ARC I
WRATH OF THE DARK RANGER
Cranston Manor
Angel Grove - Los Angeles, California, USA
Friday (Mid Afternoon), September 15th, 2023
As the front gate to the estate slid open, a silver Hummer EV packed with six teenagers passed through and began ascending the long circular driveway to the second floor platform. Behind the wheel was Zeek Cranston, one of his friends in the passenger seat, and then four others crammed in the back despite it only having seatbelts for three. This was a fairly normal occurrence though anytime they went somewhere together, like to the mall or the beach. In this instance, they had all just finished classes at Angel Grove High School and Zeek had invited everyone over to hang out.
“See? I told you guys Angus McSix was dope as hell!” he insisted as the music played through the speakers of the vehicle. He was moving his head along with the beat and drumming on the steering wheel with his thumbs as they came to a halt.
“Dad’s still in Egypt, Mom’s gonna be working super late at the station, and Billy is at a technical conference in Switzerland. So, that means we have the run of the place,” he explained with a grin as the six of them headed inside and grabbed some snacks from the kitchen.
After a few hours of them playing video games, listening to music, and goofing around in the living room, Zeek finally worked up the courage to tell them the real reason he had invited them over.
“Hey guys, can you pause that for a sec? I have something important I need to tell you…”Once he had their attention, he took a deep breath, and then blurted out,
“I’m the Power Ranger! It’s me! I’m him, I mean. I’m the Power Ranger…” After a moment of silence, his friends began laughing hysterically, thinking he was joking. He frowned, and then stood up straight as a dark tar-like substance made up of millions of nanobots began oozing out of the pores on the back of his neck and crawling around his face and body, moving and shifting, encasing him in a suit of black and red beetle-like armor. Throughout the process, scarlet electricity crackled all around him.
“I told you,” he said in a mechanized voice that sounded almost alien as they all stared at him in shock.
“I’m the Power Ranger. And I need your help…” He depowered his suit and left the room for a minute, returning with a large backpack. He opened it and dumped it upside down on the coffee table, and several robotic beetles of different colors poured out.
“I call them the Scarabs. They’re weird alien robot things that must have been locked away in a chamber in Egypt. They must have cloaked themselves and stowed away in my bags when I came back home. The red one bonded with me by force and its AI system tried to take over my mind, but I fought back and gained control over it instead. I learned to navigate the alien software and was able to hack into these other Scarabs and reprogram their AI systems as well so that they are subservient to the host.”He let out a big sigh and then continued.
“But unfortunately, the Black Scarab got away before I could make any alterations, and it bonded with a woman who became the Dark Ranger. I don’t know her real identity yet, but she’s been creating an army of organic-cybernetic hybrid monsters and… I need help. I trust you all more than anyone else, and I know this is a lot to ask, but I’d like you to bond with Scarabs as well to help me defeat her… The AI will be completely subservient to you, I’ve removed all traces of the old programming.”The room was silent for a long moment.
“If you choose to accept this responsibility, just pick a Scarab off the table and place it on the back of your neck. It houses a pocket dimension within its power core where it keeps a supply of nano-mass, which is where the suit and generated weapons come from. Once you are fully bonded, you will see a heads-up display and a user interface within your visual field, which I’ve already translated into English. There are schematics for various energy-based abilities, flight, and weapons, but once you adapt some, you’ll be able to shape the nano-mass by just thinking about it. I know this is all a lot, but… Oh shit!”He snapped his head around and looked out the window as at least two dozen flying bug monsters descended from the sky down onto the outer deck of the mansion. They were each carrying what looked like cyborg werewolves, and began setting them down.
“Shit!” Zeek cried out as the wolf monsters began shooting orange rapid-fire energy bolts from their shoulder-mounted laser cannons.
“Get down!”The glass wall facing the deck shattered, sending shards flying into the living room. The flying bugs then descended lower and began firing out bolts of green lightning towards the teens, blasting furniture instead as they dove for cover.
“Shit! She must have been spying on me somehow and wants to stop me from recruiting any new hosts!” Zeek cursed as he deployed his suit once more. He then turned and yelled to his friends.
“They’re going to try and kill you before you can bond to the Scarabs! I’m sorry I put you in this situation, but I need your help! I can’t defeat them all alone! Please consider making the bond!”And with that, he powered up his jetpack, a pair of red bug wings emerged, he began hovering, and then dove out onto the deck. He materialized two katana-like blades in his hands and began spinning and twirling around in the air as he sliced up a few of the flying bugs, morphing his swords into a shield whenever he needed to deflect an incoming blast.
