POWER RANGERS: BREAKDOWN - Part 6: Recollections
Written by DTM666
Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.
Note to most: Sorry for the lateness of my posting, so in appreciation for those who are still around, thanks. Reviews are always appreciated.
Note to ZX: Glad you're enjoying the fic. As far as the Machine Empire civil war goes, that's another story in which I hope to write in the near future.
January 17, 1998. The day that he witnessed a travesty occur that shattered everything he held dear.
Two days later, he walks off to find answers on this strange world called Earth. He tells few he's leaving, but tells no one of his eventual location. Because even he doesn't know where he'll go. So he began wandering the earth, through means that only he knows of.
All that happened five months ago... and he still hasn't found an answer.
To: Trini Kwan
From: William Cranston
Subject: Non applicable
First off, I would like to offer belated apologies that your trip back home was cancelled months ago. I am probably uncertain if you will be receiving this email due to the level of travel your current occupation , but I feel compelled and obligated to keep you and Zack apprised of current situations here at Angel Grove. Considering the level of security necessary, you will forgive me if I keep as brief and as ill-detailed as possible.
I am quite certain in assuming that both Zack and yourself have been aware of Katherine's unfortunate... accident and Tommy's subsequent disappearance shortly thereafter months ago. Despite all our best efforts of locating either two, we haven't been able to produce desirable results and have since called off the search. All attempts at contacting the Ranger team in space have failed despite assistance from my Aquitian friends. Since then, we have all kept relatively busy.
I thought you would be interested to know that I am on the initial stages of commencing Project Prodigy. With final modifications on the Power Cannon completed, I will soon head back to the ruins of the Command Center and blast through the blocked entrance leading to the underground alcove. If all goes well, we could have something that can help us find our friends and perhaps even go as far as to render assistance to the space Rangers in their search for Zordon.
Should you have the chance of responding to this email, I would greatly appreciate it and hope to see you again soon.
Regards,
Billy
Finishing the final words of his email message, William Cranston stretched his arms out above and let out a long yawn. This past month's work has been tiring and having to relay old news to one of his best friends and former Ranger comrades has been really stressful. However, he believes that all the frustration and impatience will pay off with the initiation of Project Prodigy. His thoughts soon wandered to past events...
When the search for Tommy and Kat (respectively) was dropped, Billy focused his energies on a top-secret program codenamed Project Prodigy. Very little information on the project was ever revealed to the others, other than it took a long period of time to initiate and even longer to complete. Despite having little to work with, Billy would not be daunted with a task of utmost importance. Of course, the only hidden entryway was blocked off - forcing Billy to revive work on the Power Cannon, an old weapon of the original Ranger powers that had been purged from the Morphing Grid during the short time he was in the Power Chamber shortly after his return from Aquitar.
With some help from Justin on his spare time and Kimberly (much to his utter surprise), Billy was able to get the Power Cannon to almost functioning status. The lack of necessary components had slowed down the process considerably, but Billy was able to keep within schedule for the most part. Along the course of the weeks, Billy had received word that Justin was somehow able to regain his Turbo powers, including a functioning morpher. Justin also noticed that he was able to summon the Turbo Rangers' Turbo RAM weapon without the presence of four other Turbo Rangers to do so.
Justin was able to summon the Turbo RAM in his morphed state. However, he later noticed that the weapon was missing several key components, presumably lost or destroyed when TJ shot it down Goldgoyle's mouth. Billy, being the resourceful fellow that he is, was able to use several essential parts that were remaining and adapted them for use on the Power Cannon. Within a month, the cannon was fully operational - not requiring a morphed Ranger or six to utilize the weapon. The weapon was heavily downsized physically so that it would be humanly possible for one person to hold.
Having reflecting on the past, Billy clicked on the send button, closing the email window and review the blank desktop screen. It was time to get back to work.
It seemed almost like dejavu to Lord Zedd, who was grimacing through some sheets of paper in his personal chamber. Accepting a new ally making grandioso claims of laying waste to their enemies. The last time he had taken to an ally's word, they've let him down. Those whom offered services to him were as useless as those who hadn't. Once again, Zedd finds himself allying with someone, but this person promises not victory, but the death of one of his hated enemies. It's an ally he could truly trust implicitly.
Much to his surprise, the clone of his greatest nemesis was filled with as much pure hatred for his originator as Zedd was. The clone also came prepared, presenting Zedd with various documents and research notes that he hadn't expected from anyone the likes of which he had encountered, let alone a copy.
Using the clone's research from the two Mutant Ranger autopsies and Zedd's own alchemic experiments, the Ranger Wraith was born. An amalgamation of an original Ranger and Zedd's Rock Putty soldier in appearance, the Ranger Wraith was designed with the lifelessness of a Putty but the weapons, strength and durability of a fully-powered Ranger, making it an almost ferocious fighter. The formula for the creation of such a being required very little resources to be implemented and within a month, twenty-seven Ranger Wraiths were created. The following months produced an equal, if not greater, number of Ranger Wraiths, currently totaling in the hundreds.
The second major task was the complete overhauling of Zedd's personal warzord, Serpenterra - still in progress since work began shortly after enough Ranger Wraiths were produced less than a month ago. While the new form was significantly smaller than the original, it more than made up for it with an enhanced energy distribution network that was able to handle the zord's power demands, which had also been steadily decreased. Despite this decreasions, Serpenterra had plenty of upgrades, including an enhanced super laser that was more powerful than before, enhanced shielding, and various defensive systems.
While these were all impressive additions to his army, Zedd did admit some frustration that for all they have accomplished, they still haven't devised a means to locate their common enemy in Thomas Oliver. Beneath that frustration, Zedd was rather impressed that the former Ranger would keep in hiding for this amount of time.
His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the clone's silouette at the entrance of the room. The clone took a step forward and his visage... no, the visage of one Thomas Oliver, was seen in the dim lights of the chamber.
"What is it?" Zedd asked.
The clone smiled wickedly. "I might have found him."
Zedd sighed. "It's about time. Where is he?"
"The Cathedral of Angels in downtown Angel Grove."
Zedd paused for a moment, staring at his ally a minute, searching for any sign of sarcasm, but soon realized that the words muttered were nothing but genuine truth.
"A church?" Zedd called out in disbelief, "He's in a church?"
The clone nodded. "Yes, rather odd."
Zedd stood up from his chair. "I am going there and-"
"No, you're not." the clone interrupted, "The cathedral has some rather mystical properties that will severely weaken evil beings such as yourself. If he is there - and I'm not doubting your own power levels, Lord, but he can easily outmatch you and destroy you. And quite frankly I would rather have you alive in the coming days."
Zedd nodded. "So what do you suggest?"
"I'm a clone of him," he said, "and that makes me human despite my physiology. I may not have the dark powers in that realm, but I can fight him in means you can't." He walked closer to the fleshman lord. "Consider this; your first reaction to seeing him would be to kill him on sight. But given the environment, you'll be tired and Oliver will destroy you just as easily as you beaten him to a bloody pulp. His mind is so full of rage and anger that he will be go berserk on you. On the other hand, I'm not driven by evil intentions. Only a will to live a normal life, which doesn't seem to be particularly evil to me. I can get into his mind because I know what makes his strengths and weaknesses."
After some careful thought and hesitation, Zedd sighed and gave a- which the clone took as an agreement. The clone proceeded on his way out, but stopped, sensing that the fleshman was going to say something else.
"You do know that you'll have former Rangers who are keen in looking for him as well." Zedd warned, "Not to mention you'll have to deal the Kerovan bastard and his four Power Ranger wannabes."
"Don't worry, Lord." the clone assured. "I can handle them."
Zedd nodded. "Just the same, I want you to take a battalion of Ranger Wraiths with you. I wouldn't want anything to happen to my... partner." There was some hesitation from Zedd forcing that last word out.
The clone almost smiled at the comment, but didn't. Instead, he merely nodded and walked out the throne room, leaving Zedd alone to ponder the inevitable battle.
Power Karate, the martial arts studio that Adam Park and Rocky DeSantos opened up last year was a very profitable move on both former Rangers' parts. When word got around that the Youth Center was sold and to be transformed solely to a diner, there was a demand for martial arts classes within the greater Angel Grove area. On a typical Saturday morning like this, the school is closed so that the two owners could either come up with new lessons, go through the books, or discuss things normally not discussed in open areas.
In a small green room, with one lamp as the sole source of illumination, Rocky and Adam sat on both sides of a round table looking at a particularly rusted object.
A Power morpher, to be exact. Or rather, Adam's morpher.
Rocky picked up the object and studied it. After some time, he looked at Adam with a confused look on his face.
"You mean this still works?" he asked.
"Yes," Adam responded, also somewhat confused, "but it wouldn't really provide me with a stable morph." He clutched his left shoulder and groaned in slight pain, "And when I de-morphed, it hurt bad."
"You know what I think?" Rocky said with a smug look, "I think that you've been using other powers for so long that this old thing doesn't really like you anymore."
Adam couldn't help but grin at that last bit. "Good point, man."
Rocky laid the damaged morpher down. He looked back at his friend, who was still holding on to his shoulder and grimaced in pain. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.
Adam tried to smile, "Sure. Just that this shoulder hasn't been doing good since that stunt gone wrong."
"Oh yeah!" Rocky laughed, "I think I was there. The funny thing was that I didn't know whether to feel bad or laugh my socks off." That last remark made Adam smile and soon both former Power Rangers were laughing hysterically. Finally both managed to calm down.
"Seriously, why did you use it?" Rocky asked.
Adam cocked an eyebrow. "Carlos was in trouble, man."
The former Red/Blue Ranger nodded "I know that. But you also had your Zeoniser on you, too. Why didn't you use that instead?"
Adam shrugged. "Old habits."
That answer was more than enough for his friend.
Adam spoke in a more serious tone, "So what did you do with your Morpher?"
Rocky hesitated for a moment but finally answered, "I gave it to Jason. You know. As a souvenir." Rocky got up and headed for the small fridge. "I figured that he would probably want it as part of his little collection."
"Collection?" Adam asked with peak interest.
"Yeah," Rocky revealed as he popped open a bottle of Gatorade, "ever since his Gold Ranger stint he's been collecting stuff. Helmets, suits, zord parts, you name it, he's got it. He even has a piece of Plaghe floating around a containment tube Billy built so the thing doesn't make anyone sick."
"And Zordon & Dimitria lets him keep that stuff?"
"Yep."
Adam got up from the table and proceeded towards the exit. Rocky, Gatorade in hand, followed his green-clad friend.
"Thoughts?" he asked with some concern.
Adam shook his head, "Nothing. Not since... you know..."
Rocky caught on to Adam. He dropped the subject with a simple "uh-huh." No sarcastic tone, just a simple soulless tone.
Rocky sat down to his desk, going through the drawers, searching through papers and other oddities that lied within them. After a while, he pulled out a picture. It looked as if it was taken years ago. On the picture were the small group of friends; Adam, Rocky, Aisha Campbell, Jason Lee Scott, Zackery Taylor, William Cranston, Trini Kwan, Kimberly Hart, and Tommy. The only picture he had where the original Power Rangers and their three successors were together at the same time. Rocky passed the picture along to Adam after observing it. Looking at the picture of the old gang brought a smile to Adam's face.
"Those were good times," Adam commented, still holding the picture, "too bad we'll never have one last moment together."
"Yeah," Rocky responded regretfully, "too bad..."
"Did you find the parts you needed?" Kimberly asked as Billy walked out of the hardware store alongside Justin. The three began walking down the main street of the Angel Grove square.
"Yeah, it's all in stock," Billy answered, "but I'll pick them up tomorrow. The clerks obviously wanted to close up shop and wouldn't appreciate me asking too many questions twelve hours past closing."
Kim smiled. "Three hours was bad enough. Anyway, when do you suppose you'll be able to make it to the site?"
Billy was about to answer when he heard the sound of a spark explosion in the distance. "What was that?"
Justin looked around. "I don't know. Maybe we should check it out."
The three continued their way down the street and as they got farther, the sounds were getting louder. Now voices and battlecries were being heard, along with weapons fire.
"Sounds like it's coming from the cathedral." Billy observed.
The three made their way to the cathedral, but hid behind a building to avoid detection. From the distance, in front of the cathedral, they could see the Space Rangers battling a familiar-looking enemy in golden armor. From the looks of things, these Rangers aren't doing so well. Kim saw enough when Scorpina took the five Rangers down with her scimitar and taunted the fallen Rangers with a crackling laugh. Whether it was instinct or whether it was a sense of duty that got her to run to the battle scene, Kim couldn't really tell. It didn't matter to her, anyway. Without much option, Billy and Justin followed the former Pink Ranger. The three eventually made it to the battle, immediately gaining the assassin's attention.
"Oh look." Scorpina called mockingly, "It's the Geritol Rangers."
"Not you again." Billy cried, almost whining, "Have you ever considered retirement?"
Scorpina, ignoring the fallen Space Rangers, answered with a quick, fierce dropkick that landed on Billy's chest, knocking the former Blue Ranger down. With her attention to Billy, Kimberly ran at Scorpina and tackled her to the ground, but the scorpion woman managed to knock her off with a quick jab. With two Rangers down, Scorpina set her sights on Justin, who held both fists up in a boxing stance.
Scorpina grinned at the sight of Justin. "What? The Ranger league couldn't get anyone over eighteen?"
Justin rushed in on Scorpina and managed several kicks, all of which Scorpina managed to block. One kick from Justin missed and Scorpina extended her arm, her hand holding Justin's head (and covering his face at the same time) at a distance. She looked at the kid in pity as he swung his arms as if to deliver punches, but gets nothing but hair. After a while, Scorpina yawned and pushed the youngest Ranger down on his rear. By now, the two older Rangers had regrouped, but made no advances.
Scorpina studied the trio for a moment before snapping her fingers. Almost suddenly, to the surprise of the three former Rangers and the recovering Space Rangers, twenty humanoid forms in odd Ranger costumes formed around Scorpina, who let out a devilish laugh and disappeared into thin air. Almost instantly, the spot occupied by Scorpina was now occupied by a man with a familiar face.
"Tommy?" Justin called.
"No," Billy corrected, "Not Tommy."
The clone smirked, "That's right, Billy. I'm not Tommy!" He extended his arms high and called to the sky. "Newbie Rangers, Oldie Rangers, meet the Ranger Wraiths, a creation of Tommy-Boy's clone and the incomparable Lord Zedd. Ranger Wraiths, meet cannon fodder."
At the drop of his arms, the Ranger Wraiths attacked. The battle is just beginning.
To be continued...