Lisa sat back from the television, and sighed. ‘Jeez, Angel Grove’s never been so exciting,’ she thought. ‘I wish I knew who they really were.’ She grabbed her bag, which contained all of her things for her Rangers and Mortal Kombat Klub, laced up her pink shoes, and headed out. She took the long way through her backyard so she could think.

She and her two younger friends, Thomas and A.J., loved to watch the reports about the Rangers. They had games, which Tom would bring to A.J.’s house, and have MK and Ranger tournaments. Some thought she was too old to play, she was only fourteen, but she didn’t care. She loved to pretend. It was wonderful.

She checked her bag for her CD-ROM game. It had the Rangers on it, so they could play a new game. ‘I hope A.J. figured his computer out,’ she thought.

She brushed her brown hair behind her ears, grabbed a thick branch and pulled herself up on the bank. Her pink sneakers slipped a bit, but she kept her balance. She walked across the solid ground and paused at the mud. Pieces of wood were laid out for her by her other neighbors, so they wouldn’t get their shoes too muddy. She hopped from piece to piece, and walked under the neighbor’s clubhouse. She ran up the hill, passed Tom’s house, and stopped, amused.

Tom and A.J. were playing soccer, Tom trying to keep it from the tree, A.J. trying to get it past him. Tom’s red hair bounced in the breeze as he raced to get the ball. A.J.’s blonde hair bobbed with each step. A.J. scooted forward and kicked it past Tom. The ball bounced away, and rolled over to rest by Lisa’s sneakers. The two boys looked up and smiled.

“Hey, Lisa,” they called.

“Hey, guys,” she said, kicking the ball to Tom. “What’d I miss?"

Tom caught the ball as it soared over his head. “Not much, just a game.”

A.J. ran over to Lisa. “You have the disk?”

She nodded. They ran to the door, took their shoes off, and ran up to A.J.’s computer room, which used to be his big brother’s room. The fourteen year old brunette sat at the computer’s chair, plopping her bag on the floor next to her; the twelve year old redhead perched on the end of the bedstead, his feet dangling, and the nine year old blonde plopped on the bed, elbows resting on the bed, head in hands.

Lisa took out the disk, laid it on the desk, and turned on the computer. Tom took Lisa’s bag and took out the toys she had in it. The two boys played with them as she tried to access the program.

The Rangers were in the middle of a tough fight. The Zords were taking a beating from Divatox’s new monster, Zarion, who was from a different planet. He pummeled the Turbo MegaZord, which was by now covered with dents. The monster hit the MegaZord real hard, and sparks flew, inside and outside. The control consoles smoked and drew sparks. The Rangers could see no other option.

“We have to get out of here!” yelled Kat.

“Abandon ship!!” Tommy called and they all jumped out. They landed on the ground and teleported to the Command Center.

Inside her sub, Divatox gloated. “Ohh, I beat them. I beat them!!”

She called up Rita Repulsa. Rita rolled over and picked up the phone. “Hmmm?’”

“Hi, Rita, honey, it’s Diva.”

“Wha?”

“I got the Rangers.”

Rita sat straight up in bed, waking Zed. “You got the Rangers?”

“They ran away, scared.” Divatox blew on her nails and dried them on her skirt.

Zed grabbed the phone. “Well, keep an eye on them.”

“I will, Zeddy boy, I will.” She hung up the phone, and rejoined the celebration.

“A.J.? Tom? Lisa?” A.J.’s mom called from downstairs. “Do you wanna see the news?”

“NAH!!” they all called.

“The Rangers are on.”

“Really?” asked Tom and A.J. They ran downstairs, leaving Lisa upstairs with the computer. She loved computers and was really good at them. Usually, they didn’t miss behave, but for some reason . . . She stopped short.

“I’m sorry, but due to the defeat of the Turbo Rangers, this program, and all others pertaining to them, will not be accessible. Divatox, the ruler of the world.”

Lisa sniggered. ‘She can’t defeat the Rangers,’ she thought. Then, a loud moan came from downstairs. She left the computer, went to the upstairs balcony, and leaned over it.

“What happened?” she asked.

“The Rangers ran away from the monster, and the Turbo MegaZord blew up,” Tom called back. He cranked up the volume so she could hear the broadcast.

“ . . . . and the Rangers fled after an extremely fierce battle with one of Divatox’s monsters. Shortly after they teleported away, the Turbo MegaZord exploded, throwing debris everywhere. Hundreds are hurt, and we’ll have more news at 6 . . .” The TV screen showed a dramatic explosion of the MegaZord.

Lisa went back to the computer, deep in thought. ‘So, she wasn’t bluffing,’ she thought. ‘She’s gonna take over the world.’

She laid her hands on the keyboard, then reached for the mouse. She clicked on the Shut Down command, which took the computer to the C: prompt. She thought a while. ‘I wonder if I could get into the Command Center’s motherboard?’ She shook her head.

“Nah,” she thought aloud. “They probably have it locked tighter than my sister’s room.”

She typed, cd/tr:/ on the comp.
It said, Bad command or filename.
She typed, cd/mmpr:/
It said the same thing.
She typed, cd/pc:/

The computer paused, and whirred.

‘Now, we’re getting somewhere!’

The computer showed a banner, which seemed to address only the Rangers. ‘Hmmmmm, now how do you talk to these guys?,’ she thought, puzzled, then snapped her fingers. ‘I’ve got it! They have to have a directory somewhere. And all I need to do is access it.’

She typed dir.

The computer whirred and showed a different screen.

     PC:/     dir

     MAIN      dir

     VILLI     dir

     ZORDS     dir

     COINS     dir

     CORRESP   dir

     1326      104 b

     5175      7538 b

She typed zords.

The prompt said PC:/zords . She typed dir again.

The screen scrolled again.

     DINO dir

     NINJA     dir

     ZEOZORD   dir

     TUBRO     dir

     dragonz   150 MB

     whitetig  160 MB

“Cool,” she said aloud.

The Tubro Rangers teleported into a mess. The whole Power Chamber was a mess. The consoles were sending off sparks, and the wires were hanging out all over. The Rangers jumped as one of the screens exploded. Adam, who was the closest, covered his head and protected Justin.

“What happened here?” asked Adam. No one knew.

“Look,” Tommy said and pointed at the glass chamber where Dimitria should have been. It was cracked and she was nowhere to be seen. Justin and Adam ran over to peer inside the broken tube.

“Be careful, you two,” Tommy cautioned. Kat and Tanya sat down and leaned against one of the not-to-mangled consoles. Adam looked into the tube, leaning over the sharp edge cautiously.

“Whatcha got, Adam?” asked Tommy, walking over to join the two. “Not a thing,” said Adam, turning around. “Look,” he said, pointing at the wall.

All the old suits for the Rangers were gone.

Back at A.J.’s house, in the living room, the two boys scanned the channels. Most of them showed the emergency brodcast, the rest were PayPerView, so nothing was on anyway.

“This is scary,” said A.J.

Tom nodded, then turned to look upstairs. “I wonder if she’s getting done yet?”

“I dunno, but she brought a movie, let’s watch it.”

“What if she wanted to see it?”

“Then we rewind it.”

Back upstairs, Lisa was deep in thought. She brushed her hair back behind her ears and focused her blue-green eyes at the screen.

She typed cd/pc:/dir. The screen scrolled back to the original screen.

She typed corresp. The screen went blank.

“Hey, Lisa,” Tom called from downstairs. “Divatox is giving the Rangers a speech. This is scary. ‘Jyou here me?”

“Yeah,” Lisa mumbled.

Back at the Power Chamber, Adam had walked away from the glass chamber and over to one of the least damaged consoles. He pushed a button and a small screen popped up. His fingers typed quickly over the keyboard. Then, he stopped.

“Hey, what’s this?” he said aloud.

Tommy and Justin walked over. “What’s what?” Justin asked.

“Look,” Adam said and pointed to the screen. “Do you see these commands?”

Tommy nodded. “What commands?” asked Justin.

Adam pointed to a line of numbers. “These. It means someone came in here, and these showed that they accessed the panels to the suits. Whoever it was took the suits and left.”

“But what are these?” Justin pointed to a line of codes below it. Adam looked at them, surprised.

“Someone’s accessed the motherboard,” answered Adam.

“What?” Tommy said. “How’d they get in?”

“Must’ve stumbled in,” Adam answered, typing quickly.

A.J. and Tom got bored with the movie, too curious with what Lisa was doing upstairs. They turned off the movie, put it on rewind, and trooped up the stairs, A.J. first, Tom after.

“Whatcha doing, Lisa?” A.J. asked.

“Trying to figure something out,” Lisa said.

Tom looked at the directory and gasped. “You accessed the Power Ranger’s computer?”

“Cool,” whispered A.J.

“Yeah, but I’m trying to figure something out,” she said, typing.

“I’m going to work, okay?” A.J.’s mom called from downstairs.

“Okay,” they called.

‘Hmmm,’ she thought to herself, then glanced quickly at her watch. ‘Oh no, Cousin Jason wanted me to meet his friends, and I’m late!’

She wrote the commands down quickly, threw them in her bag, and rushed down the stairs. The boys got up and followed her down the stairs.

“What happened?” Tom asked.

“I gotta go see my cousin,” she said, opening the door. They followed her out the door, closing it behind her.

“Can we come?” asked A.J.

“You have twelve seconds to get your shoes on and grab your bikes,” she said, lacing her sneakers up. They threw their shoes on and grabbed their bikes as Lisa raced off to get her bike. They biked off together to Ernie’s Juice Bar.

Adam looked at the screen, puzzled. “Whoever it was just logged off,” he said shaking his head.

Tommy glanced quickly at his watch. “Oh man, Jason’s waiting at the Juice Bar.”

“Well, we’d better get going,” Kat said, getting up.

“Can I come?” Justin asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Tonya said.

Tommy, Justin and Kat teleported out of the Command Center, leaving Tonya and Adam to watch it.

Lisa parked her bike on the rack. Tom looked over as a noise came from behind the wall.

“Lisa?” he whispered.

She looked over and ducked behind the dumpster. A.J. and Tom followed her. Three teens walked out from behind it, and went in through the door.

“Who are they?” A.J. asked.

“I dunno their names, but we go to the same high school,” she answered, standing up. Tom and A.J. got up slowly beside her.

“Well, better late than never,” she said and walked through the door.

Jason glanced at his watch. ‘Where’s my cousin?’ he thought. He looked up as Tommy, Kat, and young Justin walked throught the door. He stood up and embraced Tommy warmly.

“Hey bro, long time no see,” said Tommy, patting Jason on the back.

“Hey, same here,” Jason said, sitting down. Kat, Tommy, and Justin sat down also. Jason ruffled Justin’s hair.

“So this is the new recruit,” Jason said, laughing.

“Hey,” laughed Justin, ducking.

“So where’s your cousin, Jason?” Kat asked.

“I dunno, she’s supposed to be here,” answered Jason.

He got up as a brown haired girl entered the Juice Bar, followed by a twelve year old red head and a blonde nine year old.

“Hey, Lisa, over here,” he called, waving her over.

Lisa turned as she heard her name called. She saw her cousing waving for her to come. She waved back.

“That’s your cousin?” asked Tom.

“Yep, that’s Jason,” she said walking over to join him. She hugged him warmly.

“Hey, Jase,” she said, smiling.

“Hey, Lisa, I want you to meet my friends,” Jason said, motioning her to sit. She sat beside him. Tom and A.J. pulled up seats behind her. Tom looked at the people sharing the table. It was the three from behind the dumpster.

“Lisa, this is Tommy, Kat and Justin.” The three smiled. “Who’s your friends?”

“Oh, guys, I’d like you to meet Tom and A.J., my best friends.” Tom and A.J. smiled brightly.

“Lisa’s really good at computers,” Jason beamed. “And now she’s taking karate.”

“Was,” she added, sadly. Jason looked at her. “Mom said she didn’t trust the teacher.”

“Hey, I’ll teach ya,” Jason said, patting her back. She looked up at him and smiled.

“I will too,” offered Tommy.

“Thanks, thanks a lot,” she said, and gave Jason a big hug. Justin looked over at Tom and A.J.

“Hey, don’t you go to Angel Grove Middle?”

“Yeah, haven’t I seen you?” Tom said.

“Cool,” said A.J.

“Into computers, are you?” asked Tommy.

She blushed slightly. “Yeah, but the class says I’m brainy.”

“What’s the problem with being smart?” asked Kat.

“I dunno. Jase, you’ll ask Mom, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll ask her.”

“Can we come too?” asked Tom. A.J. nodded emphatically.

“I don’t see why not,” said Tommy.

“Well, we gotta go,” said Lisa.

“See ya later,” said Jason, and with a hug, Lisa and her friends left.

Lisa, A.J. and Tom hopped on their bikes, and sped to A.J.’s. They dropped their bikes by the door, and Tom and A.J. went inside. Lisa saw a person run by the backyard and drop something. She ran into the backyard, and stooped down to pick up a bag. She opened it and gasped as she glimpsed a familiar Ranger suit. That person had stolen the Ranger’s suits and coins!

Tom and A.J. stopped inside the house as they noticed Lisa wasn’t with them.

“Where’s Lisa?” Tom asked.

“In the back, see?” A.J. said, pointing.

Then, they saw a dimentional gateway appear behind her and a Piranatron walked out from it. The two boys ran over and out the door.

“Lisa! Look out!” Tom called, running over.

Lisa turned up from the bag, and froze when she saw it. It came slowly toward her, arms outstretched. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a thick branch. It leapt at her. She rolled to her left, grabbed the branch and knocked the Piranatron on the back of the head. It turned and grabbed for her foot. She kicked hard with both feet.

“Tom! A.J.! Call Ernie!” she called. The boys ran into the house and dialed the Juice Bar as she grabbed the bag and ran into the forest.

Tommy leaned to the center of the table. “Someone broke into the Command Center and trashed the place,” he whispered.

“That’s terrible,” Jason answered.

“And someone hacked into the computer,” Kat added.

Ernie picked up the phone, then leaned over the counter. “Jason.”

Jason turned to look at Ernie. Tommy, Kat and Justin turned also.

“A kid’s asking for you,” Ernie said, handing him the phone.

Jason took the phone. “Hello.”

“Jason, this is Tom.”

Jason was immediately on the alert. “What’s wrong?”

“A Piranatron’s here and Lisa’s just run off into the forest. I think she found something.”

Jason thanked him and rushed to the table. “Lisa’s in trouble. I gotta go.”

Tommy tapped his communicator. “We can get their faster,” he said.

They ran out of the building and teleported away, Jason also.

Lisa ran through the forest. She jumped over a branch and ducked over another. The Piranatron was not far behind. She dodged a tree, then changed direction as another popped out from behind it. Another dove for her ankle. She screamed and kicked it away.

Tommy, Justin, Kat, and Jason appeared by the edge of the forest.

“Where’s Lisa?” asked Kat.

Then, they heard her scream. “There,” answered Tommy, and pointed down the trail. They heard Tom and A.J. come running up.

“Jason, guys are we glad to see you,” A.J. said.

“C’mon, we know a shortcut,” said Tom and ran down the hill.

“Justin, you and A.J. stay here and keep a lookout,” said Kat. “Divatox might send more.”

The three of them raced after Tom. They slipped and slid a ways down the hill, and hit the ground running. Jason, who was just behind Tom, caught a glimpse of Lisa, running at full speed, followed by three Piranatrons. Jason changed direction, and pummeled his fists into the first. Tommy and Kat followed soon after, taking on the last two. Lisa slowed and turned around, sending a roundhouse kick into the belly of Kat’s, knocking it onto the ground. The remaining two picked up their comrade and fled into the portal.

“Hey,” said Tom. “You guys fight like . . . Nah, it can’t be.”

Lisa went over to her cousin. “You guys are the Rangers, aren’t you?”

Kat’s shoulders drooped slightly and Tommy fidgeted. Jason bit his lower lip, then sighed.

“You might as well know,” he said, looking at Lisa and Tom. “You can’t tell anyone, not even your parents.”

“Not even A.J.?” Tom asked.

“Knowing how younger kids can’t keep a secret very well, I don’t think so,” said Tommy.

“Well, since you’re the Rangers,” Lisa said, taking the canvas bag from her shoulders, “then, you might want this.” She handed the bag to Tommy. He opened it, and took out his old White Tiger power coin.

“Thanks, Lisa,” he said, giving her a hug. “So, you’re the hacker?”

“Yeah, I saw the codes about someone breaking in,” she said.

“Well, you wanna help clean it up,” asked Tommy.

“I can come too?” asked Tom.

“Sure,” said Kat.

Tommy pushed the button on his communicator. “Adam, we have Jason, his cousin, and her friend teleporting with us.”

“Okay, Tommy, ready when you are.”

They teleported to the Command Center. Justin stayed with A.J.

Adam and Tonya looked amazed when they saw Lisa and Tom teleport in. “What are they doing here?”

“Adam, Tonya, meet the hacker,” said Jason.

Lisa looked around. “What happened here? The break-in?”

Tommy nodded. “Lisa, Tom, do you promise never to tell the identities of the Power Rangers?”

Lisa and Tom nodded. “Sure, no prob.”

Lisa drifted over to the console. She typed rapidly over the keyboard. She found out plans to figure out how to fix the Power Chamber. Then, she noticed a file.

“Who’s Alpha?” she asked.

“He’s Zordon’s friend. Where is he?” said Adam, walking over to join her.

“Wait a sec.” She typed a few codes, and a noise in the corner caused them to turn around. Alpha walked out from behind the tube.

“Ai yai yai yai yai!” said Alpha. “What’s going on?”

“Alpha, what happened?” asked Kat, going over to the confused robot.

“Someone slipped a virus into the computer, and it infected me.”

“So that’s why the alarms didn’t go off,” remarked Tonya.

“Well, we’d better get back,” said Lisa. Adam pushed a few buttons and Tom and Lisa teleported back to the forest.

“A.J.? Justin?” called Lisa from the forest as they emerged. They spotted a form on the ground, lying in pain.

“Oh no, Justin,” Lisa said, and ran toward him. Tom wasn’t far behind. She dropped down behind him. She heard the noise of teleportation and Tommy and Jason ran over.

“Justin!” Tommy called. “Is he . . ?”

“He has a pulse,” said Tom.

“Justin, can you hear us?” Lisa asked softly, cradling his head. Justin moaned softly.

“Justin, where’s A.J.?” asked Tom.

“Divatox . . . too many . . . ,” Justin coughed and moaned again.

Tommy kneeled down, and lifted Justin up. “I’ll take him back to the Power Chamber,” Tommy said and teleported away. Jason knelt down beside Lisa.

“Good thing I’m staying over, Cuz,” he said.

“You gonna teach me some moves?”

“Yep, you too need it. Divatox knows you two know, so you guys have to defend yourselves.”

“Okay, I guess,” Tom said. “but I’ve gotta got home.”

“Be careful,” Jason cautioned.

“I will,” Tom said and ran over to his house.

Jason and Lisa walked over to her house. “Well is it over?” “Far from it,” Jason answered. “We have to get A.J. back, fix the Power Chamber, find out who broke into the Power Chamber, get you some karate classes with me and Tommy . . . .”

“AND I have to keep up with high school,” Lisa finished.

“Well, for some unexpected help, you are gonna be quite busy,” Jason said and they went into the house.