Chapter 8
Commander Harrison opens the cell. "Please, come with me." He says to the rangers. The teens shoot each other a nervous glance before stepping out of the cell and following him.
"So, how do you like our headquarters?" Harrison asks, after a few seconds of awkward silence.
"Well, we haven't seen much of it, but the jail cell was nice." Zack says sarcastically.
"Thank you." Harrison says, ignoring the sarcasm in Zack's comment.
"Um… Where are we going?" Kim asks.
"I'm taking you to my office, where I ask you a few questions." Harrison says. He takes a corner and comes to locked door with a keypad. Harrison punches a few numbers in on the keypad and the door opens. He walks through, and the rangers follow.
They enter the office. Harrison sits down behind the desk. "Please, have a seat." He says gesturing to a couch and two chairs. The rangers all take a seat. "Now, you guys are the Power Rangers?"
"Yeah, that's right." Jason says.
"I must say, you were not what I was expecting." Harrison says. "You're much younger than I anticipated."
"We're not your average teenagers, if that's what you're getting at." Jason says.
"Oh, certainly not." Harrison says. "You're much more than that. You have been given a great power. I'm still left to wonder, though, isn't it a little too convenient that you 'rangers' happen to show up at the exact same time as the monsters?"
"That's when we were given our powers." Jason says.
"Besides, even if we had the powers before hand, why would we have used them prior to these attacks?" Billy asks.
"I suppose so." Harrison says. "How did you get these powers?" The rangers shoot each other a glance, clearly hesitating. "I asked you how you got these powers."
Billy speaks up. "We might as well tell him the truth, even if it is hard to believe." He says. "The Eltarian guardian of the Earth, a being known as Zordon, granted us these powers when he detected that Rita had escaped."
"Eltarian?" Harrison asks.
"It means from the planet Eltar." Billy explains.
"That's impossible." Harrison says. "We've been monitoring alien activities on this planet for decades. If there was alien here we would know about it."
"Well he's here." Zack says. "So you obviously missed one."
"Technically, they didn't." Billy says. The rangers and Harrison all look at him. "See, Zordon is an intergalactic guardian of the Earth, but he's not on Earth. Technically, he's not on any planet."
"What are you talking about?" Kim asks.
"Zordon is trapped in a time warp." Billy says "He technically is nowhere in the known universe and his body can not be reached from anywhere. He communicates to us through a plasma tube, which is essentially serving a window into the time warp." Everyone else, including Harrison, just gives Billy a blank stare. Billy realizing this, responds. "You guys didn't know that? I just thought it was obvious."
"I knew he said something about a time warp, but I had no clue what he was talking about." Trini says.
"The only time warp I know anything about is the one from Rocky Horror." Kim says.
Harrison shakes his head. "Can we please get back to the questioning and quit talking nonsense?"
"I was only responding to your question." Billy says.
"I don't care what you were doing." Harrison says. "Your response makes no sense."
"But it's the truth." Billy yells.
"Whatever you say." Harrison responds. "I'm not in a position where I have the luxury of knowing what is true or not. What I do know is that you teenagers are somehow able to fight off alien monsters that even our most skilled of military fighters have not been able to. I want to know how that is."
"Wow. You went from nice guy to total dick in like 2 minutes." Zack says. "Anyone else notice that?"
""Tell me how the powers work!" Harrison exclaims.
"We don't know how they work." Trini says. "All we know is that they do."
"If you don't know how they work, then who would?" Harrison asks.
"Zordon." Billy says.
"Not this nonsense again." Harrison says. "It doesn't matter anyway. I have my best team of experts examining the source of your power. They'll figure out how they work."
"What are you planning to do once you figure out how the powers work?" Jason asks. "We're the only ones who can use these powers. The morphers have a DNA lock on them."
"I wasn't planning on using your powers." Harrison says. "Your powers are flawed. They need all 5 working together to be at their strongest."
"That's not a flaw." Jason says.
"It is a flaw." Harrison says. "What happens if one of you is killed in battle? The morphers are DNA locked so you can no longer be at full strength."
Jason stands up and steps towards Harrison "I'm sure that if that happens, then Zordon would…"
"Here we go again with this 'Zordon' talk." Harrison says. "What would Zordon do? Would he override the DNA lock?"
"I don't know, but we'd figure something out." Jason says.
"What about your robots?" Harrison says.
"What about our zords?" Jason asks.
"They're called zords?" Harrison says almost laughing. "Of course they are. Anyway, once again, they need to combine to be at their best strength."
"They combine to become stronger." Jason says. "But the can still fight on their own."
"Not well enough." Harrison says, flipping open a file. "And another flaw your powers have is your armor."
"What's wrong with our armor?" Trini asks.
"It's thin and lightweight, making it susceptible to piercing." Harrison explains.
"It also allows us to be more agile. And how do you know how strong the armor is?" Jason says. "Just because it's thin doesn't mean it's easy to pierce."
"Whatever you say." Harrison says.
"For someone who wants to learn more about our powers, you seem to know a lot already." Billy says.
"I'm just gauging weaknesses that need to be improved upon." Harrison says.
"Are you offering to improve our powers?" Zack asks. "Because that's what it sounds like to me."
"Of course not." Harrison says. "Your powers are soon to be obsolete."
"What do you mean?" Billy asks.
"Well, we have your morphers, so you're no longer a threat." Harrison says. "I suppose I can tell you our plan. We are creating our own ranger. A super ranger."
"What!?" Billy shouts.
"This power will be given to a military official, and will serve as a figure head and leader in our fight against these aliens." Harrison says.
"Isn't that what we were doing, outside of being a military official?" Kim asks.
"As rangers, you operated under no governing body." Harrison says. "As far as the military is concerned, you are nothing more than a small rebellion."
"A small rebellion?" Jason asks.
"That's correct." Harrison explains. "You're a group attempting to fight the aliens that operates outside of military control, making you a rebellion."
"Regardless of what you call us, we're still an ally." Jason says. "We can help you win this war."
"That is where you're wrong." Harrison says. "You are not an ally. You are a nuisance; an annoyance, that will simply be in our way as we attempt to save the planet."
"An annoyance!?" Zack shouts. "We've been busting our asses to keep this planet save ever since we got these powers, and this is the thanks we get!"
"Look, I'm sure you kids have had fun playing hero for the past few weeks." Harrison says. "But now it's time to get out of the way and let the grown ups handle it."
"What are you going to do until your new ranger is operational?" Billy asks. "As you have seen from your previous encounters with Rita's monsters, your weapons are ineffective. If we are not out there with our ranger powers, how do you plan on dealing with any attacks?"
"From the time that you rangers showed up, we had been developing our own ranger power." Harrison explains. "The ranger is nearly operational, and given that our top engineers have now had a significant amount of time to examine the source of your powers, it would not surprise me if it was operational."
"That doesn't answer my question." Billy says. "If your new ranger is not operational, how do you plan on defeating Rita's monsters? For that matter, what makes you believe that your ranger powers will fair any better than your other weapons?"
"I'm the one who brought you kids in for questioning." Harrison says. "I don't have explain myself to you."
"You're right." Billy says. "You don't, even though I'm asking basic operations questions that should be simple for a man in your position to answer."
"Billy, calm down." Trini says.
"Let it go, man." Zack says. "He's not worth it."
"I suggest you listen to your friends." Harrison says. "Now, you are free to go. We will arrange for a helicopter to take you back to Angel Grove." As he says this, 5 guards enter the room. Each one grabs a ranger. "Take them to the landing pad. Once the helicopter arrives, put them in there. Don't let them out of your site until they are back in Angel Grove."
"Yes sir." The guards all say in unison. Keeping their left hand on the ranger, they salute Harrison with their right hand. They tug on the rangers. The rangers all struggle to get free.
"Hey come on!" Jason shouts. "What about our morphers?" He yells as he is being dragged out the door.
Harrison turns to him. "We will keep them here until we are sure they no longer serve any purpose to us, at which point we will properly dispose of them. As of now, they are no longer 'your' morphers. They are ours."
The guards take the rangers out the door. Harrison sits down at his desk. Suddenly his phone rings. He answers it. "Hello…" He says. "Of course. I will be down immediately." He stands up and leaves his office.
Harrison walks into a room that looks like a laboratory. "Command Harrison," one of the men in the room says.
Harrison walks up to him and shakes his hand. "Mr. Owens." He says. "I understand our Super Ranger is ready for testing."
"That is correct, sir." Mr. Owens says. "After studying the source of the other rangers powers, we were able to create a similar 'power coin' for our ranger. It should provide enough energy to power our ranger."
"Well then, what are we waiting for. Let's fire it up." Harrison says.
"We are unable to complete the testing here." Owens says. Harrison glares at him. "What I mean is that the amount of energy that the power coin supplies is so great, that if we made any mistakes, it could, possibly, cause a small explosion."
"Are you saying you made a mistake?" Harrison asks.
"No." Owens says. "But for safety reason, it would be better not to test out the powers here. We have to much expensive equipment here that would be impossible to replace if we did, accidently, make a small miscalculation."
"If you can't show me a demonstration here, why did you call me down?" Harrison asks.
"We were planning on showing you the suit and robotic prototype." Owens says.
"Well, it's better than nothing, I suppose." Harrison says. "Where are you planning on testing it?"
"We have a testing facility set up outside the town of Angel Grove, California." Owens explains. "Their economy is in the tank and entire district was shut down. The district is now jokingly referred to as the 'abandoned warehouse district'. We figured this area was a good spot to set up a test facility do to the lack of people in the area."
"Of course it's in Angel Grove." Harrison says. "You do know that's where those teenagers are from, right?"
"No sir, I did not, but not to worry." Owens says. "They will no idea anything is taking place. Now, shall we begin to look at our prototypes."
"Fine." Harris says. Owens walks down a set of stairs and Harrison follows closely behind. They walk up to a glass case.
"Here is our suit prototype." Owens says. Harrison walks around the glass case. "You'll notice its design is similar to the other rangers. A solid color, with white diamonds across the chest. However, the covering the chest, as you can see, is a golden shield. This is to protect the user from any sort of stab wounds to this region."
"It's green." Harrison says. "Why green?"
"We chose the color green for a number of different reasons." Owens says. "In some cultures, green has strong emotional correspondence with safety, and we wanted our rangers to be a symbol of safety. Also, green suggests stability and endurance, as well as hope."
"I knew there was a reason we had a psychiatrist working here." Harrison says, jokingly. "I like it."
"Of course, the fact that our giant robot was based on Godzilla also factored in to choosing green for the color." Owens says laughing. "Would you like to look at that?"
"Of course." Harrison says. The two of them walk away from the ranger suit, towards what looks like an airplane hanger bay. They walk out onto a metal bridge overlooking the area. It's very loud in this area, as their machines running. The two men have to speak loudly just so they can hear each other.
"This is as close as we can get for now." Owens says. "Our robot prototype is not quite finished yet, but as you can see, it alone is the same size as the rangers giant robots when they combined."
"Just to make things easier, the teenagers referred to their robots as zords." Harrison says. "I know it's kind of a cheesy name, but it flows off the tongue better than 'giant robots', don't you think?"
"I suppose." Owens says. "Well, our 'zord" has rocket launchers built into it's fingers, and has a drill built into his tail. He can use both of those to attack his enemies. It's also been designed to fight both on ground and under water. It is called by the ranger using his dagger. By pressing the buttons in a certain order, he can also control the… 'zord'… without even entering the cockpit, however, entering the cockpit will give the ranger greater control."
"So based on the design of the zord and suit, would it be fair to call this ranger the green dragon ranger?" Harrison says.
"Well, I suppose that would be appropriate." Owens says.
"And that would make this zord the Dragonzord."
"Sure." Owens says. "Now, if you're done naming everything, I'd like to know what you think of the… Dragonzord."
"I like it." Harrison says. "When finished, I believe it would be quite effective against the monsters attacking our city."
"I'm glad to hear that." Owens says. "I will inform our testing unit. We will transfer our power coin and suit to our testing facility by semi-truck." The two of them exit the bridge and return to the laboratory.
"Why by truck?" Harrison asks. "Why not by plane or helicopter? Wouldn't that be much faster?"
"Yes it would, but we aren't sure how the change in altitude would effect the coin." Owens explains. "It probably wouldn't have any complications, but we're just being safe."
"I have 1 more question for you." Harrison says. "The teenagers told me that their powers were DNA locked. Is this ranger also DNA locked?"
"We can set a DNA lock if we so choose." Owens says. "It's set up that the users DNA is programmed into the morpher, and subsequently, our computer system. As long as we don't lock it on our computer system, anyone can access the powers. Once we enable the DNA lock through our computer, it would be nearly impossible to override. However, we would only enable that in dire circumstances."
"Good to know." Harrison says. "Now, if there is nothing else, I will return to my office. Keep up the good work, Mr. Owens."
"Will do, sir." Owens says. "And thank you."
Harrison walks up the stairs. Owens turns to the other workers. "Load the truck!" He shouts.
Rita is looking down at Earth through a telescope in her palace. "There is the answer!" She shouts.
Finster walks in. "What is it, my queen." He says.
"The humans have developed a ranger of their own." Rita shouts. "I want that power for my own."
"Attacking the Earth without their own weapon built for defense." Finster says. "Brilliant, my queen."
"I know isn't it." Rita says. "Now, the only question is how to acquire the power."
"Would you like me to create a monster?" Finster asks. "I'm sure one of the monsters in my book would be repertoire would be able to complete this task."
"No." Rita says. "I have a better idea. Goldar!" She shouts. Goldar enters.
"Yes, my queen." Goldar says.
"I want you to prove your loyalty to me." Rita says. "You disobeyed a direct order last time. If it happens again I will have you destroyed."
"I understand." Goldar says.
"Good." Rita responds. "Now, I have a plan to destroy the Earth once and for all. The humans have created what they refer to as a super ranger. It is powered by something similar to a power coin, and it is being transferred to Angel Grove as we speak. I want you to take a squad of putties and attack the truck, and do not return to me without that coin."
"But, my queen, who will use the coin?" Goldar asks.
"I will determine that later." Rita asks. "The most important thing is that the coin never reaches the testing facilities. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, my empress." Goldar says. He pulls his sword across his chest as if to salute. He then exits.
"Soon, I will have a ranger of my own to destroy the planet with!" Rita shouts. She then laughs maniacally. Finster joins in on her laugh. "This time, the planet will fall, and then all of them will bow to me. Empress Rita!"
The guards throw the rangers in the jail cell in the back of the helicopter.
"You know, I'm really getting tired of being thrown in these cells." Zack says, as he stands up and dusts himself off. "So now what we do?" he asks.
"I guess we just go back to Angel Grove." Trini says. "Try to have a normal life again."
"No." Jason says. "We can't just give up. So we don't have our morphers anymore. Big deal. Zordon chose us to save the world. That's still what we have to do."
"How do you suggest doing that?" Trini asks.
"Yeah." Kim says. "In case you forgot, we kind of got our asses kicked by the weakest of Rita's monsters without our powers."
"Who cares." Jason says. "We're still a team. We're still rangers."
"Perhaps Zordon knows of another power source we could use." Billy suggests. "If not, then I don't know what we can do."
"First thing's first." Jason says. "When we get back to Angel Grove, let's all go check in with our parents. Let them know we're OK. After that, let's meet at the command center. Hopefully, Billy's right and Zordon will know what to do."
END CHAPTER 8