"Purple and Gray: Conclusion,"
Act 2: The Origin of the Techno Rangers"
by Aaron Thall
Power Chamber...
Matt and Wendy place the devices back on their heads.
"As you know, we had just found something incredible in the Thunderzord rubble. What that something was would one day play a major role in our becoming the Techno Rangers..."
And the device begins to broadcast again...
***
Thunderzord Rubble, 3-4 years ago...
"No way..." Wendy says in astonishment as Matt holds up two Power Morphers.
"It looks that way."
"But why would they have extra morphers?"
"What if one of theirs' was damaged in a fight? It might be they had prepared for this possibility."
"Well wherever they came from, this is a major find!"
"Maybe, maybe not. Take a closer look."
Wendy does. Wires, frayed, hang from one morpher. Another's outer shell is cracked.
"They're broken?!"
"For now, but I bet we can fix them!"
"Why?"
"Do you have a better idea? It's not like we can contact the Rangers and tell them to clean up this mess!"
Matt begins to speak over the memories.
"That was how it began. An innocent experiment to repair damaged equipment. But what happened next would be even more incredible..." ***
Machine Empire Skybase...
King Mondo enters the main throneroom, followed by Prince Sprocket and Queen
Machina.
"I cannot believe this is happening!" He swings his staff, shattering a metallic sculpture. "However did Gasket learn of this?!
"I don't know Dear," begins Machina. "But he's here now."
"Yeah Dad! We'll just have to beat him to the punch!"
The doors to the throneroom open wide once more, and Klank and Orbus enter.
"Your Majesty! I have disturbing news!"
"Out with it!"
Orbus responds. "Our scanners have detected a strange energy inside all of us."
"We have reason t' believe that as soon as we defeat the Rangers, this energy will fade and leave us inert once more."
"So Zedd intends to betray us does he? KLANK! Get to work on building us alternate bodies to house our minds! We'll teach Zedd what it means to cross the Machine Empire! And in the meantime, his not knowing that we are free of his power shall be our ace in the hole!" ***
Power Chamber...
Adam looks into the viewing globe and sees Matt and Wendy's workshop. His eyes fall upon a black, metallic device.
"What's that?" He points to it. On closer inspection, he sees that it is like a tiny black jet. A silver nose protrudes from the front and twin turbines can also be seen.
"That? Just the Turbine Laser." Wendy says this as though the weapon isn't even all that exciting.
"Turbine Laser?"
"It uses the latest in photon and antimatter technology. You'll see what it can do in good time."
Matt fiddles with the headsets. "There we go! Now it'll be clearer." He places his back on. Wendy follows suit.
Tommy interrupts, just before they were going to reactivate the headsets.
"So you had two Morphers. How could those help you? They were damaged and powerless!"
"Such little faith in our abilities Tommy? Watch and learn..." ***
"As you have pointed out, while we had two morphers, they weren't going to be of much use to the Rangers. Especially since shortly after we reached our Workshop and began to study them, the Rangers returned with the Ninjazords, which my sister now controls. Over the next few months, Wendy and I were hard at work, studying the circuitry of the devices and combining them to make them fully functional again. It was a slow and trying experiment, but a worthwhile one."
Wendy takes over. "And when we were not working with the combined Morpher, we spent time building scanners as well. Nothing like the Turbo Navigators, but sensitive enough to detect energy bursts. Other projects proved to be of little value, with the exception of a powerful vacuum gun, which we hopes to patent and use to replace conventional vacuum cleaners. Needless to say, we would eventually find a better use for it."
"Things went on like that for a while. But on one day, everything changed forever.
"It was the day that Mastervile sent down the Orb of Doom, and sent Earth several years into the past, more than enough to keep you from using your powers. As Wendy noted, our scanners could detect bursts of energy. One type included in the list was temporal. When our alarm sounded, we knew exactly what was going to happen, and we immediately took precautions."
"Long ago, we had managed to restore power to the combined Morpher, so taking a calculated risk, we both held onto it. As everything began to move backwards in time, Matt grabbed one of our scanners and, inadvertently, grabbed the vacuum gun as well. When the temporal energy passed, we were both kids again, but our memories were intact, and we still had the vacuum gun, scanner, and morpher."
"We knew that at this point in time, the Rangers would be powerless. We immediately set the scanner to search out any energy signatures not conventional to this period of time and followed the trail. Our search took us to the warehouse district. Signs of a struggle were evident, and we knew that we were too late. The energy signature was all around us, and a golden dust filled the air."
"It was obvious what had happened. The Power Coins had been destroyed. However, since the dust was still energized, there was a chance that they could be reintegrated. Matt took the scanner and connected it to the vacuum gun, and set it to activate and suck up every source of the energy it detected. The process took three days, with Matt and I taking separate shifts to guard our devices. Our parents just thought we were pretending to be scientists, and never suspected anything."
"When the vacuum gun stopped working, we checked it's filter and saw a small pile of the golden dust. Since our resources were limited and it would be risky to transport the coin dust as it was, we worked together and rewired the gun so it would increase the air pressure inside the filter, and compact the dust."
"Once it finished doing that, we had three sections of solid Power Coin material. Apparently the coins were mixed dust, because the pieces took no distinct form."
"Try as we might, we could not make complete coins. The two smaller fragments each were only large enough for half a coin a piece. But the larger one was perfect for a coin."
"After the time warp was reversed, we got to work reshaping the coin. It wasn't easy. The thing seemed as hard as a diamond. It took us two months to finally get it into the right shape. It was finally time to see what would happen when the coin and morpher were one."
"It fit perfectly. The newly remade coin snapped right into place in the center of the combined morpher. Wendy and I waited and waited, but nothing happened."
"It seemed impossible. After all that work, the experiment appeared to be a failure. That's when the coin halves came into play. While we looked away from the morpher and coin, the halves began to glow in six different colors: White, Pink, Blue, Yellow, Black, and Red."
Tommy interrupts. "But how did you know that?"
"Yeah, if you were looking away from the coins at the time..." begins Justin before trailing off.
"At the time, we didn't. Ninjor showed us that later."
"Speaking of which, how did you both meet him anyway?" Kat props herself up on one of the consoles.
"It couldn't have just been a coincidence." adds Adam.
"And the zords..." notes Tanya.
"We're getting to that too. You see, the halves were reenergizing, and the Power needed new hosts quickly, or the Power would just fade away. Again, at the time, we didn't know this. But the Power sensed the two of us as the only humans in range, and therefor, each half picked one of us and released the energies inside, infusing us with the Power."
"The sudden burst of energy was enough to knock us both to the floor. Spots danced before our eyes. It took ten minutes for us to pull ourselves back to our feet and recheck the Morpher, only to see that it was now fully operational."
"I picked up the Morpher and examined it again. This time, two nearly invisible buttons were present on the top. I pressed it to see what would happen. Nothing did. I tried the other one. Again nothing. Then, Wendy thought to press both at once."
"We each chose a button and together, we pressed them. Instantly, we were transported away. It was like being on a roller coaster without a seatbelt. We both thought that we would be trapped in the columns of energy forever. That's when the bottom fell out of our ride and we found ourselves in a beautiful garden."
"We spent little time in the garden. Wherever we were, we knew that we had to find a way back home. Following a nearby path, we hoped to find an exit. Instead, we found ourselves in the Temple of Power."
"Apparently, Ninjor sensed that the Power had returned home, because he almost immediately reformed from his energy form into his solid one. Needless to say, we was more than a little suprised."
"We explained everything to him, and assured him that the Rangers were safe and in possession of new powers. Then he asked for our Morpher and the coin and fragments. He took the two fragments, one in each hand. There was a blinding flash, and then, in his hands, were two perfect halves of a power coin. Another flash of light placed them in the Morpher, which, until then, we had not realized he had changed as well, finishing our work with it in microseconds and installing a split-mode-transformation system."
"He said: 'Matt, Wendy, I cannot thank you enough for your assistance in saving the Ninja Powers. However, the Powers have become a part of both of you, so now you must use this power or it shall be lost anyway. I have altered your experiment and the reformed dust to allow you to focus these powers. Once you do this, you will be able to summon Ninja Ranger powers separately, but you will be forced to come together in order to transform to full Rangers.'
"'You will pilot the Ninjazords and the Shogunzords. I realize that you most likely do not wish to be Rangers, but I am afraid that you have no choice. I apologize for this, and if there were another way, I would do everything in my power to make it so.'
"'Ninjor... I think I speak for us both when I say that we're with you all the way. We started this, and we intend to see it through. But something tells me that we're going to need more than just the two Megazords and the Falconzord. Didn't the Rangers use Titanus to make Ultrazords?'
"'Yes, they did. Dragonzord as well. I will do my best to have those zords ready to back you up when necessary.'
"'We thank you for that.'"
"And with that, Ninjor began our training, teaching us of the Ninja Powers. The training was long, and it was difficult to keep up with it and our civilian lives, but we stuck with it. Ninjor was right. We didn't have a choice. We hadn't been fighters before. We were scientists. Before Ninjor began our training, we couldn't have beaten Bulk and Skull in a fight, much less be effective Rangers."
"Worked for Billy..." jokes Kat.
"Different situation. According to Ninjor, the Power didn't give him those skills. They gave him the confidence to try. The rest was Billy's work and Billy's work alone."
"One day, I happened upon several statues of dinosaurs in the garden. Wendy was performing a meditation exercise, so I decided to investigate. Upon the pedestal stood statues of many prehistoric beasts, as well as the seven Dinozords. I was looking at the source of the original Power. One in particular caught me eye. A statue of a stegosaurus. I looked it over. The detail was beyond belief. It seemed almost alive. I didn't realize how alive until I picked it up and it began glowing purple. Light shined from it's formerly clay eyes and streaked towards the exit of the Temple. Ninjor and Wendy apparently had heard it too, and they came running."
"'Y-you have unleashed one of the ancient Dinozords! They only react to those truly worthy of the Power! Hurry!'"
"We followed him outside, and once there, we received the shock of our lives. Standing right outside was a gigantic purple robot. Golden spikes gleamed in the sunlight. Red eyes glowed in righteous fury.... The Stegosaurus Dinozord was free at long last." ***
Divatox's Subcraft...
Divatox paces back and forth, something that greatly concerns Porto, Elgar, and Rygog.
"So Zedd and Mondo want to play hardball huh? Well three can play that game! RYGOG! ELGAR! Go to the surface and destroy those Techno Rangers!"
"You've gotta be kidding!" Elgar exclaims. "Those Techno Teens blew Catbot away! What'll they do to us?!"
Divatox grabs Elgar by the shirt and pulls him in close. "I don't care what happens to you two bozos! Just get out there and start causing chaos! NOW GO!"
Elgar falls back as she releases his shirt. "Sheesh! Ask a simple question..." ***
"Time after that passed quickly. We speedily became ninja warriors able to use the Power. Ninjor was amazed at the progress we had made. Things could have continued like that forever, but one day..."
"'You have conquered your training my young students. But now the time has come for your baptism of fire. To fully claim the powers, you must now claim your destinies. Raise the Morpher above your heads and shout to the world what you both have become! DO IT NOW!!!'"
"'IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!'"
"The morpher split down the middle, and the two ends whirred around and snapped into place, reforming the two original Morphers we had uncovered so long ago."
"'TECHNO RANGER ONE!'"
"'TECHNO RANGERS TWO!'"
"No sooner was the call made, the transformation began. Gunbelts appeared, followed quickly by uniforms that resembled the original Ranger uniforms. The helmets came last, snapping together like they were alive. When the transformation was complete, the Matt and Wendy we had been were no more. The two that stood in their places would be known forevermore as the..."
"'TECHNO RANGERS!'"
***
Lord Zedd's palace...
Lord Zedd watches the Earth and waits. As soon as his "cohorts" arrive, the final destruction of the Power Rangers can begin. He literally begins to glow in anticipation. King Mondo and Divatox enter the room, escorted by their respective footsoldiers. Cogs and Pirrannatrons study each other, unsure of what to do.
"Let the festivities begin!" announces the Machine King.
*And now that Zedd's spell is no more, once the Rangers are destroyed, I shall do the same to you Zedd!*
"Yeah! We haven't got all millennium!"
*And for me, that's too, too true! I have to stop the Rangers now or that message will come true!*
"Very well! MONSTERS! ATTACK!"
*And give me the Earth and Machine Empire forever!* thought Divatox, conspiratorially
***
Power Chamber...
"So now you know everything. The weapons are our own inventions, and they'll come whether we're morphed or not."
"That's an incredible story." Tommy admits. "But why did you wait this long?"
"Only recently were we ready to confront your enemies, and make them our own. When we saw the trouble Catbot was giving you, we couldn't afford to wait any longer."
"Good thing you didn't."
The alarms sound.
"YO YO YO! Take a look at the viewing globe!" Alpha yells even as the Rangers move to comply. "It's an all out assault!"
"Seven monsters for seven Rangers. Those aren't good odds." says Wendy.
"Rangers," begins [New Replace Term], "This is an obvious trap!"
"We know," says Matt. "But if we don't spring it, Angel Grove pays the price."
END OF ACT 2
