Martial Strike

Administration

Disclaimer: I don't own power rangers or the concepts and a thanks to decode9 for the use of the true legend war story concept. The following has over time devolved into a ridiculously over the top sort of parody of many things, as a warning, comedy is one of the main themes and focuses here, so if you were expecting something serious, you've come to the wrong place. With that light warning out of the way, enjoy.

"Please come again!" Sora called with a wave from the entrance of the Dojo as the last students of the day left. Ever since he and the other rangers had met the singer and Sorceress Artemis Domino, he'd noted a rise in attendance to the classes, something he was glad about but he was suspicious that concert had something to do with it; the recent rise in civilian action against the Corporate Cops' shakedowns was also suspect of the Sorceress' doing. He still felt inspired by that impromptu song he'd performed with her on that stage and wondered if her magic had inspired something more in the people that had heard it that day. Sora shook his head as he closed the front door and locked up. It worried him a little that people might get themselves hurt but now more people were rallying against the Corporation by themselves, it was also kind of inspiring in itself. But he couldn't judge if any of this was good or not just yet. Only when the Corporate King is taken down and the people of Novaton are free, can the white ranger decide if it's worth it to let civilians fight their own battles against this cruel regime.

He walked further into the Dojo and to the hatch in the floor to the basement. It was usually concealed until Jason and Orika took to support duty during the rangers' battles. Today though, it was wide open and the rangers joined Jason and Orika at their station at the end of the long underground hallway laden with old scrolls. Sora was the last to join everyone, finally taking the free space amidst his friends around their two seated non-ranger allies.

"So, why'd you call this meeting Jason?" Trouble piped up as she folded her arms, she didn't seem particularly interested but now they were all here, it appeared she wanted to get this over with quickly.

"Because I need to apologise to you all." He said, his head low while his eyes pointed toward the floor. "I've been going through some things and… I've neglected my duties to help you all in our fight. I should've been more proactive and kept teaching you all as much as possible. I just let my personal problems get in the way and neglected everything else."

"Honestly you're not around so much that I was starting to think these guys just freeloaded off you and you didn't even know who we really were." Mizuki shrugged and swung her arms back and forth idly.

"Says the biggest freeloader of us all." Dan smirked and lightly jabbed her ribs, the orange ranger soon grumbled after being caught out and promptly shut up.

"Yeah I get the sentiment. I really am sorry I've not been there for you all. But you've been doing well on your own too. After the incident in the Quarry and how Alyssa dealt with that, she showed me that I should open up too. If it wasn't for the craziness with the Zords and our unexpected ally Dr. Baxter, I would've told you sooner. After that I thought it'd be best to wait until things settled down. Didn't think we'd be getting a visit from a Space Sheriff either but now it looks like we can finally have a break and I can open up about what's been going on." He quickly summarised.

"That's great to hear Jason." Alyssa nodded. "What you told me when we came back after our battle with Big Oil in the quarry, it helped out a lot. I still have to carry that burden, but I know I'm not alone in it because I've got everyone here to help too. We're all here for you as well." She said as the other rangers nodded with her.

"Besides, you're the one who gave us the power to fight back, we owe you that much." The pink ranger said her own piece while Jason mentally prepared himself.

The information was still somewhat jumbled but he knew the truth now and he just had to tell them. Nobody seemed to notice that Orika had been committed to her silence throughout this whole conversation so far. She just sat waiting, unblinking as she looked at the man she called her Uncle. To hear whatever truth he'd been hiding from her. Then, the young woman felt her heart almost stop as he took a breath in and said one sentence that changed everything.

"I know it's hard to believe but… I'm not the real Jason Lee Scott."

"What!?" The collective shouts of his rangers echoed through the long basement hallway, escaping out onto the Dojo floor before silence fell upon room once more.

Jason, or the man who bore the name, nodded. "I know, it's still a shock to me. Well, I should say I'm not the original at least. It's been happening for a while now, but I've been having flashes of memories I shouldn't have. That's when I decided to track down the people I saw in those flashes, try and put things together. I'm not the real Jason at all, he's still out in the world doing what he's always done."

"What's that mean? If you're not that guy, then who are you really?" Trouble spoke up, contrary to her earlier disinterest, the sudden turn in the mood of the conversation and what he was implying here, had piqued her interest more than enough to pry all the answers she could from him.

"I was created in a lab. I'm a clone of Jason… The Corporation tried to make their own cloned version of the first red ranger. You all know how obsessed with things like Power Rangers and the Morphing Grid and anything that has the potential to grant power they are. I'm sure you can understand why. But creating me…" He shook his head. "I still don't get it. I just needed to tell you all, that's what I found out about myself. Almost a perfect copy, then I escaped. Eventually I met Dan and saw enough potential to really begin fighting back after seeing what they've done to this City. I guess those memories were buried until I found out the truth."

"Wow, Jason… I'm sorry you had to deal with that alone. You still should've told us sooner; but we're here now and I think you already know what we think." Dan said as he offered a warm smile before he looked to the others and each nodded.

"Thank you… I know that the Corporation's been responsible in some way for everyone's decision to fight them. I guess this is mine." He said and gave his thanks with his own smile.

"What about after that?" Orika finally said something, the young woman's face was blank and hard to read, her voice sounded flat, making it even harder to see what was going on in her head. "After you escaped, what happened? You always said you'd protect me like family but what happened to my parents for it to be just you and me?"

The cold way she spoke brought with it a sense of unease as Jason turned to his niece and tried to comfort her by resting her hand on her shoulder. "It's been years since then, like I said, I'm just a clone and well… my brain repressed a lot. But I found people who did remember, old friends of your parents who knew me from then, they helped jog my memory." At that her eyes grew hopeful. It had been a topic the rangers had never heard her talk about before but seeing her in that moment, it was like those answers meant everything to her. "Back when I escaped, I had nothing. The Corporation wasn't in-charge of Novaton yet but they were making moves for it and pushing out other businesses. I could only find so much on your Mother. She was an employee for some kind of industrial tech firm. I couldn't find much on her but your Dad… He's the one who took me into his Dojo. This Dojo in fact. He taught me everything I know, then one day the Corporation took over the City and came knocking."

"No… you can't mean." Orika shook her head vehemently, refusing to believe what she knew Jason was going to say next.

"You still remember don't you? That day you and I hid down here. The yells from above, those boots stomping around everywhere."

"No… no- I don't want to remember th-that!" She raised her voice, shut her eyes and rubbed her forehead, trying with all her effort to reject the memories she'd thought she'd left buried.

"I'm sorry Orika… I don't want to make you hurt by remembering that day. They dragged him off and he didn't come back… But thanks to the people I met, the ones who helped me remember; they told me stories about how I took care of you after that and became your guardian from then on. I still won't let anything bad happen to you Orika. If there's one thing I could always remember from then, It's the last thing your father made me promise. That's to always keep you safe."

A heavy lump caught in Orika's throat as the other rangers stood listening, unable to do anything to ease the mood or ease their friend's distress. Despite everything, she still needed to hear the whole truth. "So that's why… that's why you always kept me on the sidelines… out of the way of danger… because my d-dad… he wanted me to be safe." It was her turn to look at the floor as she contemplated everything she'd just heard, tears building up as Orika tried her best to control all that wild emotion that was overcoming her.

"Orika… sorry I shouldn't have told you all that. It's my fault." Jason said as he tried his best to apologise after throwing not one but two major bombshells on the poor girl.

"OF COURSE IT IS!" She finally snapped as she raised her head and exclaimed all her frustration at the man, the dam finally bursting as she let forth her tears that streamed down her face. The young woman stood and slipped past the rangers. Orika stormed out of the basement without another word as Jason stood up and he followed the rangers out in pursuit of her.

"Wait Orika, I'm sorry I was keeping all this from you! I just wanted to make sure you were safe!"

"Because the years of lessons in every fighting form you know isn't enough? Because not letting me be a ranger despite my skill and being able to take all six of them at once isn't enough? When is what you taught me ever going to be useful if you don't want me to use it!? You brought me into this fight but you don't want me doing anything meaningful! I've had it with not doing anything! With being coddled and kept from the action when I'm more than capable of taking care of myself! I'm going and I'm doing this my way from now on, don't even try to stop me!" She growled amidst her yells before making for the back door and a hasty exit from the Dojo.

After she left, silence hung in the air for a minute. "I can't believe it… who knew Orika had that much pent up anger in her." Ella said as Jason ran his hands through his long black hair and wondered where he went wrong.

"Damn it… I thought this would start to fix things, not make it worse… Maybe I shouldn't have treated her that way. Maybe if I'd have let her fight too…"

"Hey Jason, knock it off already!" Dan said, startling everyone as he raised his voice. The sound of annoyance was quite apparent as he stared down the mentor with a stern gaze. "Of all the people to keep secrets from… I'm okay with what you are… but hurting Orika like that. I didn't think you were that kind of person… Let's go guys, hopefully we can find her and talk her down." He gestured to the door she left through as he led the team to find their missing ally, hoping she hadn't gone on a suicidal one-woman crusade against the Corporation. Given what she'd just heard about her father's fate, Dan worried his suspicion was correct and that time was of the essence to find her.

[Martial Strike]

"Ugh… I'm like, so totally bored!" Callie groaned as she rested the side of her head on the table in one of the break rooms in the upper floors of the Corporate Tower. She checked her phone again and let out a dramatic sigh as it showed there were no new messages. "Come on bestie, answer back already." She grumbled hoping that Alyssa would get back to her soon so she could alleviate her work boredom.

As she waited impatiently, Chief Savage walked into the room and went straight for the Coffee pot. "Oh, didn't know anyone else would be here right now. "You're miss Dalton right? The new head Administrator shaking things up and cutting down on all that rotten shakedowns the Boss' making them do. Gotta thank you for that one. Hate the orders myself." He said as he poured a cup of coffee for him and gestured to her. "Want a cup?"

She immediately shook her head. "This place wouldn't know how to make good Coffee if it was, like, run by a barefoot hippie in clothes made outta hemp! I'll pass." Callie waved it away as she rested her head on the table again. "Ugh I hate it here."

"Sounds like you don't enjoy your work at all miss Dalton, I get what you mean though. I'm not too big of a fan of the Boss either, between you and me." He finished pouring and made his way over to the same table Callie slouched at. "That geezer he hangs out with is a slimy piece of crap too." He added, sitting across from the young woman, unaware of her familial ties to Oily Bill.

"Ugh, like I so know what you mean. Having the money guy for a Boss is bad enough, having my Dad working here too, I like, so can't deal with him using me to suck up to his boss. Like dude, come on just let me do my thing!" She groaned as she looked to Chief Savage who was now putting the pieces together.

"Oh wait, you're Oily Bill's kid aren't you. Damn shouldn't have said anything about him to you, he could seriously get me in trouble if what I said gets out."

Callie waved the Chief's concerns off. "Like, chillax frowny mcfrowny face. I'm not gonna rat you out to him, okaysies?"

Chief Savage nodded and let out a sigh. "I think I'm starting to get you, miss Dalton. Since it sounds like you're not a fan of them, I guess you can see how bad things are out in the City. Not a fan of it either but the Boss keeps doing these mandatory shakedowns daily and I can't do a thing about him. The force is full of cooked Cops that care more about lining their own pockets and getting their kicks from hurting people than keeping people safe and orderly. The Boss saturated my force with so many mercs that the good ones are doing all they can and it still isn't enough. That and these Power Rangers fighting back are putting even more pressure on us thanks to the Boss' demands. Sometimes I wish things went back to the way they were, right before the Corporation bought up the Force and I was still working for the City, not against it. But hell, I'm just one man and the guys I trust are few and far between, nothing's gonna change at this rate… you're going to keep this conversation between you and me, right?" He looked at her sternly, hoping that he could intimidate her if she wasn't going to play along.

She waved him off again. "Please, like duh, of course I'm not telling those party poopers. Don't worry, my lip is zipped." She mimed zipping her lip up as her tablet received a message. "Are you kidding me? Ah fine…" Callie proceeded to stand and take her tablet from the break room's table. "Laters!" She casually waved to the Corporate Police Chief as she exited the room and left him to his cheap Coffee.

Callie soon arrived at the CEO's office and entered casually, caring not for any type of social hierarchy he might expect to see since she knew that her help was invaluable and he couldn't do anything to her without losing his best resource. Only an idiot would try to control or threaten Callie Dalton.

"Ah, you're finally here!" The Corporate King said, pointing to a metallic object on his desk. "We've finally completed the device that's going to destroy the rangers and I need your help to make it happen."

Callie walked up to the desk and examined it, using her tablet to inspect the full schematics now this device was operational. The object itself was blocky, and could just fit in someone's hands. There were an excess of tubes emanating from the centre. The core of the device gave off a soft orange glow, seen from the circular glass over the power chamber hidden within. The device was mostly made of a black metal but the front was covered in purple metallic components that gave it a vicious look. Additionally, there was a horizontal slot, big enough to fit a small cylinder into, that was hidden in the right hand side of the device. "So, what's the, like, lowdown with this thing anyway."

"Oh, it started with a prototype we stole from another company before we took over the City, then we've been working on it ever since. Finally, thanks to you, we have it operational. It took forever to find a power source that could handle the technology without blowing up, but that Diamond the alien bird person had did the trick! The best part is, we only needed to use half of it." He said, rubbing his hands at the thought of that jewel that resided in his possessions now.

"Um, like, whatever. I just want to know about the device, not your yucky money hoard. What exactly do you want from me, anyway?"

The Corporate King grinned. "I want you to find someone to test the device. It needs to be someone strong that can fight, that way the rangers will be in for a real surprise. And just so you know, I heard all about your own skills. If you fail, I'll use you as my guinea pig instead." He grinned and gestured for her to leave as he pulled a stack of money from the counter of his desk and began to idly count.

Callie left the room and looked down to the driver and shivered at the thought of being used as a test subject for the device. Having seen the simulations of what it was capable of, what side-effects it brought, she didn't want to be subjected to that. There was no other option, she needed to find someone capable of fighting against the rangers. It was the only way to save her own skin. Better them than her.

[Martial Strike]

It was getting late and the sun was setting, the skies were clear and blinding orange rays soared across the city, bathing everything in their glow. It was here where Orika stood seething, recovering her breath as she pulled back from her fighting stance. All around her, sprawled out across the ground and unconscious from her unrelenting assault were the many Corporate Cops she had just defeated.

"I'll show him… I'll show the others too… I don't need protecting. I'm the most worthy of those powers, they'll all see…"

That's when she turned toward the sound of heels clicking against the ground and the woman walking toward her, a tablet in one hand, a strange object in the other. A smirk across her face. "You're totally strong to clear out those chumps like they were nothing. How about I make you an offer?"

[Martial Strike]

"Orika! Where are you!?" Dan called out as he and his friends scoured the city searching for their missing ally. They'd been at it for a while but she hadn't turned up despite their calls to her. If she had heard them, she'd definitely refused to hear them out.

Finally, they'd come to rest near one of the roads in a large open area that dipped down slightly from the rest of the pavements, railings surrounded the area while there were some stone benches for seating in this rest area. Dan recognised it as a place where the younger kids of the City tended to play but it was fortunately empty, or in this case unfortunately and had stairs either side of the zone leading back to the normal streets of Novaton.

Sora and Alyssa took a break on one of the benches while Trouble crossed her arms and paced back and forth. "It's no use, she hasn't turned up, we should just head back already, before it gets dark. There's no chance of finding someone in Novaton at night, especially when they don't want to be seen."

The others winced at her words. Alyssa nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I don't like leaving her on her own though, she's angry and upset, just like when I found out the truth about the fire that destroyed my home."

The orange ranger stood next to Dan frowned as she looked at the others. "She'll be okay though, won't she? Orika's a really tough fighter so she won't get hurt… I hope."

The red ranger put a hand on his younger friend's shoulder and hoped he could reassure her. "I've known Orika since the beginning and she's kicked my butt more times than I can count. She'll be okay on her own, she grew up learning to fight, unlike us. I get why she's angry too, hearing all that, not getting a chance to fight for what you believe in because Jason didn't want to risk putting her in danger. I know he meant well, but she's hurting right now and I just can't agree with what he did."

Sora nodded and stood, Mizuki quickly spotting the open space and taking the opportunity to rest her legs while she could. The girl snapped the space up like a flash and the others had to take a moment to process what had just happened while the orange ranger swung her legs back and forth from the bench, her legs just short enough to almost graze the ground. Once they had realised the girl had quickly snapped up the spot, they quickly turned back to figuring out the whereabouts of their friend.

That's when Ellie saw a figure that now appeared atop one of the sets of steps nearby. "Wait, who's that? They weren't here before." The pink ranger said and alerted the others to the presence of the unknown figure.

Dan and the others walked up beside Ellie and they formed around their red ranger. Though they hoped it was Orika, they mentally prepared themselves in case this was about to devolve into a battle.

"So, we're finally coming, like, face to face, how about that?" The figure spoke, her voice seemed to be modulated and she was wearing some kind of white bodysuit and armour. The sun seemed to obscure the rangers faces from behind however. "Guess the sun says no peeking!" She smirked as the rangers readied their Martial Harnesses.

"Martial Spirit, Strike Out!"

"Carnival Spirit, Strike Out!"

In a burst of energy, the six morphed and stared down the new and unusual arrival that could be friend or could be foe. "Who are you, we gonna have to fight you, because I kinda like the idea of taking out the trash round about now."

"Ha, you're all rah rah rah right now ranger but just you wait; I'm like, totally going to make you wish you weren't even born." She stepped forward and the rangers could see her better.

The new arrival seemed to wear a form fitting white bodysuit, with armoured heeled boots, a chest plate and a pair of gauntlets. In the core of the chest was a glowing aqua coloured sphere, whilst the armour on the gauntlets lit up with a similar light and so did the heels. A helmet obscured her face but it looked featureless, not even a visor, though it opened up at just below her nose, allowing her to speak clearly to them, even if her voice was being masked by technology in the suit.

"Just who are you and what do you want with us?" Dan asked as he cautiously raised his nunchucks in case she attacked.

"Oh aren't you, like, polite. Fine, since you asked nicely. You can all call me C, Admin C of a Corporation I think y'all know pretty well." C introduced herself as Ella shrugged.

"Does that mean there's an A and a B as well." She and a couple of the other less mature rangers sniggered while C frowned.

"Alright, here's the deal. My boss wants your morphers, I'm taking them, coolio?" C said and offered her hand out to take them on the off chance it worked.

"You really think we'd just hand them over like that? If you want them, then you'll have to take them from us by force!" Dan stood definitely against her demands as the other rangers backed him up and readied their own weapons.

"So adorbs! He's getting, like, totally worked up over this! Alright, this'll be a piece of cake." C smirked as she sprinted towards the rangers, who charged their new opponent in turn.

Sora shot his grapple and attempted to bind his opponent before following up with a punch from his gauntlet, however as the white ranger shot out his grapple, she leapt into the air with impressive agility and dodged the grapple completely. C landed behind him and dropped low. The Administrator swept his legs out from under him, completely catching Sora by surprise as he tumbled to the floor. C jammed her knee into the white ranger's solar plexus, knocking the wind from him as she made a fist and the armour on her fist began to glow brightly. Aqua coloured energy grew around her hand as she delivered the blow and Sora let out a cry of agony as the point of impact exploded in a could of sparks.

C quickly stood as the other rangers prepared to take her on and get back at her from taking down their friend like that. "Just what kind of power was that? It took Sora out in one blow?" The black ranger asked as she held her scythe defensively and slowly closed in on the Admin.

"Like it? That's the power of my Photon armour. It'll give you all a kaboom that you can't handle. I'm no pushover either. I know, like, so many Martial Arts it's unreal! Just watch." She smirked again and rushed Alyssa.

The black ranger used the sweeping blows to take out C, but the attacks were easily evaded by her. Then as Alyssa swung again, C leapt into the air and landed on the black ranger's scythe. Perfectly balanced, the Admin ran down the shaft as her heel glowed in the same way her fist did, and in a cloud of sparks, C delivered a Photon kick directly to her opponent's head, dropping Alyssa in one move.

Trouble growled as her teammate crumpled to the floor and rushed C next. The blue ranger's attacks were highly telegraphed and reckless, allowing the Admin to evade them with ease as she leapt backwards, leading Trouble away from the group. When the two reached a certain distance, C stopped moving and turned around. Trouble slashed and as she attacked, C delivered a back kick to the blue ranger's stomach. It wasn't empowered by her Photon armour unlike her other attacks and to the others' surprise, Trouble caught the kick as it landed on her stomach. Holding it between her sai's, the blue ranger thought she'd gained the upper-hand.

That's when C grinned. "Kaboom." She said as from her heel, a sphere of Photonic energy built up from her heel and slammed into the blue ranger, sending her flying back into the other rangers and exploding, knocking all that were left standing down to the ground. "Not bad… for a bunch of small fry. I expected, like, so much better from you. Guess my boss is totally useless like I thought. Better take-" She stopped talking as she processed something. "Oh guess that's that. Alright, I'm out!" She called over to the rangers and turned to leave.

Dan barely managed to stand as he held his side and tried to follow her. "Wait where are you going!? What happened to fighting us, we're not done yet!"

C waved his demands aside. "Ha, don't flatter yourself sweetums. You and that riff raff have zilch of a chance against me. You're just lucky it's, like, finishing time for me. I don't care about your morphers outside of my job so just take the L today, kay?" She then leapt up the stairs and began running from the scene, leaving the rangers to lick their wounds.

"She left us alone because her shift was over?" Dan plonked the side of his helmet and groaned. "Damn it, how could we lose to that woman!?"

He then turned to his other teammates that had begun to come around and decided it was best to help them to their feet and make a tactical retreat. It was worrying that this new threat had emerged. If she was that skilled as a fighter, it stood to reason that her appearance now and the timing of the changes to how the Corporate Cops have been operating could be linked. Regardless, they had to be on their guards now and hope they found Orika, before it was too late.

|Martial Strike|

That's chapter 23 and it was full of drama and plot developments there. So, Jason isn't the Jason we all know and is in fact a clone made by the Corporation. Or for the few people that get this joke, I guess we could call him Jaason now. But for what purpose did they make him? I'll leave you guessing since that's a plot point that'll come up eventually. Next big thing was Orika running off, seems she's steaming right now and by the look of all those Cops she took down, one could even say she's gone berserk. Our villains got some development too and I bet everyone was thinking when I introduced Chief Savage that he'd be the strong General of this season, I wonder what you all make of him now he's expressed his distaste with the way things are run in Novaton.

And finally, we had Admin C show up. I'm sure you can all guess by the way she speaks who she is but I bet it was a real surprise to have her go up against the rangers like that and beat them down. I would've had her take down each ranger individually just to show how big the skill gap was but I didn't want to stretch out the chapter too long. I want to know people's thoughts on her Photon armour too. I'll admit that it is a bit inspired by Ultraman suits. Being in quarantine right now, I've found the 3d animated Ultraman on Netflix and thought it'd be cool to use design elements from Ultraman in her suit's design. Seems it's quite powerful in its own right but we'll see what happens next with her. For now, we're moving onto the Berserker arc that's focusing on Orika and what she's about to become. You may now make bets on what exactly and I hope to surprise you all when it comes to the reveal. Thanks for reading and until the next one!

Next Chapter: Rage Burst

Synopsis: After being beaten back by C and only being saved by her lack of enthusiasm for her Job, the rangers return to recover before heading out once more in search of their missing friend. Whilst Jason tries to figure out a way to make this up to his niece once she's been found. As the rangers search, they're attacked, this time by a new monster sent by the Corporate King and not C. As they fight the monster, a new contender enters the fight, armed with a device unlike anything they've seen before. Though they'll soon find that this monster is the least of their worries. Will they find Orika and convince her to return? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Martial Strike.