Chapter 34: Run Ziggy Run

Drumming her fingers against the table, Nora stared at her camera, in no mood to take pictures.

She hadn't been in the mood for a while now. Not since she'd come face-to-face with Kilobyte, the machine that had haunted her dreams for months. She'd used as much fire magic as she could to destroy the camp, and he looked unscathed.

"Nora!" she jumped, and bit back the curse she was ready to shout at Ziggy as he appeared in front of her. "It's my run for food. Wanna come with?" he asked, not seeming to realise he'd scared her.

"Why?" Nora muttered gruffly, getting to her feet and grabbing her camera. Ziggy followed, bouncing behind her.

"Well you're always saying I can't carry much with how skinny my arms are, and I figured it would be fun to get out for a little while, and-"

"No. I don't feel like it, sorry," he stopped at her quiet words, and watched as she went upstairs to her room, slamming the door shut.

"Ouch. Good effort though," Flynn winced sympathetically as he passed, and Ziggy sighed. He knew she was worked up about Kilobyte - they all did, after Teddie had brought up the one image they'd gotten of him before he'd abducted Tenaya. The one who led the charge against Briarwood, and the one who'd imprisoned Nora. He just wanted to help her.

"Guess I'll go by myself," he sighed, seeing nobody else in a rush to volunteer.


"I'm fine now, I swear…" Arianna insisted as she tried to get off the couch where she had been forced to rest. After pleading and begging, she had finally been allowed out of her room, a few days after waking up.

"'Anna, you were unconscious for several days," Philip reminded her. "You were told to rest until you're completely better, or you could make yourself worse," he said, and she huffed, folding her arms.

"You've got the princess act down," Teddie teased, earning two exasperated looks. "It's not for much longer, Arianna. Once Dr. K is sure that you're better, you'll be back in the fight," she promised. Arianna huffed, but didn't argue further. She leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. She didn't feel different. Tired, yes, and the pain in her chest was still there - though almost completely healed. But the idea that something had messed with her, with her Mercurian DNA, that didn't sit well with her.

"Where's Si-Cassie?" Arianna corrected herself, still trying to adjust to having the hybrid on the team. She spent most of her time in the lab with Gem and Gemma, who had taken a shine to her.

"Out with Jeremy. She's trying to embrace the human side…" Teddie's gaze darkened. "For as long as she can," she added, and Arianna's gaze dropped to the ground. They'd all heard about Dillon and the virus that was slowly poisoning him, and the levels in Cassie weren't much better, meaning she'd lose control soon after him.

The tense quiet that had fallen was shattered by a loud scream, and everyone was on their feet in an instant, looking up at Nora's room where the sound had come from. The door then swung open, and Ziggy stumbled out, Morphed and stammering an apology. Nora, bright red with hands glowing with barely restrained magic, glared at him.

"Creep!" she yelled, slamming the door in his face.

"Nora!" Ziggy pleaded, wisely staying on the other side of the door.

"Well...that's new," Teddie commented, tilting her head.


"I mean really, talk about holding onto a grudge," Ziggy was complaining, explaining what had happened when he'd gone out for groceries and been attacked by Cartel members. "Get over it already! After all the things I did for him," he scoffed, shaking his head.

"What exactly do you owe this guy?" Dillon asked, leaning against the pool table Ziggy was sitting on. The Green Ranger paled.

"Uh, well there was all the skimming off the top," Teddie put a hand to her face. "You know, here and there, nothing too crazy. And then of course, the...the mixup with the numbers, that wasn't good," Ziggy winced at the memory. "And-and then hijacking the truck so...5 million?" he summed up, and everyone hissed. Gem whistled, amazed. "I'm a ghost," he whimpered, putting his hands to his face. "I'm a ghost!" he declared.

"Ziggy, don't talk like that," Summer scolded, trying not to show her own concern. "Fresno Bob is more of a businessman than anything else. And since you owe him all that money, ghosting you wouldn't really make sense," she pointed out.

"R-right," he nodded, looking a little more confident.

"There's no way Ziggy can get that kinda money," Arianna whispered to Teddie. "And Fresno Bob knows it," she glanced over to Ziggy, who looked deep in thought.

"Oh yeah," Teddie nodded, certain that Summer had been very wrong. "Fresno Bob has held back because of Ziggy's Ranger status, but I think he's starting to get impatient. If we wait around, something's gonna happen, like when he got Oli's dad involved," she considered, folding her arms.

"How is Olivia doing?" Philip asked, arms around Arianna in a poor attempt to keep her resting.

"Much better, knowing he's behind bars," Teddie answered, her expression darkening a little. "And he'll stay there, if he knows what's good for him. Even the Cartel can't reach him where he is now," she muttered. As she got up and walked away, Philip cleared his throat.

"I know she's on our side, but there's something innately terrifying about Teddie," he considered, and Arianna hummed her agreement.


"What a bustling little city," Kilobyte considered, walking towards the people running screaming from him. "I feel almost saddened to have to destroy it," he laughed.

"Hey! Stop!" he turned as the Rangers arrived, and laughed again.

"Ah, yes. Power Rangers," he nodded. "I was wondering when you would show up. And Ranger White, good to see you again," before he'd even finished speaking, he lifted his blaster and fired it at the team. Spencer raised a shield to defend the team, but it shattered, shoving him backwards.

"I hate this guy," Teddie hissed, reminded of Briarwood and the fight Kilobyte had given when destroying it.

"Teddie," Spencer put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let him into your head," he warned. Teddie took a deep breath, not shrugging him off as she tried to follow his advice.

"Let's have some fun, shall we?" Kilobyte challenged, and ran at the team. He dodged each of their attacks, knocking them back with powerful punches and kicks. Scott slammed against a wall, landing on a crate, groaning as Dillon got back up and attacked, but his punches only made Kilobyte laugh. Even the Black Ranger landed hard, his own enhanced strength barely even tickling. "What losers," Kilobyte mocked, grabbing Ziggy by the arm and yanking him to his feet.

"Let him go!" Spencer warned as the team grabbed their Morphers.

"This is actually becoming a bit boring," Kilobyte complained, his grip tightening on Ziggy's arm so much he was sure his arm was cracking.

"Okay, then let's spice things up a little bit," Scott growled. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"RPM, GET IN GEAR!" grabbing their weapons, the group rushed Kilobyte. He hummed, tossing Ziggy aside, and drew a sword to fight back. Flynn yelled in pain, landing on some palettes, as Kilobyte continued to laugh, glancing over as Ziggy recovered, Morphing as well and launching himself at the General.

"I really hate that laugh," Annie complained as she pushed herself back up. She and Spencer lashed out at Kilobyte, but he blocked their attacks with a swing of his sword, and with another, caught the pair and floored them again.

"Dr. K, have you got anything that can help?" Scott contacted their mentor.

'The Rail Saber isn't ready yet,' Dr. K denied. "And what's worse, I'm picking up Grinder Activity all around the city," she warned.

"Well that's gonna have to wait," Scott groaned, looking up at Kilobyte as he caught Teddie's arm with a swing of his sword. She backed away, a hand to it, as the team regrouped, breathing heavily. Kilobyte let out a shout, swinging his sword. A blast of energy flew from it, and exploded on contact. The Rangers were scattered by the explosion, demorphing as they hit the ground.

"How pathetic," Kilobyte complained, unimpressed as they all tried to push past the pain that hadn't been absorbed by their suits before they'd given in. With a laugh, he turned and walked away, disappearing before they could stop him.

"Okay, is everyone alright?" Scott asked as Flynn put a hand to his knee.

"Define alright," Teddie grumbled, clutching her arm as pain throbbed through it.

"Alive," Annie defined for her.

"Wait, where's Ziggy?" Summer realised they were a Ranger down, and looked around quickly. The area was abandoned, and there was no sign of Ziggy.


"I'm sorting through multiple shield breaches and numerous Grinder sightings across the city, not to mention that powerful Bot with the blaster," Dr. K explained as the team contacted her.

"What about the Rail Saber?" Scott pressed. "If that Bot attacks again, then-"

"Not ready yet," Dr. K sighed.

"Hang on a sec. What about Ziggy?" Dillon growled.

"Operator Series Green is out of the question. And his Morpher signal has gone dead. What do you suggest, I go door to door?" she challenged.

"She's as bad as the machines," Dillon muttered, frustrated, and Scott shot him a warning look.

"I'm looking for him," Nora's voice came through. "Using Kayden's software," she explained.

"Okay. I'm sending Spencer and Annie back to help," Scott decided, glancing at the Gold and Silver Rangers. They nodded, moving past the team to get back to the Garage. "We're gonna keep looking here. Hopefully they haven't gotten too far. Ranger's out" he ended the link, returning his Morpher to his bag.


Nora sighed as the link ended abruptly, and she looked over at Dr. K, working on multiple searches at once.

"I don't know why you said that," she said to the small Doctor. "It was your idea to use this software to find Ziggy," Nora pointed out, looking up as it once again came back negative. Dr. K didn't look up from her own work.

"Ranger Series Green has gone missing, and we have no answers on where or even who has him. Having someone to be mad at seems to help motivate Dillon," she answered quietly, and Nora gave a quiet laugh.

"I guess you're right. But you know, you can call him Ziggy," she pointed out.

"Widen the search array," Dr. K responded, looking at her. "And try to focus on what you're doing. Dillon's not the only one who has a powerful motivation in anger," she said pointedly, and Nora went red.

"Yeah, yeah," she shrugged.


"Rail Saber Biofield enhancement at 40%," the system announced as Gem continued to solder together the circuitry for the new weapon. Cassie handed Gemma another piece, jumping between helping her, and Dr. K with coding. Gemma smiled at her, and Cassie smiled back, happy to be able to help out.

The alarm beeped suddenly, making her jump, and Dr. K rushed back to her main console.

"Ranger Red, there's a breach in Sector 21," she warned. "I'm downloading the exact coordinates now."

"I need to help them," Arianna declared, standing in the doorway to the lab.

"No. You still need to rest. Your genetic makeup is still recovering. If you try to Morph, you may do more damage; even corrupt your DNA, rendering your Morpher useless," Dr. K warned her with a quick shake of her head. Arianna scowled.

"But Ziggy's missing and they're up against that thing that almost killed Teddie's parents!" she complained.

"Arianna," Philip stepped in front of her. "I implore you to see reason. You wouldn't want anyone else to put themselves at risk if they were in your shoes," he pointed out.

"That's the Ranger way. Hypocrites to the end," Annie snorted.

"But I can't just wait here!" Arianna insisted.

"Sorry 'Anna," Jeremy said cheerfully, standing by her side. "You've been told no," he said, earning a frown.

"You're supposed to be the sweet one. You know how many people would kick our butts for letting you go out there?" Ryan approached on her other side. "Starting with your very violent best friend. So…" Arianna let out a shriek as the two grabbed her, lifting her into the air and carrying her away.

"Such a wonder why they hang out with Teddie so much," Spencer snorted as Philip sighed and followed them away.


"He's back!" Scott realised as he spotted Kilobyte. The General sighed, raising his sword.

"You never learn, do you?" he challenged. When they reached him, he blocked their attacks and swung out, with the fight going the same way as before, with Kilobyte dominating with his greater power.

"This is gonna suck," Teddie complained as she got back to her feet.


'Rail Saber Biofield enhancement at 100%,' the system announced, and Gem and Gemma cheered loudly.

"We did it!" they high-fived, and did the same to Cassie. She looked a little surprised, before grinning.

'Series Green Morpher located,' Dr. K's eyes widened as Ziggy's suit then disappeared from its case.

"Spencer, take the Rail Saber to the battlefield," Dr. K instructed. The Gold Ranger gave a salute, taking the new weapon from the twins, and ran out. "Annie, go help Zi - I mean...Ranger Green," she cleared her throat. Annie grinned and nodded.

"I'm going too," Nora told her, and Annie arched an eyebrow at her.

"Just don't do something dumb," she told the girl.

"I know you're used to telling Spencer that, but I'm a little better than that," Nora grumbled, and Annie smirked as they ran out.


Kilobyte laughed loudly as he stood over the battered Rangers.

"You're all down and out," he taunted the five, who couldn't bring themselves to stand.

"Not all of us," he looked around as Spencer approached, carrying a new weapon.

"The Rail Saber!" Scott grinned as he recognised it.

"Activating Engine Cell!" inserting two new Cells into the Rail Saber, Spencer swung it through the air as it flashed gold. With a growl, Kilobyte ran at him, swinging his own blade, but the Rail Sabre was narrow, letting Spencer swing under the General's blocks and catch him across his chest. Kilobyte roared in pain, staggering backwards.

"He's good," Flynn commented as Spencer single-handedly stood up to Kilobyte, leaping around and using his strength to his advantage. Under his helmet, his eyes flashed golden, and with a powerful swing, he sent Kilobyte flying with another scream.


"Watch it, I bruise like a peach!" Ziggy yelped, pinned to the ground as Tenaya bombarded him with punches.

"He really does," Tenaya looked up quickly, and let out a shriek as Nora's boot collided with her side. She rolled and got back to her feet, glaring at Nora as she rested the tip of her sword against the ground. As Tenaya tensed to run at her, Annie landed between them, arms folded.

"I don't think so," she shook her head, already Morphed.

"Let's not tell Dillon I just kicked his sister," Nora commented. "You okay?" she asked, glancing to the Green Ranger.

"Oh, sure!" he was up on his feet in an instant. "Uh, thanks for asking," he gave a weak chuckle.

"We'll take her. Nora, make sure the Grinders don't go after anyone else," Annie told the girl, who nodded.

"Sure thing," she ran after the Grinders, sword raised, and they looked around just in time to see her sword coming for them. As she cut through them, Nora took a deep breath and moved to avoid the attacks of the others, and realised Dr. K was right about anger being a powerful motivator for her too.

She then cursed as the Grinders surrounded her, and she glanced over at where Annie and Ziggy were fighting Tenaya, trying their best to contain her, rather than defeat her. But she was strong, and fast, and they had their hands full. Nora blocked an attack, and let out a low growl. "I am not weak. I can help with this," Nora told herself, summoning her magic.

The flames came naturally, and she guided them with a quiet chant of words from the Mystic language. They wrapped around her sword, allowing her to cut through anything the Grinders used. "I'm not weak," Nora repeated as she continued to attack, thinking back to her imprisonment with Kilobyte as the flames grew stronger, before looking at the others again. "Not anymore," she vowed, before the flames exploded out.

"What?" the others looked around as they heard the noise.

"Nora!" Ziggy's eyes widened as he saw the flames engulfing her. They exploded outwards, and Nora was revealed to be unharmed, wearing strange armour.

"Whoa…" Annie breathed as she took in Nora's new appearance. She wore red and blue armour with a long black cape, and the helmet had what looked like flames trailing up it.

"Grinders!" Tenaya shouted suddenly, kicking Ziggy to the ground. He yelped, and Annie sighed, returning to the fight at hand.

More Grinders rushed in, and Nora raised the shield that had appeared in her hand. Blocking the attacks, she moved with much greater speed, cutting through each of the robots that came after her.


Kilobyte let out a snarl, getting back to his feet as his armour smoked. A long gash had cut slightly through his thick defences, and he twitched as his systems worked to restore.

"Nice job, Spencer," Scott ran over to the Gold Ranger, his energy levels returning after a small break.

"Thanks, but I think this is yours," Spencer handed it over with a chuckle.

"Right," Scott nodded. "Activating Engine Cell!" he shouted, combining his weapons. "Rail Blaster! Fire!" he shot a powerful blast enhanced by the PaleoZords, and it crashed into Kilobyte. The Attackbot barely managed to withstand it, thrown aside.

"Fine," he snarled. "Begin the download," he declared, and grew much taller suddenly. "How do you like me now?" Kilobyte declared.

"Does it look like we're running?" Scott shouted up as the others stood with him. He handed the Rail Blaster back to Spencer. "Let's go major!" he declared.

"Sounds good to me," Teddie nodded.

"Initiate PaleoMax!" Scott summoned the Zords, taking control of it in Arianna's absence. As Kilobyte attacked him, the others bombarded him with their own Zords, but he deflected them, sending the attacks right back at them.

"I'm hit!" Dillon shouted.

"Whoa!" Teddie pulled hard on her controls to keep in the air, narrowly avoiding Flynn's Zord.


"Alright Annie, two on one," Ziggy called as he and Annie fought Tenaya. "This will be easy," he declared, and Tenaya punched them both in the chest, knocking them over.

"What was that? Was that you tempting fate?" Annie grumbled. Tenaya stormed towards them and hauled the pair to their feet, shoving them back with a shout. She landed beside the last remaining Grinder, who was carrying a case, and turned away, walking off.

"And don't come back!" Ziggy shouted after her, making Annie chuckle. They turned to Nora, who was studying her new armour. "So uh...you're a Ranger now?" Ziggy asked as he approached her cautiously.

"No," Nora snorted, and the armour vanished. She stumbled as her energy levels plummeted, and he caught her. Annie just rolled her eyes. "It was an Ancient Mystic Mode. Like my gramps…" she murmured, going red.

"Right, I'll just pretend I understand that," Ziggy nodded. "You okay?" he asked her, before realising he was still holding onto her. With a gulp, he released her, and Nora straightened up. She then punched his shoulder, and he yelped, even with it not hurting.

"Of course I am. Are you? Considering you just got y'know, kidnapped?" she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Of course!" Ziggy nodded quickly, and Annie groaned.

"Okay, as sweet as this is," she spoke up, making them go red. "We still have a fight to finish. Come on," Annie grabbed Ziggy's arm and pulled him away, ignoring his complaints of pain. Nora watched, and laughed quietly, shaking her head.


"Super Sabre!" Kilobyte let out a shout of surprise as Summer and Flynn attacked with their sword.

"Fire!" Dillon, Spencer and Teddie shouted from their own Zords and Megazords.

"Fire!" Scott used the PaleoMax Megazord as Kilobyte was distracted, but he reacted fast enough and dodged their attacks.

"Ha! You missed!" he taunted.

"Great, he's a child," Teddie rolled her eyes. Kilobyte then slashed up, hitting the Megazords.

"Rangers! The sensors are picking up charges around the city!" Dr. K gave a dire warning.

"Do it, Grinders," Kilobyte ordered as the Grinders went to pull the switch to activate the charges.

"No!" Scott shouted, before the Grinders were blasted from above. They were destroyed, along with the switch. Kilobyte barked out a shout of horror, looking for who did it.

"Up here, buddy!" Ziggy shouted as the Mach Megazord flew high above.

"Just in time, huh?" Annie laughed. They then blasted Kilobyte, making him stumble backwards.

"Uh, you guys laying down on the job?" Ziggy teased as they landed in front of their fallen teammates.

"I am so gonna kick your ass for that," Teddie warned, but was laughing as they pushed the Megazords back up.

"Let's show him some real firepower!" Scott called, activating the Road Attack Zord. Kilobyte fired a blast at them, but they dodged and attacked from all sides. He then fired another blast that seemed to hit dead on, and gave a laugh, only to see all the Zords flying from the flames. "Nice try! RPM UltraZord!" the Red Ranger shouted. They combined, and Kilobyte gasped as they now towered over him. He backed away, hesitating.

"Burnout!" the team shouted, sending the Road Attack Zord towards him. It slammed into Kilobyte, who shrieked as parts of his armour broke off.

"Wheel Blasters!"

"Combine Weapons!"

"Fire!" with one more powerful move, they cut through Kilobyte and skidded to a stop behind him.

"This isn't over yet. Do you hear me?" he roared, collapsing in an explosion.


"Where are you gonna go?" Summer shouted as Ziggy sprinted down the stairs with a case in hand.

"He's gonna find you!" Flynn warned. Ziggy ignored all their shouts to stop, searching for his things that were, as usual, scattered around the garage.

"You can't go into the waste again, buddy," Dillon pointed out.

"Yeah, you won't have me or Dillon to help you then," Nora reminded him of the only reason he'd survived out there in the first place.

"You're going to spend…"

"Your whole life running!" even Gem and Gemma spoke up as Ziggy piled a bunch of fruit into the case.

"Look, when it comes to running away, I can keep up with the best of them!" he declared, and yelped when Teddie slammed the case shut, narrowly missing his fingers. "It's how I stay in shape!" he abandoned the case when Teddie made it clear she wasn't giving it over to him.

"You can't just leave!" Arianna tried.

"Ziggy, wait," Scott tried to block his path, but Ziggy was fast and frantic, making his movements even more unpredictable. "Have you tried talking to him?" he asked, and Ziggy stopped, whirling around.

"Talking to him?" Ziggy gave a hysterical laugh. "You don't know Fresno Bob, okay? You don't talk to him. He talks to you. And he doesn't even talk to you! He just gets this glint in his eye and and then he says-"

"Grab him boys," Ziggy whirled around as Fresno Bob walked in. The two massive men with him stepped forwards and grabbed Ziggy, who yelped as the rest of the team started forwards.

"You have some nerve coming in here," Teddie growled. Those who had been watching the Rangers and Nora try to stop Ziggy from fleeing, got to their feet as well, as Philip put a protective hand on Arianna's shoulder. Fresno Bob raised a hand for everyone to wait.

"I'm sad to hear you have such a low opinion of me, Ziggy," Fresno Bob sighed, approaching the terrified Green Ranger.

"Low opinion?" Ziggy repeated, voice rising in pitch. "No, uh, no," he insisted.

"'Cause I was starting to think a little more highly of you," Fresno Bob's words took everyone by surprise. Even Ziggy was stunned into silence, eyes narrowing a little. "When you saved my life, I uh, I had an epiphany. And I figured...you're alright. So...consider us even," he declared, and Ziggy relaxed.

"Even?" he repeated as the two men released him and returned to Fresno Bob's side.

"So we're supposed to consider you what? Benevolent?" Spencer pushed his way to the front, patting Ziggy's shoulder as he passed. The Green Ranger could barely breathe in shock. Fresno Bob stopped, turning to the Gold Ranger.

"You have quite the mouth on you, Bly," Fresno Bob arched an eyebrow.

"I did warn you what would happen if you went after Ziggy again," Nora spoke up, arms folded. Fresno Bob glanced to her, and paled a little. The two men with him stepped back, remembering her.

"And considering you've gone after both 'Anna and Heckyl as well," Teddie's fists were clenched tightly.

"Congratulations, by the way," Fresno Bob gave a pleasant smile, and Dillon grabbed her before she could launch herself at him. "So, what? I come here to clear Ziggy of his rather large debt, and you all treat me like-"

"Like a criminal?" Spencer gave a dangerous smile, fixing his glasses. "Don't give us any more reason to come after you, Bob, and you'll be fine," he warned.

"Don't push your luck," Fresno Bob had lost any smile now, and with that, turned and stormed out.

"Well, at least now you don't have to go back into the Waste," Flynn patted Ziggy's shoulder, trying to look on the bright side, and Ziggy beamed. He caught Nora's eye, and she gave an embarrassed smile back, rushing off. Flynn shook his head, chuckling quietly, and clapped a hand to the Green Ranger's shoulder a little harder this time before heading off.

"Man, I hate that guy," Spencer muttered, wondering what else Fresno Bob had planned.


I only have two chapter left to write! Onto the final stretch!

Hope you liked it. Let me know what you think!