existed in comic books; only to eat his words during the Battle for Corinth when Flynn went out into the wasteland to bring people to the city. Mr. McAllistair had not only eaten his words but had changed his entire attitude, no longer believing that heroes only existed in comic books. Ziggy had had a troubled past, being raised in an orphanage and then getting in with the local cartels, his incompetence getting him in trouble all the time as well as a price on his head. But, no matter how incompetent, Ziggy had a good heart, endearing him to the rest of his team, even if they still found him annoying; and thankfully his status as a Ranger held those who would ghost him at bay.
Summer had come from a rich family, a very rich family, and she'd grown up spoiled and self-centered. When the Venjix drones attacked, her 'friends' had abandoned her to save themselves and Summer had only made it to the dome thanks to the Landsdown family butler, Andrews, who was more of a parent to Summer then her own parents had ever been, yet who's first name she didn't even know. Andrews died getting her to Corinth and Summer swore to show him the kind of person she could be instead of just remaining as she was. Upon arriving at Corinth, Summer had met up with her parents but promptly left them to rescue Scott, who was stranded outside the dome. The two made it back just in time before the shields were up and Summer moved out on her own, joining RPM. Shortly after they'd become Rangers, Summer's parents returned trying to force her to get married to the heir to the Winchester fortune, for they themselves were no longer rich and needed the Winchester money. Thankfully, Summer's status as a Ranger had repulsed her future in-laws when they discovered it wasn't just for show and social standing and she actually did fight in battles, and they'd called off the wedding. Her parents had been disappointed, but seeing what their daughter did with her life, the two were determined that they would make it on their own. Summer's near marriage had had one good outcome, however, in the form of Summer and Dillon acknowledging their budding feelings for each other. Dillon had hated the thought of her getting married and confronted her, saying that she shouldn't give in to her parents like this and it was wrong and she was letting herself essentially be sold off. The two had it out before Summer screamed at him that if he didn't want her to get married because he liked her then he should just say it, and in the heat of the moment, he did. The two had been going out ever since, believing that although they were on the same team, and some people frowned upon their relationship for that simple fact, that with the world the way it was, and with them risking their lives daily, they weren't not going to be together.
However, for all the Rangers tough pasts, and even presents, none had had anything nearly as hard as Dr. K, Gem and Gemma. The three had shown signs of great intelligence very early in life, understanding things like quantum physics at age five, and had been kidnapped by a top-secret military think tank, codenamed Alphabet Soup. They'd been told that they were very sick children who were allergic to sunlight and so must remain inside and subservient to their captors. Dr. K had become their leading scientist, building weapons and machines that most everyone else couldn't even dream of, while Gem and Gemma had been trained in combat, left emotionally underdeveloped and were essentially big kids as a result, and were to be used as test subjects for Dr. K's Ranger technology. For years Alphabet Soup had tried to get K to create Ranger technology only for their leading scientist to come up short, totally unaware that no one could access the Morphing Grid without The Power's permission. Eventually though, The Power saw something in K and gave her that knowledge, allowing her to create the Ranger Series technology. It was around that time that K had discovered that they weren't actually allergic to sunlight and she'd begun to form a plan to get herself, Gem and Gemma out of there. She created the Venjix Virus, intending to use it to scare their captors. However, her plan had been found out and she'd been dragged away before she could upload the firewall, allowing Venjix to escape and infect the world, as well as losing Gem and Gemma in the process. Since then K had been working tirelessly to destroy that which she'd created.
Now, months into the RPM Rangers battle, Dillon's sister had been revealed to be Tanaya 7, Venjix's top Attack Bot, and the Rangers' prime enemy aside from Venjix himself. Tanaya had overrode Venjix's programming and remembered her past, joining the Rangers in their battle against him, only to be captured again. The Rangers had no idea what had happened to her, until now. Venjix appeared in his newest body, a rather ugly one if you were to ask the Rangers, but had appeared mostly to taunt the Rangers as he unveiled Tanaya 15, the newly re-programmed sister of Ranger Series Black.
"Tanaya!" Dillon cried, ensuring that his battle against Venjix and his Grinders, his version of foot soldiers, led him to his sister. "Tanaya fight it! You have to fight it! Come back to me." He'd lost his sister twice now, and didn't want to lose her again. "You're my sister! Try and remember!" She didn't even respond to him, merely continuing the fight. It was when Tanaya was getting ready fire the final blast that would kill her brother, and when Venjix was cackling evilly at his apparent victory, that the tables turned. A large metal disc flew out of nowhere towards Venjix, hitting him dead on and stopping the battle, drawing everyone's attention as the disc made a circuit like a boomerang and returned to its thrower. That person, clad all in pink, was standing atop a building, looking down on the scene through an oval shaped visor. Clearly a girl, she had a companion that stood beside her in red, looking down from his much higher height through his own star shaped visor.
"Woah!" Cried Ziggy. "New Rangers! Way to go Doc K!"
"I don't think Dr. K created those Rangers." Flynn said in his heavy Scottish accent.
"But…then what are they…where did they come from if not Doc K?" It appeared they would get their answer for the two Rangers jumped down from the top of the building, landing in front of the RPM Rangers and facing Venjix head on.
"Impossible!" Venjix roared finally, having come out of his shock at their appearance.
"Oh it's very possible." Said the Pink Ranger.
"We're not that easy to get rid of!" The Red Ranger agreed.
"No matter, there are only two of you."
"You sure about that?" The Pink Ranger asked. "You sure you're not surrounded, about to be taken out by the same team that destroyed your precious Empire and your illustrious King Mondo?"
"You are not fit to speak his name!"
"You know a friend of ours said it once a long time ago, but I'll say it again now: if you miss King Mondo that much, I promise we can help you join him." Said the Red Ranger. The two then wasted no more time talking and launched on the attack. Whether it was through Venjix's shock or if these two really had that much power, Venjix was sent back time and time again, as he'd never been by the RPM Rangers.
"This is not over!" Venjix cried, summoning Tanaya and his Grinders to him. "Whether you have returned or not is no matter. I have destroyed your world, and I will finish the job by destroying you!"
"Good luck with that!" The Pink Ranger yelled, steel in her voice, as Venjix and his minions disappeared.
"That was amazing!" Ziggy was the first one over when Venjix was gone, though he was closely followed by his teammates. The RPM Rangers removed their helmets, wanting to be able to talk without them but these other Rangers wouldn't follow suit.
"I assume you have some form of command centre." The Red Ranger said. "If you take us there, we'll explain everything." Both intrigued and weary, the RPM Rangers agreed and led them back to their vehicles, Flynn allowing the two Rangers to ride with him as they headed back to the Garage. There Dr. K met them looking just as confused as the others; obviously she'd had no part in creating these Rangers and knew about as much about them as the RPM Rangers themselves did. Only once in Dr. K's lab with the doors sealed shut, did the two Rangers reveal their identities.
"Power down!" The Pink Ranger suit disappeared to reveal a short woman who could most certainly not be out of her teens, probably a few years younger then Dr. K, who had long brown hair and doe eyes and, contrary to her Ranger colour, was wearing yellow. The man was over a foot taller then his female companion and looked to be about the RPM Rangers' age, early to mid-twenties, and had short ear length brown hair and brown eyes to match, and contrary to his fellow Ranger he was wearing his Ranger colour. Both looked pale and drawn and quite harried, but had a fire and hard determination in their eyes that did not bode well for Venjix.
"I'm Connor McKnight." The Red Ranger introduced. "This is my girlfriend, Kira Oliver." Kira nodded and the two then waited for the inevitable flurry of questions, knowing any explanation they might give would just be interrupted until the RPM Rangers got it out of their system. Sure enough, the questions came all at once.
"How did you get here?"
"There are other Rangers in Corinth?"
"How do you know Venjix?"
"Were you Rangers before Venjix or did you just become them recently?"
"If you were Rangers before Venjix, where were you when he was attacking?!"
"What happened?"
"Are there more of you?"
"Ok, enough!" Kira said when the questions just kept coming without a break. "We said we'd explain everything and we will. Let's start at the beginning though."
"The Ranger powers we used, belong to the Zeo Power Rangers. Their enemy was the Machine Empire, back in the year 1996."
"King Mondo, who you heard mention, was the leader of the Empire, and Venjix was one of his generals."
"That's impossible." Said Dr. K. "I created the Venjix Virus back in 2009." Kira shook her head.
"You may think you created Venjix, but I promise you, you didn't. There's so much more to it, so much you couldn't know because we weren't here to tell you. Or to fight Venjix when he first reappeared. We abandoned Earth. It's our fault the planet's like this."
A/N - So how many of you thought it was Venjix? I may never have said that Venjix escaped the destruction of Serpentera in Forever Red, but given that the main villain of a season of PR is also named Venjix and given that you know I love to interconnect the seasons wherever possible, and the fact that RPM is where we are in the timeline, was it hard to figure out? Seriously though, I'd kinda like to know. Part of me says it was obvious, another part says that's only because I'm the one writing the story and given I'm me I know the way I think.
RPM will last 3 chapters, and yes the others are closely following behind Connor and Kira, Tommy and Kim will reclaim their Zeonizers, and everything shall be explained next chapter!
Review please!
