Chapter Text
A pillar of white light descended into a bustling marketplace carved from the bones of civilization. When it faded, Leo and Alpha found themselves standing beneath a patchwork canopy stitched together from faded tarps, rusted sheet metal, and scraps of old billboards. Around them, merchants bartered over salvaged engine parts, weathered books, jars of preserved vegetables, and handmade trinkets fashioned from whatever the old world had left behind.
The scent of dust, engine oil, and grilled food drifted lazily through the warm desert air. For a heartbeat, everything felt... ordinary. Then someone saw Alpha.
"Venjix!"
The cry sliced through the market.
Heads snapped toward the red machine.
A woman screamed.
A child burst into tears.
Within seconds the marketplace dissolved into chaos as stalls were abandoned and frightened civilians fled in every direction.
"Venjix has returned!"
"It's one of the robots!"
"Run!"
Leo instinctively stepped forward, palms raised. "Wait! It's alright! We're not—"
The words reached no one.
The panic spread faster than a plague.
Alpha quietly watched the crowd disappear. "They believe I am one of Venjix's mechanized soldiers." His voice remained calm. "The artificial intelligence known as Venjix conquered this planet before being destroyed by its Rangers." He explained.
Leo sighed. "Old wounds."
He watched another family disappear into a nearby alley.
"They're not running from you, Alpha." The robot tilted his head as Leo spoke. "They're running from ghosts."
Alpha silently processed the statement then, silently, came to the conclusion that Leo meant it metaphorically.
The marketplace gradually emptied until only abandoned goods and fluttering awnings remained. The silence that followed felt strangely peaceful. Leo glanced skyward. He'd expected catastrophe.
The tearing of reality.
Burning heavens.
Floating continents.
Trembling earth.
Instead...
Blue sky.
A gentle breeze.
Someone's wind chime tinkled softly from a store front.It looked like any ordinary afternoon.
"I thought the end of reality would be..." Leo searched for the word. "Louder."
"So did I." Alpha's optics swept across the horizon.
"We are likely too distant from the convergence point." He pointed toward a range of distant mesas.
"Though we are within the border, the point in which this world is passing into the Nexus may still be several hundred kilometers away."
"So these people have no idea what’s coming.” Leo exhaled in grief.
"They most certainly do not."
Leo looked back over the little market.
People here laughed.
Worked.
Argued over prices.
Lived.
They had survived the apocalypse, now another one crept toward them without their knowledge. His chest tightened at the thought. Eventually he noticed one merchant who had remained at his stall.
“Alpha…” He pointed out.
An elderly man with sun baked chocolate skin calmly sorted bolts into small wooden trays. He hadn't reacted to the panic at all.
Leo noticed the weathered walking stick leaning beside him.
Clouded eyes.
White cataracts.
He was blind and therefore unaffected by the sight of Alpha… though Leo found it odd he didn’t react to the fleeing patrons, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Excuse me, sir." Leo said kindly as the pair approached cautiously. The old man continued sorting.
"We are looking for the Power Rangers." Alpha said in his distinctly mechanical voice. Leo, braced for a negative response from the old man at the sound of it… but no such reaction came.
“Ah” Instead, he chuckled "Got business with them Rangers, have ya?" his accent was southern, perhaps creole.
"We require their assistance, yes." Alpha replied naively.
"Hmm." The old vendor scratched thoughtfully at his patchy goatee. "Well now...I don't rightly know if they're in the business of helping with personal troubles ...but they did pass through here this mornin'."
Leo brightened."They're close?"
The old man nodded toward the western road. "Close enough. If you've got yourselves a decent vehicle, you'll likely catch 'em before sundown."
"And if we don't?" Leo glanced around.
"Then I reckon I could sell you one." The old man grinned. "...provided you've got somethin' worth tradin'."
Alpha's thigh compartment quietly slid open and Leo’s attention curiously snapped to it.
"I calculated an eighty-seven percent probability barter would be preferable to standard currency here." From the compartment Alpha withdrew three polished metal ingots.
He carefully placed them on the merchant's table.
"Cobalt. Three ingots."
The old man reached forward. His fingers explored each bar with practiced care. He weighed one in his hand. Ran a thumb along its edges. Raised it to his nose. Then gently bit the corner.
A broad smile spread across his weathered face.
"Well now… This'll buy you the best ride I've got." Grabbing his walking stick, the old merchant stood. "Come along then."
He tapped his way through the back of his stall.
"You carry cobalt around in your leg?" Leo shot Alpha an impressed look.
"I have copper in the other one." Alpha whispered.
Leo laughed and together they followed the old man through the maze of salvaged buildings, each step carrying them deeper into a world that had already survived one ending...
...and was quietly approaching another.
The old merchant led them through a gate fashioned from welded road signs and mismatched fencing. Beyond it stretched what could only be described as a used car lot at the end of the world. Rows upon rows of vehicles sat baking beneath the desert sun nestled in a hidden nook of dilapidated buildings.
None had escaped modification. One sports car bristled with welded steel spikes that looked capable of skewering an armored convoy. An old sedan had been cocooned beneath layers of scavenged plating until it resembled a tank more than an automobile. Several dune buggies carried improvised machine guns. One enormous truck sported what appeared to be a naval anti-aircraft cannon bolted into its bed.Leo couldn't help smiling, it was quite the spectacle.
Further down the line sat a black 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Hardtop, its enormous supercharger bursting proudly through the hood. Leo slowed and gawked at it. "Now that...is gorgeous."
"It is." Alpha admitted as he glanced at it only briefly, more questioning than agreeing.
"No-no, not that one.” Said the old merchant as he continued another twenty paces before stopping beside the final vehicle.
Unlike every other machine on the lot...
...this one looked untouched by the apocalypse.
Its paint gleamed like polished obsidian.
Not a grain of rust.
Not a dent.
Not even a scratch.
A glossy 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am rested patiently beneath the afternoon sun.
Across its nose a crimson scanner swept rhythmically from side to side.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
"...Alpha." Leo blinked.
"Yes?"
"Is it just me...or does that look like your face?"
Alpha regarded the moving scanner. "A distant cousin perhaps." Alpha joked.
“Ha!” Leo practically hollered. “That was actually funny.”
“I have been studying.” Alpha said.
The Blind vender impatiently leaned on his walking stick and titled his ears back and forth between their exchanges.
“Ahem.” He feigned to get their attention.
“Wake up, old man." he said as he knocked his stick against the car's front tire, "We've got customers."
"If you strike me with that stick one more time..." An indignant voice erupted from hidden speakers on the coupe. "...I shall mow you down like a Mustang leaving a car meet."
"Did the car just speak?" Leo blurted.
"Yes." The voice sighed dramatically. "The car just spoke.I had hoped my flawless diction might have made that obvious; you’d be hard pressed to find anyone else as eloquent in these parts."
Leo looked at Alpha. A mix of confusion and wonderment was stirring on his face.
The blind merchant merely shrugged. “He’s always grumpy in the morning."
"I am never grumpy."
"He’s always grumpy… always" the vender corrected, ignoring the argumentative car.
"I am not grumpy… I’m Brittish."
Alpha quietly stepped closer, optics studying the remarkable machine.
"This region hasn’t passed into the Nexus yet, but the alterations have already begun." He lowered his voice for Leo alone. "This world is already beginning to merge with neighboring realities. Objects. People. Places. They are becoming one."
His gaze returned to the impossible automobile.
"It is possible that the majority of this world's original existence will be altered like this vehicle, or will cease to exist entirely."
Leo exhaled solemnly at the thought.
"We should hurry." Alpha urged
"Hurry?" The merchant overheard. "Well then!" He patted the Firebird's hood. "Old KITT here's the quickest thing this side of the wasteland."
"Oh splendid." the car exalted, if it had eyes they would have rolled. "My advanced capabilities: reduced to 'quick'."
"He can find those Rangers you're after with all his fancy computin' bits." The vendor continued
"Again." The voice sighed. "An extraordinary simplification of an immensely sophisticated technological marvel."
A brief pause.
"...Though admittedly accurate. I am capable of tracking your quarry, which I will gladly do. My sincerest wish is to leave this dusty monument to poor maintenance and questionable hygiene."
"We'll take him." Leo said with glee as he was already walking toward the driver's door. It automatically swung open with a smooth hydraulic hiss upon his approach. Leo practically bounced into the seat. His eyes widened. The cockpit looked decades ahead of its time, but also retro.
Digital instrumentation.
Analog controls.
A futuristic steering wheel.
Every surface beeped and booped.
"This is incredible..." he whispered to himself.
"I am the Knight Industries Two Thousand." The voice carried a distinct air of practiced dignity. "You may address me as KITT."
Leo rested both hands on the thin steering wheel, a larger grin spread across his face.
"Hi, KITT. I'm Leo. This is Alpha. And..." He looked around the immaculate interior again. "...you are amazing."
"How refreshing. A companion possessing both manners and faculties to appreciate my magnificence." For the first time since awakening, KITT seemed almost pleased.
Alpha settled into the passenger seat. His metallic frame fit awkwardly in the sleek seat. "If I possessed facial musculature," he remarked, "I believe I would be smiling."
"I suspect we shall get along famously." KITT remarked.
The dashboard illuminated and a holographic map sprang to life.
"These ‘Rangers’ you seek departed approximately three hours ago. They are traveling in a heavily modified 1969 Pontiac GTO." Leo scanned the image with childish elation. "I have already catalogued the tread pattern produced by their oversized rear tires."
Red lines traced across the map.
"I can either follow their trail...or predict their destination based upon local geography and their average rate of travel."
"Well?" Leo looked to Alpha.
The robot gave a satisfied nod. "Let us proceed."
"An excellent suggestion." KITT's motor rumbled to life with a deep, confident growl coupled with the whir of a spooling jet engine.
"Please proceed to the right."
Leo eased the Trans Am out of the hidden lot. As they rolled back through the marketplace, frightened townsfolk cautiously emerged from hiding. The old merchant leaned comfortably on his walking stick as the Firebird disappeared over the next rise.
"Good riddance."
Leo fish tailed across the sandy vista as he zoomed into the desert stretched out before them. The car bounced across shallow ruts, and sandy divots. The narrow tires carved trenches through the dirt and sand as it shaved through the desert like a black bullet. “Do be careful Leo, the terrain is deceptive in both texture and density here.” KITT warned.
“Sorry.” Leo replied, still glib as he piloted the futuristic vehicle. “I’m just really enjoying this.”
“I assure you, we could traverse these lands with a little more abandon if those superstitious louts had not crippled my auto functions with their inhibitor chip.”
“Auto functions? Like, you could drive yourself?” Leo elated.
“Oh yes indeed mister Leo.” KITT proudly responded.
“Where is this inhibitor chip?” Alpha pondered.
“Very crudely attached to a circuit board beneath my glove box.” KITT reported as Alpha twisted his bulking frame to find it.
He spotted the small access panel and opened it to see a makeshift mechanism attached to KITT’s sophisticated inner workings. “Though Venjix has been purged from this place, the people are still afraid of advanced technology.” KITT explained. “As you witnessed upon your sudden arrival.”
“Indeed” Alpha absently replied while he tooled under the glove box.
“They chipped me and threw me out of Corinth. I was traded like a common appliance by the settlers and eventually abandoned me at that trading outpost.”
“How did you come to be in this place? Before Corinth?” Alpha inquired as he worked on the small device with tiny little tools protruding from his finger tip.
“Some part of my memory recalls a place much different from this one, but I can’t recount it fully, perhaps the chip is causing a glitch in my long term memory retrieval subroutines.” KITT replied. Though he was a sophisticated A.I. he wasn’t aware that he had been ejected into an alternate universe.
Alpha severed a series of tiny connections then gently pried the device free from KITT’s circuits… KITT then let out a sigh. “That is much better, now we can move this search along a little faster.” He pronounced as he activated his auto mode, and Leo released the steering wheel as it took control.
Next Super Pursuit Mode was activated, which caused a series of panels and fins to extend all over KITT’s exterior. The panels and fins acted as active aero which greatly increased the already wedge-shaped sports cars aerodynamics. The jet-like soar of his engines ignited, and Leo and Alpha were pinned to their seats as the car barreled forward into the desert at break-neck speeds. Leo “Wooo’d” as they accelerated to speeds he’d only ever experienced in massive Zords.
A few minutes later Leo and Alpha took notice of a massive wall of dust extended high into the sky ahead of them. “KITT… are those tracks leading us into that dust storm?” Leo asked, dreadfully aware of the answer.
“Indeed they are, but that is no dust storm… in fact my scanners can’t make out what that anomaly is.” KITT replied.
“It’s the collapse.” Alpha stated, “It’s a literal wave of anti-matter… everything beyond that wall of energy either ceases to exist or is thrown into a universe that isn’t its own...the Nexus. In fact I believe that is how you have come to be here KITT, stray emissions from this convergence has tossed you out into this world, and your memory can’t reconcile the differences between what was your old world and what is your current one.”
“And here I thought I had merely earned a reprieve from Michael.” The car joked, but Leo nor Alpha bothered to ask who Michael was.
“I fear that if our Rangers are that way, we may already be too late.” Alpha warned
“Shall we turn around then?” KITT asked as he slowed.
“No!” Leo and Alpha answered together. And so… they proceeded, cautiously.
A few moments later, KITT turned Super Pursuit Mode off and his active aerodynamics receded into their compartments. KITT slowed as he disappeared into the wall of dust, wind, and sand. As KITT inched forward for a few minutes, his curious passengers scanned for signs of... anything really. They vision was obstructed, but both were curious to know what an anti-matter wave looked like. Then it became visible as the stormy barrier cleared. A glassy wall of energy stretched across the entire horizon. This was it, the anti-matter, and it was slowly crawling forward across the surface of the planet, marking the point in which that planet crossed into a new plane of existence. But whether it was merging into the Nexus with little to no alterations or whether it was simply being erased… was impossible to determine.
Beyond the ominous barrier the desert appeared to sprawl outward, untouched, and unchanged. But the image was distorted by wavy emissions of power and electrical surges.
Anytime matter interacted with the wall of anti-matter it caused an electrical outburst and since the wave was in constant contact with the ground, it was constantly expelling energy making the whole area ring out with the sizzle of millions of little electrical explosions.
The ‘69 GTO was wrecked a few yards ahead of them, it apparently barreled straight into the wall of anti-matter, head on, and at high speed. Between the translucent nature of the wall and the sandstorm that proceeded it, the driver likely didn’t even notice it until it was too late.
From their approach Alpha and Leo could make out a tall man, with black hair and a leather jacket, passed out just shy of the wrecked cars passenger door; the anti-matter wave had already begun to consume the front of the GTO.
“That’s him, Dillion… Ranger Series Black, the one we’ve come for.” Alpha reported.
“He’s hurt!” Leo said as he exited the now stopped vehicle and braved the storm to help the man.
“Hey!” he called out over the raging wind and the metallic scream that emitted from the anti-matter.
The man was face down, but slightly lifted his head with a groan at Leo’s call. Alpha had called him Dillion, and Dillion had a large laceration on his forehead and was clearly dazed.
“Come on. I gotta get you out of here.” Leo said, shouting over the shrill, burning sound of the anti-matter wall. But with a grunt, the man loosely pushed Leo off of him.
“You don’t understand, I’m a Ranger, I’m here to get you to safety.” Leo pressed as he tried to help the man again.
“Not without my wife!” The man slurred, gesturing to the passenger door of the GTO.
Leo then realized Dillon had crawled over to this side of the car, adamantly trying to get to the passenger door. So he turned his attention to the GTO and peered through the window to find a blonde woman unconscious in the passenger seat.
“Oh shit!” He spat as he grabbed at the door handle. It didn’t open. He pulled and pried but wouldn’t budge.
“What a dire situation.” KITT said to Alpha as the red robot watched Leo struggle, unsure of what was happening as he was still seated in the passenger seat. It wasn’t until Leo flagged him over did he finally move.
“He requires my assistance.” Alpha said aloud as he exited the Knight Industries Two Thousand. He pulled against his violently flapping cape and crossed in front of KITT to walk the few paces toward the GTO.
“I really do appreciate you releasing me…” KITT called out to him. “and from one bot to another, I really am sorry to have to do this…” As he spoke, the plucky British accent faded into a deep menacing tenor.
“But Venjix sends his regards.”
The Trans Am lurched forward and mashed into the back of Alpha, pinning him to the rear of the GTO.
Dillion rolled out of the way to avoid getting run over and as the GTO was pressed further into the Anti-matter, Leo leapt back.
“KITT, what are you doing?” Leo yelled.
“HA! KITT was decimated long ago.” The car gargled, “I just adopted my brother's appearance and disposition to infiltrate Corinth. Quiver at the moniker of your demise and know that it is KARR, who will end your pathetic little lives.”
As KARR’s identity was revealed, the black paint of his lower quarter fizzled off the Trans Am revealing a grey stripe around its edge,his red sensor turned amber, and a strange badge of purple triangles appeared across his hood.
Unbeknownst to any one present, KARR or the Knight Automated Roving Robot was KITT’s predecessor. However, KITT was programmed with a prime directive to preserve human life, which instilled upon him a loyal sense of empathy and compassion. KARR’s prime directive was self-preservation, creating a singularly selfish entity easily manipulated by the Venjix virus.
A rooster tail of sand was ejected into the air as KARR gunned his accelerator and began to push the GTO, with Alpha pinned between him and it, further into the anti-matter wave. “Venjix will be pleased to be rid of two Rangers, and Megatron will reward me greatly for services rendered.”
“Megatron…!?” Alpha pondered before the grinding pressure of the two cars damaged one of his actuators.
Leo had to act, but knew there wasn’t much he could do against a car… at least not like this.
Remembering the command code that Alpha instructed him to use… Leo pressed the button on the side of his modest morpher and brought it close to his face then vigorously spoke out the call: “Nexus rift, COSMIC SHIFT!”
Everything went quiet to Leo, all that he could hear and all that he could feel was his heart. It let out a solitary thud that rang throughout all of Leo’s being, like a wave of sound that canceled all other noise around him. Alpha had claimed that Leo would embody passion and fervor, but he didn’t realize Alpha meant it literally. His heart began to glow red hot… and the energy that permeated from it dematerialized his shirt, then his pants, undergarments, and shoes... but his stripped figure was not laid bare, he was enveloped in a blinding red light.
For a brief moment there was darkness, just Leo floating in the peaceful void, his body encased in ruby light. But there wasn’t time for meditation... He snapped his eyes open which somehow triggered the light to explode off of him in shards of glowing crystal. When he fell into his combat pose his body was revealed to have been wrapped in an under layer of starry black material. The Crystal shards then zipped throughout the air and pelted into place across his underlayer forming red armor with white crested detailings. The last bits of shards swarmed into a spiral above his head, then smacked around his face and formed his helmet.
When he was transformed his smoldering form stood proud as steam billowed from him. “Crimson Nexus Ranger!”
Alpha was struggling against KARR, as the sports car slowly pressed him and the derelict GTO closer and closer into the Anit-matter, but that violently ceased when The Red Nexus Ranger threw himself, shoulder first, into the side of the Trans AM… sending the car flipping away as if it had just been T-boned by a Mack Truck. Seldom had a ranger possessed or displayed this level of strength.
Now that he was free, Alpha pried himself from the concave tail end of the old GTO and made to help Dillion while Leo prepared to further deal with KARR.
Dillion was up to his knees and prying at the passenger door when Alpha rushed over and instructed him to move aside. Then Alpha effortlessly pried the car door completely off the frame. With the door no longer in the way Dillion frantically crawled through the sand and took his wife’s face into his hands. She was pale and unresponsive. His eyes scanned her and realized a shard of metal from the dashboard had pierced her thigh and a large puddle of blood had collected onto the floor board. She had been bleeding out this entire time.
KARR tumbled a few times from Leo’s crash, but midway through his third roll the entire body of the Trans Am splintered into sections that moved and readjusted in a blur of mechanical parts. A strange metallic sound echoed through the air and what landed in the dirt a few yards away no longer resembled the sporty Pontiac. It was now a bi-pedal mech that rose roughly 15 feet tall.
“What the hell...” Leo whispered to himself. “Where’s a Zord when you need one?”
“Another Ranger!?” the KARR mech bellowed. “I’m about to set a new record.” He had a mouth now, but where eyes should have been, his bouncing sensor waved across his face. But Leo couldn’t inspect the robot's anatomy for long. There was the sound of metal moving yet again, and a blaster of some kind had replaced one of KARR’s hands.
Leo ran, dove, and tumbled into a series of flips and tucks… away from the GTO as a laser beam strobed out of KARR’s blaster and trailed behind Leo’s movements, just barely missing the Ranger.
Like Leo, all of the Nexus Rangers would be equipped with a belt holster and side arm on their hip. It was a small, practical weapon that didn’t require any commands or summoning, one merely needed to draw it…
Leo recalled that the small pistol was called a Mag-gun and would fire small caliber rounds much faster than a conventional firearm. Mike had come upon this, and much more information about the Ranger forms while flipping through the data terminal in their quarters, and he relayed to Leo that its stopping power should rate much higher than a typical gun… Here's hoping’, He thought to himself as he drew the small pistol mid flip and sprayed the large robot with the satisfying zip of the few rounds from the edgy gun.
The ‘squip’ like sound of the magnetic rounds fluting rapidly into the mech, and shredded huge chunks of the robots plating off sang over the shrill sizzle of the anti-matter wave. Leo tucked into his final flip and gently landed on the ground, then continued to spray KARR with more fire power.
KARR let out and angered holler, and spun around a torrent of fire from Leo, and charged. With the gun in one hand Leo held up his empty hand and summoned his primary weapon “Nexus Saber.” In a streak of red light, a hilt of a sword similar to Leo’s Quasar Saber materialized into his palm… but it had no blade.
As the giant robot encroached and made to smash the Red Ranger with a giant fist descending from high above, Leo instinctively positioned the hilt above his head to parry the strike, and in doing so his thumb crazed an unseen switch on the handle of the hilt and a short red beam of energy ignited from the handle, slicing the descending fist of the anger mech right off of his arm. The Nexus Saber was a laser sword, and KARR let out pained screams as his hand crashed into the ground… a pile of scrap metal.
KARR recoiled, then with the same metallic sound that echoed from him before, he transformed back into his Trans Am form (his front right fender and a few internal components were now missing) and retreated.
“Leo!” Alpha called urgently after the car was dispatched, and the Red Ranger rushed over. Dillion had applied a tourniquet to Summer’s leg and the two were trying to get her out of the crumpled car. “She has lost a lot of blood, and moving puts her in further jeopardy.” Alpha explained.
“What do we do?” Leo asked.
“If we keep the metal shard in place, we increase her odds of survival by 36 percent.” Alpha informed.
“Move.” Leo commanded, before he flicked the laser blade into the interior of the car, and cut through the metal shard that was skewered into her leg. She was immediately freed and Dillion cradled her in his arms as he lifted her from the seat. As soon as he was clear Alpha reached out to touch Dillion and Leo and the four of them teleported away… leaving the wrecked GTO to be consumed.
Later That evening.
Leo still hadn’t de-morphed when Mike found him sitting in the sand of Pyramidas’ courtyard. He didn’t have his helmet on and he vacantly stared off into nothing. It wasn’t until Mike sat next to him, until he broke down and started to cry in his husbands arms.
Sky was in Trent’s bathroom trying to console the emotional artist. Trent was shirtless and retching into the toilet while also sobbing. Nothing was coming out of him at this point, but the compulsion to evacuate everything from his being was uncontrollable. His shirt had been ripped off and thrown into the corner of the bathroom, covered in blood, a reminder of the catastrophe they had experienced that night.
Through all the battles and all the turmoil they've suffered over the years as Rangers, Trent had never experienced this kind of helplessness before. Sky had, he wished he hadn’t, but it came with the duties of being a peace officer.
Having relied on shields all his life... the badge was a shield, the Ranger armor was a shield, he even had the power to create force fields… but he wished he could have shielded Trent from that infirmary today. He felt for the Landsdowns and he felt for Trent… and he was angry that despite all their powers, there was nothing they could have done. But he could at least be here for Trent, and so he was… Rubbing Trent’s back, ignoring the brassy stain of blood on the back of his own hand.
In the infirmary… Alpha was in his charging bay, and Dillion sat on a chair, his head resting on the lap of his wife, Summer Landsdown, the RPM Yellow Ranger... deceased.
She had succumbed to blood loss, and despite Alpha and Tommy’s guidance… Sky, Trent, and Leo could not transfuse and stop the bleeding in time to save her. Despite her blue lips and pale, almost grey tone, she looked like she was merely sleeping. But Dillion could feel her coldness, he could sense her emptiness. He just needed to be with her.