Power Rangers was created by Haim Saban, and currently owned by Hasbro. Although this story contains original characters, it is a tribute to the original series, and I do not plan or intend to profit from it.
The saga of the Power Rangers began in the autumn of 1993, when Zordon, an interdimensional being originally from the planet Eltar, recruited five teenagers with attitude from the town of Angel Grove to battle the forces of Rita Repulsa, after she escaped from the dumpster she had been imprisoned in 10,000 years earlier. To most people, Jason Lee Scott, Trini Kwan, Billy Cranston, and Zack Taylor, later joined by Tommy Oliver, were the original Power Rangers. But there are those who know the Power Rangers saga actually began seven years earlier, in a suburb of Los Angeles known as Sunny evil sorcerer named Blackmange, who had been trapped in an interdimensional prison 5000 years ago managed to escape, and planned to conquer Earth. To that end, Zordon recruited Hector Guiterrez, Christine Kuramoto, Ron Jackson, Susan Anderson, and Gerald McCoy to battle Blackmange and his evil forces.
POWER RANGERS: BIRDS OF PREY
ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN LATE JUNE, FIVE TEENAGERS GO ABOUT THEIR DAY, UNAWARE THAT THEIR LIVES ARE ABOUT TO CHANGE…
CHAPTER 1: BIRDS OF A FEATHER…
HORIZON PARK, SUNNY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
JUNE 20, 1986
1:30 PM
Gerald McCoy loaded a new film spool in his Bolex H16, and wound it up. Jerry McCoy, Gerald's father had purchased the camera in a pawn shop, and had it professionally restored, to give to Gerald several months earlier, when he turned 16. Jerry had planned to buy Gerald a car for his birthday, but had been informed by Gerald's mother that she and his stepfather had already bought him a car for his birthday, a 1967 Ford Mustang convertible, which he nicknamed the Flying Dutchman. Since he didn't need to buy his son a car, Jerry felt that Gerald, a film buff as well as aspiring filmmaker, would appreciate a halfway decent motion picture camera. After some research, Jerry learned that the Bolex H16 was among the most popular cameras, and had been the camera many top filmmakers had made their first films on. Over the past 7 months, Gerald had mainly shot home movies with the camera, which he considered his most prized possession. Since he had a day off from his after school job at the Essex, a movie theater that first opened in his hometown of Sunny Hills back in 1921, and currently showed mostly older movies, foreign films, and arthouse films, Gerald had decided to work on a personal project, a short film. He had shot a couple scenes that morning, and after breaking for lunch, filmed a couple takes of a new scene. "Cut!" Gerald said.
"I thought that was a good take," Bonnie, Gerald's stepmother, said.
"It would have been if it wasn't for the scream," Gerald said. "Sounds like someone's in trouble."
"I hear it too," Bonnie said.
"Take very good care of this, please," Gerald said, handing the Bolex to Bonnie, and running toward where the scream came from.
"Where are you going?" Bonnie asked.
"Whoever was screaming," Gerald said, "they sound like they're in trouble. I'm going to go check it out, and see if I can do anything."
"Be careful," Bonnie said, as Gerald ran off.
Gerald ran in the direction of the scream, and saw a brown haired girl, a couple inches shorter and a year younger than him, who was in a fight with several creatures that resembled werewolves. With a war cry, he joined the battle. "This a private dance, or do you mind if I cut in?" he asked.
"Please cut in," the girl said, as she and Gerald fought off the werewolves.
"By the way," Gerald said, "I'm Gerald."
"I'm Susan," she said.
MEANWHILE, IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Zordon, an interdimensional being from the planet Eltar, was monitoring Earth for any trouble. Alpha V, his robot assistant, was operating the computer in their command center, when an alarm went off. "Aye-yi-yi!" Alpha said. "Trouble in Southern California."
"Are you able to pinpoint the location?" Zordon asked.
"Sunny Hills," Alpha said. "It's a medium sized town in Orange County."
"I know where Sunny Hills is," Zordon said. "Do you know what the problem is?"
"Several wolflike humanoids have began attacking citizens," Alpha said.
"That can only mean one thing," Zordon said. "Blackmange managed to escape the dimension Morrigan trapped him in. I'm afraid we have no other choice. Execute Protocol J-86 Epsilon."
"You don't mean?" Alpha asked.
"Yes," Zordon said. Alpha joined in, and the two of them said a single word in unison, as Alpha pressed several buttons on his computer console. "Teenagers!"
Back in the park, Gerald and Susan were busy fighting off the wolflike creatures. They managed to hold their own against the creatures, and after a few minutes, the creatures disappeared. As the creatures disappeared, Susan hugged Gerald, and gave him a kiss.
In another part of the park, Ron Jackson and Hector Guiterrez, two of Gerald's classmates, were messing around kicking a soccer ball. Actually Hector, who had been playing soccer since almost before he learned to walk, was teaching Ron, who was looking to be the starting quarterback for their high school team in the upcoming season, a lesson in ballhandling. "You're pretty good," Hector said. "You're almost a natural. Maybe one of these days, you can come play football with my cousins and I."
"I thought you and your cousins played soccer," Ron said.
"True," Hector said. "But it's called football in Mexico. The United States is one of the few places that call it soccer."
Meanwhile, Christine Kuramoto, a Japanese-American girl with aspirations of being an artist, was sitting on a bench near the lake in the middle of the park. She had a sketchbook, and was drawing a sketch of a duck she saw waddling near the shore.
All of a sudden, Gerald, the girl, Ron, Hector, and Christine disappeared…
They found themselves in the Command Center. "What just happened?" the girl asked.
"Don't have a clue," Gerald said. "All I know, after that little tussle with Lon Chaney Jr.'s clones, you and I had our little liplock, and now, we're on the set of Star Wars. Not that I'm complaining, but what's with the kiss, anyways?"
"It's kind of expected for a damsel in distress to kiss the guy who rescues her," Susan said.
"Yo Wizard of Oz," Gerald said, as the five of them noticed Zordon in his energy tube.
"My name is Zordon," he said. "I'm an interdimensional being, and this is my assistant, Alpha V."
"Okay, so we established who you are," Gerald said. "But that still doesn't explain how in the blue blazes today just went from zero to absolutely batshit insane in one second flat."
"The five of you have been chosen to save the world," Alpha said.
"An evil sorcerer named Blackmange has escaped from another dimension," Zordon said. "He plans on taking over Earth. Gerald, those creatures you and Susan just fought are Wolfmen, they're Blackmange's foot soldiers."
"How does the giant floating HEAD know our names?" Susan asked.
"That's a secret for another time," Alpha said.
"I have a question," Christine said. "How exactly are we supposed to save the world from this Blackmange person?"
"I'm about to get to that," Zordon said. As he said that, wrist to elbow armbands appeared on each teen's left arm. On the back of each armband was a metal feather. "You have been chosen to form a team of superheroes, based on birds of prey. A team which will be known as Power Rangers."
"What are these for?" Susan asked.
"These are your morphers," Alpha said. "Remove the feather, and toss it to the ground at your feet while calling out the name of your bird."
"Ronald Jackson," Zordon said, as the feather on his armband turned green. "You will assume the identity of the Green Ranger, with the powers of the Kestrel."
"If you don't mind," Ron said, "I prefer to be called Ron."
"As you wish," Alpha said.
"Christine Kuramoto," Zordon said, as her feather turned yellow. "You will assume the identity of the Yellow Ranger, with the power of the Osprey."
"I won't let you down," Christine said.
Gerald McCoy," Zordon said, as his feather turned blue. "You will assume the identity of the Blue Ranger, with the power of the Falcon."
"I used to love Dynomutt when I was a kid," Gerald said.
"Susan Anderson," Zordon said, as her feather turned pink. "You will assume the identity of the Pink Ranger, with the power of the Hawk."
"Guess I'm a superhero now," Susan said.
"Hector Guiterrez," Zordon said, as his feather turned red. "You will assume the identity of the Red Ranger, with the power of the Eagle. As Red Ranger, you will also be the leader of the Power Rangers."
"I'll do my best," Hector said.
"As Power Rangers," Zordon said, "You will have three rules you must follow. First, never escalate a battle unless your enemy forces your hand. Second, never use your powers for personal gain. Third, never reveal your identity unless absolutely necessary."
"As Power Rangers," Alpha said, "you will have access to powers and weapons that will aid you in your battle against Blackmange. The first will be your Raptor Zords. They are extremely powerful vehicles which you can call upon whenever an enemy proves too powerful to defeat on your own. You also have…"
At that moment, an alarm went off. "Observe the viewing globe," Zordon said. The teens did, and saw what appeared to be the result of Yoda mating with an armadillo, which was terrorizing people in Horizon Park. "It appears Blackmange has thrown down the gauntlet. This will be your baptism by fire." As he said that, Zordon teleported them to the park, where they encountered the creature.
"Vete, vil abominación!" Hector said.(TRANSLATION: "Begone, you vile abomination!")
"My grasp of Spanish may be limited to the menu at Taco Bell," Christine said, "but what he just said goes for us, too."
"What's that supposed to mean?" the creature asked.
"It means this," Hector said. The teenagers held their left arms in front of them, fists clenched, and removed the feathers. "It's Morphin Time!" Hector said, as they tossed their feathers to the ground at their feet.
"Kestrel!"
"Hawk!"
"Falcon!"
"Osprey!"
"Eagle!"
The teens found themselves clad in nearly identical costumes, whole body suits, with shirt in their respective colors, with black turtleneck and sleeves and gloves in their respective colors, as well as black tights. The male Rangers wore trunks and knee high boots in their respective colors, while the female Rangers wore skirts that barely covered the hips, as well as boots that went just above the knees, also in their respective colors. Each Ranger also wore a helmet in their respective colors, with a black visor shaped like the beak of their respective birds.
Meanwhile, from a secret base on the Moon, Blackmange was observing the battle in his crystal ball. "Really, Zordon," he said to himself. "Teenagers? Wolfmen, go down there and help Terrordilla!"
Back on Earth, several wolfmen arrived, which the newly morphed Power Rangers fought. After a short battle where they defeated the wolfmen, they engaged Terrordilla directly. As formidable a fighter Terrordilla was, it wasn't a match for five opponents, especially when they were working together. After a while, the Power Rangers had it on the ropes, and were looking to go in for the kill. "Time to tip the odds in my favor," Blackmange said. "Grow, my Terrordilla!" he said, shooting lightning from his fingers into the crystal ball.
A bolt of lightning came from nowhere, hitting Terrordilla, causing it to grow to a height of 150 feet, as well as increasing its power exponentially. "That's more like it," Terrordilla said. "Time to squash you like the bugs you are."
"I think now would be a good time to show this thing our new toys," Blue Ranger said.
"Agreed," Red Ranger said.
"We call on the Raptor Zords!" all five Rangers said in unison. Five large robots, shaped like a red eagle, blue falcon, green kestrel, pink hawk, and yellow osprey, arrived on the scene, and each of the Rangers teleported into the cockpit of the robot that matched their Ranger color. As they did, the robots broke formation, and began attacking Terrordilla.
"Is it just me, or does it seem a bit peculiar that we instinctively know how to pilot these things?" Pink Ranger asked.
"I'm just going with the flow," Green Ranger said.
"Same here," Blue Ranger said.
"This creature gets uglier the bigger it gets," Yellow Ranger said.
"Attack!" Red Ranger said.
The Rangers attacked the creature, causing damage, but not enough to stop it, just slow it down. "Rangers," Zordon said, "It's time to combine your Zords, to form the Raptor Megazord."
"Let's bring 'em together," Red Ranger said.
As he said that, the Rangers combined their Zords into a giant robot, with the Red Eagle Zord forming the head and torso, Blue Falcon and Pink Hawk Zords as the arms, and Green Kestrel and Yellow Osprey Zords as legs. The Rangers then assembled in a combined cockpit in the robot's chest. They worked together to pilot the Megazord, and fought Terrorzilla. The battle went back and forth, neither able to get much of an advantage, until the Megazord got in a couple lucky shots, at which time, the Rangers decided to go in for the kill. "Let's finish this thing off," Blue Ranger said.
"Right!" Red Ranger said. "Raptor Saber!"
The Megazord held out its right hand, and a sword appeared in it. Holding the sword in a two-handed grip, it took a swing, which destroyed Terrorzilla. "Score one for the good guys!" Yellow Ranger said.
After the battle, the Rangers returned to the Command Center, where they transformed back to their normal identities. "I wish to congratulate you all," Zordon said. "You passed your baptism of fire with flying colors. And now, each of you has a decision to make. I cannot force any of you to remain as Power Rangers, all Rangers have to serve at their own free will."
The teens talked amongst themselves for less than 30 seconds, before coming to a decision. "I'm in," Hector said. "I stand with my new friends."
"Why break up a good team?" Ron said. "I'm in."
"You ain't getting rid of us that easy," Christine said. "I'm in."
"You wouldn't have chosen me if you didn't think I was up for the job," Susan said. "I'm in."
"I made my decision when I jumped in to help Susan fight off the Wolfmen," Gerald said. "I'm in."