Episode 594: Power Rangers HyperForce: The Alliance Leader
"HyperForce" said Michael "go after that monster and get my Key back. Megaforce and Andros, take on the giant monsters. The rest of us will finish Thrax once and for all"
"On it" said Marvin and the HyperForce teleports to the ship with the monster and the Power Key
On the hijacked Time Force ship, the HyperForce appear. To their surprise, the main room is empty. They walk into the ship and Chloe hears a cough behind one of the doors. They open the door and see a man behind the forcefield, hunched over in pain
"Chloe?" The man asked
"Judah?" Chloe asked
"Where's Clare, where's my granddaughter?" Chloe asked
"I… I don't know" said Judah "Thrax took her away"
"Thrax will pay for everything he's done" said Marvin
"Thrax… he's still alive?" Judah asked
"Well… until the angels are done with him" said Vesper
"We have to take him alive" said Judah "only he knows where Clare is. We need to move, the next patrol will be here in 2 minutes and 20 seconds"
"We need to find Michael's Power Key" said Jack "any idea where'd they keep it?"
"Towards the back of the ship" said Judah "they have a device back there that will allow them to use the Power Key to track the location of the Abyss of Evil"
"Why not keep it in the front of the ship?" Eddie asked "would be more convenient to keep the thing telling you where to go in the place with the controls"
"I don't know, they're villains, they're never too smart" said Judah
"They've managed to be one step ahead of Time Force for almost a thousand years and get the drop on you, the head of the Alliance Taskforce" said Eddie
"Don't remind me of that day" said Judah
"Sorry" said Eddie
"Sounds like we need to go to the back of the ship" said Joe
On the Cimmerian Planet, Michael, Aisha, Lina, the Sentinel Knight, and Gem fight Thrax.
"Power Daggers!" said Aisha
"Chrono Saber!" said Lina
"Excelsior!" said the Sentinel Knight
"Cloud Hatchet!" said Gem and they all take swipes at Thrax. Thrax manages to hold off all three at the same time
"You couldn't defeat me when there were several teams and you certainly can't defeat me with just you four"
"Five" said Michael as runs Thrax through the back with the Sword of Light
"No!" said Thrax as he collapses to the ground, lifeless. Lina runs over to him and looks at him
"It… it can't be" said Lina "Michael, I need to tell the HyperForce about this, now"
On the hijacked Time Force ship, the Rangers get a message from Lina
"Guys" said Lina through their Morphers "we destroyed Thrax, but it turns out he was a robot this whole time"
"That explain how he was able to come back so quickly" said Eddie "but wait, if he's a robot, who built him?"
"Huh" said Judah, standing straight up, no longer looking like he's in pain "Thrax went down 30 seconds ahead of schedule" and he drops a forcefield between him and the Rangers "Don't bother trying to find the Power Key, the monster with it already left"
"Ay yi yi, Rangers" said Alpha through the Morphers "someone's on the HyperForce sh…" and he was cut off
"Your ship is important, it's very important" said Judah
"Judah, what have you done?" Chloe asked
"Isn't it obvious" said Judah "Thrax was never in charge of the Alliance, I was"
"Lina, we've found Judah… and well…" said Jack into his Morpher "Judah Ashford is the Alliance Leader, I repeat Judah is the Alliance Leader, not Thrax. Michael's Power Key is gone. Someone's hijacked the HyperForce ship as well"
On the Cimmerian Planet, everyone reacts to the news
"This is bad, this is very bad" said Michael "the HyperForce ship has the technology to access the Abyss of Evil. In conjunction with my Power Key, they could unleash all the demons in existence unto the universe. We must get on the HyperForce ship"
"Wait" said Gem "I've managed to extract a valuable piece of information from Robo Thrax's hard drive before it failed. I found the location of Clare Ashford"
"Any idea if she was part of the plan or not?" Michael asked
"No idea" said Gem "but if she wasn't, we owe it to her to rescue her. If she was, she may know the Alliance's next steps and where your Key is being held"
"Lina" said Michael "inform Vesper I'm teleporting her to the HyperForce ship. She needs to regain control of it. The rest of the HyperForce are to arrest Judah Ashford and bring him to Jerusalem. We will find Clare Ashford and rescue or arrest her"
"Guys" said Lina "Michael will teleport Vesper to the HyperForce ship, the rest of you need to bring Judah to the HyperForce ship. We're going after Clare and Michael's Key" and Vesper teleports away
On the HyperForce ship, Vesper appears and sees two identical men tied up back to back
"Wes? Alex?" Vesper asked herself "what are you two doing here?"
"Hello Ranger" said a voice as Vesper's hit in the back of the head and the invisible monster that stole the Red Ancient Key appears
"Hand over the Key" said Vesper as she grabs the monster and throws it to the ground. She runs over and pulls out her Hyper Blade Blaster and cuts the bonds restraining Wes and Alex. They grab their Morphers
"IT'S MORPHIN TIME!" said Alex
"TIME FOR TIME FORCE!" said Wes
"MASTODON!" said Alex
"TIME RED!" said Wes and they join Vesper in battling the monster
On the hijacked Time Force ship, Judah talks with the Rangers
"Now before you try anything" said Judah "I'd like some alone time with Chloe. And I assume you'll try to stop me. I planned for that, a long time ago. You see Thrax didn't tell you the whole truth. While it is true that we've corrupted Time Force officers, it's not just enough 'to steal a few ships and sabotage the communications systems.' Pretty much every person in Time Force under the age of one hundred is part of the Alliance and while you were battling Thrax I sent out a signal for them to mutiny. The mutiny went well, as most of the loyal members of Time Force take Christmas off. Almost every Time Force and SPD location is under the Alliance's control, including the Aquabase and the Delta Base, although it appears Dr. Manx was smart enough to alter the DBDS to require a Morpher in order to use it. We've captured the Time Force Rangers, although Jen, Eric, the SPD Rangers and Lightspeed Rangers were all off for Christmas. The Time Force Rangers are being held on the other Time Force ships in my fleet. Now, the Chrono Morphers are locked to the Rangers' DNA. The Alliance's systems are working in conjunction with Time Force's and SPD's systems to unlock the Morphers as we speak. Alternatively, my scientists are close to recreating Dr. Nakadai's trumpet to be able to create Ranger Clones. Either way, the Time Force Powers, the Lightspeed Zords, and the Delta Command Megazord will soon be under the control of the Alliance. Now I'd like some alone time with Chloe. If you leave now and try to rescue the other Rangers, you may very well be able to before we can break into their Morphers."
"As much as I hate to say it" said Jack "we don't have a choice. If the Alliance manages to unlock the Morphers and Zords and we don't get the Power Key back, they will have several Rangers and Zords on their side, along with every demon in existence"
"Chloe" said Marvin "are you willing to stay here and find out what you can from him"
"I can do this, Marv" said Chloe
"I love you Chloe" said Marvin
"I know" said Chloe "now just go and save our friends" and they teleport to the other Time Force ships
On one of the hijacked Time Force ships, Eddie arrives
"Help!" said a voice "somebody, please! The future of the universe depends on it" and Eddie heads towards the voice. Eddie accidentally knocks something over and an Alliance member comes out of a room. The Alliance member is wearing inverted Time Force colors
"A Blue Ranger?" the Alliance member asked and he fires at Eddie. Eddie flips over the Alliance member, knocks him to the ground, grabs the blaster, shoves him back in the room and uses the blaster to jam the door.
"What's going on out there?" the voice from earlier asked
"Don't free the prisoner!" said the Alliance member "oh, wait, you're not supposed to know there's a prisoner, oh shoot" and Eddie rushes into the room to see Trip
On one of the hijacked Time Force ships, Jack arrives and is immediately attacked by a monster
"Whoever's out there let me out!" said a voice "when I get out, whoever put me in here is going to regret they did"
"Whoever's in there, I'm Jack D. Hollings, HyperForce Yellow" said Jack
"Jack, it's me, Katie, Time Force Yellow" said Katie "now get me out of here"
"Crius Cannon!" said Jack and he shoots the monster. The monster slashes Jack with his sword.
"Jack get me out of here!" said Katie. Jack shoots the access panel deactivating the forcefield and Katie breaks down the door and punches the monster. The monster charges Katie but she dodges
On another hijacked Time Force ship, Marvin and Joe arrive. Marvin busts down a door and see a monster
"Iapetus Claws!" said Marvin
"Rhea Swords!" said Joe and they both attack the monster. They see Lucas tied up in the corner
"Rangers" said Lucas "oh Joe, glad to see you haven't broken a second Morpher" and Marvin uses his Iaepetus Claws to cut Lucas free and hands him a Hyper Blade Blaster
"Where's your Morpher?" Marvin asked
"It has to be in the control room" said Lucas "they're trying to break into it with Time Force and SPD's computer systems, so it would need to be physically hooked up to the ship's computer"
"Let's go!" said Marvin and as he runs out the monster pops out and slams into him
"Gotcha" said the monster and it runs away. Marvin, Joe, and Lucas pursue it
On the Time Force ship with Chloe and Judah
"I don't understand" said Chloe
"You will… eventually" said Judah
"What does that mean?" Chloe asked
"It's the right thing to do" said Judah "which means you'll understand"
"You need to explain" said Chloe
"You mean you haven't figured it out?" Judah asked "I know you're smart, you got this far, you followed my clues"
"I don't know" said Chloe
"I'm going to ask you to join me" said Judah "at the end of all this. What if I told you I've seen the future, and you do. And you stand by my side and bring balance back to the universe"
"What do you mean?" Chloe asked "what balance? You're about to release an entire army of demons on the galaxy"
"As they should be" said Judah
"What do you mean?" Chloe asked "where's Clare? Did she agree to all of this?"
"Let's just say she lost her way" said Judah "as for where she is, I'm afraid I can't reveal that information. Don't you realize you've already lost. Michael's Key is long gone. The HyperForce ship will be mine today and even if it isn't, there's always tomorrow. Alternatively, with control of Time Force's and SPD's computer systems we can build another. With the Key and access to the Hyperstream, we'll release every demon in the Abyss"
"I don't understand" said Chloe "how can you be the true Alliance Leader? I was fighting the Alliance since long before you were born. Who founded the Alliance and build Thrax?"
"That's one question I can't answer for you" said Judah
"If you even want me to consider joining you then you need to start providing answers!" said Chloe
"I can't tell you because I don't know" said Judah "some disgruntled soul long ago stumbled across the source code to the Venjix Virus. He, or she, realized releasing the Venjix Virus as is wouldn't do much good, the Machine has complete control of the universe's computer systems. Additionally Venjix was treacherous, always waiting for the opportunity to backstab whoever he was working with. Not to mention, no one wants to live in a universe ruled by machines. No we needed someone who believed in our cause. So this person decided to alter the Venjix Virus to have it think it was Thrax. Thrax believed the demons Repulsa and Zedd were his true parents, not Rita and Judas. So he had a vested interest in opening the Abyss of Evil, to free his parents. But again, to answer your question, I really don't know who the first true Alliance Leader was, no one does. They died on their hundredth birthday. Before they died, they made sure to pass on the position to someone else. Thrax was the public head of the Alliance anyways, most Alliance members thought me and my predecessors were merely the second in command to Thrax, when really it was the other way around. I could tell you my predecessor's name, but it really doesn't matter, he's dead. But the Alliance's mission lives on. Before Zordon returned everyone had a choice. Muhammed Rossi was the rightfully, democratically, elected ruler of the universe. He didn't conquer the universe, he was freely given it. Don't you see how wrong it was to overthrow him? To force people to worship Zordon by their hundredth birthday or die. Who's Zordon to decide the fate of the universe, the future of all people?"
"He's God, literally" said Chloe
"Who made Him God?" Judah asked "He wasn't elected"
"You do realize that Rossi was possessed by Satan" said Chloe
"Even Satan gave Rossi a choice" said Judah "Rossi had to let Satan in"
"The people didn't elect Satan, they elected Rossi" said Chloe
"Ah, but they allowed Rossi to continue to serve even after Satan had possessed him" said Judah
"They didn't know Satan had possessed him" said Chloe
"They could have voted Rossi out of power" said Judah
"Could they have though?" Chloe asked "Rossi had complete control of everything, I wouldn't trust any election. Besides Rossi was executing people who didn't worship him. You claim your problem with Zordon is that people die on their hundredth birthdays if they don't worship him. But Rossi would execute people who didn't take his mark and worship him. Today, when people die on their hundredth birthdays they merely go to sleep and don't wake up. Rossi would try to make their deaths as painful as possible"
"It sounds like all you're arguing is that Zordon and Rossi aren't so different" said Judah
"There's infinite differences" said Chloe "but here's the important one, Zordon created us, neither Rossi nor Satan did"
"You know I believe the Rangers should exist" said Judah "but I also believe the demons should as well"
"Well now your contradicting yourself" said Chloe "Rossi tried to have the Rangers killed multiple times"
"Only because they were attacking his people" said Judah "we tend to forget, the universe was peaceful under Rossi's rule. The only violence was caused by Zordon's plagues and his Rangers. Rossi didn't have a problem with Rangers, he very briefly had almost all the Rangers in existence at the time under his control. He had a problem with a few rogue teams of Rangers going around and assassinating members of his government. Your parents were literally pirates, Chloe!"
"Only because they were forced to be" said Chloe "who knows, if things were different maybe their Powers would've been more angelic"
"We need to let everyone have a choice" said Judah "let the demons out, allow people to be tempted. If they resist the temptation great! If they don't then that's their choice. Listen after seeing what the demons are like people decide they would still rather let Zordon rule, I'm fine with that, I won't interfere. But if someone else rises, demon possessed or not, that the people think would make a better ruler, than Zordon needs to step aside"
"The universe is nearly perfect now" said Chloe "and it would be even closer to perfection if the Alliance didn't exist"
"Who are we to decide what perfect is?" Judah asked "who are the Rangers to say that? Who is Zordon?"
"Again, the Creator" said Chloe "the creator gets to decide the standard of perfection of the creation. The creation doesn't get a say"
"Well that just makes us sound like robots who have to follow our programming or be tossed aside" said Judah
"That's funny coming from the guy who built a robot to try and manipulate the universe" said Chloe "this is all hypocritical. You say you want to give people a choice, but you're the one that is capturing Rangers and stealing their Morphers. You're the one that has a secretive organization trying to alter the way the universe functions. While being God isn't up for vote, even if it was you'd loose. Even if every person under the age of one hundred was on your side, do you realize how many people that already have decided Zordon is worthy of worship. You have every person who is over one hundred born during the Millennial Kingdom. You have every person who survived the Tribulation. You have every person who was raptured and brought back. You have every person that worshiped Zordon and died over a period of six thousand years. In an election, whoever ran against Zordon wouldn't even get a percent of the votes. But you know that, don't you? You know that deep down, you're not doing this over any sort of righteous mission to give people a choice, you're doing because you despise Zordon"
"Chloe" said Judah "I see we're getting nowhere with this. I know you will join me in the future, but today is clearly not that day. To keep things interesting, I have set the ships your friends are on to jump into a portal and self destruct ten minutes after a Morpher is disconnected from the ship's computer. Now I realize that won't kill them, but who knows where they'll end up in space, or perhaps they'll end up in a void outside of time and space. Who knows. But what I do know is that Zordon's forces will spend all their resources trying to find them, which will provide the necessary distraction to allow me to open the Abyss of Evil and release all the demons"
"Judah, no!" said Chloe
"I can't have them getting in the way" said Judah
"Guys" said Chloe into her Morpher "ten minutes after you remove the Morphers from the control panel, the ships will jump into a portal and self destruct, you'll be spread across space"
"What?!" The other Rangers asked
On the HyperForce ship, Vesper, Wes, and Alex fight the monster. The monster knocks Vesper down
"Why don't you go ahead and stay on the floor, I've got this" said Alex
"You're the one that got captured" said Vesper
"Chrono Blaster!" said Wes and he shoots the monster. Vesper grabs the monster and drags it to the back of the ship. Wes searches the monster
"It doesn't have the Key" said Wes
"Must have hidden it somewhere on the ship" said Alex
"Uh… Vesper, what are you doing?" Wes asked
"I'm gonna send it out the airlock" said Vesper
"Alright let's do this" said Alex and he kicks the monster in the stomach as Vesper reaches the airlock
"You know, I feel kind of bad sending a defenseless monster out the airlock" said Vesper "can you say something mean so I feel justified in this?"
"You're taking too long" said Alex as he hits the airlock button and the monster is sucked out the airlock
"I should be able to stop the self-destruct sequence" said Vesper and she plugs into the computer "huh, the computer says it's not set to self destruct, you think Judah was bluffing?"
"No" said Alex "this specific ship is integral to the Alliance's plan, they wouldn't blow it up, the other ships on the other hand…"
"Ay yi yi!" said Alpha, who had been reactivated by Vesper "this is very bad"
"Michael's Key should still be aboard" said Alex "we need to find it, now"
In the Time Force ship that Eddie is on, he frees Trip from his cell. A monster attacks and Eddie knocks it down with his Oceanus Trident. Trip finds his Chrono Morpher
"Trip" said Eddie "can we stop the self destruct sequence?"
"Maybe" said Trip "but there doesn't seem to be anyone else on board except for the monster. I say we just teleport away and leave it to it's fate"
"Right" said Eddie "Michael, get us out of here" and Michael teleports them away
In Time Force Ship Jack and Katie are on, they are still fighting the monster
"Ram Rush!" said Jack and he knocks the monster back. Katie does an elbow drop on the monster. The monster swipes at Katie with his sword, but Katie catches it and uses her super strength to break it "Crius Hammer!" and smashes the hammer down on the monster's head, destroying it
"Nicely done" said Katie and she pats Jack on the back
"You're strong Katie, I felt that through the suit" said Jack. Katie grabs her Morpher
"Michael, get us out of here" said Jack and they teleport away
In the Time Force Ship with Marvin, Joe, and Lucas on it, they pursue the monster
"Iaeptus Claws!" said Marvin
"Rhea Swords!" said Joe and they destroy the monster. Lucas grabs his Morpher
"Michael, get us out of here" said Marvin and they teleport away
On the Time Force Ship with Chloe and Judah, they continue their conversation.
"Now I going to ask you again, where's my granddaughter?" Chloe asked "and what do you mean she lost her way?"
"Somewhere along the way, she lost faith in the mission" said Judah "but she knew too much so I had to put her somewhere where she would be safe but couldn't tell anyone what she knew" as he's saying this, Chloe feels the rage from within her and the wind begins to pick up around her until she has a tornado around her
"Now Chloe, you need to control your emotions" said Judah "over time, you will begin to see things my way, you will join me"
"And if I don't?" Chloe asked "do I just lose my way? Am I just put somewhere to be kept safe"
Chloe's whirlwind begins to pick up and the barrier between Judah and Chloe begins to flicker. Judah takes a step back, not a hundred percent sure the barrier would hold
"Chloe, can you calm down for me?" Judah asked "I realize that this is an emotional day for you, for a lot of reasons. I understand, I'm sorry I tricked you, I'm sorry I put your friends in danger. But it's all for a reason. I did it so we can leave here, right now and they can't stop us. I will not force you. I don't want to put you in the same situation I was with Clare". Chloe takes a deep breath and the whirlwind stops
"Good" said Judah "that's a start. Communicating, talking. We can build trust, I believe that. I missed you"
"This is all so messed up" said Chloe "I missed you. I trusted you with my granddaughter… I don't… I don't believe you"
"On what?" said Judah
"That you saw the future and that I joined you in it" said Chloe "whether or not you believe you saw the future is irrelevant. But I serve Zordon and nothing is going to change that. Nothing is even capable of changing that. I lived past my hundredth birthday, I'm a sealed daughter of the King. So whether your vision of the future was from a witch, a charlatan, or you're just making up the whole thing, I'm not going to join you. And deep down you know that, but don't want to admit that you're going to have to do to me whatever you did to Clare, so you've lied to yourself. Just like lying to yourself that this is all for the greater good"
"I don't know what to say" said Judah "but I can't wait until we get to speak again" and he teleports away
"Judah!" said Chloe "you coward, you traitor! Get back here!"
On the HyperForce Ship, Vesper, Wes, Alex, and Alpha 8 search for Michael's Key but can't find it
"You're not going to be able to find it" said a voice and they turn to see Judah Ashford
"You traitor" said Alex
"Why is everyone calling me that today?" Judah asked
"Because you betrayed us all" said Vesper
"And your rebellion ends here" said a voice and they all turn to see Michael
"Mi… Michael… what are you doing here?" Judah asked
"We were able to extract the location of Clare Ashford from Thrax's hard drive" said Michael and he walks over to Judah, reaches under his shirt and pulls off a necklace containing what at first glance appears to be a keycard, but really contained a containment card in a plastic holder
"Judah Ashford you are under arrest for high treason" said Alex as he pulls out his Time Force badge and it begins flashing between innocent and guilty and it lands on guilty "you lose"
"Do I?" Judah asked with a smirk on his face as he is contained and his card falls on the ground
"Alpha, since when can the ship push its own buttons?" Vesper asked
"What are you talking about Vesper?" Alpha asked and she points to the console where the buttons were being pushed "No!" said Alpha and he dived at the console and hit a button. All of a sudden the teleporter was activated and everyone was teleported away, leaving only Judah's containment card.
On the Cimmerian Planet, Vesper, Wes, Alex, Michael, and Alpha 8 appear alongside the other HyperForce and Time Force Rangers. They look up in the sky and see the HyperForce Zords disconnect from the HyperForce ship and they see it jump into the Hyperstream
"What happened?" Vesper asked Alpha "why did you teleport us away?"
"I didn't" said Alpha "the buttons that seemed to be pushing themselves were the teleporter buttons. I didn't have time to interfere, so the button I pushed disengaged the Zords from the ship"
"If it's safe to assume that the Alliance did that…" said Marvin
"Then that means…" said Eddie
"They won" said Chloe "Judah won"
On the HyperForce ship, a monster, identical to the one that could turn invisible that Vesper, Wes, and Alex destroyed earlier, appears. He jumps the ship into the Hyperstream and then grabs the containment card that Judah is in. He plugs it into the ship's console and it frees Judah
"Thanks for that" said Judah "now we have the ship and are safe inside the Hyperstream"
"The robot managed to free the Zords before we jumped" said the monster
"That's okay" said Judah "while they would've been nice, they aren't essential to our plans. Where's Clare?"
"I was unable to get her back, Michael was holding onto the card" said the monster "There wasn't time to isolate the card from the teleportation, the Black Ranger had already noticed something was up"
"That's… disappointing" said Judah "the Rangers may very soon know the rest of my plans, but I suppose it's too late for them to do anything about it. Do you have it?"
"I never let go of it" said the monster and he opened his hand, revealing the Red Ancient Key
"Then it's time to begin"
To be continued…
Next time on Power Rangers HyperForce:
Judah Ashford is the true Alliance Leader. He has successfully stolen the Red Ancient Key and hijacked the HyperForce ship. Will anyone be able to stop him before he opens the Abyss of Evil or is all lost? Find out next time on Power Rangers HyperForce!
