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 title Power Rangers: Paleo Force shatters 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.

CJ extends her arm, directing her Zords to charge forward.

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, 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.

Chapter 31

Brody was kicking back and relaxing when Duncan came in with bitemarks on his face. "Holy shit, what happened to you?"

"Bailey was really pissed that we killed her friend," Duncan said as he limped his way to the couch, lighting up a joint.

"This seems a bit worse than usual. How come she didn't get this mad when we killed the other sea guys?" Brody wondered aloud.

"I asked her that. She said she never liked the shark girl, and no woman in her right mind would ever miss the tentacle guy," Duncan explained.

"That makes sense," Brody nodded. He got up and walked into the kitchen, coming out with a first-aid kit, "Hold still."

With a little disinfection and some bandages, Duncan was on his way to recovering from his latest romp.

"What do you mean 'no?'" Moses growled.

"Because then our newest monster wouldn't get to shine," Calios explained with a shrug. "It's pretty funny, I'd say, and I wanna see what it can do. I know your little friend is dead, but I'm gonna need you to drop it, okay?"

Bailey and Simba stepped forward to object, but before they could say a word, Calios was on them in an instant, his hands around their throats, "I said drop it." That shut the two Seas up. Calios let go of their necks, "Is everything set, Factoraze?"

"Yes, my lord," the robot replied.

Calios nodded, "Good, now launch the fucking monster."

"Ahh, that's the stuff," Cooper said as he finished a mug of beer. As soon as he finished that sentence, he checked his phone. To his surprise, there was no report of a monster on a rampage, "Hmm, weird."

At that moment, several new guys came into the bar talking about something a bit unusual. "Man, I am definitely voting for that guy." "I know, right?"

"There an election goin' on?" Cooper wondered aloud.

"Yeah, there's this new candidate," one of the new arrivals said. "You voting for him?"

"I don't even know who it is," Cooper pointed out.

"Well, fuck you then!" At that little "provocation," the three men began ganging up on Cooper.

The Scotsman obviously didn't just stand there and let them beat him, and in no time at all, the three men were laid out on the ground. "All that just 'cause I didn't know a guy?"

"They didn't seem drunk enough to lose their tempers like that," Dickson commented.

Cooper sighed, "I got a bad feelin' about this." The door to the bar opened again, revealing G2. "You? What are you doin' here?"

"Something's wrong with my master," the robot reported.

Duncan walked into his usual weed store, being in need of a resupply. "Sup, can I get my usual stuff?"

"Sure," the clerk reached around for some weed. As he handed it over, he asked, "You voting for the new candidate?"

"What new candidate?" Duncan asked. He tensed up when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to see it was- "Kenny? What are you doing here?"

"He told me to come here," the inventor said in a creepily casual tone.

Duncan looked between his friend and the clerk. He jabbed a thumb behind him, saying, "Ooookay, I'm getting bad vibes all around, so I'm just gonna go."

The ginger teen hurried out the door. Unfortunately, various other people were talking about this "candidate" he'd just heard about.

"This had better not be what I think it is," Chazz said.

"My thoughts exactly," Duncan nodded. He pulled out his phone, "I'm texting the guys that Kenny's in a cult now."

Feeling his phone buzz in his pocket, Brody checked for messages.

Something's wrong. There's a cult about some candidate for something.

Brody raised an eyebrow. Candidate for what?

Fuck if I know

"Real helpful," the teen muttered under his breath.

"Nonetheless, something seems to be going on," Carl pointed out. "We should meet up with the rest of the team."

"Right." Remembering Duncan's warning, Brody only contacted Cooper and Jane, telling them to meet him at his house.

"So, what's the deal here, mind control or something?" Duncan wondered. "Kenny wouldn't just join a cult for no reason."

Jane gave an unnerving smile, "Sure he would. I did when I heard how convincing the candidate was." She snapped her fingers, cueing numerous random civilians to start breaking into the house.

"Shit," the Rangers all said in unison.

"I've got this," Duncan said, morphing into his Ground-Type form. He quickly dug through the floor, with Brody, Cooper, and G2 all following.

They stopped once they tunneled into Cooper's house. "So Kenny and Jane are brainwashed and now there's a hole in me floor. Can this day get any better?" Cooper spat out sarcastically.

"How come it hasn't affected us?" Brody wondered.

"Come on, man, don't jinx it," his brother scolded.

Everyone perked up at the sound of a window breaking.

More of the new cult had found them already. Several of them stood by the front door and opened it, allowing the latest monster to enter. It was a humanoid elephant wearing a navy-blue suit and red tie. What stuck out to the team most of all was the stupid hairdo it was sporting.

One of the cultists did the honor, "Introducing our new candidate, Donald Trunk!"

The heroes all said nothing for a second before G2 broke the silence, "I thought that might be scarier."

"Oh, just shoot him," Duncan instructed.

G2 nodded and charged up his eyebeam but powered it down when the Trunk supporters got in the way. "I'm not supposed to hurt civilians. What do we do?"

Trunk made a trumpeting noise, which his followers nodded to.

"Very inspiring, sir. Let's get 'em!" one of the followers yelled.

"Back in the hole, everybody!" Duncan said, panicked. After making their escape once again, he asked, "How come they agreed with him? He didn't even say any actual words!"

"I don't know. He sounded convincin' to me," Cooper said, activating his morpher.

"…Goddammit," Duncan groaned. He made the first move and threw a roundhouse kick.

Brody morphed as well, and he and G2 began grappling with Cooper, not wanting to seriously injure him.

Duncan, on the other hand, wasn't feeling as restrained. His fist glowed brown with the power of the earth, and he threw a Ranger Punch, hitting Cooper square in the face.

As the Pink Ranger fell to the ground, unconscious, Duncan declared, "First order of business: we're getting earplugs."

The team, or at least, the half that remained snuck around town. Making sure the coast was clear, the Branson brothers stole some earplugs.

Trunk trumpeted a command, compelling Cooper to wake up. The Scotsman nodded and spoke into his morpher, "Hey, Cryo gang. Mind headin' up here? We need some help with this new monster."

"How do we fight a monster with so many people in the way?" G2 asked while the Rangers took off their helmets.

"I guess I could tunnel underground and hit him from there," Duncan suggested. He peaked around the corner as he heard a crowd approaching. Turning back to his friends, he immediately shot himself down, "Never mind."

Taking a look for themselves, Brody and G2 saw that Donald Trunk was being carried around on the shoulders by a bunch of his followers. "Yeah, that complicates things a bit." Brody admitted. He put his helmet back on and drew his Switch-Gun. "We still have to try something. Maybe we can snipe him."

"Are those the Cryos?" G2 pointed out.

The twins instantly realized what was about to happen, "Oh, shit."

Trunk let loose with his trumpeting command, enslaving the Rangers' mounts. The elephant monster pointed outward.

Understanding what to do, the Cryo gang began sniffing around, quickly pinpointing the team's location.

The Cryos dashed over before Duncan could dig them an escape route and bit into him.

"Duncan!" Brody tried to tap his morpher and change forms, but right before he could, Kenny grabbed his wrist. This gave Jane the chance to put him in a headlock, immobilizing him too.

"Brody, what would a Kamen Rider do here?!" G2 asked, desperate for a solution.

"Uh, they'd escape for the time being and surprise the enemy with some clever bait-and-switch!" Brody informed him. Seeing Trunk approaching him and his brother, he yelled, "Give it a try now!"

G2 nodded and grabbed one of the followers, using them as a makeshift battering ram to shove his way through the crowd.

The Rangers smiled before Donald Trunk trumpeted at them, putting them under his spell.

"What now?" the gold-armored robot asked himself. All his friends were under control, not to mention who knows how much of the town. If he didn't do something soon, then for all he knew, the rest of the world would be next!

He rubbed his temples, pondering Brody's last words. "Bait and switch. I need a plan." He perked up as something began forming in his mind. "Wait, I've seen scenarios like this watching movies with Duncan. I can wake them up with something personal!"

With a plan in mind, G2 set out to gather the items necessary for his plan. First, he went to the Branson residence where he began researching Kamen Rider. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure what among all that info would snap Brody out of it, so he decided to move on for the moment.

Going to Cooper's house, he grabbed a beer bottle, having a good idea of what to do with it. That just left Jane's house. The gold-armored robot crudely let himself in, much to the shock of Jane's parents.

"What the hell is that!?" Jane's dad said in surprise.

"I'll get you your sledgehammer, hon," Jane's mom quickly left the room.

G2 ignored them and casually found Jane's room. Searching around for it, he found a journal and flipped through it to see if it had what he was looking for. And boy did it ever. "Wow. If I were human, I think I would find this arousing."

"Alright."

Turning around, G2 saw Jane's parents in the doorway, with her dad wielding a sledgehammer.

"What are you, and why are you stealing our kid's diary?"

Rather than answer, G2 fired his eyebeam at the sledgehammer's head, melting it. He then gently pushed his way past the two stunned adults, saying, "Excuse me."

Donald Trunk made another trumpeting noise, signaling his followers to move out, perhaps invade another town or two.

"Wait!"

The crowd turned and saw G2 approaching. Before they could turn hostile, they noticed the robot had his hands in the air. "I want to surrender. But before I do-" he pulled out Jane's journal, opened it, and read a passage from it. "Their breath heaving, Cooper caressed Duncan's cheek and-"

"GIVE ME THAT!" Jane swiped the journal from G2's hands, her face burning red. "Don't go reading people's-!"

"Pardon me," G2 held up a finger and walked around her and spotted the very two from the passage he'd read, Duncan and Cooper. He set a sixpack of beer on the ground, then proceeded to obliterate it with his eyebeam.

"I'll teach you to waste that shit in front of me!" the Pink Ranger marched up to the robot, ready to pound him. He was caught off guard when G2 wrapped his arms around him in a hug.

"You're back to normal!" he shouted happily.

His joy was interrupted by a slash to the back from Duncan. The brainwashed White Ranger shoved the robot to the ground and raised his blade overhead.

"Remember Fido," G2 said quickly. Seeing Duncan freeze up at the question, he asked, "How do you feel?"

Duncan lowered his sword, his arm trembling. "I feel…sad," he got out. "I don't want anyone else getting hurt."

"You can start by helping them," G2 pointed at the crowd of people being controlled.

Up to now, Donald Trunk had been too stunned by the sight of people breaking free from his spell, but the shock quickly wore off. He trumpeted a command, prompting Brody to shift into Electric-Type.

Not wasting a second, Duncan morphed into his Ground-Type form. He slammed his palms into the ground, causing slabs of earth to quickly jolt up from beneath him and his brother, launching them into the distance.

The two of them landed in the generic quarry.

Duncan summoned his cestuses, "Hmm, I just realized: we've had arguments before, but we've never actually fought."

Brody said nothing and drew his Switch-Gun, flicking it into its sword form. In a flash of yellow, he ran around, slashing at Duncan from every angle.

Raising his guard, Duncan endured the slashes as best he could. Unable to think of an earth-based move that would turn the tables, he shifted to his original white form and fired his Switch-Gun at the ground, turning it to ice.

With no more traction, Brody slipped and fell on his back. Before Duncan could take advantage, though, the Yellow Ranger stabbed his Switch-Gun into the ground, electrifying the ice, and shocking his brother. Brody used the opportunity to get to his feet and shift into his own base form.

With the ice powers of their base forms, both Rangers could walk on the ice like it was solid ground. Duncan unfolded his Switch-Gun into its sword mode and summoned his Chasmo-Shields while Brody summoned his Carnage Sword. The two stared each other down

"Brody, if we get through this, I'm gonna put more effort into this Ranger thing," Duncan said. And with that, they both charged.

"Uh, I guess that takes care of Brody, but what do we do about Kenny?" Cooper asked as the mob began swarming the team. To get them off their backs, Cooper summoned his cannon and used it as a riot hose.

"Don't worry. Master taught me a trick for if he was ever mind controlled," G2 informed them. He sought out Kenny in the crowd and got close to him. Rearing his foot back, he threw a kick, hitting his master in the nuts.

Cooper, Jane, and even the brainwashed crowd were taken aback by the display.

"Arigato, G2," Kenny rasped from his fetal position on the ground.

"Doitashimashite, Kento-sama," G2 replied, helping him up.

"That's nice and, but could you help me out!" Cooper shouted as he continued to hold back the crowd. The Cryo gang had managed to force their way past Cooper's water stream.

"We'll stall them. You destroy the monster," Kenny instructed, and as his robot left, he and Jane turned to confront the dinos.

"Kenny, I know you're smart, but this doesn't feel like your best idea," Jane commented.

The pink Cryo charged in. Kenny parried its claw swipe while Jane went low and kicked it in the ankle, making it trip up. "Next?" the girl taunted.

G2 was having a shockingly easy time fighting Donald Trunk. "All that noise you make, and you can't even fight? That's very disappointing."

Trunk roared and threw a haymaker, which the robot easily parried and countered with a straight punch.

Deciding to finish the fight, G2 swung his leg at the monster's groin, stopping just short in preparation for one of his finishing moves, "One-Inch Kick."

And just like that, the fight was over.

Duncan used his sword to block one Ranger Slash from Brody, using the shield on his left arm to block the other sword. The two stood in a brief deadlock, which Duncan broke. The White Ranger lunged and slammed his forehead into Brody's.

As the two Rangers caught their breath, Brody perked up. He looked at his sword, then back to Duncan, "Uh, when did we start fighting?"

Duncan relaxed his stance as he saw his brother was free, "G2 freed most of us. I had to stall you while he dealt with the monster."

"Shit, man. I didn't hurt you, did I?" Brody asked as he stored his weapons away.

"Nah, I was totally winning," Duncan said, pretending he wasn't in pain.

"Guys, you'd better call your Zords!" Cooper called them through their morphers. "G2 beat the elephant thing and it just came back as a giant!"

Duncan and Brody looked at each other and nodded.

In the time it was taking the Branson brothers to arrive, Jane, Kenny, and the Cryos guided the civilians to safety, while Cooper called for Pops and Dickson with a strategy in mind.

The Paranthozord used his powers to summon blustering winds that drowned out Donald Trunk's commands.

Dickson, meanwhile, swung his neck and struck Trunk with all his might.

Deciding he'd had enough, Donald Trunk hit Dickson with a shoulder charge, making the Dicraeosaurus stagger a bit.

Pops might've tried a counterattack in response but didn't bother when he saw what was behind Trunk.

Getting the feeling something was behind him, Trunk turned around to see the Paleo Force Megazord in sword-and-shield mode.

The Megazord slashed at Trunk several times before bashing him with its shield.

"You know, I'm kinda pissed at being mind controlled. How about you?" Duncan commented as he asked his brother.

Brody nodded, "Oh yeah. Let's finish this with a bang!"

At the brothers' direction, the Megazord charged up its sword and hit Trunk with a Cryo Slash, destroying him.

With the battle over, the Rangers exited their Megazord, which disassembled.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go hide this really well," Jane said, holding up her journal.

"I'm gonna go patch up that hole in me floor," Cooper declared.

Duncan shrugged, "Sorry, geez."

"Oh, I wasn't holdin' it against you," the janitor clarified before walking away.

Realizing something, Kenny wrapped an arm around G2's shoulder, "I think this guy deserves a reward for saving the day."

"Fair enough," Duncan smiled. "What do you want?"

G2 gasped, "Can I drive a car!?"

The three teens blinked and looked at each other, having not expected an answer like that. "Uh, sure," Brody answered.