Sector 13 High School
Metro City, Canada
May 18th, 2015
7:40 AM

"Chloe Baldwin"

"Down this hallway we have the classrooms for English, French, Spanish and Math," I said, "As well as the lockers for Grade 9 and 10 students."

"Well, it's certainly quaint," said the new student I had been asked to show around, "So much cleaner that my old school, too."

"And where was that?" I asked.

"In Toronto." he said.

We rounded a corner. The overall layout of the school is very straightforward. It's basically just one long, interconnected hallway that forms a square.

"This hallway is where all the largest classrooms are," I said, "On your left is the computer room and the library, and then on your right is the gym, auditorium and the cafeteria."

"What's on the floor above us?" he asked.

"We're not normally allowed up there," I said, "The principal's office, the nurse's office, teacher's lounge and guidance counsellor are all up there. You can't go there unless you are sent there with a note."

"What would happen if we tried to go up there?" he asked.

"Right now, nothing," I said, "The doors will still be locked until class starts at 8:00."

"Are the lockers for Grade 11 and 12 students down the next hall?" he asked.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"I can tell just by looking at these hallways that it's shaped like a square," he said, "Since there are lockers in the south hall, but none in the east or west halls, then that means they have to be in the north hall."

"Ah, logic," I said, "For a minute, I thought you might be psychic."

"Nope." he chuckled.

"Come on," I said, "I'll show to your locker."

We turned another corner into the north hall.

"So, as you can see," I said, "This is where the rest of the lockers are. We also have the classrooms for Biology, Chemistry and Sex. Ed down here. And at the very end of this hallway are more bathrooms and the science lab."

"Ah, there it is," he said, "Locker #241."

"I guess this concludes our tour," I said, holding out my hand, "It was nice to meet you... Um, what did you say your name was again?"

"Sawyer," he said, shaking my hand, "David Sawyer."

"No offense," I said, "But if you're old enough to be in college, why aren't you?"

"You read my transcript?"

"No, I just happened to glance at it and see that you're 22." I said.

"Well, it was my sister," he said, "I dropped out of high school when she got sick."

"Go on."

"My folks were doing everything they could to make money," he said, "And I thought I could help. I thought that if I could get a job, it would be that much more money that could go towards her medical bills."

"And were you right?"

"No," he said, "Turns out there's no really a cure for Ebola yet."

"Oh god, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," he said, "That was years ago now. I moved away from Toronto and decided I'd finish high school. So, here I am."

"Wow..." I said, "Well, I guess I'll see you around then?"

"Sure." he said, heading for his locker.

In the distance, I could see Riley, Marcus and Oz. While Sawyer was busy putting his things in his locker, I went over to them.

"So you still haven't had any luck finding the Extractor?" asked Marcus

"I'm telling you, I've looked everywhere, even on the rooftops in Sector 9." said Oz.

"Well, things don't just vanish into thin air," said Riley, "It's a molecular impossibility."

"I didn't say it vanished, I said that I've looked everywhere."

"Maybe we should come clean and tell Silver that we lost it." said Marcus.

"Go ahead, I only told you not to because I wanted to retrace my steps first." said Oz.

"You do remember what happened the last time you retraced your steps, right?" I asked, "Maybe you should top doing that."

"Hey Chloe." said Riley.

"What's the Extractor?" asked Sawyer from behind me, "Is that part of some new video game you're all playing?"

Either he was eavesdropping or we were talking loud enough that he could hear us anyway.

"Guys, this is David," I said, "David, this is Riley, Marcus and Oz."

"Nice to meet you." said Riley as I introduced him.

"Charmed." said Marcus as I introduced him.

"The pleasure's all yours." said Oz as I introduced him.

"Chloe, please," said Sawyer, "Call me Sawyer, not David."

"He's like me," said Oz, "He prefers to go by his last name."

"My folks are very religious," said Sawyer, "But that was never my thing. My full name is David Noah Sawyer."

The bell rang, indicating that we had 10 minutes before classes officially started. Sawyer pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it.

"According to this," he said, "I have English class first thing today."

"So do I." said Oz.

"Cool," said Sawyer, "Did you want to head there together?"

"Sure, why not."

Once they were out of earshot, I turned back to Marcus, Riley and Rachel, who must have just joined us when I had been looking behind me.

"Who was that with Oz?" she asked.

"The new kid, David Sawyer," I said, "He's not very talkative, but he seems nice."

"He's like Oz," said Riley, "Prefers to be called Sawyer rather than David."

"Should we tell him that Oz is probably not going to attend English class?" asked Rachel.

"Something tells me he'll figure it out on his own." said Riley.

"Chloe... You like him, don't you?" asked Rachel.

"You want to say that louder, Rachel?" I asked exasperatedly, "I'll bet you there's some people in Australia that didn't hear you!"

"But you do, right?"

"He is pretty hot," I said, "I'm used to guys with bodies like that being all talkative, but Sawyer is like, the total opposite. It's intriguing."

Sawyer was the same height as Marcus and was muscular, not big and bulky like Oz, but the skinnier kind of muscular. He had dirty blonde hair and a small tuft of facial hair on his chin. I think they call it a soul patch. Something about him just seemed to make him stand out.

"Do all of you have this period free?" asked Marcus.

We all nodded.

"Good," said Marcus, "Because I have an idea as to who the Renegade might be."

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

"Shouldn't you four be in class?" asked Jenna.

"We all have first and second period free," said Marcus, "Which means we have over an hour before we have to get back."

"Marcus thinks he knows who the Renegade Ranger might be." said Riley.

"And trust me," said Marcus, "I'm already beating myself up that I didn't think of it sooner."

"Please don't keep us in suspense then." I said.

"Okay," said Marcus, "What if it's Sebastian?"

There was a pause while everyone took in this suggestion.

"Who's Sebastian?" asked Chloe.

"You haven't met him in person," said Rachel, "But he's the co-host of Marcus' radio show."

"You think that Exclamation Point is the Renegade Ranger?"

"Is it really any weirder than Question Marc being the Green Ranger?" asked Riley.

"No, I suppose not."

"I mean, think about it," said Marcus, "He was brainwashed when he learned that we're the Power Rangers. And if he does remember, he never talks about it. But that would give him plenty of motivation to want to be a ranger too."

"Yes, yes, to atone for his actions." I said.

"He also spends a lot of time with Marcus," said Jenna, "If he has the Cyber Gene, maybe that's what drew him to apply for the same internship as Marcus."

"But Sebastian touched Marcus' codec," said Rachel, "If he had the Cyber Gene, wouldn't it have reacted to him?"

"No," said Jenna, "Because it already with bonded with Marcus."

"And if Sebastian figured out why Marcus' codec didn't react to him, then he might also have figured out that he would need a codec of his own to be a ranger." I said.

"My codec came to me when I showed my real feelings on that bridge," said Chloe, "So does that mean that he could've summoned another codec in a similar way?"

"It does," said Jenna, "Each individual piece of the Master Codec responds to a particular personality trait."

"We learned this when we looked into what caused Chloe's codec to appear in our world," I said, "Since we found the first codecs at the same time, there was no reason for us to think that someone was responsible for bringing them here."

"Are you saying that Rachel, Marcus and Oz all at some point did something that summoned their codecs to them?" asked Riley, "And me as well, I guess."

"That's what we're saying," said Jenna, "Although we don't know why your codecs didn't appear in front of you like Chloe's did."

"Because of the size of their codec," I said, "It's very likely that whoever the Renegade is, has no control whatsoever of when they morph, or, more importantly, what they do while morphed."

"That's a thing?" asked Marcus, "Good, because that was the only hole in my theory."

"What, that you thought it was weird that the Renegade is attacking us, sounds nothing like Sebastian and has a completely separate personality?" asked Riley.

"Yeah."

"Stephen, I think we should run with this," said Jenna, "It's looking very promising. Nice job, Marcus."

"Thanks."

"Chloe, why don't you and Marcus try to talk to Sebastian?" I asked, "Tell him whatever it takes to get him here."

"We'll start working on a special Digitizer right away," said Jenna, "One that will be strong enough to keep him in control of his codec, instead of the other way around."

"But I've never even met Sebastian," said Chloe, "Why do you want me to go?"

"Your codec appeared before you," I said, "Just like how Sebastian's codec probably did. I think it might be beneficial for Marcus if you're there to back him up."

"But be ready for anything, you two," said Jenna, "Sebastian might be willing to hear you out, but the Renegade probably won't be."

"Boy, it's a shame that Oz lost the Extractor." said Rachel.

"He lost it?!" I exclaimed.

"You can't just build another one?" asked Rachel.

"No, I can't," I said, "The Extractor is very volatile. Although it neutralizes all the energy it absorbs, there's still a chance that it could malfunction."

"So we used a very rare element as its power source," said Jenna, "We can't just snap our fingers and make another one this time."

"But, Silver," asked Rachel, "You're a multibillionaire, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am," I said, "However, trinium is so rare that it isn't even for sale. The small amount I had was all I was all they could give me, no matter how much I offered."

"Well, with any luck," said Marcus, "We won't need the Extractor."

"Chloe Baldwin"

We were back at school, hoping to run into to Sebastian between classes.

"So, do you know what his schedule is like?" I asked, "Or are we just winging it?"

"I know he takes computer science and law," said Marcus, "Mr. Garth teaches law in his classroom, so you check there and I'll go check the computer science room."

As I made my way towards the east hall, my Digitizer started going off. There was a virus nearby. This would probably fall into the category of worst timing ever.

The east hall is where the main doors are. There are also doors that lead in or out of the school in the auditorium, gym, cafeteria and the west hall. This is also where I met up with Sawyer this morning to give him the tour. This hall is where the classrooms for art, music, drama and history class are.

Normally I would be running or jogging in a situation like this, but it's very hard to run in a crowded hallway, and even if I could, the teachers would bust me for running in the halls. This meant that I had to walk as fast as I could.

I opened the door to the classroom and entered, closing the door behind me. There were a few students sitting down. The sound of the door closing made everyone look over their shoulders to see who had entered.

"I'm looking for Sebastian." I said to Mr. Garth.

"He's right there, Miss Baldwin." said Mr. Garth.

Sebastian stood up when he heard his name. I walked over to him and noticed that Sawyer was also sitting at a desk in the classroom. It seemed like they both got here early for second period.

As discretely as possible, I pushed the seldom used right-hand button on my Digitizer, which would send a signal to everyone else's Digitizers.

"We haven't officially met," I said to Sebastian, holding out my hand, "I'm Chloe, a friend of Marcus, can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure, I guess." said Seb, taking my hand.

"Somewhere more private?"

"Okay." he said, still holding my hand.

I noticed that his hand had become clammy. Something tells me girls didn't hold his hand very often. I led him out of the classroom towards the nearest exit doors just as Marcus, Riley, Rachel and Oz came around the corner.

"Nice work Chloe," said Oz, "You found him."

"Am I in some sort of trouble?" asked Seb, "I've tried my best to stay away from viruses that could potentially brainwash me."

"You might be," said Marcus, "But we can't help you unless you're honest with us."

"Okay...?"

"Sebastian," said Riley, "Are you the Renegade Ranger?"

Our Digitizers had all started going absolutely berserk. The virus must be practically on top of us. At the same time, the fire alarm went off and an explosion blew apart the wall of the history classroom. I saw Sawyer come running out of it, escorting Mr. Garth to safety.

"Something just exploded in there!" panted Sawyer, "Mr. Garth got hit in the head by a piece of debris."

"That was rather heroic of you." said Rachel.

"What are you all standing around for?" asked Sawyer, "There's a fire in the history classroom and it's spreading fast!"

"We're... Um," I fumbled my words, "Just, um, making sure Sebastian is okay."

"You go on ahead, we'll be right behind you." said Marcus.

"Okay." said Sawyer, running towards the south hall.

"Shouldn't the sprinklers be going off?" asked Rachel.

"Rangers," said Silver, "What's going on over there?"

"We can see the smoke from here!" said Jenna.

"There's a fire in the history classroom," said Riley, "Can you tell if a virus is behind it?"

"Something is interfering with the signal," said Silver, "Until you can make it assume it's true form, I'm afraid you're on your own."

"I hate it when he says that..." said Oz.

Through all the commotion, I could hear the principal announce something over the intercom.

"ALL STUDENTS AND FACULTY, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" she said, "PLEASE EVACUATE THE SCHOOL IMMEDIATELY IN AN ORDERLY FASHION! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, PLEASE EVACUATE THE SCHOOL IMMEDIATELY!"

"That's just a recording," said Riley, "I remember she asked me to write a program on her computer that would play that automatically in case of an emergency. I never thought I'd actually hear it."

"Wait, where's Sebastian?" I asked, realizing that he was gone.

"He's a wuss," said Oz, "He probably ran out the door while we weren't looking."

"We'll worry about him later," said Rachel, "We've got bigger problems."

We all arranged ourselves so that we were standing in the trademark "V" formation.

"Ready?" asked Riley.

"Ready!" said the others.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" we shouted together.

As soon as our suits were on, we were protected from the heat and smoke. One by one, we carefully crept into what was left of the history classroom. But all that was in there was a lighter. It was just sitting there, on a burnt desk.

"If that's the virus, it's terrible at hiding." I said.

"There's only one way to find out," said Yellow, "I'm going in for a closer look."

A jet of fire erupted from the lighter that just missed him.

"What's the matter, rangers?" said an eerie voice that sounded wheezy, "Can't take the heat?"

The lighter began to rapidly grow in size, until the desk collapsed underneath it. The lighter burst into flames, and when they subsided, the virus had transformed. It looked like some sort of demonic pig that was on fire.

"Rangers, I've got something!" said Silver, "It's the Lighter Virus, and not surprisingly, it's attacks are all fire-based. Also not surprisingly, is that it's not too fond of water."

"Maybe it did something to the school's sprinkler system?" said Green, "It probably knew they would douse him if they turned on."

"Download weapon!" we called in unison.

"Have some of this!" said the Virus, shooting several large fireballs right at us.

We all tried to dodge them, but they seemed to have locked onto us. When we went left, so did the fireballs, when we went right, so did the fireballs.

"Wait until the last second to dodge!" said Red, frantically, "Otherwise they'll follow you!"

I tried my best, but I must've back flipped a fraction of a second too soon. The fireball grazed past my left leg and burned a hole through my suit, leaving me with a burn.

"Orange!" yelped Blue, "Guys, she's hit!"

As I tried to get to my feet, I could see that someone was in the classroom with us.

"Power Rangers!" called Sawyer, "Let me help you!"

"No, stay back, it's too dangerous!" I groaned.

"There's two firefighters in my family," said Sawyer, "I know a thing or two about fire, trust me!"

"This isn't like a normal fire!" shouted Blue.

"If you can keep that thing busy," coughed Sawyer, "I should be able to get the sprinklers working again!"

"How?" asked Red.

"Look at them, they're not damaged at all," said Sawyer, "I'll run down to the basement and flick the breaker switch. That should start them back up again!"

"It's your funeral!" said Yellow, "We'll try to buy you some time!"

The Lighter Virus saw what Sawyer was trying to do and sent a giant fireball after him, Red leapt right into its path and swung his sword at the fireball in a panic. It rebounded right back at the Virus, who stumbled when its own projectile hit it in the chest.

"Fire can't hurt me!" it cackled, "You're wasting your time!"

"How did you that!?" I asked.

"No idea," said Red, "It must have something to do with the way I hit it."

"Let's all try reflecting them," said Green, "Might be enough to buy time for Sawyer."

Completely oblivious to our plan, the virus launched another barrage of fire balls, so we all took turns hitting whichever ones we could with our weapons to send them back at the virus, who eventually disappeared in a pillar of flame.

"Where is it?" asked Yellow.

"Everybody stay alert..." said Red, "I don't think it ran away."

I switched my mace into flail mode and twirled it idly in my hand, trying to ignore the searing pain from the burn on my leg. It was hard to concentrate on anything, because there was nothing we could do to cancel out the noise from the fire.

"Orange! Watch out behind you!" hollered Blue.

I whipped around in time to see the virus re-emerge from another pillar of fire, but not in time to get out of the way. It hit me in the cheek with its fist that was constantly engulfed in flame. I retaliated by walloping it with my flail.

Suddenly, the classroom was filled with water. The sprinklers were back on. Several small droplets hit the virus, causing it to scream in agony. The water had hit its left shoulder and seemed to have permanently extinguished it.

"I HATE WATER!" yelped the Virus.

It disappeared in a pillar of fire as the water continued to wage war against the flames that had already decimated much of the classroom. I could feel the moisture on my burn, and breathed a sigh of relief as some of the pain subsided.

"Did it work?" sputtered Sawyer as he entered the classroom.

"Yeah," said Red, "Nice job,"

"Thanks." said Sawyer.

"How come the firefighters let you in here?" asked Green, "Why didn't they stop you?"

"There are no firefighters out there," said Sawyer, "It looks like there are fires all over Sector 13."

"I think we have the virus to thank for that," said Red, "It must have started all those fires on its way here."

Just then, Sawyer winced in pain.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Uh oh..." muttered Sawyer.

What happened next was something that none of us saw coming. It took all of us completely by surprise. It was literally the last thing any of us would've expected.

The inside pocket of Sawyer's jacket started glowing a violent shade of purple. Sawyer doubled over in pain as the glowing light grew brighter and brighter.

"No..." he moaned, "Not again!"

The light seemed to expand into a pillar of purple binary. Now I could hear a high pitched humming sound, but it didn't drown out the sound of Sawyer's screams.

"Aaaggghhh!" he shrieked, clutching at the source of the light.

A small explosion of light ended everything. The screaming, the humming and the glowing had all stopped, and where Sawyer once stood was the Renegade Ranger. We were wrong, it never was Sebastian.

"You can't stop me, Sawyer, you're just my vessel... Nothing more." he said.

"Is he talking to himself?" I asked, bewildered.

"I think the codec was talking to Sawyer, while using Sawyer's body." said Red.

The Renegade took a moment to survey his surroundings. Meanwhile, the fire was completely extinguished now, and the sprinklers turned themselves off about a minute later.

"Red!" said the Renegade, mockingly as if he were greeting an old friend that he hadn't seen in a while, "Glad to see you're back on your feet!"

"Where's Sawyer?" I asked, pointing my flail at the Renegade menacingly.

"Relax, Blondie," said the Renegade, "He's fine. I'm just borrowing his body."

"Borrowing means you ask for it first," said Blue, "And that you intend to give it back."

"Penny for the smart lady," said the Renegade, "You're absolutely right. At some point, I do intend to this make this body my own, but I'm not quite strong enough yet. So, for now, I have to settle for being able to emerge every now and then."

A pillar of fire had appeared behind him, but this time, nobody warned him. We wanted to see him get punched by a burning fist.

"Pathetic!" snapped the Renegade.

In the blink of an eye, he had taken out his scythe, drove the blade deep into the virus' chest and wrenched it upwards. The virus was vanquished, and it became rigid and toppled over backwards, before it exploded, sending binary everywhere.

"As for you five..." said the Renegade, advancing on us.

"Guys, summon the VR!" shouted Red, "Do it now!"

"We can't, can we?" I asked.

"He's not a virus!" said Blue.

"Just do it!" snapped Red.

Our weapons disintegrated and turned into a flurry of data. The five different swarms combined and reshaped until they solidified into the Virus Reaper.

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

I grabbed one of the handles as we took aim. The familiar laser sight showed us the path the bolt would follow once we pulled the trigger.

"Four…" said Yellow.

"Three…" said Red.

"Two…" said Blue.

"One…" said Green.

"FIRE!" I shouted.

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 Renegade held out his hand to catch the bolt, but the bolt just went clean through and got lodged in his chest. Instead of returning to us, the bolt of pure data exploded, and the Renegade was sent flying as the VR disintegrated.

"Good riddance." said Red.

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

"What were you thinking!?" I shouted, "Using the Virus Reaper on something other than a virus is like using a rocket launcher on an ant. It's overkill and it's reckless."

The rangers were back at Headquarters, since the school needed to close down for a few days while the damage from the fire was repaired.

"I knew it wouldn't kill him-" said Riley.

"That doesn't make it okay." I said.

"If I hadn't lost the Extractor," said Heath, "That's what we would've used."

"Be that as it may," I said, "But by resorting to reckless or immoral actions, you're walking the same path as the Renegade."

"It's getting to the point where I don't see much of a difference between viruses and the Renegade." said Riley.

"The difference is that there's still a chance to help the Renegade," I said, "Whereas viruses are evil through and through. They are malicious software designed specifically to kill and terrorize."

"I'll take full responsibility for this," said Riley, "I ordered the others to use the VR even after they protested."

"Fine," I said, "But I don't intend to punish you. I just want to make sure you're thinking clearly and not letting your personal vendetta with the Renegade cloud your judgement."

"I don't have a vendetta with him!" said Riley, "I just want him dealt with so he can't hurt anybody else."

"Yeah, that's still a vendetta," said Jenna, "Noble as it may be."

"I thought knowing who the Renegade is would make fighting him easier..." said Chloe, "But I never thought it would be someone we knew."

"Maybe Sawyer chose this school for a reason," said Rachel, "If he knew that this is the school we all go to, then maybe he wanted us to find out that he's the Renegade."

"Whatever we do to the Renegade," said Heath, "We're really doing it to Sawyer. I keep trying not to think of them as separate, but it's so hard."

"Sawyer is innocent," said Marcus, "He's the victim."

"Then maybe you should try focusing more on saving Sawyer and less on fighting the Renegade." said Jenna.

"Remember rangers," I said, "All you should have to do is take his codec away from him and bring it to me."

"Should?" asked Riley.

"I don't want to give you false hope," I said, "But at the rate things are going, Sawyer's codec might become so powerful that it could banish Sawyer from his own body forever..."

"Then we'll just have stop it before that can happen." said Riley.