Sector 13 High School
Metro City, Canada
April 2nd, 2015
4:17 PM

"Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"

"So, Oz," said Brody, "Where've you been these last few days?"

"I already told you," I said, "I got busted by the principal for breaking that douchebag Riley's nose."

"You didn't get expelled?"

"Nope."

"How'd you manage that?"

"I don't know," I said, "I just didn't."

We were in the school gym. I was spotting Brody as he bench-pressed a hundred pound weight above his head.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Who cares, dude?" I asked, "Even if I had been given the boot, my folks'd just cough up more dough and send me somewhere else."

"Yeah, I suppose," said Brody, "What do they do again?"

"Mom is a realtor and Dad is a car salesman."

"Oh, right, right, right. I remember now."

I was so glad to have stupid friends. I'm not saying that I'm all that smart either, but still, they never question what I tell them. By now, they should know that I'm actually the poorest kid at this school. Mom lost everything in the divorce. Dad paid child support for a while, but after he died from cancer that stopped. Plus, now that I'm 18, the fucking government doesn't consider me to be eligible for substitute payments. Next, for some ungodly reason, Dad's life insurance went to his sister, who is a famous actress in America.

What the hell does she need that money for? It's not fair! If it weren't for my job at the hardware store, we wouldn't even have our mobile home. I was fortunate enough to have stopped growing before Dad left, so all the clothes I had still fit me and the fancy car he gave me is still around. The money I earn goes straight into gas money and bank loan payments. Mom almost turned schizophrenic after the divorce and hasn't worked since. In a nutshell, it's a miracle that Brody and everyone else haven't figured out the truth about me yet.

"You want to come to my place tonight? I'm throwing a party."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I can." said Brody.

"You throw parties every weekend," I said, "How do you manage to get away with that?"

"It helps when nobody is ever home to stop me," said Brody, "My folks are on another book tour."

"I might show up," I said, "I presume you need me to buy the keg?"

"Well duh, you're the only one that's old enough."

"Well, I'm not paying for it," I said, "You do realize that I could go to jail for supplying booze to minors, right?"

"Just take some cash from my wallet, then."

In Brody's defense, I'm a pretty decent liar. I'm sure you noticed what I just did there. Rather than say I can't afford it, I used legal crap on him. Maybe that's not really "lying", but I certainly didn't tell him the real reason. I looked in Brody's wallet. There was at least a grand in there! See, he's legitimately rich, but I'm just a fraud.

"I'm sure glad we don't live in America," said Brody, "Those poor pricks have to be 21 to buy beer."

"Yeah…" I muttered, absent-mindedly.

Just then, my codec lit up and my Digitizer beeped. Silver was paging me.

"Is that your wacky watch again?" asked Brody.

"No, your sister is sexting me."

"Fuck you…" said Brody, "Wait! I don't have a sister…"

"No, but I uh, have to go take a dump." I said.

"Go for it man, I'm not even tired yet."

"It's probably going to take a while…" I said, trying to hint that I wouldn't be coming back.

"Did you have a big lunch or something?"

"Never mind, I'll see you at the party tonight if I can make it there."

I ran through the gym and into the parking lot, then across the street into the alley where Bishop had saved me. Once I was in the clear, I held out my wrist and pushed the smallest button on my Digitizer which made a miniature holograph of Silver appear.

"Are you there, Silver?" I said to it.

"Heath, I'm picking up a signal nearby and I don't think its Replicators."

"It must be a full-fledged virus then." I said.

"That would be my guess, too. The signal is much stronger than usual."

"Good because I was getting bored."

"The others are on their way," said Silver, "Meet up with them and then look for the virus together."

"Screw that," I said, "I can handle this on my own. I damn near killed the last one alone too, and that was before I could morph."

"Heath, listen to me! DO NOT engage that virus without back-up!"

"Sorry, you're breaking up." I said, disconnecting from the call.

I was very conflicted; my whole life, I had been being a jerk to all the wrong people. Bishop and his shadows were the kind of people I should've been friends with. But, instead, I was stupid and decided to hang out with morons like Brody. Sure, he's nice enough, but I know that the second he was to find out the truth about me, he'd be gone and I'd become a laughing stock like Bishop already is. What's weird though is that Riley doesn't even seem to be affected by it. I guess he only cares about what his friends think of him. As for why he didn't turn me in to the principal, I have no idea.

I also don't know why he saved me or why he isn't even angry at me for breaking his nose. His friends still are, but why isn't he? Whatever the reason, I had decided not to try forcing my way into their passé until I know they want me in there. You know what I mean? Besides, I really don't need their help all the time. Who cares if Silver doesn't believe me? Once I prove to him that I'm right, it won't matter anymore anyways.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I shouted.

No matter how many times I morphed, I doubt it would ever get old. First came the swirling tornado of 0s and 1s that encircled me, getting faster and narrower until it collided with me in a small explosion. When the smoke cleared, I had my yellow ranger suit on and leapt high into the air. At the height of my jump, my helmet materialized on my head. During my descent, the strange dimension faded from around me until my feet landed on the filthy, grimy ground of the dark alley.

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Silver?" asked Rachel.

"Don't tell me you've suddenly started to care about Oz." said Marcus.

"Well, no, but, it's still awfully risky."

"Rachel, it's for Heath's own good." I said.

I had been a little nervous about letting Heath be a ranger for this exact reason. He's not a very good team player. When I was watching him for research purposes, I could tell. Even when he's playing football, he rarely ever includes his team in the game. I probably should've sent him away, but the chances of finding another suitable candidate were slim to none. That's why I decided to test him. His reaction when I called him was exactly what I thought it would be.

"Silver knows what he's doing, Rach," said Riley, "Besides, once Oz realizes that he's not as great as he thinks he is, he'll call for us."

"I just hope he's not too stubborn," said Rachel, "If he gets himself killed because he's too proud to admit it, then it'll be all our fault."

"No, Rachel, it will be my fault." I said.

"But-"

"It was my idea; therefore it will be my fault."

"You worry too much Rachel." said Marcus.

"I know."

"Dude, let her worry," said Riley, "It's what she does when she doesn't know what else to do."

I looked at the monitor and saw Heath in ranger form, running across the train tracks. He was using his Digitizer to track the virus' signature. Mine had a much longer range than theirs, so if he was using it, he must be close enough to the virus for it to show up on his Digitizer. I typed in instructions for all of the cameras to follow Heath.

"Those cameras can move?" asked Marcus.

"Of course they can," I said, "They wouldn't be much good to me if they couldn't."

I could've sworn I had told them about the cameras already. I designed them so that they could respond to commands remotely and move around by hovering. The rangers must have thought they were attached to the buildings or something.

"They even have microphones on them." I said, flicking a switch to activate the microphones.

"I was wondering how we'd hear Oz calling to us," said Marcus, "Well, we've probably got some time to kill. I vote we play strip poker."

"Marcus, you're terrible at poker," said Rachel, "I know you only said that because you want to see me take my clothes off."

"I can't even beat her at cards." said Riley.

"Yeah, but you suck too." said Marcus.

The sirens went off automatically and the monitors switched from individual mode to mass mode. Heath had found the virus in Sector 11's scrap yard. I watched as it pounced on him and caught him completely by surprise.

"He's not off to a great start…" said Riley.

I held up my hand to silence them. I needed to concentrate. I was going to try and look up the virus by downloading files that had Trojan's digital signature on them. It was a long shot, but I knew that if I did it right, I could end up with a complete encyclopedia of information pertaining to each and every one of the viruses that Trojan had made or even planned to make saved on my computer as an enormous database.

It must have been my lucky day, because I found exactly what I was looking for without much difficulty. In fact, it almost seemed like Trojan had left footprints all over Cyberspace specifically for me to find. But, perhaps I shouldn't worry too much about that right now.

"According to this," I said, beckoning the others closer so they could see the screens, "Heath is going up against virus #8E9X5C7O. Loosely decrypted, it's called the Extension Cord Virus."

"So, the virus used an extension cord in our dimension as a portal and materialized as a mutated monster with the same characteristics?" asked Riley.

"Basically, yes," I said, "See for yourselves."

I had pulled up a sort of 3D image of the creature. This was amazing. I could even see what kind of attacks to expect from it and what its weakness might be. Now that I knew how much information I had, I couldn't help but wonder about it. There had to be a reason that would explain why I acquired it so easily. Even if it does end up being traceable, I've got the most intricate and powerful antivirus software ever created, so, I'm not all that concerned. This knowledge was just too useful to get rid of.

"Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"

I struggled briefly with whatever had jumped me. It wasn't that strong, but it was hard to get a good enough grip on it to break free.

"Download weapon!" I called, extending my only free hand.

My hammer materialized instantly. I grabbed the handle carefully and raised it high over my head. Making sure that the virus couldn't see, I swung it down towards the back of its head, if I missed, I'd end up hitting myself in the face.

Wham! The virus hissed at me like a snake and slithered away. I got to my feet quickly, still clutching my hammer.

"That wassss a lucky sssshot," it said, "Why don't you jusssst ssssurrender now?"

"Nicccce try, ssssucker!" I teased.

Now I got a good look at the virus. It was bright orange, with a black head and three oddly shaped fangs that protruded out of it. Although it appeared to be a snake, it didn't have scales; in fact, it looked like it was made of rubber. It had feet, but they were black and very small, almost like a centipede's. To be honest, I had no idea how it was managing to stay upright. Finally, it dawned on me: this virus was an extension cord.

Of course, without Silver, I'd have to figure out how being an extension cord would affect it the hard way. By that, I mean, through experience. My Dad always told me that it's okay to make mistakes because it's the easiest way to learn. Ironically, he never made any mistakes, except maybe cheating on my Mom.

The virus interrupted my thought process by sending an arc of electricity at me. It seemed to have come from its teeth thingies. It was a direct hit and stung like a bitch. Doing my best to pretend it hadn't been very painful, I brushed off the area it had hit. Now that I was angry I was going to show it that I meant business.

I charged at it with my shoulder, but it dodged by curving its body away. I was heading for a wall now, and used it to run up and kick off into a backflip. Now I was in the air above the virus' head and readied my mallet during my descent, hoping to crush its head. Without that, it wouldn't be able to zap me anymore. But, since it's a snake, it could probably still live for a while without a head. Or, maybe that's earthworms. It might also be chickens.

Right before my hammer made contact with the virus' head, it dodged again, and I hit the ground, sending a small puff of dust into the air.

"Ssssorry, but you're jusssst too sssslow!" cackled the virus, still hissing as it spoke.

I tried to stand up, but found myself back on the ground as it shocked me again. The arc hit the exact same spot as last time, and therefore hurt twice as much.

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

"Silver, he's in trouble," said Rachel, "Can we jump in and rescue him now?"

"No," I said, "You need to wait until he realizes that he can't be a ranger and a lone wolf at the same time. If you don't wait, he'll do the same thing every time thinking that you three will always be there to finish what he started."

"How much longer is it going to take!?" snapped Rachel, "Admit that you need help you moron!"

"Shouldn't be long now," said Riley, "At this point, he's probably realized that brute force isn't the right strategy."

"How can you just watch this!?" scolded Rachel, "You're supposed to be our leader!"

"I can't lead someone who doesn't want to take orders," he said, calmly, "Oz needs to learn his lesson."

"Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"

A storm had kicked up by now and I was starting to get tired. Talk about the worst timing ever. If that virus was to get struck by lightning he'd get even stronger. I tried to stifle a yawn, but failed miserably. Maybe I shouldn't have morphed so early. I used up most of my power by getting here. I put away my weapon and cracked my knuckles.

"Aaawww, issss the big sssstrong ranger already getting ssssleepy?" jeered the virus, "I haven't even broken a ssssweat."

As if a rubber snake would sweat. Wait a second… Rubber; extension cords are made with rubber because they… Err… Shit, why didn't I pay more attention in science class? They, ummmm… Oh, right! They block electricity. So, maybe if I was to grab onto it, it would keep zapping itself until it ran out of energy. It was worth a shot.

I cracked my neck before diving into a forward somersault. My legs kicked the virus' rubber body and pinned it to the ground. It thrashed, squirmed and tried to use its tiny legs to resist. I raised my fist high in the air, but screamed in agony as a lot of things happened all at once. A bolt of lightning hit the ground just as the virus sent a third arc of electricity at me. Both of them seemed to hit at the same time and I was sent flying. I crashed into the very wall I had used to kick myself into the air.

I was so confused and so angry that I didn't even care about what had just happened. My theory had obviously been wrong. I tried to move, but I just didn't have the energy. Despite my efforts to concentrate, I de-morphed, and clutched the spot on my chest that was stinging much worse now without my powers.

Where were the others? Silver had said they would try to meet up with me. I knew I had beaten them to the virus, but that was a while ago. Unless they got lost, they should've showed up by now. Not that I need them or anything, though… Oh, who was I kidding!? Right now, I need them more than ever! Bishop, Rachel and Marcus could've easily hit the virus because their weapons are faster. Not only that, but Bishop would've known about the virus because Silver would've told him. Hell, he might even have been able to warn me about that bolt of lightning. Not to mention, he's a science nerd and would've known to take extra precautions during the rain and everything. But, most importantly, he would have done all that in spite of the fact that we aren't even really friends yet. In spite of the fact that I broke his nose. In spite of everything, he would still help me, because we're supposed to be a team. How could I have been so selfish!?

"WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!? I WAS WRONG! I CAN'T DO THIS BY MYSELF!" I half screamed, half sobbed.

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

"WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!? I WAS WRONG! I CAN'T DO THIS BY MYSELF!" came Heath's voice, half screaming, half crying from the monitors.

"Now?" asked Rachel.

"Yes, now." I said.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" shouted the rangers in unison.

Within seconds, three fully clad rangers were standing behind me.

"Rangers, I think you should start teleporting. I assume you still know how?" I said.

"That won't draw too much attention to us?" Green.

"If you do it in civilian form where people can see you, yes," I said, "But, if you do it from here and arrive at your destination already morphed, then no."

"Gotcha." said Green.

"And, uh, Red," I said, "Those techniques I've asked you not to waste on Replicators?"

"Start using them?" he said, finishing my statement for me.

I nodded, and then returned to my desk, carefully observing Heath on the monitors.

"Let's go guys!" called Red.

I heard a series of beeping, somewhat reminiscent of dial up network noises, which then transitioned into a sort of whooshing sound as three streaks of coloured light soared up through the ceiling. The streaks were binary code, because data was literally being transferred from one place to another.

"Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"

Almost as if in answer to my prayer, I saw three streaks of light land on the ground and revert to their physical forms. The other rangers had arrived.

"Took you long enough!" said Blue, walking forward and holding out her hand.

"What are you talking about?" I said, wincing from the pain as she pulled me to my feet.

"Silver wouldn't let us help you until you admitted to yourself that you need our help." said Green.

"Yell at us about it later, though," said Red, "We've still got him to deal with."

"I'm not mad." I said.

If I could see their faces, the rangers would probably have been staring at me with their jaws dropped.

"I understand why he did it," I said, "Remind me to thank him when we get back."

It was true. In fact, it felt like I had weighed a ton before, whereas now, after coming to terms with myself, I felt free, as if all that extra weight had been in a back pack which I was no longer wearing. I haven't actually been genuinely happy in a long time. Beating people up, partying, worrying about my stupid lies and what other people thought of me. None of that made me feel good about myself. Being a ranger, having real friends for the first time in my life and being able stop acting like someone I'm not on the other hand, made me feel great. So great, that the pain in my chest was going away.

"I owe all of you an apology, as well," I said, "I let these powers go to my head. I'm no better than any of you, and we're at our strongest when we fight as a team."

Nobody spoke. Their jaws were probably wide open again.

"From now on, people will say that Oz's heart grew three sizes today." said Green, in a voice one would use to read a story to children.

"Notice how I'm not trying to punch him?" I asked.

"Yeah, now see if you can morph and go punch that virus instead." said Red.

I nodded at him and brushed Blue's hand away, which had been supporting me this whole time. Being a ranger also came with many more perks. For example, in the span of maybe, ten minutes starting after I hit the wall, my body had already healed to such a point that it didn't hurt to move anymore. Hopefully, my codec will have recharged enough by now too. I stepped forward in front of the others, looking the virus right in the eye.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I shouted, triumphantly.

After I had transformed, the others walked forward so that we would be standing in a straight line.

"Sssso, you think you'll sssstand a chancccce againsssst me now that there'ssss four of you?" hissed the virus, "It makessss no differencccce to me. I'll sssstill desssstroy you all!"

"So, Red, got any ideas?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, "Crazy as it might sound, we need to make it attack us."

"Why?"

"When you tackled the virus, it landed in a puddle of water. Rubber usually insulates electricity, but if it's wet, then there's a chance that the integrity of the rubber will be compromised."

"So, that's why I got sent flying backwards?" I asked, "Because the bolt of lightning hit the puddle that the virus and I were in?"

"More or less." said Red.

"Okay, then let's each take a side," said Green, "Blue and I will take the left and right sides."

"Alright, then Yellow and I will take the front and back sides." said Red.

"Leave the front side to me," I said, "It already seems to be aiming at me, so I might as well be the decoy."

We all separated quickly and cartwheeled, sprinted, or flipped over to our respective spots. The virus seemed puzzled, but could only deal with one side at a time.

"Oooh, I'm sssso sssscared!" hissed the virus.

Rangers Blue and Green had already withdrawn their weapons. Green poked at one of its legs while Blue jabbed its shoulder. The virus seemed like it was trying to just ignore them, until Red sliced its back with his sword, likely leaving several deep gashes behind. In retaliation, the virus charged up an attack as the others retreated carefully, so as not to draw attention to themselves.

"You'll pay for that!" groaned the virus.

The moment the first couple of sparks flew out of its teeth, I ducked and heard the virus wail in pain and confusion. It had just electrocuted itself while standing in a puddle of water. To make matters worse, it was still wet to begin with and had already been slashed by Red.

"Let's finish this!" called Red.

We all assembled in the diamond shape and held out our weapons in front of us. They disintegrated into four individual clusters of binary that combined in the center of the huddle to form our powerful super weapon, which Silver called "The Virus Reaper" or "VR" for short.

The VR was basically a giant ballista that shot a massive bolt made up of pure data. It was golden, but had the same appearance to it as our codecs and weapons. The bolt it shot was our weapons in their digital forms. So, whatever it hits basically gets attacked by all of our weapons at once. We had never had to use it before now, but thanks to Silver, we already knew everything we needed to know about it.

"Virus Reaper, online!" we announced in unison.

"What'ssss that thing ssssuppossssed to do?" groaned the virus.

"Allow us to demonstrate." said Blue, as if she was in an infomercial.

We changed formations into the shape of the four on a six-sided die and lifted the VR above our heads. To make sure we wouldn't miss, each of us was supposed to hold one of the handles on the bottom of the VR. Red and Green were in the front, while Blue and I were in the back. As we took aim, we could see a sort of laser sight that was showing the precise path that the bolt would follow when we pulled the trigger.

"Four…" said Green

"Three…" said Blue.

"Two…" said Red.

"One…" I said.

"FIRE!" we shouted together.

With an electronic twanging sort of sound, the VR shot the bolt the minute we said the word. There was a loud boom as the bolt broke the sound barrier. The only reason we could even see the shot was because our visors showed the whole process in slow motion. Once it had hit the virus, it kept going and returned to us like a boomerang. The speed on our visors returned to normal as the virus collapsed to the ground and exploded, sending binary flying into all directions until it disappeared entirely. Meanwhile, the VR disintegrated and went back into our codecs as we powered down, grinning at each other.

Using the VR drains a large percentage of our powers, so, we couldn't teleport back to the control room. Despite feeling a little pathetic, we took a transport shuttle back to Sector 0. It dropped us off in front of Silver's mansion. From there we used the hidden elevator that led straight to the basement.

Silver was waiting for us with three boxes of pizza behind him. We all hurried over to them and helped ourselves.

"I figured you might be hungry when you got back," he said, "Don't worry, once your bodies become accustomed to the codecs, you'll always be able to teleport."

"This is the meal of champions." said Marcus, with his mouth full.

"Sure, but do you really have to eat it like a pig?" asked Rachel.

"Champions can eat however they want." said Marcus, making a disgusting gulp sound as he swallowed.

"So, Heath," said Silver, "How do you feel after having your epiphany?"

"I don't know what that is, but it sounds painful." I said.

"He means your change of heart." said Riley.

"Um, pretty great actually."

"I had a feeling that's all you really needed." said Silver.

"Yeah, well, if you guys tell anybody else about me crying, I'll kick your asses." I said.

"Your secrets are safe with us, Oz," said Marcus, "Once you get used to having actual friends, it won't be long before you come clean about everything and just be yourself."

"Spare me the melodrama, would you?"

"Meh, he's a work in progress." said Rachel.

That night was one of our best as rangers; hanging out in Silver's basement eating pizza. At least for a little while, we were able to have some well-earned fun. Because we all knew, even though nobody said it out loud, that we had only won one battle and that the war was only just beginning…