"Are you his girlfriend?" Randy looked at Emma innocently, his eyes absolutely melting her heart.

"Heh, no we're not," Emma stammered trying not to blush, she could tell that Randy will one day be very attractive in his own right when he got older. She looked to Troy which anchored her once more, "we're just....friends."

A devious smirk crept on Randy's face, he knew Chris would be incredibly jealous if he were to show up next practice with Emma on his arm, "Oh....Wanna be my girlfriend?"

Emma's brow went to the ceiling and her jaw to the floor, blood rushed to her face turning her the shade of Troy's suit. Gia fought to choke back laughter though a couple of chuckles managed to escape. Troy rolled his eyes, since when did his cousins grow so bold he wondered. This conversation lasted longer than he wanted it to.

Emma recomposed herself, seeing that Randy was entirely serious. She shot a glance to Gia telling her to shut up. The yellow ranger turned away continuing to mask her jolly. Emma stooped down to Randy and rustled his hair all while flashing a smile that said she was flattered. "Hehe you're so cute, you have guts compared to my friend's secret admirer."

"He's not that secretive," Troy scoffed taking hold of his cousin's arm. "Anyways, let's go, Randy."

"But but she didn't say anything." The young lover said as he was led away.

"I think she could do better than little guppies," Troy gibed.

Troy and Randy were almost out the door when suddenly there were yells coming from the streets. A dark blur seemed to pass over the glass roof of the mall and almost immediately Randy, Troy, Gia, and Emma's eyes all caught it.

"Did you guys see that?" Gia asked. From the walkway leading into the mall, a sickly teen lumbered toward the entrance, sweat dripped from them and it appeared they were battling some sort of cold.

"Whoa..." Randy and Troy said in unison.

The victim had fallen to one knee becoming unable to walk any longer, their skin starting to turn an unnatural shade of green.

"Hey, are you alright?" Two patrons said as they drew near almost immediately the person sneezed dousing the two good samaritans. In minutes, all three of them were suddenly mutated into loogies, they scattered throughout the walkway sneezing on more innocent people who quickly succumbed and turned into loogies.

"What's going on?" Randy said shaken as Troy escorted him back inside the mall. It wouldn't be long before the loogies made their way indoors. Screams picked up as someone on the upper level took note of the foot soldiers lurking right outside the main entrance. Things were looking bad, fast on his feet Troy pulled Randy along looking for a secure area. He finally spotted what could be the safest space to stash his cousin.

"Come on." Troy yanked open the door to a janitors' room. "Stay here alright."

"Troy, what are monsters doing here?" Randy asked with terror in his eyes.

"Just relax and stay put, I'll come back for you when things quiet down," Troy promised.

"But where are you going? It stinks in here." Randy questioned.

Troy reached into his pocket and handed Randy a handheld gaming device, "Here, something to keep you occupied." Randy's eyes lit up.

"You brought it! Did you bring my games too?"

"Whatever is in there is what you got. I shouldn't be long just stay here and be quiet." Troy instructed.

Randy seemed to understand as he nodded his head and powered on his system. Troy closed the door he surveyed the area and saw that no one was looking. He placed his hand on the handle of the door. Troy calmed himself placing all of his emotion into his grip and there his palm grew warm as now the door to the janitor closet was then sealed shut. Troy grabbed the collar of his jacket and brought it close to his face where he pinned his communicator

"Tensou tell Gosei we got a situation."

The robot assistant wheeled around in fright as the calls from each of the rangers funneled into the base."Oh boy, oh boy, it's a viral attack like a flu, one person gets it and then they spread it to the next person who spreads it to the next person."

"We get it Tensou." The voice of Gia said as she and Emma regrouped with Troy who was still in the mall.

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"A flu? Do you think it's the same Flu from that article?" Jake posed to Noah, the two of them huddled close around Jake's com in the computer lab.

"There's only one way to find out," Noah said as he gathered his things, closing his computer. Jake was not far behind him when he realized he forgot the guitar case as they headed out the door.

"Oh oh oh, I forgot my ax, okay you go ahead I'll catch up with you," Jake said.

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The parking area outside the mall was already swarmed with loogies, more and more people seemed to get infected as the scurried to safety.

"Be careful not to get sneezed on!" Troy announced, Gia and Emma both nodded their understanding. The lime green henchmen waded closer to the three rangers dribbles of snot appeared to seep from the nonexistent noses of the loogies. With no other choice, Troy and the girls summoned their morphers. In flashes reminiscent to their respective colors, the miniaturized face of their mentor appeared in their grasps. They drew down the mouth portion and inserted their power cards.

"Go-Go Megaforce! HA!"

Pressing the mouth shut, the emblem atop Gosei's head glittered and the energy of the morphin grid coursed through the rangers. Now dawned in their energized suits the three of them burst into action. There were still people yet to fully evacuate the area having barricaded themselves in their cars or found places to hide.

Troy took to the air, a group of loogies surrounded an SUV and were beating on it to gain entry. Inside a plump woman was screaming as she fought to put on her seatbelt and start the car. Troy landed near the passenger tail light directing his first punch into the belly of the loogie before grabbing it and throwing it away from the vehicle. The next two he tripped and sent them skittering away. For the remaining few he inserted a power card into his morphers.

"Twist Tornado!" Troy called summoning the red cyclone. With the last of the loogies out of sight, Troy opened the driver's door. "You're safe now."

"Oh bless you," the woman said exiting her vehicle. "Bless you!"

Troy looked over to Gia, a group of loogies managed to surround a family of four, the two parents were covering their kids. She too drew a card from her belt and after much trial with many errors, she finally had gotten a decent hold on this power. She's dedicated much of her training to perfecting her mastery.

"Defense Stone!" Gia called activating her morpher. A series of pillars rose to separate the loogies from the family. Gia bounded over and using one of the loogies as a pole vault she targeted a kick into the chest of another. She threw her makeshift support to the ground. The pillars she summoned returned to the earth as Gia approached the potential victims.

"Get out of here." She said turning to face more loogies.

Emma had her phoenix shot in hand, she was the only one standing between a mother with a newborn and the infectious henchmen. She targeted her fire toward the ground keeping the minions off-balance all while gracefully keeping them at bay with her martial arts. As soon as the last loogie was dispatched she turned to the woman she was defending.

"No one will hurt you now," She said kindly.

The three of them regrouped with one another, all of them breathless.

"To think that the Warstar had this many loogies at their disposal, they were wolves in sheep's clothing," Emma said.

"Tensou was saying something about a virus going around maybe there's a connection?" Gia surmised.

The voice of Gosei boomed through their shared communication line, "Rangers! The loogies you fought, they are just innocent people the virus mutated them!"

The realization felt like heavy plated armor pulling the rangers down beneath the waves. No wonder dispatching them seemed easier than normal. They weren't wolves in sheep's clothing as they had come to believe.

"Then what do you expect us to do? We can't just let them harm any more people." Gia asked.

"This Virus, rangers, is something of extraterrestrial origin, Tensou and I have been monitoring the situation closely. We are yet to fully identify the cause and are even further from developing a vaccine. You must do what you can to contain the spread before this virus conquerors the world. It is my hypothesis that those who have been transformed still have a window before the mutation becomes permanent, however by our calculations the rate of infection has risen exponentially. Be advised that there are still citizens trapped within the bodies of the loogies. Their motor functions may be suppressed but they are still victims."

"How do we stop them without hurting them?" Emma wondered.

"We may not be able to avoid hurting them, but the least we can do is lure them away from uninfected people. Is there somewhere we can go with a wide-open space?"

"I know one, and it's close by, follow me," Gia led the way.

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Noah wheezed as he raced to rendezvous with his friends, leaving his computer in his locker so that it wouldn't slow him down. He was about to teleport when something caught his eye, a moving blur that seemed to be chasing a car moving down the street. The car screeched to a halt as the driver exited to continue fleeing on foot. Noah readjusted his course to pursue the woman and her would-be attacker. Noah summoned his morpher to his hand it appeared in a flash of blue light.

"Jake meet me by the Old price bridge, we got bigger company!" Noah then hung up and loaded his power card into the mouth of his morpher.

"Go, go Megaforce!" The infinite power of the universal morphin grid raced through Noah's body as his ranger suit materialized on him. In the area beneath the bridge known as the viaduct, the woman faced a dead end. The ground behind her erupted in sparks as her pursuer finally closed in.

"Why are you following me?! You got a death wish?" The beast stepped closer to the woman which caused her to stumble, "Apparently, you do and I'm going to give it to ya with my combination slime ball fireball!" Armored clamps which shielded the maw of the invader, opened and a great inferno swirled the heat emitting off in waves. All that the woman could see was her demise in a fiery explosion, however just in the nick of time Noah arrived.

"Defense Stream!"

Torrents of water erupted from the ground and congealed forming a dense shield. Gusts of winds seemed to pick up as Noah fought back against the Warstar attack. The blue ranger held his ground but the ensuing gale pushed the woman against the wall her head knocking against the concrete she was out like a light. Rebounding the attack Noah looked back to check on the woman he shielded only to recognize her face.

"M-Michelle?" Noah rushed to check her pulse which still beat strong yet there was a lump forming on the back of her head. The blue ranger whirled to face the monster, a wave of fierce anger in his eyes. "What do you want with her Insectoid?!"

"You will address me as Virox, human!" The monster chuckled, "You ever been involved in an epidemic? Well, you are now."

"Epidemic?" Noah thought to himself, suddenly it all clicked, "Are you the cause of all those sick people?"

"Oh, how smart you are. Blue rangers have been a bit on the stupid side. Nobody interferes with me and my mission!" Virox exclaimed.

"Oh yeah then talks over!" Noah summons his shark bowgun and fires aiming for Virox's exposed mouth. The armored clamps reengaged deflecting the arrows.

"Huh?" Noah was baffled by the monster's fast response time.

"You dare attack Virox? Just wait until I get my slime on you!" Virox charged forward and Noah braced himself expecting a big hit.

From behind the black ranger appeared overhead with his ax raised high, "Hey ugly, heads up!"

"Jake!" Noah called seeing his friend. The snake ax bit into the monster's back in two quick strokes. Jake landed with his back faced toward Noah, the ax still primed and ready to strike.

"Got here as fast I could, now watch my back," Jake smirked as he stampeded forward for another attack. He swiped once more with his ax only striking air. The monster returned the black ranger's initial strike with two of his own, this brought Jake back near Noah.

"Wait Jake, remember that article, my guess is that he's the originator of this virus. So we can't move forward without a plan." Noah called.

"Well while YOU get thinking, I'll hold him off." Jake bolstered rising to his feet. He took notice of the battlefield and behind him was Michelle hunched over sitting below the wall, "Who's that girl?"

"This warstar was chasing her, I'm not sure why. Focus Jake, he's getting up." Noah commanded readying his bow gun.

"WHY YOU!" Virox sent another round of blasts at the rangers. They maneuvered out of the way with Noah taking aim once more with his bow gun. He fired directing three shots towards Virox's abdomen, they all found their mark inflicting minimal damage. Jake burst forward swinging his ax low, he quickly turned his blade and directing the slash upward as well not dealing any significant damage.

The echo of the fight finally managed to reach Michelle, her eyes blinked open to see a blue and black-figure waging war against the extraterrestrial invader. The back of her head was pounding and she could feel a forming lump.

"Together now!" Noah ordered.

"Right!" Jake responded.

The two rangers ran forward, Noah opened fired with a rain of energy bolts followed by Jake who delivered a critical slash with his ax. The damage though not critical enough to be fatal deeply unnerved Virox, if he stayed any longer then without a doubt he will be destroyed. Like the blur he initially appeared as he was gone just as quickly, leaving no trace.

"And you wanted to make another ranger. I guess this one's not a fighter." Jake mocked as the two of them face Michelle. Their weapons vanish no longer being needed.

"Man, I cannot wait for you to work on that ax," Jake said rolling his shoulder, "After swinging that thing it feels like my arm is about to fall off."

"I'll look at it later, for right now we need to make sure that this woman is alright," Noah said sprinting beside Michelle who was struggling to stand. "Hey there, are you hurt?"

"No no I'm fine thank you, it's nothing serious." She said.

"Do you know why that monster was following you? He seemed to have a general interest in you?" Noah asked.

"Um, no I don't, but thanks again," Michelle said nodding to the rangers dismissively. She turned to walk away her head still swimming but she pushed away the pain.

"Wait, hold on a second." Jake stopped the girl.

"What? I said I don't know why."

"Listen you don't have to be scared. We're here to help. There's a virus spreading and if he's after you for some reason we need to know." Jake touted assuredly.

"I can get into trouble if I told you." Michelle asserted.

"Why? Do we look like S.P.D to you?" Jested the black ranger.

"Please don't be afraid." Noah encouraged.

"I can see you're having a hard time trusting us, don't worry I know how to fix that," Jake begins to glow purple as his suit vanished from his body. Underneath he was beaming energetically.

"JAKE! Are insane?!" Noah was appalled, "The number one rule of having a secret identity is to keep it secret, what the heck are you doing!"

"What? I'm just trying to gain the lady's trust, she's been through a lot already." Jake shrugged he was tired of living in a lie.

Michelle squinted her eyes, ponderous, this was not what she was expecting from the great defenders of the earth.

"Who are you guys?" She wondered.

"Well it should be obvious, we're power rangers." Jake professed the thrill of the moment ever-present on his face.

"Yeah, I can see that but I don't think a superhero would just reveal his identity to anyone."

Today must not have been her day, first her mother and brother contract a strange disease and warp into monsters, second, she encounters the probable cause of this pandemic only to then be rescued by famed heroes, and third, it turns out that one of those heroes is no older than herself.

"Yeah, Jake!" The blue ranger griped.

"Oh come on Noah, it's about time we got a little recognition," Jake said.

"Noah?" Michelle was surprised it hadn't all made sense until now. The blue ranger's voice sounded familiar but she couldn't quite place it. Through the fog of her unconsciousness, she thought she heard him recognize her but there's no telling the truth of that.

The blue ranger demorphed with a sigh revealing that Michelle's suspicion was right. "Noah, you're a power ranger?"

"Yeah," Noah confessed.

"Wait you know this girl?" Jake looked to his friend shocked.

"Yeah, apparently!" Noah's fury was starting to leak out against Jake, something that was rarely seen by anyone.

"You've been a ranger all this time Noah?" Michelle asked, the realization starting to settle in.

"Only for a few weeks...I wanted to tell you Michelle, I did but...I'm sure you can guess why I didn't." Noah sighed.

"That encryption you had me crack, what was it really? You said it was something related to the pentagon making power rangers?"

Jake stood between the two watching the discussion transpire. He kept glancing from face to face dependant on who was speaking. He still couldn't wrap his head around how someone like Noah was able to wow a beauty like Michelle.

"I got to give it to you Noah, I really underestimated you." Jake clapped his friend on the back.

"Can you give me a moment?" Noah snapped giving Jake a death stare. The black ranger raised his hands in surrender realizing he may have overstepped. He accustomed himself to the graffiti that detailed the wall on which Michelle had rested.

Noah turned back toward Michelle, "Sorry about him, as I was saying that wasn't a total lie...it was archived footage I sorta stole from our base. I don't think our mentor would approve of what I'm doing and so I took matters into my own hands."

Jake's ears perked at the sound of Noah stealing, he reintroduced himself to the conversation, "Wait wait a second, Noah, you stole that footage from Gosei?"

Noah inhaled sharply as he again gave Jake a powerful glance, "Jake please, not now."

"My bad, I'll just wait over here." Realizing he again overstepped his bounds Jake excused himself once more this time further away than he was before.

"Listen, Michelle, I didn't want you to find out about me this way, but right now is a really critical moment. Why did that monster seek you out? It doesn't make sense that he cornered you for no reason," Noah said.

"......He didn't seek me out, I've been following him.......My brother got infected and I've been working to create a cure. I've been unsuccessful in isolating the correct strains of the virus and it would be a lot easier if I got a hold of the master strain. That freak seems to be the cause to all of this and it alone holds the key to finding a solution," Michelle replied.

"It was dangerous and reckless to try and face it on your own."

"But I had to try! For my brother and all others out there who've mutated into those green things. That monster gets around a lot, if we don't stop him soon the whole world would succumb to this virus."

"So is that why you left so suddenly this morning?" Noah asked as Jake peered his ears.

"Yes Noah, but I have to stop wasting time now. my mother is infected as well."

"Well don't worry little lady, all we have to do is defeat the monster and your brother and mother should be back on their feet in no time," Jake said, butting into the conversation once again.

"Is this your friend or something?" Michelle said.

".....Unfortunately," Noah said.

"Well Black Ranger..."

"Just call me Jake." Jake smiled.

"Jake...in this circumstance, destroying the monster wouldn't magically solve our problems. If we do that then there's no hope in stopping the spread of this virus. I must develop an antidote before you destroy him."

"I read about a similar outbreak in silver hills. The company Bio Labs managed to rapidly-produce a treatment before isolating and eliminating the threat." Noah said.

"If you ask me it was an insurance policy to make sure the vaccine worked, but I see your point," Michelle said.

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Troy, Gia, and Emma emerge on an open plaza with Loogies appearing by the hundreds. They swarmed toward the non-infected stirring up more fear and hysteria. New cases seemed to spring rapidly, anything from a touch to a sneeze, even a brush of air from an infected person only served to pass the virus on. An older woman waded near troy, her skin just starting to turn green.

"Please help me," She begged.

She stumbled, the sickness beginning to take over her. Troy reached out stopping her before she hit the ground. The moment he made contact his fingers and hands began to tingle. A cry went out from the woman and her eyes became wide as saucers.

Troy became fearful thinking that his abilities may have awakened. Instead, rather than leave a scorched handprint on the woman's body from where he held her, he saw the woman's natural color return to her and the corruption of the infection vanished.

The woman got to her feet feeling much more like herself.

"Huh?" Troy couldn't believe his eyes.

"Thank you!" The lady then left.

Troy looked down at his hands away from the lady, this was the first time he had ever healed someone.

Gia and Emma had continued walking not knowing that Troy had stopped. Emma looked back to see what had become of their red ranger only to notice he had taken a sudden interest in his palms.

Creeping slowly and silently a freshly infected loogie crept closer almost within striking range. A sudden rush of sympathy and compassion bolted through Emma. She opened her mouth hailing Troy's attention. "Troy!"

Before the red ranger could react Emma had already ran to his side and kicked the loogie away.

Troy looked to his partner a surprised and curious expression on his face, "......thanks..." he muttered.

Not paying any mind to the gesture of gratitude Emma continued on her walk as if nothing had happened. "Come on, Gia found the place."

Trailing after the girls this time being more mindful of his surroundings Troy now found himself in the warehouse district which was now vacant due to the virus.

"Right through these gates," Gia said pushing open a chain-link fence. The rattle of the gates echoed throughout the area which lured more loogies in. They were magnetized by the three uninfected humans. Snot dribbled down the faces of the loogies, the three rangers could smell the stench of corruption.

The crowd of loogies pressed in on three sides. Any hope of escape seemed to dwindle as the masses swelled to innumerable heights.

"Oh no." Emma gasped

Troy glanced behind him to see a blue metal crate. Since Emma saved him earlier this would be his chance to return the favor.

"Let's go this way." Troy thought fast as he led the girls towards the crates. The first person up was Emma followed by Gia. The girls reached down to assist Troy who managed to grip their outstretched hands just in time. The lime green wave was upon him them the army of loogies reaching on all sides of the crate trying to reach the rangers.

"Get back!" Troy called his hand brushing the shoulder of one of the henchmen. Once again a tingling sensation passed through his hand. The loogie he touched collapsed trembling and soon they arose once again human. Troy touched another and another, every person he laid a hand on somehow warped back into their true forms. A relief came over Troy, the hope that he can solve this pandemic shined bright.

The catch however was the toll this purification's extracted from Troy. With each reversion of loogie to human, a portion of his strength left his body. What made things worse was the fact that because so many had wandered close those who were freed from the infection were swiftly reinfected. Troy staggered to stay on his feet, he wasn't sure how many more he could purify.

Gia and Emma each faced opposite sides batting away Loogies. This was the least they could do while they all pondered what their next course of action should be. The sound of a thud rattled the crate the three rangers stood on, this could only mean that one of them has fallen. Emma stole a glance behind her to see Troy sprawled on his back.

"Troy! Are you okay? What's wrong?" Emma cried concerned.

"Emma, was he infected?" Gia wondered pulling Troy away from the edge.

"I don't know Gia, Troy, what's wrong?"

Sweat seemed to bleed through Troy's red undershirt, he seemed to be burning with a fever and his skin felt clammy. Gia pulled out her morpher. "Gosei, I found the perfect spot to quarantine the infected loogies but we have another problem! Troy's-"

Gia couldn't finish her sentence when Troy put his hand over her morpher, he swallowed the symptoms he was feeling and roused himself to stand. "I'm fine," he croaked the sweat on his brow began to recede even if slightly, "You don't need to freak out or anything, I'm okay."

The red ranger was far from okay but now wasn't the time to dwell on that, what was important was halting the spread of the virus.

"Since we drove these loogies here let's make it so they can't leave," Troy suggested.

"Wh-what did you have in mind?" Gia asked.

"A Triune Triad, the three of us will combine our powers and build something to keep them here," Troy said.

"Are you strong enough? You seem pretty out of it," Emma pondered.

"I'll be fine, no time to discuss."

The three of them readied their cards.

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The car came to a stop in the driveway of a suburban house, Michelle opened the door allowing Jake and Noah access to her home. The pride that Noah felt was through the roof this was the first time he'd ever laid eyes on the residence. Noah couldn't decide whether or not he should remove his shoes as he walked in or should he have brought a gift. Jake on the other hand was all smiles, he wanted to see just how far the rabbit hole goes. Skipping formalities, Michelle ushered her two guests into her home not even daring to announce their presence.

"Michelle, thank goodness you're okay." The old sensei was pacing the living room, armed with a katana just in case. He embraced his daughter in a tight hug.

"I am okay dad, and I brought help," Michelle said extending her hand to her guests.

"Noah?" Michelle's dad was puzzled.

"Sensei..." The blue ranger dipped his head in a respectful bow, "This is my friend Jake." The blue ranger had removed his shoes before properly entering the home in order to honor his teacher's heritage and culture and urged Jake to do the same.

Dismissing the cue his friend was giving, Jake approached the withered old man with an outstretched hand, "How are you doing, sir? Jake Holling Black Megaforce ranger."

Noah's head shot up from his bow embarrassed and furious, "Jake!!! Why are you telling everybody?"

Jake looked back to his mortified friend with a passive smile "Noah, we talked about this."

The old sensei dismissed Jake's approach and locked eyes with his daughter, "Michelle, why are they here? You said they are here to help but I don't think anything funny about the illness of my son and wife."

"No dad listen to me please." Michelle pleaded, she looked at Noah with a pleading glance, "can I please tell him?"

"Yes, you may.." Noah consented.

Michelle faced her father once more, "Noah and his friend here are the power rangers, they saved me when I tried to get the master strain."

A startled expression overcame the sensei's face, "You did what?? That was stupid and dangerous. You could have-"

"Dad enough! The more we argue the further we are from a solution." Michelle pushed back.

Stuffing his anger aside the sensei stared hard at his daughter, "do you have anything in mind to save your brother and mother."

"I've been tracking this monster for days, he's quite slippery but I think I finally locked on to his pattern. He's usually drawn to areas where there's a large population. It tends to lurk in the shadows so that it might spread its virus undetected. If we can fool it into thinking that a large number of people are gathering, we can corner it." Michelle explained

"That's putting too many people at risk. There has to be another way." Noah interjected, he couldn't allow innocent people to be used as bait.

"No worries I got it all figured out," Jake said smiling. "What if we order like a whole bunch of frozen pizzas and sodas. We find an empty house or whatever and set it up like we're having a party. The monster shows up, Noah and I beat him down and then we all eat pizza. Everybody with me?" Jake asked but no one answered. "Alright great, I'll get the pizza, and Noah you're on drinks. I think we can leave the location bit to Michelle. I'd say we meet in about 20 minutes."

Jake was out the door in a flash and no one bothered to chase after him.

"Your friend has great optimism but lacks foresight, I trust you to educate him Noah you're one of the most disciplined students I've ever had." The sensei said with a tone of pride in his voice.

"Thank you sensei, I'm sorry about my friend. He just a little excited when wanting to be the center of attention." Noah bows respectfully. His master turns to his daughter.

"I cannot say that I approve of your desire for danger, encountering this monster can prove to be highly detrimental and I cannot imagine what I would do if you were hurt."

"Father I--"

Sensei held up his hand, "however, you have chosen to put what's best for your family and friends first and for that, I will always be proud of you. Keep your eyes alert to danger, do not let your enemy catch you off guard."

"Yes, father," Michelle said as she turned to Noah. "Are we really doing the pizza thing?"

"No, I got something better in mind," Noah said.

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The Warstar commanders peer down on the planet below a glint of pride in their eyes. The scientist Vrak was exceptionally pleased things were falling perfectly into place.

"This plan is working exceptionally well Admiral, Virox has caused a full-on pandemic. The rate of infection is through the roof and in moments the entire city will be ready for harvesting. I'll instruct Virox to continue his spread of this virus until the whole planet has been subdued."

"Excellent work Vrak, soon we'll have a fresh army of soldiers, our next step will be to scour the universe for strong warriors I believe the planet Onyx will be a delectable choice," Malkor spoke.

"As you command Admiral, I'll prepare the ship's navigation."

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Emerging from the supermarket, Jakes's hands were stacked high with frozen pizzas. He was lucky enough to find that this store was open, most of the others he passed were barred shut. While he walked in the direction of the rendezvous point his phone buzzed with the sound of an emergency message. He fought to free the device from his pocket while maintaining the balance of the pizzas in his grasp.

ALERT: A VACCINE HAS BEEN DEVELOPED. ALL THOSE NOT INFECTED PLEASE MEET AT THE DISCLOSED LOCATION.

Jake was surprised, how was it that this pandemic was solved so quickly. Another text from Noah answering the question. He hacked into the city emergency response system and passed that word along in a controlled area. That should be enough to lure the monster right into their trap.

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The trap was set to be sprung near the lab where Michelle worked part-time, the garden space in the rear was made vacant and it was there that Noah lay hidden. As if on cue Virox appeared and was scanning the area.

"This has to be the place, according to the report I intercepted from the humans a vast number of people should be gathering here for a supposed cure. We'll see how well that works out when I spread my virus," the monster laughed.

The area was vacant not a single person was in sight, neither tables and chairs nor refreshments were laid out and not a single medical truck was nearby. Virox felt duped, he thought it would be quite hysterical for people to gather expecting a cure only to contract the disease they were trying to avoid.

"Hey, Virox!" Noah called once more clad in his blue ranger suit, he stormed forward firing his shark bowgun. The arrows deflected harmlessly off of Virox's smooth skin.

"You're pity attacks will do nothing on me!" The Warstar invader replied the clamps of his maw opening and allowing him to spit fireballs. Noah dodged some and countered others with a burst from his bow gun there had to be a way to deal significant damage to this guy but nothing Noah did proved to be sufficient.

"Noah! Go, go Megaforce!" Jake said entering the fray armed with his snake ax. The first stroke pressed into the chest of Virox exposing a line of soft flesh. Green ooze began to leak out from the opening as Jake prepared for his second stroke. The blade of the ax was blocked by the iron mace the monster had over his left hand, the clash of the two weapons sent tremors up Jake's arm causing him to release his hold on the Axe. Virox opened its ghastly mouth and spewed another volley of fireballs which sent Jake tumbling toward his friend Noah.

Virox chuckled, "You know black ranger if you were trying to be stealthy, announcing your presence doesn't work!"

"I wasn't trying to sneaky, I just happened to be in the neighborhood... delivering pizza. Uh Noah," He turned his head to the blue ranger, "A heads up would have been nice."

"Yeah, same goes for you, Jake," Noah said.

"Whatever your mouthing about it's too late. That antidote is mine and you'll be infected!"Virox lobbed another blast from the base of his throat. The two rangers dove behind a statue cowering. 

"Noah! What's going on? I thought we went with the pizza idea?!" Jake squealed.

"Jake only you thought that, you didn't give me time to think. Right now we need to be smart about how we bring him down. None of my bolts seem to be able to break his skin, I'm not sure what else we'll be able to do." Noah examined.

"..uh well I think I was able to wound him with my ax, I noticed on my first swing I managed to scrape him. I tried to go for a follow-up but the darn thing is so heavy he managed to counter it," Jake complained.

The facts passed through Noah's mind Ashe considered them, "Hmmm if I can somehow get a hold of your ax, I might be able to inflict some serious damage on him enough to where one of my bolts can pierce him."

"Well now's your time to act because here he comes!" Jake spouted as Virox was indeed charging.

The snake ax lay equidistant from where both Noah and Virox were standing, the blue ranger needed to act fast. He primed his bowgun aiming primarily at the ground in front of Virox. Flashes of light erupted around the alien as Noah met his charge with his own. While he ran he continuously fired his bowgun. The closer he drew to the ax the more bolts he fired all of which began to stun and delay Virox.

The perfect window of opportunity arose, Noah tossed his weapon into the air while at the same time stooped down low to collect Jake's ax. The hand of the blue ranger coiled around the handle and when he tried to lift it, Noah could feel the weight. Jake was not kidding about how heavy the weapon truly was. Heaving with all of his might Noah brought the head of the Axe down with a mighty swing. Once more Virox attempted to shield himself with the use of his iron mace, the weapons clashed once more. Rather than lose the tool as Jake has, Noah instead used the momentum from the rebound to augment another swing. He whirled around putting all of his might into this next blow targeting the green dribble that Jake had opened earlier.

The blade of the ax struck cleanly and powerfully opening the wound even more. Tossing the ax aside Noah's bowgun landed once more in his hand. He positioned the tip of his next bolt perfectly with the wound both he and Jake exposed, pulling the trigger a silver arrow extended from the wound in the center of Virox's chest. Noah wretched the arrow free the tip of which was stained with Virox's DNA.

Michelle rose from her hiding place behind a series of bushes near the back entrance of the building, Noah ran to greet her the arrow in hand.

"I think you can use this," he greeted.

"This is perfect, I should be able to create a proper cure for this disease, thanks to Noah and you too Jake!" Michelle said excitedly taking the arrow away.

"Wooo Noah! Where did you learn that, that was so awesome!"

"Michelle's father, my Sensei," Noah answered.

"Nice! From a nerd, to a ranger, to bow gun genius and now a swordsman? You're practically going viral!" Jake said.

Virox stood once more clutching the oozing wound on his chest.

"I'll make you pay for the damage you caused me!" The Warstar swore.

The sting of lasers peppered his back, he turned to see the red, yellow, and pink rangers standing behind him each of them armed with their mega blasters.

"Hey! Glad you guys finally decided to show up!" Jake said, "We basically beat the bad guy already."

The three joined beside their companions.

"We got a little tied up figuring out how to quarantine a few hundred loogies," Gia said.

"Troy had the brilliant idea of using a triune triad to create a box and keep them in." Emma said cheerfully.

"You know I could have thought of that," Jake smiled.

"I'm sure you could have," Gia agreed.

Virox found his footing once more, Troy saw him rise and summoned his dragon sword.

"Let's put this pandemic to rest," the red ranger said with his sword gleaming bright. The other rangers nodded and readied each of their unique weapons.

"Bring it on!" Virox challenged.

Troy was the first to make contact lashing with his dragon sword, Gia followed behind driving her tiger claw forward with a series of ferocious strikes. Jake was third in line he brought the blade of his ax down with a vertical chop, he finished his assault with a horizontal slash. Supporting Jake with blasts from her Phoenix shot Emma kept Virox off of his toes. The last to finish the barrage was Noah. He launched two bolts from the tip of his bow gun both of which exploded against Virox's chest. Noah then rebounded over his opponent and deliver another two shots which dealt significant damage to the armored back of Virox.

The monster was nothing more than a lingering flame as he could do nothing to stop the rangers. The weapons that were used to damage the insectoid fused into the Megaforce blaster. Each of the rangers placed their respective power card on their weapon pouring in the elemental energy.

"Dynamic Victory Charge Fire!" Noah called as Troy pulled the trigger. The complete Megaforce seal surges forward in golden light raising Virox into the air and reducing him to chunks.

The high-pitched squeal similar to bats filled the sky as the mono-eyed zombats appeared over the remains of Virox, synchronizing their gaze the gigantification process enacted. Virox was raised higher and stronger than he was before, he stood towering over the rangers the volume of his voice boomed as he issued his challenge. "Who's big and bad now rangers, at this height my virus will spread over the whole planet!"

"Not if we can stop it," Noah retorted as he and the others drew the cards depicting their zords.

"Summon Mecha Zords" the voice of Gosei resounded. From the land, sea, and sky the mechanized vehicles responded to the call arriving to assist the rangers in this titanic battle. With no time to waste the rangers pulled their zords together to bring down Virox once and for all.

"Gosei Great Megazord Ready!" The rangers announce.

"Five or one it doesn't matter, you're all going down!" Virox bellowed the spiked mace on its left arm drove toward the head of the Megazord. The shark zord rose in defense to block the punch and the phoenix fist struck the abdomen of Virox driving him back.

"Dragon sword!" Troy called as the Megazord drew its mighty weapon. Virox spit hurdling a fireball that wrenched the sword from the shark grip.

"Our sword!" Jake called.

With the dragon sword now in hand, Virox had the advantage in the battle. With only a few slashes the Megazord was brought down to one knee.

"Our energy readings are reaching critical levels we can't take much more of this," Emma reported.

"We have to get that sword back, it should never have escaped our grip so easily," Troy said.

Noah pounded his console, "It's my fault we lost the sword Troy, and I'll make sure we get it back!" Noah exclaimed the fury rising in him.

Once more Virox brought the edge of the stolen weapon down, Noah jerked his control sticks causing the shark zord to reach out and bite down on the blade he was determined to wrench the weapon free no matter what it takes. His belt began to glimmer, from the buckle a new car levitated into Noah's hand. The image depicted three new zords under the title, "Sea Brothers."

"Whoa, what you got there Noah?!" Jake asked taking notice of the new card.

"It looks like some help," Emma said.

"If it can get us out of this situation, I'll say go for it call those new zords!" Gia said.

The blue ranger placed the card into his morpher which was assimilated into the dashboard. The sigil atop the miniaturized face of Gosei glittered as his voice boomed from far off,"Summon Mechazords!"

From the sea, the three new zords appeared the whizzed, and flew by the Warstar invader who was still trapped in Noah's grip.

"Sawshark Zord, Hammerhead Zord, Manta Zord!" Noah announced the three sea brothers who discharged their cyan blue energy beams. Virox stumbled from the attack, the great dragon sword clattered to the ground.

"A few new toys won't be enough to stop me!" Virox bantered.

"We'll see about that!" Noah retorted taking hold of another new card this one depicting a new Megazord configuration. He inserted the card into his morpher.

"Gosei Great Megazord: Sea Combination!" Once more the symbol atop Gosei's head glittered as the new transformation took hold.

The heads of the phoenix and the shark detached from their normal places and relocated to the knees of the Megazord. The sawshark and hammerhead shark assumed the roles of the new hands. The head of the Megazord once more melded into the body of the dragon which allowed the manta to reveal the face it had hidden as it mounted and became the new head to the Megazord.

"It's time to take this guy under the sea!" Noah exclaimed.

"Really dude? Was that the best you got?" Jake complained.

They moved the Megazord forward the new combination rejuvenating the failing energy levels. The Megazord lashed using the saw shark zord, the teeth of its saws bit into the body of Virox who howled at the initial blow. The hammerhead was next, the blunt edges working to further spread the damages that were initially exposed by the saw shark assault. The two strikes shattered the hardened and dense shell of Virox.

"Man, these sharks pack a lot of bite!" Emma cheered.

"Let's see if we can find a weak spot," Noah gleamed, "Manta Scan!"

The left side of the screen became tinged red and a series of numbers flashed across. Finally, the locator pointed out a thin portion of flesh the perfect place to land the final crucial blow. With one last slam of his morpher, Noah inserted the last of his new cards. Power pooled and compressed into the twin shark heads stationed as arms.

"Dynamic Victory Charge: Blue Sea Crush!" The rangers announced.

Using the fully energized saw shark and hammerhead zords the rangers dealt two devastating blows in the shape of an X.

The Rangers celebrated their victory especially Noah who was proud of his work.

Jake clapped Noah on the back gleaming, "Say something cool like Mega rangers victory is ours, or Mega win!"

"Can you knock it off with that already, we still have work to do," Noah said.

"What else do we have to do?" Jake asked.

"The virus is still out there we need to focus on brewing an antidote,"  Noah said.  He then descended from the Megazord and quickly demorphed. He fell in beside Michelle who was fast at work extracting Virox's DNA from the arrow Noah provided her. The other rangers as well vacated the Megazord allowing their titan to disengage to its various components and return to their hiding places yet their ranger suits remind on. Once on the ground almost immediately news vans can be seen pulling up around the lab.

"Oh great.." Troy said sarcastically, he Gia, Emma, and Jake all remained veiled in their ranger suits. A blonde woman hurried to the front of the line with a microphone in hand.

"Excuse me rangers, that was excellent work you've done there. mind if we ask you some questions." The lady called a bright smile on her face.

Jake was excited, "Really? sur-" 

"No," Troy said cutting off Jake. He has had his fill with news reporters and was not in the mood to share anything.

"What?" The woman was taken aback, "Allow me to introduce myself I'm Cindy Mills with Hardwood Watch care to give a few words on the phenomenal work you did here today?"

"We're not answering any questions." Troy insisted in a stoic tone.

"Uh let me abbreviate in a better way, he's a little shy but I'm not! I would love to answer all the questions you have," Jake said posing for the camera.

"We shouldn't be entertaining the media," Troy said bitterly.

"Ah C'mon Red, as rangers we need to learn how to engage our audience and really get to know them. Let them feel safe when we come around," Jake flipped through the air which raised a round of applause from the waiting crowd.

"I think what the red ranger is trying to say is that the media tends to ask questions that we can't answer," Gia added.

"And we talked enough," Troy responded.

Jake looped his arm around Gia and Troy's shoulder and waved, "you guys need to learn how to loosen up and have fun, they love us!" 

"So red ranger is the leader of the team what word of advice can you give to all those hiding in their homes due to the Harwood Plague?" Cindy posed thrusting the microphone into Troy's face.

"Come on Troy this could be good," Jake whispered

Troy raises a hand pushing the microphone away, "I don't have time for this." The cameras remained rolling as the red ranger walked away along with the yellow and pink ranger in tow. 

"Wait...Uhh, could you hold on just a moment?" The black ranger asked as he scurried to Gia, Emma, and Troy. Jake then halted for a brief moment. Did the others not see how hungry the world was to hear from them? This whole notion of keeping things under wraps seemed primitive and archaic,  it was time he shed some light on the matter. Pivoting on his heel he opened the door once more to engage the media, if they wanted a show he would be the one to give them one.

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Troy had returned to the janitor closet in the mall, the door was still sealed from when he shut it earlier. With no one around enhanced strength forcefully opened the door to find his cousin Randy sitting there with stars in his eyes.

"Y-Y-You're Megaforce Red! I can't believe I'm meeting you, my name is Randy!" The boy said excitedly.

"Nice to meet you, Randy, your cousin told me where to find you, he wanted me to tell you how brave you were during that monster attack," Troy said speaking softly.

"You know my cousin!? I wonder how come he never told me you guys were best friends."

"I'm sure he has his reasons, he also wanted me to tell you that he's on his way here and that he wants you to wait for him. He should be here soon."

"I'm just glad he hasn't forgotten bout me."

"I don't think he could, I may not know you that well but you seem like a very smart kid."

"When I get older I'm gonna be the red ranger just like you," Randy gleamed.

"You can be whatever you want to be, now I need to get going just wait right here for your cousin."

Troy vanished behind a corner where he quickly demorphed. He paused a few minutes then made himself known to Randy who was eager to see him.

"Troy you'll never guess who came to rescue me," Randy cheered as the two made their way toward the exit.

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In a few hours, the first round of vaccines were produced. Through the use of his new zords the vaccine was spread across the entire city in the form of a rain shower, all of those who were infected found themselves back to normal.

For dinner that night, Michelle had prepared a feast. Every traditional dish her mother and brother enjoyed was set before them. She even had a few pizzas which Jake had so kindly given her. She was so happy she was able to create a vaccine so quickly and it wouldn't have been accomplished without Noah's help.

"Michelle where is your father, he is missing this meal," her mother asked.

"He may just be training again, I think after today he may be training a lot more often," Michelle joked.

In the back of the house, the old man sat in meditation.

"I know you are there, come out," he called not opening his eyes.

From the shadows, a figure emerged. "You are a very tricky man to hunt down, never would I have thought that a famed blade such as yourself will dwell amongst humans of all races." The figure spoke.

"I have made my peace with my old life, I am much happier with this new one. I know it's no coincidence that you are here Nefarious, now speak your wish and be on your way."

"Ahhh Sensei Argus you know me far too well, so be it. I know the equalizer is on this planet and I intend to capture him dead or alive. Before I make my move however I want to have certain assurances that he is the one."

"And how will you have me prove that?"

"The same way you did on Xenon 9, Gygax, Reshod 12, need I go on?"

"You have made your point, but I will not do this thing."

"Very well, I can't make you. Though I really must ask, how long will you keep your family in the dark about what you are? It's pretty fortunate that neither your wife nor your lovely daughter has ever wondered how you've happened to come such a talented fighter. Think about it."

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The following day Gosei gathered the rangers into the base, Troy per usual was very reclusive even more so given the fact that had Emma saved him. It was an anomaly usually when he's been rude to people they would think twice about helping him but Emma was different. He eyed her wearily as the thoughts passed through his mind. She was engaged in a conversation with Gia about the comments on her paper. She glanced up for just a moment to see Troy's eyes lurking but he quickly looked away. 2 seconds later Jake emerged with his arm looped over Noah's shoulder.

"Make way, ladies man coming through!" Jake exclaimed.

"Jake, what did I tell you, Michelle and I are just friends that's all there is to it."

"Dude she's totally into you, after we helped her spread the vaccine I saw her give you a little peck on the cheek. I almost shed a tear because my little Noah was growing up."

"You're just mad cause that was the closest you've been to a girl kissing you," Gia snapped.

Wounded Jake retorted, "I'm saving myself for the right girl, I just can't be giving every lady free samples."

"Please, as if anyone would date you," Gia added.

"...Just wait and see, if Noah ends up with Michelle best believe I'm going to find someone, if I haven't found her already," Jake winked. Gia rolled her eyes shutting down the conversation.

"I'm glad you proved to be victorious once again rangers, this outbreak could have been devastating to the population of this planet luckily through your efforts the cosmic scales of balance have not tipped anymore to the right or left you should be very proud of yourselves. The number of those infected with this virus have dropped significantly, Tensou and I will continue to monitor the fallout but for now it seems we have pulled through this attack."

"It was all thanks to Noah, he's the one who helped to synthesize the antidote," Gia said.

"Hey! I helped too," Jake said.

"I think Jake means to say we all played our part." Emma corrected.

"You all have done well, it seems that the goal of this latest attack was to quickly harvest soldiers, it is my belief that the armada is planning some sort of large-scale attack though to what magnitude I am uncertain. Until I can identify and understand more it will be beneficial for all of us to take a much-needed rest."

"No need to tell me twice, Anyone down for some pizza? I have boxes with your names on them." Jake gleamed

"Nothing says victory unlike a celebratory meal, I'll help myself to a slice," Gia said.

"Awesome!, what about you two? Emma? Mr. Sunshine?" Jake posed to the red and pink rangers.

"I don't have any plans," Emma said smiling.

"Count me out, I have plans," Troy said.

"Does it involve your cousin?" Gia joked

"Troy has a cousin?!" Jake said surprised.

Troy shot Gia a dirty look, the yellow ranger smirked and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well more pizza for us," Jake shrugged. 

"How many pizzas do you have?" Emma asked.

"Only about 40 pies nothing major."

"40 pizzas!?" Both Gia and Emma were astonished.

"Uh it was for a trap, you know."

"A trap? For what, were you trying to make the monster vomit? We were trying to prevent his saliva from touching anyone else, not the opposite."

"I know it was a dumb idea, but hey at least it got me on the cover of Buzz blast," Jake said.

"Buzz blast? Jake, they don't give accurate facts just generalizations based on what's popular. They're mostly just looking for attention and traction to their articles." Emma explained.

"Oh...so what do I have to do to get noticed by a big publishing company."

"How about don't even try, you're enough trouble already. So don't be an idiot Jake, leave the media alone, or else it'll not only put us in more danger but our family as well."

She said as she walked away, as the conversations dragged on as the four of them lumbered toward the exit.

"Noah, may I have a word with you?" Gosei asked. Noah stood before Gosei silently chewing his lip.

"It seems to me that someone has hacked into the ranger archive, I wanted to know if you knew who did it?" Though the archaic being gave no inkling that he was aware of what Noah has done, that was one area of guilt Noah could no longer live with.

"I am mindful and aware of all you rangers do. Out of respect, I try not to make too large of a judgment call on the things I see, but sometimes I must act." Gosei said.

"...Okay, before you say anything else, let me first say I'm sorry for stealing your encrypted footage. I just thought that I could use all the help we can get."

"Noah, I'm not faulting you for decrypting classified information, I'm fearful that the information could fall into the wrong hands. In the past, those who walk in the ways of darkness have tried on numerous occasions to replicate and create their own deviant rangers. In some cases, the corrupted copies have nearly extinguished their light side counterparts. With you Noah, I wanted to wait until a time when I felt that you were truly ready to learn but now I'm not sure."

"But Gosei, I am ready, I've been looking over all of the archived footage and I think I have a basic understanding." Noah was confident. 

"Things are never quite as easy as they seem, if even one step in the process is done incorrectly the result could be hazardous to both you and the person you had hoped to grant the power to. Be honest, were you planning on making this Michelle girl a ranger?" Gosei asked.

"No, never. I wouldn't want to put her in the same situations we face on a daily basis and I know that she wouldn't want it either. Instead, I would find someone who embodies some of the same characteristics the five of us do. I've noticed that all the teams before us had 6 rangers and I find it troubling how Troy has Emma, Jake has Gia, but I have nobody."

"Believe it or not Noah, in terms of raw power you very well may be the strongest. For your teammates, the power of the elements they possess is split evenly between them, whereas for you the full power of the ocean is at your disposal. While it may be disheartening to seemingly need to act independently, Tensou and I strongly believe that you are more than capable."

Noah was silent for a while looking down, after reaching a conclusion he looked up to his mentor "Thanks Gosei, I'm sorry I was so irrational."

"There is no need for apology, if you would like Noah I can begin to instruct you on the mechanics of the universal morphin grid. Something tells me that a man of your characteristic would be able to put this knowledge to good use." Gosei said.

"I would like that, very much."

"Now we are still waiting for Jake to say something. He can't hide the fact that he exposed himself to an uninitiated person." Tensou acknowledges as Noah's who's jaw dropped.

"Uh, Gosei that wasn't my fault Jake just-"

"No worries Noah, Jake has to deal with his own reckoning."