On the next day everything has to return to normal and our friends go to school again. Ann this time doesn't wait for Sophia because she is sure that her friend will be excused for the day. She instead meets up with Till and Mats. They greet each other.
"Till, what is with you?" She asks worriedly.
"Oh, I just trained till late at night." He answers with a yawn.
"That is not good. You need to take care of yourself."
"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, I have no work today." Till replies.
"No, but we got practice."
Till is shocked. He totally forgot about it. "Man, I completely forgot. I had so much going on in my head. I wouldn't have slept anyways."
"Me too." Mats admits.
"I know, me too."
"What's with the long faces?"
"What are you doing here?" Ann asks immediately when she notices Sophia. "You should take a day off."
"I am fine." Sophia tries to assure them. "Really, I am fine." She adds, after seeing Ann's skeptical look. "Besides there are some tests next week, I don't want to miss a class now."
"I am pretty sure you will do just fine with missing today's classes." Ann responds. "Just take it easy for a day."
"I am okay. Still a bit exhausted, but otherwise everything is good." Sophia tries to assure her friend once more. With success it seems, as Ann stops arguing.
Just then Leonard approaches them. "Hey guys." He greets the four friends. "You look beaten today, is everything."
"What do you want?" Ann snaps at him. "You have no idea what some might have been through. So shut up and leave them alone."
"Hey, I was just worried and wanted to know if everything is okay." Leonard replies surprised but he actually leaves them alone.
Ann realizes that she went too far. "I am an idiot. Sorry."
"You are fine, we have been through a lot lately." Mats tries to cheer her up. "But you should apologize to him."
"Yeah. Leonard was just worried, wasn't he?" Ann feels bad now. "He also tried to be nice yesterday. When I was going home the lights were off, even my watch didn't work." She points at her communicator.
"Ours stopped working at the park yesterday", Mats recounts.
"Don't forget at the beach earlier." Till adds.
Sophia stops for a moment. "Ann yours, did you use yours somewhere nearby." Sophia points at her pocket, where she keeps her Morpher.
"Yes, there is a playground. Some corners there are good for hiding. I used them as a kid when playing hide and seek."
"The beach, where was it exactly?" Sophia continues to ask.
"Uh I think near where Lord Krok appeared first." Mats answers her questions. "Do you think they are connected?"
"I am not sure yet." She really wants to go now, but she has school. "I want to talk with Tobu about it, but I am not allowed to go there for a week. My mom probably talked with him already."
"You can still talk with him with your watch, can't you?" Ann remarks.
"Yes, but then I can't look at the sensor data myself." Sophia complains.
"Typical." Ann comments earning the look.
They all go to their classes next.
During break Sophia moves along the hallway of the school, not paying attention to anything around her, only looking on her smartphone. As it would happen, she bumps into someone tumbling over and losing grip of her smartphone.
"I am sorry." She immediately says. She is shocked when she realizes whom she bumped into. It's the troublemaker.
"You better be." He looks down on her, literally and figuratively.
"Hey she did say sorry." Leonard comes to Sophia's defense. "Just a little accident, nothing happened right?"
The guy looks around and decides to leave them alone. Feeling relieved, Leonard gets Sophia's Smartphone and helps her stand up. "You okay?"
"Yes." She replies.
"Good, good." He hesitates for a bit. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." Sophia looks skeptical.
"I wanted to know if everything is alright with Ann."
"I am sure, why do you ask?"
"Oh she seemed a bit off, yesterday evening too. I just wanted to know if everything is alright with her, or if she has any trouble." He continues to act a bit weird.
Sophia raises an eyebrow. "Do you like her?"
"Y... Yes." Hesitantly but he admits it.
She smiles. "Maybe you should just talk to her, didn't seem to have a problem with that so far."
"It's different." He is scratching his head.
"Just do it. We will probably be hanging out at the café after school for a bit. She does have dance practice though. I can tell her that you want to talk to her. The rest is up to you two."
"Thank you."
"I've done nothing."
The bell rings.
"I have to go to the next class."
After school the four are in the city, though seeing as the warm and sunny days are over and their favorite ice cream shop is closed, they go to a café to hang out together.
"Did you apologize to Leonard?" Sophia wants to know.
"Yes I did."
"He seems to want to talk with you about something." Sophia mentions. "You are okay, if he shows up?"
"Sure." Ann is still a bit surprised since they are in the same class and there should have been an opportunity for them to talk.
"Great."
Ann and Sophia sit down at the table the boys have already sat down.
"So did you send Tobu a message already?" Mats wants to know.
"No, I didn't have a chance at school." Sophia regrets.
"Why not do it now?" Till suggests.
Sophia looks around the place and it has many visitors, too many. "Not the right time."
"Yeah." Till agrees, after looking around himself. "Oi, Leo, over here."
"Did you tell him that we will be here", Ann asks whispering.
"I did." Sophia admits. "Just talk to each other." She takes a look at her smartphone. "I feel a bit dizzy."
"You alright?" Mats asks.
"Yeah, maybe I just need some rest."
"I can bring you home", Till offers.
"No you two got dance practice soon, I will accompany her home." Mats says.
"Yeah you concentrate on your practice later, and Till." Sophia suggests Till to follow.
Till understands. "Oh yeah. Ann, I will be right back."
They give Ann and Leonard some space to talk in private while Sophia leaves for good, accompanied by Mats as promised. He then returns after Sophia convinces him that she will take it easy for the rest of the day.
As she is left alone, she checks her smartphone and communicator, they don't work. Next she checks the lights. They don't turn on, figures. This way though she doesn't have any way to contact anyone. This is bad. She only thinks for a second then she closes all curtains and shutters that can be done so without their electromotors. Looking at one of the few analog clocks still in the house, she knows she must be fast to get to the bus hoping that whatever monster this is, it won't be fast enough to keep up with it. Trying to stay home alone is not an option. She also doesn't want to risk her mother getting caught in it. She gets some stuff and rushes out.
Thankfully it is still bright daylight, still Sophia feels anxious she doesn't know where the monster is and it could attack her at any moment. She kinda wishes for other people to be around, but also doesn't want to get them involved.
She runs as fast as she can, barely making it to the bus stop on time. It took all her strength to do so. When the bus starts moving, she relaxes for a bit and waits till the bus has created some distance to the bus stop and her home. Then she takes out her smartphone. It still doesn't work. Her eyes widened. Hastily she looks around, but besides some passengers and the driver that were in the bus beforehand, she can't see anyone else. Panic starts to rise, her heart beating faster. Ann and Till are at the dance practice now, she can't just barge in. Mats is busy as well. Only the command center and Tobu left but it is quite a walk from the bus stop. She hits the stop button as late as possible and runs out.
She runs again as fast as possible. She tumbles as she bumped something lying on the ground. No time to look behind. Every second she isn't running she feels like she will get caught, so she wastes no time and keeps running, trying to ignore the stitch she feels. She hears a voice, but ignores it and keeps running until she reaches the command center and the doors slide open, allowing her to enter the building. She is slowing down, but startles when she hears the doors open behind her again. Allowing to look around, a feeling of relief.
"Sophia what is going on? Are you alright?" Tobu is there and immediately hits a hidden button next to the entry to seal it off.
"Monster … behind … help." Sophia now starts to feel the wear and pain from the stitch.
"It's okay now, you are safe here." Tobu leads her to a breakroom, giving her a seat and giving her water to drink. "Now please calm down first and explain to me what's going on."
"The failures. It's a monster." Sophia starts after a moment. "Do you have a map of them?" She rushes to the central room.
"I did look into them." Tobu confirms following her. He then puts up a map of the city and surrounding areas on one of the screens. It has several areas marked.
Sophia approaches the screen. She points at one of the marked areas. "This is where Lord Krok appears." She points at another. "And there Ann used this spot to morph at the same time."
"In that area I morphed before facing Cereas." Tobu adds. "That monster is causing them, yes. I can't pick it up with my sensors. The malfunctions are connected."
"Yes. It probably can mask its appearance and that causes the malfunctions. Like an EMP field."
"I looked at video footage taken by satellite from the areas, but I didn't see anything suspicious at those reported times."
"It could use some kind of optical camouflage." Sophia guesses.
"It isn't impossible. Hard to find its exact position." Tobu agrees.
"But we have a way to calculate its position." She remarks.
"The field. When we know the location and size."
"Assuming it is in the center of it."
"We can calculate it." Tobu repeats. "But why is it now, following you, what has changed? So far it seems to be only moving between the locations."
"Yesterday before Mats and Till jumped into action, their communicator didn't work."
"It probably has seen them morph."
"Me and Ann too, if it stuck around for the fight, we also morphed at the scene." Sophia admits. "And it found us a couple of hours ago. It followed me home and probably waited for a moment to strike while I was alone."
"I will contact the others."
"No, no. If we all show up here, and the monster is still here, it basically screams that you and this building are involved. We should keep the Red Ranger's identity hidden as long as possible. If only our communicators would work with the monster around."
"What is your plan?" Tobu looks skeptical.
"If it just continues to follow me, then we can lure the monster out." Sophia picks up a little drone she has in her bag.
"Do you always have one with you?" Tobu wonders.
"We are shielded in here it seems."
"Yes I planned it in such a way. Its field still might block signals from getting out."
"So we can see if it is still around, if we use my drone."
"I see. Yes, with that method we can detect its field, though once your drone is inside, it will just fall to the ground. We would need multiple drones. Your thoughts might lead us somewhere." Tobu plays around with her idea. "But I disapprove of using you as bait. And I highly doubt the others would."
"I know. I am aware that I am in no shape to fight. I don't feel all too well." Sophia admits.
"Why do you push yourself so much?" Tobu asks.
"I don't want my friends, my mom and you to worry. I can handle myself." She explains herself.
"You surely can. But in pushing yourself you make us worry even more. I know I do and I bet your friends or your parents will do so too."
"You are right. I promise not to play the bait. It won't work anyways without a way to communicate."
"I might have something for that." Tobu proclaims. "It will not change your promise, right?"
"Of course." Sophia looks excited though, new toys.
"WIth our communicator being jammed I was working on something. It should make it harder to jam them." He holds out a hand and Sophia hands over hers.
He moves to one of the development labs, where he opens the rear of it. Sophia sees a board but also things she doesn't immediately recognise.
Tobu puts it under a microscope, probably so he sees better, while using tools to adjust things. He then puts a new board in, closes it once finished. He then hands the communicator back. "I am not sure if it will even work, or if the signals themselves still get jammed."
"Understood."
"I will contact the others now and report what we found out. Also it is best if none of you is alone till we beat that monster." Tobu says while heading back to the command room. There he opens com to the other Rangers and explains the situation.
"I will not move from your side, you hear me?" Ann says through the com.
"Thank you." Sophia replies.
"As the good employer that I am, I will drive her home." Tobu declares.
"I will pick her up from there." Ann follows suit.
"We will also stick together." Mats promises.
As the com went down Sophia turns towards Tobu. "You also look like someone who needs some rest."
"You noticed." Tobu sighs. "I was working through most of the night the last couple of days, I did get some rest though."
"Falling asleep on the workbench?" Sophia probes into it.
"Basically, yes." Tobu admits. "But I am kind of on a timer." He mumbles.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing you need to worry about." Tobu replies.
Sophia stops. "You said that you would worry even more. So do I. We are supposed to be a team, aren't we? Then you should trust us more. I do trust you a lot."
Her words do hit the mark. Tobu does not have an immediate reply and falls silent for a moment. "You are right. I am sorry." He regains his resolve. "I will tell all of you, but first we need to deal with the situation at hand."
"Deal?" Sophia stretches out her hand.
"Deal." They seal the promise with a handshake.
Then they go to the underground garage and they drive to Sophia's home.
"Thank you for the ride." Sophia says.
"You have some days off, recover some more."
"Thank you boss."
He drives back to the command center.
Ann already waits at the door. "Boss?"
"If the monster overhears us."
"Makes sense."
Sophia opens the door and both girls go in. They immediately head to Sophia's room. Besides a bed and a walkable wardrobe, she has her computer set up and a workbench, where she used to work on her drones, though she now uses the command center for that.
"How was your talk with Leonard?" Sophia asks, while turning on the lights. They do turn on, so at least for now the monster doesn't seem to be around.
"He is sweet and we do have a date. We will see how it goes."
"That's great."
They continue to talk for a while longer, before going to sleep. They leave the lights on, just dimmed as a warning signal, should they wake up at night.
Jador continues to reside on earth for the time being. She is once more visited by the monster she sent out.
"You found the home of the Pink Ranger? Perfect." Jador summarizes the report. "Show me the way." Jador heads out, directed by her invisible ghost.
At night Ann stands up. Immediately she realizes that the lights are off. She sneaks out of the room. She cannot allow Sophia to get hurt again, but first she checks if Sophia's mom might have come home. Ann knows that her father is still on a long business trip, so he shouldn't have come home. No one's there. She dresses up and sneaks out of the home. She looks around, trying to figure out where the street lights are working and where not. She then heads out alone.
"I know you are here somewhere, show yourself", Ann demands and her demand is met.
A shadowy figure with a white mask forms before her, but not alone. Even if it is dark, Ann still recognizes the silhouette. "You are Jador."
"Yellow Ranger. You came alone", Jador sounds genuinely surprised. She raises an arm and a few Bonies appear. "Get her."
The footsoldiers charge, but are as slow as ever.
"It's Morphin' Time! Saber-Toothed Tiger!" Ann wastes no time, she morphes and uses her sidearm to dispose of the Bonies. Knowing how to deal with them makes it super easy.
"I will not let you anywhere near her!"
"Oh really?" Jador is amused. "Get the Pink Ranger." She commands her monster, who immediately heads along, but Ann intercepts and tries to hit it with her daggers. She actually manages to scratch the mask.
Jador engages and attacks with her skinny fingers, as she forms claws out of the mist coming out of her robe. Ann manages to block the first strike, but gets hit by the second and a following third strike which sends her flying. Jador's monster moves along.
"No!" Ann hurrily stands up and tries to follow the monster but Jador forms a lash out of the mist and strikes Ann a couple of times, before wrapping it around Ann's neck.
"No, fight me!" Ann pleases.
"You care too little for your own safety, little Yellow Ranger." Jador says while the ghost moves on. Jador pulls at her mist-made lash pulling Ann along and hits her with a strike in the back.
She can't exactly say what, but something woke Sophia up. First thing she notices is that the light they left on is off. She tries to wake Ann next and notices she is not there. Third thing, her communicator doesn't work either. Great. Tobu did say that he isn't sure it will work. Damn. Finally she hears the shattering of glas.
"This is our home, dammit." Sophia takes her Morpher and goes looking. First she doesn't see a thing. Then there is this mask floating about. It detects Sophia and something is coming her way. She dodges, as that misty mass is breaking the railing. Hurringly she rushes down the stairs and dodges another attack. "Stop destroying my home!" But she has to dodge another attack, not even given time to raise her Morpher yet. Sophia dodges another strike with that black mass by backflipping using a table as a springboard. Sophia then rushes through a door closing it behind her.
"Okay the modification allows the communicator to have more energy and it is using energy from the Morphin Grid, can I enhance the signal further by morphin? Worth a shot I guess." Sophia thinks out loud, while running around the house, just to arrive at the entrance again. The monster is still there, waiting for her.
"Enough running?"
"Yes, I will take the trash out now." Sophia responds, her Morpher raised. "It's Morphin' Time! Pterodactyl!" Sophia attacks the monster, trying to land a kick at its silhouette, but it goes right through. "What?"
"Seems like I will take the trash out." The monster says while enclosing Sophia in its mass and throwing her out the window.
Sophia lands and rolls a bit. "Great, how am I gonna explain this to my mom?" Sophia tries using her communicator. "Can anyone hear me?"
"No one can." The monster answers.
"Sophia? Wat is it?" Tobu answers the com first.
"Great. We are under attack and I haven't seen Ann. Need backup." She tries to keep it short, also she needs to dodge another attack.
"We are on our way." Mats replies.
"Can you give me a second? I have the new system running. We should be arriving faster this way."
"I try my best." Sophia responds and dodges another attack.
"Ah the Pink Ranger, why didn't you capture her already?" Jador demands an answer.
"I am trying", the monster answers while trying to get ahold of Sophia.
The Pink Ranger dodges and uses her sidearm to blast at the mask. She is halfway believing that the attack goes through it again, but it actually hits and dents the mask. "So that is your trick."
The monster increases the height it floats in, but doesn't reach Sophia anymore.
"Useless."
Sophia turns her attention for the moment at least to Jador. She now notices Ann, who is held captive by the mist Jador likes to form and use. "Power Bow!"
"That toy again?" Jador laughs Sophia down.
"We will see if you can keep that attitude."
Sophia shoots at Jador, but she turns the mist into a shield, losing grip on Ann, who falls to the ground.
"I am sorry Sophia, I couldn't stop them."
Jador lashes with the black mist at Sophia, but she manages to dodge. Whirling the mist-made lash around the undead strikes again, but Sophia saults over it, but is unable to dodge the third strike, though she takes a shot at the same time. Both get hit, with Sophia getting thrown back.
"I have seen through your trick." Sophia declares, though out of breath. "You can only attack or defend with that mist, not both at the same time."
"You. Do you think, you can beat me alone, just because you found out some of my tricks?" Jador sounds extremely angry now.
"Not alone." Sophia replies, as three lights appear next to her.
"Are you both alright?" Tobu asks immediately.
"Yes." Sophia answers.
"You do something." Jador commands her monster.
"You created me to be a seeker not a fighter."
"Uh, remind me why I created such a useless thing." All the mist Jador used retracts and a glaive appeared in her hand. "Doesn't matter, I will still win." She rushes at the ranger floating above the ground.
"Daggers." Ann throws her daggers at Jador, but she parries them.
"Ax." Till comes in with a strike, Jador manages to block the overhand strike.
"Lance." Mats thrusts past his friends, actually landing a hit on Jador, forcing her to tumble back while both Rangers retreat immediately.
"Power Sword." Just so they give way for Tobu, who launches a diagonal raising strike with his sword. The blade glows. The strike throws Jador back.
"Uh that tickles." Jador laments. "This isn't over. I will still capture all of you."
Ann rushes in for an attack of her own after picking up her daggers. But Jador easily counters with the back end of her glaive, sending the Yellow Ranger flying. Mats tries another thrust with his lance, but she parries and stabs him with the back end of her glaive. Next Jador catches Tills ax and hauls it out of the hand, striking him with the blade and sends him after his weapon.
Sophia takes a few shots, but Jador parries them all. She then blocks a strike from Tobu, who pushes off the ground and kicks Jador two times, forcing her back a few steps. Somersaulting Tobu lands back on his feets and tries another strike, but Jador blocks the strike and hits back with a thrust of her own, throwing Tobu back. He lands next to Sophia.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes." Tobu jumps back on his feet.
"What now?"
"We combine our weapons." Tobu suggests.
With their weapons combined the Rangers form the Power Blaster, with everyone taking position behind the weapon they take a shot at Jador, an explosion follows. Everyone is on their edge.
As the dust settles Jador is still standing. "Is that everything you got?" She asks provokingly. She stretches both arms and the air crackles around her.
"That is the attack that struck me down last time. Not a pleasant experience." Sophia tells them.
But suddenly Jador is frozen in place. "No, my lord! I have them. Just give me a few more seconds." She starts to bust into smoke and mist. "No! Capture them my monster!" The mist fuses with her monster, growing it gigantic.
"We need the Zords." Sophia says, but sinks to her knees and demorphes.
"Are you alright?"
"Totally exhausted, but otherwise yes."
"What now?" Ann wants to know, as the monster ends its growing phase.
"We call the Zords. We can still form the Dragonzord Battle Mode." Tobu explains.
"Mastodon Dinozord Power!"
"Triceratops Dinozord Power!"
"Sabertooth Tiger Dinozord Power!"
Tobu starts playing on the Dragon Dagger to summon the Dragonzord who rises from the sea like a certain monster in movies does.
The Zords then combine with the hands of the Dragonzord retracting and its chest piece detached. Its arms and shoulder form a new chest piece while the Mastodon Zord functions as shoulder and arms with the Triceratops and Sabertooth Tiger forming the legs. The detached chest piece and the tail of the Dragonzord form its weapon.
Tobu, Ann, Till and Mats take seats in the Zord piloting it. All while Sophia retreats back into her house.
"It's mask seems to be its weakness, when I attacked it everything went right through it, until I hit the mask." Sophia explains through the com.
"Well you heard her."
The monster attacks with its mass, striking the Zord. Taking the mask though, the Rangers throw the monster a fair bit. It lands outside the city and they pilot their Zord, taking the fight away from people and the buildings. The monster attacks again.
"Let's keep it short and simple." Tobu says. The upper part of their Zord's weapon looks like a drill and works like one too. With one decisive jab they put a hole in the mask, causing the monster to explode.
After the monster is destroyed everyone gathers at Sophia's home.
"Oh man, that looks bad." Till remarks.
"Yeah. What am I gonna tell mom?" Sophia looks down.
"I don't know." Ann says.
"I can help fix the furniture." Mats offers. "But the window."
"What happened?" A shocked mother sees all the destruction and notices her daughter. Immediately runs over to her and hugs her. "Are you alright, did you get hurt?"
"I am alright." Sophia assures.
"What happened here?"
"I." Sophia struggles to find words.
"Miss Ziegler." Tobu addresses Sophia's mother.
"Who are you?"
"I am the head of the research institute your daughter has a student job at, Tobu Nobus." He introduces himself.
"The physicist." She recognises now. "Interesting. Why are you here now?"
"There was a monster attack and the Rangers were fighting it. I heard of it and came to check if everything is alright or I can help."
"How nice of you." Miss Ziegler replies. "Can we have a second?" She gestures to follow her. They move away a bit and she tunes down her voice. "You have your institute here, a Ranger team, monster attacks. Also a fight just so happens to happen right next to our house. Maybe a bit too many coincidences."
"Yeah, please believe me, I wish those monsters weren't here so I can work in peace." Tobu and Sophia's mom look each other in the eyes for a moment. "If you need help with fixing the house, I am happy to help."
"A nice offer, but I have to decline."
"Then if you don't need my help, I will be going home."
"Do you need a ride?"
"No, I have my car parked nearby." Tobu says and wanders off.
Sophia's mother watches him go, before returning to her daughter. "I am just glad that nothing happened to you."
Jador was brought back to the ship by Cereas and is currently chained to the floor. "Your task was to bring me the identity of the Rangers and analyze their Powers and how they could be of use for us."
"My lord, I almost had them." Jador pleases.
"You had them almost destroyed." Cereas counters. "Lador you will take on from here. At least you can properly hold back and not succumb to anger and rage."
"As you wish my lord."
"Now do you gather at least some information?" Cereas demands Jador to speak up.
"I know the identity of four of them." Four images appear within a circle of greenish mist. "I could pinpoint where one of them lives, and got the general location of a second."
"The Red Ranger is not amongst them", Lador notices.
"No. But I have hints on where to find him. But no clues so far." Jador remarks.
"I will get the identity of the last one." Lador swears. "After that I will make sure to capture them for you."
"Do that, Lador. Do not disappoint me and do not hurt the Rangers more than necessary." Cereas commands.
"I can always."
"No, Jador. You do not understand me. I want some living breathing Crewmembers for a change."
"I. I apologize."
On the moon palace Tydalyn finished watching through the spyglass they installed a while ago. Happily she rushes to the throne room. There she sees how Lord Krok destroys a Stonie.
"It is good to see that you regained some of your strength, my lord." Tydalyn enjoys it.
"It is still not enough. Seemingly those seals don't hold equal amounts of my power." Lord Krok laments. "But you are probably not here to comment on my sorry state."
"No. Because I have very good news." Tydalyn proclaims.
"What do you have for me." Lord Krok demands to know.
"I was watching something good, my lord. And thanks to that I now not only know the identity of all five Rangers, but also know the location of their base."
"Wonderful news." Lord Kroks rejoices. "Now if we gather more strength we can strike them for good."
"I will make sure we get the right tools for the job." Tydalyn promises and heads out to see Crystaloo.
"I am sorry, I headed out alone", Ann begins after they are alone in Sophia's room again.
"You better be." Sophia remarks. "I know you wanted to protect me, but do you know how I felt? I was worried." She adds after a moment of silence.
"Me too. I didn't want to see you or the boys get beaten up like that. I want to protect you." Ann says
"But we are a team, Ann. We need to fight together, you need to trust that we can do it together." Sophia replies. "I don't want to see you get hurt too."
"You are right we are a team. " Ann agrees. "I am sorry for making you worry."
"Me too." Both girls embrace each other in a long hug.