It was a beautiful spring day in Angel Grove Park as Trini sat waiting at one of the many picnic tables. When two of her closest friends came up from behind surprising her.
"Yo, Trini what you are sitting around for?" Zack asked.
"Yeah, are you waiting for a date?" Kimberley teased good-naturedly.
"No. I am meeting Billy to work on our project for science class," said Trini.
"Cool. What are you guys working on?" asked Zack.
"Billy and I have been working on a device that can measure and even extract pollutants in the air," Trini explained.
"That is a great combination of both of your passions," Kimberley said, "Billy loves to invent things and you love helping the environment."
"Yes, it is. Oh, there is Billy," Trini said while waving to their bespectacled friend carrying a box with him. "What are you guys up to today?"
"Well, Tommy is taking me to see a movie," said Kimberly.
"And I said I would help Jason with his Karate class after he and Tommy are done with their sparring session," said Zack.
"Ok, have fun, you guys," Trini told them as she headed off to help Billy.
On the moon, an eye is seen through a telescope and Rita Repulsa stepped out from behind it.
"Ah, with the rangers off doing their own things, now would be the perfect time to take out some of them." She declared.
Goldar stepped forward moving past Scorpina, who was standing next to him, "Yes, my Empress with the other rangers occupied we can eliminate the yellow and blue rangers."
"Finster!"
"Yes, my queen?" Finster asked.
"I need you to prepare some putties to attack the Rangers," she commanded.
"Right away," he said as began to roll the putty into tubes before putting them into the molds.
Back in the park Billy and Trini were finishing setting up the scanner.
"Do you think this will work Billy?" Trini asked.
"Of course, I even spent some time this morning working on it and that should make it sensitive enough to detect even the smallest particles of pollution in the air," he said.
Once the device was switched on it emitted a humming sound and sent out waves into the air. They let it run for a few moments before checking the readings but what they discovered wasn't what they were expecting.
"That is strange." He said.
"What is it, Billy?" she asked.
"The machine is picking up pollutants in the air but it is also picking up something else."
"What else is it picking up?"
"Exotic Particles."
"Can't those be dangerous?"
"Not at the low level they are at," Billy explained.
"We're not responsible for this, right?"
"No, the device can only read that the particles are here. It can't create them."
On the moon, Rita gives her putties the command, "Beat those power brats and bring me that device."
Quickly Trini and Billy are surrounded by the Putty Patrol and doing their best to hold them off without needing to morph.
The alarms blared in the Command Center and Alpha 5 rushed to the Viewing Globe to observe what the trouble was.
"Alpha what has happened?" The head of the Power Rangers' mentor Zordon appears in his tube behind the control of the Command Center.
"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi, Zordon. Billy and Trini are being attacked by putties in the park." The robot explained.
"Remain calm Alpha, contact the other rangers immediately."
In the Angel Grove Youth Center, Jason and Zack had just finished their class when their wrist communicators sounded.
"We read you, Zordon," Jason answered.
"Trini and Billy are being attacked by putties in the park," Zordon informed them.
"Tommy and Kimberly aren't with us," Jason told him.
"I will have them join you once we can reach them."
Jason and Zack headed off to the park while Tommy and Kimberly exited the movie theater to the sound of their communicators. Zordon told them of the trouble and they headed to the park as well.
Trini and Billy were doing their best but they were outnumbered and quickly being pushed back. Then Jason and Zack arrived and took some of the pressure off of them but they still were outnumbered. Luckily, they didn't need to wait long until the rest of their team arrived to help.
Suddenly there was a crack of thunder and a newspaper appeared and flew into the face of one of the putties. It threw the paper away before directing two of its fellow putties to grab the scanner. With the scanner in hand, the putties retreated.
Billy looked at the stand the scanner had been sitting on, upset that it had been stolen. Trini picked up the discarded newspaper and was surprised by what she saw.
"What you got there?" Kimberly asked her.
"A newspaper."
"That doesn't look local," Kimberly said.
"No look at the name of the paper and the headline." Trini pointed out to her.
Crater City Chronicle, Government Officials Say Red Ranger Too Busy to Talk to Reporters.
"I don't understand," Kimberley said.
"Neither do I," Trini told her.
Back on the moon Rita used her magic to amplify the scanner and determined that there was going to be something appearing in the city soon. Handing the device to Goldar she told him the plan.
"Go to the city and set the scanner up, whatever is coming I want it for myself," she ordered him.
Goldar took the scanner and a group of putties to Earth to carry out his queen's command.
"Scorpina, I have something special planned for you," Rita told her friend while cackling madly.
In the Juice Bar, the rangers were pouring over the odd newspaper, reading about events that didn't happen. The date was today's date but nothing else in the paper matched anything going on in the world.
As they were trying to figure it out a meaty hand reached out and snatched the paper off the table.
"What are you dweebs looking at?" Bulk, their roton classmate asked.
"Yea, what are you dweebs looking at?" Skull, Bulk's thin lacky repeated while taking the paper out of Bulk's hands.
Thinking quickly Zack said, "It is a joke newspaper Billy worked up. It looks real doesn't it?"
"Only this geek would think of making a joke newspaper," Bulk said as he slapped Billy over the back of his head.
Bulk tossed them the paper as he and Skull walked off laughing at what they thought was a funny joke.
Before they could pour over the paper any more their communicators went off and they walked over to the lockers to see what was up.
"What is it, Zordon?" Jason asked.
"Goldar has appeared in the middle of the city with Billy's scanner and a group of putties. You must investigate them immediately."
"Alright, It's Morphin Time!"
"Dragonzord"
"Mastodon"
"Pterodactyl"
"Triceratops"
"Sabretooth Tiger"
"Tyrannosaurs"
Looking around for Goldar or any signs of the putties revealed nothing and they wondered what was going on. Suddenly, the Putty Patrol jumped at them and all of the rangers were locked in combat. Goldar appeared with the scanner and quickly set it up as the atmosphere grew charged with energy.
"We got to get to the scanner," Billy exclaimed.
"There are too many putties," Tommy said.
Just then another crack of thunder was heard and a portal opened up and a creature leaped out of it. It stood there on four legs with the body of a lion with the tail of a scorpion, but it had the face of a man. As everyone stared at the creature it seemed to partially transform and it was suddenly on two legs.
Before any of them could get their bearings, the creature jumped into the fray it grabbed Jason, and tossed him aside. Then it was attacking the rest of the rangers and the putties, who fell quickly under the monster's claws.
"Well, it looks like you pathetic Rangers have finally met your match." Goldar gloated.
"Rita's new monster will fall just like the rest, Goldar," Jason told him.
"Oh, this isn't one of Rita's," Goldar laughed, "We don't know where it came from but as long as it deals with you power pests who cares."
As the other rangers fought the monster, Jason drew his Power Sword and engaged Goldar. As both strained to overcome the other in a sword lock the figure of Scorpina appeared walking towards them from Jason's blind spot.
After taking a blow to his shield Tommy ended up on his knee breathing heavily and he notice Scorpina but he was too far away. He saw Scorpina raise her Scorpion Fin to strike Jason from behind, he was just about to call out to his friend to warn him.
When the Fin came down it landed not on the back of the unassuming red ranger but instead, landed on a red shaft. Scorpina was shocked that her sneak attack had been blocked, but that shock was nothing to the shock of the person who had blocked her attack.
"That isn't very fair is it." Jason heard from behind him.
Scorpina walked around to join Goldar who had backed away from Jason. The red ranger turned and couldn't believe his eyes. Before him stood another red ranger holding a Halberd in his right hand.
This unknown red ranger wore red gloves and boots with silver rings at the tops. Both the arms and pants of the suit were black and a silver belt. The shirt area was red and had what looked like a lizard or dragon head on it. The helmet had a silver half-circle where the mouth would be and a gold headband with a medallion in the center and a dragon etched into it.
This red ranger turned to the monster and spoke its name 'Manticora' before he ran off to confront it. He jumped in swinging his halberd down on the monster and it was clear there was damage done and it backed away. The next instant he pushed the pole of the halberd into the head making it a one-handed ax.
While this new ranger was fighting the monster Jason ran over to see how his friends were and was relieved that they were okay. They all had questions but they knew this new ranger couldn't defeat this monster alone. As if to prove the point the ranger was thrown away from the monster.
"Alright guys let's bring them together," Jason ordered.
"Power Ax."
"Power Bow."
"Power Daggers."
"Power Lance."
"Power Sword."
"Power Blaster." they all called together.
As they prepared to fire, Tommy rushed over to their unexpected ally to check on him. At the same time, Goldar and Scorpina hung off to the side as the Rangers launched their attack.
The blast struck Manticora and it fell to the ground seemingly destroyed, but only the strange new ranger saw something leave the area where the monster was and head towards Scorpina. As he stood up to go after her, she and Golder retreated.
He stood where they once were and turned to face the rangers, breathing heavily as his ax fell from his hand and vanished. The next second, his suit was gone, and what stood before them was a young man about their age with brown hair and blue eyes. Something was really wrong; he looked so underfed, and he was only wearing a pair of pants.
He started to wobble and fell to his knees before collapsing to the ground.
The rangers de-morphed and ran to him, they were thankful that he was only unconscious. Jason and Tommy grabbed him by the shoulders while Zack took his legs. They carried him to the hospital and watched as an emergency team checked on him.
To Be Continued...
A/N This story was inspired by the song 'We Need a Hero' by Ron Wesserman