Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.
It was just a quiet afternoon at Angel Grove. Six unsuspecting teenagers were hanging out at the Youth Centre – giving away absolutely nothing that they were in fact the Power Rangers. They were all sat together at a table, yet there was very little communication going on between them.
Their attention was fixed onto their super modern high-tech cell phones. Their eyes were fixed to the screens as they held their respective ones in their hands, scrolling and typing away with their thumbs.
"Hey! Check this out, guys!"
Zack broke the silence as he suddenly leapt onto the table, catching his friends off guard. He began to play some cheesy hip-hop music on his throne. As it filled the Youth Centre, he began to dance to the rhythm, showing off some incredibly dated moves.
"I just learnt this super tubular dance style on the net!" he boasted. "Do I look radical or what, dudes and dudettes?!"
"Zack, get yourself down off the table!" Jason ordered. "And would ya lay off using those super lame adjectives? Nobody talks like that anymore!"
With a pout, Zack turned off the music and jumped down from the table. He was just taking his seat to continue scrolling through his throne – when Trini suddenly let off a loud squeal.
"Oh my gosh! Check this out, you guys! You have to see this!"
With a shiny glint in her eyes, Trini turned her phone around to show her friends what was on her screen – which happened to be a tiny kitten playing with a ball of yarn.
"Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen?!"
"What! You're kidding me!"
Tommy frowned with digust when he saw the number of likes on the video Trini was showing. He held up his own phone to show the others his profile picture on social media, pointing irritably to the amount of likes it had gained.
"How does that video of a little kitty-cat have far more likes than me?"
"Guess you're not as popular as you thought, Tommy," Jason muttered, clenching his hand into a fist. He was irate that nothing he posted got anywhere as much attention as Tommy. It really rubbed him up the wrong way. Why should the Green Ranger be the most popular one when it was the Red Ranger who was the leader?
"Jason!" Kimberly placed a hand onto his shoulder, shaking him in an attempt to get his attention. "We need to talk!"
Jason didn't answer. His mind was focused on trying to prove he was more popular than Tommy.
"Why is your social media status set to 'Single'?" Kimberly asked huffily. "It's been over six months since we first discussed this and you still haven't set it to 'Taken'."
"There are bigger problems in the world than a relationship status, Kimberly," Jason muttered through gritted teeth, wondering if he could more social media attention than Tommy by posting a video of him throwing a bucket of water over Bulk and Skull.
"Like Rita Repulsa! Right! That's why I've just been working on a power that I've sent to all our phones – turning them all into super powerful weapons!"
The teenagers' attention was diverted from their cell phones upon hearing what Billy had just told them. They all turned towards him, wondering what he had done with their devices.
"What did you do to our phones, Billy?" Jason asked.
"I've given them all the ability to transform into laser swords and blasters. One tap of the screen and we'll be armed and ready to deal with any monster we are faced with!"
"Smart!" Impressed with what his ingenious friend had done, Tommy patted him supportively on the back. "Well done, Billy! You really are the smartest guy on the team."
Billy beamed proudly. He was very happy he had made Tommy pleased with him. He liked him very much – which only made Jason more jealous at the thought of his teammates liking the latest ranger to join them better than him.
All of a sudden, the leader was snapped out of his jealousy upon hearing his cell phone ring. He quickly snapped out of his envious state as he stared at the screen. A serious frown crossed his face when he saw the words displayed.
INCOMING FACE CALL
ZORDON
Jason quickly glanced around to make sure no one in the youth centre was listening in. When he was sure it was safe to take the call, he tapped the green phone icon. Instantly, the screen displayed the turquoise holographic face of the galactic wizard who always alerted the rangers when there was trouble.
"What's up, Zordon?" Jason asked.
"Rangers, Rita Repulsa has unleashed a new monster in the park!" Zordon reported, his lips barely moving as usual. "It is up to you to eliminate this beast!"
"On our way, Zordon!"
Turning his gaze away from his cell phone's screen, Jason turned his attention to his teammates, ready to take chart and lead them to save the day.
"C'mon, guys – it's Morphin' Time!"
In no time, the Power Rangers were in their respective colourful suits and out in the evacuated park. They found themselves facing the newest monster Rita Repulsa had unleashed. Much like other creatures she had sent to defeat the rangers, it looked more like a human wearing a creepy, ugly costume made on a budget of one dollar.
"Alright, Jason!" Tommy called. "How do we stop this thing?!"
"We use the new weapons Billy installed on our phones! If there's any time to try this new toys out, this is it!"
The Power Rangers pulled out their cell phones, eager to use the weapons installed on them on the monster. With loud cries, all of them hit the screens of their respective devices, about to actively their super cool new laser swords and blasters.
Nothing happened.
"What?!" Zack cried, tapping away frantically on his phone's screen, trying to turn on the new weapons to no avail. "Are you kidding me?!"
"Why isn't our phones working, Billy?" Trini asked, panicking.
"Why are they not turning into weapons?!" Kimberly demanded.
Puzzled, Billy held up and stared at his own phone – before a dismayed frown crossed his face upon seeing two words in tiny writing at the top of the screen.
NO SIGNAL
"Oh… I forgot to tell you guys…" Billy explained sheepishly. "This new weapons depend on the internet to work. I guess you can't get the 'net out here in the park. At least, not for free…"
"Oh!" Tommy groaned. "So now you tell us!"
At this moment, the monster was stomping in their direction. With every step it took, it was growing bigger. It was turning into a giant hideous thing, getting ready to squash the Rangers flat.
"What do we do, Jason?" Kimberly cried.
Jason stood rooted to the spot, frozen with intense worry. Having wasted so much time on his cell phone, he had completely forgotten his natural leadership skills, his fight directing to take down their enemies and even the ability to form the Megazord.
With the Power Rangers being no threat to him whatsoever, the beast monster raised his foot over where they stood. The last thing they heard was the evil cackle of Zita Repula as the enormous beast brought his huge sole down straight towards them all.
"Oh…" Jason muttered as he watched the humongous foot coming down towards him and his fellow rangers to crush them. "Nuts…"
"Zordon! We've lost the Power Rangers!" Alpha 5 wailed as he saw what had become of the young superheroes on his computer screen. "They've become a colourful mess in the park landscape!"
"Get straight onto social media, Alpha!" Zordon ordered. "Put out an ad that we want to recruit some new Rangers!"
Alpha rolled his non-existent eyes, disgusted how Zordon was not showing any emotion or doing any mourning over the legendary heroes they just had lost. "Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi!"
Doing as he was ordered, the robot logged onto social media and started typing up a job advertisement in order to employ some new Power Rangers – not noticing the was Zordon was gazing down on him.
I wonder if I could sell this annoying little dweeb online, he thought. Surely some sucker out there will be silly enough to spend a lot of bucks on him, not realisingjust how useless he is.
Zordon's non-moving lips appeared to twitch into a smile as he watched the unsuspecting Alpha with dollar signs in his eyes.
Failing that, seeing how's he's such an outdated machine, he thought, I could always sell the little robotic runt for scrap…
The end.