Sarah, Calvin, Hayley, Preston and Brody all appeared in a flash of light, completely disorientated. They didn't know where they were, but they knew they weren't in the Shop Class any longer. For one thing, they were outdoors, wherever they were, and it was broad daylight.
"What happened?" Hayley asked. "Where are we?"
"It...kind of looks like the dockyards." Preston said as he looked around. His dad had a business at the docks, owning most of the waterfront. It was convenient since a lot of his other businesses in the city took in deliveries and it gave them a very quick and easy way to get those deliveries in at a fraction of the price of using other means. His dad had brought him down here a couple of times while he sorted out business, though mainly Preston would just remain in the limo. "How did we get here? I thought we couldn't leave?"
"Guys, when did we morph?" Sarah asked, looking down and realising she was in her Ranger suit. The others all quickly realised the same thing.
"Does that sound like...a chainsaw?" Brody asked.
"LOOK OUT!" Calvin yelled, causing the team to scatter as an energy arc sliced through the area, causing destruction on its path through them. The Rangers all looked up to see an all-too familiar face. He was surrounded by a legion of kudabots.
"Is that Ripperat?" Calvin asked. "We've already beaten this guy!"
"Wait...we must still be in the game." Brody surmised. "Think about it, we're in a graveyard right?"
"Well, yeah?" Sarah asked.
"And Cosmo DID describe it as haunted right?" Brody carried on as they all sought cover from Ripperat's attacks.
"You mean to tell me this guy is a ghost?" Preston asked.
"Maybe...something like that." Brody said, unclear on how best to think of it. "What if the spell on this board game means every grave we land on is the grave of a monster we've already beaten? What if landing on a grave means we have to fight that monster again?"
"We've beaten a LOT of monsters!" Preston grumbled. "This could be a long night."
"Not that long." Sarah reminded them. "We've only got until the hour glass runs out, remember?"
"Right, so we have to take these guys out fast." Brody answered. "You guys cover me!"
They all broke cover and ran at their enemies, Brody heading for Ripperat while the others tried to keep the kudabots busy. They quickly found themselves in difficulty though, it seemed like for some reason these opponents were a lot stronger than they were used to. Brody tried to get to Ripperat with a Steel Slash, but he was parried, and took a hard hit in return. He barely managed to scramble back into cover, being quickly joined by the others as they tried to regroup.
"Man these guys are tougher than I remember." Brody commented.
"Maybe if they fought this well the first time, they wouldn't be dead." Hayley suggested.
"They've got us surrounded." Brody grumbled. "This isn't good."
"Guys, the longer it takes to beat this guy the longer it takes us to get around the board." Sarah reminded them. "We still have to make it around the rest of the board!"
"If someone's got a plan then I'm all ears." Calvin said as he slapped a Power Star into his sword. "Until then...GOONGALA!"
"With that, they all broke cover, rushing back out to the attack again. In the absence of a better plan, it looked like they were going to have to resort to hit and run tactics, taking the enemy a few at a time between breaks in cover.
Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was whipping up the crowd into a frenzy with his new idea, while Galvanax, Ripcon and Odious watched on from the Champion's quarters.
"Well...it is imaginative I'll give him that." Odious commented.
"He's using a bunch of failures who have already lost to the Rangers?" Galvanax growled. "What's he thinking?"
"It's disgusting is what it is!" Ripcon spat distastefully, seeing the spirits of fallen warriors called up to fight once more. "Once something dies it's meant to rest in peace! This kind of perversion is just sick!"
"It seems to be working though, every second the Rangers fight, they lose precious time and when the timer runs out, they perish." Odious said, sounding impressed with Cosmo's trap. "Then we just have to go down there and pick the Power Stars up from their cold, dead corpses."
"I might have known you'd like a plan that means you don't have to confront the Rangers." Ripcon stated.
"Tell me, how is your search for that 'traitor' going Ripcon." She asked, making the air-quotes for emphasis. Ripcon knew exactly what she was doing; she was once again trying to sow the seeds of doubt, trying to get others to believe that Ripcon was the traitor that had let the Gold Ranger onto the ship. Ripcon went for his sword, but quickly found Galvanax's naginata at his throat.
"I grow weary of all this bickering." Galvanax told him. "Go watch the show somewhere else."
"What?" Ripcon demanded. "But Champ..."
"I don't care where you go or what you do! Just get out of my sight!" Galvanax roared. "NOW!"
Ripcon released his grip on the hilt of his sword and started to leave. He didn't want to anger Galvanax any further. He doubted that Galvanax truly believed he was the traitor, if he did, he was sure he'd already have insisted Cosmo set up the grudge match. However, it was clear that Galvanax was losing patience, and in his eyes, Odious was far more valuable than he was. With a respectful bow, he just left the champion's quarters, heading out into the hall.
"Let them play their games." Ripcon stated angrily. "I've got better things to do!"
Back in the game, the Rangers were forced back by a concentrated barrage of weapons fire. They sheltered in a warehouse as Ripperat and his comrades started their advance.
"Guys, his isn't going well." Brody commented. "We can't afford to waste any more time on this guy!"
"Brody, I think I have an idea." Preston told him. "Brody, you come with me! The rest of you just keep their attention over here!"
"Preston, where the hell are you going?" Calvin asked as Preston and Brody set off smoke bombs, covering their escape.
"You heard them; we need to keep their fire concentrated over here." Hayley said, bringing out her morpher in bow mode, laying down some fire.
"Somehow I doubt that'll be a problem." Sarah answered as he and Calvin followed suit.
"No, the trick is surviving until they do whatever it is they plan to do!" Calvin added, taking down a few of the kudabots with energy arrows.
"Ninja Strike, Steel SLASH!" They heard two voices call out as Preston and Brody plunged in through a skylight, right on top of Ripperat. Their swords went straight through him, at which he exploded. As soon as he was destroyed, all the kudabots that were with him also disappeared. The others broke cover, coming over, cheering as they put their swords away.
"Way to go guys!" Sarah congratulated them. "How did you do that?"
Preston leant on one of the crates, pointing to the logo on the side. It was labelled "Tien Imports."
"This is one of my dad's warehouses, I recognised it." Preston told them. "So I knew where the back door was."
"Now that's what I call ninja." Calvin commented as they were all bathed in a bright glow. As the light dissipated, they all appeared back in the Shop Class. They all stared at the orb, where Cosmo was still watching them as the game progressed.
"You got lucky that time, but you better get a move on. Time waits for no Ranger." Cosmo taunted them. "Roll the dice and see what's in store for you next!"
"Alright, we need to hope for a good roll." Hayley said, picking up the dice. She blew on it for luck, before tumbling it across the board.
"Six, that's not bad." Calvin said. Although they were hoping for a higher number, they all knew that this was about what they could expect. A normal dice had three pairs of faces, and the opposite faces added up to 7. 1+6, 2+5 and 3+4. This meant the average dice roll was 3.5. On a ten sided dice, the opposite faces added to 11 and there were five pairs of faces so the average score would be 5.5. 6 wasn't a LOW score, but after a low start, they were hoping for some larger rolls, particularly if they had to face a monster inside each grave they landed on.
Hayley moved the game piece six spaces forward, at which they landed on a grave. They all stared into the grave, seeing the smoke forming. Sarah thought she recognised something and hastily grabbed the radio before they were all sucked into the next challenge.
"We're in!" Sarah said as they appeared outside what looked like the local community pool. She knelt down on the ground and de-morphed, pulling a small leather case out of her pocket. "We don't have long. He should be around here somewhere."
"Who?" Brody asked.
"Sarah, what are you doing?" Calvin asked her.
"Hacktrack, I saw him in the smoke before we were sucked into the grave." Sarah told them as she opened the case, revealing a bunch of small screwdrivers and other electrical tools. "You know, the creep who absorbed my cloning tech?"
"You...carry a toolkit around with you?" Hayley asked.
"Some girls carry a manicure set, some carry make-up, I carry an electrical repair kit." She answered with a shrug. "This should give me time to turn this into a frequency jammer. If I can get this, we can shut Hacktrack down." They heard a cackling laugh from a little way off.
"Rangers!" Hackrack announced as he arrived. "I don't have to beat you; I just have to run out the clock! If you want to fight me, you're going to have to catch me first!"
With that, he leapt into the air and activated his jets. They remembered he had the power of flight, which would only make keeping up with him harder.
"Mega Morph Cycles, rev up!" Brody called out as he, Hayley, Calvin and Preston activated their bikes. "Sarah, work on that frequency jammer. Join us if you get it working. Until then, we'll try to do this the old fashioned way."
"Sounds like a plan." Sarah answered as they raced off. "Alright now Sarah, think!"
In the school, Levi went to the snack machine for something to eat, but he was finding the options available somewhat less than inspiring. He sighed as he looked at it, regretting skipping lunch. The cafeteria staff had long since gone home, and he was sure they'd have locked up the kitchen by now.
"That's what I get for skipping lunch." He muttered. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked around.
"Hello, I couldn't help noticing the long face. I'm not surprised if you're relying on that machine for your dinner." The lady before him said. "Hi, I'm Mrs Finch, the maths teacher."
"Levi Weston, music." He replied, shaking his hand. It was usually pretty pointless introducing himself since pretty much everyone knew his name anyway, but to his surprise Mrs Finch didn't actually say anything about it. In fact, looking at her, he could hardly remember seeing her at all. She had certainly been around in the school and in the classroom, but while others seemed to magically swerve and head towards him at speed whenever they saw him, she seemed to have almost ignored him, or more accurately not gone out of her way to approach him before now.
"Well, I was just going to microwave myself some dinner, I don't mind sharing." She told him, showing him a Tupperware.
"Really? You don't mind?" He asked her.
"I always make way too much anyway. I'm still used to cooking for two." She answered.
"Cooking for two?" He asked. It was then he remembered she had introduced herself as MRS Finch. "Sorry for your loss..."
"Hmm?" She asked.
"Your husband." He surmised.
"Oh, I'm not." She told him. This took Levi more than a little bit by surprise. "Oh, because of the name...no, I just haven't gotten around to changing my name on all my documents and suchlike yet. It's so many forms and so many phone calls and who has time for all that with a teacher's workload right?"
"So your husband...didn't die?" He asked.
"Oh no, he just hit his mid-life crisis and ran off with the twenty-year-old caddy at his golf course." She told him.
"Yikes...I'm sorry to hear that." He said, sucking his teeth.
"Oh, I'm not, she's welcome to him." Mrs Finch said, waving it off. "It was three years ago, I'm over it. That still doesn't meant to say I shed any tears when I heard wife number two was taking that sports car of his in the divorce."
"Uh...yeah...I guess you wouldn't." He answered. "So, what have you made?"
"Oh, nothing special, it's just spaghetti carbonara." She told him. Levi just patted his stomach. "All anyone seems to want to give me is Tex Mex, and frankly sometimes it's nice to eat something a little different."
"Why would they give you Tex Mex?" She asked him.
"Because I'm Levi Weston?" He asked. She just stared at him. "They see the hat, hear the accent and hear the music and think all I want to eat is pork and beans."
"Oh...that's right you're a singer aren't you?" She asked, in a completely off-hand way that took Levi by surprise. She shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry, I'm not overly familiar with that genre. I've never been a Country and Western fan. I'm more of an Eminem girl myself."
"Right...of course." Levi said, almost smiling.
"Well, I'll just go and heat this up." She told him. "You bring that marking of yours; I find I work faster while I'm eating. I prefer to work through dinner don't you?"
"Uh...yeah, I'll grab it and be right there." Levi said as he watched her go. He went back to his pile of work and picked it up, before looking a little puzzled. It wasn't often he met someone who really didn't know who he was, but it seemed beyond being the new teacher Mrs Finch was barely aware of who he was other than that. Almost like she had only heard it from others. It was a nice novelty. Picking up his work, he went to the teacher's lounge to join her.
Back in the game, Sarah was working hard on her device, her fingers working deftly with the tiny components as she put the device together.
"Now just put this here and that should just about...do it!" She said, clicking the battery into place, before putting the casing back together. She got onto her Ninja-Comm. "Guys, I've finished the device!"
"Good, because this guy is really slippery!" Calvin complained as they used their bikes to jump from rooftop to rooftop, chasing Hacktrack while trying to draw a bead on him with their laser cannons. "We can't get a hit on him."
"My device should work within thirty feet, try and drive him back towards me." Sarah told them.
"We're almost there now." Brody told her, aiming his blast, instead of for Hacktrack, to his side, trying to drive him the right way with the blast from the building. The one thing in their favour in here was they knew there would be no civilian casualties as they weren't in the real world. "Guys, try and funnel him towards Sarah!"
"You got it." Hayley added, firing blasts his way. "Preston, he's coming your way now!"
"OK Sarah, he's swerving away from me, Calvin, try to drive him down." Preston told him.
"I'm on it." Calvin said, leaping off a rooftop, firing his laser cannons over Hacktrack's head, causing him to swoop downwards away from him. "Sarah, he's heading your way and he's coming in hot!"
"I see him!" Sarah said as she gripped her signal jammer tightly. "Alright Hacktrack, just a little closer and...NOW!"
She hit the button, activating the signal jammer. Hacktrack started to spark as his systems went into shutdown. Sarah had to dive for cover as he hit the ground hard and skidded along the concrete, sending sparks and debris flying. Since the battle hadn't ended, Sarah could only assume that the shutdown wouldn't last long, and they needed to finish him. She morphed, putting an Element Star into her Ninja Sword.
"This is for hacking my tech!" She yelled. "Ninja Steel, Final STRIKE!"
She brought her sword down, smashing Hacktrack into oblivion, at which he exploded. The other Rangers came to her side and recalled their bikes.
"Sarah, that was amazing!" Calvin complimented her.
"You are seriously awesome!" Preston said, putting his arm around her.
"Oh...I know." She said, blushing a little at all the compliments. "But it's always nice to hear."
With that, they were all bathed in light and once more found themselves back in the Shop Class. Cosmo was in the glowing orb, but he didn't seem to be too upset at the fact the Rangers had now defeated two of his monsters.
"Don't celebrate just yet, time is ticking away!" He reminded them, bringing their attention to the hour glass.
"We better hurry." Preston gulped as he picked up the dice. He shook his hand for a moment, before releasing the dice, which slid across the board. The number 0, indicating 10 was at the top.
"YES! Way to go Presto!" Calvin congratulated the Blue Ranger as he moved the piece. The grave opened, and the Rangers all looked into the smoke. Preston could vaguely make out a face he wished he would never see again, Slowgre. In a flash of bright light, the Rangers disappeared.