Ultimate Power Rangers:
Reloaded
Power Rangers: Chapter
Fourteen 41
Less-Than
Serious
From the
journal of Tommy Oliver
Reefside,
VA 2013
A particular
battle came to mind when Conner, Ethan, and Kira asked me about the weirdest
fight I had been in during my days as a Ranger. I hadn’t thought about the
incident in quite some time. Parts of it were actually fun…and crazy. Crazy
most of all.
It was
eleven years ago back in Angel Grove, when I was still getting used to being a
leader. We fought against the Gorma at the time, and each villain was blood
thirsty and evil to the bone.
Each villain
except for a certain three. Rocky could never remember their names, but he
repeatedly called them the three-stupid Gorma.
We first met
the trio when they tried to defeat us by using soccer. Needless to say, Conner
got a kick out of this part of the story. They set up a soccer game with
electric fields, so every time they scored, the goals sent a bolt of
electricity that exploded against our armor.
It wasn’t
long before we met the dumb trio again, and learned just how far their insane
obsession with sports went.
________________________________________________________________________
Angel
Grove, the present
Rocky was
jogged near the railroad tracks, where a row of boxcars sat empty. He wiped
sweat from his brow and kept moving, despite the nagging feeling in the back of
his mind. Something was not right. He could feel it in the air.
As if on cue, a
civilian stumbled out from between the boxcars and ran for his life, screaming
at the top of his lungs.
Rocky dashed
forward to investigate. He hopped between two boxcars and landed to face three
Gorma he thought were dead” Kamikaze, Tombstone and Telefinia - the three
stupid Gorma.
Kamikaze was
the leader dressed in armor with a motorcycle motif. He wore a white bandana on
his head. The tombstone resembled just that, a broken tombstone with a single
eye. Telefinia was the baby girl of the group, dressed in armor with a
telephone motif.
“You three,”
Rocky said, not bothering to snap into a fighting stance. “You’re still alive?”
The three Gorma
were leaning against another boxcar, their shoulders slumped down low.
Telefinia started crying, sobbing into her hands.
Rocky raised an
eyebrow.
“Do not stare,
Ranger,” Kamikaze said. “You don’t understand. Go.”
“What are you
three up to?” Rocky asked.
“Go,” Kamikaze
said as Telefinia sobbed louder, a high-pitched noise that annoyed Rocky enough
to make him shudder.
Tombstone
looked to his leader. “We should tell him.”
“Are you
crazy?” Kamikaze snapped. “He’s a Ranger. No honor.”
Rocky knitted
his brow. “Excuse me…you kidnapped my friends sister and threatened to kill her
if we didn’t win a soccer game.”
Telefinia
wailed louder.
“Seriously,”
Rocky said. “What’s her problem.”
“Tell him,”
Tombstone said.
Kamikaze
narrowed his eye. “We are sick of fighting. If we beat you at our next game, we
are released. If we lose…we die.”
Telefinia
wailed louder. And louder.
“What are you
saying?” Rocky asked.
“Help us,”
Tombstone said.
________________________________________________________________________
From the
journal of Tommy Oliver
Reefside,
VA 2013
They talked
Rocky into it somehow. He was to throw the baseball game, giving the Gorma a
win, and releasing the trio from their master’s control.
Conner
couldn’t believe any ranger would trust a villain, but I know better. Conner would have probably done the same
thing.
We went to a
baseball diamond later that day and met the Gorma trio along with their team of
Capatros. They each gave us hats rigged with bombs. Kamikaze had assured Rocky
the bombs would be fake.
________________________________________________________________________
Angel
Grove, the present
The rangers
tossed their caps into the air and armed their morphers. “Kiryoku transform,
Aura Power!” they shouted as they connected their morphers. Energy shimmered
around them as they morphed into their armor.
They placed on their hats and snapped into a fighting
stance as a group. “Five Star Task Force…Angel Grove Rangers!” They couldn’t
help but smile beneath their helmets.
The Gorma were
up to bat.
Tenma Ranger
was pitching, Lion Ranger was catching.
Tombstone
stepped up to bat as his sister cheered him on from the dugout.
The Blue Ranger
hurled a fast ball. Tombstone swung the bat, knocking the ball away towards
right field.
Dragon Ranger
pounced forward and used his staff like a pole-vault to reach up and catch the
ball. “Kimberly!” He tossed the ball to Phoenix Ranger at first base.
The Pink Ranger
caught the ball as Tombstone charged towards her. The Gorma opened a crack on
the top of his tombstone. A blast of flame fired from the crack and exploded
against Phoenix Ranger with a burst of spark, knocking her backward.
Tombstone was
safe on first.
________________________________________________________________________
From the
journal of Tommy Oliver
Reefside,
VA 2013
A few
innings later, the Gorma has four runs, and we were…lacking to say the last.
None of us had made it past second base.
So we
decided to get a little creative.
Adam used
his illusions powers to confuse Telefina and make it to home base. Kimberly
used her wind power to make the ball curve in her favor. The White Ranger even
arrived, before we know his true identity. He didn’t use his powers, but
managed to tie the game.
Bottom of
the ninth.
Two outs.
Rocky was up
to bat.
Kamikaze let
loose with a fast ball that Rocky let speed past him. Strike one. We had no
idea at the time that Rocky was actually trying to throw the game. The Gorma
fired a curve ball for his next pitch. Rocky swung a foul that landed in the
dugout and hit me in the helmet, knocking off my hat.
The bomb on
the hat exploded. It was not a fake as they had tricked Rocky into believing.
________________________________________________________________________
Angel
Grove, the present
Tenma Ranger
narrowed his eyes beneath his helmet. Kamikaze laughed at the Blue Ranger,
mocking the teen for falling for an obvious trick.
“I can’t
believe I trusted you…” Tenma Ranger said as he tightened his grip on his bat
and stepped up to the plate.
Kamikaze
laughed. “I can.”
“I am so over
it,” Tenma Ranger said. “Pitch…”
Kamikaze wound
back and launched the ball with a
streak of motion. Tenma Ranger transferred his gravity power into the
bat and swung with a streak of blue. The bat nailed the ball out of the field and
shattered into splitters on impact.
It was a home
run. The Rangers had won, and the three Gorma’s helmets exploded accordingly.
________________________________________________________________________
From the
journal of Tommy Oliver
Reefside,
VA 2013
I could have
explained more. We would run into the stupid trio again. They would actually,
no matter how unlikely, become an important part of Rocky’s experience as a
Ranger.
But that’s a
story for another time.
To be continued…Chapter Fifteen