Sector 0, Headquarters
Metro City, Canada
April 18th, 2015
3:47 PM
"Chloe Baldwin"
Today featured a lot of firsts for me. It was the day I first morphed. It was the day I teleported for the first time. It was also the first time I didn't care about shopping and teasing the football players. Something had happened to me that was making me a better person. Call me crazy, but I kind of liked it.
The only reason the other rangers were surprised to see me is because they weren't there to witness any of my heroic actions that led up to the discovery of my codec. Once they see that I've changed, maybe they'll accept me?
"Do you think Silver already knows about this?" asked Marcus.
"Wouldn't surprise me if he did," said Riley, "He's usually always in the loop."
"Will somebody please explain what's going on?" I asked.
"We're taking you to meet Silver," said Rachel, "He's the mastermind behind this whole thing."
"This guy is a technological genius, right?" I asked.
"Among other things, yeah." said Marcus.
"What kind of name is that for rich nerd?" I asked.
"Why should he conform to stereotypes?" asked Oz defensively, "Did I use that word, right, Riley?"
"Yeah, good job." he said.
"His full name is Stephen Silverstone," said Rachel, "Silver for short."
"If you say so…" I said.
We had stopped on the doorstep of a giant mansion. I was grateful that I'm not one of those girls that gets turned on by big houses. I would hate to marry someone for something as irrelevant as the size of their house. For example, Silver is probably old enough to be my father, but some girls would still jump his bones because of his mansion.
I love to flirt and be a tease because that's fun for me. I also know how to use my body to get what I want. Rachel thought that made me slutty, but only because she doesn't approve of doing what I do. Besides, I can't be a slut because I don't sleep around.
Rather than ringing the doorbell or knocking, the others simply stood there. I was about to speak up again when the floor opened up into some sort of slide that we all fell into. So, there's another first for you. Before today, I only ever slid down slides in playgrounds.
When we landed, a man in a black suit with a silver tie was waiting for us.
"I take it you're Silver?" I asked.
"And you would be Chloe." he said.
Riley and Marcus wasted no time in helping Rachel walk over to the couch. Once she got there, she collapsed into it, wincing from the pain in her leg. After that, they returned to stand behind me.
"What happened up on that bridge needs to be addressed immediately." said Silver.
He sounded like a parent about to ground a child. Did I maybe do something wrong or break some sort of Power Ranger rule without realizing it?
"Are you interested in becoming a full-time ranger?"
I don't think I realized just how big of a decision this was going to be. So, when he asked me, it caught me off guard and stunned me. True, the whole point of me coming here was to join the rangers, but do I really want to? I'd be giving up so much. Rachel did, but she's a different kind of person than I am. As I thought about it, I remembered that the changes in my personality were probably linked to me being a ranger. So, either I stay the same, or I let go of my ditziness and material obsessions.
"Yes." I said.
"Good," he said, "Then I'll need to borrow your codec."
I was a little apprehensive about giving it to him, but got it over it quickly and handed it to him.
"What I'm doing..." began Silver, heading over to the console and typing furiously, "Is programming your codec to include everything you'll need."
"Such as?"
"Well, first and foremost he adds it to his computer so that he can track you and communicate with you from anywhere within range of his broadcast." said Riley.
"Next he adds a packet of information that will be uploaded into your brain the next time you morph." said Marcus.
"And lastly," said Silver, "I have to make a new Digitizer for you."
"What about her Zord, Silver?" asked Rachel from the couch.
"It should already be in her codec," he said, "Yours were, so I don't see why hers wouldn't be."
"I get a Zord!?" I asked.
"Of course," said Oz, "And I'm guessing yours will be a pretty unicorn."
"You obviously don't know me," I said, "If you did, you wouldn't assume like that..."
"Sorry, sweetie," said Rachel, "They all think you're just a dumb kinky blonde."
Well, I am that, but not the kind they think. To be honest, horses scare me. I used to think I loved them because of how pretty and majestic they were, until my Daddy actually bought me one which was spunky and rebellious. The first time I tried to ride him, he bucked me off and I almost broke my neck. I've been afraid of them ever since. I really hope I get to choose my Zord; horses are bad enough, but one with a horn would be even worse.
As I reminisced, large, vintage sounding sirens began to blare.
"Dumb kinky blonde or not," said Riley, "You're a ranger now, Chloe."
"Show us who you really are," said Marcus, "Let us see the person that the codec saw."
"Cause it's party time!" hollered Oz.
"Are you well enough to join us, Rachel?" I asked.
"I doubt it," she said, "Don't worry, you'll do fine."
"95... 96... 97... 98... 99... 100!" muttered Silver, loudly, "Alright, Chloe, your Digitizer should be ready to go."
He indicated with his hands where to look for it and I followed the instructions. Silver had been pointing to a device that I thought looked like a silver platter, complete with the domed lid.
I lifted the lid away and saw that a Digitizer was now being displayed. Underneath the lid was a sort of tunnel, which had a shutter that appeared to have closed, leaving the Digitizer on top.
"Whatever I invent gets sent out through this chute, and pops up into the air. Then, the shutter closes behind it." said Silver.
"Neat..." I said, taking it.
"Your codec will already be inserted in the Digitizer," said Silver, "Now, go join the others and put it to good use."
The others were beckoning me to join them in their formation. As I made my way over to them, I securely fastened my Digitizer around my wrist.
"Ready?" asked Riley.
"Ready!" said Marcus and Oz.
They paused, noticing that I hadn't said anything.
"She's only ever morphed solo," said Rachel, "She'll catch on eventually."
"Ready?" asked Riley again.
"Ready!" I piped in with the others.
"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" we shouted in unison.
My hand gestures were a little sloppy, but, at least I morphed on cue this time. Now that we were fully clad in our suits, Silver pointed to his monitors.
"Be careful out there," he said, "The energy levels on this one are rather high."
"Where are we headed?" asked Green.
"According to this, there are four viruses," said Silver, "I'm picking up signals in Sectors 4, 8, 12 and 16."
"Then each of us will go to a Sector and look for the virus," said Red, "Yellow, you take 12, Green, you take 4 and Orange, you take 8."
"Whoever finds it should call the others immediately," said Silver, "I don't want anyone fighting without backup against a virus this strong."
"Alright," said Red, "Let's move out!"
They all pressed and held the two smallest buttons on their Digitizers, which I now knew would make us teleport to whatever location we thought about. Even though I had never been to Sector 8 before, I should still be able to think about it well enough to send myself there. I know there was a cliff with a forest on it, so, that will have to do.
I saw a tunnel of 0s and 1s that matched my colour. It flowed faster and faster until in a flash, it stopped and I felt myself land on solid ground.
I was in the forest. This was probably not where I needed to be, but, at least I made it to Sector 8, right?
My Digitizer had started beeping. The virus must be nearby, but I would actually have to find it before I could call the others. It would help if I knew what to look for. These viruses can take on all sorts of appearances.
"My Digitizer is getting virus signals." came Green's voice.
"So is mine." came Red's voice.
"Same here." came Yellow's voice.
"How can we all be getting signals?" I asked.
"Unless the virus can be in four places at once," said Silver, "Something tells me that three of them are false alarms designed to confuse us."
"Can you check the database and see what virus it is?" said Riley.
"I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything," said Silver, "I'll be searching blindly unless one of you can find it."
"Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"
"That new ranger is our target," I said, "She has yet to master her powers."
"I created just the virus for the job, Your Highness," said Dr. Molex, "It is based on a battery and has powerful armour that makes it impervious to even the strongest of attacks."
"I never knew batteries had armour." said Phisher.
"They don't really, you Nimrod!" snapped Dr. Molex.
"The particular strain of code that was used to create the virus is based on defense," I said, "So Dr. Molex was able to create a Virus that can defend itself."
"Then why didn't you just make a Tank Virus?" asked Phisher, "Then the code would've made it even stronger."
"That would be a waste!" snapped Dr. Molex, "There are plenty of other strains that would result in a much stronger Tank Virus."
"Besides," I said, grabbing Phisher by throat, "That meddling Silver creates barriers that prevent me from doing the same thing twice."
"So, had you made a Tank Virus now, it would be impossible to make a different one later?" asked General Berg.
"Precisely," said Dr. Molex, "You could learn a lot from the General, Phisher…"
"If you think I'm going to waste my time trying to make that idiot smarter-"
"Relax, General," I said, slamming Phisher to the ground, "You have more important things to do."
"Not to mention that if Phisher were to become smarter then the King would need a new punching bag." said Dr. Molex.
"He's not a punching bag per say," I said, "He's more of a stress reliever than anything…"
The very concept of a new codec appearing out of nowhere was something that I failed to predict. Had I been more open-minded, I might have been able to implement a fail safe or something, but, because I was caught off guard, I ordered Molex to make a special kind of virus to destroy the new Ranger while we still had a chance. I like to think of it as tying up loose ends.
"General, make sure the Replicators are ready for action," I said, "I want you to deploy them in the Sectors 4, 6 and 12."
"Now, Sire?"
"Wait until the other rangers realize that the virus is in Sector 8," I said, "That way they'll have to defeat them before they can regroup."
"It shall be done, Milord." said General Berg.
"Chloe Baldwin"
Whatever Silver did to my codec meant that I knew how to do everything I needed. The problem is that I had no practice yet. Sure, I could use my Digitizer to track down a virus, but I don't have the instincts that the others seem to have. What else could I do other than ask for advice?
"Where should I start looking?" I asked, "My Digitizer can sense that a virus is nearby, but I don't know where to look for it."
"Everywhere," said Silver, "If the virus' blip appears in the middle of the radar, you've found it."
That's not exactly what I wanted to hear. I suppose I was expecting him to snap his fingers to just give me the instincts I needed. I guess that's what happens when you grow up having everything handed to you on a silver platter. You never get a chance to learn how to do things for yourself. Being a ranger is probably the best thing that ever happened to me, because now I had no choice but to learn.
I started by checking all the bushes and trees on the forest cliff. The signal remained unchanged, so I moved down the hill into the residential area. Sector 8's was rather small because the cliff took up the majority of it. I think it's the primary source of lumber for Metro City, so that makes sense. and therefore consisted mostly of trees; Most of the people that live there are carpenters or lumberjacks.
After a while, I started to get really frustrated and so I threw my hands up in the air. That's when I saw it. There was a large telephone pole disguised among a group of trees that were roughly the same height. I pointed my Digitizer at the power box on top of the pole and wasn't all that surprised when it indicated that I had found the virus.
"Silver, I think I found it," I said, "Try looking up the virus again."
"I'm already working on it," he said, "About ten seconds ago the other three signals disappeared."
"Rangers," called Red, "Regroup at Orange's location."
"Shit!" groaned Yellow, "I've got Replicators to deal with!"
"So do I!" exclaimed Green, "They just came out of nowhere!"
"Another group of them just showed up here too," said Red, "I think Trojan set up ambushes to stop us from regrouping."
"Chloe, um, I mean Orange," came Rachel' voice, "He's targeting you."
"Then why are the Replicators attacking the others?"
I heard some muffled arguing and clattering.
"Rachel, leave my headset alone," said Silver, "You're not helping your leg to heal any faster."
"Fine then, you tell her!" she snapped.
"Because without them, you're alone," said Silver, "That's why this virus is so strong."
"Don't let that scare you," grunted Yellow, "Use it as a challenge!"
See, now that was what I wanted to hear. They were supporting me because they believed in me. Either that or they were just saying that so I wouldn't quit. Whatever the intent, it was enough to calm me down. I pulled my blaster out and shot at the power box. I didn't even need to aim. The virus was up there somewhere and I needed to bring it down.
I heard a startled yelp and gasped as I saw something fall. It landed with such force that it left a small crater behind. As I looked at it, I was confused. If it was a virus, it didn't look like one. In fact, it looked like a giant battery.
"It could be a false alarm," I said, "Whatever I shot down doesn't seem to be a virus."
"I think I found it," said Silver, "However, the information pertaining to it is encrypted, so I'll have to crack the code before I can read it."
"So what do I do?"
"Shoot it again, I suppose," he said, "Manual decryption can take quite a while."
This time I aimed, but the blast rebounded right back at me.
"Whoa!" I shrieked, ducking out of the way frantically.
"Silver, she needs help!" moaned Rachel, "Please let me go!"
"Out of the question, Rachel, your leg is too badly broken for me to safely splint it."
"I don't care!"
"Rachel!" shouted Red, "As team leader, I forbid you from morphing until your leg is fully healed!"
Over the shouting of his voice, I could the sounds of him punching and kicking the Replicators. I was rather shocked to hear Red say that. I knew he's the leader, but I never thought he would ever pull rank on us. At least he did it for a good reason.
"Fine then!" she sobbed, "Just hurry with those Replicators!"
She wasn't just crying because she was frustrated, she was also crying because she knew how much Red cared for her. It can't have been easy for him to do that.
Since shooting it didn't work, I decided to try kicking it. But when my foot made contact it vibrated and ached like I had just kicked solid steel.
"This thing is a shell!" I gasped, upon realizing it.
The only thing I hadn't tried yet was my mace. Maybe it was strong enough to penetrate that battery shell. There's another first for you by the way. Until today I had never put those two words together.
"Download weapon!" I called.
My flail materialized in my outstretched hand. I extended it to full length and began to twirl it around again to gain momentum. The battery remained completely motionless, which meant it either couldn't see when defending or it wasn't afraid of my flail. If it had seen how quickly it dealt with the Motorcycle Virus, maybe it would be.
"Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"
"Tell me Dr. Molex," I said, my voice growing louder and louder, "What all did you use when testing the strength of the virus' armour?"
"I ran the usual program," he said, "Once for each level of force and it endured all of them."
"Including a simulation of the Orange Ranger's flail!?" I roared.
"No, I never got a chance to add that in to the program!" he squealed, cowering in fright.
"If your ignorance gets the Battery Virus killed, I'm demoting you to the position of stress reliever!"
"Chloe Baldwin"
I felt that I had built up enough force. I swung the flail in a wide arc that landed the ball in my other hand. The exact instance that the ball hit the armour, I knew had struck gold. The virus popped out of its shell and stood there in its true form.
"Gotcha!" said Silver, "It's the Battery Virus, #4B0T2T7R6Y."
I barely heard him; I had to cartwheel out of the way as the virus charged at me like bull. Before it tried to ram into me, it rubbed its foot on the ground and built up a charge. I knew that if it hit me I would also get electrocuted.
"Can electrically charge itself using static and has impeccably high defenses," he continued, "From what I'm seeing, I don't think this virus has a genuine weakness."
"Well, it's not too fond of my flail."
"Of course…" said Silver, "This database was created when there were only four rangers."
"So, in theory, all of them are weak against my weapon?"
"No," he said, "After this one, you'll be no different than the others."
"Then I should probably make the best of it!" I shouted.
Once again the virus attempted to tackle me, so I swung my flail low and tripped it. Once it was down, I retracted the chain and proceeded to beat it with the ball as if my weapon was a mace. Actually, my weapon was probably both… But you get the idea.
At some point I completely let my guard down and the virus used that opportunity to strike. I slammed my ball one last time, but the rather than hitting the virus, he elbowed it right back at me without ever standing up.
I got hit in the face with my own weapon and fell backwards, but never hit the ground. Someone caught me.
"Hey!" snapped Yellow, "You can't just hit her like that!"
"Yeah," said Green, "Can't you see she's a girl?"
"We got here as soon as we could," said Red, "Are you okay?"
He helped me to my feet. Apparently he was the one that caught me.
"I'm fine," I said, "Just a little dizzy."
"Stay back for a while until your head stops spinning," he said, "We'll handle the virus."
"You think you can handle me!?" snorted the Virus, standing up and preparing to charge again.
"You don't look so tough!" said Yellow, tauntingly.
This one was much uglier than the Motorcycle Virus; it looked a lot like those things mythical bulls that walk as if they're people. Monitors, I think they're called. The only differences were that shell and the electric powers.
The virus built up a charge and then rushed forward, but Yellow pivoted out of the way with ease.
"Olé!" he shouted.
While holding back hysterical laughter, Green joined in and egged on the virus.
"Toro, toro!"
Even though the virus had no idea what they were doing, it kept charging at them. It tried to psyche them out by ramming at someone other than who was taunting it.
"Arriba!" shouted Red as he leapt out of the way and slashed the virus.
"Dude, matadors don't say that." said Green.
"I wasn't trying to be a matador," said Red, "I just felt like speaking Spanish too."
"Hold still so I can tackle you!" growled the Virus.
"I think we wore him out," said Yellow, "The VR should finish it off."
It was interesting to me how well the information uploads worked. I knew exactly what that meant. To me, it felt like I had always known, even though I just learned it earlier today. I wasn't dizzy anymore, so the others beckoned me to join them in their diamond formation.
Our weapons disintegrated and turned into a flurry of data. The four different swarms combined and reshaped until they solidified into the Virus Reaper.
"Virus Reaper, online!" we announced in unison.
I had never used this thing before, but needed no instructions. I grabbed a handle and helped the others take aim. There was a laser sight that showed us the path the bolt would follow once we pulled the trigger.
"Four…" said Green
"Three…" said Yellow.
"Two…" said Red.
"One…" I said.
"FIRE!" we shouted together.
With an electronic twanging sort of sound, the VR shot the bolt. There was a loud boom as the bolt broke the sound barrier. The bolt of pure data went right through the virus' chest and then returned to us like a boomerang.
The virus became rigid and fell backwards, exploding when it the ground. During this time, the VR disappeared and we struck a pose.
A torrent of binary showed up and rained code onto the spot where the virus exploded.
"We're gonna need a bigger boat." said Yellow.
"Prepare the Zords, Silver." said Red.
"They're ready and waiting," he said, "Even yours, Orange."
"Look deeply into your codec," said Rachel, "You should see it reflected inside."
I peered at the center of my codec like she said and let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't a unicorn.
"It's a bird." I said.
"It's a plane." said Green.
"Not the time, Green."
"Sorry…" he said.
"Not just any bird," I continued, "It's a falcon!"
My father used to be really into falconry. When Mom wasn't home and he wanted to go hunting, I was forced to go with him. It made me cry, because even though I was really young, I sensed that he was killing them. Eventually, he gave it up once he pulled his head out of his ass and realized that it bothered me. Then he tried to train one for me, but stopped when I told him I didn't want one. Later on, I explained that as long as he didn't shoot them, I was happy.
"Download Fox Zord!" called Red.
"Download Gorilla Zord!" called Green.
"Download Rhino Zord!" called Yellow.
"Download Falcon Zord!" I called.
My Zord materialized exactly the same way as my weapon did. I heard the familiar cry as it flew around in a loop de loop and swooped down to let me climb aboard. Once I was inside the cockpit, I drove the Zord in circles around the virus' head.
"Orange," said Silver, "Your Zord is fairly versatile, so until Rachel can fight again, I want you to use yours as a substitute."
"By that, he means take her place as the Megazord's right arm," said Green, "Don't worry though; your Zord should do that on its own."
"Commence Megazord transformation sequence!" said Red.
I felt myself being pulled away from the cockpit. I floated up into the sky until the sensation stopped. I looked down and noticed that I could see what was happening from an angle above the action.
Piece by piece the Data Zords transformed until they were all properly attached in their designated locations.
My Zord went through a drastic transformation. The wings rotated until they faced the opposite direction and the whole body seemed to extend into several segmented pieces. The Zord opened its beak and a connector protruded from it, which is probably how the right arm would connect to the shoulder. Once it had finished changing, I figured out that it had become some sort claw or scissor.
When the Megazord was complete, I seemed to wake up already inside of it, as if everything I had just seen was a dream. The others were inside the head with me now and each of them had a steering mechanism that controlled their individual part of the Megazord.
"Cyberspace Megazord, online!" we announced together.
"Simply amazing…" said Silver, "The Falcon Zord became a claw that can squeeze anything it grabs with enough pressure to make a diamond."
"Out of coal or out of peanut butter?" asked Red.
"You would need the same amount of pressure regardless."
"Wait," said Yellow, "You can make a diamond out of peanut butter?"
"Yeah, man, I saw on the Discovery Channel," said Red, "They put peanut butter between two massive pistons and squeezed it for days and days-"
"Hey, Einstein!" snapped Rachel, "Focus on the giant battery!"
"I'll tell you later," he muttered, "Let's try out our Falcon Claw."
The virus rubbed its palms together, obviously building up a charge. It lunged forward and hit us with its electrified open palm right in the stomach. The Megazord lurched forward, and I manned the claw to grab its arm before it moved. It felt no different than trying to win a prize at a crane game.
I probably went too fast, because the virus avoided us and hit us again with the other palm, this time in the chest. Yellow worked his steering devices to make sure we kept our balance while Red wound up his arm and punched the virus in the face. It stumbled and clutched at it as if trying to stop it from bleeding, which was weird, considering it wasn't a person.
"Grab it now, Orange!" said Red.
I went even faster this time and half punched, half grabbed the Battery Virus around the stomach. It writhed and flailed, trying to break free, but was no match to might of the Falcon Claw.
"Don't hold back," said Green, "Squeeze it like ripe fruit."
I cranked the pressure as high as it could go. It was controlled by a lever. The down position was off and the up position was full force. I had had it at about 40%.
The additional 60% was more than it could bear. The virus tried to scream, but all that came out was muffled sort of gurgling sound as it disintegrated, still in the clutches of the Falcon Claw.
Back at headquarters, Rachel limped over to me. I went in for an air hug, which she refused and gave me a normal hug instead. She must have been tense, because she was squeezing me rather hard.
"Now I know how the virus felt." I gasped.
"Sorry," she said, "But I'm proud of you."
"Why?"
"Because you didn't quit when things stopped being easy." said Rachel.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, "I'm not a quitter."
"You quit on your training bra, you quit on tampons and you quit on your first car with standard transmission."
"Quiet," I muttered, "They don't want to hear about any of that."
"I don't know about you guys, but I was hanging on every word." said Marcus.
"She had me at training bra." said Oz.
"Well, obviously I got the hang of all that stuff," I said, "Eventually."
"You use pads and still drive an automatic."
They could tease me all they want, because whether they liked or not, I was here to say. After all the fun and excitement I had in just one day, I acquired a taste for being a ranger. If anything, fighting the Battery Zord helped me see that there are multiples sides to everyone.
Now that Riley, Marcus and Oz had seen the side of me that my codec saw when it chose me, they accepted me into the group with open arms.
Besides, there was no point getting mad at them… Because what they were saying was all true…