Sector 5 Radio Station
Metro City, Canada
April 3rd, 2015
5:52 PM

"Marcus Reynolds"

"You're listening to 84.5 FM, I'm Question Marc and it's time to open up the phone lines!" I said into the microphone.

Within a few seconds, several lights lit up, indicating that there were incoming calls. Without any order to it, I began to answer them.

"Hi, Question Marc," said the first caller's voice, "I was hoping you could talk about the rumours of a ghost in Sector 8's woods."

What an odd question. It can't be much of a rumour if I hadn't heard of it before now. With a job like mine, it's pretty much impossible not to pick up on things like that.

"Who's this?" I asked.

"Oh, my name is Carly." She said.

"Well, Carly, as you hopefully already know, rumours are usually just that."

"But, this time it's true!" pleaded Carly, "I know this guy whose brother's girlfriend's sister's friend said he saw something in the woods and fell off the cliff while trying to get closer to it."

"Uh-huh," I said, "So, what exactly did he see?"

"He can't remember," said Carly, "He almost broke his neck when he landed."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about these rumours," I said, "Thanks for calling though, your name will be entered in a draw to win cash and valuable prizes."

I had hoped that hanging up on her would end it, but, much to my dismay, every last call after her was about the same thing. Normally, people call me with actual questions that I can answer, so, tonight was a real failure of a night. My boss wasn't going to be happy. He seems to think I have some sort of control over the quality of the questions that I receive.

By the time I signed off at 8:00 PM, my mind was drowning in useless rumours. Why did this happen so suddenly? It was as if the ghost appeared overnight and that all those people fell victim to it. Most died from the fall, but there were others, like Carly's friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who had survived. Whatever this was, Silver needed to know about it.

I headed out the back door into a deserted parking lot. I hadn't had to morph in a while, so I should have no problem teleporting right into headquarters. I pushed the two smallest buttons at the same time and held them in. I felt myself being rushed through the air until seconds later I was standing in Silver's basement. Teleporting was boring for us, but looked really cool from an observer's point of view.

"Hello Marcus," he said, "I suppose you want to talk about the Ghost of Sector 8?"

"How did you-"

"We listen to your show, remember?" said Rachel.

"Oh, yeah…"

"Silver thinks it's a virus," said Oz, "But he can't look it up until we can get a picture of it."

"Nobody knows what it looks like though," I said, "Everyone that saw it said something different."

"That's probably because it's some kind of shapeshifter," said Silver, "If I'm lucky, I'll be able to identify it without having to know what its true form is."

"Should we ranger up for this mission?" asked Riley.

"No. Not until we know it's a virus," said Silver, "Go as civilians and see if you can get a decent photo of it first."

"Alright, guys, let's go!" said Riley.

We stood in our trademark diamond formation then pressed and held the two smallest buttons until we were reconfigured as data. Up through the ceiling of Silver's basement; out through the seldom used front door of his mansion and into the setting sky.

We arrived in the thick of trees at the very base of the hill. Sector 8's woods are situated on a nature-made mountain trail that leads up to a great make-out spot. It's the steepest hill in Metro City, and is a popular tourist attraction because of the telescopes up there. You can see the whole city from that cliff, and during a full-moon, being up there in a car with a girl results in a 75% chance of getting past 1st base.

"Marcus, you lead the way." said Riley.

"Why me?"

"Well, it was your radio show that led us here, so, I figure it should be you to lead us the rest of the way."

"Riley is afraid of ghosts," said Rachel, "He barricaded himself in his room for a whole weekend after we watched Paranormal Activity 22."

"They're still making those movies?" asked Oz, "The franchise really lost its luster after the first ten."

"I wasn't scared," said Riley, defensively, "I was… Doing research."

"Yeah, whatever." I said, grabbing the flashlight from his hand.

The climb up the mountain was relatively uneventful. Oz kept beat-boxing the theme from "Friday the 13th", but stopped when Rachel shoved him. He got back up, only to start humming the theme from "The X-Files", which made Rachel shove him again.

"Don't you have an off switch?" she snapped.

"Or a pause button?" asked Riley.

"Nope, just a belly button." He said.

After that, it was silent for the rest of our climb. Once I realized just how quiet it really was, I started to miss Oz's soundtrack. By the time we got to the top of the hill, the sun was gone and the crescent moon was visible in between the thick patches of clouds.

"The callers all said they were standing right about here," I said, "Far enough away from the cliff that they couldn't really see the city, but not so far as to hide the moon."

"Let's split up and look around." said Riley.

"No, no, no…" I said.

"Why not?"

"Because the ghost always appears in the exact same place, hovering in midair just a few feet away from the edge of the cliff."

"Let's all wait at the edge together then." said Rachel.

As we approached the edge, I started to hear things. Strange things, that only I seemed to be hearing. I listened closely and recognized some of the noises. One of the major ones was gunfire. There was also the sound of soaring jets and beeping. Periodically there were even explosions. I didn't realize it at the time, but the sounds hadn't been getting louder because I was concentrating on them, they had been getting louder because they were literally getting louder.

Just then, with a flash of light, the ghost appeared right where it was supposed to.

"Great googly moogly!" yelped Oz, who hadn't been paying attention.

"I can't believe it's real." muttered Rachel.

"I can't believe Oz just said great googly moogly." said Riley.

At first, I didn't know what I was seeing, but then, almost as if my eyes were adjusting to something, the ghost became sharper and sharper until it was no longer a blur. When I realized what it was, I was speechless…

"Dad?" I said, completely mesmerized, "Is that you?"

He nodded at me, closed his eyes and gave me a warm smile.

"Are you okay, Marcus?" asked a muffled voice.

"What are you doing?" asked another muffled voice.

"Come back, you'll fall!" called the first muffled voice again.

"I don't think he can hear us." said a third muffled voice.

Without realizing it, I had been to walking forward. I mean, even if I had been aware of my actions, I still would've tried to get closer to my father. It made sense now. None of the callers had known what the ghost looked like, because the ghost was only here for me. Why would it show its true appearance to anybody else?

"You came to see me, didn't you Dad?" I asked.

He nodded again, but didn't speak.

"You can't talk to me because you're a ghost, right?" I asked.

He looked a little sad at my words, but then nodded slowly in response. After wiping tears from his eyes, he held out his hand, indicating that he wanted me to take it.

"It's okay, Dad," I said, "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

I reached out to grab his outstretched hand, but when our hands were close enough to touch, mine went right through his. There was a rush of air, during which time I heard the muffled voices again.

"OH MY GOD, NO!"

"CATCH HIM, OZ!"

"MARCUS!"

And then, there was nothing…

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

Roughly two hours after they had left, the rangers returned. Marcus was unconscious and bleeding. I got to work patching him up, but I'm no doctor. Mind you, I have several doctorates, but that's just a coincidence.

"How is he?" asked Riley, frantically.

"He should be fine," I said, "Heath caught him at the last minute."

"I'm such an idiot," said Heath, "I can hold a football with no problem, but I couldn't hold Marcus' hand."

"Nobody is blaming you, Oz," said Rachel, "Marcus would be dead if it wasn't for you."

"He might be already."

"What happened up there, Riley?" I asked.

"I don't really know," he said, "We made it to the top of the hill. Marcus said we shouldn't split up because he knew exactly where to look for it. Then the ghost appeared."

"What did it look like?" I asked.

"Nothing at first," said Rachel, "But, after a couple of minutes, it looked like a Double Decker from Cosmo's with extra Cosmic Sauce."

"Really?" said Oz, "Because I thought it looked like a huge pile of cash."

"Yeah," said Riley, "And I saw, um, a solid gold expert-style GameSphere controller."

"Interesting," I said. "I don't suppose you managed to get a picture?"

"Sure, here."

I looked at the photo and saw nothing. To me, it just looked like a mass of binary. I let that thought roll through my mind for a while until suddenly it dawned on me.

"Rachel," I said, "Were you hungry when you saw that cheeseburger?"

"I still am." she said.

"Heath, were you thinking about how much money you could make if you were able to convince the tabloids about the ghost?" I asked, "And please, be honest."

"Fine, yeah, I was." he said.

"This is definitely one of Trojan's viruses." I said.

"How can you tell? I don't get it?" asked Heath, scratching his head.

"Look at this picture," I said, "Each of you should see what you saw up on that cliff."

I held it out and showed it to each of them in turn.

"When I looked at this, all I saw was a mass of binary because I don't want anything that it could possibly show me."

"So, are you saying that this virus shows you whatever you want at that exact moment?" asked Riley.

"Yes."

"Then what did Marcus see?" asked Heath.

"His father," said Riley, "Marcus saw his father."

"He's been at peace with that for years, though, hasn't he?" asked Rachel.

"That wouldn't matter," I said, "The virus showed Marcus his father because he's the only one that it knew was vulnerable."

"But what about you?" asked Rachel, "Both of your parents died, so why didn't you see them?"

"Because I wouldn't have accepted them as being real even if I had seen them. Marcus on the other hand, is a believer." said Riley.

"If this thing really is a virus, then which one is it?" asked Heath, "The Ghost Virus?"

I hopped backwards into my chair and rolled over to the keyboards. After typing in the right command, I pulled up the database that I had downloaded earlier. Since this virus didn't have a physical form that we knew of, all I could do was input what we did know about it.

"Help me out here, you three," I said, "What do we know so far?"

"Um, it's a shapeshifter." said Rachel.

"It can tell what people are thinking." said Heath.

"No, wait a minute," said Riley, "I don't think it's a shapeshifter. I mean, if it was, then we'd all have seen the same thing."

"Alright," I said, "So, we're looking for something that can show people what they're thinking about without actually transforming into it."

I typed in the search parameters and hit the enter key, waiting patiently.

"Um, guys?" said Heath, "Marcus is gone."

"Oh boy..." sighed Riley.

"He must have snuck away when we weren't looking," said Rachel, "Silver, call us when you figure out what this thing is; we're going to find Marcus."

"He could have gone anywhere though," said Heath, "How are we supposed to find him at night when he's already got a head start?"

"We won't have to find him," said Riley, "He'll be back on top of the hill."

"Marcus Reynolds"

What kind of bullshit had the others been going on about? That was no virus, it was my father. All I had to do was convince him to come back to headquarters with me and they would see for themselves. Why else would everyone that saw him just so happen to call the radio station that I just so happened to be working at that night? As for Riley seeing a golden controller, give me a break! He saw himself proposing to Rachel or something. My Dad had shown them whatever he assumed they'd want to see. If he couldn't talk to me unless I was alone, maybe he can only assume his true form to me? Sure, there's probably a bunch of flaws in my theory, but I don't care. My father had come back for me and nothing was going to stop me from seeing him. Those noises I had been hearing were all the sounds he must have heard before he died.

My father was an air force pilot in an elite faction known as the Beret Squadron. He was shot down by a seeker missile on a return flight from Iraq; less than a few miles and he would've been back in friendly skies. Dad used to give me berets patterned with designs from whatever region he bought it from. I got a red, white and blue beret with an eagle design from America. A white beret with red polka dots from Japan and so on and so forth. But, after he died, I burned them all. I couldn't bear to look at them anymore. That's when I switched to golfer hats.

When I saw my father, he even had wounds that were consistent based on how he died. There was no way some stupid virus could be so precise or accurate with details like that.

I reached the cliff top and waited. Any second now, he'd show up. So what if I was in pain? I'm a Power Ranger, the next time I morphed, I'd be fit as a fiddle.

"Come on, Dad," I said, "It's safe for you to come out now. The others aren't with me, I promise."

I kept waiting until it started to get really cold. To stop myself from shivering, I stood up, crossed my arms and started rubbing them against my chest. The friction generated a small amount of heat, which was more than enough for me.

At long last, my father appeared again. He looked exactly the same as the last time.

"I'm sorry, son… I can't talk unless you're the only one that will hear me."

"You don't need to explain yourself Dad, I understand."

"I thought you might. You've always been good at stuff like that."

"Why did you come back? Is there something you needed to tell me?"

"I want you to join me, Marcus," he said, "Come spend the afterlife with me."

What an odd thing to say. If I was about to die from an incurable disease or something, that would make sense, but to essentially ask me to kill myself just to spend time with him was weird.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I'm giving you a chance to attain eternal peace and freedom." He said.

"Freedom from what, exactly?"

"I know you're a Power Ranger, Marcus. I've been watching over you."

"I thought you'd be proud of me," I said, "I never thought you'd want me to die like a coward rather than embrace the incredible gift I've been given and fight with my friends."

"You misunderstand me, son. I want you to be a ranger, I'm just afraid you'll get hurt. But, if you die now, then we can spare everyone the pain of losing you."

"How will that make any difference?" I asked, "Either way, I die. Either way, my friends and family will grieve."

"Now son, there's no need to get upset. I only want what's best for you."

"You liar!" I sobbed, "If you really cared about me, you'd have listened to me! I told you over and over again not to go to Iraq, but you didn't listen! You left us and then you died! You died and left us all alone!"

"Marcus, I'm your father and you should trust my judgment!"

"You are NOT my father!" I shouted, "You may have fooled me at first, but now I see right through you!"

With a scream, the image of my father shattered like glass.

"Attack it now, Marcus!" called Red from further down the hill, "Destroying it's illusion weakens it!"

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I screamed.

I could see a swirling tornado of 0s and 1s encircle me. As it did so, it became narrower and faster until it collided with me in a small explosion. I had my green ranger suit on now and felt myself leap high into the air. Now with my helmet on, the dimension faded from around me as my feet crashed down on the ground.

"Download weapon!" I said, loudly.

My spear materialized in my hands, but I couldn't see where the virus was hiding. This whole time it had been projecting these images, but yet, no one had ever seen it. Just then, a targeting cursor appeared on my visor and pointed to the tallest tree in the forest. I couldn't even see the top of it. No wonder nobody ever saw the virus if it had been hiding way up there.

"Stand back!" I called to the others.

I gave a mighty heave and threw my spear as hard as I could. It flew right up into the branches of the immense tree. Once it had left my field of vision, we all heard something shriek in pain.

"Heads up!" I called.

I had a satisfied smirk on my face as I watched it fall down to the ground. It was stunned and still vulnerable.

"Nice shot, Green!" they cheered.

"Rangers, finish it off with the VR before it gets up!" said Silver.

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, the Virus Reaper.

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

We changed formations into the shape of the four on a six-sided die and lifted the VR above our heads. 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 Yellow.

"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. Once it hit the virus, it kept going and returned to us like a boomerang 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.

It had been hard enough to get over my father's death the first time. But now that I had let myself think he came back, I would have to go through the entire process again.

"Let's head back, everyone." said Red, beckoning me to join their formation.

We teleported back to headquarters, where we knew it was safe to de-morph.

"Power down." we all said.

"Marcus…" said Silver, waving his finger to scold me.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I said.

"Do you?"

"Yes, Silver, I know I shouldn't have run off like that, but… It was my father."

"As team leader, I hereby forgive you, Marcus." said Riley.

"I suppose I can second that. As long as running off doesn't become a routine for you." said Silver.

"It won't. I promise." I said.

"Hey," said Rachel, "Are you going to be okay?"

Of course I would be. The first time I lost my father, I hadn't met Riley or Rachel yet. But now that it's happened again, I'll have the support of them, as well as Oz and Silver. I can't believe that less than a few minutes ago, I had been dreading how hard it would be to go through the grieving period again.

"So, how did you guys figure out which virus it was?" I asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Once we realized that the virus itself didn't transform, I was able to find #6P7R2S3C or the Projector Screen Virus in my database after a while," said Silver, "That's when I broadcasted my findings to all the rangers, but you probably didn't hear the message notification."

"Well, duh. I thought I was talking to my father."

"Good point." said Silver, not realizing that he just changed the subject back to what I didn't want it to be.

"Hey, Riley," I said, smirking as I came up with the perfect way to really change the subject, "When are you planning on telling Rachel the truth about what you saw?"

The look on his face was priceless. As long as I kept myself entertained, getting over this whole incident shouldn't be too bad at all. If anything, I would say I'm even stronger now than I was before. Without knowing it, Trojan had helped me, whether he intended to or not.