Diary at the End of the World

[Mugenhunt]

Testing. 1 2 3. Testing.

Good. You can hear me. My name is unimportant. My job is. I'm a Power Ranger. One of the last few left. These are dark days, and someone needs to know.

It was business as usual the day the virus hit. I... I feel bad about admitting that I wasn't taking the Ranger role seriously. Didn't have to. It was more ceremonial than anything else. Ride in a Zord once in a while, stop an alien crook, make the roll-call pose. I went through the motions of being a Power Ranger like the noble ones I learned about in school. The super legends who I wanted to be like but never had the chance.

I'm sorry.

I remember wishing once that there'd be something big, a real threat to face. And we got it. Oh, did we get it. I so wish we didn't. That I had gotten the chance to end my Rangering days without watching my best friends die, without feeling helpless to stop the destruction of everything I knew and loved.

The virus went under the radar. No one knew what it was until years later. Before it was too late. I was at base, doing Globe Duty when I saw a weird spike in the Global Network. And thought nothing of it.

Yes. This is all my fault. I know that I can never redeem myself for my failure that day, nothing can make up for the fact that I was more worried about asking Pink out for curry than about doing my job. That billions have died because I felt okay with doing the bare minimum required.

Regular people can do that. Regular police can do that. Rangers shouldn't.

But I did.

I know that I shouldn't blame myself, that at the time I couldn't have had the slightest clue that the anomaly was a sentient virus over ten thousand years old and out to destroy humanity because a crazy guy on a bike ruined his plans.

But I do.

There's a mission. I'll continue this when I return. If I return. The enemy is so strong and numerous, and we're not. All my fault. This is all my fault.

END TRANSMISSION

[Ryuranger]

A mod will probably close this thread, because it is too short to be an actual chapter.

But I like it.

You actually know how to write, for one thing. And you have an interesting idea. I hope to see more.

[PowerOnyx]

Not bad. The backstory about the curry seemed off. But will make more sense if you have a flashback chapter.

[OmegaRedMkII]

This actually sounds a lot like something I would write for my story. Would you like to collaborate on my story? I need some extra creativity for my Fanfic.

[carklak]

A very interesting start that leaves the reader with many questions. I'm very interested in reading more, I'm curious about where this is going. Great job!

Carla K

[Mugenhunt]

BEGIN RECORDING

*sigh*

As a kid, I used to dream of being a Power Ranger when I grew up. Everyone did. It was either be a Ranger, or a cowboy president movie star. It seemed like the coolest thing ever. Get to fight bad guys and save the world. Well, I fight bad guys alright. But saving the world...

When I entered the Academy, I asked my instructor why teenagers are chosen to be Rangers. She, who had worn the color White decades prior, told me the real answer, saying that I deserved to know. Wars are always fought by the young. For as long as there's been a human race, the young are drafted to serve as soldiers. It's the people old enough to fight and young enough not to matter who end up on the front lines. And that's where Rangers fight.

...

The battle went well, which is to say that there were no casualties. We can't stop an entire planet, we don't have the firepower necessary to stop the unending hordes of drones and attackbots. Each one we destroy, five more get made. We can't even form a Megazord. He controls the media. He controls everything. It's sort of sad that we're attacking factories, doing everything we can to destroy his capacity for space travel, and the general public has no idea. They go about their lives, blissfully unaware that there's a war going on.

Lakshmi says that this is how it should be, that the way of the Ninja is to not be seen. I think it's total BS, personally. We wear bright colors and command giant zords. We're not black ops stealth units, sneaking in to achieve our objectives under cover of night. We're Rangers. We're the Knights who make people feel safe. That's how I was trained, that's what the legends I studied were like. But... these are dark times. Still, I'm not a ninja.

Morale is rising. But last weeks death of Joe, poor Joe, all energy and enthusiasm and never say die spirit has hit us hard. He was the first to answer my call, when I found myself the only Ranger on Earth. Guy had no experience, never even took a Karate class, but he did have something we needed. A morpher. So few were left on the planet, after SPD departed, after the great purge. I kept mine from the Service, but the rest of my team's were confiscated. When I saw the writing on the wall, I called my Zord and made the call.

As the only Ranger who wasn't affected by the Genetic Safety Act, I was the only one still active when the call came. That by executive order the Rangers were to be disbanded, our morphers confiscated, our Zords dismantled for parts. I guessed what it meant. It was pure luck that I didn't have any genetic powers to be removed, that I wasn't undergoing the genetic reset when the order came. I was the only ranger left.

Joe was the first to answer. He had a morpher. Five of them actually. He was a bit of a collector, and wanted the chance to be a ranger. Sadly, most of them didn't work at all. But, he wanted in. And well, I needed all the help we could get. By the end of the first week, we had nine. I was the only one who had ever actually morphed before, who had ever been in an actual fight.

They elected me Red. I didn't know you could do that. Chase magicked my Morpher to make it official. It's only cosmetic he told me, but, well, I'm Red. That means something. They all look up to me, and depend on me to help win this battle.

This "beautiful" cavern is our base. The rocks here are naturally magnetic. In theory, we can evade detection from his forces. In practice, we're going to have to keep moving. But... I don't know. There's too many battles, too many fronts, too much for us to handle. I used to think that a team of Rangers could accomplish anything. Now...

It's getting late. Tomorrow, I check in on the others. I have half the team off searching for anything that could help us. Lost Zords, morphers, weapons. We don't have the raw power necessary to win. We can fix that.

END TRANSMISSION.