Stick around! The contest winner will be announced at the end of this Lost Epic!
"Diary of Tommy Oliver, January 10th, 2015," the man's voice is blocked by static at first, until it finally gains clarity. An image of Tommy appears on a Holo Screen. He wears a stoic, calm expression on his face.
"It's been eleven years since Mesogog's defeat, so I've taken it upon myself to formally update my records in light of recent events. As of late, the Power Rangers: Cyber Fusion have taken up arms to defend the planet. But, I'll get to them at a later time."
Tommy projects an image of an unknown group of Power Rangers. "This recording will relay what I've gathered on Power Rangers: Ion Force, a KO-35 Ranger team."
The man enters a few commands on his keyboard and pulls up seven individual images of the Ion Rangers.
"Mid-2012, a rogue scientist on KO-35 used his resources to create mutant monsters out of fugitives running from the law to take over the planet. Former Silver Space Ranger, Zhane, brought together the Ion Rangers to take on the threat."
The first enlarged photo was of a blonde boy with bright blue eyes. He wore a red tunic and black pants.
"This is Loren, Ion Red Ranger. He started out as an energetic teen, but slowly matured into a strong leader."
(Loren is portrayed by Dylan Everett)
~Video Recording~
Loren stood straight and tall in front of an army of mutants. He wore a bandage around his forehead and his clothes were ripped and dirtied. He clenched his fist, turning away from his older brother."I'm not a kid anymore, Liren. I'm the Red Ranger!"
Loren sprinted forward down a ruined street and raised his left wrist which held his morpher. "Ionize, Digitize!"
~End Recording~
Tommy pulls up a new photo, an asian girl with pink highlights in her dark hair, and continues, "The next Ranger is the Pink Ranger: Korra. Before Loren was taken on as Red Ranger, Korra led the team after the death of their first Red Ranger. She had the most experience on the team, but, with time, she learned to truly accept the others.
(Korra is portrayed by Jamie Chung)
~Video Recording~
Korra looked behind her, eyeing down the mutant who killed the original Red Ion Ranger. "She doesn't torment me anymore."
She helped her friends up one by one and genuinely smiled at them for the first time since they've known her. "You guys are my friends. We're gonna take that mutant down, she won't stand a chance."
~End Recording~
The next image depicts a boy who resembles Loren, but is slightly older.
"Liren, Loren's older brother. Always doing things by the book, he learned that sometimes, risks are meant to be taken, especially for those one cares about.
(Liren is portrayed by Austin Butler)
~Video Recording~
"No!" Liren yelled with strife. His friends were hanging above him, bound by chains. They were being tortured and electrocuted by red energy.
"Stop this now!" He raised his sidearm and pointed it the mutant who held his team hostage. "Ion Scan!" His sidearm opened up on top, revealing a scope. The scope scanned the mutant, measuring its humanity, to see if the human inside the monster could be saved. He gasped when he found that the humanity meter was at 100%, meaning the human inside was in complete control of his actions, not the mutated side. The mutant calmy said, "You Ion Rangers rely so much on your scanners. Mutants with less than 50% humanity may be exterminated but those above must be saved. You cannot legally destroy me."
"You hurt all those people, all my friends…" Liren refused to lower his gun. Instead, he morphed into the Blue Ranger. "This scanner may read you as 100% human, but you have NO humanity!" With that, he pulled the trigger, destroying the mutant.
~End Video Recording~
Tommy explains, "It's because of this incident that KO-35 was able to revise and improve its technology so mutant/human fugitives would never find a loophole in the system again." The next image depicted a girl with blonde hair and glowing green eyes.
"Hollyn, the Yellow Ranger. She's come a long way since being an affluent socialite."
(Hollyn is portrayed by Shailene Woodley)
~Video Recording~
Hollyn kicked a mutant away from her friends. Her parents cowered behind bodyguards. Seeing this, she turned away in disdain. She thought to herself, "I'll never be like them."
She whispered, "Do whatever you want, mutant. Take away my gems, take away my money, I don't care. But hurt my friends again… and you're through! Ionize, Digitize!"
~End Recording~
Tommy explains, "This is Blaine, Ion Black Ranger." The image of Blaine depicts him as a tanned skin boy with shoulder length brown hair. "He was actually a mutant who was able to regain his human form. He lost his social skills but slowly regained them and more."
(Blaine is portrayed by Max Schneider)
~Video Recording~
Blaine eyed down his former mutant comrade. The mutant was pale blue with volt conductors rising from his back. "You lied to me," Blaine stated.
"Duh, I'm a mutant. You shouldn't have turned away from our cause, Blaine."
"Let my team go."
The mutant laughed, "Since when have you cared about humans?!"
"Since they took me in as family," Blaine raised his morpher and morphed.
~End Recording~
"The sixth Ranger," Tommy goes on, "Is Zhane's younger brother, Mick. He struggled to prove himself as the new Silver Ranger, but soon realized that he had nothing to prove in the first place."
(Mick is portrayed by Evan Hofer)
~Video Recording~
"Mick, listen to me," Zhane whispered to his brother. The two stood on a high tower in KO-35's biggest cuty. Mutants swarmed everywhere on land and in the air. Fires raged, winds blew, the ground shook with the growing conflict.
"You aren't my stand-in as a Silver Ranger," Zhane pressed.
Mick shook his head, "But I-"
"No. You only thought like that because that's how you've always seen yourself. Mick, just remember from now on… YOU are the Silver Ranger. Only you."
Mick turned away from Zhane and let a single tear fall. He stared out down below the tower to see his friends fighting. "Only me…" He raised his morpher and sprinted forward. "Only I'm the Silver Ranger!" He jumped off the edge and morphed, ready to join the battle.
~End Recording~
"The last member is Imogen, the Crimson Ranger." A dirty blonde girl with piercing green eyes is pulled up next to Tommy. "A bit of a spitfire, she learned to value the merits of a Ranger Team after being so alone for so long."
(Imogen is portrayed by Melissa Benoist)
~Recording~
"You think I'm alone?" Imogen rose up to her feet, covered in blood and grime. A mutant growled at her and threw a claw forward, but Imogen blocked it with telekinesis. "You think I'm all alone?" She blasted the mutant back and shook her head, "I'm not alone. Not anymore. I have friends, family, a whole planet to protect. I'll never be alone again."
~End Recording~
Tommy makes all the photos disappear and says, "The Ion Rangers fought for two years before saving KO-35. They were regarded as powerful heroes. However, recently, KO-35 has gone silent. Recent reports say that KO-35 was attacked by a powerful empire. It's been weeks since then. Andros and the Space Rangers have gone out to investigate. I fear the worst. My name is Tommy Oliver, over and out."
~Video Diary, Close~
A/N: So, in story, this is what the Skyward Rangers found on Tommy's diary: Entries regarding Ranger History, pre-Zordon, during Zordon's era, and after Zordon's era (AKA 2000-present).
Originally, I was planning on doing a story for Ion Force alongside Next Legend back in 2012, but I never got around to it. However, I did have a clear direction for each of the Rangers, so I made this Lost Epic so you could get a taste of who they are. Also, this Epic serves to set up a future chapter.
I probably won't do a Lost Epic like this all the time, but this one was necessary.
NOW, for the good stuff. I decided to choose 3 winners for the opening contest. One this week, one next week, then the last the week after. I also decided to make this contest a little more involved, meaning if you want an opening for one of your Ranger stories, you'll have to work for it ;)
But first, I randomized all the names of people who entered. I rolled a literal dice and… the winner of this week is… drum roll please… Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley. Congrats, Love! Just PM ASAP with the team you want me to make. I only ask that you find a few video links of your actors for me!
However, don't give up, everyone else. You can enter more than once! This week will have a challenge! A bit of Ranger riddle/trivia :D Let's see how deep you are within the fandom.
I am one, but I am all.
I know of your pasts.
With time, I gain more strength
to assist you in the battle.
What am I?
Those who answer correctly will be entered in the drawing! Good luck!
The Ion Force will be on the Wiki soon. I'll let you know.