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Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers. They belong to Saban Brands and will soon belong to Hasbro. No profit is being made from this fanwork.

Author's Note: This story is based within the recent past and event shown likely occured during earlier sagas. Alphabet Soup is a sub-division of Ranitime Corporation that operates as a seperate entity. They are the same group that caused the Vanjix Virus in Power Ranger RPM... It seems that regardless of the universe they are bound to trigger the end of the world.

Aftershock: Countdown to Disaster By The Q-Team

Alphabet Soup was not an approved Ranitime facility. In fact as far as the corporation was concerned, their part of the organisation had been closed down years before Ranitime had emerged on the stock market. However, a mix up with the paperwork and a deliberate misunderstanding of their instructions had allowed the division to survive on minimal funding to continue their experiments.

In an effort to keep their running costs low and to therefore escape scrutiny by company accounts, Alphabet Soup had adopted a Victorian approach to labour management: they had used children. Over the years they had 'recruited' a number of promising young geniuses and used them to lay the groundwork for their research. And since it was all neatly presented as a corporate think tank, they even avoided taxation.

Since the latter part of the nineties, Alphabet Soup had been engaged in the tracking, isolation and utilisation of extra-dimensional energy fields. They had recovered the chest section of the ruined Time Force Megazord Mode Red, And used the temporal components inside to pierce small holes in the dimensional fabrid; the Time Force Megazord was incapable of time travel, but for an organisation like Alphabet Soup there were other things they could do with it.

This had led to the study of the temporal interference that had rendered the machine incapable of returning to its point of origin. They had locked a new energy that rippled beneath the fabric of reality, waiting for them to tap into it.

To that end they had designed and constructed a more advanced drill with the Zord at its core. They believed that it would be capable of stretch the dimensional opening. They hoped that the power beyond would give them access to time travel. And since they were aware of the possibilities that temporal experimentation could lead to unexpected events, they believed themselves capable of handling whatever lay beyond without taking step to prepare.

The machinery had been set up correctly, the chamber had been secured and isolated to prevent intervention by those that would not understand their work. Recording devices had been put in place as the scientists took up residence in a shielded room they had deemed to be safe.

The probe initiated its primary burst, the scientists noting that the equipment could only operate safely for ten minutes. With the time activated they commenced work. The countdown started.

Ten Minutes...

The chest section of the Megazord glowed with energy that was focussed into a beam and projected towards the other end of the chamber. A small dot appeared on the far wall of the chamber as the lenses they had positioned concentrated and shaped the beam into a twisted lance, just as expected. The scientists saw this as a sign of success and increased power.

Nine minutes...

The computers reported an energy fluctuation in the tip of the drill as it connected with an obstacle. They took it as a sign that they had already found something beyond the dimensional boundary and increased the power to widen the hole.

Eight Minutes...

The dot representing the small tear they had managed to form grew larger as more energy was pumped into the drill. Small flickers of purple light arced to the floor of the chamber.

Seven Minutes...

The first results from the detection equipment had been processed allowing the scientists to understand the nature of the energy they had unlocked. They were disappointed to find that while having a high potential there seemed little they could do to unlock that potential.

Six Minutes...

The scientists recalibrated their sensors and sought authorisation to extend the experiment if ten minutes was not enough. They were told to concentrate on their work and to leave the logistics to the managers. A unknown energy signature was reported from one of the sensors. Upon checking it would be found that the signature matched something already in their database. Unfortunately nobody looked.

Five Minutes...

The previous stable energy started to reaqct to something causing the operators to check their actions and identify how they had caused it to react. Upon confirming that nothing they had done could have been responsible for such abrupt changes they looked for alternative reasons. That was when the known energy signature was identified. The sensitive instruments mapped its outline and the scientists scratched their heads at the vaguely humanoid form.

Four Minutes...

An alarm sounded, warning that there was buildup of energy close to the drill point and that an explosion could cause an uncontrolled rip. They needed to back off all risk contaminating the chamber with whatever lay beyond. With all the noise of their machinery they missed the low chuckle that emerged from the hole they had created.

Three Minutes...

A burst of energy erupted from the hole, reversing the course of the energy probe back into the chest unit. The control systems locked down as the projection unit overloaded. All attempts to close down the machinery failed. Even the emergency override that simply cut all power to the complex was ineffective. The scientists tried to manually close the circuit breakers, but the machinery had taken on a life of its own, drawing power from the space it was probing.

In a final effort they unlocked the securing pins causing the chest unit to drop. As it did so the chamber was torn apart by the uncontrolled energy drill.

Two Minutes...

A crack appeared at the back of the chamber, glowing with purple energy. A loud noise could be heard, so loud that all present were forced to cover their ears. Later a survivor would describe it as being some sort of tortured animal.

One Minute...

Beyond the chamber, the managers overseeing the disaster followed their instructions and attemped to trigger the safety protocols, flooding the chamber with a mass of concrete; later those questioned would admit that the disaster they were avoiding was the public relations an uncontrolled explosion would bring. Nothing happened.

Boom!

Glowing red eyes illuminated the ruined chamber, taking in the carnage around him. As emergency lighting kicked in he heard the gasps from those that had survived as they realised that they had unleashed a terrible force. Most of the chamber was a molten mess, the safe room was a wreck. With a gesture the floor was repaired, allowing him to float just above its surface.

It seemed that despite arriving in the physical world as he had planned, his body was not fully in phase with his surroundings. Fortunately with the dark power at his command, he had the means to change that.

There were few scientists that had survived the devastation outside of the danger area, which had lost its walls in the explosion. He could sense their fear as they crounched behind their consoles. He opened his palm and a glowing ball of energy appeared, which he tossed at the portal behind him as he floated toward the nearest survivor.

As he reached out to touch the side of the terrified man's face, the portal exploded, allowing a tidal wave of uncontrolled dark energy to break free, obliterating everything it touched with the exception of the spirit that had unleashed it, his frightened victim, and the remains of the Megazord.

"Prepare to Arise!" the spirit hissed as the energy gathered around him, pooling in the centre of his chest. The scientist screamed in agony as his essence was overwritten, allowing the spirit to settle into his new body. The dark wave of energy engulfed his new form, creating pathways that had not been there before as the body was transformed into something more suitable.

As the energy swept forth he raised his arms in triumph and allowed the dark wave to carry him along with it.

"And now... this world will face the Final Enemy!"

<post_date>2018-05-29 12:00:01</post_date><post_modified>2020-01-11 10:09:12</post_modified>