started, it also ends and the tablet returns back to normal.
"That was strange." Ann remarks. "I will ask Sophia to take a look at it."
"Yeah." Till agrees.
"That was a weird malfunction. Never seen such a thing happening."
Sophia during that time really is in the command center and she is working on a drone. But she also trained under Tobu's tutorage which is something he is lacking, being a good teacher.
Having secluded herself in one of the labs she plugs her smartphone into the system and plays some music while working on the board of her new drone. She tries to fabricate her own portable monster sensor. For that she wants to create a small drone with rotors but also legs, so it has two forms of locomotions. Then she will build in sensors that hopefully can pick up if a monster is nearby. Additionally she wants to build in infrared and thermal imaging. She has been working on this project for the last couple of days, whenever she finds free time for it.
Tobu enters the room. "How is your project coming along?" He asks.
"Made progress, but it might still take me a while before it's finished." Sophia looks up for a bit, before she returns working on the board.
"It is getting late, you should go now and continue next time." Tobu insists. "Otherwise you might miss the last bus."
"So late already?" Sophia sighs. "I need to clean up."
"I can do that for you." Tobu offers. He takes a look at the board but is handed the solder.
"Don't touch my stuff, you're gonna break it." Sophia hisses at Tobu, but realizes it was stupid. "Sorry, bad habit." She apologizes and after picking up her stuff heads out.
Sophia gets to the stop in time. Once in town she notices that the traffic lights are currently out with the police managing traffic. There also seems to have been an accident. This might take longer so she looks at her smartphone. She notices the news feed talking about more places where there were incidents involving electronics starting to malfunction. Could it be a monster? So far one happened at the central shopping street. Around where that Cereas appeared. Sophia decides to write to Tobu about her suspicions. She quickly gets a response saying that his sensors didn't pick up anything. Maybe this is just coincidental. Still it doesn't hurt to keep your eyes open, just in case.
On the moon, Tydalyn uses a newly acquired spyglass to look at the earth. Lord Krok wanted something to see what is going on on earth, but he cannot use it. He has no hands, only his crab claws. So Tydalyn is the one keeping watch, but that is not the only thing. She got her hands on a computer as well. Not the newest model, but it get the work done. With power restored to the remains of the Moon Palace, she can now use it to connect to that thing called the internet to keep up to date as well.
"So what is going on down on earth?" Lord Krok wants to know.
"That city where we met the Power Rangers seems to have some issues the last couple of days." She answers while looking things up on the internet, finding news blogs about Immershafen. "There seems to be interferences causing haywyre on devices. Kinda fun."
"We suspected Lador and his master to plan something." Lord Krok says. "But what could he be gaining from this?"
"Maybe it is only a side effect." The little monster that joined them shares his thoughts. It looks like a ball of fluff with arms and legs and is only half the size of the others. "The Power Rangers seem to be rather secretive about their identity."
"That could be the case. Crystaloo."
"I thought you would want something." It waves his hands around and a rock monster comes into view. It has a clear crystal core.
"I am Memorynite, at your service."
"Memorynite can create recording crystals filled with images of the past." Crystaloo explains. "If we send it to past battle places we might be able to find out the Ranger's identity." Lord Krok understands. "Show me what you can do."
"I have created this." Memorynite hands out a clear, cube formed crystal. Looking at it it shows the attack on the Moon Palace by the Machine Empire. "Only thing is it takes a little time."
"Now we only have to send you down to earth. Send a patch of Stonies along. Also a bit away from the cities. The Power Rangers seem to be able to detect the arrival of outsiders."
"We are on our way, Lord Krok." Memorynite replies.
Ann is heading back from training with her friends, although she feels no real progress. Do they really have time for that? She wants faster results. It is too dangerous if they don't get stronger quickly.
It being autumn not just means the weather gets worse, although they had stable weather, maybe cloudy but no rain or stormy weather so far. Though it also means that the days get shorter as well. Ann is on her way home currently. Her parents bought a patch of land in a development area while the house they are living in is brand new, the nearest bus stop is a bit away still. It is getting dark, sunset at the harbor or coast can be beautiful but now it is not. The buildings are in the shadows and there is only faint light shining. No streetlamp is on, not even a lightsource in the residences. Wait, something's not right here. It is getting cold, as the street Ann is traversing is dark. She can see street lamps in the distance that are actually on. It should be the time of day already, where they turn on, right? Ann takes out her smartphone. Again, just like her tablet pc earlier it flickers between on and off. A cold shiver is running down her spine. There is no one here, but she notices the silhouette of the playground next to her. It has some good spots to hide but there seems to be no one. It honestly is kinda spooky right now. Last time she was here in the evening, the lights were on. She used those hiding spots to morph before heading out to help Sophia the other day. She should just move on and head back home.
"Ann?"
She is startled as Leonard approaches her. "Leonard? What are you doing here?"
"My family moved into their new house a few days ago." He explains. "I didn't mean to scare you, I am sorry." He looks around. "Without light it can be kinda creepy here."
"You have that right." She replies.
"I can accompany you till your home." Leonard suggests.
"Thank you, but I am almost home anyways." Ann rejects him.
Leonard does feel a bit sad about it, but he hides it. Being in the shadows of the buildings, Ann doesn't notice it anyways. "Well. I'll be going." The lights turn on as well.
"Finally." Suddenly though her communicator rings up. Surprised Ann looks at it.
"What is it?" Leonard asks.
"Nothing." Ann says. "I need to go. See you."
"Yeah." Puzzled, Leonard continues his way in the opposite direction.
Ann checks her communicator once no one is around anymore. "What is going on?"
"A monster appeared outside the city." Tobu answers. "I am on my way to check it out."
Sophia sends a message. "My bus is stuck in traffic trying to sneak out and get there."
Till and Mats also respond that they are on their way.
Ann starts moving too. They really need a better way of transportation.
Tobu arrives near the location indicated by his scanners. But there are no monsters to see. They must have moved on. What was their goal?. This is just a normal grassland, nothing special here. Unfortunately he can't access his consoles from here. Without someone at the base, the alarming system will only send locations on arrival and periodically. It is a design flaw he still needs to work on. He looks around, but couldn't find anything that the monsters could have searched for or a clue where they are heading to. He can either wait till he gets a new position automatically or drive back to the command center and take a look.
"Rangers, the monsters are on the move. I will head back to the command center and search for them."
"Mats and I are searching the park." Till replies, indicating their current position.
Tobu heads back to the command center in hope that they find the monsters soon and find out whatever they are planning to do.
Meanwhile the monster Memorynite together with twelve Stonies found their way to the park. He then begins his process of storing imagery of the Rangers fight here against Tydalyn and the crystal monster. He needs to stand still for a moment to do so.
Till and Mats, still unmorphed notice them and hide between some trees.
"Mats here. We found them. They are doing something, not sure what though." He lets the others know.
"On my way." Tobu replies. "Wait till we are all together."
"Okay."
They keep watching the monsters, but nothing really happens for a bit, until a small cubic crystal comes out of the one monster, it just grows from it.
"Stonies, protect me should the Rangers arrive, I am still recording. Soon Lord Krok will see which of them Morphed here."
Mats and Till lean back behind the trees.
"We didn't morphed here, right?" Mats wants to confirm.
"No, but Ann was here already the other day. What if she is visible on whatever this monster is creating.
"Can we really wait?"
"Hey, we found out what they want." Till tries to tell the others their find, but the communicator isn't responding. "Damn. Why now?"
Mats looks around. No one except them and the monsters are here. "I think we should do something." He takes out his Morpher.
Till nods. "It's Morphin' Time! Mastodon!"
"Triceratops!"
Both rush out.
"Stop it."
"Ah get them Stonies, protect me." Memorynite orders and they follow, attacking the Rangers without hesitation.
Using their weapons the Rangers slash at the monsters, who block with their arms. Their solid, rocky body keeps Till and Mats from defeating them immediately, buying time for Memorynite, but eventually the first Stonies get down, after another few swings.
Mats uses his lance to thrust at the next Stonie, hits its body, but the Blue Rangers weapon bounces off the rock. Meanwhile two others attack him. He manages to block their punches with his lance, but outnumbered he is pushed into defense, only able to block their incoming attacks.
Till meets the Stonies attacks with the ax head, but is also pushed back bit by bit. He tries to attack one, but when he lands a hit, another hits him and pushes him back. Still it seems he can actually damage them with his ax so he keeps fighting.
Using an electric scooter Ann and Sophia arrive at the park with Ann picking the other girl up along the way. They get closer to the fighting and morph behind some trees, before running to the boy's aid.
Sophia uses her bow and shoots a few times at one of the Stonies defeating it. The Stonie breaks apart into debris before turning into dust. She then picks another Stonie, while Ann slices and stabs at one of them.
Sophia dodges between two Stonies attacking her and shoots back at them at the leg, making them fall prone. She immediately ducks under another strike and shoots back, while trying to get some distance.
Till manages to defeat another Stonie and uses the momentum to strike a second Stonie, defeating it too. With no immediate threat around him, he helps Ann who is struggling with her opponents, even though he has a free line to Memorynite. He swings his ax at one, who snug in Ann's back, tossing it over.
With the number of Stonies around him lessened Mats manages to push the offensive again and defeats the two Stonies he was left to face. Taking a quick look around him, he sees that his friends are doing fine, coming to the conclusion to push forward and attack the rock monster with a crystal as his core, but as he rushes in on it, a dark mist appears before him, striking at him and send him flying backwards
"What?" Mats looks around, puzzled about what happened.
The mist forms into a hooded figure dressed into a black robe with mist wobbling out of it. "You might have what I need." Jador says to Memorynite. "So I can't allow you to be defeated just yet." Forming lashes out of the black mist, she slashes at the Rangers and Stonies indiscriminately. The Rangers manage to dodge at first, not so the Stonies, who all get defeated immediately. Ann tries to rush in, while Sophia shoots at Jador with her bow. Reforming the black mist into a floating shield, Jador first blocks Sophia's shot and then dodges Ann's attack. Then the undead monster uses its boney, thin hands in a slicing motion while black energy cracks around it and slices the Yellow Ranger. Sparks fly, as the force behind the attack sends Ann back, she gets caught by Till.
"You alright?" He asks.
"Somehow."
"Attack in unison." Sophia asks, while she again attacks Jador with her bow. The other Rangers try to get closer to their enemy.
Jador summons the black mist forming a whirling stream of it not only blocking Sophia's attack, but hitting the other three Rangers, blowing them back to where Sophia stands.
"As I thought. You all are still amateurs. The only real fighting force among you is the Red one."
"Don't underestimate us." Sophia replies and shoots another volley at Jador.
Who again creates a shield with the black mist, but one attack manages to sneak its way past it and hits Memorynite and knocks it off its feets.
"You insolent fool." Jador summons dozens of black energy jolts, shooting at and hitting the Pink Ranger. Sophia flies back a couple of feets crashing on the ground. Her costume flickers in a pink light, but she stays morphed.
"No" Ann screams, wanting to run to her friend, but Jador decides to take them all out now and prepares another attack, only to get distracted by something on the ground. Giving the Yellow Ranger time to run to Sophia.
Picking it up Jador now holds a clear crystal in her hand. "So this is what you were creating."
"It is incomplete." Memorynite responds. "I can create a new one for Lord Krok, since my new footage is not that long ago this time, it should go faster even."
"Do what you want, I have what I need." Jador snaps at Lord Kroks monster. Holding the crystal up high she examines it, only to be shot in the hand.
"I am too late, are you alright?" Tobu finally arrives.
"Managing … somehow." Sophia uses her bow as aid to get up on her feet, while Ann supports her.
"The Red Ranger, Lador is impressed with you. You managed to keep up with the old knight and Lord Cereas." Jador fixates the Red Ranger.
"And who are you?"
"I am Lord Cereas most loyal commander, Jador."
With no one seemingly paying Memorynite attention anymore he starts again, to record, this time only going back to a few minutes before the fight starts.
The other Rangers gather around Tobu. "What do we do now?" Mats asks.
"We defeat them. Let's combine our weapons." Tobu advises.
The Rangers combine their weapons to form the Power Blaster and take a shot, but not at Jador, but at Memorynite.
"No, I failed." It screams before it is taken down in an explosion.
"That was disappointing." Jador comments then tries to pick up the crystal she dropped earlier. Getting hit straight on, Jador is pushed back, as the Rangers charge in on her with Till striking the crystal, destroying it. Jador though only gives a cold glare at Sophia. She then dissolves into mist and disappears.
"We … did … it?" Sophia asks out of breath. She loses her grip and falls to the ground as she demorphes. Everyone rushes to her side.
Everyone except Tobu. He is angry at himself. If he only had the new system up and running, he could have been there way earlier. They all could have. He has to finish it, no matter the cost. "Is she injured? The Morphin Grid should have protected her."
"I am unsure." Mats answered. "We might need to bring her to the hospital."
"Yeah." Ann agrees, her voice shaking. She isn't strong enough. She needs to get stronger and fast, so she can protect her friends.
No one is there, so Tobu demorphes. "I will make sure she gets to the hospital. I will tell the doctor it was an accident at work, since we can't tell them the truth."
"Don't you get in trouble for that?" Till asks.
"You do not need to worry about it. It is my responsibility."
Later they are all at the hospital. Sophia has regained consciousness. From the doctor's first screening, she doesn't seem injured, but probably exhausted. Tobu gets scolded for overworking her but Sophia manages to convince the doctor that she also was at fault for not listening to him. Otherwise he might have gotten into trouble with the laws.
With the promise to rest up, Sophia gets discharged and her friends accompany her home, while Tobu returns to the command center, planning to do all nighters till he finishes the transport system.
Back at home Sophia just lies in her bed, as her mom comes in with a worried expression.
"Are you alright?" She asks.
"Yes, just exhausted. But didn't you need to work all night again?"
"I do, but do you really think I would stay at work, when I get a call that my daughter was sent to the hospital?"
"No, of course not."
"What happened?"
"I was at that research institute. My work shift was over. But I told you that I can use the facility there and I might have gotten lost in creating a new drone the last couple of days."
"That does sound like you." Mom still looks worried. "Is that all?"
"Yes, Mom." Sophia tries to convince her. "Deadline is soon, isn't it? You need to go back to work."
"Alright, but take it slowly for a couple of days. I will talk with the owner of that institute to give you some days off."
"But."
"No backtalk."
"Fine." Defeated Sophia looks at the ceiling.
"I need to go back. I love you."
"I love you too, Mom."
Till is back home, again his parents aren't home and work for a minimal wage somewhere, or not. He doesn't know and currently he cares more about what happened. First Ann and now Sophia, two of his best friends got beaten, though only Sophia had lasting effects even after demorphing. He did ask Tobu and what Till understands is that while the Morphin Grid protected Sophia from being actually hurt, her energy got siphoned which can leave you exhausted. Till starts to train.
Mats is also still awake but his thoughts are similar to Till's. The difference is, that he questions if he is even good enough. He always knows that he lacks focus. He has learned a lot of skills, but he stagnates fast and doesn't really get better at that point. Maybe he just isn't good enough.
Tobu is working on the new system, but doesn't really get anywhere. He just can't focus his mind. He is able to create a connection to the Morphin Grid and harness its energy, that is why he created the Power Coins, the Zords and everything, but he feels like he put them through too much. They are still teenagers. Tobu wonders if others felt the same way. Unfortunately he can't ask someone like Zordon, since he is no longer around. The only thing he knows is that he can't do it alone, especially since he is basically on a timer. He needs to find the true Red Ranger soon, but does he really want to expose another person to danger? He understands he needs to at one point, but that doesn't mean that he wants to. This is hard.
Jador did not go back to the ship this time. She is now several miles away from the city. There she managed to control the mind of some house owners into letting her stay there. She really is angry for letting herself get hit. That should not have happened. Seems like those Rangers really have potential. Now what should be her next plan? The light turns off and every electrical device starts to malfunction. Jador begins to smile.
At the moon palace Lord Krok is furious. He lashes out on everything around him. "Your monster was a failure. It was such a simple task. It failed." Out of breath he sits down on his throne.
"I am sorry. I will create a way stronger monster next time." Crystaloo cries. "I just need a little more time."
"This undead got in our way. They tried to steal the memory crystal." Lord Krok is still angry, but calmed down a bit.
"Yes, unfortunately. Maybe I should have gone with the monster, then I could have used one of these to make it grow." Tydalyn says and holds out three seeds.
"This seeds we brought with us from the Lost Galaxy. They have the power to let anything grow big in no time. No, we only have a limited supply of them. It wouldn't have helped." Lord Krok replies.
Skalizard, the human-shaped lizard comes in. "I got words from Igneos my lord."
"So, what did he say?" Lord Krok wants to know.
"He has eyes on one of the seals. It won't be long until he has it. He asks if he should bring it to you, or destroy it immediately." Skalizard reports.
"I want my power as soon as possible, he destroys it immediately." Lord Krok commands. "Until then, we will stay put. You Crystaloo prepare more monsters, some more resilient ones this time."
"I will inform him immediately." Skalizard says and runs off.
"I will create and create, until you are satisfied with the result."
"And I will keep an eye out, maybe I can spot something good." Tydalyn announces.