Brody arrived back at the High School feeling more than a little sure of himself. In the space of less than an hour, he'd single-handedly seen off a monster, gotten registered and picked up his schedule for school, and still managed to get to his first class with time to spare. When he got there, the kids were still gathered around their various tablets.
"That video has one million and one views!" Victor whined, looking at it. "That's a million more than mine!"
"And I'm the one that watched yours." Monty told him with a shrug.
"Hey guys!" Brody said to his team as he arrived. When they turned to look at him though, they looked a little less than happy. "What?"
"We all saw the video." Sarah told him. "Brody, you took on a monster by yourself!"
"I didn't take him on by myself...I had my Datacomm with me!" He answered, showing him the Datacomm on his wrist. "It helped out."
"That's not the point Brody." Preston told him. "We're meant to be a team."
"It's alright, I had it covered." Brody said as he sat down. The teacher came in, somewhat rushing to get into the classroom. It was something of a habit for her to be in a hurry, timekeeping was never Ms Finch's strong suit. For a maths teacher, she was surprisingly disorganised, and was often seen walking some way to her classroom, before returning to her car for something she had forgotten to bring. It wasn't unknown for her to average about ten minutes late. The upside of that was that the kids rarely if ever got into trouble for being late to her class, since she knew she could never really hold them to a standard she couldn't meet herself.
"Alright class, we've got a lot to get through today so please just try to...well...keep up!" She told them. "First of all, we have a new student today. Um...Brody! Why don't you stand up and tell us a little about yourself?"
"Hi, I'm Brody..."
"Splendid! Now, let's begin!" She stated, before Brody had even fully stood up to answer. In some ways it was a blessing, while Sarah and her mysterious friend who had provided his forged paperwork had created a back-story for him, he hadn't had much of a chance to study it. He knew he 'went to school in Alaska', but beyond that he hadn't actually read enough of it to be prepared for any follow-up questions. Ms Finch seemed to be more interested in making good use of the time they had left in the class. "Alright, quickly now, into your teams! Excellent! Now, let's begin with the quiz. If I had five dollars, and I gave one friend a dollar twenty, and two others a quarter each, how much would I have left?"
"Calculate." Brody whispered into his Datacomm. Sarah noticed this and furrowed her brows. It distracted her from actually trying to figure out the answer herself.
"Three point two." The Datacomm told him. Brody's hand shot up, while everyone else was still scribbling down the sum, trying to figure it out.
"Three dollars and twenty cents!" Brody answered.
"That's correct, very good Brody! It seems our newest student is off to a good start." Ms Finch complimented him.
"It was a stupid question anyway." Victor commented, leaning back into his chair. "Nobody gives money to their friends!"
"I suppose it would require you have friends first!" Hayley responded, causing Victor to make a face at her. Sarah leaned across towards Brody.
"Brody, you can't use your Datacomm." She told him.
"Why not?" He asked her. Sarah couldn't believe that he couldn't figure that out. The students in the class weren't allowed to use their cell phones, heck; they weren't even allowed calculators for the weekly quiz! It was designed as an exercise for them to exercise their mental arithmetic, allowing them to get used to doing their working on paper. While exams did allow the use of calculators, the marks weren't only given for getting the answer right.
In maths and science especially, getting the answer right was only part of the awarding of the marks for a question. It wasn't even unknown for examiners to award NO marks for a correct answer if there was no working, presuming the student to simply have guessed the answer correctly. However, showing the working of the equation would be awarded at least some marks, even if the answer ended up being wrong, simply because the examiner could see that the student knew HOW to get the answer, and could see where the mistake was made. The full marks would be awarded if all the working was correct and the answer was correct. Encouraging the kids to get into the habit of writing down their working was a pretty good practice for teachers, and Ms Finch had found this was a good way to do that.
"Alright, now if I was to run for twenty minutes, skip for ten minutes and jump for three minutes, how long would I have exercised for?" She asked. Again, everyone started scribbling down their working, but Brody's hand shot straight up.
"Thirty three minutes!" He stated.
"Correct again Brody!" She complimented him. "Watch out Monty, it looks like someone is out to steal your thunder!"
"So much for teamwork." Calvin muttered as Ms Finch looked to her book for another problem.
Up on the Warrior Dome, Wrench had called Cosmo to the production room, explaining to him what had happened.
"This better be good Wrench." Cosmo told him. "I'm already dealing with a lot of grumbles about that Spinferno 'fight', and I do use the term loosely. What use to me is a monster that taps out three minutes in?"
"To be fair, the Red Ranger was a few steps ahead of him, and now I know how!" Wrench told him cheerfully. "You remember all those strange Datacomm enquiries I highlighted earlier?"
"Yes?" Cosmo asked him. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Wrench showed him the footage of Brody's fight, showing the Red Ranger holding a Datacomm, before launching the water attack.
"The Red Ranger...of COURSE!" Cosmo stated, the realisation coming over him. "No wonder he's been three steps ahead on our playbook. He's been the one using it!"
"He must have had his Datacomm when he escaped! He's been using your own database against you!" Wrench told him.
"That little shit! I should send Spinferno down there right now to..."
"Actually, I had...kind of another idea." Wrench suggested.
"What kind of idea?" Cosmo asked. Wrench brought up a screen, showing the inside of Ms Finch's classroom, where the quiz was well underway.
"Look at the latest enquiries from the Datacomm." Wrench told him.
"He's using it to win a stupid High School quiz?" Cosmo asked him. Wrench just nodded.
"What is the atomic mass of the hydrogen isotope deuterium, which was found in high concentrations...?"
Wrench quickly typed something into the computer.
"What are you doing?" Cosmo asked him.
"Oh, I'm trying a little experiment." Wrench told him. "Watch."
"One!" Brody called out, throwing his hand up. Ms Finch sucked her teeth.
"Oh, I'm sorry; it looks like the hot streak has come to an end." She told him. "One is the atomic mass of hydrogen; the isotope has an atomic mass of two. You probably just got them mixed up."
Brody just looked a little confused, but chalked it up to him not asking the right question or something similar. Cosmo smiled.
"I like the way you think." Cosmo stated. "I'm going to get Spinferno ready and then send him to the amphitheatre. Send the Rangers there at lunch time."
"Will do boss!" Wrench said, looking back to the screen.
Back at the school, the quiz continued, and with the exception of the one hiccup, Brody was dominating the quiz thanks to his Datacomm. The frustration was really starting to show in Monty, who was used to running away with it, while the Rangers had just given up even trying, knowing that Brody was going to jump in long before any of them had a chance.
Ms Finch stuck mainly to math questions, but she did throw in some trivia too so that the students paid attention and didn't lose concentration. Brody held the Datacomm to his ear, before throwing up his hand at the latest question.
"George Washington!" He called out.
"Hang on! I saw that!" Victor called out, pointing at Brody. He had suspected something was off given the fact that by now normally Monty was a good twenty points ahead. However, the more he watched Brody, the more he noticed him dipping down in his chair before answering. He had only caught a glance at the Datacomm, but he had seen Brody speaking into it. "I saw the new kid using that...thing...on his wrist! The new kid is..."
He stood up for dramatic effect, pointing to him like he was accusing him of a grave crime.
"...CHEATING!" Victor declared. Everyone just groaned. The only thing missing was a dramatic 'dun dun dun', from the way Victor was acting.
"Is that true Brody?" Ms Finch asked. "What is that?"
"It's my Datacomm!" Brody said, smiling and showing it to her. "It gives me answers to everything!"
Sarah just started banging her head on the desk, while the other three Rangers all face-palmed. They weren't even allowed to use calculators, and Brody had basically just confessed to using a computer database without so much as a hint of guilt! Ms Finch did not seem happy at all!
"Did you hear that Monty?" Victor asked. "He said that thing gives him answers to EVERYTHING."
"My Apple Watch does the same thing." Monty muttered under his breath.
"Well, I don't know how they did things in your last school, but around here? We call that cheating!" Ms Finch told him, going to the board and striking a line through all the points Brody's team had earned. "I don't want to see that in this class again!"
Brody just dutifully took his Datacomm off his wrist and put it in the front pocket of his backpack as Ms Finch walked over to Monty's desk. "
Congratulations Monty, you win again by default. That makes seven weeks in a row."
"YES!" Monty screamed as he punched a fist into the air, before holding a thumb and finger to his forehead, taunting the Rangers. They couldn't do anything other than take it, knowing that thanks to Brody, they really didn't have any right to do anything other than accept the loss. Even if they didn't cheat, they didn't do anything to stop Brody cheating, which made them guilty by association. The bell went to signal the end of the class.
"Alright class, that's all for today. We'll do the same again next week." Ms Finch stated. "Perhaps this time EVERYONE will play fairly!"
As Brody threw on his backpack, he didn't notice the Datacomm flying out of the hole in the pocket. He had forgotten that Preston had warned him there was a hole in that pocket. As they were leaving the class, Victor saw the Datacomm on the floor and picked it up. He caught Monty and pulled him aside.
"Monty, look what I have!" He whispered. "It's that new kid's Data...thingy."
"Let's see how smart he is without..."
"Monty, look at the bigger picture here. He said it gives him answers to EVERYTHING!" Victor stated. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"That...your hair looks spectacular today?" Monty asked him, trying to think where he was going with this.
"NO!" He stated. "Well...yes, but...watch this. Data...um...thing. I have a life-or-death question. How do I make a video that will get more views than that battle this morning?"
Up on the Warrior Dome, Wrench was keeping track of Brody's Datacomm while he saw to other duties. The alert bleeped as the new inquiry came in.
"So, now the Red Ranger wants to know how to make his videos more interesting does he?" Wrench asked, before starting to type. "Well, maybe I'll give him a little advice!"
"You must defeat Spinferno alone." The Datacomm advised him. Victor just scoffed.
"Well, that's all well and good, but I don't know where or when..."
"Spinferno will be in the amphitheatre at noon today." The Datacomm responded. Victor smiled and handed the Datacomm to Monty.
"Here, get this back to the new kid before he realises he lost it and meet me at the amphitheatre." Victor told him.
"Where are you going?" Monty asked.
"If I'm going to play superhero, I'll need to look the part!" Victor said, pulling his best superhero pose. "Bring your camera!"
"Fight a monster?" Monty asked, looking to the Datacomm. "You know, for something that's supposed to have all the answers, it doesn't seem very smart!"
The rest of the morning went largely without incident; Monty had caught up to Brody and told him that he had dropped his Datacomm, giving it back to him before their next class. The team had gotten through the rest of the morning, with Brody spending most of his time just getting used to the classes. While Mick had taught him as much as he could on the ship, he hadn't really had much of a structured education. Sarah had picked out a good selection of classes for him, but it was clear formal education was something he was going to have to adjust to, especially the structure and the rules.
"Sorry!" Monty said as he accidentally bumped into Brody, almost causing him to drop his lunch tray.
"It's alright!" Brody called after him, still grateful that he returned his Datacomm. He furrowed his brows. "Where's he off to in such a hurry?"
"Don't try to change the subject Brody!" Sarah said, giving him a withering look.
"The thing is Brody, even if you were allowed; you shouldn't use your Datacomm for everything." Hayley continued with the lecture it felt like his team mates had been giving him all day. "If you let the Datacomm give you all the answers, you'll never learn to do anything for yourself."
"But if you have a tool, why shouldn't you use it?" Brody asked in response. "It's just being practical!"
"Well...what about honour?" Calvin asked him. "The ninja didn't use guns because they were dishonourable!"
"Actually they didn't use them because for most of their missions they were impractical." Brody replied. The team just stared at him. "What? The ninja would use any tool that would help them in their task. They used things like explosives all the time. You have to believe if guns were a practical choice, there's no way they wouldn't use them!"
"So...it wasn't an honour thing?" Preston asked him. Brody just shook his head.
"They did virtually everything in concealment. Imagine being inside a shogun's palace trying to take out a target." Brody explained. "The guns at the time were mostly single-shot muskets! Firing off a weapon that only has one shot and takes almost a minute to reload within earshot of dozens of enemies it a pretty dumb thing to do!"
"He has a point." Calvin sighed. "I guess that's another ninja myth we can chalk up to Hollywood."
"Hey, check this out!" One of the other kids called out. "That monster the Red Ranger was fighting has just turned up again!"
The Rangers all looked to Brody.
"That flame freak is back?" Sarah asked. "Why didn't your Datacomm warn you?"
"Oh, so now you WANT to use my Datacomm?" Brody said with an arrogant little smirk.
"It warned you the last time he showed up, why didn't it warn you this time?" Calvin asked.
"That's...that's actually a good question." Brody asked. "Datacomm..."
"We can ask it later!" Hayley said, grabbing Brody and hauling him out of his seat. She caught a glance at one of the many screens the students were using to watch Spinferno's new rampage. "It looks like he's at the amphitheatre."
"At least that's not too far." Calvin answered. "Come on guys!"
With that, the Rangers all ran out of the school, getting a safe distance before morphing.
Over at the amphitheatre, Spinferno was causing as much mayhem as he could in the hopes of getting the Rangers' attention. He had already tapped out once to the Red Ranger, he had a lot to make up for in the eyes of his fans. He wasn't overly concerned about the fact that Cosmo didn't seem to be happy about him running, all things considered it was better to take one loss and live than it was to wait on a loss he wouldn't walk away from! Still, he knew that had now tarnished his record, which meant the fans would see him as less of a credible threat to Galvanax's title belt.
He had already hinted at a challenge, and Galvanax had given him his word that if he got the Power Stars he would accept a public challenge if Spinferno offered it. It was a huge deal, one he couldn't afford to pass up. While he had an impressive winning streak, he knew that realistically it could be another couple of years before he was considered on Galvanax's level as far as the network was concerned. Of course if the FANS were demanding it, then they would have no choice but to take notice!
"Halt, evil creature!" He heard a bellowing voice ring out. He smiled as he heard this.
"I was beginning to think you would never show..." He turned around and his words tailed off. He started scratching his head in confusion. "Who the HELL are you?"
"Call me Victor the Victorious!" Victor declared as he bounded into view in what could best be described as an Adam West style Batman run, before standing with his hands on his hips. He was wearing what could only be described as a rather hastily and cheaply assembled superhero outfit, comprising of the tight trousers from his football uniform and the shoulder pads which he had spray-painted black with two large V's painted over the chest. He was wearing a cape, which draped down his back, and he gave the monster a toothy grin. "Leave now or feel my wrath!"
Spinferno just blinked, before doubling over laughing.
"You'll not be laughing in a moment!" Victor stated, picking up a fire-extinguisher he had brought with him, before looking to Monty, giving the camera a smile. "Fear not citizens, you're going to get quite a show!"