Sector 13, Bishop Residence
Metro City, Canada
June 27th, 2015
7:56 AM

"Riley Bishop"

Last night was probably one of the most incredible nights of my life. And I'm not just talking about the prom, if you know what I mean. I knew it would happen eventually, and I also knew that when it did, it would be just what I needed to help me make up my mind.

Rachel is the one for me. I know it might sound kind of tacky or cheesy considering what we did last night, but even before that I felt this way.

In fact, I had actually been planning this moment for months. I carefully extricated myself from the bed, without waking Rachel and crept downstairs.

When I came down into the kitchen, Amanda was already waiting for me. She took one look at me before speaking up.

"You and Rachel had sex last night, didn't you?" she asked.

"How did you know?" I asked, "You weren't even here."

"I can just see it on you," said Amanda, "You're presenting yourself with more confidence."

"Today is the day, Sis. I'm going to do it," I said, "Just like we talked about. I'm also making her breakfast in bed."

Amanda pulled me in and kissed me on the forehead, and then gave me a noogie. Her enthusiasm made a sting a bit, but she's always been like that. Rock hard knuckles.

"I'm so proud of you," she squealed delightedly, "I'll get out of your way."

I have never claimed to be a chef, but I highly doubt that any girl, especially Rachel, is going to complain about the quality of the food provided by breakfast in bed.

She hadn't quite woken up yet, so I took this time to brush my teeth and tidy up a bit. This was a very special day, not just because of our looming battle with Trojan, but also for other things.

When I came back, Rachel let out a big yawn and stretched into a sitting position. I was ready and brought the tray of food over to her.

"Good morning." I said.

"Breakfast in bed?" she asked, surprised.

"Last night was incredible," I said, "Except for the whole Trojan becoming a God thing."

"Yeah that really did suck, didn't it?" chuckled Rachel, "This bacon is really good."

I just watched her eat, doing my best not to let the excitement show on my face. I feel like I would be terrible at poker.

"Why are you staring at me?" asked Rachel.

"Am I not allowed to stare at you?"

"I don't mind if you stare," she said, "But you look like you want to devour me and turn my head into a necklace."

"Sorry," I said, "I guess I'm just nervous."

"About the fight this afternoon?" asked Rachel, "I can imagine."

"I like that, yeah," I said, "Let's say that's what I'm nervous about."

Once she finished eating I took her plate away. She got up and tried to get out of the bed, but I blocked her path.

"What are you doing?" asked Rachel, "Oh god, please tell me you're not turning into some sort of weird obsessive stalker because we you know, did it, last night."

"Nothing like that, no, I just want you to stay in bed."

"But I have to go freshen up." said Rachel.

"Oh, okay, yeah, go ahead and do that."

I moved out of her way. While she was gone, I went over to my sock drawer and reached into the very back. I pulled out my oldest pair and unrolled it. I never wore those ones.

When Rachel came back from the bathroom, I decided to just do it. I couldn't wait anymore, the suspense was killing me and that was making me act like a complete freak.

"I've got to say something, because I don't think I've made it clear," I said, "I'm in love with you. Powerfully, painfully in love."

"Riley? What are you-"

"The way you move, the way you think, the things you do. I get excited every time I'm about to see you," I continued, "You make me feel like I've never felt before in my life. Like a man."

I hadn't planned on going off like that. I had opened my mouth with the intention of saying something else, but that came out instead. Not that I regret saying it, mind you. I probably wouldn't have been able to come up with anything better.

Rachel dabbed at her eyes as giant tears started to form. I dropped the old pair of socks and got down on one knee. Held in my hand was an engagement ring that Silver helped me buy a few months ago.

"Rachel Elizabeth Parker, I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone," I said, "Will you marry me?"

Rachel looked completely stunned. She covered her mouth with her hands. But then her expression changed. She went from confused and stunned to angry and frustrated.

Before I could ask her what was wrong, she slapped me hard across the face. The ring slipped from my hand and fell to the floor as I clutched at the spot where she had slapped me.

"OW!" I gasped, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"

"You're proposing to me!?" she snorted.

"Yeah." I said defensively.

"You're only doing this because you're afraid!" snapped Rachel, "You think we're all going to die later today, so you're proposing now so you can take it off your bucket list!"

"Is that what you think?" I asked, picking the ring back up, "No. Rachel, I'm proposing to you because I love you. And after we win today, I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Her expression changed again into one of remorse and delight.

"Oh, Riley..." she sobbed, "Yes! A million times yes!"

I handed her the ring, but she wouldn't take it.

"Not yet..." she sniffed, "Give it to me AFTER we win."

"Sis! Come on in! She said yes!" I called.

Amanda, Silver, Jenna and Mr. Parker were the only people who knew that I was planning on proposing. Yesterday, before Oz came to pick me up for prom, after Rachel had already gone to Headquarters to give Jenna her dress, I had walked over to Rachel's house and asked her father for his permission to marry Rachel.

Amanda gently pushed the door open. She had her camera in her hands and started snapping photos of the two of us.

"Stop taking pictures of me!" wailed Rachel, "I'm all puffy from crying!"

"Don't worry, honey. I can edit that out." said Amanda.

"Stephen "Silver" Silverstone"

"This can't be right..." muttered Jenna.

"I've gone over it three times now," I said, "It's not a mistake."

"Then this is it," signed Jenna, "We lose."

We had spent the whole night desperately trying to come up with ideas on how to defeat Trojan. Before he had absorbed an entire dimension, he was already too powerful for the rangers to defeat.

But this morning, we realized that Trojan also inadvertently absorbed the Master Codec, because it's part of Cyberspace. I seriously doubt that Trojan knew he would be absorbing it. I'm pretty sure he only did it to make himself even stronger.

"What kind of attitude is that, Jenna?" asked Riley.

I hadn't been paying attention. He and Rachel must have teleported into Headquarters while I was preoccupied.

"A realistic one." she said.

"This from the same woman that called out Silver after he was ready to give up when the time bomb detonated?" asked Riley, "It seems like I'm the only one that knows we're going to win."

"This is different," I said, "When Trojan drained Cyberspace, he also absorbed the Master Codec."

"Without that, there's nothing providing your codecs with energy, which means that once they run out, they're kaput." said Jenna.

"Well, lucky for you, I have a plan," said Riley, "And if I do say so myself, it's pretty awesome."

"Riley Bishop"

There was less than an hour left before we had to go face off against Trojan. While we waited for everyone else to show up, I told Silver and Jenna what my plan was and then they spent the rest of the time setting things up.

Once Chloe, Oz and Sawyer arrived, I gathered everyone together in the middle of Headquarters for what will likely be the last time and proceeded to explain what my plan was.

"I like it." said Sawyer.

"So do I," said Chloe, "But will it work?"

"I don't know." I said.

"No matter what we do," said Silver, "It'll be a Hail Mary."

"Trojan has managed to become even stronger than the Phoenix," said Jenna, "But, if Riley's plan works, his incredible power will become his undoing."

"Silver," I said, "Is everything ready on your end?"

"I think so," he said, "Keep in mind that I've never actually done something like this before."

"Alright guys," I said, "This is where we make our final stand! Today, we defeat Trojan, or die trying."

"Let's do it for Marcus!" cheered Oz.

Since our codecs didn't have enough energy for us to actually morph, we were going to use the last of it to teleport to wherever Trojan was waiting for us.

We arrived at Town Square. Seems kind of fitting actually. This was where we had our first real battle as Power Rangers and where we first met Trojan.

Now it was going to be where we would have our last battle as Power Rangers. That is of course, if my plan even works. Like Silver said, it was a Hail Mary.

"I was beginning to wonder if you'd actually show up." said Trojan.

His voice sounded distorted and echoed a bit. If you listened closely when he spoke, it almost sounded like there were multiple voices overlapping each other.

"We're the Power Rangers," said Oz, "Of course we showed up."

"From what I hear," said Trojan, "You can't morph anymore. Which means there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

"If you want to destroy the world," I said, "You'll have to go through us first!"

"Okay." he said.

Several grotesque tentacles erupted from somewhere on his back. Trojan looked at Rachel and then one tentacle shot right at her. She kicked it away and then ran away as Trojan sent two more tentacles after her.

"He's so jacked that he can control those things with just his eyes." muttered Oz.

Trojan retracted all the tentacles and started walking towards us slowly. As he approached, he pointed at Sawyer and suddenly, Sawyer was lifted up off the ground and became suspended in midair.

Trojan began to spin his finger around over and over again. Whatever he did with his finger, would happen to Sawyer in the air. He made him spin around really fast, bounce against the pavement and then at one point it seemed like Trojan was trying to pull him apart using only his mind.

Oz tried to get behind Trojan to attack him and free Sawyer, but Trojan turned his hand into that whip again and Oz was sent flying. He landed behind us, then Trojan sent Sawyer flying too, and he landed next to Oz.

Trojan fixed his gaze on Chloe and then shot laser beams from his eyes that Chloe just narrowly avoided. He fired a few more beams at her, but Chloe managed to dodge them as well.

"Come on! Now he has heat vision too!" gasped Oz from the ground behind me.

Trojan demonstrated more of his incredible powers by punching the ground and opening a giant crack in the street that gobbled up a few cars.

"Bow down before me!" Trojan screamed, "I AM YOUR NEW GOD!"

He held up his hands and began to transform. It was a sickening process, but we watched as he grew larger and larger until he was the same size as a virus after being made larger.

"Let's do it guys!" I shouted, "Silver, do it now!"

"Here goes nothing..." he muttered.

Even though we weren't in ranger form, our Digitizers still work as a communication devices. He heard him start typing frantically. At the rate he was going, it was amazing that his fingers didn't just fall off.

"That should do it," said Jenna, "Go for it, rangers!"

Trojan may have inadvertently absorbed the Master Codec, but this wasn't like last time, when our connection to the Morphing Grid was actually severed. This time it was still intact, and so was everything we needed to transform. The problem was that the codecs are programmed to automatically draw power from the Master Codec, which is normally located somewhere in Cyberspace.

That's when it hit me. All we should have to do is reprogram the codecs and give them new coordinates. By default they always look around in Cyberspace for the Master Codec, but now we were going to tell them to look on Earth for the Master Codec.

If the reprogramming works properly, the codecs will get powered up by the Master Codec like usual, but since Trojan absorbed it, the codecs would now be receiving power from Trojan himself.

If it works, when we morph, we'll get powered up while Trojan gets powered down. Silver also took the plan one step further by removing one of the fail safes that he installed before we bonded with our codecs.

It was risky, and could result in the destruction of the codecs, but without that fail safe in place, the codecs will keep drawing more and more power, which will just keep on making Trojan weaker and weaker.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Ready!" said the others.

Sawyer pumped the clutch on his Digitizer as he said it.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" we shouted.

"RENEGADE, POWER UP!" shouted Sawyer.

Instantly Trojan roared in pain as we morphed. Once we were all clad in our ranger outfits, we ran closer to our gigantic nemesis.

"What's happening to me?!" he groaned.

"Riley, activate your Phoenix Armour!" called Silver, "Even if you can't maintain it for very long, it will weaken Trojan significantly."

"PHOENIX ARMOUR, ACTIVATE!" I screamed, pulling the lever on my Digitizer.

Upon pulling the lever, I saw a ball of fire fly from out of my codec. It let out an eerie wail and started to fly in circles around me, eventually it became a swirling tornado of fire. The tornado kept spinning even after the Phoenix stopped flying around in circles.

Now it was hovering in front of me. Then it flew right through my chest. When it was gone, I noticed that I was now wearing a breast plate over top of my ranger suit. Then the Phoenix flew through my legs, and created matching armoured boots. Next it flew through my arms, creating matching pauldrons and gauntlets.

After that it flew through my head and my helmet transformed to look a bit more like a bird. Finally, it flew into my sword, but didn't emerge on the other side. The sword became much longer and curved slightly before bursting into flames. When my sword caught fire, two large wings made up of fire sprouted from the back of my new breast plate. The fiery tornado vanished, and I could see town square again.

I felt weak. Even though Silver had removed the power level cap on our codecs, that had no effect on how strenuous using the Phoenix Armour was on my body. It was especially bad because I had just used it last night.

Luckily, Silver did say that it didn't really matter how long I could maintain the armour, just using it would significantly drain power from Trojan.

"How is this possible!?" roared Trojan.

"Wow! I feel the difference," said Blue, "I feel so much stronger already."

"Rangers your suits are now at 125% power," said Silver, "It's working, just hang in there!"

I really wish that I could have, but Phoenix Armour is already so hard to maintain. Add on the fact that I was tired in general and the fact that I had just used it yesterday, and it's amazing I even had enough energy to summon it in the first place.

I looked up and saw that Trojan seemed to be getting a little smaller.

"Rangers, try summoning the VR," said Jenna, "That'll drain lots of energy too."

"Sawyer, rather than adding on your VR XS, I want you to summon the full sized VR with the others." said Silver.

"Can do." said Purple.

Our weapons disintegrated and turned into a flurry of data. The five different swarms combined and reshaped until they solidified into the Virus Reaper.

"Virus Reaper, online!" we announced in unison.

"Charge it up for twice as long," said Silver, "Your supercharged codecs can handle it."

I grabbed one of the handles as we took aim. The familiar laser sight showed us the path the bolt would follow once we pulled the trigger. Except we weren't really aiming at anything this time.

"Nine…" said Yellow.

"Eight…" said Purple.

"Seven…" said Orange.

"Six…" said Blue.

"Five..." I said.

"Four…" said Yellow.

"Three…" said Purple.

"Two…" said Orange.

"One…" said Blue.

"FIRE!" I shouted.

With an electronic twanging sort of sound, the VR shot the bolt. There was a loud boom as the bolt broke the sound barrier. It shot towards Trojan's ankle and pierced right through it, then the bolt came back to us like a boomerang.

Trojan grabbed at his ankle and hopped around on one foot as the VR disintegrated. It definitely caused him pretty severe pain, but he'll probably still be able to regenerate. By now he was about half the size as he was when we started.

"You wretched brats!" snarled Trojan.

"Riley, I have another new idea for the plan," said Silver, "Since Trojan is still a digital life form, let's see how he likes this brand new computer virus that I programmed just for him."

"I love it," I said, "What does it do?"

"Hopefully, it will suppress his rapid cellular regeneration," said Silver, "Which should allow you to actually inflict lasting damage on him."

"But don't stop draining energy," said Jenna, "If you were to power down and then morph again, your supercharged codecs will draw even more power than the first time."

"You heard the lady." said Purple.

"Power down." we said in unison.

"Have you finally realized that there's no way you can possibly stop me!?" asked Trojan.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Ready!" said the others.

Sawyer once again pumped the clutch on his Digitizer.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" we shouted.

"RENEGADE, POWER UP!" shouted Sawyer.

It felt like every inch of my body was screaming in protest. We weren't used to handling this much power while in ranger form. But we can't give up!

"Suit power levels have passed 200%!" said Silver.

"Whatever you're planning won't work!" growled Trojan, clutching at his chest in pain.

Now Trojan was half the size he had been before we morphed for the second time. It also looked like Silver's virus was working.

"Rangers," said Silver, "Summon the VR again!"

"You could probably let it charge for a whole minute at this point." said Jenna.

For the second time this battle, our weapons disintegrated and turned into a flurry of data. The five different swarms combined and reshaped until they solidified into the Virus Reaper.

"Virus Reaper, online!" we announced again.

I grabbed one of the handles as we took aim. Trojan was small enough now that we could actually aim at specific parts of his body. The chest seemed like as good a place as any.

"Sixty…" said Yellow.

After twenty seconds, Trojan groaned again and got even smaller. We had to readjust our aim using the laser sight to make sure we'd still hit him after all the shrinking.

"Forty…" said Purple.

Twenty more seconds and Trojan got even smaller. We had to adjust the aim yet again.

"Twenty..." said Orange.

Fifteen seconds later and Trojan had now reverted back to his original size.

"Four…" said Yellow.

"Three…" said Purple.

"Two…" said Orange.

"One…" said Blue.

"FIRE!" I shouted.

The VR fired the bolt, but Trojan rolled out of its way. After the bolt returned to us, the VR disintegrated.

"Alright, fine then!" screamed Trojan in frustration, "Even like this I'm still strong enough to kill you all!"

"That's where you're wrong!" I snapped, "All the power we drained from you is now inside our codecs."

"Even with all that power, you can't kill me, I'll just heal like I always do."

"If you say so," I chuckled, "Download weapon!"

The others all followed my lead and summoned their weapons too. Trojan transformed one of his hands into the whip, and the other one into that menacing blade.

"It looks like he's back to how he was before absorbing Cyberspace," said Silver, "But now you should all be strong enough to handle him thanks to Riley's brilliant plan."

Trojan lashed us with his whip hand, we all dodged it, but Orange was a few seconds too slow. Her ankle got raveled up by the whip and he pulled her in. Purple charged forward to try and free her, but Trojan sliced at him with the blade arm.

Since Purple was keeping the blade hand busy, that meant that me, Blue and Yellow had to try and free Orange from the whip arm.

We ran forwards in single file. Blue broke away and tried to get behind Trojan, while Yellow and I continued our assault. Blue had almost made it behind Trojan when a third arm sprouted from Trojan's back and slapped her aside.

Yellow engaged Trojan with his hammer. Which gave me just enough time to run in and slice the whip arm clean off at the shoulder. Orange was able to free herself from the severed appendage.

Trojan clutched at his stump and staggered backwards. He smirked at us and then turned to look at the stump, obviously expecting it to grow back. But it didn't, which means that Silver's virus worked perfectly.

"My arm!" sputtered Trojan, "Why isn't it growing back!?"

"Because by absorbing Cyberspace, you made it possible for Silver to infect you with a virus that suppresses your healing powers," I said, walking towards him with my sword raised high, "And without your healing powers, you're finished."

I ran him through with my sword. He started convulsing as if he was having some sort of seizure, a trickle of blood ran down onto his lip and then he fell forward. Trojan was dead.

His body started glowing and I heard that familiar eerie wail. There's no mistaking it, that's the sound that the Phoenix makes, but yet time didn't slow down like it usually did.

A jet of fire came out of Trojan's lifeless body and flew around momentarily until it exploded and turned into a fiery orb of binary.

After the jet of fire flew out of it, Trojan's body crumbled and turned into a tiny pile of ash.

"Thank you for my freedom, Power Rangers," said the Phoenix, "When Trojan absorbed Cyberspace, he also absorbed me and the Master Codec."

This time everyone could see the Phoenix. All the other times it had appeared before me, it had made it so that I was the only one that could actually see it.

"Trojan's rampage caused so much unnecessary destruction," said the Phoenix, "The only way for me to undo all the damage he caused is by permanently sacrificing myself."

"But, what about us?" I asked, "What do we do now?"

"This world owes all of you an incredible debt," said the Phoenix, "You sacrificed so much and overcame countless struggles in your battle against Trojan. Now that he is vanquished, I suppose you can do whatever you want."

"Wow." said Chloe.

"Goodbye, Power Rangers." said the Phoenix.

It transformed into fiery binary again and soared towards us. The next thing we knew, we were back in Headquarters and back in civilian form. Somehow the Phoenix teleported us.

"Rangers!" said Silver, running in to give us an enormous group hug, "You were incredible!"

"We're so proud of you!" said Jenna, joining in on the hug, "You just saved the world from a terrible fate."

"My plan worked." I sighed.

Even though I had confidence in my plan, I guess I'm still somewhat in shock that it actually worked. The Phoenix's words about how we can do whatever we want really stuck with me.

I reached into the back pocket of my pants and pulled out the ring box that I bought for Rachel. I don't know exactly what I want to do, but I do know that whatever I decide on, I want Rachel by my side.

"Everyone," I said, beckoning them all to come closer, "Rachel and I have some incredible news."

Rachel came to stand next to me and held out her hand. I opened the ring box and took the ring from the small pedestal and then carefully slid it onto Rachel's finger.

"We're engaged!" she squealed delightfully, "He proposed to me this morning!"

This caused another giant group hug. Later that day, Silver ordered us a pizza for what he called "The Last Supper". Since Oz didn't order it, there were no nasty black olives on the pizza this time.

After dinner, Silver had us all line up just like how he had when he first gave us our codecs all those months ago.

"Since Trojan is vanquished and is no longer a threat," said Silver, "I need to take back your codecs."

We all took off our Digitizers and held them close to our chests. It was harder than I thought it would be to give back my codec. I wonder if I still would've been able to win Rachel's heart if neither of us had ever become rangers.

"Does this mean we won't be able hang out here anymore?" asked Oz, hanging his head.

"I'm not going anywhere," said Silver, "But I would imagine that some of you might be."

"I can't believe that this is the end." sobbed Chloe.

"Hey guys! No frowning!" I shouted, desperately trying to lighten the mood, "You're all invited to our wedding!"

"You know what would be cool?" asked Rachel, "Having the wedding on the 20th anniversary of the day we first met."

"Yeah," I said, "But that's about three years from now."

Even though both of us always say that we've known each other since we were in diapers, that isn't technically true. We didn't actually meet until we were 3 years old.

"So..." said Chloe, "What do we do until then?"

"Whatever we want..." I said.

I HAVE DECIDED TO UPLOAD SEASON 2 AS A SEPARATE STORY. SO, IF YOU AREN'T ALREADY FOLLOWING ME AS AN AUTHOR, PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU DO SO THAT YOU WON'T MISS OUT ON SEASON 2 WHEN IT GOES LIVE. AS OF NOW, I WILL NO LONGER BE UPLOADING ANY NEW CHAPTERS TO THIS STORY. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED SEASON 1!