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 are 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.
Thank you to everyone who has made this fic a bigger success than I ever thought it would be. I will continue to write it as long as there are so many of you who will continue to support it. Gaby appears courtesy of Cmar, my #1 fan. Thanks Cammy!
Saturday March 5th, 2005 9:07pm ... Reefside, California
"Oh no," Cam rushed over the opposite side of the room, going over the readings he'd found. The computers were beeping in a rhythmic tone, but it was getting fasted. As he went over the readings, Ms. Fairweather walked into the room.
"What is it?"
"I'm picking up a massive energy buildup on the island of Marianthis," he said, never taking his eyes off the screen.
"Is it Demorielle? Is she at full power?" she asked.
"No, I don't think so, I…" he paused. "Oh God. Thoron has been released," he sighed.
"Are you sure?"
Just then, one of the computer panels began to smoke, and eventually exploded. "Positive. Only Thoron would have the energy so massive that our censors couldn't measure it," he paused. "Do any of the lightspeed morphers work?" he asked her.
"No, all of them are offline."
"I'm going to contact Gaby in Silver Hills and tell her to have the red Time Force ranger and Quantum ranger standing by. You're going to have to stay here and monitor everything while I try to get the wind and thunder morphers back online so the rangers can make a stand in Blue Bay Harbor. If its as bad as we think it is, the Virtual Rangers won't stand a chance," he told her.
"I'll try to contact Andros as the Astro Rangers as well, but they may be out of communications range," she brought up.
"If only we could get the zords online, at least then the rangers would stand a chance, but…" he was interrupted as there was a stream of light, and within seconds, Rick materialized in front of them.
"Guys, I think I mighta fucked up," he sighed.
"What? How?"
"I killed Demorielle, but as soon as I did, her blood got into that big symbol thingie. It opened up and Thoron got out," he said.
"Of course," he paused. "The liquid key, that what the engravings meant. Demorielle's blood was the catalyst for releasing Thoron," Cam said.
"Of sure, now you tell me," Rick sighed.
"Cam, you go back to Blue Bay Harbor and prepare. I'll have Ethan and Hayley do their best to get the dino morphers online, too. This is going to get real bad in a hurry," Ms. Fairweather said.
"Oh, I'm suppose to give you this," he said, walking over to Cam and presenting him with the arrowhead.
"What is it?"
"It's an arrowhead, but it has some sorta mystic power to it. It should give you the energy you need to get the zords online," he said.
Cam walked over to the computer quickly, scanning the arrowhead. "My God, you're right. Where did you get this?" he asked.
"Actually, from you. Don't ask, it's a long story," Rick said. "Where are the others?"
"On their way to the island of Marianthis. You should join them there," Ms. Fairweather said.
Rick shook his head. "No, Thoron is free, and Maraianthis is the last place on his mind. He's coming here," he told her. "We need to keep him as far away from the city as we possibly can while Cam tries to get the zords online. Marnier Bay is known for its abundance of rock quarries, pick one and have the others meet me there," he instructed, reaching for his morpher and disappearing again.
"I'll start the modifications for the zord, you get the others together," Cam said.
"I'm on it."
The entire fortress was collapsing in on itself. Belial had picked up Demorielle's body, hoping to get her to safety, but there was no place on the island that could be considered out of harm's way. Chunks of the building were falling from the sky, shattering when they hit the ground. The dark fortress was all but destroyed, but Belial continued on, not looking back at all. His only concern was avoiding being hit by falling debris and keeping Demorielle safe.
He was sure that once he we far enough away, he would be able to use the Dragon Dagger to save her, but in order to try, the ritual had to go uninterrupted. The sky itself was dark; mostly because Thoron himself was back, and the mere size of him alone was enough to block out the sun's light.
"Do not worry Demorielle, you will be restored," he sighed.
Jen, Liz and Patrick materialized in the rock quarry, where Rick had been standing there, waiting for them. He stood on the edge of a cliff, which, by the looks of it, was close to one hundred feet down.
"Rick?" Liz called out.
Rick turned around, staring at Liz slightly. He was either unable, or unwilling to move as he was overcome with emotion. Finally, he rushed over to her, wrapping his around her, holding her tightly. "Next time you trick me like that, I'll kill you myself," he sighed.
"Well, I'm not planning on a next time, but…"
"Why are we here?" Patrick asked, breaking the silence between them.
"Thoron is free, and he'll be coming after us. I figured we'd make our stand here, away from the major cities," Rick told him.
"Good plan."
Just then, there was another flash of light as Jake and Elaine materialized.
"A rock quarry?" Jake sighed.
"What? They don't have rock quarries or Friends?" Elaine joked. "You thought we were going to be Central Perk or something?"
"This isn't the time for that guys," Jen said, stepping in-between them.
"What is it? What happened?"
"I can answer that question for you," they all turned around as an holographic image of Ethan appeared. "This location is ideal for what could potentially be your last battle. First, let me say that all of you have fought well and have defended not only this city, but this planet with your lives. I couldn't be prouder of you," he said.
"You're startin' to sound like you don't expect us to live through this," Jen said.
"Honestly, I don't. Thoron has been released and will make his way towards the biggest power source he can find. In our case, that would be the six of you. Thanks to Rick, we know how the energy source we need to get the zords online, but it will take time. While we're working on it, none of you will have access to the morphing grid, so…" he was cut short.
"So we can't morph?" Patrick asked.
"No, unfortunately not. But, thanks to Gaby, you will be able to use your unique powers while unmorphed. You'll need to do everything you can to hold Thoron at bay while we get the zords operational," he said.
"Okay, I get it, this guy's a bad ass, but how bad can he be? I mean, we've all seen how big the monsters get when the power rangers fight'em, this guy couldn't be much worse, right?" Jake asked.
Suddenly, the sky got dark, so dark that they could barely see. The ground began to shake, so much so that Jen fell backwards. Luckily, Patrick was right there to catch her. As she got back to her feet, she turned around, only to see…
"Holy shit," she gasped.
The rest of them turned around, getting a good look at Thoron, who was blocking the sun's light.
"You just had to say something, didn't you Jake?" Elaine asked.
"Sorry."
"Okay guys, this is it. Its time to go big or go home," Rick said.
"Is it too late for vote for go home?" Jen asked.
"A little bit, yeah."
"Just remember, he isn't at full strength yet. This is the best chance we have to stop him once and for all," Liz brought up.
"Ok, lets get it done!" Patrick said.
"Done? Hell, this isn't even close to being done," Cam said, never taking his eyes off his work.
"What happened?" she asked him.
"The arrowhead has more than enough power to activate the zords, but it's the configuration for the megazord that's giving me a hard time. Individually, the zords are powerful, but not enough to defeat Thoron. I've been working on a way to combine the zords, but none of the command pathways seem to be working right," he told her.
"Have you tried crossing the field emitters? They use to give me a hard time with the Solar Zord," she said.
"I tried it twice, and I realigned with power couplings. Still, the final piece isn't fitting into place."
She paused. "Wait, I know. Try recalibrating the power converter. I bet your problem is signal derogation as it tries to combine, but a recalibration should be send the power evenly through every system," Ms. Fairweather suggested.
"You're a genius, you know that?"
"So I've been told," she smiled.
Elaine used her powers, shooting water at Thoron, catching him in the chest. Jake then followed by using his power, freezing the water, catching Thoron in a block of ice.
"Okay guys, you're up," Jake said.
Jen used her powers, hitting Thoron with an energy bolt in the face, forcing him to howl out in pain. Patrick was next, hitting Thoron with a series of lightning bolts in the chest. The lightning connected with the water, sending shockwaves through Thoron's body. Thoron responded by cocking back, throwing what appeared to be a chunk of magna towards them, but Jen used her powers, putting up a shield of some kind to block it. The manga went through the shield with no problem at all, hitting Jen and knocking her to the ground.
Patrick rushed over to her, helping her up, then continued with his series of lightning bolts.
"We need more!" he screamed.
"But what? I'm running out of ideas here," Jake said.
"I have one," he turned to Jen. "Do you think you could make a bridge over there?" Rick asked her.
"An energy bridge? I can give it a shot."
"Good. Patrick, you come with me," he said.
Jen mustered up the energy, creating a bridge that led directly to Thoron's chest. "I can't hold it forever, go!" she told them.
Rick and Patrick ran towards Thoron using the bridge. Thoron swung at them, but Rick used his powers, and his fist went straight through him.
"Get ready to jump," Rick said.
"Jump? Jump where?"
"Just grab my hand and jump!" he said.
Patrick grabbed his hand and the two of them jumped. Rick used his power, phasing through Thoron, but stopping inside his chest.
"Whoa. You don't see that everyday," Elaine sighed.
"What is that?" Ms. Fairweather asked.
"What?"
"This ionic flux in the power grid. It looks like its taking power from critical systems. If they were to form the megazord with this flux in the system, the entire zord could self destruct," she said.
"Actually, no. That flux is there with a purpose. When one system begins to work too hard, the ionic flux slows down distribution to that system and diverts it to another one. Its actually helpful," Cam said.
"You're a genius!"
"So I've been told," he joked.
She smiled.
"Holy crap," Patrick groaned, looking around. "Are we…"
"Inside Thoron? Yes."
"Freaky," he sighed.
Rick glanced around, looking for something that could be considered a vital organ, but everything looked like the inside of a volcano. He looked downward, and there was even lava, which he assumed doubled as blood for Thoron.
"Okay, work your mojo in here."
Jake and Elaine continued to build ice up around Thoron, but with one step, he was able to break free of the ice. He took a step forward, but lightning bolts shot out of his chest. At first there were only a few, then, dozens of them, all at once.
"They're getting him from the inside," Liz sighed.
"Great plan, but we're not doing so hot out here," Jen brought up.
Liz paused. "Jake. You need to go in there," she said.
"What? You're nuts lady. I ain't…"
"He's a volcano demon. If you go in there and freeze him from the inside, that should stop him," she pointed out.
"What did you not understand about I'm not going in there?" he asked.
Liz quickly grabbed his hand, and Jen used her powers to shove them forward. Liz ran towards Thoron on the bridge, then used her power, phasing through his chest and taking Jake with her.
They materialized inside his chest, but Liz came up short, falling over the side. Rick grabbed her by the wrist, holding on to her as best as he could. "Pull yourself up," he said.
"No. I'll pull both of us down if I do," she said.
"Just do it!"
"No, I won't."
Before he could respond, Thoron took a step forward, sending both Rick and Liz falling over the side and towards the red hot lava below them.
"Rick, Liz… NOOO!" Patrick called out.
Patrick and Jake watched until Liz and Rick disappeared into the lava.
"Damn," Jake sighed. "We have to finish this now. We owe them that much," he said, using his power. He began to shake, and suddenly, it started getting very cold. Patrick found himself shivering as Jake continued on. Soon, everything had ice hanging from it, and lava itself was cooling down. Patrick continued to shoot lightning in every direction, and now that it was so cold, each shot of lightning opened up a hole in Thoron's chest and back.
"They're doing it!" Jen said, watching up.
"Okay, lets help'em out as much as we can," Elaine said, using her powers. She consentrated, focusing the beam of water as tightly as she could, then aimed it directly at Thoron. The water was coming at such high speeds that it acted as a lazer, slicing off one of Thoron's arms. The arm itself fell to the ground, forcing the entire quarry to shake as it collided. Jen then used her powers to pick up the arm, swinging it at Thoron. Each shot with the arm knocked him back a step.
"O-o-okay, I think we we've got as much as we can in here. Lets get the hell out of dodge," Jake said, shivering slightly.
"But how?"
"Through there," he said, pointing at a hole.
"Are you serious?"
"You have another way out of here?"
"Not really."
"Then lets go," Jake said.
The two of them jumped, escaping through the hole, but found themselves falling towards the ground. They were inches away from hitting the ground when an energy beam caught them, setting them down gently on the ground. Patrick glanced up at Jen, nodding.
He and Jake watched as Thoron's arm continued to hit him, knocking him back everytime.
"We're going to do it. We're going to beat him," Patrick said.
"Lets help'em out a little, shall we?"
Jake then used his powers to build up a giant chuck of ice directly behind Thoron. As the arm hit him again, Thoron stumbled back, tripped on the chuck of ice and went tumbling to the ground. As it hit the ground, the ground itself opened up and Thoron shattered into a million pieces, most of it falling into the crack in the ground.
For good measure, Patrick began shooting lightning bolts into the crack, followed by a huge patch of ice to fill in the crack.
Liz and Elaine made their way down to the bottom of the quarry with a energy beam, standing next to Jake and Patrick, staring down at the crack filled with ice.
"Wait, something is happening," Cam said, going over to another monitor. "It looks like they did it, they beat Thoron," he said.
"Without the zords? How is that possible?"
"I don't know, but his power levels are almost non-existent. They did it," he told her. "I can't believe that…" he paused, looking at another reading. "Oh no."
"What?"
"There are two more power sources approaching fast. They're not as big as Thoron's was, but still enough to pose a threat. Plus, it looks as though Thoron isn't completely gone yet. His power levels are dangerously low, but not gone," Cam said.
"What does this mean?"
"It means we still may have to dust off the zords after all," he said.
"We did it," Elaine sighed.
"That big bastard was no match for us," Patrick said.
"Wait… where is Liz and Rick?" Jen asked.
"T-They fell into the lava, there was nothing we could do," Jake sighed.
"At least they're deaths weren't in vain. We stopped that son of a bitch before he could do any real damage," she paused. "I know I gave her a hard time, but Liz wasn't that bad. Sure, she was a bitch, but I didn't want her to die… well, again," Jen brought up.
"How sweet. I didn't know you cared," they heard a voice say.
The four of them turned around only to see Rick and Liz walking towards them.
"But how? We saw you fall," Patrick said.
"Duh, can pass through solid objects, remember? We just phased out until we were close enough to the ground and out of harms way," Rick said.
"So that's it, we really did it," Liz said.
"Yep, we did it together!" Elaine brought up, extending her hand outwards.
Patrick followed suit, placing his hand on top of hers. "Damn right we did."
Liz and Rick quickly followed suit as well. "Excellent work you guys, really. You did great," Rick said.
"I knew that big bastard wasn't so tough," Jake said as he placed his hand on top of Liz'
"You're not going to start singing the theme to Friends, are you?" Elaine asked.
"No," he paused. "Well, maybe."
Finally, the five of them looked over at Jen, who still hadn't moved.
"What? You guys just have to make a cheesy sentimental moment of out this, don't you? We saved the world, there's no need to get all mushy about it," she said.
"Jennifer…" Patrick said, letting his sentence trail off.
Jen sighed. "Jen, whatever," she said, putting her hand on top of Jake's.
"Power Rangers Virtual Force!" they said in unison.
"Making the world safe for children and small puppies," Patrick said.
"And… there's still enough time to catch the last of the Friends marathon," Jake said happily.
"Oh geez, are you serious?"
"What? It's a good show."
"Yeah, if you're a moron," Elaine said.
"Hey, I like it too," Jen admitted.
"Okay, so you're both weirdos," she said.
"Rangers!" they heard a voice say. The six of them turned around, shocked as Belial and Demorielle approached them. "This isn't over," Belial called out with the Dragon Dagger in hand.
"Damn, I sure wish I'd set the TIVO before I left. It's going to be a long night," Jake sighed.