Off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, something was swimming about. Its eyes glowed as it opened its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. The creature saw an object in its line of sight as it zoomed ahead. It shot through the water like a torpedo as soon it made contact with its prey.
In the lair of the Dark Lords, Thorax was at his computer as his scanners were going haywire.
"What's happening?" asked Starlight.
"Our target is on the move. The Tiger Shark zord has struck," chuckled Thorax evilly as the mutant's fingers went at it on his keyboard.
The monitors then popped up sonar and schematics. Soon the world map came up as it then zoomed in on the area. It showed a submarine that was losing control as it was moving towards a harsh storm. The scanners now moved away from it as it followed a trail. Soon the live feed showed the zord as it was highlighted in green.
"There it is," smiled Thorax.
"Great, but where's it heading?" asked Chrysalis.
The submarine that the Tiger shark zord attacked had made it into the storm just moments later. With the sudden attack they encountered, they lost all control of the submarine. Coupled with the storm they were in and the waves crashing down on them, they were blind.
The crew inside were feeling the effects as they rocked.
"Private, situation report," asked the captain of the sub.
"Emergency power only, Captain. Radar, sonar out. Visibility poor." said the man as he was sitting at his controls.
Their sub rocked once more due to the waves as they felt it.
"Scopes? Navigations systems?" asked the captain to another member of his crew.
"All down, sir. We're running blind," responded the woman.
"Then we'll need blind luck if we don't want to run into anything," said the captain.
A few meters away there was a cruise ship that was trapped in the storm. However, with the sub not having any vision, it was heading straight for the larger ship.
"Come on, folks. It's much safer inside," said the deck officer to some of the folks, before talking into the radio, "The upper deck is cleared."
"Woah, what's that?" said a woman as she pointed out to the sea. "I don't believe it."
Coming at them was the sub that was blind.
"Get inside! That thing is going to collide..."
At that moment, the submarine hit the ship and both ships rocked. The crew inside the sub all fell to the floor.
In the rangers' command center, the rangers were currently in the obstacle course section of the place. Ash, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were all shown on top of a building. Sunset was holding onto a rope as she repelled down.
"Woo!" shouted the girl as she descended onto a ledge. She then saw the dummy as she descended to the level below her. "This is almost too easy," said Sunset as she put the dummy over her shoulders and began to climb up.
"So far so good. But the best training exercises always include an element of the unexpected. There's a safety latch, but she doesn't know that," smiled Ash as he cut the rope.
"Oh, shit!" shouted Sunset as she felt the rope be cut and was falling.
She quickly grabbed onto a ledge and stopped her from falling.
"Now, this is more like the Ash I know," said Sunset before looking up to address her leader. "Hey, you really went out on a limb for this one, Ash!"
Sunset extended her other hand as out shot a cable. It flew upward and then circled the device that the rope was hanging from as it then attached to itself.
"That's the test of a real ranger. Someone who is prepared for the unexpected at all times," said Ash to all as Sunset was now walking up the building.
"Like the exercise you gave me, remember, submerged in icy waters without scuba gear. Oh, it's colder than a penguin's tail feathers," said Applejack as she rubbed her arms as she still could feel the freezing temps.
"Well, hey, it strengthen your endurance," explained Ash for his actions.
"Or how about that reaction time test, I found myself trapped in quicksand. With a very short rope," said Rainbow.
"Yeah, that wasn't a test. You were just pissing me off that day," explained Ash to the chromatic-haired girl.
Everyone now began to laugh as Dash had an angry look on her face. Sunset now climbed to the top of the building as she stood before her team.
"Training exercise complete. As well as the testing of the new gadget, Ash," said the girl as the rest of her body made her suit disappear.
"You did great, Sunny," smiled the boy as he placed his hand on her shoulder.
At that moment, an alarm went off as the teens now rushed out of the training room and into the main room. Ash approached the computer and pushed a button.
"What's the status, Rachel?" asked Ash.
"I know this isn't our normal duties, Master Ash. But there's been a distress signal that I've picked up. A sub-to-ship collision off the Atlantic Ocean." said the A.I. as she showed the location of the crisis on the world map.
"Uh, no offense, Rach? But are any of our foes involved?" asked Rachel.
"Again, no. I know this isn't our usual standard saving the day type of thing, but the distress call and detail of the incident is growing every second," responded the A.I.
"It's fine. We're rangers. Which means we save those in danger. So let's move team!" shouted Ash as they were heading to the hangar.
"How are we going to get there?" asked Twilight as they ran.
"Let's say, I've completed some more devices from my father's schematics."
The gang all arrived at the hangar as Ash showed the girls what he meant. Standing there was a jet that he'd been working on the past few days. They were all amazed as they got in and the boy began to start it up as it flew out of the command center and to their destination.
The rangers were now in the rainstorm. They could see the waves crashing below them. During the ride, Ash had Rachel contact the rescue support team that picked up the signal as she informed them that the help was on their way. They soon saw the ship that was damaged as smoke came from its lower levels. Next to them was the rescue craft as the rangers' jet landed on the landing pad.
"Welcome aboard, rangers," said the captain of the rescue craft as he saw their jet.
Ash and the girls all morphed into their suits before exiting the ship. Rachel was able to make a private comm channel for them to talk through while on the mission. They made their way to the communications room as there was the captain and his rescue crew all running about. Everywhere, bells and whistles were going off as they were looking at sonars and radar. Soon the captain saw the group of rangers he had heard about.
"I never expected you guys to show up. I figured you'd guys be off fighting a monster somewhere else. But hey, I'm not complaining. I'm glad you're all here." said the captain as he approached the yellow ranger and shook his hand.
"That's the duty of a ranger, Captain. Save and protect those in need. Now, what's the situation?" asked Ash.
"The submarine hit a gas line causing a fire to break out below the deck. And the flooding means that the crew can't get to the valve to turn the gas off."
"Any damage to the sub?" asked Twilight.
"Don't know. We can't establish radio contact," said the captain.
"Applejack, Rainbow, you guys check on the sub. The rest of us will concentrate on the ship. Rachel will stay in radio contact and use the schematic maps to guide us along," instructed Ash to his team through their private channel.
"Two of us for a whole submarine?" asked Rainbow to her leader.
"Don't worry. I suspect you'll need help," smiled the captain as he led the rangers through a door. He led them to a pool of water as soon, as something jumped out of it.
"This is Nemo. He's a rescue dolphin we've been training to help us handle situations like this," smiled the captain as the dolphin came to the edge and petted its head.
"Hey, there," smiled Aj through her helmet as she and Rainbow petted the aquatic animal as it gave some noises.
"Alright then, team. You have your assignments. Here you go," said Ash as he handed the girls some devices.
"What are these?" said Aj.
Both girls pushed the button on it as the square now expanded and soon both girls were now standing there in diving gear that was fitted for their ranger suits.
"Something that I've been working on for situations where we might need to dive underwater while wearing our suits," said Ash.
"Nice! Let's do this!" said Rainbow as she and Applejack now dove into the water.
The hole at the bottom of the pool opened up as the girls and Nemo the dolphin began to swim out into the ocean. The others all made it back out of the ship and onto their jet as they were each dropped onto the ship and split up as they were assigned their tasks.
Both Rainbow and Applejack were swimming about as they were following the dolphin. They soon came upon the sunken submarine as it was teetering on the edge of a rock as it was directly below some coral.
"Applejack, Rainbow Dash, this is Rachel," said the A.I. through their helmets. "I'm ready for your status report."
"I'm no expert, but the submarine evacuation hatch has been jarred. It's gonna be tricky to open," said Aj as she could tell it was sealed shut so even her superstrength wasn't going to do much.
"That's not our only problem. The coral above is crumbling," said Rainbow as she looked up. "If the bow hits that trench the subs air tanks could explode."
Meanwhile, on the ship, Ash was helping the crew load the passengers onto lifeboats. He got a hold of a girl who was scared as she held a teddy.
"It's gonna be alright. Me and the others are gonna save everyone," said the yellow ranger to the girl as that cheered her up. He then put her on the boat as he talked to his Morpher. "Rachel, we'll need you to send the ship's schematics in a few minutes."
"Ten-four," responded the A.I. to the yellow ranger.
Back with Aj and Dash, they were still working on getting the hatch opened. Turns out those swimsuits that Ash made for them also had a few tools in them. Inside, the crew heard the sounds.
"It's the rescue team," said one of the crewmen in a low breath.
"Save your breath, crewman. We don't have much air left," said the captain as he looked at their oxygen levels and saw how low it really was.
"We need to speed things up," said the green ranger as she pulled out a blowtorch and began to work on opening the hatch.
"But what about the coral?" asked Rainbow.
"We're on our way," said the captain of the rescue team as he and a few of his men were in a small watercraft as they were heading to the location of the girls to help them.
"Rainbow, take over. I'll go check out on the support beams," said Aj to her friend as she handed the blowtorch to her. She now dived down as at that moment, the small watercraft made its way to them.
It began to pull out some support beams with its arms as it attached to the sub.
"How much longer?" asked Aj to Dash as they were held in place.
"Only a few more minutes," said Rainbow through their private comm channel.
At that moment, the support beams began to slip as the whole sub was moving.
"What the hell?!!" shouted Rainbow as she quickly noticed the ship moving as she moved out of the way.
"Oh, no!" said Aj as she saw one of the support beams and began to push on it.
The girl now activated her support strength to try to hold it in place, but it was a bit difficult underwater as she couldn't plant her feet on something.
"Rainbow?!" shouted Aj as she was starting to lose it. Soon the sub was turning on its side as the girl was directly under it. "Rainbow, help!!!"
Soon the sub was turned on its side as dust from the coral was kicked up.
"Aj?! What's your status?" said the girl to her friend.
Nothing was heard, soon, emerging was Applejack as she was holding onto the dolphin. Nemo was able to swim quickly to the green ranger's aide as he managed to swipe her from being crushed.
"Fine for someone who almost became a submarine sandwich," said the girl to her friend. She gave a thumbs up to the crew in the watercraft as they got the sign she was okay. "Thanks, little fella," said Applejack as she petted Nemo's nose to which he nuzzled against the green ranger.
Back with the others, they were still working on calming the fire below the deck. Both Ash and Twilight were on the lower deck using their zords in their pet forms to clear some debris. Ash pulled out some more devices he made, when he gave them to him and Twilight, they now had water guns to help put out the fire. They each began to spray at the fire, but the flames grew bigger and bigger. As fast as they were spraying, the fire continued to grow.
"It's no use until we shut off the broken gas main, this fire is gonna keep on raging," said Twilight to her leader standing back to back with her.
"Sunset, have you located that shut-off value, yet?" asked Ash through his Morpher to their teammate.
Sunset was currently in the flood section of the ship. Ash had given her another device that Aj and Dash were given as she was now in a swimsuit fitted for her ranger suit. She climbed down the ladder as she landed in the water.
"I'm almost there," said Sunset as she had the schematics transmitted to her helmet as she saw the layout. "Thanks for transmitting the map, Rachel."
"That's what I'm here for. Now you're gonna have to swim 20 yards down that hallway, bear left, and then 30 yards directly in front of you will be the value," said Rachel as she show Sunset the direction she would need to take by using a small pixel of her reaching her destination and getting there as the words 'Level Complete' appeared.
"Copy, also love that little touch," said the girl as she smiled.
"Master Ash had that made specifically for you," responded the A.I.
"Now, I definitely want to marry him," muttered the bacon-haired girl.
"What was that?" asked Ash as Sunset's channel was still on.
"Nothing! I said I'm on it," said Sunset as she quickly realized her situation. She shut off her comm channel and then began to dive under the water as she swam.
"Ash, Twilight, status report. How are you two doing down there?" asked Rachel as she switched to see what they were doing.
"Good, we found some trapped crewmen," said Ash.
The door was sealed shut, but they had made it to a nearby window. Ash now began to pull out a blowtorch as he began to open it. Inside, the people were trapped as there was a fire in front of them. They had buckets of water they were tossing at the flames but it didn't do much with the gas still activate. They were also running out of air as a few of them coughed. They soon noticed some sparks coming from the window as it was then pushed in as a hand was shown. They let out a small gasp as they soon saw who it belonged to.
"Sorry to barge in guys, but we only have a small window of opportunity here. And I mean, a really small window," said Ash as he pulled one of them through it to show them. They all smiled and laughed at his joke.
With Rainbow Dash and Applejack, they were still working on trying to move the sub. When it tipped onto its side earlier and nearly crushed the farm girl, the evacuation hatch had now been blocked by the rock it was near. The captain had brought a pulley system that they hoped would allow them to move the sub back to its rightful position to allow them to get back to opening it.
"Aj? Dash? What's happening?" asked Rachel as she was checking in on them.
"After the latest incident, the hatch got blocked. So we're using a pulley system to move the sub and reexpose the evacuation hatch," informed the green ranger.
"Keep trying, girls. We need to hurry!" stated the A.I. to the girls through their helmets.
The rangers gave thumbs up to the watercraft as they began to pull back. The craft pulled but not a few moments later, did the line snap as the watercraft was pushed back from the momentum as the sub now tipped more towards the girls.
"Applejack?! Rainbow Dash?!" shouted Rachel as she heard the noise through their comm channel.
"We're fine, Rach," said Rainbow to the A.I.
"But the submarine still ain't movin'. The evacuation hatch is still blocked," said Aj.
"If only we had better supplies or something! Ash couldn't create something to move a 2-ton sub!" shouted Rainbow.
"The purpose of these gadgets that his father designed was to help those trapped in small situations. Not to... wait a minute... supplies... that's it! They must have a supply hatch! Rainbow, you're a genius." said Rachel as she began to rescan and hack into the submarine schematics.
"I am? I mean, of course, I am!" smiled Rainbow boastful as Applejack just rolled her eyes in her suit.
"Alright, I'm in. And I think I have it," said the A.I. as she now had the layout of the sub and found her target. "Rainbow? Applejack? I found another entrance. Every sub has a supply hatch. This one is located..."
While Rachel was informing the duo of the other exit, Sunset was still heading towards the value. She was following the map that her helmet showed her as she avoided any floating debris in her way as she kept on swimming. She soon came to a small opening made by some pipes that fell as she turned on the flashlight on her head and looked around. The light scanned the area as it soon located its target.
"The value," said Sunset.
She started to swim forward but was stopped. Her air tank was hitting the pipe she was trying to squeeze through. The girl grunted and tried harder to squeeze through with the air tank on her back but it wasn't budging. She then contacted her Morpher.
"Ash, Rachel? The only way I'm gonna fit through this is if I take my tank off and do a free dive," said the red ranger.
"Copy that, Sunset. I'm gonna send Twilight in your direction," said the boy.
"But by then, it'll be too late!" said Sunset as she knew they didn't have much time to wait. "As long as the gas remains on, that fire will keep on burning."
"Sunset, it's too far. You'll never be able to hold your breath for that long," said Rachel as the A.I. ran the calculations of the distance and the amount of time Sunset would have to hold her breath.
"Oh, yeah. Watch this!" said Sunset.
She pushed the button on her air tank as it unhooked from her. The girl was determined to shut off the gas value as she was willing to take the risk. She got rid of the tank and swam through the small opening as she was making her towards the value. The girl was closing in on the target when soon she felt something. She looked down and saw her flipper was caught by a cable as it was restraining the girl in place. She began to try to pull her foot out but it was stuck. To make matters worst, her helmet was flashing red at how low her oxygen levels were. Rachel could see it as there was a warning signal being sent to her. Ash also received the signal as he was concerned for his teammate.
"Come on, Sunset. Come on!" shouted Ash.
The girl struggled and struggled to remove her foot but it didn't budge. She soon decided to remove the flipper as she now began to quickly swim towards the value. She approached it and began to turn it as she felt her oxygen levels about to breach. With a few more turns, the red ranger then quickly swam up towards the surface. Sunset emerged as her helmet deconfigured at that moment allowing the girl to get some air.
"I did it! The gas is off!" shouted Sunset taking in some deep breaths.
"Great job, Sunny!" said Ash through their private com channel. "I just hope Rainbow and Aj have saved that sub."
The other two members of the team were shown cutting open the supply hatch of the sub. Once Rachel had figured out another exit for them to gain access, she informed the girls where it was as they had been using the blowtorch to open it up.
"We're gonna have to resurface soon. You don't have much air left," said Rainbow as both of their oxygen tanks were running low and would soon be depleted.
"Not till we open the supply hatch," said Applejack as she was determined to get the thing open and save the crew inside.
Soon the girl completed the cutting as they looked to see the watercraft approach them as they gave a signal.
"Alright, Captain. She's all yours!" stated Rainbow with a thumbs up.
The captain and his crew on the watercraft nodded as they had their vehicle dock on top of the supply hatch. The crew inside heard the thud as the captain of the submarine made his way to their supply area. He looked up at the hatch as he saw the Captain at the other end who placed the eject hole of the watercraft over the hatch.
"Welcome aboard, folks!" smiled the rescue captain to the submarine crew below as they cheered. He then made it to the window as he gave a thumbs up to the girls outside.
"It worked, Rachel! We did it!" shouted Rainbow in excitement as she and Aj did a high five.
"Glad we thought of it," said the A.I. as she gave credit to both girls for helping her to come up with the plan. "Ash, Twilight, Sunset? How are you all coming along?"
"Fire's out," said Twilight as she and Ash just finished putting out the last flames.
"Once Sunny shut off that gas value, we put it out faster than Rainbow downs apple cider," smiled Ash as he place his arm around Sunset's shoulder as the girl smiled through her helmet. "Alright, team. Let's rendezvous back at the rescue craft."
"On it!" said Rainbow and Applejack as they began to head back with the watercraft and Nemo.
Once they arrived, they all gave each other a quick high five at a job well done. The captain of the rescue team thanked the rangers for their help as he shook Ash's hand. The team made their way back to their jet and were about to leave when they all got a message from Rachel.
"What's up, Rachel?" said Ash.
"While you and the girls were finishing up with helping the rescue operation. I ran some scans on the submarine and was trying to figure out what hit it."
"And?" asked Twilight.
"Look at this," said the A.I. as she pulled up the photos on the jet's screen as the teens looked at it.
It was the image of the sub, soon it began to zoom in on a back part of the submarine. Under a normal eye, everything seemed normal. However, Rachel did another scan as it show some hidden marks. There were teeth marks on the sub as it showed that something must have either attacked or collided with the sub.
"Teeth marks?" said Sunset.
"But what does that mean? Those look like shark marks. But we didn't encounter any sharks," said Twilight.
"You're right, we didn't. But... this was no ordinary shark," said Ash as he pushed some buttons on the panel.
The image of the teeth was put to the side as another image was brought up. The team of rangers was now looking at the thing that caused all of this as it was the Tiger Shark zord.
While the team was gathering their thoughts on what went down with the missing zord, their foes were already on the move. After Thorax had tracked down the zord's signal, he'd been trying to trace where it was heading. The incident with the sub was merely an obstacle as it was traveling somewhere else. The location of it was going was an island off Costa Rica.
They were now heading towards the location in hopes of cutting off the zord.
"Where are the rangers?" asked Chrysalis to her son.
"They're still busy with the rescue, I doubt they know what's really happening. And even if they do, we're already one step ahead of them," snickered Thorax.
"Then let's hurry. We need to find that zord before they do," instructed Chrysalis as she grabbed some minions and Thorax as they exited their lair.
To be continued...