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Zord Hangar - The Himalayas
Nero stands on a platform admiring the massive structure obscured in shadows.
"Soon, you'll be ready for deployment, and they won't see us coming." Nero mutters. "Alpha."
On cue, Alpha walks into view. "Yes, Nero?"
"Give a full status of the project. How soon can I expect this to be complete?" He asked.
A ring of holographic screens appear in front of Alpha as he scrolls through each one. "Construction is 96.99% complete. The photon power core you built is running at optimal efficiency."
"What about its weapons systems?"
Alpha taps on one of the screens and it enlarges. "Well, there seems to be a 6-second delay between the weapon system and the onboard computer. I don't know what it is yet but I'll run some tests as soon as possible."
"... any news from the Dark Fortress?"
Alpha shakes his head. "No, they've been completely radio silent."
'I don't like this.' Nero thought. "Let's head back to the Power Chamber. Maybe something's been picked up on the scanners."
"Roger that." The two then teleport out of the hangar and back into the control room.
Alpha quickly gets to work while Nero sits on the swivel chair. He looks at the Viewing Globe and sees a thunderstorm raging outside. "That's concerning."
"Indeed." Alpha trembles. "Oh, I've never been good with thunder. Even though Zordon and I harnessed its power to build the Thunderzords, it was still too scary." He suddenly jolts at the loud thunderclap. "AI YI YI YI YI!"
"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're okay." Nero grabs onto Alpha's shoulders for comfort. "How about we go to bed, hm? It's already late. I'm sure the storm will pass in the morning.
"O-Okay." Alpha nods and the two leave.
However, neither of them notice the multiple descending on the screen.
Midday - Angel Grove
It is a sunny day in downtown Angel Grove, people can be seen walking around to various places.
Nero walks through the crowd wearing a navy blue t-shirt, khaki jeans and a pair of black/orange sneakers. It turns out that the Power Chamber is equipped with its own Synthetron, except much bigger and allowed for more options such as clothes.
As he walks, he notices two familiar faces not too far from him. "Is that Cassie and Carlos? Why are they with a little kid?" He runs towards them. "Hey!"
The two disguised rangers turn to the voice. "Hey, isn't that the kid we talked to in the Surf Spot?"
"Yeah, I think his name was Nero." Carlos adds.
Nero runs up to them. "Hey, long time no see!"
"Hey, Nero. Good to see you." Cassie said.
"Yeah man. How's it goin'?" Carlos adds.
Nero smiles. "I'm glad you guys remember me." He then looks down at the kid. "And who's the kid?"
Cassie looks at Nero. "This is Patrick. He's a kid we met the day before." She turns to the boy. "What's wrong?"
"You'll never believe me, even my best friends won't listen." Patrick sniffles.
"You know Patrick, you've told a lot of big stories and so many that it's made people wonder what to believe. You know what I mean?" Cassie asks and the boy nods.
'Oh, so the kid's a liar. I'm not that surprised. He likely said all of those things just to look cool.' Nero thought.
Cassie can see her words didn't have much of an effect on the young boy. "Hey. How about we walk you home, okay?"
"Hm…" Patrick didn't seem frilled about the idea. In fact, he seemed pretty reluctant about it. "Okay…"
"Mind if I tag along?" Nero asks.
Cassie smiles. "Sure. The more the merrier, right?" She grabs Patrick's hand and the four of them walk away.
Sometime later, the four arrive at a suburban neighborhood full of houses, cars, and people walking around; the picture of normal.
'There's something about this that feels off. But I can't recall what it is.' Nero thought as they reached the boy's home.
They walk up the stairs and Patrick pulls back the welcome rub to pick up a key and uses it to unlock the door.
As Patrick passes the threshold, he turns to the trio. "Couldn't you guys come in until my mom comes home?"
Cassie and Carlos look at each other for a moment. "We're… kind of in the middle of something, but you'll be okay.
"Yeah," Carlos crouches down. "And remember when the going gets tough, you can always count on the Power Rangers."
Nero huffs a little, how true that is.
Patrick points at Carlos. "Now YOU'RE telling the stories."
"I can stay if you like." Nero said.
Patrick's eyes widened." Really?"
Neo nods. "Yeah, I don't have any plans today so we can hang out."
"Awesome." Patrick stands aside and lets Nero walk in.
"Bye Patrick. Bye Nero." Cassie says with a smile.
"Bye guys." Carlos adds as Patrick closes the door.
"C'mon." Patrick takes Nero's hand and walks him into the spacious living room. "You can sit on the couch. The TV remote is right there."
"Okay." Nero then proceeds to sit on the couch.
"Hold on. Let me get you something to drink." Patrick said and then ran off to presumably the kitchen.
Nero looks around and sees all of the expensive-looking stuff. 'His parents must work pretty hard to buy all of this stuff. I bet he's got all sorts of toys in his room.'
Patrick quickly returns with a cup of water in his hand. "Here you go, mister."
"Thanks, and please call me Nero. 'Mister' makes me feel old." Nero told him.
"Okay." Patrick watches me drink the water.
I stop drinking and turn to him. "You have a really nice place here."
"My mom works at this big company. I don't remember what they do though." Patrick states.
"Are you sure your mom will be okay with having a complete stranger in your house?"
"Yeah! You don't seem like a bad person! Plus, mom always said friends are strangers you haven't met yet." Patrick exclaims.
Interesting world view. "So, what was that about you telling 'big stories'?"
This made Patrick a little nervous. "Well… sometimes I like to tell my friends stories that never happened."
"So you lied to them." Nero surmised.
Patrick looks down in shame." Yeah…"
"Have you heard the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf?" Patrick shakes his head in a no. "Well, it follows the story of a shepherd boy who lied about seeing a wolf, but when a wolf actually appears the villagers don't believe him and the wolf takes the animals away."
"What does that have to do with me?" Patrick asked.
"What I'm trying to tell you is that liars are rewarded with distrust. Even if you're saying something that's true, nobody will believe you because of your lies." Nero states. "Do you understand me, Patrick?"
Patrick nods.
Nero gives him a head pad. "Good boy." He then hears… something. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" A confused Patrick asks.
Nero stands and makes his way towards the nearest window. I pull back the curtains only to find a group of people standing just outside, staring at us.
Nero arches an eyebrow. "What the…?"
"What's wrong?" Patrick asks.
Nero turns around and walks to the boy. "Something's happening outside, I'll go and check it out." I crouch down and hold down both of his shoulders. "You stay right here, and don't let anyone in, alright?"
"Hm!" Patrick nods.
The perspective switches to the outside as Nero walks out the front door. "Hi there. Is there any reason why you're all standing there?"
The people don't say anything, instead giving him eerie smiles.
Nero's brows furrow as he walks down the stairs. "Look, you people need to leave now." Their silence just makes Nero more agitated. "I said leave!"
However, as soon as Nero steps foot on the pavement, the people pounce!
"Huh!?" Nero was caught off guard by all of the group's sudden actions.
One of the men throws a punch but Nero quickly deflects it before grabbing the man's shoulder and pulls him directly forward, throwing him over his shoulder in a circular motion.
"I may not be a martial artist, but I still know my way around a fight." Nero declares.
Two women jump forward and attempt to deliver a series of high-jump kicks, but Nero blocks them with his arms.
"Dammit! This fucking hurts!" Nero hisses at the throbbing pain from his forearms. "There's no way you guys are human, who the hell are you!?"
As if answering his question, the humans morph into humanoid creatures wearing full body magenta spandex with yellow stripes running across their torsos and arms. Their heads feature black lenses with a yellow line running across it like blindfold. Their mouths twist downwards, giving them a deformed frown.
"Ugh, I think I prefer your human disguises." I gagged.
The monsters pull out swords from their waists and slowly approach him.
Nero glances at the window and doesn't see Patrick anywhere. "Alright, he's not looking. Time to get started." Nero crosses his arms to form an "X" shape and raises the watch up high. "Grid power, Omni Ranger!" In an instant, Nero transforms into the Omni Ranger.
"All right you Putty Patroller rip-offs, let's dance!" Nero exclaims as he makes a "come on" gesture.
The magenta humanoids turn to one another before one of them charges forward, raising their sword and delivering a downward slash.
*CRACK!*
The magenta monster looks down in shock as their sword has snapped in two.
"Too bad, so sad."The monster looks up only for an armored fist to collide with its head and tear through to the other side.
"!" The others look in horror as the victim's body twitches erratically before going limp.
Nero pulls his arm out of the hole he made, "you know," he lets the body fall to the pavement like a ragdoll "I was having such a nice day, but now it seems I have to deal with the trash." His hands begin to glow with purple energy. "I'll make this quick."
The monster charges at Nero, swords swinging wildly with no real precision. Nero dodges their attacks with ease and blasts them with the repulsors in his hands. He grabs one by the head and proceeds to knee it in the face, revealing the metal and circuitry behind its mask as it reels back and falls to the ground.
"They're machines?" Nero wonders as he catches an arm midswing before ripping it off the robot. He takes the sword from the arm's grip and examines it. "Looks aside, this is a very sharp sword." He proceeds to throw it at the incoming android and runs through its head with ease.
"Very sharp." Nero remarks, slightly in awe.
"What are you doing here!?"
Nero turns and sees the Space Rangers standing there.
"Power Rangers… What a sight for sore eyes." Nero comments. "As for what I'm doing," he gestures to the fallen androids, "I am simply defending myself."
Ashley points at him. "What do you want!?"
"From you guys, nothing. I just want to protect the boy." Nero states.
This catches the rangers off guard.
"Why would a servant of Dark Specter want to protect a kid?" TJ asks.
This ticked off Nero. "I am NO ONE'S servant, TJ! And I suggest you get that idea out of your fucking head before I do it FOR YOU!"
This made the multi-colored group reel back in surprise by his outburst.
"Gee, you sure pissed him off, T." Carlos points out.
Cassie steps forward. "Look, we're wasting time! Patrick and Nero are in danger and we gotta save him! She turns to the Omni Ranger. "Will you help us?"
Nero nods.
Carlos grabs her shoulder. "Cass, are you crazy? He works with Astronema!"
"He's right, for all we know he could be biting his time to attack us" TJ adds. "Not to mention this is the same guy who almost killed you."
"For your information, I wasn't trying to kill her. I was trying to get information out of her." Nero states. "There's no such thing as Good Cop or Bad Bop; only Bad Cop and Death Ray. She would be dead if I didn't step in."
The rangers all look at Nero skeptically for a solid minute.
"... come on. Let's get Patrick." Andros and the others quickly make their way to the house and knock on the door.
Immediately, Patrick opens it and is ecstatic by what he sees. "Power Rangers!"
Cassie grabs his hand. "C'mon Patrick, let's get out of here." The rangers all proceed to walk down the stairs.
"Wait, where's Nero?" Patrick points at the Nero. " And who's that?"
Nero points to himself. "I'm the Omni Ranger. As for your friend, he is safe. He asked me to protect you."
"Okay team, let's split up." Andros suggests.
"Got it. This way, Patrick." Cassie, Andros, Nero, and Patrick go to the right while Carlos, Ashley, and TJ go to the left.
However, as they reach the corner of the street, a policeman suddenly stands in their way.
"Oh uh…" Patrick takes a step back.
Andros grabs his shoulders in assurance. "It's okay, it's just a police officer."
That is until the officer transforms into one of those androids.
"Or not." Cassie adds.
The android turns to the other side and waves, causing two more androids to appear and they all come running towards them.
Patrick, scared, makes a run for it.
"Patrick!" Cassie soon runs after him with Andros quickly in toe. Nero charges up and fires his repulsors at the androids, destroying them, however they are soon replaced with even more androids.
"Damn, just where are these things coming from…!" Nero mutters as he is forced to run back to the others.
As he arrives at the house, he sees Patrick getting in the car with his mother and immediately runs off.
"We need to go. There's more coming!" The three rangers turn back to see more androids approaching and quickly make a run for it.
"Okay, any idea on where this came from!?" Nero asks.
"They came from our megaship. We were hit by lightning and caused the computer in the simu-deck to malfunction, making the Craterites real." Cassie states.
Craterites? I think I remember them. Yeah, they're androids that the rangers use in their training. If I remember correctly, a stray lightning bolt hit the megaship causing them to revolt and kidnap people.
The trio managed to reach the nearby forest, however, Craterites were already waiting for them and had even set up an ambush for them.
'Huh? I guess that would explain why Astronema hadn't answered my calls.' Nero thought.
"Cassie, help!" Andros cries as he is dogpilled by a dozen Craterites.
Cassie takes out her signature weapon. "Satellite Stunner, fire!" She fires pink sound waves that destroy the Craterites.
Nero fires his repulsors at every Craterite in sight, but the more he destroys the more keep popping up.
"I can't keep this up much longer. I gotta think of something fast…" Nero said before glancing at the Omni Morpher. "I guess there's no other option," He jumps and lands at the peak of the tree. "Time to show you all why I'm the Omni Ranger." I twist the dial clockwise once and then twice counterclockwise, causing the symbol to turn orange.
However, before he can do anything else, he is suddenly blasted by a fireball and falls straight to the ground.
When Nero looks up, he sees a different Craterite than the others. Instead of magenta, its head, gloves, and boots are all black. However, what quickly caught his eyes are floating forms of Andros and Cassie, struggling to break free from the android's grip.
'That must be the leader.' Nero surmised.
The Craterite Leader raises its hand and Nero levitates off the ground before he is pulled in by the monster and grabs him. It proceeds to electrocute Nero with powerful lighting as evident by the sparks constantly flying from his suit.
"AHHHHH!" Nero screams in pain.
Once satisfied, it throws Nero and the others to the side like garbage.
"HAHAHAHA!" The Craterite laughs maniacally as it menacingly walks towards us.
The rangers try to crawl away, only to be shocked to see Nero standing in front of them.
"You are not taking another step, freak!" Nero hisses out.
Andros and Cassie were surprised by this. Why would a soldier of Astronema try to protect them?
The leader keeps moving only to look up as Ashley, TJ, and Carlos fly in and kick the Craterite away.
The three rangers proceed to help the others. "You guys okay?"
"Yeah, now that you're here." Cassie replies.
The rangers hear a moan as they see Nero quickly collapse on all fours as static electricity can be seen running through his suit.
TJ rushes to him. "Hey, you okay!?"
Nero slowly turns to him. "Showing concern to the enemy, TJ? You must have a death wish." He chuckles before he's jolted by the electricity. "That thing blasted me with too much electricity, it overloaded my armor."
"Can we help?" TJ asks.
"I'm already working on it, but you can start by killing those freaks." Nero states.
The Craterites leader gets up and orders his army to attack.
"Andros, take this." Carlos hands him the Spiral Drill. "D.E.C.A. reprogrammed it off the data from the Simul-Deck."
"So as long as they haven't mutated, this should work." Andros connects the Spiral Drill with his blaster. "It's time for you to go back to the world of computer simulation, where you belong!" He aims his weapon at the Craterites.
"Activate program! Fire!" He fires and the shot hits true, engulfing the Craterites in a big explosion.
The rangers all look on in bated breath as the smoke dissipates, revealing the downed Craterites. However, before they could celebrate some of the androids began to get up, including the leader.
"Oh, come on! Why can't these things just stay down!?" Carlos yells.
The Craterite leader begins to scream and quickly, all of the survivors begin to converge on it into a mass of magenta. Energy crackles around and begins to merge and mutate before rising into an amalgamation that is the size of a skyscraper.
"Wow! We need Astro Megazord power!" Andros said and the others nod. It's time for the big guns.
Nero gets up, his suit finished insulating the electricity. "In that case, you're gonna need all of the power you can get. I'll help you."
"Okay." The Space Rangers nod and run to battle.
Nero raises the Omni Morpher to his face. "Alpha, launch the Red Battlezord now!"
"Roger!" Alpha replies.
From the Zord Hangar, the doors split open and a massive cannon slowly appears from within the mountain. The onboard computer begins to calculate the trajectory as a red humanoid robot with golden gloves and a star on its head is loaded onto the cannon.
The cannon takes aim and…
BOOM!
The cannon fires followed by a huge thunderclap, launching the robot at insane speeds as it spins around and into a portal that takes it just above the forest.
"There it is." He jumps upwards, turning into light as he teleports to the zord's star-shaped cockpit.
"Alright, let's do this. Omni Morpher access!" He places his left hand on the port in front of him and immediately the mech is operable. "Overwrite complete! Red Battlezord online."
It quickly descends and lands on the city, crossing its forearms together showing that it's ready for action. It turns its head to see the Astro Megazord fighting the Craterite giant.
"Let's do this." Nero commands the zord to move… and it immediately begins to spasm out of control.
"Whoa!" Nero exclaims as the cockpit is rattled back and forth. "Shit!"
The battlezord moves forward and begins to crash into several structures as well as hitting others with its golden fists.
"Come on, gotta have a clear mind." Nero takes a deep breath and then exhales. "Focus!"
The battlezord rampages around the city before suddenly stopping.
"Yes, it works!" Nero exclaims.
The red robot turns and walks towards the Astro Megazord and stands by its side. The two robots give each other a nod and charge at the monster and hit it with a double punch, leaving a large gaping hole in its torso.
However, to their shock and horror, a cluster of Craterites converged on the hole, quickly closing it with their own bodies.
"Well, that was disappointing." Nero remarks.
"We need more power. I'll transfer the Simul-Deck data into the Astro Megazord Blaster." TJ states.
"Could you also send me the data as well?"
"Done."
The Red Battlezord charges at the monster and attacks. The Craterite tries to evade but the zord's piston punches are too fast for even it to react.
"Omni Ranger, get out of the way." Andros orders as the megazord takes aim with its blaster. It fires, causing a few bodies to separate and fall to the ground.
"This will take forever, we have to take out the leader." Ashley said.
Cassie runs a scan on the monster and finds its weak spot. "I got it. The leader's on the chest."
"Good work, Cassie." Andros said.
"I'll distract it while you guys think of a plan." Nero said.
"Okay."
The monster charges forward, but stops as the red mech stands in its way.
"Get a taste of this!" The battlezord raises its arms as it charges up the pistons on its wrists and fires a barrage of golden energy at the monster.
The monster is overwhelmed by the onslaught of rapid fire, unable to move as it loses more and more of its structural mass.
During this, the Astro Megazord aims its blaster at the monster's chest. "Fire!" An energy blast shoots out and destroys the leader's head, which causes the monster to immediately explode.
Nero sighs and leans back on his chair. "And that's that."
Later
Nero walks into the Surf Spot and quickly finds the other rangers together with Patrick and walks towards them.
"Hey." Nero greets them.
"You're here!" Patrick exclaims and proceeds to hug me.
"Thank goodness you're okay." Cassie smiles.
Nero smiles in return. "Of course I am. Plus, I did say we would meet up at the Surf Spot, right?"
"Well, Patrick was telling us how you went outside and never came back. So, mind filling us in on what happened?" Carlos asked.
"I was taken by those costumed freaks, but then this guy in armor showed up and saved me. He told me to go somewhere safe, but I told him there was a kid in a nearby house and so he said he'll find him before urging me to go." Nero lied.
"..." Andros looks concerned.
Ashley leans closer. "What's wrong?"
"That Omni Ranger… I can't tell whether he wants to destroy us or help us." Andros states.
"Maybe he's not really evil." Ashley said.
"Maybe," Andros agreed. "But still, why work for Astronema? It doesn't make sense."
"Nobody moves!" Everyone's attention turns to Bulk and Skull holding a weird device before they are comically pulled back by something.
Everyone just gives the troublemaking duo a confused look.
After everything's settled, Bulk speaks up. "We know who you really are."
"Show yourselves, you sinister space aliens!" Skull demands.
"Or we'll blast you with this space alien stripper and reveal your true identities." Bulk takes the gun and pulls the trigger, except it doesn't work as intended.
It instead encases both Bulk and Skull in a bubble and when it pops they suddenly find themselves in their underwear.
The two look down and scream as they immediately run away while everyone else laughs at their blunder.
Author Notes
And that'll do for filler. I honestly forgot about this episode and when I rewatched it, I thought "this will do nicely" and I was right.
Next Updates:
Fate's Wild Card
Interloper
A Gamer's Grand Journey Re:Mix
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Broken Light
RWBY: Deck of Fate
Omni Ranger
As always leave a comment. Good, bad, I don't care.
Peace~