Rangers: 25 R.R.

Episode 2: The World we know

Joseph and his friends could not have been less prepared for what they found upon emerging from the glowing, green, Jell-O like Barrier. They found themselves in the middle of room filled with control panels, computers and flashing lights. There was no sign of the tunnel they had just come from, nor was there any indication of Jell-O on the walls. What was more puzzling, was this equipment all looked brand new, not like the ruins on the hilltop. Everything was in pristine condition, as though it had only recently been built and installed. Centered in what they could only assume was the front of the room, was a large round monitor which was displaying the ruined building above and several puttie patrollers still searching the area.

"How are we seeing this?" Shelton asked "I mean, we didn't exactly have time to look around but I don't remember seeing a camera up there. Did you?" He asked Jennifer but she was preoccupied with a large green tube in the front left corner of the room that went from the floor up to the ceiling.

"what do you think this is?" she asked aloud, every one shook their heads indicating they hadn't the foggiest idea. As the group continued to survey the room, they took notice of what looked like seven display cases built into the back wall. Six of which were large enough for a person to stand in while the display case in the middle was slightly smaller and had several racks in it that were obviously meant to hold something. Having taken a look around for several minutes, the teens suddenly remembered that they needed to find a way out and get home before they were caught. Joseph, looking over his shoulder, spotted a what looked like a large bay door on the left wall.

"Over here guys" He motioned to his friends "this looks like a way out." At first, they tried to pry the door open by hand but it was no use.

"look for a button or switch" Jennifer instructed "I bet that's how his door works."

Shelton smirked and shook his head "A button or switch huh, where will we find that in this place?"

Everyone frowned at Shelton's sarcastic remark as they began scanning the wall around the door for a control of some kind. Spike, who was on his hands and knees, was inching his way right against the wall, moving towards the large green tube and then stopped in a dark archway that had gone unnoticed until this moment. Still on his knees, became fascinated with what looked like a pair of large brass shoes.

"I have a few chains at home that would go great with these" He thought to himself as he reached out to pick up the shoes. The brass wouldn't budge from the floor, spike was about to become frustrated before he noticed that the shoes were attached to a pair of brass pants. He peered up from the floor to behold that the shoes were already being worn by a small red person with brass arms & legs, a saucer for a head and a lightning bolt on his chest.

"I'm glad you like my shoes" said the little red person in a high-pitched voice that matched even Spike's "but I'm afraid their permanently attached."

Spike let out a high pitch shriek that brought the others running to his aid.

"Spike! What is it? What's wrong?" Rachele asked spike while at the same time, trying to calm him down.

"little man! Metal shoes! big round head!" The other's looked at each other, trying to make sense of what spike had just said.

"You're not making any sense man" Joseph said, placing his hand on spikes shoulder "what are you trying to tell us?" But before Spike could respond, another high-pitched voice replied from the darkened archway and said…

"I think he means me" and the little metal man with the saucer like head stepped into the light for all to see. Everyone took a step back, not knowing what to make of this new development on what had already been eventful night.

Jennifer was the first to speak up, her curiosity getting the better of her "where, who, what…?" she had so many questions, she wasn't sure what to ask first.

"please, remain calm, you are safe here. This is the Power Chamber, it was built many years ago to act as a listening post and serve as a headquarters for a group of planetary defenders. My name is Alpha 5, I am what you would refer to as a robot, built and programed to mimic humanoid behavior." There was a brief silence, no one knew what to say or even think for that matter. That is, until Shelton spoke up…

"So, you said we were safe. Does that mean you won't turn us in to the Putty patrol?"

Alpha didn't have a face so, reading his expressions was impossible but the teens could tell from the way his body jerked that this question came as a shock to him.

"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi! Of course not, I would never turn anyone over to those bullies!" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay well, we're glad to hear that" Joseph said aloud as the group tried to relax a bit. "Now, could you show us how to get out of here? Our parents will be worried.

Alpha nodded his large saucer head in reply "Yes, of course but first, may I ask what you know about your world?" and about what it was once like? Everyone looked at one another with a look of confusion.

"ah, man… not a pop quiz, I hate those." Spike wined from behind the others.

"Just what we're taught in school" Joseph replied "That people used to fight and kill each other all the time until the empress came and saved us. That she showed us how to live together peacefully and taught us to always work hard to help make the world better."

Alpha walked towards the control panel at the front of the room and began to push buttons "And your parents? All the people that were here when she arrived on earth, what do they say about that time?"

Again, everyone in the room looked at each other, this time shaking their heads. "My folks don't talk about it…" Joseph said first.

"Neither do my parents" Shelton added.

"My mom doesn't talk about it either, she just tells me to try as hard as I can I can in school" Jennifer stated, lowering her head.

"Mine likes to talk about his best friend from high school a lot and how they used to pick on dweebs…" Everyone looked at spike funny after he said this "But that's it and he says I should be better than he was."

Rachele shook her head when everyone looked to her for a reply "No" she said "Nothing."

Alpha turned back to the group from his buttons "and have you ever wondered why that is? For the third time, they all looked at one another as they shook their heads no. "Then what if I were to tell you that you've been lied to your entire lives?" Alpha asked, returning to his controls. Jennifer was the first to ask…

"What are talking about? Lied to about what?" she had an almost desperate look on her face.

Alpha lifted his head from his controls and replied "Everything" He pressed one last button on the control panel and the large round monitor began to glow with images. "This is the world you know" alpha pointed at the images of kids in school, people at their jobs and what the five friends knew to be everyday life. "And this" Alpha went on "is the world you don't know" The monitor was now showing dozens, maybe hundreds of people working in mines, on assembly lines and being crammed in small rooms in front of a large tv screen watching what looked like more Repulsa documentaries.

"What is this?" Rachele asked What are they doing?" Alpha pressed a button that brought up the image of a building that everyone recognized immediately.

"That's a Finster Facility!" Jennifer declared, almost yelling.

"Correct" said alpha "these are the true functions of the Finster Correctional Education Facilities. They are labor camps designed to strip a person of their humanity, forcing them to work in the most horrible conditions during the day and then being made to watch Rita Repulsa's propaganda all night, receiving little or no sleep. Once the prisoners are released back into the general public, they've lost all sense of what it means to be an individual." Everyone was in disbelief of what they were hearing, everyone except Jennifer, who looked terrified.

"I don't understand, why would they do this?" she asked. Alpha changed the image on the monitor again. "because this is how she has built her Utopia, by turning the people of earth into her blindly loyal subjects, so she can build this." The monitor showed what looked like a large group of giant missiles. "Are those Rockets?" Joseph asked, having seen something similar in the "The Tragic wars of planet Earth" documentary.

"Those are space craft" Alpha Replied" "Rita has been using the slave labor of the Finster Facilities to construct a fleet of ships for the last two decades, with them, she will launch her forces into space to conquer other worlds the way she has Earth." Alpha switched off the monitor and turned back to the teens. "This is the truth of your world, twenty-five years ago Rita and her followers conquered the earth using the methods I've shown you and by using propaganda along-side the finster facilities, she's kept everyone from learning the truth." Everyone stood in silence for several moments, no one wanting to be the first to speak. Finally, Shelton spoke up…

"No way" he said shaking his head "No way, no way, no way. I mean, this morning we were just kids in high school living in a boring little town. Now we're supposed to believe the empress is this evil, conquering… space witch. I don't buy it"

Alpha lowered his head for a moment and raised it again "I know it's difficult to except but it's the truth and there is so much more you still don't know about her."

Shelton began stepping back from the rest of the group "I don't want to know any more! I just want you to tell me how to get out of here so I can get home" The others nodded in agreement.

"Look, we're sorry but we really do need to get out of here" Joseph said with a slight look of regret on his face.

"Very well" Alpha conceded "but please, ask your parents, ask anyone who was there about the day Rita Repulsa arrived on earth and what life was like before she came." Nodding their heads for the sake of getting out of there, Alpha turned back to the control console. "Prepare for teleportation" before they could ask what Alpha meant by that, the group was overwhelmed with sensation of pins and needles all over their bodies and in an instant, they disappeared in a flash of light that resembled lightning.

"I'm sorry, I did my best" Alpha said aloud "But I'm afraid it may be too late for the people of Earth." The green tube in the front left corner of the room began to glow and a deep voice spoke from behind it.

"We must have faith Alpha, there is too much at stake for us to give up now.

The five teens found themselves standing in front of their high school, the pins and needles sensation had faded and been replaced with a cool breeze.

"what… Just happened?" spiked asked with a look of bewilderment on his face.

"I don't… I mean… What…?" Shelton was struggling to find the right question to ask first.

"That did just happen right?" Rachele finally asked aloud.

"Yeah, I think so…" Joseph said in response. They all stood in place for a moment, as if moving could somehow cause a new problem. Joseph looked over at Jennifer, who had yet to say anything. "You okay?" he asked, placing his hand on her shoulder.

Jennifer shook her head then responded "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

Not entirely convinced, Joseph didn't press the matter any further and instead took a position in front, facing his friends. "look guys, we're all tired and confused. I think the best thing for us to do right now is head home and try to figure this out later."

Nodding in agreement, everyone began the walk home. No one spoke as they all split off along the route to their respective homes, once they hit the three-mile mark, it was down to just Jennifer, Shelton and Joseph. Just as Jennifer was about to split off from the group, Joseph placed his hand on here shoulder one last time to ask if she was alright, she still looked pretty shaken up from their ordeal that night.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Just a really strange night, that's all." She managed a smile, bid her friends good night and turned down her street. Shelton and Joseph continued on down the dark street and eventually parted ways, returning to their respective homes for the night.

Jennifer slept late the following morning, not emerging from her room until after noon. Her mother was in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the front page of the Empress journal (the world's leading newspaper).

"You came in late last night" Her mother said, looking up at her daughter from behind the newspaper. "Yeah" Jennifer replied "Time just sort of got away from us." She was opening the refrigerator door to reach for a carton of orange juice.

"did you have fun?" Her mother asked as she took a sip of her coffee.

"I did, yeah. We just sat around, talked and listened to music but it was nice." Jennifer had poured some juice into a glass and had begun taking a sip.

"Good, good… Did you enjoy my cassettes?" Jennifer choked on her juice upon hearing her mother ask this question, she had taken the cassettes without her mother's knowledge. "thought I wouldn't notice, huh?"

Jennifer caught her breath and placed he glass on the kitchen counter. "Mom, I'm sorry. I just wanted everyone to have fun and no one at school likes the stuff on the radio." Her mother had now put her paper and coffee down on the table.

"Jennifer, you know I don't want you going through my things in the basement"

"I know Mom"

"I shouldn't even have those things but as long as they're down there, I want you to keep out of them."

"Why Mom, It's just old stuff. Why do keep acting like it's dangerous?"

"BECAUSE IT IS!"

Silence fell on the kitchen, Jennifer was standing in the middle of the floor with her arms crossed, as if trying to keep warm. Her mother was still sitting at the kitchen table, her hands pressed hard against the table top. After a moment or two, Jennifer spoke first.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I never wanted to upset you"

"it's alright sweet heart, I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to yell, I just…" Jennifer's mom hesitated "I've already lost your father, I can't lose you too."

Jennifer raised her eyebrows at this, her mother didn't normally mention her father. Jennifer sat down at the table with her mother and mustered the courage to ask the question that was now Bunning in the forefront of her mind.

"Mom, what happened to dad? He's been gone for so long, I can barely remember him and you never told me why." Her mother took a deep breath then waited a moment before speaking.

"When you were five years old…" her mother began "your father and I left you with a sitter for the night so we could spend a night alone together. We drove to the park, where we and our friends fom school used to spend a lot of time together. We set up a late-night picnic, your father brought his old stereo and cassettes so we could have some mood music, he didn't like the stuff on the radio either." She said this with a slight smile on her face. "We'd been there for about an hour and we were having such a good time just laughing, joking & flirting the way we did when we were younger. But…" she took another deep breath "Then they came."

"The putty patrollers?" Jennifer asked her mother

"Yes" Her mother replied "We heard footsteps a few yards away, your father stood up and stared through the tree-line and told me to hide in the bushes. I did and just as I crouched down, they came through the trees and circled your father. There was someone with them, a woman. She asked what your father was doing there and if he was with anyone, your father said he was waiting for someone but that he'd been stood up. The woman snickered and told him they had to ask him a few questions, then took him away." Jennifer's mother now had tears running down her cheeks. "I sat behind that bush for hours, too afraid to move. When I finally came home, your father wasn't here yet. I never saw him again."

Jennifer was now holding back tears of her own, she'd never seen her mother like this before. She debated whether or not to press the next question on her mind and ultimately decided to try her luck. "Mom, what were things like before Rita came?" Her mother's eyes widened "You were my age when she first arrived right? What was school like? What used to be on tv? Who were your friends…?" before she could ask any more questions, her mother stopped her.

"Please, Jennifer. That's enough, I've already said to much."

"But, Mom…"

"No More!" Her mother said sternly but with a look of genuine concern on her face.

Seeing that this was then end of this discussion, Jennifer stood up from the table and left the kitchen. She spent the rest of the day in her room.

The following day proceeded like any other, the five friends met on their way to school as usual. After arriving at school and checking their packs at the front entrance, the teens went to their lockers to grab the books they need for the day. Before heading to class, the group huddled together to have their first conversation about what had happened the other night. Joseph spoke first "So, I tried to get my folks to talk about what things used to be like… I got nothing."

"I did too" Shelton added "My dad just kept saying it was in the past and that the present is all that mattered anymore."

"My parents said the same thing," Rachele chimed in "they just said I should concentrate on school and make sure I get a good position after graduation."

"My dad talked a little bit about his old buddy from high school" Spike offered "He said that he'd lost count how many times the guy tripped and fell face first into one thing or another, I'd love to have been there to see that…" He caught himself before he got side-tracked "But that's all I got."

Joseph looked over at Jennifer, who had yet to pitch in. "what about your mom, did you ask her? Did she say anything?"

"No" she said quickly "I asked but she wouldn't tell me anything" Jennifer wasn't sure why she didn't tell her friends about her father, she just didn't.

The five made it to class just as the last bell rang and the day went along as it normally did, after a long and restless day, none of them able to stop thinking of what they had been told by Alpha 5 two nights ago, they all left the campus together. Before splitting off down their individual routes, they agreed to meet later that evening at the abandoned building in town, between the school and the park. Jennifer arrived home to an empty house, her mother hadn't come home from work yet, she worked at the grocery store in town. Jennifer was about to go to her room after grabbing a snack from the kitchen but then she saw the door to the basement from the corner of her eye. She couldn't help herself, she opened the door and climbed down the stairs, heading straight to where her mother kept her old things. Not sure exactly what it was she was searching for, Jennifer began rummaging through the old boxes, finding everything from more cassettes to her old baby shoes. Just as she was about to give up and put the box away, she spotted a picture face down in the bottom of the box. She picked up the picture and turned it over to see it was a picture of her mother, much younger, along-side what had to be four of her friends. She was about to put the photograph back in the box until she got a better look at the guy standing in the middle of the group and realized that it was her father, looking almost as he did in her memories. Jennifer put the photograph in her sweater pocket and briefly looked through the box again, finding only some old spandex gym clothes that most likely belonged to her mother while she in high school. Finding nothing else of interest, she put the box back on the shelf and went back upstairs until it was time to meet her friends.

Jennifer met Shelton and Joseph in the normal spot as they headed into town, the two were talking about the conversations they'd had with their parents earlier that day.

"Still wasn't able to get anything out of my folks" Shelton was saying "after a while they started ignoring me."

"I didn't do any better" Joseph added "my Dad just shakes his head and tells me to never mind. How about you Jen? Any luck?"

"My mom wasn't home from work." Jennifer replied but offed nothing further.

The three continued down the street as the sun had begun to set in the distance, they were soon joined by Rachele and Spike and the five friends walked past the school. They soon arrived at the old building just short of the distance to the park, there was a sign on the ground in front of the building that read "Angel Grove Youth…" the rest of the sign was broken off and nowhere to be seen. The front door had been locked with a chain and pad lock but there was a back door that came in through what used to be an old kitchen. Once inside, they all took seats around the dusty old bar.

"Ok, so… Why are we here?" Shelton asked.

"I think we really need to talk about what happened the other night guys" Joseph responded.

"What's to talk about?" Shelton replied "as far as I'm concerned, it never happened. We had a bonfire, we almost got busted, we made it home, the end."

"Shelton, it wasn't that simple and you know it" Rachele retorted "We can't just pretend nothing happed after what we saw, after what we heard."

"Why not?" Shelton asked, looking almost in a panic "I can, I'm doing it tight now, see me not having a clue what you're talking about."

"look, I don't want to take sides guys…" Spike chimed in "But I distinctly remember a little Robot with a big round head"

"OH, COME ON!" Shelton was now in a full-on breakdown "What are we supposed to do? March up Main Street, sit in at town hall, start a revolution? As soon as we say one word, ONE WORD OUT OF LINE! They'll take us away and we'll end up just like all the rest, is that what we want?"

"He's right" Jennifer finally spoke up, after listening in silence "If we start asking questions, if we do anything that they don't want us to do, they'll come take us away and we might never come back."

There was a short pause as everyone considered what had been said, finally, Joseph stood up in front of the group.

"So, that's it? We just forget it ever happened? Everything we saw, everything we were told about the world, about Rita. You guys know that at least some of it was true, I don't know about the space ships or conquering other planets but… The Finster Facilities, People disappearing for weeks at a time and coming back completely different, are we really ok with that?"

There was another brief silence, everyone looked at everyone else. Shelton was the first break the silence.

"Guys, I know there's stuff going on that… Isn't right. "his panicky domineers was now replaced by a look of solemn "But I don't want to be taken away. I don't want my parents, my sister, I don't want them to be taken away. I know I push the envelope sometimes but when it comes this, I just can't."

Joseph looked around at everyone "This is how we all feel? We're just going to pretend it never happened?" The silence around the room gave him the answer he was waiting for. "Okay, I guess that's it then."

The teens exited through the kitchen door they had come in from, as they were about to start the five-mile walk home, they heard voices from the other side of the building. The group walked around the building to see a couple of kids they knew from school spray-painting the side of the building. As they watched from behind an old dumpster, the two created and image that blended several colors together. It wasn't clear what they were trying to create but before they could finish, another group of individuals came into view… Putty Patrollers. There were four of them and they were approaching the would-be artists, most likely not to critique the artwork. The predictable was about to happen, the putties moved in quickly before the artists even knew they were there and cornered them against the wall of the building. Joseph and his friends watched as the putties grabbed the other two teens and began to drag them away into the night. Jennifer felt an uncontrollable urge to do something, anything. She kept replaying what her mother had told her the day before in her mind, about her father being taken away by putties and never to be seen or heard from again. She couldn't stand it anymore, she was going to make a mad dash at the putty patrollers, she didn't know how but she had to save those other two kids. Then, just as she raised her leg to take her first step, Shelton took off in a dead sprint directly at the putties and the other two kids, yelling at the top of his lungs. Everyone was in shock and didn't have a clue what to say or think, all they could do was take off after him, grabbing old pipes and pieces of wood from the ground as they ran. The putties turned around just in time for Shelton to spear one to the ground and begin whaling on its grey, expressionless face with mounted punches. The other three putties grabbed him trying to pull him off the fourth, giving the other two teens the opportunity to make a run for it. Shelton's friends joined the fray and began swinging, pipes, boards and chains with-out thought. Everyone was now acting on pure instinct & adrenalin and before they realized it, the putties had been reduced to piles of what looked like dry clay. When the group finally stopped and saw what was left on the ground, there was a long pause while everyone caught their breath.

"Shelton?" Jennifer approached "what was that? I thought you didn't…"

"I don't." Shelton swiftly replied "But eventually, they'll come for us And our families anyway, the best way for me to protect my parents and my sister, is to make sure they never do."

Jennifer nodded and turned to the pile of putty remains, kneeling down to examine them. "Do you know what this means?"

Everyone stared at her with blank looks on their face

"These things can be killed, and if they can be killed…"

"Then they can be beaten." Joseph declared and everyone nodded in agreement. "We all have questions, we all know what happened here tonight will keep happening until someone stands up and says no… And we all know where we have to go to get answers."

No one wasted any time, keeping a quick and steady pace, the teens turned putty slayers made their way back to the site of the bonfire. Treading carefully up the hillside, they watched out for more putties as they approached the fence. When they arrived however, they found that the split in the fence had been repaired and there was now barbed and razor wire raped around the top of the fence. They were about to begin circling the perimeter of the fence to find another way in when suddenly… They felt it. The familiar sensation of pins and needles throughout their bodies and with a flash of light, much like lightning, they found themselves back in the room beneath the old building on the hilltop. Alpha 5 was standing at the main control console, directly in front of them.

"Welcome back" he said in his high-pitched voice "I'm sure you have many questions."

"You could say that" Joseph replied, looking back at his friends. "But we aren't really sure what to ask first so… Maybe you could start at the beginning."

"In time, you will learn everything but I am not the one to whom you should pose your questions" Alpha then turned to face the large green tube in the front left corner of the room.

"Then… Who are we supposed to ask? Spike asked, a look of sarcastic confusion in his face.

"I can answer all of your questions" said a deep voice from seemingly nowhere.

"Uummm…. Who said that? Spiked asked, pointing his finger up at the ceiling

"That would be me" The voice said again. The green tube began to glow and a Giant face appeared with in it. "Welcome Humans."