Betty drove one of the Grid Battleforce SUV's towards the Morph-X distribution centre. None of them knew what they were likely to face, it was a fail-safe alarm that sounded to inform them the security system hadn't been active for over 30 minutes, which could easily just be a minor fault that they were correcting right now. Right now though…a few of the passengers were somewhat regretting the decision to let Betty drive!

"Whoa, whoa, Betty WHOA!" Zoey called out.

"Jeez, that was close!" Devon added. "Betty, that was an articulated truck, how did you not see that?"

"Betty, that last light was red!" Ben squealed. Betty though seemed not to take much notice of their concerns. She did have a very assertive, some would say aggressive outlook for someone who was so small. She was always the first one ready to stand up to someone twice her size, since…well…virtually everyone was twice her size. It seemed like her interpersonal demeanour extended to her driving as well!

"Yeah, same to you asshole!" She screamed out the window as a car swerved to avoid her, blaring its horn. "We've got an emergency here!"

"We soon will have if you don't slow down!" Zoey responded. She genuinely liked Betty, but accidental or not, she had only just gotten the position of Yellow Ranger, and she really didn't fancy having the shortest Ranger career by virtue of ending up a road traffic accident statistic on the way to her first assignment. Given all the great Rangers that had come before her, she imagined it'd be a little embarrassing for the next generation to read about her getting scraped off an engine block with a spatula.

"There's still no answer at the distribution centre." Ravi said as he tried his communicator one more time. "Something's definitely going on."

"That's it up ahead, right?" Devon asked, pointing to the tower. "Betty, kill the siren. We don't know what we might run into up there."

"Don't bother." Ravi replied with authority. "Time is of the essence. Anyone that doesn't run of their own accord hearing sirens isn't likely to run anyway."

"Whatever you say." Devon replied with a shrug. He didn't bother to press the matter. Ravi had already made it pretty clear he wanted to lead the team. He didn't have any interest in that himself. It was fun leading raiding parties in his favourite MMORPG's or online shooters, but he got to put down the controller and turn off his console once he was getting bored. The thought of being expected to tell everyone what to do all the time? That just sounded like a whole lot of hassle. He settled back into his seat as he decided to return to hoping that Betty in fact was not trying to kill them all.

In the yard, Blaze was busy cranking the handle on the hand pump, syphoning Morph-X out of a tanker. There was plenty here, but with a hand pump it was slow going, even for him with his enhanced abilities. He'd so far managed to syphon off a couple of barrels and was starting on another.

"Keep pumping avatar. We need all the Morph-X we can get!" Scrozzle instructed him. Blaze just rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, I think I missed the part where you gave the orders around here." Blaze said sarcastically. "But if you've got a problem, maybe this would be going a little faster if I had some of that marvellous tech you keep bragging about."

"You want to see a sample of my tech do you?" Scrozzle asked as he filled a couple of glass vials with Morph-X. He clipped them into the sides of what looked a little bit like a briefcase, or perhaps a laptop computer. Blaze just scrunched up his face looking at it. He hadn't used a laptop computer since he was about five. His parents always had enough money to ensure he always had the latest tech. He'd been using touch-screens for years.

"What's that?" Blaze asked him.

"You'll see soon enough." Scrozzle told him. Just then, they heard sirens. They sounded like they were approaching. Scrozzle just looked to Blaze. "Perhaps sooner than expected. It sounds like we're getting company."

"I took care of the security!" Blaze snapped.

"Apparently not as well as you believed." Scrozzle replied as the SUV skidded around the side of the building. Blaze just smirked and left the hand pump.

"You get rid of this." Blaze told him. "I'll deal with this."

As the SUV skidded to a halt, Ravi and Zoey strode forward, while Devon, Ben and Betty were a little further back. Devon looked to the twins.

"You two hang back here, where its safe." He told them.

"Are you sure?" Betty asked.

"Yes, he's sure!" Ben answered, relieved that Devon had told them to stay out of the danger zone. His sister had a habit of getting herself into dangerous situations, and he was always dragged along for the ride. There were times he refused, but since she always went ahead anyway he didn't want to think what could happen to her if he wasn't there to help. Still, he was hopeful getting a direct order from a Ranger might just convince her more than he could that there was a time to let the people who were hired for the job deal with it.

"Blaze!" Ravi called out, seeing the avatar a little way off. "Nate said you'd find a way back to this dimension."

"Ah, if it isn't my old friends!" Blaze said in a rather derisive manner as he morphed. "I'd say it's been a while but…you didn't really put me down for that long did you?"

"Guys, who's that?" Devon asked, pointing to Scrozzle. Blaze gestured to Scrozzle.

"Oh, this guy?" He asked. "You're not the only ones that made some new friends." He stated. "Meet my new friends. This is Scrozzle and TRONICS!"

In a flash of light, a hoard of tronics appeared. Devon and the others all pulled into a guard, seeing them appear.

"Guys, what are those things?" Devon asked. "I don't know about you, but maybe we should hang back a bit, figure out what these things are and what they can do and…"

Zoey let out a huge yell as she started to run towards the Tronics. She wasn't sure what these things were, but if they were working for Blaze she doubted they were friendly. Her personal mantra resounded in her head. She didn't run from problems, she solved problems. She wasn't going to sit around and wait for them to make the first move. Ravi, seeing her go, began his own charge. Devon just sighed.

"Or we could do that." He replied as he joined in the attack.

Over in the Command Centre, Commander Shaw was with her team, trying to get an idea what was going on. Ben and Betty were the only ones broadcasting since the others were currently involved in a straight up brawl with Blaze and the Tronics. It fell to them to explain what was going on.

"I'm telling you, Blaze just showed up with these…things." Ben told them, turning his communicator watch to try and let them see the battle.

"What about that robot by the barrels?" Commander Shaw asked.

"I don't know what he's doing." Ben told her. "I think Blaze said his name was Scrozzle, but other than that…he doesn't seem to be doing much of anything. It's only the others that are fighting."

"He's with the Morph-X." Betty added, pulling out a weapon. "You want us to get rid of him?"

"Betty, what's that?" Commander Shaw asked.

"Uh…the Zap-o-matic?" She asked. Commander Shaw just sighed.

"Betty, what have I told you about making unauthorised technology?" Commander Shaw asked.

"But…"

"Besides, Morph-X is explosive. If you're not careful you could set off a blast that'll take out the whole block." She reminded her. Betty just sheepishly put the device away. "So, what's happening?"

"By the looks of things, Devon is fighting with Blaze." Ben told her. "Zoey and Ravi are fighting the other things."

"Let me see." Commander Shaw instructed him. Ben just turned his communicator so that she could see.

Back at the site of the battle, Zoey was fighting with a couple of Tronics, when she was able to see Ravi a little way off. He was dismantling them with the practiced ease she would have expected. She had seen him and Roxy training many times and knew they were good. She had barely finished off her own opponents when Ravi was standing over his own defeated opponents, almost like he was keeping score.

"What took you so long?" He taunted her, gesturing to the wreckage around him. "This, this is how a true leader kicks robot…"

He was interrupted as a blaster appeared in Zoey's hand and she seemed to aim it straight at him. He threw himself to the ground just as she opened fire. He could hear a couple of explosions, and turned over to see the remains of two Tronics hitting the ground a little way off. She approached him.

"And that's how a true leader protects her team." She replied. She couldn't blame Ravi for being distracted. He had a lot on his mind right now, between being a Ranger, Roxy and everything else. It was one of the reasons she was concerned that he was also lobbying to be the team leader. She didn't doubt he'd be her first choice if things were different. He was by far the top ranking cadet the whole way through the program. She didn't know why they would choose Blaze over him in the first place, but if Roxy was still around, if he was himself, she would have no doubt in her mind she would step aside for him. Ravi scrambled to his feet, looking annoyed.

"You think that proves anything?" He asked her. "I had those guys!"

"Yeah, well it didn't look like it from where I was standing!" She responded pointedly.

"And another thing, where do you get of pulling out blasters?" Ravi asked her. "We're surrounded by Morph-X! You could have blown us all to Kingdom Come!"

"Hey, you're not the only one that trained for this remember? I know all about checking my fire-lines." She told him. "In case you hadn't noticed, there are no barrels down that way. Besides, what's the point in us having weapons if we don't use them?"

They heard a yell and turned, only to throw themselves aside as Devon flew through the air, landing right between them.

"Yeah, I'm fine by the way!" He said as they both turned to confront Blaze, who just gave Devon a little nonchalant wave, before turning away as more Tronics started to charge them. "Maybe you could stop fighting each other and start fighting them!"

With that, they all returned to the battle. Blaze saw them battling with the Tronics. It was pretty clear that they were more of a speed-bump than a roadblock. The team might be held up, but they would get through them eventually. He saw Scrozzle teleporting the barrels back to the Cyber Dimension just as they planned. The Rangers, as much as they could be called that, were too busy playing around with Tronics to realise that he already had what he had come for. Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't claim a bonus while he was at it, and destroying a Ranger or two just sounded like fun!

"Scrozzle, you got any more tricks?" He asked.

"Glad you asked." Scrozzle told him, pulling a drive out of his computer. "I've uploaded this key with a bit of the Evox virus. With just a little bit of Morph-X to power it, we're ready to make a Robotron."

"A what?" He asked. Scrozzle walked over to a stack of tyres, jamming the key into one of them. Blaze watched on as in a flash of light, the tyres turned into a robot. "Not bad."

"Now, we can get out of here while Cyclotron deals with the Rangers." Scrozzle told him, packing up his computer. "Come, let's go."

"Later!" Blaze said as he and Scrozzle disappeared. Zoey, Devon and Ravi were left facing the Cyclotron.

"OK, what in the hell is that?" Devon asked.

"I don't know, but let's send it back where it…" Ravi started to say, before Zoey put her key into her morpher. There were bright lights and a lot of smoke. The energy seemed to interact with the smoke and create what looked like a roaring jackrabbit to appear. Devon couldn't explain why, but he found himself drawn to stare straight into it. By the time the smoke cleared, the Yellow Ranger was standing where Zoey once stood. He blinked and shook his head.

"Whoa, that was…did anyone else lose a few seconds?" He asked. Ravi didn't answer though. He too morphed. Devon just pulled out his key and morphed too.

Back at the Command Centre, Commander Shaw oversaw her team as they tried to get the security system back so that she could see what was going on.

"We're leading blind here." Commander Shaw snapped. "We need eyes."

"We should be getting the system back, right about…now!" Her lead technician told her, finally hacking into the system. "It looks like the system was shut down on-site. Probably Blaze, he would know how the system worked. I just turned it back on."

"What's going on? Where's Blaze?" She asked, before getting on her communicator. "Someone respond, anyone! What is going on down there? Where's Blaze?"

"He took off." Betty reported as she and Ben ducked down into some cover. "He and Scrozzle teleported out with a bunch of barrels."

"Scrozzle?" She asked. "But what about that robot the Rangers are fighting?"

"That's another robot." Ben chipped in. "It showed up before Blaze and Scrozzle." He clicked his tongue and flicked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate their exit. Commander Shaw just sighed.

"This is a mess. I'm sending Nate and the Beast Bots for assistance." She stated. "What's going on with the Rangers?"

"Zoey and Ravi seem to be fighting the big one." Ben told her. "Devon's finishing off the Tronics."

"You mean the purple ones?" Commander Shaw asked. They just nodded. "I'll need as much footage as we can get for tactical analysis for once the situation is dealt with."

"Roger that." The technician responded. "I'm already recording all I can."

Back at the site of the battle, Devon was busy fighting some Tronics, trying to keep them away from the others. He figured he could always help them when the Tronics were dealt with, and more than one mook-fight boss battle in his years of gaming had told him that thinning out the number of cannon-fodder enemies was essential to be able to take on the big bad. It was an annoying game-design at times, but sometimes to make boss battles artificially harder, games would put them in the arena with a whole bunch of low level enemies. It was more of a distraction than anything else, and with so many other targets it was often easy to lose track of the harder-hitting boss. Both Ravi and Zoey had more training with the Ranger thing than he did, so he figured they could probably handle it until he got rid of the Tronics.

Blasting the last of them, he took a moment to take a breath and allowed himself a little satisfied chuckled.

"That takes care of that." He said, before a movement caught his attention. He noticed a dog running across his path and heading for a patch of grass. He was about to look for the owner, hoping no one else was going to walk into the middle of the battle and turn it into an escort mission when he could only find himself looking at the dog, to its mouth, to those long, hooked canines!

He started to feel his chest tighten up, and his heart started pounding faster. He struggled to breathe, his breath becoming a series of rapid gasps, trying to fill his lungs rapidly. He couldn't pull his gaze away from those teeth. All he could hear was the dog's barking, grunting, growling…his body tensed up, his muscles starting to go taught and ready for action. He felt his blaster in his hand, and he turned it towards the dog, his hand shaking, unable to hold it still.

"Get BACK!" He roared as the dog seemed to notice him and bark at him. This only made everything worse. This was an animal that was only a few generations away from being a wolf, one of the deadliest predators on the planet, but that had the instinctual fear of humans bred out of it. It was a killing machine, with fangs, custom designed for tearing flesh from bone. Stay BACK!"

He felt his head spinning as the whole situation started to get past him. He considered running, with his cheetah speed he'd be several blocks away in just a few seconds, but then…what if he wasn't fast enough off the mark? Would it be better to shoot the dog and end the threat instead?

He heard a shrieking sound behind him and turned around to see Betty falling to the ground, convulsing, her hair standing on end. She was holding a device in her hand as she collapsed. A Tronic was on the ground next to her, having fallen in battle. Ben was running up to the dog, clapping and shooing him away. Devon felt the adrenaline starting to subside and almost collapsed as the dog finally disappeared from view, falling to his knees and doubling over. Ben came up to Devon as he started to try and get his breath back.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Devon just nodded, still not quite able to speak. He could feel himself still struggling with his instincts. His body had gone into a full-blown panic. He could hardly believe that he was even considering running while his friends were still in battle, but his body had taken over. Devon saw Betty on the ground.

"You?" He asked. She just gave him a thumbs up sign from the ground. Devon finally got his breath back enough to get onto his feet. He looked to where the others were fighting with Cyclotron, trying to decide how best to help them. Right now, he could see Ravi was approaching him. He seemed to be bellowing, screaming at the top of his lungs, and firing at him. But there was something definitely odd. Devon had always been told Ravi had the best marksmanship scores on the base, but as he fired at Cyclotron, who was maybe only a few feet in front of him, hardly any of his shots were hitting him. It also looked like there was smoke or steam coming from his costume. He knew that the suits sparked and gave off a burning smell, even a little smoke when they took a hit but Ravi looked like he was just short of being on fire.

"Yikes, it looks like someone needs to work on their aim." Zoey chuckled. Devon was horrified when he saw Ravi turn his blaster towards Zoey.

"My aim is just FINE!" Ravi roared as he opened fire. Zoey ducked and dived for all she was worth, trying to avoid the shots. Her suit enhanced her abilities enough to keep her ahead of the blasts, but after a while, she suddenly felt very heavy. Her muscles started to give out and go limp. Her legs felt like they were made of rubber, and the rest of her body started to turn into a lead weight. Her vision started to blur, and she could feel a strange buzzing in her head. She dodged a couple more shots, before suddenly her body completely gave out and she face-planted right into the ground, blacking out before she hit the ground.

Devon could see she would never be able to dodge any more shots. Zoey was out like a light. He activated his cheetah speed, body-checking Ravi to the ground, snatching his blaster from him. He turned it on Cyclotron.

"Beast-X Blast!" He called out. Cyclotron exploded as he hit the ground, finally ending the battle. Devon caught his breath for a moment, looking around at the scene in confusion as another SUV arrived.

"That was way too close. What's going wrong with us?" He asked, turning his attention towards Zoey.

He spun around as he heard a commotion behind him, turning to see that not only had Nate arrived with the Beast Bots, but that Smash had actually grabbed Ravi, who was struggling to get free.

"You're going to suffer for messing with me!" Ravi yelled. "Let go of me you beast!"

"Ravi, you're burning up!" Smash declared as he struggled to keep a hold of him. Cruise joined Smash in trying to keep a hold of him, while Jax and Nate rushed over to Zoey's side.

"Zoey, Zoey, speak to me!" Jax begged her. "Nate, she's out cold!"

Nate reached for her morpher, activating the command to demorph her. As soon as the suit disappeared, it became abundantly clear that she was indeed completely unconscious. He checked her pulse and her breathing.

"She's weak, but she's alive." Nate said as he tried to get his arms under her to lift her. "Cruise, restrain Ravi, sedate him if you have to!"

"Nate, what's going on?" Devon asked him as Nate picked up Zoey, who was just completely dead weight in his arms.

"I don't know, but it's definitely bad." He told him, the panic obvious in his face. "We need to get back to the lab, fast!"