In the city of Corinth, a woman watched as a man worked on the engine of her car. She looked on nervously as he looked through the systems, working away on it. She shifted her shopping bags, allowing her to get a hand to her son, who was looking fed up waiting on the repair.
"Ah, there we are, there's the problem." The mechanic said in a heavily accented voice as he pulled out an engine part. "There's the problem, you see that crack? Yeah, this thing's been about ready to give up the ghost for a while now."
"Can you do anything Flynn?" She asked. "I need my car..."
"Well, I can patch it up, but if this isn't replaced you'll be seeing me again to give the whole car its last rites in a few weeks." He told her. The woman looked completely distraught hearing this.
"I just paid Charlie's tuition fees; I can't afford to replace that!" She told him. Flynn just sighed and approached her.
"Look Joyce, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll get you a lift home before that ice-cream melts." He told her. "I'll take this back to the shop and replace the part..."
"But..."
"We have very generous repayment plans." He assured her. "And given that Charlie here is such a good wee pal to my Callum...I think I can be a little flexible about the first couple of payments."
"Flynn, you really are amazing!" She responded joyfully. "Please, let me do something for you at least! I can...I can bring around some of those iced buns you love so much from my bakery!"
"That would be lovely Joyce." He responded. Just then, his cell phone rang. He looked to it, seeing the caller ID, before answering.
"Scott, nice tae hear from ye." Flynn began. He listened to what he had to say, his face slipping. "I'll be there."
"Dad!" He called out as he hung up. His father, who was with the tow truck looked to him. "I have to go."
"Flynn..."
"Scott called, it's urgent." He told him. "Get Joyce home and the car to the shop. He looked to the woman. "We'll have your car back on the road as soon as we can, I promise."
With that, he ran off, waving down a cab. Joyce just smiled, shaking her head.
"That boy of yours, always being the superhero." She commented.
"You have no idea." He said with a chuckle. "Come on, I'll get your car hooked up."
Professor Cog made his way down a long road, finding himself on a highway. He wasn't in the least bit concerned about the traffic, and remained completely unconcerned about the blaring horns and cars forced to swerve out of the way as he walked down the centre of the freeway. There were a few that crashed and collided in their attempts to avoid him. He smiled as he saw a car hit the central partition, sparking as it slid along it at speed, before heading on its way.
"These humans appear to be smart." He commented. "They obviously know what's good for them."
He looked up, seeing a sign hanging over the next exit, which led down into a massive city.
"Harwood County." He read aloud. "Well, I suppose my mission of conquest has to begin somewhere."
With that, he threw some nuts and bolts into the street, which formed up into a legion of Cogs. He signalled down the road.
"Come!" He ordered them. "Let us introduce ourselves!"
Over in Corinth, the Rangers landed the Red Galleon where they had been instructed, and lowered the gang-plank, stepping off into the middle of Corinth Central Square. They found a contingent of guards waiting for them, dressed in grey body suits, with black body-armour over the top, and helmets. Most of them were carrying blaster rifles, cradling them pointing in a safe direction, but still in hand ready to go. The two closest to the ship were similarly dressed, but weren't wearing helmets or hats. They didn't have rifles, but they could see pistols in holsters by their hips. Jake just pulled in towards Gia.
"Well, this is welcoming." He commented.
"You can't blame them for being careful." She responded, heading down the gang plank. The others held back a little, being ready to back her up. The male officer stepped forward to meet her.
"I'm Gia Moran, Yellow Corsair Ranger." She introduced herself. The man reached out a hand.
"Colonel Damien Hicks, Corinth Defence Force." He answered, shaking her hand. "This is Corporal Vasquez."
Vasquez stepped forward, pulling out a sort of baton, with yellow and black markings on it. Gia grabbed her hand, stopping her, while the others got ready to make their move. The soldiers all went for their rifles, readying them, but Hicks held up a hand.
"Sorry, there's been a misunderstanding." He explained. "Corporal Vasquez was just going to use this scanner to check for Venjix technology and harmful pathogens. It's just standard procedure."
"Alright." Gia said, letting go of Vasquez's wrist slowly. She could see the soldier giving her a cautious look as her free hand clipped the strap on her holster again and moved away from the gun. Gia stood as she allowed Vasquez to scan her. There were a few bleeps, and some loud bleeping as it got to the area of Gia's inside pocket. Vasquez looked to the display.
"No Venjix Tech, or harmful infections, she's definitely human." She responded. "There's something in her jacket though..."
"It's my morpher." Gia interrupted her. Vasquez just looked to her.
"I was going to say, it shows similar energy signatures to the old RPM team." She added. Hicks looked to her.
"We said..."
"We agreed no weapons; we're not the ones that turned up with an army." Gia reminded him. "The morphers stay under wraps as long as your trigger fingers don't get itchy."
"Fair enough." He replied, gesturing to a vehicle. "Mayor Truman's waiting for you. We'll take care..."
"The ship can take care of itself." Gia assured him. "For the safety of your troops, I'd recommend that no one tries to poke around while we're gone."
With that, Gia and the other Rangers headed down the gang plank. Vasquez scanned each of them in turn, finding much the same results. Jake, Noah and Emma passed with only a cursory scan. Orion was scanned, but Vasquez got some odd readings. As she frowned, everyone started to tense up again.
"You show up as human, but your muscle and bone density..."
"I'm Andresian." Orion explained. "The planet I come from, the gravity is a little higher. Apparently my kind has evolved to be a little more robust."
Vasquez just waved him on. They were scanning for pathogens and Venjix technology. Strictly speaking, weighing thirty pounds or so more than someone his size should wasn't really a crime. It still left some of the others looking a little uneasy though. As they scanned Jordan, the scanner went wild though. Seeing the way everyone reacted, Jordan quickly held up his hands.
"OK, it's not Venjix tech or a virus." Vasquez rushed out before anyone got a little too on edge about it all. "I don't know..."
"I'm not human, I'm half-Eltarian." Jordan told her. She just looked up to him.
"You're what?" She asked.
"His dad was an alien." Jake explained.
"Interesting crew you have." Vasquez commented. "There's nothing harmful here, as long as everyone keeps their trigger fingers occupied."
"Anyway, your transport awaits." Hicks stated, gesturing to the vehicle. Gia just nodded, before heading towards it, following Vasquez.
They got in, finding that the interior was surprisingly comfortable. There was a fridge, carrying some drinks and snacks, and the seating was pretty luxurious. As they got in, Vasquez and Hicks got in behind them, taking seats. Hicks made a point of removing his and Vasquez's side-arms, disarming them, and handing them to another trooper before closing the door.
"Sorry about that, we can't be too careful." He said apologetically. "We've...we've had a lot of problems. People are scared."
"They have a right to be scared by the looks of things." Noah commented as they pulled away. "What happened here? I thought Venjix was gone?"
"Venjix is, but his flunky Professor Cog's been making some major moves." Hicks told them.
"Professor Cog?" Noah asked. "Didn't the RPM and Samurai Rangers destroy him?"
"He found a way to save himself." Vasquez added. "Since then, he's been attacking virtually non-stop. He's stopped caring about keeping the infrastructure and started using bigger and bigger weapons. You saw the wastes."
"The Samurai told us you were expanding." Emma told her. Vasquez shook her head.
"He's stopped caring about what he has to do. It's like, he no longer cares if there's any of the world left by the time he finishes this war. We had no choice but to raise the dome again, otherwise...he'd have wiped us out months ago."
"This...this is a pretty windy route." Jake commented, looking out the window. He could see a large, freeway bridge over the city. "Why aren't we going that way?"
"We have...problems...with the freeway." Hicks responded.
Just then, they heard a roar of engines, far louder and fiercer than any they had ever heard. They all ducked as a huge vehicle, which looked a lot like a formula 1 racer roared past overhead. The wind caused by it passing was so strong, it shook the transport.
"What the hell was that?" Emma asked.
"That...that would be the problem we're having with the freeway." Vasquez told her. "Anyway, we're here, so we'll let Mayor Truman fill you in."
As they pulled to a halt, they all disembarked, finding themselves standing face-to-face with the RPM Rangers. The whole team was there, and had changed into their uniforms for the occasion to put them at ease, all except Scott, who was still in a business suit. He stepped forward.
"The Corsair Rangers, your reputation precedes you." He told him. "I hope you don't mind, but my wife's managed to maintain e-mail contact across dimensions with the Samurai Rangers. We did a little asking around."
"You wouldn't be doing your job if you didn't." Gia answered. Scott shook hands with Jordan.
"Scott Truman, former RPM Red Ranger." He told him. "You must be Troy..."
"Uh...my name's Jordan actually." Jordan told him, remembering that the Samurai hadn't actually seen them since Troy had left the team. "I'm standing in for him for the short term. Gia's kind of the Captain...I'm just keeping Troy's tights warm."
"Gia Moran." She introduced herself. "This is..."
"Emma, Jake, Noah and..." Scott said, guessing who they were, before stopping at Orion. "I guess you're the new guy."
"Orion." He introduced himself.
"Nice grip." Scott said, rubbing his hand after the handshake. "Well, here's my team. Dillon, Ziggy..."
"Gem and Gemma!" Orion interrupted him, seeing the twins. They just looked at each other, before looking back at him.
"Have we..."
"...met?" Gem concluded. Orion realised that this would be difficult to explain. They had met in one of his visions. He had spoken to them when he first fused the Gold and Silver keys. It seemed, though, that they hadn't experienced that.
"It's...hard to explain." He assured them.
"Summer, Flynn." Gia said, looking to them. "We...uh...we met you...but the you that live in our dimension."
"Well, since we've all been introduced, how about we get rid of the elephant in the room?" Scott told them. "We didn't send any distress signal. The signal you received was from someone else."
"Professor Cog?" Noah asked. Dr. K just nodded.
"I'm afraid so." She told them. "He was attacking us relentlessly, forcing us back into the dome. Once we raised it, we entered a kind of stalemate."
"Our Ranger Powers disappeared." Summer explained. "It was about a year ago, all of a sudden our morphers just stopped working. The Universal Bio-magnetic energy grid..."
"Morphing Grid." Jordan corrected her. "Where we're from, we call it the Morphing Grid."
"Well, whatever it is...it disappeared." Dr. K told them. "Without it, we couldn't access any of our weapons or hardware. The Zords, we can't risk powering them up, without our connection to your...Morphing Grid...we can't control them, so we've had to keep them de-powered and sealed in the vault beneath the Garage."
"Without our weapons, we couldn't hope to defeat Professor Cog. Anything we have is like...water pistols compared to his stuff." Ziggy told them. "But he doesn't have anything that can get through the dome, so..."
"Stalemate." Gia concluded. "Why does he want to destroy the world so much if he wants to take it over? What's the point in owning it if there's nothing worth owning?"
"I believe that I have an answer to that." Dr K told them. "Shortly before you arrived, our scanners stopped picking up traces of Professor Cog or his army."
"Wait...they just disappeared?" Jake asked.
"I believe he no longer cared about keeping the planet intact because he has sought his sights elsewhere." Dr K told them. "We believe he may have sought out a world with more resources, one that Venjix hasn't reduced to...this."
"You mean...our world?" Gia asked. She just nodded.
"I am also afraid to say that the worm-hole you came through has closed." Dr K informed them. "I believe that Professor Cog sent that signal."
"So we came through to help you..."
"And he closed the worm-hole, keeping us trapped here and leaving him with a world full of resources and no Rangers to stop him!" Jake said, throwing his hands up. "And we fell for it!"
"We're trapped here?" Emma asked. "There's no way back?"
"We'll do all we can to help you find a way to re-open the worm hole." Dr K told them. "If I still had my Ranger technology, it would be simple, but without it..."
"If anyone can do it, it's Dr K." Scott assured them. "In the meantime, we'll put you up and..."
The whole building shook as they heard the familiar whine of engines and screeching of tyres.
"OK, that could get annoying!" Jake stated. "What's with that anyway?"
"That was Professor Cog's little parting gift." Scott explained. "Dr K was working on a new Zord, the Turbo Falcon, before the Morphing Grid went down. We never got a chance to test it; we knew we wouldn't be able to control it."
"Unfortunately, Professor Cog somehow hacked it before we got the dome up." Scott told them. "I guess he figured it would be ironic to have our own technology finish us off."
"We corralled it onto the Freeway." Flynn told them. "There wasn't much else we could do, but with all that road to race around on, it seems happy enough to just run around all day and night. At least while it's there, it isn't wrecking the city."
"Well, maybe we can help you out with that." Gia suggested. "You might not have Zord anymore, but we do!"
"We can't ask..."
"Hey, we came here to help right?" Jake asked. "It's not like any of us can help with the portal thing...well...maybe Jordan could, but..."
"You know about trans-dimensional portals?" Dr K asked. He just shrugged.
"I know a little." He told her. "My dad's people kind of invented them."
"Then you can stay and help me here." Dr K told him.
"I'll go with the Corsairs." Scott announced. "They could always use someone who knows the city."
"Can...can I go too?" Ziggy asked. "Um...on the ship I mean. I could...uh..."
"You want to ride on a pirate ship don't you?" Jake asked. Ziggy just nodded enthusiastically. "Anyone else?"
"Well, I'll probably be more use here, helping Dr K." Flynn stated.
"We'll go." Summer said, taking Dillon's arm. The Black Ranger didn't say anything, just nodding in agreement.
"We'll stay here..."
"...and help Dr K!" Gemma concluded.
"Alright, we've got a Zord to capture." Gia stated. "Come on!"
With that, they all headed out on their mission. Dr K just looked to Gem, Gemma, Jordan and Flynn.
"Alright, let's see if we can't open that worm-hole." She responded.
Up on The Armada Command Ship, Damaras was still struggling to think of ways he could get out of this situation. He had been trying to think of ways to de-rail the ceremony all day, but he couldn't think of anything.
Even now as he stood, looking ridiculous in a tuxedo that was stretched over his mechanical body, he was still trying to find some inspiration. It didn't matter that he was standing at the altar, with Prince Vekar at his side, waiting for Lavira's arrival. It didn't matter that the ship's Master of Ceremonies, whose duties generally amounted to two-minute speeches whenever another Commander was destroyed was waiting to read his first wedding was watching. He was still trying to think of how to delay this, to keep it from happening until Vrak could enact his plan.
"Damaras, do you have the rings?" Prince Vekar asked again. He just nodded. Just then, the music started up. Prince Vekar snapped his gaze forward, and Damaras did the same.
Lavira started to make her way up the aisle, being accompanied by droids, with a massive smile on her face. Even though she was still injured from the previous battle, she could not be happier. He was standing waiting for her; her Prince was waiting to swear himself to her forever.
She was bowled over though as a couple of X-borgs ran past her, bumping into her. She yelled her disapproval as they ran up to the altar, shoving their way to see Prince Vekar.
The first was smashed into oblivion in a fit of temper as Vekar reacted in reflex, realising it wasn't Lavira.
"You, what do you want?" He demanded.
"Sire, someone is attempting to take over the Earth." The X-borg told him.
"Well no shit!" Prince Vekar replied sarcastically. "Now if you don't mind, I'm getting married!"
"Your Highness...it isn't you." The X-borg stated. "Someone ELSE is attacking the Earth as we speak."
"WHAT!?" Vekar screamed. He turned and stormed up the aisle, past Lavira who was just getting up.
"Damaras, Lavira, power up Argus and come with me!" He ordered them. "I didn't work this hard to have some upstart snatch the Earth from under my nose!"