A/N: I realized as I was finishing up the last chapter that I've been writing this story in a very episodic manner. I suppose that's to be expected when writing a story based on a TV show, but I had to debate with myself whether to continue doing so, or start writing it more like a story. Then I decided I didn't care, and embraced the episodic style! Enjoy this episode.

Chapter 5
Short-Circuited - Part 1

Location: "The Grove" Outlet Mall
Noon

"What do you think of this one?"

Aiden's eyes remained glazed over as he sat, slumped in the corner of a dressing room, watching his mother pop in and out of her stall with a different outfit each time. "It's great, Mom," he said blandly, easily the 9th or 10th time he repeated the phrase. "This one is truly stunning."

Ciara admired herself in the mirror for a few moments before replying. "You know, you could try a little harder to be excited. I'm only in town for the weekend. I won't get to see you again for another month!"

Aiden sighed. He almost wished there was a monster attack to distract from all of this. "If we spent that time doing something other than shopping for clothes you never wear, the excitement would flow so naturally."

She scoffed at this. "You'd complain no matter what we did." She disappeared behind the curtain once more. Aiden stared at his communicator, as if to make it go off with willpower alone. A few moments later, he shook his head vigorously. Why would he ask for a monster attack? He should be happy that things have been relatively peaceful for the past few days.

Aiden leaned his head back against the wall while he waited. Eventually, his mother emerged from the dressing stall wearing her own clothes. "Yeah… none of it speaks to me." Despite himself, Aiden let out an audible groan.

When most people imagine shopping with their mother, they imagine having to carry tons and tons of bags and bouncing from store to store buying and buying. Not Aiden's mother. It never failed to feel like a waste of time when she would spend an hour in a single store trying on everything only to not end up buying anything at all. This also meant that another store was on the docket.

"Come on, you whiner. Let's go get something to eat before we hit the next store." Aiden breathed a sigh of relief for the reprieve.

"I vote for the Cajun place down the street," he said quickly. "I want the bourbon street chicken."

His mother sighed. She didn't much like the place, but appeasing her son meant more time shopping. "Fine," she said hesitantly. She left the unwanted clothes in the dressing room as she and Aiden made their way, empty handed, to the door.

12:30 PM

As they ate, Aiden's mother made an attempt at small talk that Aiden only passively responded to. Most of his dialogue was grunts and nods as she continued eating. His mind was on other things, on monsters and brightly colored heroes with comically large weapons. More specifically, he was thinking about his team. Was Jake still angry at him on some level? Was Bryan still suffering from confidence issues? Would Kerri be more reliable after what happened? How was Thuy adjusting? Would Ty keep harping on the roll call stuff?

"Aiden, are you angry about the divorce?"

Aiden inhaled a few grains of rice, sending him into a coughing fit. "Wh-what?" he managed between fits of hacking.

"You live with your father. You see him more, you hear from him more. It would make sense that if Adam is still angry, you're angry too. Do you blame me for the divorce?"

Aiden cleared the last few bits of rice from his throat before speaking. "Um... yeah, you and Dad don't talk about the divorce. Ever. I still have no idea why you divorced. If anything, I'm mad at both of you for hiding the reasons from me." He rolled his eyes and took a drink of his water. "But no, I'm not mad at you. I don't like shopping, there's a lot going on in school that's keeping my mind busy, and there's a woman running down the street screaming."

Ciara turned around to watch a young woman, probably in her early 20s with brown hair and nicely dressed, sprinting down the street screaming. She was soon followed by two businessmen, a couple of kids, a couple in bathing suits, and finally a crowd of crazed people running and screaming.

They were being chased. And soon their pursuer came into view. He was six feet tall with pale white skin. Humanoid, but definitely not human. Long silver hair adorned his head and he was dressed in a long white cloak that was scalloped at the end, creating a zig-zag pattern along the bottom. His skin was covered in red tattoos that looked like magical runes with very light metal armor covering his chest to his legs. He stood barefoot, but had no toes, his feet being one solid shape. His eyes were bright blue, his expression blank and unemotional. He had no ears, though that wouldn't mean he was deaf. His lean muscular build was visible in his exposed arms. In one hand, he held a long, thin, twisting blade that sparkled silver in the bright sunlight.

Every motion was measured and controlled. With one slice of his double-helix blade, a car was split in half. Another slice, and another halved car. And doubled insurance rates. But no strike hit any person. Property damage only. No explosions, as no gas tanks were hit. Nothing over the top. No threats, no laughter, just straight destruction.

"Go go go!" Aiden hissed as he grabbed his mother's arm and began running in the direction of the other escapees. His mind was racing, trying to come up with a way to get his mother to escape while he himself could return to battle the monster. She was ahead of him as they ran. He saw an opening, but it wasn't elegant. "Run faster!" he yelled to make her believe he was right behind her. When he was sure she wasn't going to turn around, he ducked into a nearby alley and rounded the corner, hiding next to a dumpster. "Aiden to Command Center," he said into his communicator. It responded with three atonal beeps, indicating that his message didn't go through.

Uh-oh.

"Aiden to all points. Come in." The beeps again. He tried teleporting, but the communicator responded with a shrill, high-pitched alarm sound. "What's wrong with this thing?!" he demanded.

Suddenly, Aiden's thoughts were shattered by a very deep, commanding, yet smooth and dignified voice. "Bring me a Power Ranger!" The monster was loud, his voice demanding attention. "The destruction stops when I see at least one Power Ranger!"

He wasn't getting any backup on this one unless one of them happened to glance at the news. But Jake was out of town and Kerri was likely nose deep in a textbook. Hopefully Ty or Thuy would be along to back him up. Until then, he had to keep the monster distracted.

"Come out of hiding, Power Rangers! At least one of you should answer my call! I will end the destruction once one of you shows your helmet!"

"You called?!" Aiden yelled as he leapt from a nearby rooftop onto the ground in front of the monster in a perfect three-point crouch. He stood tall, scanning the area. Civilians were still cowering, waiting for an opportunity to escape. Aiden wasn't one for getting into dialogue with monsters, but he needed to distract him so the civilians could flee. "I'm here now, what do you want?"

The monster withdrew his sword and arms into his cloak and looked at Aiden dead on. "The Black Ranger. The leader of your merry band of superheroes." He flashed a brief grin before his face grew serious again. "Goldar is convinced the Red Ranger leads you, but I know better. You see, I've been watching you. Studying your group. I know who gives the commands. I recognize leadership when I see it."

What was this about? "I didn't come here to make small talk," Aiden said as the civilians slowly started to disperse. "Who are you, and what's your gimmick?"

The monster chuckled softly. "Oh, allow me to introduce myself. I am Cyrus, a new general serving Lord Zedd alongside Goldar. I have no gimmick, other than pure skill. I've been studying you Rangers for weeks, and I think it's time I tested my mettle against one of you. As I'm sure you've noticed, you're all alone, unable to contact anyone."

Aiden's eyes widened under his helmet. "What did you do?" he demanded.

"Me? Nothing," Cyrus answered with a wry smile. "I am the chessmaster of this game, however, and I know every move so far. You're just the first pawn to fall."

Keep him talking, Aiden. "Chess references? What, do you and Goldar play weekly matches of human board games? I can't imagine he's much competition."

Cyrus simply laughed. "Oh, he certainly isn't. You, on the other hand, you are a much more worthy opponent. The leader of the team my Lord has yet to defeat."

"I thought you said I was just a pawn," Aiden said carefully.

"Oh, certainly. Even the strongest of pawns is still a pawn. Still, you hold promise. Perhaps under my tutelage you could grow to greater heights."

"Right," Aiden said flatly. His eyes darted around to see that most of the civilians were gone, save for a few camera operators from various news organizations. They weren't going anywhere, and Aiden couldn't really take the time to shoo them away. He took a defensive stance. "Enough jibbering."

Cyrus grinned that creepy grin once more. "Yes, the little humans have vacated the area, so you're ready to fight. How predictable. Nevertheless, this fight is about you and me, not them, so I was happy to engage you in this conversation." He drew his sword once more. "When you're ready."

Aiden summoned his Power Ax and charged. An upward swing was blocked easily by Cyrus' massive sword, and Aiden received a powerful kick to the chest for his trouble. He rolled with it, tumbling back before righting himself and switching his ax to Frost Mode. He fired the blue-white beam of energy, only to have it deflected by the sword as well. His attempts to sweep the beam failed, as Cyrus' defense was far better. Aiden switched tactics, attempting to freeze the ground below the enemy to remove his traction. Cyrus grinned and responded with a twenty-foot leap into the air over the ice. Aiden trained the beam on the monster while in midair, but his sword continued to repel it. Aiden jumped out of the way just barely fast enough as the razor-sharp blade came down a hair's width from his shoulder.

Aiden switched back to Ax Mode and resumed his up-close-and-personal onslaught, but every attack was blocked. He once again barely dodged Cyrus' sword slamming down on him before jumping up on the sword and launching himself into the air. With a flip, he came down with his ax trained on Cyrus' head. Cyrus blocked easily, but Aiden didn't give up, putting all of his weight behind the strike.

Wrong move. Cyrus' helix blade charged with electricity that easily conducted through the Power Ax and into Aiden. He yelped, but was stuck as his muscles contracted. The attack let up and Aiden fell backwards, his ax falling to the ground a few feet away. It took a few seconds, but Aiden managed to roll over on his stomach and began reaching for the weapon. Cyrus, however, wasn't about to let him have it. He jammed his foot down on Aiden's arm, crushing him as the Black Ranger cried out. Then, with a powerful slice, Cyrus split Aiden's Power Ax in half, rendering it useless.

Aiden managed to break free of the hold and stumbled back, holding his left arm. The suit was protecting him from any permanent damage so far, but the pain was still very real. He looked down at the destroyed Power Ax, sparking and smoking.

"Don't feel bad, Black Ranger," Cyrus said, his tone oddly sincere. "I've been studying you for weeks. I know exactly how you fight. Your every tactic is clear as day to me."

Okay, Aiden thought. Time to think outside the box. He looked around for anything useful in the environment. He'd dodge anything he knocked over, the fire hydrant was too far away to do any real good, and communications were down.

"Aiden! Where are you?!"

Oh crap. Aiden turned around to see his mother wandering around, shouting for him. "AIDEN! ANSWER ME!"

Location: Angel Grove Public Library

1:05 PM

Kerri typed rapidly, fingers flying across the keyboard trying to transcribe thoughts into papers that made A grades. She had her headphones in listening to classical music (she'd heard somewhere that listening to Mozart improved one's IQ for a short time) as she struggled to come up with another paragraph. Her Communicator was set to vibrate so she wouldn't miss an alert, but she felt both relieved and mildly suspicious that nothing had happened.

She tried to shrug off the paranoia and continue working. The paper was starting to come together when she noticed a large amount of movement out of the corner of her eye. She ignored it at first, but as more people seemed to be heading in that direction, she pulled off the headphones and turned to look. A crowd of people were huddled around the wall-mounted TV. It was muted (this was a library, after all), but the captioning read that the Black Ranger was locked in battle with a powerful monster at "The Grove," a local outlet mall that Kerri herself had spent a lot of time at in years past.

Why was Aiden battling a monster alone? Why hadn't he contacted any of them? Or why hadn't Zordon said anything? She jumped from her desk and made for the bathroom, but stopped short, saving her work and locking the computer. She then entered the bathroom and checked to make sure no one was in any of the stalls.

"Zordon, come in," she said into the Communicator. The error tone played. "Ranger Black, come in." Same result. She tried teleporting and got a shrill alarm sound instead. Confused, she ran back into the library where she saw Aiden holding his own, if only barely. The news station also interspersed the visuals with images of the monster slicing cars in half effortlessly. She had a choice to make: try to find the others, or go to help Aiden. Clearly either he was the only one who got the alert, or he was just in the area when the attack hit. None of the other Rangers were there and none of the footage being played indicated they'd arrived earlier and were defeated.

As Aiden seemed to continue to hold his own, she decided on a course of action. She bolted outside and into a private alley. "It's morphin' time! Pterodactyl!" She turned toward the sky, holding out a hand. "Pterodactyl! Dino Zord! Power up!"

Location: "The Grove" Outlet Mall

Aiden turned his attention back to the monster, who had taken note of the wandering woman as well. "Still, I expected more, from you. Perhaps you just need motivation." He began walking, very calmly and deliberately toward Aiden's mother, sword drawn and ready. Aiden yelled out, drawing his blade blaster and slashing at Cyrus to keep him distracted. Cyrus responded by picking up Aiden by the helmet and throwing him fifteen feet away, then continuing his slow saunter toward the oblivious civilian.

But she wasn't oblivious for long. She began screaming at Cyrus. "What did you do with my son? Answer me, freak!"

"You need to be taught some manners," he replied, raising his sword. Aiden charged again, but was repelled by Cyrus' blade that sent him flying once more. By the time Aiden managed to lift his head, Cyrus was closing in on her. Stupidly, she stood her ground, still demanding to know where Aiden had gone.

Aiden barely managed to stand, and in a last-ditch effort to save his mother, he switched his Blade Blaster into gun mode and fired... but not at Cyrus. Instead, he hit the nearby fire hydrant on the side port. It sparked and the cap was blown off, sending a blast of high-intensity water right at Cyrus. Before he realized what was happening, Cyrus was being tossed across the street by the torrent as Aiden raced toward his mother, grabbed her, and leapt up to a nearby rooftop with her in his arms. As she screamed, he leapt from rooftop to rooftop until he felt like they were a safe distance from the monster.

Aiden accessed the voice synthesizer in his helmet, a feature he hadn't yet used. Unfortunately, the voices weren't described in any way, rather they were just labeled Voice 01, Voice 02, and so on. He randomly selected Voice 07 before speaking.

"You need to get out of here!" he shouted in a very female voice. He had to resist the urge to facepalm. "Th-this isn't a safe area!"

She stood firm, however. "I have to find my son! He disappeared while we were running!"

"There's nothing you can do right now. If he's safe, he'll come out once the attack is over. You can't do him any favors by getting yourself killed. Now stay put!" With that, Aiden leapt back toward the fray, landing on the ground behind Cyrus. He swung his foot backward to trip the enemy, but Cyrus simply jumped over it before Aiden righted himself and the two stood, deadlocked, staring at each other.

"Impressive. It's amazing what a little property damage can do, especially after you've been so careful to avoid it." He gestured toward the fire hydrant which was still pulsing water into the street. Aiden wished he still had his Power Ax as the water pooled around their feet. He could do something with all this potential ice. But with the Ax destroyed, he had to come up with yet another creative plan.

Ideas were in short supply, however.

Location: Seattle, Washington

1:15 PM

"Hey mom, where'd Dad go?" Jake asked as he pulled another soda from his grandparents' fridge.

"I don't know," Kat responded, not looking up from her book. "It's not like your father to vanish after leaving me here with his parents who nitpick every little thing."

Jake almost choked on his soda. "Um... okay," he said, chuckling. He looked around for a second to ensure his grandparents were still in the living room before pressing the button on his Communicator. "Dad, it's me." Error tone.

"Dad?" Error tone.

Kat tried next. "Zordon, do you read?" Error tone. "That's odd."

Their exchange was interrupted by a loud screech from outside. Kat and Jake jumped at the sound, then both raced to the window. Hovering overhead was the Pterodactyl Dino Zord, screeching every 30 seconds or so for good measure. "I... I think that might be for me," Jake said.

Location: "The Grove" Outlet Mall

As his Blade Blaster became less about slashing and more about defending, Aiden found himself resisting the urge to call in the Mastodon Dino Zord and just step on the guy. Cyrus kept slashing and slashing, driving Aiden back until he was in a corner. The force of Cyrus' attacks drove him down to one knee with the Blade Blaster over his head, barely keeping the attacks away from his head.

Cyrus then suddenly let up and attempted to slash horizontally to catch Aiden off guard. But the moment the pressure was off, the Black Ranger dived between Cyrus' legs and rolled out of harm's way. Cyrus' blade, however, got stuck in the wall, affording Aiden three free attacks to the general's back before he had to retreat and put more distance between them.

Cyrus sighed as he whipped his blade around in the air a few times. "I'm quite bored of this now. Time to die. Any last words?"

"Bring it," Aiden said, trying to sound tough. But Cyrus just cocked an eyebrow as the Black Ranger realized his voice synthesizer was still on.

Without any additional warning, Cyrus completely changed tactics. No longer taunting and dancing around the issue, he rushed forward at a blinding speed landing strike after strike. Before Aiden hit the ground, his suit had taken ten hits from that sword. The Blade Blaster fell from his hand and broke in two upon landing on the ground. Aiden's yell had collapsed in on itself, becoming a gurgling groan as he lay on the ground, defenseless. His vision became blurry, the HUD in his helmet began to fade, and he felt the powers starting to dissipate as his strength evaporated.

General Cyrus approached to land the final blow when the Pterodactyl went straight for the attack. The twin lasers struck the monster with pinpoint accuracy, sending him flying at least fifty feet. Rangers Red, Blue, and Pink emerged from the Zord to form a wall between Aiden and Cyrus. While the monster had the upper hand up to that point, he found himself a little overwhelmed by the full frontal assault from Jake's sword and Bryan's lance coupled with Kerri's long-range arrow attacks.

Cyrus looked at the group as he continued to fend off the attacks. He'd miscalculated. By leaving the news reporters alone and toying with Ranger Black for so long, he'd given the other Rangers the chance to find out what he was doing, and now his odds weren't so great. Hopefully the other half of the plan was going better.

"Your leader is down," Cyrus said confidently as he knocked more arrows out of the air. "Your team is divided, and you're cut off from Zordon. I wonder how much longer you'll last. But for now, this battle is over." And in a flash of light, Cyrus was gone.

"Blue! How's Ranger Black doing?" Kerri yelled.

Bryan was already at Aiden's side, his helmet feeding him a bio-analysis. "Not good. Vitals are crazy, and the suit's about ready to give out. We gotta get him in your Zord." Jake nodded and ran over, putting one of Aiden's arms around his shoulder as Bryan did the same. The three leapt into the Zord, safe from prying eyes.

Location: Pterodactyl Dino Zord

1:30 PM

"What now?" Kerri demanded. "No response from the Command Center, Thuy and Ty never showed up when I went for them, and Aiden won't wake up or demorph. Should we just take him to a hospital?"

"In this economy?" Bryan responded, only half joking. "We should probably just fly to the Command Center from here, find out for ourselves what's going on."

Jake nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we should do that. If the Command Center is offline somehow, we'll want to restart everything."

Kerri nodded and took her seat. "Hang on to something," she said as she gunned the Zord for the Command Center. It was around then that Aiden's powers finally gave out and his Ranger suit burst in a shower of sparks, vanishing into nothing.

"I don't see any obvious signs of trauma," Bryan reported as they flew. "But he's not waking up, either." Bryan ground his knuckles into Aiden's sternum, causing him to groan and recoil in pain. "He's still responsive to pain."

"Guys..." Kerri said. "We've got a huge problem."

"What, did you run out of gas or something?" Jake asked.

But there was no joking tone in Kerri's voice. "Just... look out the window. We're here."

Bryan and Jake peered out the window from behind Kerri, and their breathing stopped short almost immediately. The Command Center was within view... and around it was a dark blue force field surrounded by a sea of Putty Patrollers trying to bang their way in. But worst of all, through the shield, the Rangers could see that some of the putties were already inside.

Suddenly, the comm unit in the Zord came to life with Billy's voice barely audible over the static. "Guys... if you can hear me, we've got a huge problem here."

"You are not even kidding," Bryan said.