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, 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.
"Are you sure this is gonna work, Chazz?" Brody asked when they reached the generic quarry. He'd been closely monitoring Duncan since they left the hospital, but he still felt anxious about moving him in his current condition.
The Chasmozord nodded. "It will work."
"I don't know about this," said Jane. "The healing processes isn't really meant to be overclocked."
"Also, if the doctors realize we moved Duncan without permission, they may get mad," Dickson added.
"Nah, we moved him when no one was lookin', and we have the Cryos on lookout," Cooper said. "As long as we do this fast, he'll be back in bed before they know it."
"Besides, even if something goes wrong, I doubt he could get much worse," Carl retorted, making Brody wish fleetingly that he'd go back to Argentina.
"Ready, Carl?" Chazz asked. The Carnozord nodded. The two Zords began channeling energy into Duncan's bracelet.
The ginger teen's whole body glowed as he started spasming, causing Brody's concern to worsen. The process lasted only a minute or two, and when it was done…
Duncan sat up. Relief washed over Brody, who got out a rare laugh at his brother's expense. He looked like he had sunburn all over his body, which had reddened nearly to the same shade as his hair.
Once Brody's laughter subsided, Cooper walked up to Duncan.
"What?" he asked, looking around as if he wasn't sure where he was.
Cooper raised a finger and poked him in the shoulder.
"Yeow!"
Cooper laughed, which got Brody started back up again. Soon Chazz and even Jane started laughing.
"Real funny, guys," Duncan growled. He got to his feet and turned himself in the direction of home. "Oh, God, it hurts to walk."
That made everyone laugh even more. They quickly caught up with him. "Come on, man," Brody said. "You'd laugh if it were me going through that, wouldn't you?"
Duncan was quiet for a few seconds before conceding, "Fair point."
Calios rested his head in his palm. "We nearly crippled one of the Rangers. That's nice and all—or it would have been, if it'd actually worked—but how about you try making something that can actually kill them this time?"
Factoraze nodded as he put the finishing touches on his latest creation, a knight whose armor resembled Calios's, but on a more slender form. In its hand was a spear, formidably long and deadly sharp.
Turning to Moses and Lensia, Calios asked, "Feel like making another bet?"
"Actually, yes," the anthro Mosasaur replied.
"Alright then. Fifty space bucks on our knight here," said Calios. "I'm feeling lucky."
Duncan had elected to stay home from school. Who could blame him? The thought of going out in public with what looked like a full-body sunburn wasn't appealing in the least, especially when his couch and his weed were both at home.
Suddenly, his phone rang. He checked and saw a message from Brody.
New monster on the loose. Can you handle it?
Duncan scoffed at the request. Maybe he wasn't in critical condition anymore, but it still hurt to move. He wasn't going to go out and fight a monster today. He called up the Cryolophosaurs to ask them to deal with the situation instead.
The knight withdrew his spear from a man's torso with a sickening sound. Hearing something behind him, he ducked, narrowly avoiding the white Cryo's jaws.
"Fool! A warrior is always prepared for an attack from behind!" the knight boasted. He then jabbed the dino with the back of his spear.
The blue and pink Cryos came at him from either side. The knight held out his spear for the blue Cryo to bite while thrusting out his left elbow, nailing the pink Cryo at the base of the neck.
The knight proceeded to slash and bash the dinos over the next several minutes, forcing them to retreat.
"That will show them," the knight said smugly. "Hopefully that's not the best challenge the Power Rangers can provide."
"Uh, Duncan? We have a problem," Chazz said.
The teen in question groaned. "Let me guess: the Cryos lost?"
"Yep."
Duncan checked the time on his phone. Brody wouldn't be done with school for another hour, and Cooper was still on the clock, meaning he was the only Ranger available to deal with the new monster. Sighing, he dragged himself out to his car and drove to the scene.
Once in the vicinity, he morphed and scanned the area before spotting the monster chasing a small crowd of civilians. The knight used his spear to pole vault over the group, landing in front of them. Twirling his weapon, he slashed several of the innocents, killing them almost instantly.
Duncan took aim with his Switch-Gun, hoping to end things quickly.
But the knight had already noticed him. He simply deflected each of Duncan's shots with his spear, advancing toward him as he did so. Right as the knight swung his spear back for a slash, a laser beam struck him in the chest and knocked him back.
Looking in the direction the blast had come from, Duncan saw a robot hobbling over. It had a humanoid shape, skinny and laced with wires, like an animatronic without an exoskeleton. The robot's only facial feature was a circular eye on the left side of its face.
"What the fuck?" the White Ranger said to himself.
"Attack and destroy!"
'Wait, I know that voice.' Duncan followed where it came from to see Kenny standing on the sidelines.
As per the Japanese boy's command, the robot began walking stiffly toward the knight. The knight let it approach and swung his spear the moment it was within range.
In response, the robot fired a beam from its eye. This caught the knight off guard, and he was struck yet again. The robot fired its beam several more times. The first few attacks hit their mark but eventually, the knight got his bearings and began deflect the beams. Closing the gap once again, he swung his spear.
The robot blocked the strike with its forearm. However, the next two attacks were too much for it to handle, and its forearm shattered.
Kenny cringed at the damage to his robot. Looking to the white Power Ranger, he called out, "Don't just stand there! Help me!"
Duncan, who'd been enthralled by the exchange between robot and monster, snapped out of his daze and raised his pistol once more.
The knight saw the blasts coming out of the corner of his eye and kicked away the robot before deflecting them.
"A true warrior wouldn't limit himself to ranged attacks," he mocked him. "He would mix it up a little."
The White Ranger the threw the taunt right back at his enemy, "What about you? Is close combat all you're good at?"
Somewhere behind the helmet that obscured his face, Duncan got the feeling the knight was grinning.
"Allow me to prove you wrong!" He slashed with his spear, creating a blade of razor wind.
Duncan quickly dodged by squatting under the attack. However, this had the unfortunate side-effect of aggravating his sunburn. "Ugh, it hurts to squat."
That was all the time he had to complain, as the knight was on him in an instant. Knocking aside his pistol, the knight grabbed him by the throat.
"It seems you're already injured. I commend you. A warrior does not let injury slow him down in a fight."
"Fire!"
At Kenny's command, the robot fired another laser. The knight leaned to the side to avoid the surprise attack, and the distraction was enough for Duncan to get free by kicking the knight in the groin. The knight released Duncan, allowing him to run.
Seeing the Ranger retreat encouraged Kenny to do the same. "G1, pull back!"
The robot followed Kenny and Duncan as they fled the scene. Once they were well away from the knight, the two humans breathed a sigh of relief.
Then Kenny broke the ice, "Dono you ni tatteru no?"
"Uh, what?"
Kenny facepalmed. After checking around the corner in case the knight was following them, he got out his phone and typed away. When he finished, he read the translation off his screen. "How can you stand?" he said. "Brody said your spine got busted."
Duncan froze. "You're kidding me. You figured it out too?"
His friend nodded. Typing into his phone some more, he explained, "At first, I was thrown off the trail by how you guys didn't wear the same colors as your Ranger outfits, but then I—"
"Wait, why would we bother wearing the same color clothes as our Ranger outfits?" Duncan interrupted him.
Kenny shrugged and continued, "Then I noticed your funny little bracelets, and I figured it probably wasn't a coincidence."
Duncan simply gawked under his mask, realizing how obvious it all was. "Wait a minute. If you noticed that, how come nobody else at school has figured us out yet?"
"Wakaranai. Maybe because people don't pay attention to you at school?" Kenny suggested.
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Duncan nodded. Looking around to make sure the coast was clear, he de-morphed.
Kenny instantly took note of his friend's full-body sunburn. "Eh? What's wrong with you?"
"Yeah, we healed my back with an energy surge, and now I look rare," Duncan explained.
The two began walking along the back alleys, mostly to make sure no one saw the damaged robot following closely behind them. "So, this thing is your secret project?"
Kenny nodded and gestured to the robot, "This is G1. He's basically a prototype, but when I heard about this new monster, I cut class to field test it. Couldn't resist."
"Uh, won't you get in trouble for that?" Duncan pointed out.
"…Kuso," Kenny muttered.
The two soon parted ways. Once he'd reached his house, Duncan was eager to kick back and relax, but it wasn't long before Brody got home too.
The first thing Duncan said was, "Kenny figured out who we are."
"Oh God, what did you do?" the younger twin asked.
"Nothing. He figured it out all on his own," Duncan explained. "The new monster is a knight. He has a spear and he likes to say the word warrior a lot."
"Any other gimmicks?" Brody asked.
"Not that I know of," Duncan said. "Oh, I just remembered. Kenny's secret project is a robot."
Brody's eyebrows widened a bit. "Whoa, really?"
"Yeah, man. Picture an FNAF robot with no exoskeleton and only one eye," Duncan described.
The next day, Duncan's 'sunburn' had died down so much that Brody deemed him well enough to come to school. Though, this being high school, there was still plenty of teasing.
"Hey, check it out! Working on your tan, Branson?"
Duncan groaned. "I really should've waited to come back here."
"Oi!"
The brothers looked to see Kenny approaching. "Oh, hey."
Realizing they shouldn't talk about their monster-fighting business in public, Brody corralled the group by his locker.
"You realize this makes us look like idiots, right?" Duncan said, with Kenny nodding in agreement.
"It's not like we can leave right as school's starting," Brody said. "Anyway, Kenny, you're building a robot? That's cool."
Their friend smiled and typed into his phone, "If you think that's cool, just wait until I start upgrading it."
First period was history. Kenny didn't share the class with the boys, but Jane did. Figuring Duncan wasn't studying much anyway, she passed him a note.
Any injuries I'll be needing to treat later?
Duncan took his time writing back. Not this time.
And so, class went on like normal. First period turned to second, and second to third. Then things went sideways when a teacher burst in through the door.
"Everyone, run! There's a knight in armor tearing up the school!" When none of the students reacted, he clarified, "Our school!"
That got everyone running. Duncan, Brody, and Jane used the confusion to search the school for the monster. They found it in the library, reading a book while sitting atop several corpses he'd piled onto one another.
"What the hell? It's reading?" Brody observed.
"Yes, I am," the knight replied.
Seeing that they'd been found out, Duncan came out from their hiding spot. "How did you hear us?"
Closing his book, the knight stood up and faced him. "A warrior must have keen ears, lest he be the victim of a sneak attack."
"Huh, you weren't kidding," Brody muttered. He then whispered to Jane, "Go find Mr. Cooper. We'll need his help." The girl ran off to do just that. Wanting to stall for time a bit, Brody tried chatting it up, "So, you like reading, huh?"
The knight nodded. "Indeed, it's always nice for a warrior to have at least one hobby besides battle."
"Okay. Say, I don't think we got your name," Brody followed up.
"How kind of you to ask. I am Spearo the Conqueror," the knight explained. He then paused. "Most other humans fled from me on sight. How come you haven't?"
"Uh, we—" the younger twin sputtered for an answer.
"Wait, let me guess," the knight cut him off. "You're hoping to stall me until the Power Rangers arrive."
"And he did a great job!"
A blast of deep blue energy hit Spearo from the side.
The boys sighed in relief that their third teammate had arrived and was wielding his cannon. With Jane by his side, the Pink Ranger staggered up and draped an arm over Brody's shoulder. "Don't you worry, Duncan. Our teamwork will, uh…somethin'."
"Uh, I'm Brody," the brown-haired teen corrected him.
"Really?" Cooper looked from one twin to the other. "Wait, don't tell me. Uuuhh, you're Dumcan." He pointed between them.
"It's Duncan, and I'm over here," the teen in question pointed out. "Are you drunk?"
Cooper scoffed, "Nah, I've only had, like, five beers since me break began."
"Definitely drunk," the twins chorused right before they both morphed.
"Yeah, I didn't realize that. I just rushed in and told him there was a monster in the library," Jane explained, scratching the back of her head.
"Okay, here's the plan: Duncan and I will go in and wear him down. Meanwhile, you charge up your Dicraeo-Cannon and fire when we tell you. You got that, Mr. Cooper?" Brody asked.
The janitor gave a sloppy salute. "Sir, yes sir!"
"Dicraeo-Cannon? That's kind of a stupid name," Duncan commented. He then looked between the group and the knight, "Also, is it weird that he didn't attack us while we were talking?"
"I saw no need to. After, you said all that within earshot of me," Spearo said nonchalantly. "And I agree with the White Ranger. It's a stupid name for a cannon. Now, are you going to come to me, or should I come to you?"
Brody summoned his Carnage Sword and drew his Switch-Gun, unfolding it into sword mode. Duncan followed his brother's lead by summoning his shields. Then the brothers charged in. Brody attempted to overwhelm the knight with rapid slashes from his dual blades, but Spearo deflected each one by twirling his spear. Though, the assault did force him to give ground.
Duncan, on the other hand, was more hesitant. Even with Brody on the attack, he couldn't find an opening in Spearo's guard. He threw an occasional slash, but they were always blocked.
Noticing his brother's struggles, Brody decided to change tactics, "Fuck it! This isn't working!" He tapped his morpher, turning it yellow and transforming his suit as well.
"Should we call that form 'Electric-Type'?" Duncan wondered aloud.
"Sure, whatever." With that, Brody disappeared in a blur.
He zipped around, slashing at Spearo from every angle. However, to both Rangers' shock (pun intended), the knight twirled his spear like Bruce Lee with a pair of nunchucks, blocking every slash Brody threw at him.
Coming to a stop, Brody just had to ask, "How the hell could you track me at that speed?"
"A warrior must have the reflexes to counter any attack, no matter how fast," Spearo replied smugly.
"Now, Mr. Cooper!" Duncan shouted.
"Was that the signal?!" their drunk teammate asked.
The White Ranger facepalmed. "Son of a—Yes!"
Cooper nodded and yelled, "Hydro-Laser!" With that, he fired a large blue beam from his cannon.
Unfortunately, Spearo dodged the blast by simply sidestepping it. "That was a bit too telegraphed," he deadpanned. "Do you really need to call out all of your moves ahead of time?"
Duncan growled and tapped his morpher, turning it brown. "Ground-Type!" His suit turning brown, he leapt forward, executing his Drill Run attack—without shouting it out.
Rather than trying to block the attack, Spearo opted to limbo under it. Brody tried to attack him before he could right himself, but the monster of the week was still able to counter his blade even as he landed on his back. Using his spear to trip Brody up, the knight quickly got to his feet. He was about to stab Brody when he felt someone grab him from behind.
Cooper held the monster in a clinch and threw him several feet before charging in.
This actually gave Spearo trouble. While Cooper's attacks were sloppy, he was getting so close to the knight that it was difficult for him to use his spear. In an effort to remedy the situation, he reluctantly gave ground. The Pink Ranger didn't let up, and if that weren't enough, a pair of hands burst from the ground, grabbing the knight by the ankles.
"Duncan used Dig!" came a muffled voice from underground. "It's super effective!"
Cooper reared his arm back, his fist glowing with water energy. At the same, Brody, having picked himself up, dashed behind the knight, Switch-Gun blade in hand and charged with yellow lightning. The knight held his spear behind his back to block Brody's sword, but there was no way for him to evade all of their hits. When the Rangers' respective attacks landed, it caused an explosion, knocking them all back in a cloud of smoke.
Emerging from underground, Duncan began helping his teammates to their feet.
"You bastards!"
As the smoke cleared, it revealed Spearo, alive, mostly well, and very pissed off. Cooper's punch had left a fist-shaped indent in his chest armor, and his spear had been cut clean in half by Brody's slash.
"Without this spear, my name doesn't work!"
"That's what he's pissed about?" Duncan muttered.
"Normally, a warrior should be above petty revenge," Spearo continued. "But I'm afraid I can't bring myself to care. I'll beat you all to death with my bare hands!"
Without waiting for the monster to follow through on his threat, Duncan's body gained a white outline, and he charged in so fast, it almost rivaled Brody's speed.
"Accelerock!" He threw a punch, and the knight responded in kind. The two hit each other in the faces, though Duncan was more visibly affected. He stumbled a bit before falling over.
Brody caught him before he hit the floor. "You okay, Duncan?"
"No, I can't eat gassy chips. They make me spicy," the Brown Ranger replied.
"I think he's okay," Cooper said.
Brody folded his sword back into a gun and handed it—and his brother—off to Jane with a nod. Having an idea of what he had in mind, she nodded back.
With that out of the way, Brody dashed in at full speed and lashed out with a flurry of kicks, "Machine Gun Spike!"
Spearo, now with a dent in his helmet, blocked each kick with his forearms. With so many kicks, though, it was just a matter of time before his armor gave out, so he threw a kick of his own and hit Brody in the gut.
In his more fragile Electric-Type form, Brody was sent skidding back over to Jane, where he commented, "This feels so much like Kamen Rider. The hero's new power-up always gets nerfed soon after it debuts."
"You don't say," Jane deadpanned.
"Cooper to the rescue!" the Pink Ranger shouted.
The knight met him head-on, taking advantage of Cooper's sloppy fighting style to land plenty of hits. He quickly knocked Cooper to the ground and rained down a flurry of blows. Despite taking dozens of punches, Cooper took the opportunity to point behind Spearo, prompting the monster to turn around. Upon doing so, he found Jane right in front of him.
Jane pressed Brody's Switch-Gun to the base of the knight's neck, where his helmet met his chest plate, and pulled the trigger.
The resulting blast left Spearo staggering back, holding his wounded neck. As he stumbled, he bumped into something. The last thing he saw was Brody, now back in his default blue form, throwing a Ranger Punch.
That finally did it. Spearo the Conqueror exploded when the punch landed, ending the fight.
Brody fell to his knees, sighing in relief. He knew the matter wasn't completely settled yet, though, and spoke into his morpher, "Guys? We just finished off the monster. You'd better come quick."
"Coming, Mother," Carl replied.
Like most monsters before him, Spearo grew to gigantic size, destroying the library. Not only that, but his spear was restored in the process. Wasting no time, he attempted to stomp on our heroes, who all narrowly jumped out of the way.
"Uh, hey, Alicia?" Brody asked into his morpher. "Would you mind giving us a hand right now?"
The Austrozord sounded annoyed on the other end, "Can't it wait? I'm about to see KT and the Extinction Band."
"We're about to get crushed, so no," Brody replied.
Spearo lifted his foot to try and stomp the team again. However, he was forced to guard against a beam of lightning coming at him from the side. Turning, he saw Alicia, who naturally had arrived in record time.
"Che, forro! Over here!" she taunted.
"Don't bother trying to blitz him," Brody warned. "He's got crazy reflexes."
Carl entered the scene next, huffing and puffing. "Would it have killed you to wait for the rest of us?"
Getting an idea of what to do next, Brody asked, "Alicia, do you think you can combine with Carl?"
The Austroraptor Zord looked Carl up and down before replying, "Si."
"Well, seeing as how Chazz hasn't gotten here yet, what say you two give it a try?" Brody suggested.
The two Zords nodded and began transforming. Carl shifted around to become the main body of the Blizzard Force Megazord. His tail popped off, leaving the Megazord armless. This changed when Alicia split in half down the middle, the halves of her own tail detaching as well. Her two halves compressed slightly, taking on the general shape of arms before attaching to the Megazord's shoulders, her feet becoming the new hands by extension. The mecha held the two halves of Alicia's tail in its hands as dual swords.
Brody looked to his brother, who had woken up by this point. "Let's get in there." The two Rangers entered the mecha, with Brody christening the new formation "Paleo Force Megazord: Blitz Mode!" And so, the brothers began directing it to attack—though with a bit more experience dual wielding, Brody did most of the work.
Naturally, Spearo didn't just stand in place and let himself get hit, and the Rangers' inexperience allowed the knight to get a hit in here and there.
The Megazord lunged to the side to find an opening, only for Spearo to block that too.
Alicia's voice rang out in the cockpit. "Enough of this bullshit! I like to do things fast, so I'm ending this fast! Golpe de Trueno!"
Wresting control from the boys, she had the Megazord throw slashes a such a rapid rate that Spearo couldn't keep up, even with his heightened reflexes. One slash turned to ten, then ten to a hundred, and so on. When it was done, the knight looked like he'd been passed through a chain-link fence. When he finally exploded, it was with the meager force of a vinegar and baking soda volcano.
The Rangers exited the Megazord to find not only Jane but—
"Kenny?" Duncan asked. "When did you get here?"
"Got here when monster got big," Kenny replied.
"I was surprised when I found out he knew who you guys were," Jane commented.
It was then that Chazz entered the scene. "Dammit, Carl! Would it have killed you to wait a bit? You know I'm not as fast as you!"
"Well, that's what happens, chico," Alicia snarked. "Your friends and I ended the battle already."
Duncan looked deep in thought, scanning the wrecked library before wondering aloud, "Does this mean school's cancelled?"
"Alright, I'm up and I'm sober now!" Cooper announced as he de-morphed. "And to answer your question, Duncan…probably." He looked around, taking in the wreckage for the first time. "Hope it's not my job to clean all this up."