Chapter 7

The day had finally arrived. The Branson brothers made sure to show up already morphed so no one would recognize them. They'd chosen 2135 Quavo Street because it wasn't anything special, just an abandoned house in a bad neighborhood, which ensured no civilians would wander in by mistake.

The number of potential candidates was surprisingly small, only a baker's dozen. All of them were shocked and excited to see the Rangers up close—that, or it was the sight of the pink Cryolophosaurus who accompanied them.

Duncan clasped his hands together. "Alright, we'll have the interviews in the living room one at a time while the rest of you wait in the kitchen." He pointed to a random candidate, a twenty-something-looking guy with a wispy little Christ-stache. "You first, come on in."

Once they'd settled in the living room, Brody asked the first question. "What's your name?"

The man answered, "Tim."

"And why do you want to be a Power Ranger?"

"So my parents will love me," Tim replied.

Duncan leaned over to his brother and whispered, "Hard pass."

"Let's not be too hasty," Brody whispered back. He then followed up with his next question, "Do you have any fighting skills or experience?"

Tim rubbed the back of his head. "No."

"We'll put you down as a maybe," Duncan lied. "Next."

"Wait, you're not gonna ask me anything else?" Tim said, looking a little surprised.

"We don't really know much about giving interviews, so yeah," was Duncan's response.

The next guy was Derek, one of the jocks from their high school. Again, Duncan wanted to pass him up and again, Brody tried to be reasonable. "So, how good are you at teamwork?"

"Pretty good, you kinda have to be when you're on the football team," Derek bragged.

"And I take it you'd do pretty well in a fight?" Brody continued, to which the jock nodded.

Duncan quickly hustled Brody over to the corner and whispered to him, "What the hell are you thinking? So what if he can fight? He's obviously not gonna take this seriously."

"I get that you don't like him, but we should at least finish with the rest of the candidates before dismissing anyone," the Blue Ranger replied.

"Hey, why is that raptor thing pink?" Derek interrupted them, referring to the Cryo in the room.

The Rangers had to restrain the pink Cryolophosaur from reacting to the inaccurate term. Derek didn't seem terribly fazed by the commotion.

"Sorry about that. He doesn't like being called a raptor," Brody explained. "To answer your question, whoever joins our group is gonna be the Pink Ranger, so we got a pink dino to go with it."

Derek cringed. "Pink? Ooh, I might bow out then. If my friends knew I was a pink superhero, they'd never let me hear the end of it."

"You wouldn't have to actually tell them, you know," Duncan said.

"You probably shouldn't tell anyone," Brody added.

The jock thought about it before responding, "Fine, I guess I'll stick around. So much for bragging rights." The last part came out a disgruntled whisper.

"Next!" Duncan called out, and in came an attractive blond woman around the age of thirty.

"So, why're you interested in joining our crew?" the White Ranger asked after Derek took his leave.

That made the woman frown. "One of the monsters you fought killed my brother. If I join you, then I can make sure no one else has to go through that."

The brothers cringed a little bit, having been reminded that there was collateral in their fights. Not wanting to dwell on those thoughts, Brody got on with the questioning, "Fighting experience?"

"I have some skills in judo."

"And before we forget, what's your name?"

"It's Alice."

The rest of the interviews went similarly. Duncan would want to shoot people down while Brody wanted to keep them around; they hadn't learned enough to eliminate anyone yet.

The final candidate was one they should've expected sooner or later.

"Well, we meet again," Cooper said with a smile.

"Motivation for becoming a Ranger?" Duncan droned, clearly bored with the question.

The Scotsman put his hands on his hips. "One, it looks so damn cool, and two, it looks like you could use the help."

"Fighting experience?" Brody followed up.

"I can box."

The boys nodded, dismissed him, and entered the kitchen where the other candidates were.

Brody announced, "Alright, we're done with the interview part. Now we'll need you all to meet us at the generic quarry where the trials will take place."

After a fifteen-minute walk, the crowd arrived at the generic quarry, where they spotted the two Rangers. Just as they were wondering how the two had arrived so far ahead of everyone else, they were shocked even more by the sight of a freakishly huge pink sauropod approaching in the distance.

Brody spoke up, "Now that we're all here, let's start the hard part. You guys are going to be sparring with us. That will give us an idea of how well you can do in a real fight."

"That doesn't sound fair," Tim commented.

"Yeah? How do you think we feel when we fight monsters?" Duncan countered. "Besides, it's not like we're not gonna go all out on you guys."

Brody followed his brother's point, "The bottom line is, if you guys can't put up a good fight against us, you're not gonna last two minutes against the monsters we fight."

One of the candidates raised his hand. "Off topic, but where are those dinosaurs you guys ride around on?"

"We have them patrolling the city while we're testing you all in case another monster shows up," the Blue Ranger explained. "Now, let's get started."

Unknown to the Rangers, their steeds were already engaged in battle with a new monster.

Hit with a powerful blow, the blue Cryo went skidding down the road. Its white counterpart helped it up as they stared down their opponent.

It resembled the Shadows they had fought with their Ranger partners, except for a few key differences: it was white instead of black, had strength that could give the Rangers a run for their money, it could rotate its limbs 360 degrees, and lastly…

"You may be used to fighting others of my kind, but you won't be so lucky with me," the white Shadow spoke.

"That was a nice idea, Lensia. Merging some Shadows together and infusing them with some of your magic. Now we have an extra monster to send out this week." Calios gave compliments sparingly, so this was a special occasion indeed.

Moses leaned in toward Factoraze as the robot produced more ooze from his tube arm, whispering, "Thank goodness he's not mad anymore."

"Of course I'm not mad anymore. I remembered that we're not in any rush to conquer this planet," their armored leader interjected, wrapping his arms around the two of them. "So, Factoraze, how's your new monster coming along?"

"It should be done within the hour, my lord," the robot replied, grateful for his leader's apparent good mood.

With that, they all returned their attention to the monitor as the white Shadow and the Cryolophosaurs charged at each other.

"Tim, you're up first," Duncan said, taking a fighting stance. "Come at me."

Unfortunately, even with Duncan holding back, Tim was hopelessly outmatched. The boy's lack of fighting skill was even more noticeable than the White Ranger's. Once the spar was done, the Rangers made their decision.

"Sorry to say this, Tim, but you're just not up to the challenge. Feel free to watch the rest of the trials, though," Brody said.

Next up was Derek, with Brody as his opponent. The jock was a resourceful fighter, making use of his football skills by tackling the Blue Ranger and occasionally punting him in the shins. Duncan stopped the fight once it reached the two-minute mark.

"Pretty good. Hey, big guy, what do you think?" the White Ranger asked Dickson.

"He has proven his fighting abilities. However, from what you've told me, I am still uncertain about his teamwork skills," the Dicraeozord replied.

Next up was Alice. Every time Duncan threw a punch at her, she either deflected it or grabbed it, using his own weight against him to throw him onto the ground. Eventually, he gave up. "Alright, alright, you're qualified."

One by one, the rest of the contestants went, and one by one, the Rangers beat them easily. The only other candidate who managed to put up a good fight was Cooper.

"Okay, so we've got three finalists. Will they please step forward?" said Duncan. While the chosen three did so, he turned to Brody. "How do we choose between them?"

Said finalists were understandably thrown off by the question.

"Wait, you didn't plan that part out?" Derek asked incredulously.

Suddenly, the White Ranger gasped. "I know! We'll ask them a riddle, and whoever solves it gets to be on the team!"

"That's a stupid idea," his brother objected.

"I am against it as well," Dickson agreed.

"Do you guys have a better idea?" Duncan shot back. The two dissenters said nothing. "That's what I thought."

Cooper looked uncertain. "Hmm, I'm not that great at riddles, but lay it on us."

The White Ranger nodded. "Okay then, here it is: what starts at the end and ends in the middle?"

The three finalists spent the next few minutes pondering the question, becoming increasingly frustrated. Eventually, one of them came up with an answer.

"It sounds like the film Memento," Alice guessed.

Duncan gave a double thumbs-up. "And we have a winner!"

The other two finalists were naturally bitter about losing. "How were we supposed to know it was a fucking movie?" Derek complained.

"Yeah, I don't even know that one," Cooper agreed.

Duncan shrugged, "It was all I could come up with." He then looked over to the pink Cryolophosaur. "You brought the bracelet, right?"

The dino nodded before pulling the box out of what seemed to be hammerspace. The young man opened the box and presented Alice with the bracelet inside.

Just as she put it on, they all heard a roar in the distance. Everyone looked up to see the white Cryolophosaurus flying towards them. Moments after it landed, the blue Cryo came onto the scene as well, followed swiftly by the white Shadow.

"So, who's next?" he asked, zeroing in on the group down below.

"Everyone, get to safety!" Brody instructed the candidates. "We'll handle this."

Unfortunately, before anyone could move, laser blasts rained down on the crowd. There was hardly time for anyone to cry out. When the Rangers looked around, they realized with horror that they, the Cryos, and the three finalists were the only ones left alive, having been just far enough away from the barrage that they hadn't been hit.

Brody looked at all the corpses in horror. This was the most death he'd seen at once since he first became a Power Ranger. He hadn't known the contestants that well, but he still felt terror and shame at not being able to save any of them.

"What the hell was that?!" Duncan shouted, his tone implying the same sentiment Brody was feeling.

He was answered by an unseen voice, "That was my BOMBARDMENT!"

The survivors looked around for source of the voice. Their eyes landed on a robot with a small laser turret on each shoulder. There was a hatch on its chest, as well as holes in its fingertips, knees, and toes, presumably to fire more lasers from.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Laser Gun Kelly, and it's time to show you how I got that name!" the robot declared as it opened fire.

Brody got the hell out of dodge while Duncan summoned his Chasmo-shields to block the shots.

"Derek, Cooper, you need to get out of here!" the Blue Ranger called out.

The jock attempted to flee the scene only for the white Shadow to cut him off. Derek threw a punch the way he had during his sparring session, but the white Shadow caught his fist and spun it around and around, mangling his wrist. The white Shadow didn't give him a chance to cry out, kneeing him in the gut so hard he doubled over. Forcing Derek back upright, the monster thrust its palm into his chest, yelling, "Rakshasa's Palm!"

There was a grotesque tearing noise followed by a torrent of blood staining the jock's shirt.

Having been occupied with LGK's gunfire, the brothers could do little more than watch the scene in horror.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Brody asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"I gotta admit, I'm a little curious myself," LGK chimed in.

The white Shadow chuckled menacingly. "Anything hit by my Rakshasa's Palm is twisted to an incredible degree. In this case, the skin on his torso was stretched until it tore. Want a closer look?"

He moved to pull up Derek's shirt but stopped when Brody shouted, "Hell no!"

"Alice, use your bracelet and morph!" Duncan yelled. When he got no response, he and Brody looked around to see that both Alice and Cooper were gone. The White Ranger sighed. "I guess we're on our own."

The blue and white Cryos roared in protest.

"Oh, right, we've still got you guys."

Alice only slowed down after running several blocks. She couldn't help but grin as she admired the bracelet she'd gotten.

"Ahem."

She looked up to see the Scottish guy from the trials standing in her path.

"Mind explaining why you ran off back there?" he asked.

Rather than answer the question, Alice checked to see if the coast was clear before crouching down as if to tie her shoe. To Cooper's dismay, she rolled up her pant leg and revealed an ankle holster, from which she drew a gun. Fortunately, the pink Cryolophosaurus tackled her from behind before she could pull the trigger.

Squirming under its weight, Alice activated her morpher. The burst of energy from her suit forced the dino off her.

As Cooper helped the Cryo to its feet, he took note of the thief's Ranger suit; it looked mostly the same as the other Rangers' suits—except, obviously, it was pink. Additionally, it had a miniskirt, as well as a pair of small crests on of the helmet. But it didn't matter what it looked like; she didn't deserve to be wearing it.

"You're not getting away with this," the Scotsman declared.

"And who's gonna stop me? You?" Alice asked.

"I might need a little help"—Cooper gestured to the pink Cryo—"but yeah, pretty much."

With that, the janitor threw a right cross.

Alice parried him and attempted a shoulder throw but was forced to stop when he wrapped his free arm around her waist. Squirming free from his grip, she grabbed him by the shoulder and swept one of his legs out from under him, causing him to fall. Once he was on the ground, the rogue Ranger threw finesse out the window and started stomping and kicking him.

Fortunately, Cooper was once again saved by the pink Cryolophosaurus as it sank its teeth into Alice's left shoulder. The thief responded by wrapping her left arm around its neck and rolling forward, landing them both on their backs. Alice elbowed the dino in the gut before scrambling to her feet.

Cooper came at her again, faking a jab before hitting her with a gut-punch. He followed up with a one-two, but Alice managed to get a grip on his right wrist, wrap her hand around the back of his neck, and kick his legs out from under him again.

Cooper fell on his side, smacking his head against the ground.

Suspecting that the Cryolophosaurus would try and attack her from behind again, Alice stepped to the side, and when the dino passed her by, she hit it in the face with a hammer fist.

Returning her attention to Cooper, she was caught off-guard when the dazed Scotsman got her in a clinch. Cooper landed several shots to her ribs as he forced her back.

"I heard what you said to the Rangers during your interview. I bet you never even had a brother, did you?"

"Nope," she replied as she attempted to escape his grip.

As soon as the janitor let go, he nailed her in the face with a right hook. Before Alice could counterattack, she heard a roar behind her, prompting her to turn around. The last thing she felt was the pink Cryo's tail hitting her in the face.

The thief collapsed, her suit disappearing. The Scotsman took a second to catch his breath.

"Fairer sex, my arse."

Just as Cooper removed her bracelet, the mold on the it began speaking:

"I applaud you for getting my bracelet back."

"How'd you know I just did that?" Cooper asked.

The voice from the bracelet chuckled and explained, "Zords can see and hear out of the bracelets containing their energy. I saw you risk your life trying to stop that thief. I dare say you are worthy of being my partner."

Cooper was stunned. "You serious?"

"I am," said Dickson. "Now, I believe the other Rangers may need your help."

The Scotsman and the Cryo looked at each other and nodded before heading back to the quarry.

Duncan was learning more and more that, even with two shields, it was impossible to protect your entire body from attack. LGK's barrage was simply too much; he took at least one blast for every one that he blocked. His Cryolophosaurus would've helped, but it was unable to get close enough to attack. Worse still, since his opponent wasn't letting up, he barely even had a chance to return fire with his pistol.

His brother wasn't faring much better. Brody was understandably nervous about the Shadow and was using his gun in the hopes that he could keep his distance. However, his enemy simply sunk into the ground whenever he tried shooting it.

The Blue Ranger eventually got fed up and stabbed his Carnage Sword into the ground, freezing the area around it.

In response, the white Shadow popped out from the frosty ground, leaping toward the boy with his palm ready to strike. Brody blocked the attack with his sword, but the Shadow used his other hand to grab his head and pull it straight into his knee. The blow stunned the Blue Ranger long enough for the Shadow to hit him in the face with a Rakshasa's Palm.

"Brody!" Duncan yelled.

The white Shadow laughed for a few seconds before realizing that the Ranger was still on his feet. The monster tilted his head. "Uh, is your face mangled? I can't tell under that helmet."

"I don't think so," Brody replied.

"Huh," the Shadow said. "That was supposed to happen."

The Blue Ranger took advantage of the brief lull in the fight to slash his enemy across the chest.

'Thank god these suits stop the worst of the damage,' he thought as he followed up with several shots from his pistol. The blue Cryolophosaurus continued the attack with a couple of slashes.

Brody's comeback inspired Duncan to up his game. He held up his morpher as the mold changed from white to brown.

"Ground-Type!" he shouted as his suit changed into its powered-up form. After summoning his cestuses, he punched the ground, causing a slab of earth to rise in front of him.

"You think that clod of dirt will keep you safe from my BOMBARDMENT? Well, you're wrong!" Laser Gun Kelly declared as he opened fire. His shots tore through the wall like it was nothing. However, when the wall crumbled, the robot was surprised to see nothing there except for a hole in the ground.

He heard a scream and turned to see that Duncan had slammed into the white Shadow from below, launching him into the air.

Brody charged up his Carnage Sword. When the monster came down, he let loose with a "Ranger Slash!"

The white Shadow tried getting up, only to find that he was too weak to move. "It looks like this is the end for the Spiral Shadow," he said—and with that, he exploded.

"Huh, so that's what his name was," Duncan said.

"Who cares what his name was? BOMBARDMENT!"

The brothers had no time to think before they were blown away by a volley of blasts from Laser Gun Kelly.

"Attacking his brother's opponent. Nice," Calios observed. "Hey, Lensia, do you know what time it is?"

She did. She asked anyway, "What time is it, my lord?"

"Time to make our monster grow."

In a burst of energy, Spiral Shadow revived in giant form.

Brody immediately contacted the Zords, "Hey, guys? We're gonna need some help."

Before Spiral Shadow could attack, he was struck by a laserlike beam of water, courtesy of Dickson.

"I'd almost forgotten you were here!" Duncan said, but his relief quickly turned to annoyance. "HEY, WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOOT THESE GUYS WHEN THEY WERE SMALL?!"

The pink sauropod bowed his head. "I apologize, but I was distracted by someone else's battle."

"Whose battle?" the boys chorused.

Rather than answer them directly, the Zord pointed his head to the side. The Rangers followed his gaze to Cooper, who was walking back onto the scene. The janitor held up his arm, showing the morphing bracelet he was now wearing.

Confused by the sight, Duncan asked, "How'd you get that?"

"I'll tell ya when we're done here," said Cooper. "In the meantime, mind teaching me how to use this thing?"

Brody nodded. "Press down on the bracelet. That's how you activate it."

Cooper did as he was told, and in a flash of pink energy, a Ranger suit appeared on him. Looking himself over, he noted with delight, "Aw, sweet! Me Ranger outfit came with a kilt!" Said kilt stopped just above his knees, the material a purple and pink tartan that suited him tremendously. Everyone present was thrown off by the sight.

"Alright, guys, we're here!" Chazz called out as he, Carl, and Kelly arrived.

The Blue and Brown Rangers leapt into their Zords. "Cooper, you take care of LGK! We'll coach you from the Megazord!" With that, Carl combined with Chazz and Kelly to form the Paleo Force Megazord in its Knockout Mode.

Duncan and Brody started the fight with an ice beam from the mecha's chest mouth, damaging Spiral Shadow but by no means stopping him. The giant white Shadow retaliated with a Rakshasa's Palm. The Rangers blocked the strike with Chazz's frill before firing a stream of bulletlike jewels from Kelly's mouth.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Cooper was having the same problem Duncan had with LGK: he just couldn't get in close enough to strike.

He called out to the Megazord, "How do I bring out my weapon?!"

"Tap your belt buckle!" Brody replied.

Cooper did so, and when the resulting flash of light dissipated, he found himself straining for breath. The reason for this was that his new weapon was a large pink handheld cannon, which was naturally very heavy. The tip of the cannon's barrel resembled Dickson's head.

Brody couldn't help but comment on this, "Wow, that thing kinda looks like Kamen Rider Zolda's Giga Launcher."

"I don't know what that is, but if you're saying it looks cool, then I agree," Duncan followed up as the two resumed their battle with Spiral Shadow.

The new Pink Ranger wasted no time firing his BFG at LGK, who gladly returned fire. Both attacks hit their mark, although Cooper's must've been stronger because Laser Gun Kelly was noticeably damaged.

The heavily armed robot chuckled despite this. "That's one hell of a BOMBARDMENT you launched."

Grinning under his helmet, Cooper said, "Well, there's more where that came from!" The tip of his cannon's barrel began glowing.

"Looking to finish things, are you? Well, two can play at that game!" The hatch on Laser Gun Kelly's chest opened up and fired a large, orange beam at Cooper.

Cooper responded with a blue beam from his cannon. The attacks collided. Both combatants felt their feet skidding back on the ground from the power of their lasers.

After a moment, the Pink Ranger's blast won out and struck the robot, blowing him into pieces.

Having watched the beam-o-war in their periphery as their own battle raged on, the brothers smiled.

"Kickass," Duncan said.

"Let's finish things here." Brody turned their attention back to Spiral Shadow. The Megazord's fists glowed white and brown and it launched its finishing move, the Blue Ranger yelling "Duality Punch!" as their strike connected.

The simultaneous punches hit Spiral Shadow dead-on, making him collapse before exploding like a dying star.

The group of villains all groaned at once.

"Lensia, make our other monster grow," Calios instructed.

His good mood was beginning to wane.

In what had to be the umpteenth burst of energy that day, Laser Gun Kelly rose from the dead as a giant. However, before either he or the Megazord could react, his feet were swiped out from under him by Dickson's tail.

"The time for me to contribute is long past due. Please, allow me to have this battle," the Dicraeozord said.

Laser Gun Kelly shouted as fired from every cannon on his body, "Be my guest! I'm gonna end this in three seconds flat!"

That made Dickson chuckle as he weathered the blasts. "Funny, I was thinking the same thing."

The Zord's tail spilt down the middle, with each half planting itself in the ground to act as a brace. The sauropod's head and neck did the same. Blue energy crackled between the sections of neck before a massive beam fired from the base.

LGK's attacks did nothing to stop the beam; when it hit him, he blew up instantly.

"Man, that was cool," Duncan said.

"What do you say we go congratulate our new recruit?" Brody replied.

The two exited the Megazord, which then disassembled. As they approached Cooper, the Scotsman de-morphed and asked, "Aren't you gonna take those suits off?"

The brothers looked at each other, figuring that it would be safe to reveal themselves to their new teammate. De-morphing, Duncan said, "Surprise! It's us!"

Cooper didn't so much as raise an eyebrow. "Yeah, I already knew who you were."

That statement left the boys dumbfounded. "How'd you figure it out?" Brody asked.

That made the janitor laugh a bit. "Are you kidding? I've known you two for over a year. I recognized your voices right away."

After taking a moment to process that, the boys came back to a question they'd had earlier. "So, why do you have Alice's bracelet?"

"During the interviews, I got a feeling that woman was just lying to get this here bracelet," Cooper explained, "and when I saw her run instead of trying to help you guys, I knew I was right."

Brody narrowed his eyes. "What exactly gave you a feeling like that?"

"Trust me, lads, if there's two things I know, it's booze and lyin' women."

"Wow, that's depressing," Duncan said.

"Indeed," Dickson chimed in. "But nevertheless, your friend's intuition allowed him to stop that woman from making off with my bracelet. He fought her at his own risk to get it back."

The brothers nodded, and Duncan said, "Well, if Dickson's vouching for you, I'd say you're good to go. Welcome to the team."

Trying to contain his excitement, Cooper gestured for the boys to follow him. "This calls for a celebration! Let's hit up a bar. My treat."

There was a moment of silence. "We're not old enough to drink, Mr. Cooper."

The attack name Rakshasa's Palm belongs to Yabako Sandrovitch (assuming attack names are copyright).