Kyron, Mason, and Selena raced along the shore to the beach. Sure enough, Digidrones swarmed the scene, threatening civilians and destroying small structures. Amongst them stood a tall, menacing figure with steampunk-esque mechanical joints. Its hands were magnets, and it had a large, wooden box integrated into its chest. "We have to help those people," Selena decided, her eyes narrowed.
"Let's do it," Kyron nodded, and the two charged forward.
"Wait, guys!" shouted Mason. "We don't know what we're…" but they were already gone. "Oh, I must be crazy," he shrugged, following his teammates.
The trio fought well against the Digidrones, but they were still outnumbered, soon finding themselves back-to-back-to-back, surrounded on all sides. "Alright, guys," said Kyron. "Let's Ranger up!"
The teens waved their hands over their new watches, revealing the sleek Morphers. "Ready?" Kyron asked.
"Ready!" Mason and Selena replied in unison.
"Delta Code, download!" all three shouted, pointing their Morphers to the sky and swiping down on the small, built-in touchpad. Red, yellow, and blue binary code rained from the sky towards their respective Morphers, changing each of the teens into their spandex and mesh suits and masked helmets as if by magic – Kyron red, Mason yellow, and Selena blue. "Defenders of Reality!" they declared. "Power Rangers: Delta Code!"
"You guys handle the Digidrones," Kyron said. "I'll handle Mr. Cog."
"Right," Mason responded as he and Selena began fighting back against the legion of foot soldiers.
"Hey, Dr. Lorne," Selena asked over the comm unit. "Can you give us an idea of what Kyron's up against?"
In his secret lab under the abandoned warehouse, Dr. Aiden Lorne thought for a moment. "Possibly," he replied. "Tony, can you access the database of all of Lord Zero's generals that we know of, and see if you can find a match?"
"Already on it, Doctor," the bespectacled boy replied, searching through an archive of various creatures. "Got it."
Meanwhile, the three Power Rangers continued to fight through the Digidrones, with Kyron slowly making his way toward the general.
"Rangers, listen up," came Aiden's voice over the comm. "That Glitch's name is Magnalock. It can use its magnetic hands to attract and repel metallic objects for both offensive and defensive purposes."
"Good to know, Doctor," Kyron replied, not really paying much attention as he pulled a miniaturized USB drive from his utility belt and shoved it into his Morpher. "Delta Saber, download!" he called, as a bladed weapon appeared near his right hand – first digital, then becoming solid matter. "Hey, Gearhead!"
Magnalock turned to see Kyron taking a flying leap toward him, his sword raised high above his head. Instead of showing any signs of fight or flight, Magnalock simply raised its right arm, pulling Kyron's blade out of his hand.
"Whoa!" Kyron exclaimed, landing awkwardly on his back.
Magnalock deposited the stolen sword in the locked box on its chest, then turned to face Kyron. "Subject 1," it observed, its voice a dull monotone. "Reckless. Impulsive. Clumsy. Threat level… Minimal."
"Minimal?" Kyron repeated, still recuperating from his fall. "Way to add insult to injury…"
"Kyron's down!" Selena called to Mason. "It's up to us!"
"Yeah, no pressure," joked Mason, inserting a drive into his Morpher like Kyron had done. "Let's finish this! Give me your blaster!"
Selena followed his lead, summoning her own Delta Saber and folding it up into a blaster. "Catch!" she yelled, tossing the weapon his way before inserting another drive into her Morpher. "Tidal Spear, download!" A sleek pole weapon manifested in front of her. She took hold of it and faced off against the oncoming threat, knocking down several Digidrones.
"Who wants some?" Mason yelled, firing his and Selena's blasters. "You want some? Delta Blasters, double strike!"
"I have an idea to take down Magnalock!" Selena called. "Follow my lead."
"Right behind you!"
Selena charged at the mechanical behemoth, raising her spear to strike as she leaped into the air. "Hey, scraphead!"
As Selena had predicted, Magnalock quickly used its magnetic hands to remove the Tidal Spear from her grasp. "Futile," it mused.
"Oh, yeah?" quipped Mason, who had been following close behind her, as he fired his twin blasters at Magnalock's legs. The Glitch stumbled backward, losing its grip on Selena's staff.
"Subject 2," Magnalock intoned in his dull voice. "Strategic. Cautious. Adaptive. Threat level… Moderate."
"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet!" Selena quipped, grabbing her spear and sweeping it under Magnalock's legs. The assailant lost his balance, giving Mason the perfect opportunity to strike.
"Quake Gauntlets!" the Yellow Ranger called, landing a heavy punch on Magnalock with his massive, armored gauntlets.
"Subject 3," the Glitch noted. "Coordinated. Fast. Cunning. Threat level… Moderate."
"Seriously?" groaned Kyron as he picked himself up.
"Analysis complete," Magnalock finished. "Initiating transportation." With that, the alien dissolved into segments of binary code and vanished.
"Man, that thing was tough," sighed Mason as he and the others de-morphed.
"Minimal?" Kyron scoffed. "I'd like to show that gearhead just how 'minimal' I can be…"
"Steady on, Kyron," said Aiden as he approached. "The second you make these battles personal, you've already lost. I have a feeling we'll be seeing Magnalock again. But until then, you guys should head home before your parents get worried."
The next morning, Kyron and Mason caught up with Selena as they headed into Copper Harbor High. "We tell no one about this, right?" Kyron asked.
"Sure," scoffed Selena. "Like anyone would believe we suddenly became superheroes."
Kyron didn't have time to think of a comeback before the trio's attention was drawn to the hallway ahead. "Just admit it, dork." That was the voice of Jordan Reece, the infamous 11th-grade bully. He had a couple of classmates pinned against the wall. "You two are in love with each other."
"No, we're not," Leo Wright asserted. The dark-haired boy was trying to push back against the bully, but he was too strong.
"We're just friends," Kaia Torres seconded, her blond hair tied back in a ponytail, glaring fiercely at Jordan with her piercing blue eyes.
"Sure," Jordan snickered. "Sure you are…"
"Hey!" Kyron shouted. "Leave them alone, Jordan!"
Jordan squared his shoulders and marched toward the Ranger trio. "What're you gonna do about it, punk?"
"That's enough, Jordan!" Dr. Aiden Lorne appeared behind him. "Class starts in five minutes. And unless you want a letter to your parents, you'd better be on time."
"You guys okay?" Mason called out to Leo and Kaia.
"Yeah, we're alright," Leo replied.
"Man, what's that guy's deal?" Kaia asked no one in particular.
"Maybe he just feels like he has to prove himself," Kyron shrugged.
"Come on, guys," Dr. Lorne spoke up. "I don't expect you to be late either."
As the bell rang, the normalcy of high school life seemed to settle back in. Kyron took his seat, glancing around at his classmates – students who had no idea that their lives had almost been completely flipped upside down by a steampunk magnet-monster. As he pulled out his notebook, his phone buzzed softly in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and checked it.
"Message from Tony Watson: Far table at lunch. Ranger business."
Kyron looked up at his fellow Rangers, who returned his gaze. Something was up.
"Alright, class, your attention please," Aiden called, drawing their attention to the front. "First off, a message to certain students – and you know who you are – our talk yesterday does not change anything between us. You are still my students, nothing more, nothing less."
"Ooh, someone got in trouble!" Jordan sneered. Kyron just rolled his eyes. He knew what Aiden had meant.
The cafeteria at Copper Harbour High was, for the most part, well-lit, with large picture windows offering an unobstructed view of the beach. But there was one table that had been awkwardly positioned in a dark corner behind a support column. This table was known throughout the school as the "far table", and was usually only occupied by outcast students or those that wanted some alone time. At lunch today, however, it was the secret meeting place of the Delta Rangers, where, as agreed by their race yesterday, Mason had surrendered his soda to Kyron.
Tony Watson, the heavy-set, tech-savvy student from Kyron's class, showed the Rangers his laptop. "Dr. Lorne and I have been doing some research on Magnalock," he began. "And I believe we've discovered a weakness. The locked box on his chest is where he houses all the metal objects he collects. We theorize that it leads to a pocket dimension of sorts, but that its capacity is limited."
"Can you run that by me again in English?" Kyron asked.
Tony sighed. "If you give him enough metal, there's a chance he'll spit your Saber out. That would be the optimal moment to go in for a final strike."
Just then, muffled screams filled the cafeteria. The students looked out through the windows to the beach, where Magnalock had returned and was terrorizing the beachgoers. "Teachers' lounge," said Tony, getting up. The Rangers, confused but trusting Tony's urgency, followed him.
Dr. Lorne rendezvoused with the students on their way to the lounge and led them out the back exit of the school. "You know what to do, Rangers," he told them as he and Tony hurried over to the staff parking lot.
"Ready?" Kyron asked, activating his Morpher.
"Ready!" answered his teammates, following his lead.
"Delta Code, download!" they shouted in unison, pointing their morphers up to the sky and swiping down on the touchpad.
Red binary code crept down Kyron's left arm and spread across his torso. In a flash, he was transformed into the red spandex suit with mesh fabric insets. His left side was mostly black with a red design resembling ones and zeros running down it. The silver belt and V-shaped twin sashes wrapped around his waist and shoulders. In another flash, his red helmet appeared, the jet-black visor resembling the open mouth of a fierce reptile.
The other rangers were likewise transformed and ran towards the beach. "Alright guys," called Kyron. "We've got our strategy, now let's put it to use!"
Magnalock noticed the Rangers running towards it. "Subjects detected," it observed in its cold monotone. "Commence attack." The magnetic monster extended one of its arms out, picking up a car parked on the road behind the beach and pulling it toward them.
"Now!" shouted Selena. All three Rangers ducked.
"Judgment error," said Magnalock, almost with a hint of fear as the car came flying towards it. It opened the box in its chest, swallowing the car whole in a way that seemed to defy physics. "Digidrones, attack."
"Let's give this guy something to eat!" said Kyron.
"Kyron, catch!" shouted Mason, throwing the Red Ranger a micro-USB drive.
Kyron caught the drive and plugged it into his Morpher. "Delta Saber, download!" he called, summoning Mason's sword to use as his own. "Alright, let's burp this baby!"
Mason tilted his head towards him. "You gotta work on your one-liners, dude."
"Yeah, that was lame," agreed Kyron, looking away.
"Less talk boys," called Selena. "More action!"
"Right!"
"Let's go!"
Selena vaulted over one of the Digidrones, which buzzed angrily with an electronic twang. "That all you got?" She teased, slashing it in half with her own Delta Saber.
Mason, meanwhile, was using his Quake Gauntlets to smash up the Digidrones, tossing pieces of their cyberpunk armor toward Magnalock, who easily swallowed them into its chest. "Yo, Kyron, heads up!" He yelled, throwing a decapitated Digidrone's head over his friend toward their target.
"Need a hand?" Selena quipped, throwing another dismembered drone's arm in Magnalock's direction.
Magnalock absorbed the incoming debris, then froze. "Storage capacity… nearing critical…"
"Now's our chance!" yelled Kyron. "Selena, Mason, keep it distracted!"
"Right!" Selena called back, slicing through some more Digidrones before throwing a beach umbrella towards Magnalock.
"Hey, metalhead! Why don't you cool off?" yelled Mason, throwing an ice-cream stand towards the Glitch.
That had done it. Magnalock staggered backward as Kyron's original saber flew out of the box in its chest, landing in the sand about four feet away from the Red Ranger, who quickly picked it up. "Keep it busy, guys!"
"Tidal Spear, download!" Selena summoned her special weapon. "Hey, tinhead, catch this!"
But Selena was only playing decoy as Mason grabbed Magnalock's arms from behind, preventing it from using its abilities as Selena's spear hit it square in the chest. "Now!" the Yellow Ranger shouted.
"This is for calling me minimal!" Kyron yelled, now wielding both Delta Sabers. "Red Ranger, double slash! Final Strike!"
Kyron's slashes landed hard against the steampunk Glitch, which started sparking as it doubled over. "Critical… Error…"
Kyron turned away, posing with the Sabers as Magnalock exploded behind him, disappearing into fragments of code, which soon dispersed. "Glitch removed!" he announced heroically.
Hexa was in shock. She had no idea what she had just watched, and no idea how Lord Zero – who was sitting right next to her on his throne – was about to react."I am so, so sorry, my Lord," she pouted, turning around and placing a hand on his upper arm, trying to appear as remorseful as possible. "I really didn't mean to–"
"Enough!" Lord Zero roared, swatting her away. "I don't want to hear your mock apology! What I want is that code these so-called 'Power Rangers' used to transform. There's something… familiar about it."
"Of course, Your Lordship," Hexa replied, her voice soft and alluring. "I'll see to it right away."
"Man, that was sick!" exclaimed Kyron as he and his fellow Rangers made their way down the hidden staircase inside the shipping container. "I can't believe we're actually Power Rangers now!"
"That might not exactly be the case, Kyron," Dr. Lorne said carefully.
Kyron's brow furrowed as he looked at his science teacher, trying to make out the expression on his face. "What do you mean?" he asked, his smile fading.
Dr. Lorne's voice was steady and measured. "We need to talk."
Kyron's heart skipped a beat. The excitement that had been racing through him just moments ago had vanished, replaced by a growing knot in his stomach. He exchanged a quick glance with Mason and Selena For the first time since they became Rangers, Kyron felt a cold sense of uncertainty.
Next time on Power Rangers: Delta Code, I have some stern words with Kyron, and an unlikely ally dons the red helmet.
-Dr. Aiden Lorne