Play Falling by Cryoshell
Instrumental
Screen starts off black. One by one, spotlights come on, revealing the three Rangers looking at the ground. They then lift their heads as the title Power Rangers: Paleo Force shatters through the remaining darkness above them.
Lights out.
Duncan, Brody, and Cooper are all at the generic quarry, looking at their Zords and smiling.
No one's here.
Kenny is working on a circuit board with a robotic hand sitting on his desk. He grins as he taps the circuit board with a stylus, making the hand twitch
Hear the silence.
Jane and Brody are in a room together with Jane bandaging Brody's leg.
Scent of fear.
All the heroic characters look up to the sky.
You start running.
The view moves up into space, where we see our main villains in their spaceship, followed by a close-up of each of them.
With mistrusting and skeptical eyes.
We get a shot of Cooper, Duncan, and Brody staring down an army of Shadows.
Are you haunted?
The three look at each other before nodding.
I call out.
One by one, they take fighting stances as they ready their morphers.
I'm counting on you.
The screen cuts to black.
Falling.
All three Rangers charge in slow motion with an explosion in the background.
Is this the end of the line, and can we make it in time?
In a rotating shot, Brody slashes Shadows with his Carnage Sword, Cooper shoots them with his cannon, and Duncan blasts enemies with his Switch-Gun.
Falling.
We see Brody, unmorphed, calling out in distress with his arm outstretched.
My world is spinning around. I'm crashing into the ground.
Calios descends from space like a comet and, after landing, walks forward, slowly drawing his sword.
Falling.
Moses folds his arms as three silhouetted figures gather on either side of him.
Now I need you to see it's up to you and me.
The Paleo Force Megazord shifts into sword-and-shield mode. It slashes a monster before using its Cryo Slash on it, making it explode.
I'm counting on you.
Consecutive shots of Cooper doing a Ranger Punch, Duncan doing a Ranger Slash, and Brody doing Ranger Kick at the screen.
Cut to the end of the song as the music fades out.
The Rangers stand confidently in front of their respective Zords, who roar behind them as the screen fades to black again.
"Ahora llegando a Rio Negro," a voice announced.
"Did I hear that right? Rio Negro is in Argentina," Brody realized. "That's how far we've had to go?"
"Indeed, Mother," Carl replied as he exited the train, and they said no more.
After an hour of walking, they arrived at an open field.
"Is this where the—?" A yellow blur sped by before Brody could finish his question. "Never mind."
The blur took a lap before stopping abruptly in front of them, the new Zord coming into focus for the first time. It was a bright yellow raptor. Unlike the raptors Brody had seen in Jurassic Park, however, this one had purple feathers on its tail, thighs, and arms. On its back and head were silver markings.
"Who're you guys?" the raptor asked in a feminine voice.
"I am Carl, and this is Brody," the Carnozord introduced them.
"I'm Alicia," the Argentinian Zord replied, "and I'm an Austroraptor. Now, do you guys want something?"
Carl nodded, "To get straight to the point, we need your help."
The raptor tilted her head. "What for?"
"There's a monster on the loose on the surface," Brody explained.
"You've got a Zord with you right now," the raptor pointed out. "Can't he help you?"
"We've all tried, but it's too fast for us," the Blue Ranger replied. "My teammates are probably getting their asses kicked again right now."
That got the raptor's attention. "Hold up, you said this monster's fast?"
"Yeah," Brody said.
"I've been having trouble finding anyone that can keep up with me," the raptor announced, moving to leave the area. "Let's go!"
"Wait a second," Brody said, holding out his morpher. "Before we go, would you mind outing some of your energy in my bracelet?"
That stopped the raptor in her tracks. "You want to partner up with me?"
"He would like that, yes," Carl confirmed.
The yellow Zord inspected Brody. "You don't look very fast. If you and I team up, how do I know you won't fall behind?"
"Well, how can I prove it to you?" Brody asked.
The raptor Zord looked around. "You see the edge of this field?" The teen nodded. "Run there and back and stay at full speed the whole time."
"That's gotta be at least a mile," Brody protested.
"I'm waiting," the yellow raptor replied.
Brody gulped and activated his morpher, hoping the speed boost from his suit would help him out a little. Steeling himself, he broke into a sprint and headed for the edge of the field.
"This is lookin' pretty bad," Cooper sighed, exhausted. First, Tiger Beetle had beaten him into the ground. And now Duncan was in the hospital with a possibly crippling injury, leaving Cooper alone to pick up the slack. A week had passed, and he'd taken a beating each and every time he fought the monster. Now, he was taking a break from everything. He'd paid Duncan a visit in the hospital and was now sitting on a bench just outside the boy's room. "You better get back here soon, Brody."
"I know this isn't the best time." The janitor turned to see Jane standing in the doorway. Letting herself into the room, she asked, "But are you guys the Power Rangers?"
Cooper kept his cool. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, there's the fact that you, Duncan, and Brody always seem to be injured by the monsters attacking our city, but you're conveniently never killed."
The janitor didn't give anything away with his expression, though she was beginning to make him sweat. "I'll admit, that's a bit of a coincidence, but it doesn't prove we're the Rangers."
Jane crossed her arms. "Okay, how about the fact that you guys never tell anyone how you really got injured? The first time Duncan and Brody came to visit, Duncan said Brody got hurt figure skating."
Cooper snorted. The boys hadn't told him about thatlittle detail.
"Not to mention that the Pink Ranger wears a kilt," Jane finished.
"Okay, okay, you got me," Cooper conceded. "You wouldn't mind keepin' this under wraps, would ya?"
"…I guess not."
"Great! Since you know who we are, how about I introduce you to me partner, Dickson?" Cooper held out his arm, showing her his morpher.
"Nice to meet you, Jane," the Dicraeozord greeted her.
"Uh, who are you?" she asked.
Realizing she wasn't connecting his name to his face, he elaborated, "You may know me as the pink, long-necked dinosaur that fights giant monsters."
Jane's eyes widened. "You can talk?"
"I can, as can the other Zords."
"Hey, how long until I can fight again?" Cooper asked. "I feel bad leaving Dickson here on his own."
"You're not gonna like my answer," Jane said. "You've got bruises all over your body, Mr. Cooper. It's a miracle the only thing that's broken is your nose."
"Well, that's too bad," the Scotsman said as he got up from the bench. "Monster's not gonna wait for me to get better."
Jane stopped him by putting a hand on his chest, which on its own was enough to make Cooper reel in pain.
"If you go back there now, you'd just be doing it a favor," said Jane.
"Don't think you're stoppin' me." This time, when Jane tried pushing him back, he powered through the pain. When Jane persisted, Cooper jabbed her lightly in the solar plexus, forcing her to step aside.
"Sorry about that, lass."
Jane watched him walk away before giving up and moving on to Duncan's room. The older Branson brother was awake, but didn't turn to look when she entered, opting to gaze melodramatically out the window instead.
"Give it to me straight, doc," he said with a sigh. "Will I ever walk again?"
"Yes," Jane replied bluntly.
Duncan looked at his guest. "Oh, hey, Jane." He became a little sheepish. "For the record, I was more worried about that than I let on."
"I know you and Mr. Cooper are Power Rangers."
"How'd you figure it out?" Duncan asked, his eyes widening a bit as she explained her deductions.
"So, just how bad is Duncan's injury?" Chazz asked from Duncan's morpher, now feeling empowered to make himself known to her. Jane didn't flinch; she had a job to do, and she supposed now informing giant dinosaurs of a patient's prognosis was part of it.
"To keep it simple, one of his vertebrae got cracked. Not enough to cripple him, but it's gonna take at least a few months for him to recover," she said.
"That sucks," the White Ranger complained. "Well, at least I've got my iPad."
Jane rolled her eyes before realizing something, "Hey, where's Brody? I don't think he's come to visit you even once."
"He's underground, looking for a new Zord to help us fight," Duncan explained. "As you can see, we couldn't hack it on our own. We just weren't fast enough."
Jane realized then that she'd buried the lead. "Oh, no."
"What is it?" asked Duncan.
"Cooper went out to fight the monster again."
"What?!" Chazz shouted. "He's gonna get himself killed!"
"I never should have let him go," said Jane. "What are the chances Brody's backup will make it there before he does?"
"I'm back," Brody panted for the umpteenth time.
Alicia shook her head. "Again."
"Aw, come on!" the Blue Ranger groaned. "I'm still not fast enough for you?"
He'd been running back and forth for over an hour. Each time he returned, his potential new partner immediately sent him off to try again.
"Is this really necessary?" Carl asked. "He's only going to get more exhausted."
"He can only use my power when he's pushing himself to the limit," the Austrozord said. "If he can't even get close, he won't be able to use my power for very long."
That made Brody groan. "Alright. I need a break. I'll get back to pushing myself to the limit once I've had some water." Once he got a drink, he got back to running, "Maybe I should have waited a bit longer before I restarted."
"Don't worry, you're doing great," Carl encouraged. However, Brody noticed a second, less clear voice, saying it as well.
"Alicia? Did you just say that without connecting to my morpher?" Brody asked. "How'd you do that?"
"Telepathy," the two Zords chorused.
Brody tilted his head. "Telepathy? If that's how you do it, then why not just talk directly into my head? Why use morphers at all?"
Carl took over explaining, "We could, but without a morpher, our voices come out garbled and unfocused. Do you remember the day we met?" His partner nodded. "I was trying to tell you not to free us because it would free the invaders as well."
"So that's why it all sounded so unclear," Brody realized.
"Alright, that's enough of a break. Back to running," Alicia instructed. "And remember—"
Brody cut her off, deadpanning, "Full speed the whole time. I know." With that, he got back to it.
"So, Tiger Beetle," Calios said. "I gotta say, I'm impressed. You've killed more humans than any other monster we've made so far. And the way you beat up that Pink Ranger every time you fight—it's like you're just bullying him! Very amusing."
The monster in question bowed. "You're too kind, Lord Calios."
Getting up from his throne, Calios walked over and put a hand on the monster's shoulder. "All that being said, I think you've had enough fun. Go and finish that Ranger off, won't you?"
Tiger Beetle nodded and headed over to the launch tubes.
Cooper was not feeling good. Not one bit. Every inch of his body was hurting like crazy. Even the simple act of patrolling was taking a lot of effort. The Scotsman walked the long bank of the river, stopping intermittently to fight off waves of nausea from the pain. Part of him knew he should be in bed, but the rest of him was too stubborn to turn back.
"Cooper, please. You heard what Jane said. You are no condition to fight," Dickson pleaded.
"That monster could kill everyone in town in a day with how fast it is, and if I don't stop it, it might do just that," Cooper wheezed. "Besides, Duncan's got a busted spine, so it's all up to me."
"But you don't even have a plan!" the Dicraeozord yelled frantically. "You're going to get killed!"
Cooper wanted to retort, but he paused when he felt his vision blurring. Before he knew it, he was on the ground.
"Cooper? Cooper! Wake up!" Dickson said through his morpher. Deciding to intervene directly, he began making his way to the scene. Unfortunately, being a sauropod, he was getting nowhere fast.
"Dammit! Why did I have to be born as one of the slowest types of Dinozords?!"
"Time to wake up!" Alicia announced. In the seven days since Brody had started training,he was actually starting to feel like he was progressing. He had certainly been improving faster than his teacher had expected. In addition to the constant sprinting, she'd also started to have him jog as another way to help his endurance. Though it was getting easier, he considered himself lucky any time he got a break from running at full speed.
Brody got to his feet. "Let me guess, time to run?"
"Si," the Austroraptor Zord nodded. She said no more, but as Brody took off again, she thought to herself, 'He's nearly ready.'
The oldest Power Ranger woke up from his dirt nap to the sound of screaming. Instantly awake, he got to his feet just in time to see a civilian mowed down by his latest foe.
Tiger Beetle stopped in its tracks when it saw Cooper morphing. "Wow, I didn't think you'd still be able to stand after last time. And I'm even more surprised that you came back for more."
"Someone's gotta deal with you," Cooper replied, summoning his cannon. When Tiger Beetle disappeared in a blur, the Pink Ranger aimed his barrel at the ground and fired. The resulting burst of water hit Tiger Beetle like a truck, knocking him to the ground.
Approaching the monster from the side, Cooper got down on one knee and hit it in the face with one haymaker after another, the adrenaline taking over. He still felt the pain, but it was further away, second to the satisfaction of laying a good hit on the monster.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long; Tiger Beetle swiped him off by clawing him in the chest. Getting to its feet, Tiger Beetle threw another slash.
Cooper's response was to counterpunch, which made the monster stagger back. The Pink Ranger paused and looked at his fist. "Huh, I didn't think I could do that."
Rather than respond, Tiger Beetle simply resumed moving at super speed. The hybrid hit the Ranger with numerous blows before knocking him into the water.
When Cooper surfaced, he was immediately hit in the head by the monster. Repeated attempts to surface yielded similar results, effectively trapping him underwater.
'So, that thing can run on water? Fucking dandy!'. Cooper thought. As his mind raced, he remembered something. 'Wait, Duncan can do crazy ground stuff because of that Bimbosaurus. Dickson has water power, so maybe I—'
Rather than finish that thought, Cooper decided to put his theory to the test. He swam up and punched the surface of the water from below, causing the entire river to erupt.
Hoping it was safe, Cooper swam to shore. Much to his relief, Tiger Beetle had been laid out by his attack.
Unfortunately, the monster quickly got up and shook itself dry. "Ugh, the cat part of me hated that."
Not giving Tiger Beetle any time to catch its breath, Cooper dashed in and got it in a clinch. Instead of trying to pry the Ranger off, Tiger Beetle began running anyway, dragging him along.
'Oh, shit,' Cooper thought.
Brody pushed himself. He pushed himself as hard as he could, and before he knew it, he was able to run to the edge of the field and back at top speed. However, he was naturally exhausted from having run so much over the last couple hours, so he had to fight to keep from collapsing as he approached his teacher. In what he hoped was a controlled way, he sat down in the grass and caught his breath, waiting to be told to do it again.
"I think you might be ready take my power," Alicia said with a bit of pride.
"Fantastic," Carl nodded. "We should get back to the U.S. as soon as possible. There's no time to lose."
Suddenly, Brody's aches started disappearing. Taking deep breathes, he stood up. "I think I just hit my runner's high." He held out his arm. "I'm ready."
Alicia fired yellow beams of energy from her eyes into Brody's morpher, changing the mold to resemble her head. He tapped it and yelled, "Dai-Henshin!"
A flash of light occurred, altering Brody's suit. When it was done, the Blue Ranger had turned yellow. The purple lines on his suit had taken on a zigzag pattern which resembled lightning bolts. He even had several purple feathers sticking out from each of his forearms at forty-degree angles. Without another word, Brody sped away in a blur.
Carl sighed. "I guess that means I'm taking the long way back."
Hanging on for dear life, Cooper was bashed against a wall, then a tree, then a lamppost, and so on. Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and let go.
Tiger Beetle came to a stop and walked over to the Pink Ranger, who was struggling to get up. Just before the monster could deal a finishing blow, a rock hit it in the back of the head with a satisfying thunk. Both Ranger and monster looked over to see Jane standing nearby, armed with another rock to throw.
"In hindsight, that was probably a stupid thing to do," she muttered to herself.
"Yes, it was." Tiger Beetle blurred into motion and lashed out at her with a claw swipe. However, a hand caught his wrist before the blow could connect.
"Back off," the Yellow Ranger growled.
"Brody?" Jane asked in bewilderment.
"Never heard of him," Brody lied smoothly.
Observing the interaction from his spot on the ground, Cooper called out, "She knows who we are! You don't have to play coy!"
Brody looked back and forth between the older Ranger and Jane for a moment. "Oh. Then yeah, it's me."
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Tiger Beetle asked, annoyed.
The Yellow Ranger's mind raced for a witty reply. "I'm the guy who's gonna fuck you up."
The hybrid monster just laughed. "Please, that's what your two buddies said. Now one of them is on his last leg and the other one's crippled."
Brody's eyes widened, realizing the monster meant Duncan. He angled his arms so his feathers were pointing at the monster. The feathers on his forearms then shot off like darts.
Tiger Beetle evaded them and blurred into motion. Brody doing the same, moving so quickly that he vanished to Jane and Cooper's eyes. With their speeds even, it was almost as if the two weren't moving at super speed at all.
Brody threw some jabs before grabbing the monster by the head and pulling it into his knee. Tiger Beetle retaliated by raking its claws along his back, prompting him to shove it away. The two threw snap kicks at the same time, knocking each other back several feet.
Tiger Beetle moved in, grabbing Brody by the shoulders and trying to bite him with its mandibles.
Before it could do so, Brody drew his Switch-Gun and fired, repelling the beast. Wanting revenge for what it had done to his brother, Brody elected to end the fight then and there. He lashed out with a rapid series of electrified kicks, "Machine Gun Spike!"
The attack was too much for Tiger Beetle to handle and, erupting in flames across every inch of its hybrid body, it finally burst into pieces.
Brody slowed down to normal speed, but his mind continued to race. Where was Duncan?
"Brody!" Cooper and Jane called out as they approached him.
"Man, you beat that thing in no time at all," Cooper congratulated him, lowering himself back to the ground to rest again.
"Well, that's how it goes in Kamen Rider. You beat the monster instantly to show off your new power-up," the Yellow Ranger said. It was a convention he'd seen many times on TV. He then faced Jane. "Is Duncan really crippled?"
Jane shook her head. "He'll be fine. It'll just take a while for him to heal."
That made Brody breathe a sigh of relief.
"So, what new Zord did you find?" Cooper asked.
"She's a raptor. I had to do a lot of running to prove I was worth her time," Brody explained.
The trio heard a rumbling noise and looked up to see Dickson approaching.
"Let me guess, I'm late to the action?" The humans nodded. "Figures."
That turned out to be only partially true, as a bolt of magical energy shot down from the sky and struck Tiger Beetle's body, which began to crackle with power. In moments, the monster was revived in giant form.
Brody spoke into his morpher, "Hey, Alicia? Gonna need some direct assistance here."
"Gimme a few seconds," the Zord replied. Brody counted on his fingers to time her, but he didn't even get through one hand before she arrived. "So, the monsters you fight can get huge? That should make this more interesting."
Alicia and Tiger Beetle started running. The Yellow Zord fired a lightning bolt from her mouth, only for the monster to deflect it.
"You may be as fast as me, but you're clearly not as strong!"
Tiger Beetle began slashing at her with his tiger arm. Alicia grabbed his paw in her teeth and stepped on its foot. As the monster reeled, the Austrozord leapt up and clung to the monster, mauling its face with her claws.
Growling, Tiger Beetle took hold of the small Zord and threw her to the ground. Before it could try stomping on her, she fired another blast of lightning from her mouth.
Outside the battle, the humans saw nothing but a bunch of flashes and blurs.
"This feels a bit underwhelmin'," Cooper commented.
"I see what you mean," Jane agreed.
"Judging by the fact that neither has lost just yet, I assume they are at least somewhat evenly matched," Dickson said through Cooper's morpher.
"Maybe there's some way we can help her?" The idea came to Brody just as he was finishing that sentence. "Why didn't we think of this before?!" The Yellow Ranger raised his morpher to his face. "Kelly, how soon can you get here?"
"Like, super-duper quick," the Kosmozord replied.
"Well then, get over here. I've got a plan," he said. Brody then looked up to Dickson. "Start charging up. We're gonna get this monster once and for all."
Meanwhile, Tiger Beetle had Alicia by the tail and was slamming her into the ground again and again. Alicia got it to let go by scratching its hands with her toe claws, but unfortunately, this meant it sent her flying when it let her go.
'Shit. I can't take much more of this,' the Austrozord thought to herself. 'That's what I get for thinking this would be easy!'
Tiger Beetle went in for another slash. When it did, she ducked under and stepped behind it, scratching up its back with her claws. The monster dashed away from her, and she did what she did best: gave chase.
"Alicia, can you get him back to where we are? We've got a trap set," Brody said through their morpher link.
"I'll be there in the blink of an eye," she responded. To this end, she fired blasts of lightning around Tiger Beetle, forcing him to change his course. And in the span of a human blink, they had returned to the area where their fight had begun.
Before Tiger Beetle could start attacking again, its feet sunk into the ground.
"Now, Dickson!" Cooper called out.
The Dicraeozord sucked in lines of energy, preparing to strike. Tiger Beetle attempted to flee but only made itself sink deeper.
"Nice try, but you're stuck in my quicksand!" Kelly said. "Go, Dickson, go!"
Dickson let loose, and the massive blast of energy destroyed Tiger Beetle for good. All that was left of him was a smudge of ash on the surface of the quicksand, and after a few seconds, even that had disappeared into the earth.
Cooper breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, if all that's done, I think I'm gonna pass out now." He proceeded to de-morph and fall over limply, with Jane and Brody catching him.
"Wanna get him back to the hospital?" Brody asked.
"We should, yeah," Jane agreed.
"Allow me." Getting a firm grip on them both, Brody zipped them to the hospital.
Brody's suit allowed them to get there in just under a second, but it also led to a little hostility once they walked through the doors.
"Get out of here, you psycho!" A civilian shouted. Doctors and patients alike were fleeing in terror.
Brody quickly sped to a spot where no one was looking and de-morphed. Making his way back to the hospital, he and Jane went into the hallway to talk as things calmed down.
"So, I've been thinking about this for a little bit and, would you mind helping us out from now on?" he asked.
"How could I help?" Jane asked back.
"You've got medical training. You can patch us up if we get hurt," the Blue Ranger explained, before muttering, "And the bills for all these doctor visits are starting to add up."
"He really wants you on the team because he's crushing on you," Alicia spoke up from Brody's morpher.
Brody quickly covered his morpher with his hand. "Don't mind her."
"You can't hide it," the Austrozord got out, though her voice was muffled. "Kelly already gossiped with me about it."
Wanting to spare himself further embarrassment, Brody decided to wrap up the conversation. "Look, Jane, I won't force you or waste time begging. But you would make a great addition to the team. Will you help us out?"
Jane wasn't too surprised to hear that Brody liked her, having heard about it from Duncan and Cooper on two separate occasions. She then thought about how often Duncan and Brody got injured and why she'd wanted to go into medicine in the first place. Her desire to help people soon won out.
"Okay, I'll be around to patch you guys up, within reason," she said. "Obviously I'm not going to be able to perform open-heart surgery if you need it, but…you guys can count on me."
"Excellent," Carl said. "Now, that just leaves the matter of healing Duncan's injury."
Brody and Jane blinked. "Wait, what?"
"Chazz said he had an idea for how to heal Duncan quickly," Carl explained. "I'll show you."
The two teens looked at each other before Brody asked, "What's step one?"