Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all its related logos are property of Saban and/or Disney Entertainment. I am using them without permission, but I do not intend to make a profit. I mean it, I don't. If I do happen to make some quick cash from it, I promise to sponsor a child for seventy-five cents a day with the money I made. Possibly even two of them.

A/N: This fic takes place with the assumption that power rangers is and always were real, though the secret identities of the rangers have remained secret over the years. You may see cameos from other rangers, but this will deal primarily with original characters. It is set some time after Dino Thunder, but before SPD.

Thursday March 3rd, 2005 6:45pm ... Reefside, California

The turn out at Hayley's Cyber Space was, to say the least, impressive. Elaine was a frequent visitor of the café, mainly because of the smoothies they served, partly because she had a crush on Trent, the bus boy, but mostly because it was one of the few places she truly felt comfortable. Long after Trent quit his job, she still came almost every day. It for no other reason, just to be around other people who enjoyed computers as much as she did. Today, however, her quick visit inside to get herself a smoothie wasn't going to happen.

The café was packed to capacity, everyone eager to get their hands on the new power rangers game. It went without saying that if you lived in California; chances are you'd run into the power rangers at one point or another. They'd saved the city more times than she could count, and she was grateful for that, but today, all she wanted was her smoothie.

She attempted to force her way through the crowds, most of them holding up signs and trying to earn a spot at one of the booths. Eventually, she made it to the counter, where Hayley was frantically running back and forth from the counter to the back room, then back again.

"Hey Elaine, I'll be with you in a second," Hayley said, rushing off again.

The booths had been set up on the other side of the café, each of them equipped with a helmet of some kind and a group of controls in front of them. At first glance, it appeared as though there were fifteen booths set up. Judging by the crowd of people already there, it seemed highly unlikely that fifteen would be enough to accommodate everyone.

Finally, Hayley hurried back over to Elaine, handing her a smoothie. "You did want your usual, right?" she asked her.

"Yeah, thanks. What is all this about? If you can buy this game at home, why is everyone going crazy to play it here?" Elaine asked her.

"You haven't heard?" Elaine shook her head. "A power ranger is going to be here. He isn't going to play the game, but he'll be here to award the winners with honorary power ranger trophies," she told her.

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah, so people are making a big deal about it. You should pick a number, try your luck," Hayley suggested.

"Naw, I don't think so. Maybe I'll pick up the PC version of the game and give it a try this weekend, but not today," she said.

"Really? I kinda already picked a number for you," Hayley said, handing her a slip of paper.

"You what?"

"You're one of my regular customers, I knew you'd be here today. Still, chances are you might not be picked to play. We're pulling the names at random," she said.

Elaine sighed. "I hope I don't get picked. I like the rangers at all, but all this is borderline geeks-ville," she groaned. "This is just another excuse for fanboys to get together and argue about ranger identities. Did you know there was a myspace set up by someone claiming to be the black ranger?"

"I doubt that…" she glanced over as someone was motioning for her. "Hold that thought; I'll be right back. I really should hire someone else to help out around here," Hayley mumbled as she walked away.

"You just about ready Dr. O?" Ethan asked as he peeked out the door, getting a good look at the crowd that was already inside the café.

Hayley had been nice enough to allow him use of the back room to monitor the game and stay out of the way of the crowds while he did his work. Dr. Tommy Oliver stepped out the bathroom wearing his full white ranger uniform. "Still fits like a glove," he confessed, admiring himself.

"Too bad it doesn't have any real power left in it, white suits you. If Mesagog ever shows up again, maybe we could…" he was interrupted.

"Ethan, I've saved the world enough, I think its time for me to let this part of my life go. I promised you I'd help you with this game because I know how important it is for you to find Rick and find the keys, but that's as much as I can do," he told him.

Ethan couldn't help but nod. Even as a child, he heard about the power rangers in Angel Grove protecting the city. Dr. Oliver had been a ranger for over a decade, giving his life to save the world. He even resumed his duties as a ranger to assist Ethan and the others, but now, it was time for him to live his own life.

"I understand. Thanks again for doing this."

Tommy sighed, putting on his helmet. "Okay, lets do it!"

It was difficult to see through the crowd, but Patrick found himself silently searching for RevolutionChick.

"Give it a rest man, she already told you she wasn't going to make it. Besides, you don't even know what she looks like," Carl mentioned to him.

'That's not true, I saw her picture on her myspace. I'll know'er if I see'er," he assured him.

"Geez you're whipped. You didn't even get any and you're whipped," he sighed.

Jen glanced around the room, hoping she'd bump into ZetaGreen, but it was doubtful, considering how many people there were. 'I already hold him I wasn't coming. He probably isn't even looking for me to show up,' she thought to herself.

She stared down at the number she was given as she walked in the room. '25, huh? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?' she wondered. Judging by the number of booths they had with the game, it seemed highly unlikely that higher numbers would get picked. Still, she hoped that she was able to pull it off. 'If I don't, then I'll be grounded for a month for nothing,'

Ethan walked out into the café, standing on the stage in front of the mic. It didn't take long for the crowd to realize he was there, all of them turning their attention to him.

"Thank you everyone for coming out for the official launch of Power Rangers Virtual Force," the crowd applauded. "The turn out is a lot better than I expected it to be, unfortunately we'll only be able to pick less than half of you to participate. People who are not chosen to participate will receive a coupon for a free smoothie here at Hayley's Cyber Space and a few copy of the PC version of the game, so it's not a total lose," he motioned to the booths on the far end of the room. "As you can see, there are fifteen booths set up. Each booth has two helmets, one of each side, so there will be a total of thirty players competing at the same time in a completely free roaming environment. There is only one rule here: survive. There will be hordes of attacks from all kinds of villains and foot soldiers, not to mention having to keep up with one another. There will be power ups and bonuses throughout the game. If you're lucky enough to find one, you'll increase your chances of winning. For your convenience, I know some of you brought flash sticks with modded ranger models to use. If you have a custom ranger, that's fine, but all power ups you gave to your virtual ranger will be stripped from you. Everyone will go into this game on a level playing field. Elimination from the game will occur you're your character is destroyed by either a villain or another player, or you exhaust your power supply. Its for this reason that you may find it best to team up with someone. Work as a unit and you better your chances to survive. The three who survive the longest will be declared the winners, and will be named honorary rangers by one of the most legendary rangers in history," he paused. "Ladies and gentleman, may I present to you, the white ranger," he said, standing aside and applauding along with the crowd as the white ranger stepped out onto the stage, waving at everyone.

It took a few minutes for the crowd to settle down, but eventually they did, and Ethan approached the microphone again. "As you came in here, you were given a number. I will now reach inside this box and pull out thirty numbers at random. As your number is called, hold up your number to confirm, then take a seat at one of the booths," he reached inside the box. "Number 17," he announced.

Someone in the crowd jumped up and down, holding up his number, and then hurried over to the booths.

"He's already called more than half the numbers already. It's startin' to look like we're not going to get picked," Patrick sighed with disappointment.

"You never know man, there are still 8 or 9 picks left. That gives us a 2 in 9 shot and making it," he assured him.

"I hope so."

"Number 25," Ethan announced.

Jen held up her number with excitement, and after a quick nod from Ethan, hurried over to the booths. She sat at the first empty seat she came to, putting on the helmet. Since the game wasn't on yet, there wasn't much to look at, but there was a tutorial screen that appeared, showing the basic controls of each of the buttons and how to use the powerups.

"You know I'm going to win this, don't you?" a voice asked from another booth.

"Huh?"

"My brother has had the beta version of the game for over a month, and I've been playing it. I even had a modded ranger. I call him Fireranger, and he is going to own all of you," the voice said.

"I think you're taking this a little too seriously, it's a game. We're here to have fun," Jen told him.

"Its not a game, it's a competition, and I intend to win."

She sighed. "Whatever dude."

"And now, the final two openings," he paused. "Number 71," Ethan announced.

"Yes!" Patrick screamed, holding up his number.

"Good luck man, I'll see you out there," Carl told him.

Patrick hurried over to the booth, sitting down. He quickly inserted the two flash sticks into the USB ports, and then put on his helmet.

"And finally, number 14," Ethan announced.

Carl glanced down at his number in disappointment, balding it up and throwing it on the floor as the last person hurried over to the booth, sitting down.

"Remember, those of you who didn't get picked will still receive a copy of the game just for showing up. You're also welcome to stay and watch on the big screen as your friends try to survive in a virtual environment. If you did get picked, let me go over some of the rules with you. Again, custom rangers are acceptable, but all power ups will be deactivated the moment you pick your character. Each of you take a minute to look through the available characters and pick one now."

'Oh my GOD, it's the ranger Zeta made for me. That means he's here. I wonder if he's going to use Tempest ranger,' Jen thought as she quickly selected her character.
'Somebody selected Black Spectra Ranger. Could it be RC? Is she here?' Patrick wondered.
"Now that you have your ranger, all of you will be broken up and sent into different parts of the city. It is completely free roaming, so you may encounter other rangers during game play, you might not, but there will be plenty of baddies for you to contend with. Along the way, submissions will be made available for you to play. They are optional and don't have to be played, but if you complete the mission you will receive power ups and bonuses. Your main objective should be to find the Eye of Thoron and take it to the virtual version of Hayley's Cyber Space. There is only one Eye of Thoron in the game, finding it and taking it to the cyber space guarantees that you will win the game. There will only be three winners, and remember, just because you find the Eye of Thoron doesn't mean you'll be the one who gets it to cyber space. Other rangers will be able to identity that you have it, and will stop at nothing to take it from you. Each of you will start at 250 lifepoints, when that number reaches zero, the game is over for you and your booth will be deactivated," Ethan explained. "Are you ready?"

A round of cheers came from everyone at the booths.

"Well good luck, and may the power protect you!"

Black Spectra Ranger found herself alone in the city, unsure of where to start. It appeared to be downtown Reefside, but there wasn't another person in site. She couldn't help but pay attention to the level of detail in the game, all the way down to the sound of airplanes rushing by overhead and the wind blowing.

"This is amazing," she said, taking a second to get a good look at everything.

She began to wander down the street, but paused as she saw a glowing question mark simply floating in the middle of the street. Out of pure curiosity, she walked over to it, touching it… and a text message appeared.

A child is under attack inside this building.
Save the child and earn 100 lifepoints.

She quickly hurried into the building, looking around. The entire city was, for the most part, deserted, and she was about to give up on the side mission when she heard a child scream from another room. She charged up the steps and into a room where a little boy was being attacked by a group of putties. She ran over to him, grabbing one of the putties and throwing him across the room. Another one rushed at her, but she sidestepped him, tripped him and sent him crashing out the window to the ground below. Two more putties remained, and they both charged at her. She blocked their attacks, then hit a leg sweep, knocking them both over. With them down, she punched them directly in the Z on the chests, and they shattered into a million pieces, then disappeared.

With them gone, she walked over to the little boy, who was crying.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but you're not!" the boy said as he stood up, reaching out for her.

As he got closer, the boy transformed into…

"Holy crap, its Psycho Red!" she squealed. "How cool is this? I remember reading about you in…" she was cut short as Psycho Red pushed her, knocking her through a wall and down to the street.

She stood up as the Psycho Ranger jumped out after her.

"You will be destroyed!" it told her, rushing at her with a kick.

She moved aside and the ranger kicked through a wall, getting its foot stuck. Black Spectra Ranger then began to unload him on with blocks and kicks, but they seemed to be having no effect on him. Finally, Psycho Red freed himself, rushing after her. He knocked her against the wall, then closed in for the kill.

"This ends now ranger," he said.

He cocked back, but before he could finish her off, an energy beam hit in him the back, and the Red Psycho Ranger vanished. Standing in his place as Aqua Tech Ranger.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine, thanks to you," Spectra Ranger said.

"No worries, us girls have to stick together, right?" she paused. "You are a girl, right?"

She giggled. "Yeah."

"Good, cuz I just had to whip some guy's ass back there and take his weapon. He had a pink ranger, but it was obviously a guy. Just weird."

"Where can I find myself a gun like that?" Spectra asked, admiring her weapon.

"Here, take it. Give me the life points you earned from Psycho Red and we'll call it even," she said.

"Deal."

Aqua Tech Ranger handed her the disrupter, and Spectra ranger in return stood aside, allowing Aqua Tech Ranger to pick up the life points. "How about we stick together for a while? You never know what else this game is going to throw at us," Aqua Tech Ranger suggested.

"Okay, but no more side missions," Spectra said.

Fireranger found himself surrounded by two waves of foot soldiers, and was doing his best to fight them off, but was fighting a losing battle. Meanwhile, Green Tempest Ranger leaned up against the wall with a disrupter weapon in hand, simply watching.

Fireranger managed a double sabat kick to two of the Quantrons, but another one kicked him in the back, taking him down. He hit a sweep, buying him some time, but as soon as he got back to his feet, a group of Batlings grabbed him, holding him in place while the Quantrons moved in to finish him out.

"Dude, help me out!" Fireranger called out. "You've got a weapon, use it!"

"No thanks, I'm saving ammo."

"Come on man, please!"

"Naw. I seem to remember you telling me you were going to own everyone here, now you need some help. What's in it for me?" he asked him.

Fireranger kicked forward, stopping the two Quantron who were coming after him, then squirmed his way free from the Batlings, only to be struck down by a Triptoid. "My brother has the beta version of the game, so I've been playing for a long time. I know where the Eye of Thoron is. I can tell you where it is, but you have to help me."

"So… I help you, and you tell me where the Eye is?"

"Yes, please!"

"You've got yourself a deal," Tempest Ranger walked over to them, hitting a roundhouse kick to the jaw of one of the Triptoids, then shoved them into a Quantron. With the Quantron down, he picked up its blade, and then sliced through the two remaining Quantrons. The final two batlings rushed towards him, but he spun around and stabbed it in the back. As the last one turned around, he fired his disrupter, burning a hole through it, then watched as it collapsed.

"Thanks man, I owe you big time," Fireranger said.

"Pay me back by telling me where the Eye is," he told him.

"Yeah right, like I'd tell you anything. Sucker!" he said, then tried to rush off.

Green Tempest Ranger fired his disrupter, hitting Fireranger in the back, knocking him to the ground. "I believe you have some information for me," he said.

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"Well, another shot like that you'll be eliminated from the game unless someone is nice enough to share a power up with you. Now, tell me what I want to know, or head back to cyber space and enjoy your free smoothie," he warned.

Just then, a red turbo ranger walked up with two disrupters in hand.

"Turbo ranger, get him and we'll go get the Eye together," Fireranger said.

"You already tricked me with that crap, but not again," he said. "This kid is worthless, just leave him."

"You're probably right," Tempest said, walking away.

As the two of them walked away, Fireranger stood up, firing a disrupter at the red turbo ranger, vaporizing him. "That's right, I told y'all not to mess with Fireranger. I own at this game, and you…" he was interrupted as Tempest fired his disrupter at him, vaporizing him instantly.

"Geez that kid sucked," he said, walking away.

Ethan leaned back in his chair, watching on the monitor as one by one, the players were being eliminated. There was a look of concern on his face, but his eyes never left the monitor.

"Problems?" Hayley asked.

He shook his head slightly. "No, everything is okay, but the rangers are going after each other more than the bad guys. I was hoping to see a little more teamwork out of them," he mentioned.

"Well," she leaned over his shoulder, pointing to a two of the rangers on the screen. "These two seem to be working well together, they have been for a while," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but look at her life points. They're dangerously low and probably won't survive another assault," he said.

"Has anyone found the Eye yet?"

"Yes, but the ranger who had it got eliminated and dropped it in the industrial area. There isn't any other rangers in that area," Ethan said.

"What's this rangers name?"

Ethan leaned forward, going over the readings on the computer. "She's logged in as Black Spectra Ranger," he said.

"Well, how about you give you a little help?" Hayley suggested, leaning over him to inputting a series of commands.

"Whoa," Spectra ranger said, stopping dead in her tracks.

Aqua Tech ranger, who had walked a few steps ahead, stopped, turning to her. "What is it?"

"I'm getting a transmission about a side mission in the industrial area. I should head over there," she said.

"But your power levels are low, and it's just a side mission, not to mention that according to the map, Hayley's Cyber Space is on the other side of the city. You're going almost 10 miles out the way," she pointed out.

"Well, I guess I'm going to need some transportation," she glanced around, finding an abandoned motorcycle a few feet away. She hurried over to it and got on, trying to get it started. After a few chance, it started up. "Good luck Aqua, I hope to see you at the end," she said.

Aqua Tech ranger sighed. "You're going to need help."

"Well then, maybe you should come and watch my back."

Aqua Tech ranger reluctantly walked over to the motorcycle, climbing on back. "Okay, lets go, but if I die, I'm going to kill you," Aqua Tech warned.

Green Tempest Ranger found himself backed up against a wall, surrounded by a group of blue head foot soldiers. By his first count, there were eight of them, and his power level was dangerously low. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight them all off and survive, and he wasn't in any position to run. A quick check of the ammo in his disrupter proved that it was going to be less than helpful. 'Four shots,' he sighed.

With no other options, Tempest Ranger stood ready, urging the blue heads to bring it on. Two of them rushed at him, but he hit a sabat kick to one, ducked a chop from the other, grabbed his arm and lunged him forward, knocking two more over. A blue head tried to attack him from behind with a sword, but he sidestepped him, and the blue head connected with another foot soldier, slicing him in half. Tempest Ranger kicked the sword out the blue head's hand, then used it to stab another foot soldier. Now, there was more than enough room for him to make an escape.

As he ran, a foot soldier shot him in the back with a disrupter beam, taking him life points down even lower. He quickly ducked into a building, hoping to buy himself some time, but the blue heads were looking for him. He glanced down at his disrupter, and suddenly an idea came to mind. 'It has four shots, which means about 20 in power. I wonder if I could…' he allowed his thought to trail off as he opened a panel on the disrupter and grabbed the small wires inside. Just then, the energy from the disrupter recharged him, leaving the disrupter itself powerless.

"Nice!" he said, admiring his work.

He headed around the corner, and something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. There was a small, glowing object, and he hurried over to it, picking it up. It was rather small, but had a shine to it. "It's the Eye of Thoron," he said, picking it up and admiring it. As soon as he picked it up and turned around, he found himself face to face with two other rangers.

"So, you found the Eye," one of them said.

"Black Spectra Ranger? Oh my God, its you!" Tempest said eagerly, taking a step forward.

"Tempest?"

"Yeah, its me."

"Listen, I don't know how you two know each other, but I came here for the Eye, and I'm not leaving without it," Aqua Tech told them, pulling out her disrupter and aiming it at him.

Before she could fire, the ground began to shake.

"It's the building, its about to collapse," he glanced around. "We have to get out of here!"

The three of them headed for the exit, but part of the ceiling collapsed, trapping them inside.

"Oh great, we're trapped in here."

"I have an idea," he looked at both of them. "But we're going to have to work together to make it work. Can I trust you two?" Tempest asked.

"What do you have in mind?"

"The Eye of Thoron is giving off high power levels. Mr. James said that we had to get the Eye to Cyber space, but he didn't say what condition it had to be in. I say we use the power of the Eye with our disrupters to blast our way out of here," he said.

"But what if it doesn't count if we don't bring it in as is?" Aqua Tech asked him.

"It won't matter if we all get trapped in here, now will it?"

"I trust you," Spectra ranger said, handing over her disrupter.

"What about you?" he asked.

Aqua Tech ranger sighed, handing over her disrupter. "If that doesn't work, I'm going to…"

"Don't worry, it'll work," he assured her.

"Look at that, they managed to figure out that the Thoronian Eye was a power source, and they're using it to blast their way out of the building. That's ingenious," Ethan said as he watched on the monitor.

"You sound like you're partial to these rangers," she mentioned.

"Other than them, there is only one ranger left, and he was more interested in winning than he was helping the other rangers. I've been impressed by these three, they show great teamwork, and two of them seem to know each other," he said.

"That may be a problem," Hayley reminded him.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, the three of them need to get out of there before that building comes down or its over," he said.

Carl had been watching on the monitors along with everyone else, keeping a close eye on his friend. Thus far, Patrick had done well for himself, defeating hordes of villains that came his way, even fighting off a few rangers who didn't seem interested in helping one another at all. As impressed as he was with Patrick, it was still annoyed that out of thirty available positions in the game, he didn't get one of them. 'Most of the guys that made it sucked anyway. I would have kicked ass in the game, but whatever…' he grumbled inwardly.

At the rate the game was going, there were only a few minutes, left, but Carl forced his way through the crowd, making his way to the bathroom. With everyone occupied with the game itself, the bathroom was empty, giving him the privacy he needed. He opened one of the stall doors, but as soon as he did, a portal appeared.

'Its like the one I saw in the game earlier,' he thought to himself, taking a few steps back.

He headed for the exit, but a group of entities came through the portal, standing between Carl and the exit. They were exactly like the creatures he'd seen in the game, but much bigger. His first reaction was to fight them, but taking into account they were transparent, he was sure that his hand would go straight through them. He decided to keep his distance from them, but soon, he found himself surrounded by the entities.

"Who are you? What the hell do you want?" he snapped.

At that moment, all of the entities rushed towards him, disappearing into his chest. Carl fell to the floor holding his stomach in pain, but found himself unable to scream, unable to prevent what was happening.

"There's a power surge," Ethan said, looking at his monitor.

"Where?"

"Where ever it is, its not in the game. It's coming from inside the café," he told her.

"Do you think its them?"

"It could be. Makes sense, if they're on to what we're trying to do, they may try to put a stop to it. We have to…" he paused as the monitors began to beep. "It's gone. There was a localized distortion that suggested a portal, but its gone now," he said.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Lets hope so," Ethan sighed.

The last of the entites were gone, and the pain that Carl was feeling had passed. He stood up, taking a deep breath. He felt powerful, alive, as it there was energy surging through his body. He glanced in the mirror getting a good look at himself as his eyes were glowing orange and there was smoke coming from them.

"Now is the time," he said in a deep, distorted tone, stepped inside the portal, disappearing.