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 goes from its default mode to 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 as the screen fades to black again.
Chapter 14
With the latest monster crushed, the brothers were attending school as usual. One class turned into another class until eventually, lunch period rolled around.
"So, last day of school before winter break," Duncan pointed out. "Maybe you could finally get that first date with Jane."
Brody opened his mouth, but before he could retort, a voice behind him said, "He's right, y'know."
Brody twisted in his seat and saw Cooper mopping the floors. "When did you get here?"
"Just passing through," the Scotsman answered.
"I'll get you started," Kenny said. As Brody protested, he walked over to the table where Jane was sitting.
As it turned out, it didn't take much convincing before Jane came over and took a seat with him and the other boys. His annoyance turned to surprise when he noticed some bandages on Jane's right forearm. "Hey, Jane, what happened?"
"You know the piranha monster from last week?" she asked. The boys nodded. "Yeah, he raked my arm with his teeth. Thankfully it wasn't too deep."
"That's a relief." Knowing his friends wanted him to keep things going, Brody moved the conversation forward, "You still shadowing at the hospital? How's that going?"
"Pretty good," she replied. "Actually, I'm surprised I didn't see any of you there after the last attack."
"Heh, yeah, I think we got lucky that time," Brody chuckled. "At least in the future, we'll have Kenny's robot to help us out."
Jane smiled. "A robot helping a superhero team. Sounds like something out of a TV show."
"I suppose it does, now that you mention it," Carl agreed through Brody's morpher.
Thinking fast, Brody kept the ball rolling, "So, what do you do when you're not studying medicine?"
"Nothing special. I practice my taekwondo, watch a little TV, and sometimes I just go for a walk," she explained. "You seem awfully interested in what's going on with me," she asked with a knowing smile.
"Well, you know, now that you're part of the group, I wanted to get to know you inside and out." Brody paused when he realized that came out a bit wrong. "I mean, uh-"
Cooper, Duncan, and Kenny all grinned at their friend's awkwardness.
After a few more seconds of sputtering, Brody made a hasty adjustment, "Well, uh, whenever we're free, Mr. Cooper likes to drag me and Duncan to the gym and tortu—I mean train us."
Jane smiled, but Duncan whimpered at the thought. "That wasn't a joke."
"You know, it's funny," Brody said, calming down. "If we hadn't been taking a walk, Duncan and I never would have become Power Rangers."
That made Jane raise an eyebrow, but before she could ask, lunch period ended and the group had to split up.
Once school was over, Duncan and Brody had the pleasant task of persuading Cooper not to take them to the gym. Once they were successful in that, they finally got to go home.
"Alright, I've been looking forward to this all day," Duncan said as he took out a dropper.
"That's a weird looking joint," Brody said.
"Hah hah." The ginger teen grinned as he let a drop fall on his tongue.
"No, seriously, what is that?" asked Brody.
Duncan looked around, as if to make sure they were alone. "I finally managed to score some LSD."
Brody was dumbfounded. "LSD? What if another monster shows up?"
"Eh, I'm sure you and Mr. Cooper can handle it," his brother said dismissively before taking another drop. "I'm going to go watch some cartoons."
"Ugh, Mr. Cooper's a drunk and you're tripping balls," Brody groaned. "I'm gonna get some Christmas shopping done."
"Alright, what would Duncan like?" Brody wondered aloud as he wandered through the mall. He grinned as he passed by a toy store. "Maybe I'll get him a stuffed sloth. That'd be a nice burn."
"Oi!" The young man turned to see Kenny, who asked, "Unlikely, right?"
"You mean us going Christmas shopping at the same time?" Brody asked. Kenny nodded. "A bit low."
"Shopping for Duncan?" Kenny asked in return.
Brody nodded. "Yeah. I assume you're shopping for your family too?"
"Shame no Metal Hero stuff here," Kenny lamented.
"Yeah, you do love that stuff, don't you?" Brody chuckled. "What's the latest one?"
"Deputy Isara," Kenny said before giving a brief explanation, "This new guy is a deputy to a space sheriff and he's learning that it isn't so easy."
Brody nodded along, interested. The discussion of tokusatsu got the boys thinking of how they'd become friends in the first place.
Kento walked through the hallways of the school. It had been a week since he'd transferred here, and hardly a day went by without someone making a joke about his race.
"Hey, kung pao, math is that way." Case and point.
He'd tried to chat it up with the other students, but few of them were willing to humor a guy whose English was so bad he had to read his lines off Google Translate. That changed, however, when he crossed paths with the Branson brothers.
The brothers had approached him at lunchtime when they saw him sitting alone.
"Are these seats taken?" Duncan asked.
Kento shook his head and gestured for them to sit. After a few minutes of eating, he typed into his phone and asked them, "Why sit with me? There are other spots."
"Some guys were bothering us. We figured you wouldn't," Duncan explained.
Taking the answer for what it was, Kento finished his lunch and went to class. But the next day at lunch, the brothers were back again. Figuring they were just there to avoid bullies, Kento began watching a Metal Hero show on his phone.
"Whatcha got there?" Brody asked, looking over his shoulder.
Startled, Kento elbowed him in the gut. Seeing it was his new acquaintance, he bowed in apology. "Gomennasai!"
"That's what you get for sneaking up on a guy," Duncan commented.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Brody conceded. "So, what were you watching?"
A bit excited at the chance to share something from his country, Kento showed them a clip of B-Fighter Kabuto.
Duncan was indifferent, but Brody seemed intrigued. Things only got better from there. The brothers helped Kento work on his English, and he impressed them when they found out he was a skilled practitioner of karate. Just a week and a half later, Brody developed a new hobby.
"Kamen Rider?" his brother and new friend repeated.
"Yeah, I skimmed through some more of those shows Kento told us about. They were okay, but then I started looking into similar types of shows," Brody explained, "and I stumbled across Kamen Rider. It looked interesting enough, so I started with W, and I got hooked pretty much right away."
"Subarashii," Kento said.
"Thanks for introducing me to this stuff, Kenny," Brody said with a smile. He then backpedaled a bit, "You mind if I call you that?"
Kento shrugged at the nickname. "Eh."
"So, is your English getting any better?" Duncan asked.
Nodding, Kenny crudely repeated a simple sentence he'd learned. "I have three testicles." When he saw the looks on the brothers' faces, he burst out laughing. "Kidding!"
That made the brothers join in on the laughter. "Good one," Brody chuckled. "But seriously, did you learn anything?"
"Look at me! I am American!" Kenny stated confidently. That made the trio start laughing all over again.
Once the laughter had subsided, the three went off to class with their arms around each other's shoulders.
The two were snapped out of their reminiscence by the sound of people screaming.
"And, of course, there's a monster on the loose," Brody sighed.
"I call my robot, you call your team," Kenny said.
"Right." Seeing as there were still people around, Brody ran into the bathroom and morphed. "Duncan, Mr. Cooper, we've got another monster on the loose."
"Where are you?" Cooper asked.
"At the mall," the Blue Ranger replied. "Duncan, can you get here soon? Duncan?"
Figuring his brother must still be high, he exited the bathroom and looked around for the monster of the week.
"Okay, where are you?" he wondered aloud. Hearing screaming from the floor above, Brody ran up an escalator and found his new enemy.
The look of it made him pause. It was nothing too special, just a 6-foot, demonic-looking squirrel.
"That's it? A squirrel? That was the best you could come up with?" Lensia asked.
"Even robots can hit creative walls," Factoraze said defensively. "It's a lot to ask, coming up with a brand new monster week after week. Some weeks are going to be squirrel weeks."
"Let me guess, your name is 'Super Squirrel' or something like that?" Brody predicted.
Rather than answer, the squirrel monster growled and charged at him in a frenzy, tackling him before he could draw his weapon.
Pinned under the monster, the Blue Ranger couldn't get much windup for a punch or any other counterattack. Fortunately, help came very quickly.
"I'll save ya, Brody!" Cooper swooped in, already morphed, and hit the squirrel monster with an uppercut. Once Brody got to his feet, the Pink Ranger asked him, "Where's Duncan?"
"In the sky," Brody said.
Cooper gasped at that. "He's dead?!"
"What? No, that was just a metaphor for him being high again," Brody explained.
Taking a second to process that, the janitor gave a chuckle, "Oh, I get it n—AAHH!" Cooper was cut off by the squirrel monster tackling him to the ground. "That's what we get for chattin' while a monster's present!"
Brody summoned his Carnage Sword and slashed the monster off his friend, but the squirrel monster quickly recovered. Looking between its two opponents, it let out a loud chittering noise.
Duncan was having a fun time, finally living out his dream of playing his guitar at the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef. He was enjoying himself until a rumbling noise snapped him out of it—at least a little bit. Looking up to the ocean's surface, he saw tons of squirrels all running in one direction.
"Oh, shit," he said to himself.
The monster finished roaring and charged.
Brody drew his Switch-Gun and fired. Unfortunately, the squirrel monster was very nimble and dodged all his shots.
"Use your speed form!" Cooper yelled.
Brody nodded and tapped his morpher, its mold shifting to resemble Alicia's head.
"Electric-Type!" His suit turned yellow, and he engaged his super speed. However, he only made it a few meters before he slipped on something. "What the hell?"
"Holy shit, you stepped on a squirrel!" Cooper shouted in shock.
Looking back to where he'd slipped, Brody saw there was indeed a crushed, bloody squirrel.
"Why was there a squirrel in the mall?" the Yellow Ranger questioned.
The squirrel monster chittered again, prompting hundreds of squirrels to emerge from every nook and cranny in the mall. An ocean of rodents surged toward them.
"I should've seen that coming," Brody lamented.
"Should we run?" Cooper asked. Brody nodded and the two Rangers made a mad dash for the exit.
As they ran, Cooper noticed his teammate was running alongside him. "How come you ain't usin' your super speed?"
"I'd feel bad if I just left you here," Brody replied.
"Fair enough," Cooper said. "I guess I'd better pick up the pace then!"
The two soon made it outside, with the squirrels hot on their tail. They only made it one block from the mall before they found themselves completely surrounded by chittering rodents. The squirrels leapt at the pair of Rangers, but they broke formation when the ground began to rumble.
Suddenly, a series of broad stone hands shot out of the ground, grabbing as many squirrels as they came across and holding them in place. Realizing who it was, Brody and Cooper were relieved to see Duncan approaching in his Ground-Type form, carrying a duffel bag.
"Alright, Brody, pack your shit," the Brown Ranger said, shoving the duffel bag into Brody's hands. "That's only gonna stop 'em for a little bit, Brody. You fucked with squirrels, didn't you, Brody?! We've got a good five minutes before they're back up on our asses, Brody! We've gotta pack up and move to a whole new reality, Brody! I-I said we could only do that a couple of times! We're fucked over here because of these damn squirrels, Brody!"
"…What the hell is he on?" Cooper asked.
"LSD," Brody answered.
Cooper looked from his high young friend to the monster they had to deal with. "Moving on, here's the plan: Brody and I will take care of the big squirrel while Duncan keeps the wee squirrels under wraps. Got it?"
The brothers nodded, with Brody taking the initiative. He used his super speed to blitz the squirrel monster from every angle. However, after only a dozen blows, he felt something get crushed under his foot, making him slip again. He noted with dismay that he'd stepped on another squirrel.
"Shit, I knew they'd break free," Duncan observed as the regular squirrels clawed their way out of his grip. "I'll deal with this. Diamond Storm!"
The Brown Ranger raised his hands, causing whatever crystals and diamonds were laying underground to erupt out and swirl in the air above him. He threw his arms down, bringing them down like a small-scale meteor shower. The barrage shredded through the entire army of squirrels, dying the whole area red with their blood.
"Holy shit, you guys have killed so many squirrels today," Cooper said in breathless awe.
Duncan put a hand on his older teammate's shoulder. "It was tough, Cooper, but freedom isn't free."
"The monster's gone. He must've run off when his lackeys got killed," Brody speculated. He then wrapped an arm around Duncan's shoulder. "Let's get you home."
At the sound of footsteps, the team looked over to see Kenny and his robot arriving on the scene, stopping just short of the squirrel slaughter zone.
Kenny observed the area before surmising, "Too late?"
"Too late," the Rangers chorused.
Kenny hung his head and began walking back to his house, the Rangers close behind.
The next day, the Rangers all went to the gym at Cooper's insistence. Brody was on the treadmill, working on his endurance, while Cooper was coaching a hungover Duncan on how to properly lift a barbell.
Once Brody finished his session on the treadmill, he noticed a new text on his phone.
Hi, Brody, it's Jane, do you want to hang out?
Stunned, Brody replied, How'd you get my number?
I asked Kento for it. What do you do say?
I say yes, Brody answered. When and where?
Around 1:00 tomorrow at the park. Work for you?
Yeah, it does. See you then.
"What's that big smile about?" Cooper asked as he walked over. Brody showed him the text conversation he'd just had. "Nice! You're finally gettin' somewhere!"
Brody's smile faded a bit. "Yeah. It is a bit weird, though. I've asked her to hang out plenty of times before, but she's always turned me down. Now she's inviting me out of the blue?"
"A little advice, lad," Cooper said. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
Duncan joined in the chat, "Yeah, dude, just go with it."
"Movin' on, it's time for me favorite part of the day," Cooper grinned. "Sparring."
"Oh God," the brothers moaned.
"I'm going now," Brody announced.
"Alright. I'll take care of the squirrel monster if it shows up again," Duncan replied without looking away from the TV.
Brody nodded and walked out the door. A short drive later, he was at the park.
He found Jane at the entrance to the trail, warming her hands in the pockets of a blue polar fleece.
"Aren't you gonna be cold like that?" she asked. Brody looked down at his outfit, which was just a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve shirt.
"Nah, I'll be fine," Brody shrugged. "That's our thing. I barely get cold; Duncan barely gets hot."
Jane raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
Brody nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."
The two of them set off down the trail together.
As they walked, Jane asked, "So, you said talking a walk was how you guys became Power Rangers?"
"Yeah. It was actually in this very park," Brody answered before offering. "I could show you where if you wanted."
She nodded, and they began making their way to the rubble of the cave where everything had begun.
Cooper's day was quickly spoiled when his program was interrupted for some breaking news. The squirrel monster had returned, and it was rampaging in the town square.
He quickly got his phone and called the Branson household. Duncan picked up after a few rings. "Yello?"
"Bad news, lad. The squirrel is back. Get Brody and meet me in the town square."
"Brody's on a date, remember?" Duncan replied.
"Shit. Well, call Kenny and have him bring that robot of his. That should help us out," Cooper said.
Hanging up, he morphed and called his Cryolophosaurus, riding it to the town square. As soon as he spotted the monster, he dismounted, summoned his Dicraeo-Cannon, and opened fire on it.
The blasts hit the monster, however, Cooper's joy was diminished when he saw that there were already a few half-eaten corpses littering the square. The creature was getting its revenge.
Duncan arrived on the scene seconds later. When he saw the corpses, he cringed. "Can squirrels even eat meat?"
"Looks like this one can," Cooper said, charging up his cannon for another attack. "You hold it still while I finish it off."
"Got it." Duncan switched to Ground-Type, but before he could use his powers, a bunch of squirrels jumped him from behind. "Dammit! Not again!"
At that moment, Kenny and G1 arrived on the scene—perfectly on time.
"Get these things off me, Kenny!" Duncan called out in distress.
Kenny turned to his robot. "G1, kare o tasukete!"
The scrawny robot ran over and began attempting to hit the squirrels off Duncan, but its aim was less than precise.
"This isn't helping!" the Brown Ranger yelled, trying to shield himself from the blows raining down on him.
Seeing Duncan was right, Kenny changed his order. "Attack the big squirrel!"
G1 acknowledged the command and turned its attention to the squirrel monster before firing an eyebeam, which the monster dodged, rushing up to the robot. G1 was able to block the incoming scratches well enough, even landing a counterattack here and there, but it was forced to give ground.
Cooper remedied the situation by firing another blast from his cannon, knocking the squirrel monster away from G1. Unfortunately, this made him a target, and the regular squirrels began to swarm him. "Somebody do somethin'!"
Thankfully, salvation came when Kenny ran up with a shopping bag. He reached into the bag and pulled out a can of pepper spray, emptying the entire can onto the squirrels, which fell off Cooper, coughing. Luckily, Cooper's helmet kept him from being affected by the spray.
"Thanks for the save, Kento," Cooper said. "You normally carry mace?"
"I got some from a store over there," Kenny pointed a thumb behind him. He then assisted Duncan. The can didn't have much left in it, so he fished another one out of his bag and finished things off. He ran out of juice just as G1 landed in front of them, now missing pieces of its chest and shoulder.
To make matters worse, the flow of squirrels hadn't weakened, more of them showing up from trees, roofs, and trashcans every minute.
"I think I got an idea," Cooper said. The Scotsman turned to Duncan. "Back to ice mode."
While Duncan returned to Ice-Type, Cooper used his Dicraeo-Cannon to spray water over all the squirrels.
Realizing what Cooper's plan was, Duncan fired an ice beam from his Switch-Gun, freezing them solid.
"So, what exactly happened?" Jane asked. Brody proceeded to explain how his journey as a Power Ranger had begun.
"Wow, and all this time, I thought Carl was a big blue T-Rex," she said.
"I am not a T-Rex," Carl scoffed. "How rude!"
"You're probably gonna have to explain that to a lot of people," Jane pointed out.
"Yeah," Brody nodded. "So, did you ask me out here just to hear my story?"
Jane thought about her answer before asking, "Do you want me to be blunt with you?"
"Sure," Brody answered.
Jane sighed. "Are you just into me for my looks?"
That threw Brody for a loop. "Wow, when you said blunt, you weren't kidding."
"Are you?" Jane persisted.
"Well, since we're being honest here, I definitely do think you're pretty," Brody admitted. "But before you say anything, that's not the only reason I'm interested in you."
"I'd like to believe that, Brody," Jane said, "but do you know how many guys have told me they liked me?"
Brody thought for a second. "Um, a lot?"
"Right. And every. Single. One. Just wanted me for my looks," Jane went on. "I don't know if it was just bad luck or what, but I'm a little untrusting about romance."
That made Brody frown. "I can see why you rejected me so many times before. It's scary to think that someone who says they like you might not really feel that way. I don't think you should give up on finding someone, though."
Jane waited for a moment before asking, "Isn't this the part where you say you're different from all the other guys?"
"I thought about saying something like that, but then I realized I didn't have any way to back it up," Brody answered. "If you're that reluctant, then I'll leave you be."
"…That was the right answer," Jane smiled. "Wanna hang out some other time?"
"Fuck yeah," Brody answered immediately. He then backpedaled a little bit, "I mean, uh, you know what I mean."
Jane smiled at his awkwardness. "Yeah, I know what you mean."
With that, the two headed back up the trail.
Its backup neutralized once again, the squirrel monster attempted to flee, only to be jerked backwards. Looking down, it saw that a battered G1 had crawled up to it and grabbed it by the ankles.
Before it could attack the robot, Duncan and Cooper tackled the monster to the ground, where the two Rangers hammered it with elemental punches. The squirrel scratched and bit in retaliation, but the Rangers persevered.
"One last push, Mr. Cooper!" Duncan shouted. The two reared back their fists, Duncan's glowing with the neon blue of ice, and Cooper's glowing with the deep blue of water. They brought their fists down together, causing the squirrel monster to explode.
"Duncan used Ice Punch. It was super effective," the White Ranger said to punctuate the victory.
"Hey," Cooper asked. "What's my punch called? Water Punch?"
Duncan shook his head. "Nah, that doesn't roll off the tongue as well."
"What about Hydro Punch?" a young-sounding voice suggested.
The duo slowly turned their heads toward G1.
"Uh, Kenny? Did you program your robot to talk?" Duncan asked.
Kenny shook his head as he came up to join them. "Uh uh."
Before they could contemplate the situation, the squirrel monster began to grow, until the bodies of the other squirrels looked no bigger than ants beside it.
Cooper raised his morpher to his mouth. "Alright, guys, it's showtime."
"Got it. We'll be there riiiiiggght now!" Chazz replied. True to his word, he and all the other Zords showed up to combat the monster.
"Okay, Brody's not here, so I guess I'm driving the Megazord solo," Duncan said. He leapt into Chazz's head and had him combine with Carl.
"Like, I'll handle it!" Kelly declared. She used her earth powers to make the squirrel's feet sink into the ground.
"Oh, yeah!" cried Duncan. "Brody's gonna be sorry he missed this!" Seizing the opportunity, Duncan had the Megazord power up its drill and thrust it toward the monster.
To everyone's surprise, the squirrel monster caught the drill with its teeth. The impact pushed it back, freeing its feet from the ground in the process. The squirrel monster spat out the drill. It was mostly unharmed, but its buck teeth had been destroyed, made short and jagged by the attack.
Suddenly, the monster was struck by a yellow blur. Alicia continued the attack, slashing the squirrel again and again—until she slipped on something. Instead of one squirrel, it had taken hundreds of squirrels in one spot to trip up a giant Zord like her.
"Oh, come on!" Duncan and Kenny complained.
"So many dead squirrels," Cooper muttered.
Dickson went next, firing blasts of water from his mouth. The squirrel nimbly dodged the attacks, though this left it unprepared for an assault from Alicia, who'd recovered from her fall. The yellow Austroraptor landed a good thousand slashes before Duncan moved in for the kill. Putting the Megazord in Sword-and-Shield mode, he lashed out with his Cryo Slash, taking it out for good.
The good guys on the ground sighed in relief.
"I'm glad that's over," Cooper said.
"It was nice to have everyone fight this battle together," said Dickson.
Kelly nodded. "Yeah! Like, teamwork and stuff!"
"Hey, guys!" Everyone turned at the sound of Brody's voice. "I saw the battle and made my way over. I was worried you guys would be losing and I'd have to bail you out."
"Come on, Brody. We ain't gonna lose just 'cause one team member was absent," Cooper scoffed. He then changed the subject, "So, how'd it go with you-know-who?"
"It actually went well. We talked for a bit, and then she asked me if I wanted to hang out later," Brody explained with a smile.
"Cool," Duncan said as he de-morphed. "So, I think we should address the elephant in the room."
"What do you mean?" Brody asked.
"Kenny's robot started talkin'. Watch." Cooper walked over to the damaged robot. "Hey, you, say something.'"
G1 seemed to ponder the statement before saying, "Okay." It sounded almost shy.
"I need to research this," Kenny said. He grabbed his robot by its remaining arm and gently pulled it along, "Come, G1."
As their friend left the scene, Brody announced, "Well, if we're all done here, I need to finish my Christmas shopping."
"Factoraze, do you copy?" Calios spoke into a communicator. "I hope the cloning process is going smoothly. I just wanted you to know that we've acquired a pair of Zords. We're heading back to the surface now."
"Very good, my lord," the robot replied.
Calios grinned under his helmet. "I can't wait to see where this will lead."