Play "Falling" by Cryoshell
Instrumental
The 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 titlePower Rangers: Paleo Forceshatters through the remaining darkness above them.
Lights out.
Duncan, Brody, and Cooper stand together 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 together at the hospital, 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 as an explosion goes off 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, steps 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 and then uses 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 a 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.
Calios rested his cheek in his palm. The Power Rangers had defeated his latest monster of the week once again, and they were even slowly regaining their reputation thanks to some good PR. This ragtag group of Earthlings was actually shaping up to be a decent opponent. It all should have been very amusing to Calios, but he couldn't help but feel a little bored. The constant back and forth was starting to get predictable.
He considered going down to Earth and finishing the Rangers himself, but he didn't feel inclined to break his new toys so quickly. Could he chat it up with his subordinates? Maybe, but after their constant failures he wasn't feeling all that attached to them. Maybe he could play solitaire? Also no. Card games weren't really his thing.
Then, suddenly, he got a simple, yet interesting idea.
"Lensia!" he called out. "Use your magic to supercharge Factoraze. I think I want two monsters made this week."
The faceless witch would have ground her teeth if she'd had any. Instead, she waved her hands, sending a blue and red beam of magic into Factoraze's metal body.
The robot's gears whirred to life with more enthusiasm than usual, and he began producing black slime from his tube arm with great speed. In no time at all, two new monsters stood before the villains: one wielding a set of sharp blades, and another which resembled a piranha.
"Good, good. Now send them on their way," Calios instructed his underlings.
As the two monsters made their way to the launch tubes, the knight stood up from his throne.
"I think I'll take a walk," he told the robot and the witch. "That will give the Power Rangers a little time to find our new friends."
With that, he turned and left the room.
As Calios began a leisurely stroll through the ship, his top subordinates were left to their own devices.
Lensia growled, "I hate that guy. I'm just a freaking battery to him!"
"Be careful what you say about our lord," Factoraze warned.
"Shut up, you kiss-ass," the witch retorted. "He doesn't care about you any more than the rest of us."
Rather than wait for Factoraze to reply, Lensia simply left for her chambers. Once she'd shut the doors carefully behind her, she flung out her arms and threw beams of magic around in a fit.
"That motherfucker! I'd kill you if I could, Calios."
She briefly considered going to the Power Rangers for an alliance, but quickly dismissed the idea, figuring that the two teens and one drunk idiot weren't strong enough for the kind of animosity teaming up with her would evoke from Calios. They often had trouble just defeating the monster of the week; against Calios himself, they wouldn't have a chance. The knight was just toying around with them now. If he got serious about crushing them, he'd do to them what he'd done to her planet. They'd be history.
Lensia walked through a long hallway, at the end of which was a door that led her outside. When the public caught sight of her, they got down on their knees in fear. The witch would've smiled if she had a mouth.
She strolled down the street, content, until a piece of trash hit her in the back of the head, knocking her hat off. Without a word, she cast her aura, wrapping it around the offending man's head like a crimson scarf. Slowly, Lensia twisted his head until his neck snapped. Not content, she continued twisting his head until it tore right off.
Civilian bystanders, all faceless, grey-skinned beings like her, gasped in horror at the cruel and unusual punishment.
"Would anyone else like to make their opinion known?" the witch asked. No one stepped forward, but her ears perked up at the sound of screaming in the distance.
Curious, she lifted herself through the air and flew toward the sound. A few blocks over, she found a monster attacking and killing civilians. She swooped in and quickly killed the monster.
"Stay off my turf!"
Many of her days played out like this. She was the top dog, and it was a great feeling. She had learned sorcery out of a desire for strength. But when her training had finished, she wasn't satisfied. She began learning forbidden spells, killing anyone who tried to stop her. Realizing she didn't have to stop there, she went on threaten her town into submission, and then the rest of the planet. She could go anywhere she wanted now, and people would stop and quake in fear at the sight of her. It was fantastic.
It wasn't always easy, though. Every week, another monster would show up and kill a few people and she would deal with it. It was obnoxious, but since she didn't know where the monsters were coming from, all she could do was throw magic at the problem. For a while, it seemed to work.
Then one day, a fleet of starships appeared in the sky. Looking closely, Lensia saw that something was falling from the central ship. When it landed, the smoke cleared, revealing a knight in shining armor holding a shield.
"Well, hello there," the knight greeted her.
"Who the hell are you?" Lensia asked.
The knight chuckled. "I am Calios, leader of the Oppression Empire."
Lensia tilted her head. "Oppression Empire? What the hell kind of name is that?"
"The kind that lets you know exactly what to expect," Calios explained. He dashed forward, hitting her in the gut with a sharp kick.
Landing hard against a wall, Lensia peeled herself free and launched a magical blast at the knight as he charged her.
Calios blocked the attack with his shield and punched Lensia in the face—or where her face would have been—knocking her through the wall completely. Following her through, he grabbed her by the throat and jumped into the air, using her as a battering ram to break through the ceiling. He proceeded to throw her to the ground like a piece of litter.
Lensia was so stunned, she could barely get to her feet. No one had even come close to hurting her like this before, not even the other witches on the planet. But now, this knight had shown up out of nowhere and started smacking her around? It made her furious. Glaring at the knight, she gripped him with her magic and slammed him into the street multiple times.
Wiggling his arm, Calios aimed his palm at Lensia and fired a beam of energy. The blast hit Lensia head-on, flooring her once again.
Released from the witch's grip, the knight sighed. "And I didn't even need to use my sword."
He walked over and delivered a sharp kick to her side to ensure she couldn't stand. Kneeling, he asked, "Submit or die. Your choice."
Needless to say, she'd ended up submitting. The mere memory made her clench her fists.
"One of these days…"
When Calios was away or distracted, it was Moses's responsibility to watch the screens in the throne room. Things were heating up down on Earth. Two of the Rangers had gone out to confront the monsters, while the third one had stayed behind to do drugs and play the guitar… Apparently that was something he did.
So far, everything was going as planned. The Rangers were overwhelmed. The blade monster kept them busy enough that the piranha monster was easily able to slip off to wreak havoc somewhere else.
Moses watched, impressed, as the piranha monster did its thing. Though a few would-be victims managed to escape with just a bite, most of them got gobbled up like pretzel sticks in a jar.
Eventually, the Blue Ranger showed up to help. As usual, they exchanged a little pre-battle dialogue before engaging each other. The Blue Ranger fought well enough at the start, but eventually, the piranha monster gained the upper hand.
The anthro Mosasaur scoffed, "Dumbass. You ought to use that yellow speed form you got not too long ago. Your chances would be better then."
"Shouldn't we be happy that our enemy is making a tactical error?" Factoraze pointed out.
Unfortunately for the monster, the White Power Ranger conveniently showed up right when things were looking bleak. Working together, the two of them were able to drive the piranha monster off. After that, the duo made their way back to help the Pink Ranger fight off the blade monster. Ganging up on it, the Blue and White Rangers held the blade monster in place while the Pink Ranger destroyed it with his cannon.
The remaining monster was called back to the ship, where it was met with criticism from its bosses.
"You know, maybe if you'd worked together with your partner, this wouldn't have happened," Moses pointed out.
"Correct," Factoraze agreed. "That is the reason we sent you out at the same time."
The piranha monster looked a bit bashful, but before it could say anything, Moses stopped him. "Just so you know, Calios isn't the only one who hates excuses." That shut the monster up.
By this time, Calios had returned from his walk. "Okay, I'm back. Where's Lensia?"
"In her quarters, my lord," Factoraze answered.
"Let me guess, she stormed off because she was pissed?" Calios asked. His two subordinates nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like her. So, what happened? Where's the other monster?"
"The two of them split up while fighting the Rangers. That allowed them all to gang up on the blade monster," Moses explained. "It was three on one. They made quick work of it."
"So, even though there were two of you, the Rangers still drove you off?" Calios summarized. The knight paused when he saw a drop of blood fall off the piranha monster's jaw. "I think I'm getting an idea. Moses, you and I are going on a trip. Factoraze, clone whoever that blood is from. Also, keep an eye on Lensia. We'll be gone for a while."
And so, the knight and the Mosasaur departed for the surface of the Earth.
As they walked over alien soil, Moses asked, "Where are we going, Calios?"
"Down to where the Zords dwell, that's where," Calios answered.
"Why the hell would we go down there?" the anthro Mosasaur asked.
Calios chuckled. "Well, if you can fight fire with fire, maybe we should fight Zords with Zords. You remember that dino bracelet we found?"
"Huh, I was wondering if we were gonna do anything with that," Moses commented.
As they walked, Moses passed the time by reminiscing about the days before he joined the empire.
At the bottom of a warm, tropical sea, the anthro Mosasaur sat at a table, playing poker with some of his aquatic friends. Smiling, he played his hand. "Full house."
His friends groaned as another sea creature he knew drifted in. "Hey, Moses. We got some punks moving in on our turf."
Standing up, Moses said, "Really, now? How about we go show them what's what around here?"
With that, he and his gang made their way through the streets. They had to be careful, though. Walking smack in the middle of the street would leave them open to ambush. Their caution proved to be warranted when Moses threw a rock into the road in front of them to see what would happen.
A spike shot out and destroyed the rock.
"Now that we know you're there, why don't you come on out?" Moses asked.
At his invitation, a small group of anthropomorphic sea creatures swam out of the shadows. The one in the center was a Megalograptus, or in simpler terms, a sea scorpion. Its two main arms were handless and covered in spikes. Attached to its sides were a couple pairs of smaller arms. Lastly, its feet had small spikes protruding from the toes.
It was flanked by marine reptiles, a Nothosaur and an aquatic crocodile, Metriorhynchus.
Next was a pair of sharks, a Stethacanthus and a Hybodus, floating behind them. Their most distinctive features were their weird-shaped dorsal fin and small pair of horns respectively Judging by their limbs and abs, they were clearly the muscle of the group.
After them was an ancient whale known as the biting sperm whale, followed by a Xiphactinus, which resembled a piranha on steroids.
Moses frowned. They were a formidable crew.
"There's a new gang in town," the sea scorpion said in a female voice, "and we're taking over your operations."
"Not gonna happen, you runt!" one of Moses's subordinates shouted back. He pulled out a dime bag. "You know how much we make off this stuff?"
"A lot. Which is exactly why we want it," the Hybodus pointed out.
Moses grinned. "I'll handle this." He cracked his knuckles as he walked forward. "Run or die. Your choice."
They chose quickly. The Metriorhynchus got things started, darting through the water and heading straight for Moses.
Grinning, the Mosasaur caught his enemy by the jaw before slamming them to the ground. Before they could get up, he stomped on their head, crushing it. A cloud of blood bloomed through the water, causing the sharks to stir restlessly.
"Fatality!" one of his subordinates called out.
The sharks went in next. Moses struck first, grabbing the Hybodus by the horns and ripping them off. While the Hybodus reeled in pain, the Stethacanthus threw a punch. Moses opened his mouth, biting down on the fist. He then threw his head to the side, tossing the shark through the water with the strength of his jaws.
By this time, the Hybodus had recovered enough to rejoin the fight. He threw a kick.
Moses let the kick hit his side and wrapped his arm around his opponent's leg. Lunging forward, he sank his teeth into the Hybodus's neck and brought him to the ground.
The Stethacanthus came back and pulled Moses off the other shark. This proved to be a reckless idea since, in pulling Moses off, the Mosasaur's teeth raked against the Hybodus's neck even further.
Before the Stethacanthus could attack, Moses struck first, driving his elbow into his enemy's gut. He followed it up with a flurry of punches before jamming his fingers into the shark's gills. Pulling hard, he tore the Stethacanthus's gills off his neck.
Moses advanced toward the rest of the rival gang, leaving the sharks to bleed out.
"Who's next?" he taunted them.
The sea scorpion growled and yelled, "Get him!"
Her remaining subordinates all charged. In response, Moses quickly swam around them in a circle, creating a whirlpool and sucking them all up. He hovered directly above the whirlpool before diving straight into it, striking all of them on the way down.
This just left the sea scorpion. Undeterred by her men getting taken out, she launched dozens of her spines at him. Moses simply spun around, swiping his tail and creating a strong current. This redirected the spines, sending them back at the scorpion, impaling her.
With his competition taken care of, the Mosasaur and his gang went about their business. The first meeting on the agenda involved the town mayor, a ginsu shark, as well as the chief of police, who was a Tanystropheus.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Moses asked.
"I wanted to tell you that, from this day forth, I'm no longer under your thumb," the mayor announced.
Moses tilted his head. "Excuse me? Did you forget I know where your family lives? Same goes for all the cops in town."
"True. I do fear what you could do if I made you mad," the mayor conceded. "But I fear him even more."
"Him who?" Moses asked.
"Me," came a voice from outside, and in sauntered a knight in shining armor.
Moses raised an eyebrow. "Who the hell are you? Also, how are you breathing down here? You don't seem like a sea creature."
"My helmet is airtight and can recycle oxygen," Calios laughed. "But I didn't come to brag about that. I came to tell you I'm taking over."
"You're not the first guy to make that claim," Moses pointed out, having killed a potential usurper just hours earlier.
Calios chuckled. "No, but I will be the last." With that, he tackled Moses through the wall.
Moses managed to force his opponent off him before firing a blast of water from his mouth.
The knight blocked the blast with his shield. When the attack finished, he threw his shield to distract his opponent and charged in. He landed a couple haymakers and finished his assault with a snap kick.
Getting to his feet, Moses faked a punch to the face to get in a punch to the crotch. However, Calios didn't even flinch while Moses clutched his hand in pain. "Aaaaah!"
Calios responded by pulling Moses's head into his knee.
"Alright, guys. Tag in!" Moses called out to his team.
Unfortunately, his subordinates didn't fare any better than he did against their armored opponent. When it was all over, Calios stood over Moses and asked, "Submit or die. Your choice."
Finishing his daydream, Moses noticed that he and Calios had reached the underground level where the Dinozords lived.
"So, any particular Zords we're looking for?" Moses asked.
"Oh, any kind, really," Calios replied. "Just as long as they're strong."
Moses nodded. "Uh huh, and why not just start killing Zords here and now?"
That made Calios pause. "One thing at a time, Moses. First, we'll take out the humans on the surface, then we'll take out all the Zords afterwards. Besides, imagine the looks on the Rangers' faces when they see we've got some Zords of our own." The Mosasaurus had no rebuttal. "Now, let's look somewhere remote. Powerful beings almost always dwell in places like that."
Moses followed his leader. The two walked for what must've been hours before Calios stopped them. "Do you hear that?"
Moses put a hand to the spot on his head where an ear would be and listened closely. He could hear it. The sound of a battle.
The knight and the Mosasaur made their way in the direction of the sound and found a pair of Zords locked in combat. However, the two soon stopped for a breather, implying that they'd simply been sparring.
"This will do," Calios said. "Let's go, Moses."
With that, he leapt in to engage the two Zords, with his subordinate following swiftly.
Factoraze deposited a drop of blood into the machine and pressed a button, beginning the cloning process. While that happened, he walked over to a communication station.
"Lensia, get out here. The piranha monster is losing against the Rangers again, and you'll likely be needed soon."
"Fine, I'll be right there," the witch replied.
The robot nodded. He considered contacting his lord to ask about his progress but held off on it. Calios had left fairly recently, and besides, he had total faith in his lord's strength. He'd taken down numerous powerful warriors, so a Zord or two shouldn't be too much trouble, especially with Moses there to help him out.
Frankly, Factoraze would've preferred to have been the one to accompany Calios, but alas, he was the one most qualified to carry out a cloning project, as well as get to work creating a new monster for when the current one inevitably fell. Speaking of making a new monster, he decided to begin the process now, letting his mind wander as the black goo piled up. Nostalgia crept in as he remembered when his master first built him.
He thought therefore he was.
"Stand up, Factoraze," a voice instructed.
The robot did as he was told and observed the one who had ordered him. What he saw was a knight in shining armor. "What is my purpose?" Factoraze asked.
"First of all, I'm your master, Calios. Thank you for asking," the knight sassed. He got serious, "Your purpose is to assist me in any way I ask."
"Including-"
"No, not like that," Calios deadpanned, shutting down the question. "You'll be my new monster maker. Now get to it."
The robot nodded and poured black goo from his tube arm while Calios excused himself from the room.
Calios stepped onto a balcony to address a large crowd of people, flanked by Moses and Lensia. "My not-so-dear citizens," he announced. "It's been many years since I conquered the many worlds that make up this empire. Naturally, this meant I had to start ruling the empire." He paused to let that statement sit before continuing. "After decades, I've come to realize something: this isn't any fun, and it sure isn't easy either!"
The crowd looked amongst themselves, wondering where the knight was going with this.
"So I've decided I'm gonna end it all." The crowd began cheering before Calios raised his arms, "SHUT UP! I didn't mean I was gonna kill myself. On the contrary, I'm gonna kill everything else." His palms glowed with energy. "And I'm gonna start with all of you." Calios fired beams from his palms, tearing through the crowd, who began fleeing in terror.
A short while later saw Factoraze standing by Calios, who was sitting in the throne room of their mothership. The two watched a screen, showing a planet's surface smoldering. "It's beautiful, my lord," Factoraze commented.
"Yeah it is, isn't it?" Calios replied. "How many planets does that make?"
"As you would put it, my lord, a lot," answered Factoraze. "I wonder if the next planet will be able to handle as many of our monsters as this one could."
Calios chuckled, "Who knows? Either way, it''ll be fun to watch."
Lensia entered the room just as the Rangers destroyed the piranha with—in the Blue Ranger's words—a Triple Ranger Shoot. The witch worked her magic and revived the piranha monster in giant form. She then commented on Factoraze's project, "I don't think I've seen you clone something before. How long does that usually take?"
"The process typically takes several weeks," Factoraze replied.
"And how long do you think it will take for Calios and Moses to return?"
"Be patient. He will contact us once he's done." Factoraze watched as the Rangers' Megazord destroyed the piranha monster again. "Sooner or later, we'll crush the Rangers as well as the rest of planet. All in the name of the Destruction Empire."
Lensia nodded, the sight of Factoraze's strange new project filling her with an odd sense of amusement. It had been a long time since she had felt excited about her work.
"I gotta admit," she mused, "I'm looking forward to giving them a taste of their own medicine."