Chapter 2: A New Team
"He's back. Venjix has returned."
Those words had lived in the fears of every single person on the planet. Even those too young to have experienced Venjix's three year rule feared his return. As two decades passed, people had begun to believe, rather than hope, that he was truly gone.
And now, if Dr. K's computer system was to be believed, he was back.
It was almost like old times. Dr. K stood in front of her computer screen, a grim mask hiding her fear and heartbreak over her findings. In front of her stood the former RPM team, as well as their friends who had helped them so much. The moment that Scott had confirmed with Dr. K what she had found, he had contacted the rest of the team, and they had returned to the garage. Even Arianna had returned, flying over from Zandar the moment she heard. Despite her jetlag, she stood with them.
Their quick arrival had touched Dr. K, who had to fight to conceal her emotions. An era of peace had made her feel safe enough to show how she truly felt, but not now. She had to hold it together, for the sake of everyone.
"Once a Ranger, always a Ranger," Teddie had reminded her, able to see past her mask with a keen eye as always. The others nodded.
"For you lot, at least," Nora snorted, arms folded as she leaned against the wall. Her sword hung from her hip, as important to her as ever.
"You're close enough to one yourself," Heckyl muttered, and earned a dark glare from the woman.
"You really have to annoy her?" Ziggy complained. Flynn snorted, and Summer raised her eyes to the ceiling in exasperation.
"He's not wrong," Spencer commented, unable to stop himself despite the serious nature of their situation. The temperature of the room rose with Nora's temperature.
"Enough," Scott's quiet word was filled with authority earned from his time as a Red Ranger, leader of Eagle Squad, and as the Colonel of Corinth's military. They fell quiet, and Nora took a quiet breath to settle her temper. "I'm not asking this because I doubt you, Dr. K, but are you sure that Venjix is back?" he asked. Dr. K looked to the man she'd chosen to lead the team all those years ago. He had grown from the young man lost in grief into a fine leader, and she was proud to call him her friend.
"Yes. The systems I had in place would only wake if they detected anything to do with the Venjix virus. I tested them extensively, and I've maintained them over the years to be sure," Dr. K explained, her arms by her sides as her hands remained in tight fists. "I had designed them to eradicate that presence if located, but as we all remember, Venjix is smart. He slipped by the systems, tipping them to his presence only as he escaped, leaving them no time to destroy him," she explained what she had spent the last hour studying intently.
"Where the hell was that bastard hiding for all this time?" Dillon growled, his eyes dark. He had mellowed since his time as the Black Ranger, with the antidote to the Venjix virus helping to calm him almost as much as finding his sister, but the mention of Venjix was a sore spot for them all.
"You're not going to like the answer," Dr. K said softly.
"I already don't like it," Dillon's response almost made her smile.
"I believe that in the moments before Venjix's demise, when he detected that he was being hacked," Dr. K's gaze went to Tenaya as she spoke. The woman, who had lost her sight but not her spirit, looked grim but determined, rather than scared. "He hid a fragment of himself within the Morphin' Grid, and that fragment hid away where it could then grow and become Venjix once more," Dr. K reached for the familiar Morpher that was sitting on her table.
"He hid in my Morpher?" Scott demanded, utter fury in his voice as Arianna gasped quietly. Her hands went to her mouth, her fair skin turning paler.
"The Morphin' Grid…" Teddie hissed, just as furious. "To use something so good to hide his evil…" Heckyl's hand went around her own in quiet support, and she swallowed her rage.
"So now what?" Tenaya asked, her arms folded. "Are they supposed to return to being Rangers? Where has Venjix even skulked off to?" she asked, getting down to the heart of the matter.
"Right now, I have every available system tracking him. The moment Venjix stops running and starts whatever he's got planned, we'll be ready for him," Dr. K said, holding her head high. "One benefit we've got from all of this is that we were prepared for the potential of his return," she told them.
"SPD has already been notified, and their firewalls are insane, thanks to the collaboration between Dr. K and the wonderful Sophie," Spencer told them. Dr. K nodded. "There's no way Venjix will have as easy a time as he did last time," he said confidently.
"This is only a temporary solution," Dr. K spoke again. "Venjix is constantly learning and improving. We've bought ourselves some time. Now we need to prepare ourselves. I'll be working with Cassie, Gem and Gemma," she looked at the three. The twins gave her thumbs up, smiling brightly, as Cassie smiled softly. "We've got the making of an antivirus to rip him apart, but to get past his own defences, we're going to need a team to fight whatever physical body he creates for himself," Dr. K said. The former Rangers exchanged looks.
"I know that whole 'Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger' thing, but…" Ziggy was the one to speak up, hesitating.
"Afraid that you're still awful with that axe of yours?" Flynn fired at the former Green Ranger.
"We're all out of practice, and…" Arianna's pale eyes went to Dillon. "Dillon was chosen because the Ranger Black suit was incredibly demanding on his body. Without the implants being maintained constantly…" she trailed off as Dillon glared at the wall, knowing she was right.
"If Venjix was hiding in Scott's Morpher, there's no telling what he's done to it, or the others," Annie said, not looking away from Dr. K. "But something tells me that the good doctor isn't intending for us to pick up where we left off," she accused her.
"Annie is correct," the woman nodded, and there was visible relief from the team. While they would all return to being Rangers if needed, they knew they weren't the best choices for the role anymore. "As well as the programs in place to detect any trace of Venjix, I wanted to ensure that we had sufficient protection in case he did escape, or if any other threat rose up to threaten our peace," Dr. K rested a hand on the case that was sitting on her desk beside her. "With the help of many of our friends, I have created an entirely new set of Morphers, with their connection to the Grid reinforced to prevent any previous incidents from happening again," she said, looking at Spencer and Annie.
"Good. That sucked," Spencer's blunt words made Scott snort.
"Glad you can make light of that," Teddie grumbled.
"Gotta laugh or you'll just cry," Annie shrugged.
"So these new Morphers…" Summer cleared her throat. "Do you have a team in mind for them?" she asked the doctor.
"Well…" Dr. K finally allowed herself a small smile. "I have some ideas, but I was hoping you all would help to narrow them down further," she requested. The group exchanged looks, and then turned their gaze to Scott. He turned back to Dr. K, and grinned confidently, just as he had always done when he was a Ranger.
"Of course we will," he told her.
With help from her team, it didn't take long for Dr. K to narrow down their choices until they found what they considered to be the perfect group to take on the mantel as the new Power Rangers to face Venjix.
"At least this way there's no clowns," Teddie smiled.
"You're never going to let me live that one down, are you?" Ziggy complained as Nora snorted a laugh.
"Never," Teddie smiled sweetly at him, and Ziggy huffed. However, he couldn't help but laugh as well as he passed Teddie over a file. She flipped it open, and after a few seconds, she hummed. "Another one who fits the criteria as a Ranger, but nothing really stands out," she remembered, handing over the file to Scott.
"It's tough to find someone as good as us," the Colonel smirked at her, and Teddie laughed.
"Oh, Annie and I have a suggestion for one," Spencer held out a file to Dr. K, who took it and opened it up. "He's been working at SPD for the last year, and his mother works with Scott, I believe," the former Red Ranger lifted his head and walked over to take a look.
"Shaw? Oh, Zahira Shaw's son? She's told me about him," Scott remembered, thinking of the tough woman who seemed to be gunning for his job, with how efficient she was.
"He's smart and consistently makes good calls. I think he'd be a good fit," Spencer said.
Deciding completely on the full team proved a lot tougher than Dr. K had hoped. While the team had helped narrow down the choices, it was still hard to pick. Scott, Flynn, Summer and Teddie had been chosen for their actions in the original battle for Corinth, when the shields had gone up. Dillon had been the only choice for the Black Ranger thanks to his implants. Ziggy hadn't been a choice at all - something she was still a little bitter about to this day. Arianna had impressed Dr. K with her determination to help them, while Spencer and Annie had been two that she had admired for some time.
As if it was some sort of divine punishment, Dr. K found her Rangers in the worst way imaginable.
Only that afternoon, Corinth was attacked by a small robotic army. While Venjix wasn't leading the charge, it was obvious that he was the one behind it. The robots, tougher and more vicious than they had been twenty years ago, laid siege to the city and left an entire sector in ruins, but were mercifully driven out by not only Scott and the military, but by those who protected innocents from being harmed.
Thanks to their actions, there were fewer casualties than there could have been, and Dr. K found her Rangers.
Spencer and Annie's recommendation turned out to be perfect, as Ravi Shaw defended a group of students from the robots that turned their sights on them. He'd been injured in the fight, but refused to back down. With that courage and determination, he'd secured himself the position of Blue Ranger.
His girlfriend Roxy, it turned out, knew Dillon and Summer. She'd spent some time in one of the shelters they had set up after her parents had died, worked so hard by Venjix in one of the labour camps that even after being freed, they had only lived for a short time after. Having been on a date with Ravi at the time, Roxy was there when Venjix attacked, and had gotten not only the students Ravi was defending to safety, but Ravi himself when he was injured. Impressed by her quick thinking in such a situation, Dr. K had offered her the position of Yellow Ranger, and Roxy had accepted instantly.
The choice for White Ranger almost had Spencer faint. His own daughter, Asher, had taken out a number of the robots with her powers, as well as her skills as a fighter. She protected a soldier who had been badly injured in the battle, keeping her alive to return to her family. Spencer had protested, but Dr. K hadn't budged, and the rest of the team had agreed after seeing footage of Asher in action.
Spencer wasn't the only one who found themselves with their child thrown into the fray. Unlike the former Gold Ranger, however, Flynn and Gemma only looked proud when they had heard that their son Jasper had worked with Keeva to evacuate the buildings in the area where Venjix's forces had attacked. When he'd had time to craft an explosive to destroy the robots was something that even Gemma couldn't answer, but Dr. K had chosen him as the Black Ranger.
It had taken every ounce of Dr. K's professional mind to force herself to accept that she had chosen the Green Ranger as well. Time was of the essence, and she couldn't let personal opinions get in the way. Even if Keeva's father was still as inept as he was back when he was a Ranger, she herself proved to have some of her mother's talents - only with Sun Magic, rather than Nora's Fire Magic.
Last but definitely not least was the choice for Red Ranger. Dr. K had immediately chosen Blaze, and Scott had backed her up in the decision. The brave young man had not only charged headfirst into battle, but corralled the panicking people around him to get to safety. He'd even thrown some orders at the soldiers around, and they had followed without hesitation. His natural leadership meant Blaze was perfect as the leader of the new team.
Their wide-eyed awe as they stood in the lab was a stark contrast to the team that Dr. K had originally formed. Scott, injured and having just lost his brother in the battle, was simmering with anger and vengeance, but still held himself like the military man he'd been raised to be.
Summer had been withdrawn and quiet, not saying anything about her past, but Dr. K could see her own grief mirrored in the pretty blonde's face. She'd lost someone dear to her, but it wasn't Dr. K's place to say anything. In time, Summer would come into her own as a strong second in command for Scott, and a pillar of strength for Dillon.
Flynn had been the most eager of the original four, but even he had shadows in his eyes. He might have finally gained the opportunity to be a hero as he'd always wanted to be, but the end of the world was not the price he ever would have willingly paid for such a role.
Teddie had been smiling, but her anger and self-blame lingered under the surface, making her suit power unstable for a long time. Dr. K didn't hold it against her, even with her trauma making her energy pulse power unreliable. She knew about Teddie's history, as both a Ranger and the daughter and sister of Rangers. She, like any Ranger who made it into the city before the shields went up, all held themselves accountable.
"Make no mistake, this is no simple battle you will all be facing," Dr. K addressed the new team of five. The former RPM team were there, quietly watching from the sidelines - Dillon had his hand firmly over Ziggy's mouth to keep him quiet. "This is a battle against Venjix, the greatest threat this world has ever experienced. He almost wiped out the world. The former Ranger operators-" Dr. K gestured with her hand, and the team looked over at them. Even those who weren't related to them knew the team well. The whole world knew them for what they had done. "They put everything on the line to defeat him. Some even sacrificing their lives," she added. Roxy's eyes widened, a tiny spark of fear betraying her.
Without looking around, Ravi caught her hand and squeezed it. The fear died instantly, and Roxy let out a breath. "You were chosen because I see that same fire as I did in them," Dr. K told them.
"For the record, nobody's expecting you to sacrifice your lives," Spencer spoke up quickly. Dr. K gave him a withering stare that they hadn't seen in twenty years.
"Give it a rest, man," Flynn rolled his eyes as Annie slapped her hand over Spencer's mouth. Asher had pushed up her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose in an attempt to ward off a headache, looking very reminiscent of Kendall.
"With how quickly we've caught onto Venjix, I do not believe that it will be a mission that requires you to do anything of the sort," Dr. K spoke up, trying to wrangle back their attention. "Nevertheless, Venjix is intelligent and forever growing. We need to act quickly, and we need to use all of our strength to defeat him here and now," she told them. The five stood taller at her words.
For a moment, they were quiet. Blaze looked at his team, meeting each of their gazes as he took them all in. His sharp, dark eyes lingered on Asher for a moment longer than Spencer liked, before he squared his shoulders and turned back to Dr. K.
"We were lucky enough to not have experienced Venjix for ourselves, but we all know the aftermath. It's been twenty years, and even with help from SPD, the world is still recovering to catch up technology-wise. Ecologically, it's even worse," Blaze said. He didn't see the look that flickered in Teddie's eyes as she once again thought of the ruins of New Tech, when the grief had caused her to lose control of her powers.
Blaze continued, not looking away from Dr. K. "While we weren't around to experience life under Venjix for ourselves, everyone was impacted by his actions," he said. Ravi's grip on Roxy's hand tightened. "We won't let that happen again. We won't let you down," he told the woman in front of him.
A hushed quiet fell over the lab, with Dr. K holding Blaze's stare so easily that he began to waver, wondering if he had crossed a line or said something to upset her. Then Dr. K turned away, opening the briefcase on the table.
"These are your Morphers. Based off the original RPM designs, you may find some similarities," she said, handing them out to the team. Asher stared at the White Ranger Morpher in her hands, in awe of the power and responsibility that she'd just been handed.
"So what's the plan now?" Ravi asked as he held his Blue Morpher tightly.
"For now, you'll be undergoing training until Venjix is located and we can launch our assault. I believe you know your teachers," Dr. K gestured, and they turned. Ravi went pale as Annie and Spencer stepped forwards. Annie had her confident, almost intimidating grin on her face, while Spencer was smiling pleasantly. Having worked with both, Ravi knew that both meant trouble.
"Here we go," Asher sighed.
"This is going to be fun," Keeva laughed.
"You need to look up the definition of fun," Jasper said quietly. Blaze turned to speak to Dr. K, but she was already back at her computer, resuming her typing. Scott's hand landed roughly on his shoulder, and Blaze looked at the Colonel in surprise.
"Don't worry. She likes you," Scott laughed, and walked past him. "Good luck, all of you. You'll do great," he said, giving an easy salute as he walked out.
"Aye, better some of our own for sure," Flynn snorted, following him out. He winked to Jasper, giving his son a thumbs up. The new Black Ranger managed a small smile back.
"Totally, Dillon was a handful for us to manage. But as his best friend…I handled it," Ziggy told them, puffing his chest out. He was then shoved forwards, almost falling over as he stumbled out the door.
"We remember those days very differently, mighty Green Ranger," Dillon taunted him.
"We weren't perfect. Trust me," Teddie said as she walked past them, grinning. "We made our mistakes, and you will too. But how you work to fix those mistakes is what matters. Right, Doc?" she called over.
"Don't call me Doc," was Dr. K's only response.
"You'll certainly give Dr. K less headaches than we did," Arianna smiled gently as she ushered Teddie out. "You've got this. The world is in your hands," she told them as she left too.
"No pressure," Jasper murmured. Summer reached out to put a hand on Roxy's shoulder, making her jump. The former Yellow Ranger gave her successor a confident smile.
"You'll do great," she assured her. Roxy managed a smile back at her, encouraged by her words.
"Thanks," she said, and looked at Ravi. Summer smiled as she saw the look shared between the two, knowing they would do well together, and left with the others.
"Well then," Spencer chuckled, looking far too eager. Asher looked exasperated while Ravi and Roxy looked nervous. Blaze had an eager look on his face that matched Spencer's, while Jasper looked confident, and Keeva was grinning.
"Let's get this done," Annie told them. By the time it took Venjix to rear his head, the new team of Rangers would be ready.
Hope you liked it! The extra two Rangers I've added were ones I've been planning on for quite a while, so excited to get to get to show these characters at last!
Please review!