EPISODE FIVE
With exams only a couple weeks away, students were cramming harder than ever to make sure they passed. Others, like Twilight who already would pass their exams were cramming extra hard to get a perfect score.
Meanwhile, others were having it hard to balance school, and part-time jobs, even the rangers.
Twilight was at home, cramming through her books and notes non-stop. Her brother, Shining Armor came in with a tray of food for her, knowing she wouldn’t even stop to come down for dinner, but she didn’t even notice him.
Shining Armor and Spike gawked at one another and shook their heads sharing pity for Twilight.
Buddy was planting some flowers at the community garden, while reading a text-book, and by accident he had taken the flower out of the pot and planted the pot instead. “Oops…”
Sunset did her rounds at the hospital, checking up on all the patients, and even her friends, but every pause in between she stopped and went over some school notes she had brought with her.
Fluttershy had gone to the Public Library after work to catch up on her own studies, as well as listening to Rhymey read poetry to his class of minors.
He was actually reading them a poem of his own, which was actually a song he knew, detailed the importance of brain power and how important it is to stay in school. “Feed Your Brain”
The children all began to join in and sing with him…
At the end of the song, the children all cheered and felt a new sudden burst of wanting to read more books and learn more that they could, and before they left, Rhymey told them…
“Remember children…
Don’t be a fool. Just remember this one rule.
The way to be cool is do your best in school.”
The kids cheered at the idea before running off, and Fluttershy thought it was a beautiful sight, seeing how well-respected her boyfriend was for what he was doing for others.
The two of them left the library, together, deciding not to push themselves too hard, and it was getting late.
They walked down the street hand-in-hand, taking a long moment to gaze into each other’s eyes.
They came up to the arcade, “Hey, isn’t that Rainbow Dash’s motorbike?” asked Fluttershy.
“I’d recognize it anywhere
But what is it doing there?”
There suddenly came a loud cheer and shouts of awe coming from inside the arcade. The two dashed up to the doors and could see through the glass, there sat Rainbow with a crowd of people around her as she dominated a video game, and every challenger that came her way.
“Ah yeah…! Who’s the queen of games now?!” she boasted.
While at the prison tower, Bronc was watching Rainbow on the monitors. “So, Blue ranger is into video games, is she.” he said to himself
(Que Intro)
Another challenger stepped up to the game Rainbow was excelling at: “Galaxy Guild II”: A combat-strategy game where players controlled a fleet of soldiers armed with weapons and high technologies, and they went around conquering worlds of the realm while eliminated any threats or opposing forces.
Rainbow was reigning queen of the game because she played it constantly, and even had a home version of it, which was how she became so good.
The challenger tried all he could, but Rainbow flattened him within the first two minutes. “And down you go!” Rainbow boasted.
“Ah, no fair!” the challenger whined, but he decided to accept his defeat.
The crowds cheered for Rainbow, and hailed to her as the undefeated champ of the night.
That’s when the arcade manager came over to give her an offer. “You really got this game figured, Rainbow. That’s why I’d like to give you this…” and he handed her a small yellow ticket.
“Whoa!” Rainbow cried as she studied the card, “This lets me test out the new Galaxy Guild III game!”
A lot of people in the crowds turned super jealous. All had heard of the new game that hadn’t been released yet, but was going to be as soon as it was properly tested.
“Gosh, Rainbow…” said Fluttershy “I bet you’re really excited.”
“Excited?!” asked Rainbow “Totally stoked doesn’t even begin to describe! I feel like celebrating. Pizza’s on me chums.” She meant that literally, as she held up a bag of coins she had won from all her victories that afternoon.
As they left the arcade, the manager grinned sinisterly, and then retreated into the backroom, where the actual managed was bound and tied up by two Lingos. The imposter then transformed, revealing himself a Lingo in disguise.
The Lingo did gestures to his comrades saying that first-phase was completed. With that settled, his comrades simply knocked the manager unconscious and left him bound and tied up in the backroom, and then vanished.
At the prison tower, Bronc was training in what appeared to be a post-apocalyptic world. Zombies, monsters, and all kinds of creatures surrounded him.
The creatures all attacked mercilessly at him, but he evaded their attacks and then countered back--punching them hard with his super fists, and zapping them all with his helmet eye-lasers.
“Are you convinced now?” a loud booming voice called to him.
“I am…” Bronc responded, and with that, the virtual images around him faded away, revealing the normal rooms of the tower.
“Wow! That is so cool! I want a turn…” said Keto, but Marla gave him a nudge, “Can it, shorty!”
Next to Bronc there stood a monster called Hacker Jack. He was a creature coated in black armor, with an actual, large game controller on his chest and wires looping through and around his spherical-shaped head.
“You see, Master Nacluv…” Bronc said, “My plan to beat the rangers at their own game is to give them a game that they cannot beat. Already, my forces have set the Blue Ranger for the trap, and once she falls in there will be no escape for her.”
Jack raised his arms boasting, “When Blue Ranger enters the gaming I shall create, her fellow rangers are sure to follow, and once they are all in… they shall never come out.”
Nacluv found this plot to be very interesting, “Very well, you may proceed. But be warned, Bronc; I’m getting tired of all the failure around here. You destroy those rangers, or it’s your funeral!”
Broc bowed to him, “We shall not fail you.” and then he and Jack teleported and were gone.
“Humph!” Nacluv grunted, and then he turned to face the other two, “What are you two looking at?!” he sneered at them. He then slammed Marla the feeding tray, “You feed the prisoners!” and then he gave Keto a mop and bucket “You, you’re on cleanup. This place is only fit for pigs!”
Marla and Keto were livid, but didn’t dare protest, fearing their master’s wrath. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m beginning to really hate him!” Keto whispered to Marla.
“For once, I actually agree with you. Something just may have to be done about him.”
While out at dinner, the five rangers sat at the café and enjoyed their pizza. Rainbow was gobbling them down like crazy.
“Rainbow, take it easy.” said Sunset.
“Sorry, I can’t help it.” Rainbow said with her mouth full, “I always get way hungry when I’m this excited. I’ve been waiting for months for Galaxy Guild III to come out, and I get to test it out tomorrow.”
“Well that’s fine and all, Rainbow, but don’t you think you should be studying for final exams?” asked Buddy.
“Yeah, but all that cramming hurts my brain, and there’s nothing like taking a break and playing some games. Besides, it’s not like I’m slacking. Games are educational too.”
Fluttershy felt confused, “They do? My mother often told me it was bad to play too much.”
“Nah… That’s not really true.” said Rainbow “Video games can educate you. They help you develop a sense of coordination, how to prepare and plan ahead and how to calculate moves and possibilities. In fact, some video games are actually built for education like some I played as kid. They taught me history, math, geography…”
“Well, it seems there are certain things a game can do,
But it’s important not to neglect your normal studies too.” said Rhymey.
The others agreed, and Rainbow sighed, “If it’ll make you guys better, I’ll do a little crash studying in the morning.”
“Well, okay,” said Sunset but later, after your game test, we were all thinking of meeting at the library for a study group.”
“Okay, I’ll be there.” Rainbow said, and then she mumbled to herself “Anything to stop you nagging.”
The next day, the arcade was closed “…For Game Testing” as the sign read.
The manager of the arcade was still a bound and gagged in the backroom where he had been kept all knight. Hacker Jack once again assumed the manager’s form.
“Blue Ranger is on her way.” he hissed to Bronc.
“Excellent. You know what must be done?”
“I promise I will not fail you, Master Bronc.”
Bronc nodded, “And just to be doubly sure that you don’t. I too shall be joining in the game. Once Blue Ranger is trapped in the world we’ve set up, the rest will be sure to follow,
…and that will be their undoing!”
Soon, Rainbow came to the Arcade. “Man, it feels great to get away from those books.” she said to herself, “Now the real fun begins.”
The door was unlocked and so she let herself into the empty place. It felt kind of creepy to be inside. There were no other people around, all the games were turned off; it really felt more like a ghost town than an arcade.
“Ah, hello…” the manager called to her, “Glad you could make it. Are you ready for the test?”
“You better believe I am. I could hardly sleep last night.”
The manager led Rainbow into the back of the arcade where the new Galaxy Guild III console was set. “Please…” the manager said as he offered her to sit at the stool.
Rainbow eagerly took her seat, and studied the controls. “Doesn’t seem too different than what I usually play. This should be easy.”
The game was started up, and Rainbow really liked the opening credits and exciting scenes-- so many landscapes, buildings, monsters, and a whole load of new characters and weapons to use.
She created her avatar; a warrior with blue cybernetic armor and of course gave her the name, “Wonderbolt 117” which was her normal username. “I can’t believe there’s 116 other Wonderbolts.” she muttered.
“Are you ready to lose…?” the manager asked sinisterly.
“Me, lose? Never…” said Rainbow.
“Oh, but you will lose this time, Blue Ranger!”
“Huh?” and before Rainbow knew it, the screen glowed brightly. So bright, she covered her eyes, “Whoa! What’s going on?!” she shouted as she felt herself being pulled through a virtual vortex.
She reappeared in a moon-like landscape, as her own avatar. “Whoa, am I going crazy?” she cried “I’ve… BECOME… my own character?!”
She heard the sound of an evil laugh, “Take a good look while you can. It will be the last thing you ever see!”
Then Hacker Jack appeared on the scene, but he was only a hologram. This made Rainbow realize “…I’ve been set up!” she tried to contact the others, but her morpher was missing.
“It’s no use, little ranger.” said Jack “You’re in my world now, and here you’ll play my way. If you want to escape, all you have to do is win.”
“What? I just have to beat you?”
“Oh, but you won’t…” hissed Jack, and he pressed on his chest controller, punching in a few simple command codes, and at once, monsters and aliens began to appear all over the landscape, and one alien shot her with a ray-gun, making sparks fly! “Whoa!” she cried “That’s hot!”
Jack laughed, “Just a little bit of hacking I did. Though this world is giant video game, everything that happens is as real as it gets.”
Rainbow fully understood the horrors now, “If I lose in here… it’s Game Over!”
The monsters were still surrounding her, and knowing she had no other choice, she ran for the nearest weapon lying around she could find and equipped herself with a multiple-laser sniper. “Adios hotshots!” she called as she blasted at the creatures, blowing them all to bits. “Alright… who’s the Queen of Games?!” but her rejoice was short-lived as the monsters suddenly appeared right back again, completely rejuvenated. “Hey! What gives? They should be blown to bits? They can’t revive themselves!”
Jack snickered, “Weren’t you listening? We’re in my world, and I make all the rules here. These monsters will never truly remain down long. They’ll just keep coming and coming until you’re defeated.”
He laughed wickedly, and Rainbow felt worried as the creature continued to come for her.
While in a secret location, Bronc commended Jack for his cunning modifications. “Look at her. She’s lost in the very games that she loves, and soon the other rangers will share her fate.”
A while later, the other rangers all met at the library for their study session, except for Rainbow. “Where is she?” Sunset asked “She’s already fifteen minutes late.”
“Ah, she’s probably still hooked on that video game.” said Buddy, “At least we can still study.”
Suddenly, their morpher coms went off, and the loud beeps earned the rangers a Shush from the librarian “Sorry…” Sunset said “We’ll take this outside.”
The librarian nodded and watched the rangers head off.
Once outside, Sunset answered the call from Celesto. “Rangers, is Rainbow Dash with you?”
“No, she’s not. We’ve been waiting for her.” replied Sunset.
“Is something wrong?” asked Fluttershy.
“Possibly…” replied Celesto “I was monitoring the city, when Rainbow’s signal was suddenly lost. We’ve been trying to contact her, but the line can’t seem to reach her.”
Twilight and the technicians had already checked over the consoles. “Everything’s in perfect working order.” said Twilight. “Something must’ve happened for Rainbow’s signal to cut out.”
“Did you get that, Rangers?” Celesto called to them.
The rangers did hear and they agreed to go look for her, and logged off. All of them had a pretty good idea who was behind all this…!
“I think it’s time we paid,
a visit to the arcade.” suggested Rhymey.
Sunset agreed, figuring it would be the best place to start. So they all headed down the street to the arcade, and found the door was still wide open, even though the sign said “Closed for Game Testing.”
“That’s weird. Shouldn’t the door be closed and locked?” asked Fluttershy. The others felt the same way, and they softly went inside.
“Hello?” Sunset called out, but nobody answered.
All the games were shut off, and all the lights too, which made the place seem a little creepy.
“Hey, what’s that?” Buddy suddenly asked. Everyone looked and saw a single game console was the only thing that was actually lit.
“Galaxy Guild III?” said Sunset “This is the game Rainbow was going to test.”
Rhymey looked at the screen, and he gasped,
“Oh, no…!
It’s Rainbow!”
Everyone gawked at the screen and saw the game was actually being played, and the recognized the character’s face behind the helmet visor. “It is Rainbow!” cried Buddy.
“How did she get in the game?!” cried Fluttershy.
Not even thinking, Sunset took hold of the joystick on the console, and at once, the screen began to glow brightly.
At the same time, back at the base, the remaining four blips on the screen that represented the rangers’ positions went out. “They’re gone!” cried Spike. “We can see that, Spike.” snapped Twilight.
Celesto examined the location on the map, “That’s the arcade, and now I’m more than convinced something evil is at work.”
Sadly, not one of the friends knew what to do. Going too near the arcade was too risky-- falling into the trap themselves. “Run a full scan of the area. There must be something we can do. I don’t care what it is… we have to get the rangers back, or the city is virtually defenseless.”
“What’s happening?!” cried Fluttershy.
Suddenly, they were all transported into the game themselves, and were wearing battle suits identical to Rainbow’s; each in their own designated ranger color, but their morpher’s were gone and they couldn’t contact the base for help.
“Whoa! Check it out!” cried Buddy.
Everything around them looked exactly the same as the alien environment they saw on the screen. “We’re actually inside the game?!” cried Sunset.
The rangers all took a moment take in how slightly cool everything seems, but suddenly, Fluttershy gasped, and she stuttered and stammered hard.
“Fluttery…?” rhymey asked, as he turned round, and he gasped…
“…Oh, my!”
The other turned round and saw a whole bunch of snarling aliens and zombies coming at them.
“If I remember right, you have to shoot at them.” said Buddy. “Shoot at them with what?” asked Sunset, but then she saw an automatic machine-gun and a box of ammo lying on the ground, “Oh…”
She picked the weapon up and fully loaded it. “How do you work this thing…?” but one little pulling of the trigger and the weapon went crazy, shooting blasts all over the place. Sunset could barely hold herself still, and he shots went all over, forcing the others to duck and swerve.
Fluttershy even got hit on the shoulder, “Ow!” she cried “That… that felt real?!” she cried.
Sunset’s gun finally ran out of ammo, but at least she shot all the monsters as well. “Well, at least they’re gone.” she panted.
Rhymey looked on ahead,
“Uh oh…
I don’t think so.”
Surely enough, the monsters had all returned, just as snarly and brutal as ever. “Any other suggestions?” asked Buddy.
“Yeah… RUN!!!” cried Fluttershy, and off they ran as fast as they could go, but it seemed that wherever they went, more monsters appeared and began to follow them. Some of them were even flying beasts, either with wings or rocket packs.
“We can’t outrun them!” shouted Sunset, “We’ll have to shoot them down again. At least it’ll slow them down!”
The others agreed, and they split up to grab whatever weapons they could find lying around--lasers, explosions, Fluttershy even found a large bazooka.
“It’s on!” Fluttershy sneered, and she fired a single shot in the air, blowing a ton of monsters out of sight.
Rhymey leapt up, and rolled along the ground before standing upright and blasting a single laser beam through a whole line of monsters, wiping them out.
The rangers didn’t realize that they were being watched by Bronc and Jack from their hideout in the game. Jack snickered, “Pretty good rangers, but not good enough.” And he fiddled with his chest controller, punching in more commands to rejuvenate the monsters, making them even stronger than before.
“They’re still coming at us!” shouted Sunset.
Buddy punched one monster down, killing it, but then the monster returned and looked stronger than ever, and slashed him back! “Whoa!” he groaned “That felt so real! These guys mean business!”
Suddenly, they all could see a large alien complex up ahead. “Let’s head there!” shouted Sunset, and they all ran for it as fast as they could go.
Buddy stopped a moment, and pulled out a plasma-grenade. He quickly tossed it out into the field, and the bomb exploded making a huge pit before the monsters halting many of them in their tracks.
“That’ll slow them down.”
Of course, the flying monsters were still able to give chase, but the rangers managed to reach the complex. The front gate was already wide open, so they just barged right in, and lucky for them the door shut behind, sealing the monsters outside.
The rangers all sighed heavily in relief, and then turned their attentions to their new surroundings.
The inside the complex was just like an ordinary high-tech place-- corridors, ramps to other levels, high walls and large boxes as obstacles.
Still, the rangers were no closer to finding Rainbow anywhere. Let alone figuring out a way to escape the game.
“If only we had our morphers,
If only Rainbow had hers
Then we could find her, and escape the monsters.” said Rhymey.
The others agreed, but suddenly they could hear the sounds of running coming from way down the hall. “Someone’s coming!” cried Fluttershy.
“Weapons ready…” said Sunset, and everyone held up their guns as the footsteps grew nearer, but it turned out to be Rainbow. “Hey!” she called to her friends.
The others were delighted to see her, and they all huddled together in a group hug. “Rainbow, what’s going on here?” Sunset asked.
“I’ll answer that for you…” shouted a familiar, evil voice. The rangers turned round and found Bronc and Hacker Jack standing together.
“Does that explain it?” Rainbow asked the others. The others clenched their fists at the villains.
“See, I told you I’d get them all here.” Jack said to Bronc.
Bronc nodded, and then he spoke to the rangers, “You all play a fine game, but now your skills will be put the ultimate test here in our fortress.”
Jack then fiddled with his controller and he summoned forth, what appeared to be, and army of armored Lingos, wearing suits of armor and holding powerful sniper-rifles.
The rangers were virtually surrounded at all angles. “I knew I never liked video games much!” Fluttershy whimpered.
Bronc and Jack snickered, “Any last words, Rangers?” Jack asked.
Despite the obvious peril, Rainbow took out one of her big guns, “Get your game on!”
“Rainbow!” snapped Sunset!
“ATTACK!!” shouted Bronc, and the Lingos began to fire their weapons all over, aiming carefully so as not to accidently shoot one another.
“Look out!!” shouted Buddy, and he and the others all jumped out of the way before the blasts hit, and Rainbow already began to return fire-- blasting back at all those Lingos, shooting them into digital bites.
“Anytime, guys…!” she called down, meaning she wanted help!
The others agreed, and joined her in battle, shooting the Lingos, tossing explosives at them. They even took a moment or two to engage in psychical combat, which was another gaming function.
Despite their best efforts, Jack laughed at them and fiddled with his controls summoning the Lingos right back and stronger than ever. “Now it’s my turn.” he hissed, and he controlled the Lingos to open fire, hitting the rangers mercilessly, making sparks and explosions flow all over.
Not only did the rangers feel the pain from the shocks, but their helmet visors warned them that their energy and power units were starting to run low!
“This isn’t working!” cried Fluttershy.
“I know!” shouted Rainbow, and she gazed back at the monster, “That creep’s controlling the outcome of the game! He’s making it so we can’t win!”
“That’s the idea…” Jack called and he summoned more Lingos.
“Face it, Rangers… your time is running out.” remarked Bronc.
This made Sunset finally realize, “Maybe if we try defeating them… that could snap us out of here.”
Rainbow tried to warn them that she had already been trying, but the other rangers already lunged at them, “NO, WAIT…!”
The rangers fired with everything they had, only for their shots to suddenly vaporize before reaching the targets. “They’re being shielded by a barrier!” cried Buddy.
The two villains snickered, “Just a little of our own hacking.” said Bronc “Shoot at us all you like, Rangers, but in our world we cannot lose. All the programing here and all the hacking we’ve done-- you haven’t a chance.”
He then demonstrated by firing his lasers, straight through the barrier, and hit the rangers.
Now their suits were nearly out of power and energy, which meant their end was just around the corner.
“Mercy me,
This cannot be!” cried Rhymey.
“How can we possibly beat them at their own game?!” squealed Fluttershy “They can just hack their way around all our attempts.”
But hearing her say that gave Rainbow a crazy idea, “Of course…!” she whispered to herself, “Why didn’t I think of this before?!”
The Lingos continued to attack and the rangers were forced to fight back to defend themselves however they could, but their weapons were running out of ammunition. Plus, the more the Lingos kept coming back, the stronger and stronger they became, making them able to stand up to even the most brutal of assaults.
“We can’t keep this up!” cried Sunset, and then she looked over her should, and what she saw confused her big time-- Rainbow was just running against the walls, and shooting blindly at nothing in particular. “Rainbow, what are you doing?! We need your help!” but Rainbow just continued to go berserk all over the place—shooting at the walls, the floor and ceiling, hopping around in circles, and simultaneously switching gear and weapons, “I sure hope this works!” she said to herself.
Soon, the rangers had reached their limits. All their weapons were out of ammo, and if either of them took one more shot, they would be finished. The four of them lay on the ground, weak and beat up.
The villains snickered, “I told you this mission would be a success.” Jack said.
Bronc nodded and then instructed a swarm of Lingos to take their places, forming a ring around their rangers and pointing their guns straight at them, while Rainbow stood where she was-- having stopped her crazy flailing around-- “Say goodbye to your friends, Blue Ranger.” Bronc called at her, “Then it will be your turn.” but Rainbow’s lips curled into a cheeky smirk, “…I don’t think so.”
“Huh?!” snapped Bronc, as he watched as the Lingos guns suddenly vanished into thin are. “What?!” cried Jack. “What have you done?” asked Bronc. “I… I didn’t do anything!” cried Jack, and he fiddled with his controls trying to get the weapons back, but they wouldn’t appear. “How is this happening? I programmed this world perfectly!”
“I Am Error…!” Rainbow teased, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from years of experience, games like this are packed full of bugs and glitches that can be triggered when the player behaves mysteriously or does something crazy, and it can lead to something great, or something disastrous!”
Some of the Lingos began to pixelate and vanish into nothingness. Even the villains themselves were starting to pixelate. “What’s happening…?! I can’t move!” cried Bronc! He then thundered at his ally, “Do something you, over grown computer bug!”
“I can’t!” cried Jack “My controls will not respond!”
The other rangers, though still weak, were ever so astonished. “I don’t believe this.” cried Buddy “All these bugs, they’ve completely turned the tables on these goons.”
Suddenly, Rainbow herself began to pixelate. She herself was not immune to the glitches she had caused, “Lucky for me, I have a backup plan.” And she dashed right off.
“Rainbow, come back!” cried Fluttershy.
“Where’d she go?” asked Sunset. She suddenly got her answer as the Lingo army suddenly got shot at from directly above. Everyone looked up, and there stood Rainbow, actually standing way up high within the solid ceiling of the fortress!
“Impossible!” shouted Jack “You can’t be up there? The ceiling is solid; you should not be able to pass through it.”
“Normally, that would be the case…” Rainbow called, “But thanks to the glitch I was able to zip myself up here. Pretty neat trick, don’t you think.”
“Way to go,
…Rainbow!” Rhymey called to her, and he and the others watched as Rainbow blasted away more of the Lingos, and thanks to the errors, Hacker Jack was unable to bring them back! “This can’t be happening!” the monster shouted.
Bronc was furious, “It doesn’t matter to me where you stand! I can still blast at you from here!” That’s what he tried to do, but his lasers wouldn’t fire. “What? No!! I’m still bugged!”
Hacker Jack looked up and Rainbow, “Why aren’t you being affected?”
“Duh…!” Rainbow called to him, “Because I’m outside of the game-frame.
The lower area where you two creeps are is overrun with bugs and errors now, making it so you can’t use your weapons, but I’m, literally, on a different playing field where the bugs can’t get to me, which means I have the full right to bear arms!”
With that, she blasted out the remaining Lingos. The other rangers cheered her on, and now the villains were completely defenseless. They still couldn’t move, couldn’t hack the game, and thanks to Rainbow’s glitches their defensive barrier was useless now, leaving them completely exposed.
“Like I say…” Rainbow gloated, “Video games can teach you a lot too, especially of what to expect when the game suddenly breaks around you.”
She switched her gear for a huge bazooka, and aimed it straight the villains, “Too bad neither of you learned that…!”
POW!! She fired a huge rocket that struck the villains hard, effectively beating the game and transporting everyone out of the game.
They all flew out of the console in great beams of lightning, zooming out the open the door and landing in the streets.
The villains were completely outraged. “You blew it, you cybernetic fungus!” growled Bronc.
“Who are you calling a cybernetic fungus?!”
“I know what I’d like to call you both…” Sunset called. the villains turned and saw the rangers were all morphed and holding the Star-Slammer, “…I’d like to call you guys toast! It’s time to shine!”
“Star-Slammer… Engage!”
The two villains gasped, and didn’t know where to run as the rangers prepared to attack. “STAR-SLAMMER… ULTRA-STRIKE!!”
“KETO, HURRY!!” Bronc shouted.
Nacluv heard and saw everything from the monitors, “Well, what are you waiting for?!” he thundered.
“All right already!” snapped Keto, “FORTISSIMO!!” He launched two magical mugics, sending them off to the island, and both Bronc and Jack grew into giants before the rangers could attack!
“Time to play in the Big Games...!” Jack shouted. He and Bronc both laughed wickedly, but the rangers were already prepared and called for their zords, “LAUNCH STAR-JETS!”
“Zords Combine!”
“Jet-Star Megazord, Ready!”
Bronc sneered at the rangers’ megazord, “Ha! Two against one…? No problem!” but suddenly he and Jack got blasted at by Giant Lightning, “I think that about evens the odds.”
“Great timing, Lightning.” said Sunset “Now, let’s get ‘em!”
Lightning had it out with Bronc to keep him distracted. The two of them exchanged punches and kicks like crazy. Bronc then kicked Lightning hard and flipped him flat on his back!
He laughed at him and loomed over him for the kill, “So much for you, Comet Ranger.” but as soon he raised his huge fists to attack, Lightning kicked him hard in the gut, sending him rolling along the ground, “So much for you, helmet-head!”
Bronc roared in outrage, and rushed in for more brawling.
While they duked it out, the other rangers faced the monster with the megazord. The two figures stared each other down, softly pacing in circles waiting to attack. “Game on…!” shouted Jack, and he lunged at the megazord, “Bring!” shouted Rainbow, and the pulled on the controls making the megazord dash forth.
The megazord aimed to punch, but the monster hit his control and gave a huge leap way up and out of sight.
“Where’d he go?” asked Buddy.
“I don’t know!” rhymed Rhymey.
The monster suddenly dropped down, and then hit his controller again, dashing forth with such speed and ramming the megazord hard. The rangers screamed as they were rocked about and the megazord fell on its back!
“Game’s up rangers!” Jack taunted them, “And you can’t glitch your way out of this one.”
“Yeah… and we don’t have to!” snapped Sunset. “Do it, Rainbow!”
“Yeah…!”
Rainbow pounded on the controls, and the megazord bolted up right, making the monster jump, “What the…?!” and in a swift thrust, punched the large controller breaking it in half. “A’RGH!! No!! That was a limited edition!” Jack cried.
“Looks like your game is up now.” said Sunset “Star Saber, Ready!”
“Star Saber… Engage!”
While the megazord charged up, Lightning and Bronc were engaged in a huge struggle, and the both gave each other such a huge hit sending each other flying back hard.
Then, finally, the megazord’s saber was fully charged. “STAR-SLASH… GO!!” the rangers shouted, and the monster was slashed hard! “GAME OVER!!” Jack shouted and he exploded and was imprisoned.
“Quick, beam him inside!” cried Fluttershy, but before the tractor-beam could be fired, “Oh, no you don’t…!” Bronc shouted as he leapt in and grabbed the sphere with the monster in it.
“Oh, no!” cried Lightning.
With the monster safe in his clutches, Bronc sneered at the rangers, “You got lucky today, but there’s always next time, Rangers!” and with that, he teleported away and was gone!
“Oh, no…! He got away with the monster.” cried Rainbow. Sunset pounded the console, and she couldn’t bring herself to make the call this time, “We’ll get him next time. At least everything’s safe now…”
When Bronc shrunk down and got back to the tower, Nacluv demanded an immediate explanation. “Forgive me, master…” Bronc groveled, “I know I failed you, but at least I saved Hacker Jack from capture.”
“Perhaps…” hissed Nacluv, “I suppose, for that, I can spare you for your BLUNDERING!!” his shouting made Bronc jump, “But mess up another plan, again Bronc, and you’ll be wishing the rangers captured you! Now, get out of my sight!!”
Bronc obeyed and left his master in peace, but he was very livid for the way he had been scorned, and as he stomped down the hall, Keto and Marla, whom had been listening to everything, though Nacluv was really going out of line, even though Bronc failed, at least he saved them form losing another monster.
“That’s it… he’s going down!” Marla whispered to Keto, and Keto agreed. “Uh, but… how? How are we going to overthrow him?”
Even Marla couldn’t figure that out, “We’ll find a way, in the meantime just play it cool.”
The rangers found the real manager of the arcade and freed him. The man was ever so grateful, “How would you all like to have free game passes for a month?” he offered them, but the rangers, freaking out of having more games to play, dashed out the door!
“Two months…?” the manager called.
The rangers all got back to base, and explained the situation to Celesto. “Bronc got away with the monster.” Sunset said “We’re sorry, sir.”
Celesto took pity on them, “The important thing is that you’re all safe, and so is the city.”
“So, I guess the lesson learned here is that it really is bad to play too many video games.” said Twilight.
“Yeah, but… really…” said Fluttershy “We only were able to pull out of things because Rainbow plays so many games.”
“So, I guess that means there really is no lesson to learn here.” said Buddy.
“Maybe…” Rainbow cut in, “But I learned I’ve had enough games for a while. I may as well just focus on other things…” and by other things, she meant rocking and sports, which she demonstrated by jamming on her guitar while kicking a soccer-ball around… only to then stumble and fall to the ground.
The others couldn’t resist a small chuckle, and even Rainbow chuckled at herself, “Maybe I should stick to just one at a time.”