Day of the Dumpster - Part Three of Four

Kimberly Hart couldn't quite believe her eyes. Twenty men that seemed to be made of rock, standing in formation. Putty Patrollers, the pipe voice had called them.

They started to advance, and Kim ignored her doubts. She'd think about this later. For now, it was time to fight.

Not that Kim had ever been in a proper fight. Kicking and hair-pulling with her cousin when she was growing up, but not an actual brutal fight. But then, punching seemed pretty straightforward, didn't it? As the patrollers reached within an arm's length, she formed a fist, and punched the nearest one in the chest.

"Jesus, that hurts!" she cried.

"Are you alright?" came Jason's voice.

"Yeah," said Kim curiously. Her hand had been in tremendous pain, but it was suddenly calming down. The coin, she remembered – the dragon coin that gave her her additional strength.

Remembering this, Kim smiled. And tackled two of the patrollers to the floor, kicking at a third as she did so.

"Good work, Kim," called Jason. Inspired by her display, he attacked another patroller. Kicking and slicing expertly, neatly avoiding the patroller's attempts at fighting back.

"Okay, guys," he said. "They're strong, but not skilled. Let's talk resources."

He looked behind him. Zack, William and Trini were standing back – only Zack seemed anything approaching willing to take on one of the creatures.

"My speciality's Thai Kickboxing," said Jason. "But I've got a fair bit of Taekwondo and Judo, as well as Shenkito and Kenpo."

"Dude," said Zack, sounding panicked. "You know five different martial arts?"

"Fourteen," said Jason, deflecting a patroller's blow. "That's how many I've studied, anyway." Another jab. "I didn't get very far with Hakko Denshin Ryu."

"Mate," said Zack. "I don't know about the others, but I've never even heard of most of those." He backed away as two patrollers approached him. He tried to kick one, but misjudged the angle and mised.

"Really?" Jason kicked his patroller's legs from under him, and aimed a blow at its chest. "I assumed that's why we were chosen for this – because we're all trained in martial arts."

"I'm not," Kim called. Her voice was muted by a pile of patrollers she'd pulled down on top of herself. "Used to be a gymnast. Maybe their notes are out of date."

"I've never done anything," said William. He was backing away, allowing Jason to become a barrier between himself and the patrollers. "Hated sports in school."

"I have a sandan in Shangdong Praying Mantis," said Trini. She was standing stock still, as though frozen in place.

"Wasn't that made up for films?" asked Zack, optimistically kicking one of the patrollers at crotch level. "Not found any weaknesses yet, by the way."

"That'll be great, Trini," said Jason. "Are you in or out."

"I don't fight," she said.

"Mate, if you just stand there, you won't have much of a choice," said Zack. He cried out in pain as a patroller punched him in the head. "And why is it always me who gets crippled by these things?"

"Anyone free to help?" called Kim. Half the patrollers had jumped onto her by now.

"Help her out, William," instructed Jason.

"I've never fought before!" insisted William.

"You'll pick it up," said Kim. "It's mostly about ignoring the pain long enough to kick them in the teeth."

William closed his eyes for a second, and inhaled deeply. Then, he opened them again.

"Alright," he said.

He ran towards Kim, and the mountain of patrollers. As he did so, a new patroller stepped in front of him, and swung at his head. William collapsed, like a dead weight.

"What's happening?" called Kim. Her arms were now visible – she was digging her way out.

"It knocked him out cold!" cried Zack, somewhat hysterically.

And then a patroller reached Trini.

It swung its arm towards her. She suddenly thrusted her hand forward, connecting underneath the patroller's ribs. It slumped forward, and Trini side-stepped to let it fall to the ground.

"This from the girl who won't fight?" said Zack.

"I don't fight," said Trini innocently. "That was self-defense. Which is the whole purpose of my training."

"Right," said Zack. "No chance of you generalising the concept of 'self' to include me, is there?"

"I don't fight."

Jason had managed to knock three patrollers to the ground, and crossed over towards Kim. It was difficult to tell how well she was doing, but she had at least managed to free herself from the knot of patrollers. She was now sitting on them, slamming their heads against each other.

"Need any help?" he asked.

"Might be nice," said Kim thoughtfully. "Don't really know what to do after getting them pinned. Kelly just started crying at this point."

"Sister?"

"Cousin."

"Their chests seem to be a weak point," said Jason. "Hitting their heads doesn't seem to make a difference."

"You could have mentioned that earlier!" said Kim. "Some leader you are."

"Hey, you're the tactician."

"Yes, and I've taken out eight patrollers. That's twice my recommended daily allowance."

William opened his eyes. Sky? Oh, yeah, the field. He stood up, most disappointed that he'd woken up in time to enjoy the pain of the impact to his head.

He looked over at the patrollers. His vision was blurred, and the sunlight gave him a headache. There was a ringing in his ears.

"Guys, I think I'm concussed."

Immediately, Trini ran towards him.

"You lost consciousness," she said. "But it can't have been for more than a minute or two. Are you suffering from amnesia?"

"I can't remember much of what the guy in the pipe said."

"That's not saying much. Do you remember being hit?"

"Yes."

"Good sign." She checked over her shoulder to make sure there were no patrollers near them. "Get plenty of rest."

"And leave the others?"

"Dude, that gives us seven each!" called Zack.

"That's nothing," said Kim. "I've already knocked out four, and I think I've made this one blind."

"Hang on." William removed something from his pocket – the bulky grey device Zordon had called a morpher. "I forgot all about these."

He'd been holding his coin tightly all along. He slotted it into the device with a satisfying click, and held it by the strap, at arm's length. He closed his eyes, and pressed the button on the left.

Trini had to back away as William was engulfed by a bright blue light. Intense heat emanated from him, as well as a sound like the rumbling of thunder.

Suddenly, the light, sound and heat faded away, and William fell to his legs.

"Oh," he said. He looked at his hands. He was wearing tough white gloves. He could feel it all around him – an outfit. A suit, but more than just a suit – it was a part of him. Strengthening him, giving him endurance, and ...

He swung his hand out. He launched himself into the air, aiming at one of Zack's patrollers, and landed, taking the patroller out with his feet.

"Guys, use the morphers," he said. "This is amazing."

Jason looked over his shoulder. William was wearing a tight blue outfit, with white gloves and boots. A blue helmet completed the look – the whole thing looked as though it was from an entirely different culture.

And the change to William's abilities was remarkable. His arms were swinging with greater precision and dexterity than Jason had ever seen.

As Jason reached for his morpher, he felt the air heat up around him. Kim had already used hers.

"Wow!" she said, as she examined her suit. "I get the pink one!"

"Didn't have you pegged as someone who'd like pink," said Jason.

"Hey, it's a colour."

While Jason used his own morpher, Zack examined his own suit.

"I've got a black one?"

"Don't you like black?" asked Kim, enjoying a new-found ability to spin on the spot, kicking up towards the patrollers' faces.

"I'm the black guy!" said Zack. "And I've got the black suit! That's just wrong. If Trini gets a yellow one, I swear I'm off the team."

Trini, however, was stubbornly standing where she was, making no movement to take her morpher.

"This is amazing!" said Jason. His own physical abilities were magnified by the suit, and he managed to take out several of the patrollers with ease. "I can't help but think we should have done this before leaving."

"Pipe guy's an idiot," confirmed Kim, who was endeavouring to beat down her opponents in the most flashy way possible. She grabbed one by the arm and somersaulted backwards, causing it to fall to the ground.

"I have to admit," said Zack. "These suits know what they're doing. Which is good, because I really don't."

One of the patrollers broke away from the empowered crew, and tried its luck with Trini. As before, she struck it with a single blow, and it fell.

"You really ought to try this," said William. "It's amazing."

Trini smiled. "I really don't fight."

"Okay, but you could still stand there with a bit more power."

"No," she said simply. "These aren't clothes – they're weapons. Their only purpose is to better your ability to hurt people."

"Big killer rock-stroke-putty monsters!" said Zack. "Which you have to admit is a fair counter-argument."

"And I'll tackle them if they come near me," said Trini earnestly. "But you can play at being superheroes if you like. Fact is, it comes down to the same thing. You're not superheroes. You're soldiers."

Zack chose not to reply, focusing instead on trying to emulate Trini's own jab to take out a patroller.

"The fact that there are aliens and robots doesn't change the fact that this isn't a fight," Trini continued. "It's an invasion. A war. And maybe five of us, with our magic suits, can take out the invaders. But that doesn't mean we should. I will fight in self-defense, but otherwise, I won't."

"You get that these guys will probably take over the planet or something, right?" said Zack.

"Yeah, because we know all the facts," said Trini irascibly.

During the conversation, Jason had manouvered himself around to Zack's side.

"This is a bit intense for everyone," he said quietly. "Don't pressure her."

"I don't think she needs much support," said Zack. "Didn't you see what she can do to John Q Putty?"

"Yeah, well, remember she's the only one of us who's still standing there unprotected," said Jason. "She doesn't need us gloating about how strong and cool we are."

"I wasn't!"

And suddenly, there was a calm. Kim had knocked the last of the patrollers out with an uppercut.

The adrenaline still pumping, the four in the suits looked around them, counting the grey bodies to make sure there were still twenty.

"We need to tell someone," said William. "Get the authorities here. They can study them – find weaknesses in case there are more."

"There are more," said Zack. "Endless legion, remember?"

But suddenly, all around them, the bodies started to crumble. eventually, all of them became mounds of dust, looking like unmixed concrete.

"You killed them," said Trini quietly.

"I see your point," said Zack. "But I think you have to concede that they were, after all, big killer rock-stroke-putty monsters."

William was bending over one of the piles, searching through the dust.

"Nothing left but the dust," he confirmed. "Which implies that they aren't organic in the way we understand the term. Wonder what kept them alive."

"Right," said Zack. "Enough of this. How do you get these suits off."

He checked his suit, and found that the morpher had been secured into the belt. He removed it.

"Hang on," said Jason. "Shouldn't we wait in case more turn up."

"I have to find my girlfriend," said Zack. "And I'm not waiting to hang around a monster murder scene in my monster killing suit."

"Me too," said Trini. "I'm going, I mean. Not to find a girlfriend."

"Did you just make a joke?" asked Zack, whose grin could be heard in his voice.

"I make jokes!" said Trini. "You don't know me."

Zack's suit vanished as he pressed the button on his morpher.

"You're right," he said. "I'm sorry. Lovely meeting you."

"Yes," said Trini. She approached Jason, and retrieved her own morpher from her pocket. "Here's my thing. The coin, too."

"Why are you giving me these?"

"I won't ever use them," she said. "I don't want them. Find someone else to give you your damned spirituality or whatever it was I was meant to do."

She turned to leave.

"Pleasure meeting you," said Jason, wincing immediately when she didn't reply.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble again. The five of them froze in place, preparing themselves for a repeat of the earlier quake, but it stopped soon enough.

"I won't be able to sleep for a week," moaned Kim. "I'll have to take up boxing or something to work off the adrenaline."

"I don't think you'll need to," said William. "If the earth quakes whenever ..."

He didn't need to finish his sentence. A figure had arrived in the field.

He was enormous – easily eight feet tall – and clad in tough, golden armour. All they could see of him was his face, which resembled a puma's, and covered in scars. Each footstep he took towards them caused him to sink into the ground. He carried a brutal-looking sword, and behind him were two enormous wings, the armour extending over the topmost edges.

Zack wasted no time in using his morpher to return to his suit.

"Power Rangers," snorted the golden giant. His voice was gruff, and the shape of his lips gave it an odd quality, as though he was spitting. "You stand as the defenders of this planet, and the enforcers of its law?"

For a second, none of them responded. Jason wondered how to respond, but before he got the chance, Kim called out, "Yeah, that's us. Power Rangers." She paused. "I'm the pink one!"

"We will battle," said the giant.

"Aw, we've only just met," said Zack. "That's bad xenia."

"We will battle according to the ancient laws of combat as established on Titan," he replied. "I will announce the combat. This is battle G-seventy-four dot four-nine-two, the Five Power Ranger of Earth versus Goldar, First Henchman to Queen Rita Repulsa. We begin."