Chapter 39 - The Secret Life Of Matthew Griffin
Valley High School
Christmas was fast approaching and for the students at Valley High School there were only three days left in the Semester. Inside the Gymnasium, Riley was addressing the members of the school's fencing team, "Alright great job today everyone", he called out, "don't forget that our first tournament is on January fourteenth so no slacking off over Christmas". Everyone laughed and began filing out of the gym.
As the green ranger gathered his things together, he saw a familiar head of red hair waiting for him at the door. He smiled and leant down to give the girl a kiss, "Hey Marissa, what did you think of the lesson today?"
"I think it was a good idea to bring along a guest teacher", she began, "but your friend is a little", she paused for a moment, "intense".
The pair looked towards a low wall where Ivan was sitting. The gold ranger was polishing his Thunder Blade with a focused look on his face. He saw that the pair were looking at him so he gave them a polite smile and a wave, "Yeah he's certainly a character", he sighed. "So what are your plans for the festive season?" he asked his girlfriend.
"Not much", she began, "my older sister is coming home from college for a couple of weeks so we'll probably hang out for a bit. What about you, is your Dad going to be out of hospital?"
Riley shook his head, "He's recovering well but the doctors want him to stay in Mariner Bay for a couple more weeks".
"So it's just you and your brother", Marissa asked.
"Yeah but I'll probably spend a lot of it with my friends", he replied, "and with you of course", the girl smiled and kissed Riley on the cheek.
"Riley", Ivan called out whilst waving his communicator, "we've got that appointment to get to".
The green ranger nodded, "Sorry Marissa I'll speak to you later", he turned and ran off with Ivan, leaving Marissa to wonder what was so important.
"I just got a call from Jason", the gold ranger said when Riley caught up with him, "there's a monster a couple of blocks away. The others will catch up with us shortly".
The green and gold rangers quickly morphed and soon located the source of the disturbance. There was a monster dressed in a pink and white onesie with the face of a mutated ram. The path leading up to the monster was littered with people who appeared to have spontaneously fallen asleep. "I am seeing that right?" Riley asked his partner, "a monster wearing pyjamas".
"It would appear so mate", Ivan responded. He then saw several Vivix harassing a few civilians, "Come on, let's put a few of those new moves of yours to good effect". The gold ranger charged in, his sword blazing with golden energy. He immediately tore through a couple of the footsoldiers without breaking stride. He dodged the swing of another Vivix, the blade passing perilously close to his head. Raising his left arm, he blasted it in the stomach with his Ptera Brace. The creature cried out in pain before dropping to the ground.
Riley called on his Dino Blade, twisting his hands so he held it using his favoured backhanded grip. A flick of the wrist dispatched one of the Vivix before he had to raise his sword to deflect another blow. Kicking the creature in the stomach, he took to the air and brought his blade down through the footsoldier. "Riley, catch", Ivan called and threw one of his Energems to the green ranger. Riley loaded it into his blade, the edge of which immediately crackled with electricity. "Thundering Raptor Strike", he called and sent a wave of green and gold energy at the final two Vivix, permanently disabling them.
"Thanks Ivan", Riley handed the gem back to the gold ranger, "now for the creepy monster".
"Creepy am I", the monster, Sandman, called out, "let's heat things up a little". Sandman opened his mouth and jet of fire flew towards the two rangers. Using their quick reflexes, they dropped down low and dodged the attack. It was a close call, they could feel the heat from the fire jet through their suits.
"Try this on for size", Ivan said and swung his Thunder Blade towards the beast. To their horror, the monster pulled out a giant pillow that absorbed the attack. The gold ranger was thrown back by the recoil from his own attack.
"This guy means business", Riley stated and pulled out his Dinovolver. He fired several bursts of energy at the monster but like Ivan's attack, the monsters pillow shield absorbed them all.
Regrouping with his team mate, Ivan shook his head, "I hope the others get here soon, I'm running out of ideas". Suddenly the monster was knocked of his feet from a blow from behind. The pair thought it was the other rangers but to their surprise it was the mysterious grey ranger, "How did he know where we were?" the gold ranger asked.
"No idea but we need all the assistance we can get", Riley responded. The grey ranger began to use his array of martial arts to slow down the monster. He ducked underneath an attempted punch before unleashing a barrage of blows to the monster's body. A standing drop kick soon had the monster flat on his back.
The two rangers walked over to the latest addition to their team, "Great job", the gold ranger said but the grey ranger looked at them suspiciously.
"Can you at least tell us who you are?" Riley asked the new ranger. None of them were paying attention to the monster and he was soon on his feet. Out the corner of his eye, Riley saw the monster throw his pillow in their direction. The other two rangers saw this as well and stood protectively in front of the green ranger. The pillow struck them and they were rendered unconscious immediately.
"Curses, there still one of you left", Sandman kicked the ground in frustration.
"Guys abort don't come down here", Riley said into his communicator, "and prepare the lab, I'm bringing a couple of casualties with me". He pointed his Dinovolver to the ground, creating a temporary teleportation portal and disappeared.
Dino Mansion
Inside the lab a pair of pull out infirmary bed had been assembled. Kiera had hooked the gold and grey rangers up to a machine to check their vital signs. Riley had his helmet off and was pacing around the patients nervously. There was a flash of light and the other rangers arrived, "Riley what happened out there?" Tyler asked.
"Is that the grey ranger?" Chase added.
"A monster hit them both with some kind of spell", the green ranger began, "I think it's put then both into some kind of deep sleep".
"You're exactly right", Kiera replied, "their vital signs are good but my guess is that you need to defeat the monster to break the spell".
"That's a quick diagnosis", Shelby commented.
The purple ranger shrugged, "Defeating the monster always seems to break magical spells throughout the history of the Power Rangers so why not now".
Koda and Chloe approached the sleeping form of the grey ranger, "So the question now is; who's under the helmet?" the blue ranger asked.
"You can't just take his helmet off", his sister replied, "that's like an invasion of privacy. If he wanted to tell us who he was then he would've done so by now".
"But it would be good to know", Chase reasoned, "I mean if he gets worse then we wouldn't know how to treat him properly". He then looked towards the red ranger, "It's your call Tyler".
The red ranger thought about this for a moment, "I say we do it, we can't really have an identified person running around with a morpher". There was a mixed reaction to the red ranger's decision but everyone grudgingly accepted his call. Tyler approached the grey ranger and found the clasps on the side of his helmet. He popped them open and carefully removed the helmet.
"Matt!" Riley exclaimed and slowly backed away from his brother, "I can't believe he'd do this". The green ranger quickly retrieved his helmet and teleported out of the lab.
There was silence amongst the remaining rangers until Chase said, "Well I didn't see that coming".
The alarms started blaring throughout the Lab and Kiera pulled up an image on screen, "Looks like the monster is back in the park", she began, "Chloe you go and take Ivan's place with the team", she said to the aqua ranger, "I'll keep an eye on the sleeping beauties".
"Alright guys let's do it", Tyler said as the rangers loaded their DInovolvers, "Dino Spirits, Dino Charge", he called and in a flash of light, they teleported away.
HEROES OF OUR TIME
Matt Griffin groaned as he tried to move his head, it felt like it weighed over a thousand pounds. He opened his eyes and found himself in a strange looking lab with a mixture of high tech equipment and retro looking devices, "Hey you're awake", a young female voice called out. His vision was suddenly filled with the face of a young woman with light brown eyes and long brown hair.
"Where am I?" Matt croaked.
"In my lab", Kiera replied, "welcome to the command center of the Dino Charge rangers, more affectionately known as the Dino Mansion". She shone a bright light into his eyes, "Your pupils are responding normally so that's good". She placed the flashlight on the bed, "I don't think we've ever met before, I'm Kiera Cranston the Dino Charge Purple Ranger".
Matt slowly sat up and saw that he was still partially morphed but his helmet was sitting on the bed beside him, "Does everyone know I'm the grey ranger".
Kiera nodded sadly, "I'm afraid so, we all decided that it was the best course of action at the time". A groaning from the other bed told her that Ivan was awaking up as well, "Just sit tight, I need to look at my other patient". She wheeled herself over to where the gold ranger was slowly recovering.
The grey ranger meanwhile decided to rest his head back on his pillow. This wasn't how he wanted Riley to find out that he was a ranger. He had been experimenting with his new powers and found the belt buckle that also doubled as a communicator. He had been listening to several communications over the last couple of weeks. When he heard that his brother was about to fight a monster without the backup of most of his team, he immediately rushed to his aid.
"Our mystery ranger has a face", a voice called out. Matt turned around and saw the gold ranger sitting on the edge of the other bed. He removed an Energem from the brace on his arm and demorphed, "You're Riley's brother aren't you?"
"And you're Ivan Prushanov the amateur farmer", Matt groaned, "are all of Riley's friends rangers".
"I think you're about to find out", Kiera said and pointed to the screen. Even without the backup of the Ptera and Plesio Megazords, the rangers had still defeated the monster. With the zords retreating, it meant that the others would be back shortly.
Moments later there was a flash of light and six people teleported into the lab. He recognised most of their faces and he also saw that this brother was fuming. "The spell was broken then", Tyler said to no one in particular.
"No Tyler, it's now you who is dreaming", Kiera rolled her eyes.
"No need for sarcasm", Tyler replied before turning his attention to Matt, "well I think you know most of us but we'll introduce ourselves anyway, I'm Tyler Navarro, red ranger and team leader".
"Shelby Watkins, pink ranger and second in command", the pink ranger smiled.
"Chase Randall, black ranger and the looker of the team", he gave a small salute.
"Koda Yamaguchi, blue ranger", Koda waived.
"Chloe Yuzuki, aqua ranger and this lumps older sister", she nudged her brother, "and I assume you know the green ranger", she pointed to the still fuming Riley.
"Yeah we've met once or twice", he tried to joke but Riley wasn't in a laughing mood.
"So now onto the big question", Tyler began, "how did you find the grey Energem?"
Matt sighed, "It's not a particularly exciting story", he began.
Flashback
Matt cursed his bad luck as he waded through the thick undergrowth at the far end of the family's farm. He would rather be with his sick father but instead he was stuck hunting for some random animals that kept invading their property. The argument with his brother earlier in the day was also added to his bad mood. After a few minutes of searching he noticed a couple of large footprints. They were too big to have been created by a single animal so there must be a pack of something out here somewhere.
Suddenly he tripped and fell into the dirt, tearing his jeans in the process, "Damn it, these were my favourite pair", he groaned. As he was inspecting his jeans, he felt a presence in the area. He looked up and immediately shuffled backwards, standing over him was a giant grey dinosaur. It opened it mouth and for a moment, Matt thought it was going to eat him. To his surprise it spat out a Dinovolver and an Energem.
"Hello Matthew", a voice called out. The air shimmered and a middle aged man appeared. He was around six feet tall with pale skin, bright blue eyes and a bald head, "I am Toulson", the man continued, "you might say that I'm your many times removed grandfather". The man spoke with a slight Irish accent. Matt didn't know much about his family tree but he knew that his ancestors had originally been from the Emerald Isle.
Matt was stunned into silence for a moment, deciding to give his apparent ancestor a small wave instead. "Yes I can understand that his must be shocking but I've been watching you for some time Matthew and so has the Packy Zord here. After much consideration we've decided that you should be the new grey ranger", Toulson stated.
"Me?" Matt exclaimed, "but I don't know anything about being a ranger".
"Neither did you brother to begin with", Toulson replied, "now he's a fine green ranger".
"Riley's a ranger?" Matt asked but now he said it out loud, it kind of made sense.
"Indeed he is", Toulson continued, "I also know that you were once had aspirations to be a professional fighter until you gave it all up to help out your parents. A very noble goal if you ask me".
Matt looked at the two items in his hands, "Why now, the rangers have been around for some time now, why come to me now with these powers?"
"The Deboss are growing stronger and the Dino Spirits need to be united", Toulson answered, "but more immediately, your brother is in trouble. You must go to him before it's too late, he is on the road overlooking the city", with that final comment, Toulson disappeared.
Matt didn't know much about being a ranger but his brother was in trouble, that was all the motivation he needed.
Present
"And that's the whole story", Matt finished. He looked over at his brother who had been silent throughout the explanation, "Aren't you going to say anything Riley?"
"You knew", Riley replied with a cold fury, "you knew all this time and didn't say anything?"
"You've been lying to me as well", Matt countered.
"Yes to protect you, Mom and Dad from getting hurt", Riley shouted, "you've known for three weeks that I was the green ranger and didn't say a word. More importantly you've wasted all that time when you could've been training with us". The green ranger shook his head before teleported out of the lab.
Matt sighed, "I really screwed this up didn't I?" No one in the room disagreed with him, leaving the grey ranger to wonder if he would be able to repair his relationship with the other rangers and more importantly, his younger brother.
A/N - I only came up with an idea for how Matt got his powers very late on which is why the grey ranger appears much later than he does in Kyoryuger. Unfortunately it was too late to bring him in any earlier so the backstory isn't the most inspiring I'm afraid. We're getting near the end now but before the end game can begin, we need to get through Christmas...