"Power Rangers Turbo/Techno Rangers"
Attack of the Turbo Vehicles, Act 2
by Aaron Thall
Youth Center...
Tommy and the other Rangers are sitting at their usual table. Tommy's looking at the inscription on the nameplate.
"Nice going, Tommy." says Matt. "Now let's just make sure your head doesn't get too wide for the doors."
"Lay off, Matt!" Wendy gives her brother's shoulder a mock punch. "Tommy's been training for that race since before we joined up. He deserves a little ego boost."
"Congratulations, Tommy!" says Lt. Stone as he walks up to the Rangers, carrying a wheel-shaped cake. In the center of the "tire" was a miniature version of Tommy's racing car.
"Thanks!"
"Don't look at me. It was Kat's idea." All eyes turn towards Kat, who just shrugs in an "I knew you would win" way.
Off to the side, Bulk and Skull stumble into the Youth Center with a notepad, camera, and recorder in tow.
"TOMMY!" yells Bulk, "Can we interview you for the paper?" Bulk shoves the tape recorder into Tommy's face. Tommy gently but firmly pushes the recorder away.
"You're working for the paper now?" asks Tanya, secretly thinking that the fourth sign of the Apocalypse had finally come.
"YEAH!" responds Skull. "We're sports reporters! We get to be there to cover all the action! We woulda been at the race..."
"But =SOMEONE= forgot to bring our press passes!" finishes Bulk. Skull winces and pulls back as Bulk glares at him.
"Come on, Bulkie Boy! At least we got some good pictures..." The camera opens up, spilling now exposed film onto the floor. "Or... maybe not..." Skull laughs nervously as Bulk glares at him again.
"Nice going! Now we have to go back to the paper, get more film, and go back to the speedway!"
"Maybe we could do a feature on cross counter running?"
"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Bulk lunges at Skull, but his feet get tangled in
the spilled film. He lands on the recorder, crushing it. Skull bolts out of the Youth Center. Bulk follows close behind, hopping to keep up, his feet still tied together by the film. "Catch you later?"
"Sure Bulk. Whatever you say..." Tommy turns back to the other Rangers, who are forcing themselves from bursting out with laughter. Only Wendy doesn't seem to have any problem not laughing.
"Reporters, eh? Think I could do something like that?"
"Not without a stunt double." retorts Justin before snorting with pent up laughter.
"Not funny, little boy blue. I'm serious!"
"You'd do fine, Wendy." says Adam. "And we should get out of here before those two become cake decorators!"
"No argument here." says Tommy as he gets up, grabbing his trophy in the process.
Matt picks up the cake. "Don't want to forget this, do you?"
Various versions of "No." follow from the others.
As the Rangers walk out of the Youth Center, Wendy hurries to the front of the pack, up to where Matt was carrying the cake.
"Matt, you still haven't answered my question. Think I would make a good reporter?"
"Sure you would. Better than Bulk and Skull, easily."
In the distance, the sound of engines revving starts up. When it becomes a roar, the Rangers turn, just in time to see five heavily armored vehicles heading towards them, piloted by monstrous versions of the Turbo Rangers.
Each of the faux Rangers' vehicles were covered with spikes, blades, explosives, and laser weapons.
"STREET RIPPERS... DESTROY THEM!" yells the Red Ripper. At once, the five vehicles surge towards the Rangers. As the first two rocket towards them, Matt and Wendy roll to safety, dropping the cake as a result. The Blue Ripper's vehicle crushes the hapless cake under it's tires. The Yellow Ripper shoves the other Rangers down. As the other three Street Rippers race by, Red Ripper grabs Tommy's trophy.
"HEY!" yells Tommy, "Bring that back!"
"NOW WE'RE IN FIRST PLACE!" Red Ripper laughs long and loud as the five vehicles head for the open streets. The monster waves the trophy victoriously over it's head.
Adam and Tanya run over to Matt and Wendy and help them up.
"Are you guys all right?" asks Adam.
"Nothing broken." responds Wendy. "Except our pride."
"We've got to stop them!" exclaims Kat as she sees one of the Rippers begin blasting at innocent civilians.
"Right!" says Tommy. "Matt, Wendy, get to the Power Chamber and find a way to slow these guys down!"
"We're on it, Tommy!" Matt and Wendy activate their Communicators and teleport away.
"All right. Everyone ready?" The other Rangers nod. "=SHIFT INTO TURBO!=" The
Rangers pull out their Turbo Keys and summon their Turbo Morphers. All at once, they put the keys in the slots and make the call.
"=MOUNTAIN BLASTER TURBO POWER!=" Justin's uniform appears and his helmet
snaps into place. He grows to adult size.
"=DESERT THUNDER TURBO POWER!=" Adam's uniform appears and his helmet snaps
into place.
"=DUNE STAR TURBO POWER!=" Tanya's uniform appears and her helmet snaps into
place.
"=WIND CHASER TURBO POWER!=" Kat's uniform appears and her helmet snaps into
place.
"=RED LIGHTNING TURBO POWER!=" Tommy's uniform appears and his helmet snaps
into place.
As the Rangers finish morphing, Tommy scans the area with his Turbo Navigator. "GOT THEM!"
"So where do we go?" asks Tanya.
"They're headed towards the highway. TURBO CARTS NOW!" The five Turbo Carts
appear. The Turbo Rangers leap into their respective drivers' seats and race towards the Street Rippers.
***
Lord Zedd's palace...
Zedd watches as the Turbo Rangers begin chasing the Street Rippers.
"They don't stand a chance!"
"They'd better not!" growls King Mondo as he enters the room. "Combining your coins of darkness with my technology hasn't worked before!"
"It will... this time. Understand this, Mondo: I have personally seen to it that the Street Rippers are more powerful than the Rangers' Turbo Carts or their small Turbo Zords. Once the Rippers have destroyed both the Turbo Carts and the Turbo Zords, we shall rule the roads of Angel Grove, and then the world!"
***
Tommy's Cart turns sharply, barely avoiding a blast from the Red Ripper's vehicle.
"Man! These things are faster than they look! We're gonna have to pull out =ALL= the stops!" He turns again and speeds towards the Red Ripper's vehicle. With tremendous force, the Turbo Cart rams into the villain's car.
The impact dents the front of Tommy's Cart, but merely forces the Red Ripper to change course.
"That impact should have finished it! What are those things made of?!"
Not too far off, Kat and Justin are having similar problems with the Pink and Blue Rippers.
"They're too fast!" Justin veers off at the last second, barely enough to save his Cart from the spiked wheels of the Blue Ripper's racer.
"Tell me about it!" Kat's Cart stops suddenly, preventing the Pink Ripper's game of "Chicken" from demolishing it. The only difference in this game was that it was a lot more like "Ultimate Bumper Cars".
Adam stops and fires twin rockets from his Turbo Cart. The Green Ripper returns fire, destroying the explosive projectiles before they can get close enough to do any damage.
"They're meeting us blow for blow... with twice the power!" Adam goes into full reverse, avoiding the second missile barrage.
Tanya's adversary was enjoying herself. The Yellow Ripper had already managed to slash Tanya's front tire, making the Yellow Ranger a sitting duck. Only a quick series of blasts from Tanya's Auto Blaster forced the villain back.
"We've got to find some way to stop them!" Tanya holsters her Auto Blaster and prepares her Cart's weapons system.
***
Power Chamber...
Matt, Wendy, and Alpha watch as the Street Rippers attack again, this time seriously damaging all five Turbo Carts.
"Get them out of there!" exclaims Wendy. "They can't last much longer!"
Alpha 6 activates the communications system.
"YOYOYO! TOMMY! GET OUTTA THERE WHILE YAS STILL CAN!"
"We can't just turn and run!"
Wendy interjects. "All you're doing is getting the Turbo Carts torn to pieces! Get back here!"
"We can do this!" responds Tommy. Wendy tries to reestablish contact, but Tommy doesn't respond. She tries the others, but none of them can spare the time to answer.
Matt turns to Alpha and Wendy. "Get them back here, no matter what it takes.
I'm going to get our little project ready to rock and roll." ***
Explosions rock the Turbo Rangers, throwing them from the Turbo Carts. The Red Ripper stops ten feet away from the Rangers and looks at what's left of the Carts. The vehicles are covered with dents, torn metal, slashed tires, and, in the case of Tommy's Cart, a ripped fuel line.
"What a pity. Seems that you need to go back to the pit stop, Rangers. Guess we're still in first place." Red Ripper holds out the stolen trophy, taunting Tommy. With his free hand, he fires a burst of flame, which strikes the ripped fuel line.
The resulting explosion throws the Rangers to the ground.
"And now to finish you, once and for all!" ***
"Inciting teleportation!" Wendy enters the sequence. Within seconds, the Turbo Rangers appear on the floor of the Power Chamber.
"Thanks, Wendy." says Adam as he gets up and helps Tanya to her feet.
"Just in time." adds Kat as she removes her helmet. "Another few seconds and..."
"Another few seconds and it would have been all over." finishes Wendy as she pulls Justin up.
Tommy, already recovered, heads over to the console to go back to the fight.
Alpha blocks him.
"We have to stop them!"
"That's right," begins Wendy, "We do. But we can't while you're getting yourself and the others killed! And for what? A trophy?! GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT! It's a piece of metal!"
Tommy tries to respond, but the words fail to leave his throat. After a moment, he removes his helmet and sets it down.
"I-I'm sorry. You're right. I should have listened. I let them get to me..."
"We all have our moments." says Kat. "Now the problem is stopping the Rippers without losing any more of our arsenal."
Matt walks into the room. "I believe that I have a solution for that, Kat. If you would be so kind as to follow me to the Turbo Zord Garage..." ***
Turbo Zord Garage...
The lights are off as Matt leads the others into the Garage. Alpha follows them in a moment later. Wendy joins Alpha a few seconds later, having stayed behind only long enough to program the viewing globe to show Dimitria what was transpiring in the Garage.
"So what's this project you mentioned?" asks Justin.
"The solution to your Ripper problem." Matt presses a button on the remote control he had been holding. The lights all activate at once, creating a near blinding glare.
In the distance, the Rangers hear five engines revving. Five sets of headlights begin flashing.
"Rangers, allow us to introduce... the Turbo Vehicles..."
And as their vision begins to clear, the five sets of headlights begin moving forward...
END OF ACT 2
