Chapter 10
The first day of the UA 2238 school year, early in the morning, an awoken animal of indeterminate species and an AI copy of a two centuries past hero had a Zoom call (using the outdated but still accepted slang).
Which sounded like the start to an absurdist joke, or the opening to a philosophy student's doctoral thesis. But no, it actually happened.
"Hello, Doctor Oliver," the dog-bear greeted his new ally. Ally slash research subject, if he was being totally honest.
"Please, just call me Tommy, Principal Nezu," the AI said, as this was the first time they had spoken alone or especially directly.
"Then just call me Nezu, Tommy," he responded, "After all, you are not one of my students, past or present."
"Alright," Tommy chuckled lightly. Then more seriously asked, "So why did you want to talk to me, today?"
"Since I joined the Echo Ranger team, I have been spending a great deal of time researching Ranger and Grid technology," the mouse like educator explained, "But yesterday it occurred to me, that I have far less knowledge of the Ranger teams themselves. And if I intend to help Izuku fit in at UA, I think it would behoove me to be more familiar with them."
"That's true," the hologram agreed, "So what do you want to know?"
"I started looking online," Nezu admitted, "And there is a lot of information. But it is a mess of incomplete and self-contradictory history and mythology. Like a rainbow superball half melted and then shot at a brick wall with a pitching machine while still semi-liquid."
"That's quite the metaphor," Tommy laughed sadly, "And unfortunately accurate."
"So today I want to start simple," Nezu said, "Please give me a list of which Ranger teams are real, and which are fictitious."
"That's all?" the AI was surprised.
"Probably not," Nezu agreed, "But it will help me to categorize the information I have, and come up with my concise and concrete questions for you. Like this."
Nezu brought up a file.
"This is a major point of contention," Nezu explained, "Pai Zhuq master Casey Rhodes was one of the Rangers who came forward with you to reassure the public during the Ranger War. You were a Ranger, so it follows that he must have been a real Ranger as well. Unfortunately, there was a youTube channel, JungleFran, who posted and digitally altered a number of the so called 'Jungle Fury' team's battles. As a result, many people assume that the Jungle Fury team was not real, and use that to discount you in turn. The fact that Jungle Fury team had eight rangers with non-standard color also used to support the naysayers' arguments."
Tommy couldn't help but nod.
"So, that's why I want to start simple, with which teams were real."
"That makes sense," the former Ranger affirmed.
"I'm going to answer you in three sets," Tommy began, "Starting with the Earth Rangers, then the extra-terrestrial Rangers, and lastly the 'fake' Rangers, or at least ones I'm aware of."
Nezu nodded.
"So the first modern Power Rangers were the Mighty Morphin' team."
Nezu made mental note of the word 'modern', but did not interrupt.
"That was the team I, or at least my source, was on. It was the longest lasting team. But it was in a sense two teams, as four of the original Rangers left at a point and were replaced. Also, the Mighty Morphin' powers and Zords were tweaked multiple times to deal with various enemies. We lost our original powers, but gained new powers through the Zeo crystal, and became the Zeo Power Rangers."
Nezu already had a list of questions about the Zeo crystal.
"There was also a short period where the Zeo Rangers were fighting off world, so Zordon was forced to temporarily and unstably reactivate the Mighty Morphin' powers as the Neo Mighty Morphin' team. Half of them were from the original team, but there were also two newcomers. The Neo MM team fought in Europe, primarily in Paris."
"The next team was the Turbo Power Rangers. My friends and I briefly served as the Turbo Rangers. Ultimately it was time for us to move on, so we handed off the Turbo powers to a new team of teenagers with attitude."
That was another note for the bear-mouse. He had seen the term 'teenagers with attitude' multiple times in his searches. And while he understood the words, he wondered if they had special meaning with respect to the Ranger powers or the Morphin' Grid.
"The next Earth team was Lightspeed Rescue, based just outside Washington DC. I said it that way, because one of the teams from another world, the Rangers of KO-35, nicknamed the Space Rangers, were most active after the Turbo Rangers but before Lightspeed Rescue. Some of the Space Rangers were Earth Humans, and during that time they frequently protected the Earth. So they are a borderline case, but were technically a extraterrestrial Team."
"After the Lightspeed Rescue Power Rangers, the Ninja Storm and Squadron Rangers were both active at roughly the same time. The Ninja Storm Rangers were back in California, and I'm guessing you already know that the Squadron Rangers defended Kyoto here in Japan?"
Nezu bobbed his head, and motioned for Tommy to continue.
"After that was the Dino Thunder Rangers. My third team by members or fifth by power set. Next was the Mystic Force, a magic-centric Ranger team based in New Zealand."
"Then there was the Operation Overdrive team, once again in SoCal. They are notable for me, because their mentor, Dr. Andrew Hartford designed the AI matrix that was later updated to create me. And they also temporarily lost their connection to the Grid, so an all star team of former Rangers were called up to cover for them."
"The eleventh team of Power Rangers on Earth was the Lightning Rangers, here in Tokyo. They also partial overlapped with the twelfth team, the Jungle Fury team you mentioned earlier, in terms of when they were active. The second to last Earth team was the Samurai Power Rangers. And, of course, the final team, at least until Izuku, was the Power Rangers Megaforce. They were central to the Ranger War and the Shadow War, though all of the Rangers I know of fought in the Ranger War, and all of the Earth teams in the Shadow War."
"Beyond the Earth, I know of four teams of Rangers. Well, sort of. The planets of Aquitar, Triforia, KO-35, and Mirinoi each had their own team of Rangers. And Eltar was the home world of the Phantom Ranger, but they did not live there nor did Eltar have any other Rangers."
"With a few exceptions, they all helped out here on Earth. The Aquatian Rangers filled in for the Mighty Morphin' team when the villain Master Vile turned us into children and cut us off from out powers in the process. The Gold Ranger of Triforia helped the Zeo Rangers, and was forced to temporarily transfer his powers to one of the original Mighty Morphin' Rangers. I already mentioned the KO-35 team. But the Mirinoi Team never came to Earth before the Ranger Wars. Instead, some of them were also from Earth. Members of the Terra Venture project."
"Wait, the Terra Venture project was real?" this time Nezu couldn't stay silent.
"Yes," Tommy said simply, and then waited.
"I'm sorry," Nezu bowed his head, "I'm sure I will have more... many more questions on that later. But for now, continue."
"There is one other possible team," Tommy said dubiously.
"Why do you say it like that?" Nezu prompted.
"According the the Samurai Rangers, a team of Rangers from an alternate reality crossed over to Earth pursuing one of their enemies. The two teams worked together and defeated the villain, and then these other Rangers returned home. I don't know if they fought in the Ranger War. All the Rangers I saw during the War, I either knew about, or in the case of the Mirinoi and Japanese teams, was able to identify later. That said, there was a lot going on, and it wasn't as if I saw every member of every team in the battle. Like I never saw the Jungle Fury Wolf Ranger, though Kira and Kat both did. So the other universe team might have been there?"
Tommy shrugged and Nezu pondered that.
"As for the fictional teams, the first TV show was 'Power Rangers Time Force'. It is my understanding that the studio thought by having the Ranger travel back in time from the year 3000 they could justify any differences between the TV Rangers and the real Rangers. The second fictional team was Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, the Japanese show based vaguely on the real exploits of the Dino Thunder team. The third TV show was another American show, Power Rangers SPD. That was another 'future' series, set in the then decades away year of 2025. They tried to predict what the world would be like if aliens and Ranger tech continued to spread on Earth. It was also interesting, because they hired the actors from Abaranger for a crossover episode. Then came Dengeki Sentai Blitzranger, a fully original Japanese production. After that in 2017, after the Ranger War, Hollywood made a big budget movie based on what they knew about the Mighty Morphin' team. It wasn't very accurate, but it was kind of fun. And they hired me... that is the real Tommy, to do a cameo since they knew his identity."
"Then the last one was Power Rangers Ninja Steel. It came out after the Shadow War and the end of the Rangers here on Earth. I haven't seen it, but according to both Izuku and Melissa, that is a blessing."
"And that's it," Tommy seemed to catch his breath, despite not having lungs, "It is probable that there are other extraterrestrial teams I don't know of. Less likely but still possible is the existence of older teams, whose powers were never reactivated or were permanently lost."
"Thank you, Tommy," Nezu said sincerely, "That gives me a lot to process and research. And I am already thinking of some further questions I have for you."
"It's no problem, Nezu. And you know where to find me."
"Let's have our first place finisher step up," Aizawa-sensei said sharply.
He had introduced himself. Their homeroom teacher and the pro-Hero Eraserhead. Aizawa Shouta. He had them name themselves for attendance. Then told them to change into their gym uniforms and go outside. Iida-san had protested, saying that they needed to go to the entrance ceremony. Aizawa-sensei told him he was free to go, if he didn't mind failing.
"According to your records," Eraserhead announced when Izuku reached him, "In Aldera's last standardized physical test, you got 71.3 meters on the softball throw."
The boy nodded. Bakugou, clicked his tongue and looked away.
"And that was without using your Quirk, right?" the teacher prompted.
"Yes," Izuku said simply.
"The Ministry of Education is not very rational," Aizawa-sensei sounded annoyed, "They insist on pretending everyone is still the same. Not only do you not learn how to use your Quirks, you are actively discouraged from doing so. That ends now."
He picked up a softball, and tossed it to Izuku.
"Try throwing it with your Quirk," Aizawa-sensei told him, "Anything goes, as long as you stay in the circle."
Izuku looked at the ball, then at their teacher. The boy frowned thoughtfully.
"Do you mean 'throw' literally sensei?" the Ranger-in-training asked.
"What do you mean?" Eraserhead countered, annoyed.
"Throwing the ball," Izuku pantomimed the motion, "Might not be the best choice for everyone. Depending on their Quirk. For example, Bakugou-san's Quirk is better suited for shooting the ball. Holding it in his hands and building up as much explosive as he can tolerate before releasing it. With his leg speed and strength, Iida-san might be able to dropkick it further than he can throw it. Those are just off the top of my head, I don't know everyone's Quirk yet."
For just a moment, Aizawa looked amused and impressed. But his scowl returned before anyone caught that.
"Fine. Try 'propelling' it with your Quirk."
Izuku nodded.
"Mode White," the boy declared, after subtly tapping the face of his Morpher and whispering, 'Echo Ranger 1.'
Taking the ball in his left hand, he drew the Tiger Saber in his right. More than a few of his classmates looked confused or concerned.
"Perhaps he intends to use the curved back of the sword like a track ball racket," the girl with the long black hair, who had introduced herself as Yaoyorozu Momo ,suggested. She was on the right track, but not correct.
Izuku threw the ball up into the air, arcing so it would land just outside the circle. Then he dropped into a batter's stance, and held the scimitar so the flat of the blade was out.
CLANG!
Metal blade slammed into faux-leather ball. The ball rebounded away with the speed of a low caliber bullet.
Aizawa whistled in spite of himself.
"It's going, it's going, it's gone," one of the other boys said softly.
"514.4 meters," he said, looking at the app on his phone, "That's outside the UA fence."
Then he addressed the students darkly, "This is a Quirk assessment test. You will all be undergoing eight standard fitness tests. You will be expected to make full use of your Quirks in these tests. And in the end, whoever comes in last place will be immediately expelled."
"What?" Kirishima-san gaped, as many of the others did silently.
"Can he really expel us from UA?" Kodai-san asked, her voice still flat and unconcerned.
"I don't think so," Iida-san answered, uncertain.
"I suppose I should clarify," Aizawa brightened slightly, "Since it seems some of you are capable of rational thought. It is true, I can't kick you out of UA. I can kick you out of the Hero course. From there, it is up to the principal and the other teachers if they can find a spot for you in Support or General. But that's your problem, not mine."
He went back to scowling and glaring, "You are not here to have fun, or make friends. This is the best Hero course in Asia, if not the whole world, for a reason. If you can't control your powers, if your Quirks aren't up to par, you will get yourselves killed. Or worse, get others killed. So you are going to show me that you belong here."
"Can we at least know what the tests are?" Bakugou-san asked, smirking. Silently he thought, 'I can get rid of one of these shitty extras. If I play it right, maybe even Deku."
"Ball throw, 50-meter dash, standing long jump, endurance run," Aizawa-sensei answered, frowning that the explosive boy didn't know the standard tests, "Then we go inside, for repeated side steps, sit ups, pull ups, and grip strength. For each test, the winner gets ten points. Second and third place get nine. Fourth and fifth get eight points. And so on down to last place gets zero points. At the end, I'll total up the points and whoever has the lowest total get the boot. Ties included."
The students took that in, some nervous, other calculating.
"Okay, Midoriya has already done the ball throw," Aizawa said a moment latter, "let's get the rest of you through this in seat order."
Aoyama Yuga threw the softball ball as hard as he could. It looked like it would go maybe thirty meters. But as it started to descend, he grabbed his belt. A bolt of sparkling gold energy hit the ball, knocking it higher and further. The blonde teen tried to take a second shot, but missed. He ended up with a score of 56 meters, even.
Ashido Mina also threw the ball. But as she did, it was clad with a thick, viscous goo. It landed at about sixty meters, but due to the slippery and slightly elastic coating, it bounced and rolled until the pink girl got a result of 84.5 meters.
Asui Tsuyu stuck the ball to the end of her tongue. Then she begin spinning around, like she was doing a hammer throw instead of a softball throw. Her tongue extended to almost 20 meters, forcing Aizawa and the other students to move back. Finally, she hopped a good 12 meters into the air, and released it. The ball sailed away, landing at 189.2 meters. But the spinning left Tsuyu dizzy, and she would have crashed, had Mode Green Izuku not caught her. Still, her eyes were spinning and her head bobbling, so after Izuku set her down, Ochako and Momo stepped in to comfort her.
Iida Tenya stepped into the circle and planted his left foot. He rotated his right leg at the hip, tracing a small oval. The engine in has leg began to rev up, getting louder with each cycle. After a few seconds he drew his leg back. Dropped the ball. And punted it. The ball arced through the air, and landed 130.7 meters away.
Uraraka Ochako was the young woman Izuku had saved. She picked up the softball and walked nonchalantly into the circle. Then she lightly tossed the ball. It didn't look like it would go very far. Only it never dropped. The sphere kept going, continually rising higher and higher. After about half a minute, it vanished from even Izuku's range of vision. Aizawa watched his tablet for a while longer. Then he sighed.
"That's an O," the teacher told the curvy brunette.
"Why does she get a zero?" Ashido protested.
"Not a zero. An 'O'," Eraserhead countered, "As in the character オ, as in the English word 'Orbital'. Once the ball reaches orbit, we stop measuring it, since we don't know when or even if it will ever come down. O is the highest value you can get."
"Oh," Yaoyorozu exclaimed, not intending the pun.
Ojiro Mashirao planted his tail was well as his legs. He pitched the ball with a pained kiai. The sphere flew out, but didn't roll very far, giving him a score of 70.4 meter.
Kaminari Denki's throw was wrapped with sparks, but it didn't seem to help. The boy's attempt resulted in a respectable 68.2 meters.
Kirishima Eijiro changed, his skin becoming sharp and stony. If that was meant to help, it didn't. The red-haired boy seemed disappointed by his result of 69.2 meters.
Koda Koji whistled, and a bird swooped down and took the ball. It flew away. But after a few seconds the ball fell. Whether it was too heavy, or the bird forgot its mission, they couldn't know. Still, the recorded distance was 433.1 meters
Kodai Yui collected her ball, and tossed it experimentally like Izuku had. Then she closed her hand around the sphere. Which vanished into her grip. She opened her fingers again, and the softball was now the size of a golf ball. She tossed it again, then nodded. She assumed a pitcher's stance. Tilted her hand as if doing a calculation. She threw. The ball arced away, further than any other simple throw had. It landed and bounced. When if came to a stop, Yui pressed her fingers together and returned to its original size.
"111.7 meters," Eraserhead reported. The quiet girl nodded appreciatively.
While Kodai was preparing for her throw, Sato Rikido took a sugar bomb candy out of his pocket. He removed the wrapper and chomped it in half. He quickly chewed and swallowed it. He took a few calming breaths. So by the time his turn came, his Quirk was well activated. Slightly out of control, he ran to the circle, casually grabbed up one of the softballs. He hurtled it without form or care.
"137.0," Aizawa sounded mildly impressed.
Shoji Mezo turned the three segments of his right arm into larger arms. He grabbed the center arm with the top and bottom arms. Then launched the ball. It landed 124.2 meters from the boy.
Jiro Kyoka simply threw the ball the best she could, and got a decent score of 64.4.
Sero Hanta wrapped the ball in his tape. Then he started to spin, like Tsu had. Except unlike Tsuyu's tongue, Hanta's tape didn't have a limited length. It did have a limit to its strength. After spooling out about ninety meters, it snapped. Because it wasn't a clean release, it didn't fly as far is it might have, but the boy still got 151.2 meters out of it.
Tokoyami Fumikage's Quirk, Dark Shadow grew out of his back, becoming a fifty meter tall, heavily muscled giant. What the others didn't know, was that the giant was hollow, and Dark Shadow was not happy being out in the lightly clouded morning. Still, the specter took the ball from its master, and threw it. Counting on his height and extending limbs, it threw the ball, almost as wildly as Sato. And with its head start, it got 177.3 meters.
Todoroki Shoto formed a jai alai wicket out of ice. With it he was able to launch the ball 89.6 meters down the field.
Hagakure Toru also had nothing more than a basic pitch. She was able to get 65.2 meters out of just her height and arm strength.
Bakugou Katsuki wracked his brain while his classmates took their turns. Tried to figure out any better way, than the way Deku had suggested. He could coat one side of the ball with his explosive sweat. Throw it, and as it left his hand, fire it off his fingers. But the timing would be incredibly difficult, and without something to trap and focus the force of the explosion, most of it would be lost. Bakugou also considered just throwing the ball normally, forgoing his Quirk to stick to Deku. But whatever else the explosive boy was, he wasn't stupid. He had figured out the real purpose of the test, and had seen how closely Aizawa was watching them. Not giving his best wasn't an option.
"Bakugou," Aizawa called on him.
The boy stood and took his place. He did as Midoriya suggested, wrapping his hand around the ball. Building up a charge in the back of the ball. Stiffening his fingers to act as a guide. Forming the tightest seal he could.
BOOM!
The ball shot away. Far, but not as far as the boy hoped.
"273.1 meters," Eraserhead reported, "Pretty good. Yaoyorozu."
Momo walked up. Then she sat down in circle. She rolled her shirt up, exposing her stomach. She began to pull out pieces of plastic and metal, extruding them from her skin. She began building something.
"What the... is this chick doing?" Bakugou demanded loudly, just barely keeping himself from wearing in front of their teacher.
"She's building a rocket," Izuku answered.
"Isn't there a time limited?" the blonde bully asked.
"There wasn't one given," Iida responded, "And it wouldn't be fair to instate one at this point."
Aizawa sighed, and let himself doze.
It took her about thirty minutes to create and assemble the parts, but Momo had a 150 centimeter tall model rocket. She placed the softball in the nosecone, and then moved to the far side of the circle. A linear accelerator started the launch, but once it was about 100 feet up, a chemical rocket fired, accelerating the ship even faster. Soon, like Ochako's ball before it, it vanished from sight.
"160... 180... 200 kilometers and it is slowing but still moving higher," Aizawa said, "That is our second 'O' for the test. Okay, now we can finally get on to the 50-meter dash."
The tests continued for the rest of the morning. The students trying to apply their Quirks to each test. Except for Izuku, who quickly realized he had better control over his Ranger abilities, and since they were mainly physical enhancements (plus his weapons and the defenses of his uniform), they were well suited for the standardized physical tests.
There were a few interesting events, as the tests progressed.
For the endurance run, Izuku assumed Mode Black and Yaoyorozu created a pair of motorized roller blades. And neither of them was showing any signs of slowing when Aizawa decided to call time and split first place between them.
Aoyama tried using his navel 'laser' as a rocket for both the 50-meter dash and the standing long jump, with limited success and worse side effects.
Bakugou, growing desperate, had tried to use his explosions on the last test, the grip strength test. Instead, he ended up destroying the machine before it could take a measurement, and thus ended up in last place for that test.
The result was Izuku in first place, edging out Momo in second and Tsuyu in third. There was a decent gap between those three and the fourth place Katsuki.
And the 20th, the last place went to Yuga. The boy looked distraught, and some of the other teens tried to comfort him.
"Don't sweat it, you aren't being expelled," Aizawa told them, exasperated.
"So the whole thing was a lie?" Ashido prompted sharply.
"No," the teacher countered flatly.
"No," Momo said emphatically and at the same time. So most of her classmates looked at her.
"In his time at UA, Aizawa-sensei has garnered a reputation for expelling students. Two years ago, he had expelled half of his class by summer break."
The other teens shuddered at her explanation.
"Then why am I safe?" Aoyama asked, in French accented Japanese.
"There are three points to this test," Aizawa said before any of the students could pipe up. He could tell that at least some of them had figured out at least some of it. And Eraserhead wanted to keep control.
"The physical tests and points are the first, and least important facet," the tired man continued, "More importantly, is how you adapt. What you try with your Quirks, and to a lesser degree how well it works. Can you be creative, thrown into a unexpected situation?"
"But the main point of this test, is about effort. Will you try your hardest, or just write this off?" he looked at them intensely, "A lot of students think the because they got into the Hero course, that they are special. The best of the best. They aren't. You aren't. Some of you might be, some day. If you put in the effort. But some of you may have just been lucky that you ran into a lot of robots or other students in need. And some of the General Course students might belong here more than you do, but they were unlucky."
He sighed deeply, "And unfortunately, all of you did better than usual in that respect. So no, no-one is expelled now. Though, like Yaoyorozu said, you still have plenty of time to disappoint me and get kicked to the General Class."
"What about the lesson side?" Izuku asked.
"The lesson?" Yaoyorozu parroted thoughtfully, while most of the other teens looked confused. Aizawa just raised an eyebrow and waved at the boy to continue.
"After talking about how the Ministry of Education is wrong, we still take the same test," Izuku said, "Which I think was meant to teach us two things. The first is that not everything is equal. Not just that people aren't equal because of their Quirks, but that situations aren't equal. Because this was obviously easier for those of us with physical enhancement powers. Some of us are able to partially get around it, and others weren't. But if this was a computer test, physical enhancement Quirk won't necessarily help. But an electric Quirk or a Quirk with a machine connector would help. And the second lesson is that just because rules and restrictions are not rational, doesn't mean we aren't subjected to them."
"Yes," Aizawa said, "I've never had someone get that this early, but... I guess there's a first time for anything. Okay, go get changed and showered, and I'll let Lunch Rush know you'll be eating late."
"Lunch Rush?" Izuku's eyes, "The Cook Hero? We get to eat his food?"
As the students left, a certain blonde glared daggers at a certain greenette. And started to think how he might get the shorter boy to disappoint their teacher.
"Is everything ready?" Melissa asked. Despite being the youngest and least experienced, she was the head of the project.
"I have rescanned the molds," Tommy said, "They are clean and the etchings are perfect within the limits of the Command Center's sensors, which is about 0.4 nanometers."
The molds had been made from the armor fragment. And Nezu had built an ultra precise CNC machine, which locked in one of the Dragon Daggers as the milling and carving tool. Which, in turn, meant Izuku had spent hours in the Command Center in Mode Green, playing his GBA while they used his weapons as a tool.
The heads of the Pink/Yellow and Pink/Blue coins were to be an artistic, 1/4000th scale rendering of the Ptero-Gyro Zords and the Terrapin Tank Zord, respectively. The tails side of the Coins was a riff on the duality symbol, where the main body of the symbol was a hexagon instead of a circle and the smaller circles replaced with diamond parallelograms. One part of the symbol was raised and the opposing elements lowered. That way the one of the two coins good be rotated 180 degrees, and then the backs would fit together smoothly and create a mechanical connection before they were fused.
"The program?" the young woman asked the white rodent-canine.
"All unit and integration tests passed," he reported, "The dedicated fusion generators are running at capacity, and the power flow is all green. The smoke test on normal copper worked. All we need now is the real molds, the real Coin fragments, and Izuku powering it."
The primary fusing of the Coins would be done with Grid Energy supplied by Izuku and the Echo Morpher. This would be partially supplemented by electricity from two of the Command Center's fusion generators, temporarily dedicated to the process. They would also supply the power for the computer and the hydraulics.
"Izuku?" Melissa prompted her boyfriend.
"Ready." He said, more confidently than he felt.
"How confident are you?" Toshinori asked. He was standing by the trinket shelf, observing but out of the way.
"85%?" Melissa asked, looking to Tommy and Nezu.
"I would say closer to 87," the genius animal countered, and the AI nodded.
"That's about as good as we're going to get," the blonde sighed at her uncle, "Given the resources we just don't have."
She looked at everyone one again.
"Last chance to protest," she offered. No-one argued.
"Okay," she nodded, "Izuku, you're first."
The boy placed his hands on two panels. He dropped into the meditative state Tommy had drilled into him. Feeling the Power flow out of the Morpher, and through his body. He pulled it back from his legs. From his lower torso. He directed the energy out his left hand. It coursed through the machine and then back into his right hand. Completing the circle.
He nodded.
Nezu took the test molds out of the machine. He lifted the real modes into their sockets.
"Activating interlocks," he told Melissa. The molds clicked. Bolted into place. And the faces started to glow.
"Dynotherms connected," Tommy confirmed to both them. Nezu ran to his own tablet, where he would help Melissa monitor the situations. Or, the Power forbid, adapt or force cancel the process if needed.
"Infracells up," Melissa watched as the circuits connecting Izuku to the molds locked together.
"QP torches are go," she said nervously.
She looked at the machine. Then at all of them again.
"Okay," she breathed out heavily, "Let's go..."
She reached for the big, green button on her touchscreen.
"You may want to hold off on that," an unfamiliar voice interrupted her.
Then the Command Center alarms began blaring.
Author's note: Since I'm sure this will come up, I'll give the basic answers here. Time Force was made fictional because of the time travel issues. SPD because it took place after the Shadow War and the coming of Quirks. Plus, it would be harder to discount the Rangers if the had been a legal police force and there were all the aliens living on Earth that we saw in SPD. I don't have anything against Ninja Steel, but since it was the first series after Super Megaforce, it was an easy target. And Wild Force has the Animarium, which also makes it problematic to discredit the Rangers. Plus, it's just my least favorite series.
Also, since Bridge from SPD was fictional in this story, the Red Ranger on the Once a Ranger team was Carter Grayson/Lightspeed Red. But Adam was still the leader.
Also, a few things with respect to two chapters back and the Red Ranger discussion. A lot of people suggested I use the Red Coin fragments as a power up for Izuku and Melissa. I already have two unrelated ideas for origins of their Battlizers. I just need to figure out what their Battlizers look like and do, and if I split the ideas between the Izuku and Melissa, or combine the ideas. Either way, Red Coin fragments as a power up isn't going to happen. Sorry.
And while I haven't decided if I am going forward with adding a Red Ranger or not, I have decided if I do, it will be a female character, due to the lack of female Red Rangers and the general gender imbalance in both Power Rangers and MHA. Right now the leading contenders are Yui Kodai, Rag Doll, Advisory, Orisonth, Rhian, or a new OC. In that order.