Sector 5 Radio Station
Metro City, Canada
April 15th, 2015
4:01 PM
"Marcus Reynolds"
"Howdy folks this is Question Marc and I'm here with my new co-host." I said into the microphone.
"Aloha! I'm Exclamation Point, the new host."
"No, you're the co-host." I said.
"No, you're the co-host." he said.
"Anyways, it's great to have him here on the show with me, so, coming up after these messages are fifteen minutes of uninterrupted songs."
I love how much control I had been given at this job. It started off as a simple internship, but then when the producers saw how much the listeners liked me; they hired me to host their new after school show. It runs from 4:00 to 8:00, so, thankfully, there's still plenty of time for ranger duties and whatnot.
Then, earlier today, out of nowhere, they introduce me to this new guy, Sebastian, saying that he was my co-host from now on. It was sort of a 'deal with it or you're fired' kind of scenario, so, I decided to just accept it. He's not too bad. At least he's a nice guy.
"Go ahead and pick the songs," I said, after we had cut to commercials, "The duration calculator will tell you if the songs will last longer than they're supposed to."
"You know what'd be cool?" said Sebastian, "Playing them all backwards!"
"We're not allowed to do that," I said, "Sponsors pay the station to hear songs played normally."
"I know," he said, "But if you play them backwards you can hear satanic messages and shit."
"Don't tell me you believe in that crap." I said.
"Hell, yeah, dude," he said, "In fact, the whole reason that Kiss wore make-up was because their songs are all demonic rituals when played backwards."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, "That's just subliminal messaging."
"Yeah, well, if you ask me we should be allowed to play whatever we want, however we want."
"What's wrong with just playing things normally?"
"Nothing," said Sebastian, "That is, if you're cowardly pussy who's afraid of adventure."
Okay, I take back what I had said earlier. This guy irks me. What the hell kind of name is Sebastian anyways!? He doesn't look like a cartoon crab to me.
"You say that like you're challenging me." I said.
"Yeah," he said, "But are you man enough to accept it?"
"No," I said, "But I am man enough to know that I don't need to prove myself to you."
"Fine then," said Sebastian, "Your loss."
"Even if I did play some songs backwards, nothing would happen."
"How do you know?" he asked, "We might've been able to brainwash some gullible listeners."
"Do you realize how stupid you sound?" I asked.
"Maybe," he said, "But, since it really seems to bother you, I'll drop it, okay?"
"Thank you."
After the show, I had to sneak out back because Sebastian wanted me to give him a tour of Metro City. Normally, I would have, but for one thing, he freaks me out, and for another thing, I know for a fact that he's not new in town. So, why he wants a tour is a mystery to me.
"Guys, I assume you heard my new co-host?" I said into my Digitizer's microphone.
"Yeah, why?" asked Oz.
"I think there's something suspicious about him."
"I can look into it, Marcus, but if he's human, then it'll probably be futile." said Silver.
"Okay, thanks," I said, "I'll be right there."
As I pushed the button on my Digitizer, I felt a hand grab my shoulder, but by then, it was too late to do anything about it. Whoever it was, they were coming with me.
Once we arrived, the others were all just as horrified as I was. I brushed off the hitchhiker angrily and wasn't nearly as surprised as I should have been to see that it was Sebastian.
"You had better have a good reason for bringing him here, Marcus." said Silver.
"I didn't bring him along!" I said, glaring at Sebastian, "He grabbed me while I was in the middle of teleporting!"
"Who do you think you are!?" snorted Rachel.
"My name is Sebastian," he said, "Sebastian Clark."
"Why did you follow me here?" I asked.
"Because…" said Sebastian, "I was looking for the Power Rangers."
"Well, you found us," said Oz, "Now get lost."
"How did you figure out that I was a Power Ranger?" I asked, worried that I might have done something reckless that gave me away.
"I live in Sector 8," said Sebastian, "On the night when you were ghost hunting, I heard just about everything while I was trying to fall asleep."
"You must have good hearing," said Riley, "That's rather impressive."
I can't believe they weren't suspicious of him. His story wasn't all that farfetched, but something told me that it wasn't really true. Something told me that there was something else at work here and that Sebastian was part of it.
"What did you need our help with, Mr. Clark?" asked Silver.
"Don't be so formal with me," said Sebastian, "You can just call me 'Seb', it's easier to remember."
"Alright then Seb," said Silver, "What did you need our help with?"
"I'm being stalked," said Seb, not wasting any time, "I don't know by what, but I know that it's evil. I also think that it wants to use me in its plans."
"Have you ever seen this thing?" asked Rachel.
"No." said Seb.
"Then what makes you think that something is stalking you?"
"I don't know," said Seb, "I've always had really good instincts. Maybe that's why I could hear you from up on the hill so clearly."
"Unless we have a basic physical description of your stalker, trying to find it in our database would be pointless." said Silver.
"Don't worry about that," said Seb, "I think I know where we can find it."
It sounded to me like Sebastian was the stalker. Nothing about his problem made sense. I mean, if you thought you were being stalked, why wouldn't you go to the police first? The only reason he should have been seeking us out was if he already knew that it was a virus. Who was this guy?
"Okay," said Riley, "Just give us a specific location and we'll check it out for you."
"No way," said Seb, "I'm coming along."
"That's completely out of the question!" said Silver, "You've already done more than enough by pointing us in the right direction."
"This is where we take over." said Oz.
"Guys, just let him come with us," I said, "He'd figure out a way to follow us there anyways."
"Yeah." said Seb.
"Fine," said Riley, "Just make sure to stick with Marcus and don't get in our way."
Sebastian walked over to the console. Silver had brought up a large map of Metro City.
"See right here?" he asked, pointing to a blank area on the map.
"No," I said, "You're pointing outside of the map."
"Technically, I'm pointing to Sector 21," said Seb, "Or, at least, where Sector 21 would've been."
"Why would this thing be there?" asked Oz.
"Because it's safe," said Seb, "Sector 21 was never built, so it isn't part of Metro City. But it isn't part of any other city either."
"Just like No Man's Land." said Silver, "During the wars, territory that didn't belong to anybody was referred to as 'No Man's Land."
"I know exactly where this place is." said Seb.
"Let's just hope that'll be enough for our codecs to take us there." I said.
With Sebastian standing among us, we were able to make a "V" formation, rather than our usual diamond. Not that it really made much of a difference. I had to stifle a laugh when Sebastian grabbed Rachel's hand and got smacked for it. After being shut down by her, he took my wrist instead. As we pushed our teleport buttons, it became clear that it didn't matter if we knew what our destination was, because the trip looked identical to any other. Just having someone who did know in physical contact with one of us was sufficient.
When we arrived, there was thick fog and low light.
"It's so hard to see…" said Rachel.
"We're outside city limits," said Riley, "There won't be any street lights here."
"Where's a flash light when you need one?" asked Oz.
"…ange…s," came Silver's voice, breaking up on the Digitizer, "Use… light…co…ecs."
"We can't hear you," I said, into my Digitizer, "You're breaking up."
"Sounded like he said to use the light from our codecs," said Oz, "Not much help, considering we don't know how to make them glow on cue yet."
"I think it's because of how far away from him we are." said Riley.
"Let's hope we can still morph," said Rachel, "Lead the way, Seb."
"I think it's over this hill." he said.
What he called a hill was actually a jagged cliff. It wasn't necessarily very steep, but it was so large that we wouldn't be able to see past it until we climbed closer to the top. On the plus side, the higher we climb, the thinner the fog will become.
"Wait," said Riley, "This is a crater, not a cliff."
"How can you tell?" I asked.
"What we're climbing spans in a complete circle," said Riley, "If you look closely, you should be able to see it from here."
I squinted into the distance and saw that there was a sort of wall that led up to the other side of the hill. He was right. Sebastian was probably taking us to something in the impact zone.
"Whatever landed here left a weak, but permanent electromagnetic field behind," said Seb, "After that, this area was deemed too dangerous for construction."
"Which would explain why nobody else ever tried to build here," said Riley, "So this place really is a modern day 'No Man's Land'."
"The chances of us being able to morph are getting worse and worse." I said.
Sebastian didn't say much after that. It was almost as if he had forgotten how. Again, I noticed that the others accepted this easier than I did. He was so talkative before. What changed?
By the time we reached the height of the crater, we could see much better thanks to the light from the almost full moon. We could also see that impact zone was about the size of a baseball diamond, except you know, circular.
"This is it, rangers," said Seb, "My stalker's lair is right down there."
"Then why didn't you just think of this place?" snapped Rachel, "It would've saved us the trouble of having to climb up here!"
Just then, down below, something emerged from underground. At first, we didn't know what it was, but after it fired a large laser beam that panned from left to right on the ledge underneath what we were standing on, it was pretty obvious.
"It must be some sort of security feature!" yelped Riley.
"Here it comes again, duck!" shouted Seb.
The laser made a second strafe, this time aiming higher. If we hadn't ducked, it would've gone right through our chests.
"Let's get out of here!" said Oz, loudly, "Jump for it!"
He hopped off the edge of the cliff and landed on the slope below us. It didn't look any different than going tobogganing, minus the sled aspect. Oz picked up speed, but finally came to a halt at the bottom of the impact zone.
"Move it or lose it!" he called up to us, "Get down here before the laser comes back!"
"Geronimo!" shouted Riley, jumping down.
"Sacagawea!" shouted Rachel, jumping down.
"Go on, Marcus," said Seb, "Don't be such a wuss!"
"Will you shut-up!?" I barked, shoving him in the back.
He fell forward and ended up going down on his stomach. I didn't really care if he got hurt; and well, quite frankly, he deserved it.
"Banzai!" I shouted, jumping down in his wake.
Once we were all down in the bottom of the crater, things went from really weird to really, really weird. In the middle of the impact zone was an immense radio tower. Why didn't we see that before now? It's definitely tall enough.
"Something around here must be interfering with our Digitizers," said Riley, "If we take it out, Silver should be able to contact us again."
"And then some." piped in Rachel.
"Don't forget," said Seb, "My stalker might have something to say about that."
"Let him talk," said Oz, "It won't matter."
I took a closer look around. Someone had been tampering with the tower, but I would need more light to see exactly what was done to it, and more importantly, why.
I thought back to what Oz had interpreted from Silver's last transmission. How hard could it be to make my codec glow? The first time it glowed, I didn't even have to do anything.
I remember that my codec was already glowing after I had grabbed it and held it tightly in my fist. So, what if all I had to do was hold my codec in my bare skin again?
I popped off the case on top of my Digitizer and let my codec roll out of its slot into my hand. I felt the familiar sensation of warmth and let out a satisfied gasp as it glowed vibrantly.
"Good job, Marcus," said Riley, "We forgot what made them glow."
"Yeah, just hold them in your hands and they should glow for you."
"I'll take that." said Seb, smacking my outstretched arm.
The sudden impact made my codec bounce away and allowed Sebastian to grab it.
"Trust me," he said, "You won't need it anymore."
"I don't care," I said, "Give me back my codec."
"No." he said, juggling it to prevent us from taking it back.
"You're wasting your time!" barked Riley, "Only Marcus can use that codec!"
"Who said anything about me using it?" asked Seb.
"You just want me to be powerless…" I said.
"Now you're catching on." said Seb.
"I don't get it, guys," said Oz, "What's he doing?"
"This whole thing is a set-up," said Riley, "He led us here because he knew it was a 'No Man's Land'."
"You really are the smart one, aren't you Riley?" said Seb.
"Who put you up to this?" I asked.
"Is it really so hard to believe that I came up with this on my own?" asked Seb.
"Yeah," I said, "Now tell me who you're working for."
"That would be me!" cackled a muffled voice.
From the very top of the radio tower, something had materialized and was now floating down.
"This is who I serve!" cackled Seb, his voice adopting the same sound as the thing that was on its way down.
"Serve this!" I snarled, tackling Sebastian to the ground.
"Come on, Reynolds!" he teased, "Show me what you're made of!"
"I plan to…" I said.
Still pinning him on the ground, I lost my grip when he head butted me. I bit my lip during the blow and spat blood out of my mouth.
"My Master told me everything there is to know about you rangers," said Seb, kneeing me hard in the stomach, "Including that you four can't fight without morphing."
That wasn't entirely true. The codecs chose us to be the vessels for their powers as soon as we first touched them. From that point on, the genetic bond between us began to grow stronger and stronger. The knowledge implant that we received right before out very first morph included all of our fighting styles, and we still have access to them while in civilian form.
But I didn't want Sebastian to know that, so I tried to make it seem like I was proving him wrong. I entered a somersault and grabbed his shoulders. During the flip part, I threw him using the momentum from the somersault. He smacked into the solid metal radio tower, but got back up quickly.
"Mind you," he said, cracking his neck, "I wasn't really paying much attention."
Almost as if my Digitizer was cheering for me from the sidelines, it automatically began acting like a two-way radio. That mess of cables I saw was only disrupting long-range signals, so, I could hear the others just fine.
"I guess we're supposed to deal with the Master." said Oz.
"Without our powers?" asked Rachel.
"Guys, you need to sabotage the thing that's sabotaging us." I grunted into my Digitizer.
I had hopped onto the ladder of the radio tower to chase after Sebastian. When he realized how close behind him I was, he kicked at me blindly and hit my head.
"Of course," said Riley, "Once we do that, there won't be any more interference and we should be able to morph."
I heard the sound of feet hitting the ground. Whatever Sebastian was working for must've just landed.
"Rachel, go find where the jammer is," said Riley, "Oz and I will try to hold him off."
"Marcus?" whispered Rachel, "What does this thing look like?"
"A mass of cables and wires." I groaned back.
I had reached the top of the radio tower now. Sebastian was already waiting for me. I never realized this before, but I'm afraid of heights. I suppose that if I had ever climbed up a radio tower I would've found out sooner.
"You're not looking too good," he said, "If you're afraid, I would be more than happy to help you get back down really quick."
"I'll pass, thanks."
Sebastian went in for an uppercut, but I dodged it. Hoping to trip him so that he would drop my codec, I tried to do a sweeping kick, which he hopped over. Now we were getting frustrated and went in for an all out fist fight.
"You know for someone who questions my manliness," I said, "You sure hit like a sissy."
"Don't let Rachel hear you say that." he moaned as I hit him stomach.
"Yeah, but she hits like a man." I said.
"Sebastian did well luring you here," said the Master, "I was worried you'd see right through him."
"What's this plan of yours?" asked Riley.
"Trojan sent me here to work behind the scenes," said the Master, "My powers allow me to manipulate radio frequencies."
"That can't be the whole plan," said Oz, "It's too simple."
"So, I brainwashed Sebastian in the hopes that he would bring you here," said the Virus, "Since you can't morph here, nothing will be able to stop me to from extending my brainwashing broadcast to the whole city!"
"Don't be so sure!" said Rachel, sounding very proud of herself.
I was distracted by what I heard, because Sebastian recklessly dove at me. I ducked, but he kept going right over the edge of the platform. I really wanted to just let him fall, but after hearing that he wasn't in control of his mind, I couldn't do it.
"Tally ho..." I whimpered.
I took a running start and dove head first after him. I held my arms and legs in tight to cut the wind resistance and before long had caught up to him.
"GIVE ME THE CODEC!" I screamed over the soaring wind.
He glared at me and clutched it tight.
"IF YOU DON'T, WE'LL BOTH DIE!" I screamed.
His eyes grew wide and he let go of my codec. I caught it as it flew past my hand and quickly re-inserted it into its slot. By the sounds of things, Rachel had found what was blocking our Digitizers. Silently praying to myself that this would work, I proceeded to morph.
"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!"
In a flash, I had transformed. I reached out for Sebastian's hand and he took it grudgingly. I used it to reposition ourselves. Now, when we landed, I would break both of our falls. Obviously, Rachel had come through. Then I got an idea.
"Download Gorilla Zord!" I called.
Not a moment too soon, it materialized beneath us and held up its massive hands just as Sebastian and I landed them. After catching us, it put us down safely and then headed over to the others. It smacked the ground with immense strength, which sent a shockwave at the Master who had Rachel cornered. The Gorilla's attack distracted it long enough for her to get away. It's duty now fulfilled, it pounded its chest happily before disappearing again.
"Now…" said Seb, "Demorph so we can finish our fight!"
Without saying anything, I rushed forwards and knocked him out with one precise blow. Assuming that I did it properly, he'd be out cold until we could destroy the Master.
"Rangers!?" asked Silver, sounding like he was ready to faint at any moment.
"Yes Silver," I said, "We can hear you."
"Whatever was tampering with our signal is gone now," he said, "According to my database, the only virus that could do that is #7R3D2I6O."
"Let me guess, unencrypted it means the Radio Virus?" asked Riley.
"It doesn't seem to be a particularly dangerous virus," said Silver, "Just make sure to ignore its sound based attacks."
"Sounds simple enough." said Oz.
"Ready?" asked Riley.
"Ready!" called the others.
"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" they shouted together.
Once the others had all morphed, the four of regrouped in front of the Radio Virus. It leered at us, and then clapped its hands together. Rather than emitting an actual clapping noise, it instead emitted an awful noise. It was like nails on a chalkboard, but worse.
The sound pierced through our helmets and assaulted our eardrums. Naturally, we couldn't plug our ears; so all we could do was writhe in agony, doomed to hear that horrid sound forever.
"According to its file," said Silver, sounding distant over top of the sound, "You should be able to cancel out its attacks if you can create a similar sound and use it against him."
"Nothing compares to that!" shrieked Yellow.
"Obviously, you've never heard bat sonar," said Silver, "It shouldn't be too hard to temporarily reconfigure your weapons to emit a custom noise when you swing them."
"I don't care what you do," shrieked Blue, "JUST MAKE IT STOP!"
"Come on, guys!" shouted Red, "We need to focus long enough to summon our weapons!"
"Download weapon!" we called.
"I think I've got it," said Silver, "Try swinging your weapons and see if it works."
I tried first because my spear was the easiest to handle. I spun it around and around, but didn't hear anything. Not even the virus' noise. Wait… That meant it was working. As long as I kept my spear going constantly, the sound didn't affect me anymore.
"It works!" I exclaimed.
The others followed suit and joined in. Now it was basically like a game of tug o' war. The virus was desperate to overpower us, but the more it exerted itself, the faster we spun our weapons to keep our barrier going. It came down to a simple question. Who was collapse first? The virus or us?
"Rangers, form the VR!" shouted Silver, who must have been on the edge of his seat, "The shield's cancellation effect should linger for a while after you stop spinning your weapons."
The virus was too stupid to charge at us. Instead, it just stood there and kept emitting that noise, but our shield protected us well enough for us to combine our weapons into the lethal ballista.
"Virus Reaper, online!" we announced in unison.
We each grabbed a handle on the bottom of the VR, and carefully took aim, making sure to use the laser sight that showed us the trajectory.
"Four…" said Yellow.
"Three…" said Red.
"Two…" said Blue.
"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. Time appeared to slow down as the digital energy soared right through the Radio Virus. During the bolt's return trip, our vision went back to real-time and we held a triumphant pose as the virus fell backwards and exploded.
Later that night, we brought Sebastian back to headquarters. Silver and Rachel were tending to him as I relived me fight with Sebastian to Riley and Oz.
"The only reason I fought him like that was because I thought he was genuinely evil."
"Him being brainwashed doesn't make it any less impressive." said Riley.
"That's not what I'm worried about," I said, "I'm worried that I let my anger get out of control."
"It could be that that's true," said Silver, coming over to us, "But, I think that the important part to remember is that you didn't overdo it."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You didn't keep fighting him after you morphed," he continued, "If you had, poor Sebastian would be in much worse shape than he is now."
"Hopefully, the real Sebastian isn't such a tool." said Rachel.
"What should we do with him?" asked Oz, "He probably still knows our secret."
"I don't think there's anything we can do, Heath," said Silver, "I made a solemn vow to never experiment with memory after my disastrous prototype went haywire."
"Is that why I keep forgetting things when I go in that vault?" asked Oz.
"No," said Rachel, "I think that's just because you think with your fists."
"Aw," said Oz, "What a nice compliment, Rach."
"Don't call me that," she said, "You're not quite there yet."
Sebastian had begun to stir. He gingerly sat up and looked around.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"In a hospital," said Rachel, hurrying over to him, "You hit your head."
"This bed is too comfortable to be a hospital bed!" said Sebastian, who was beginning to panic.
Wordlessly, Rachel pinched him like I did and he lost consciousness again.
"Now he's a whiny know-it-all," she said, "Not much of an improvement."
"Just let him sleep for now," I said, "I'll figure out where he lives later."
I felt that I owed it to myself to meet the real Sebastian. I was also guilty that I jumped to conclusions about him. He wasn't really a manipulative asshole. He was a victim. I was beginning to question whether or not I really deserve my powers. Right now, I didn't feel like someone that a mysterious digital jewel would choose to be a hero. I felt like someone who would be jealous of the people of were chosen instead of me. Maybe I should take some time to think about what Silver said to me when I first given my codec, because I think I needed a reality check. Until I decided who I was and why I was chosen, my mind would be stuck in the middle of both choices...