The Mechaclones attacked the students who had managed to evacuate the building.

Ian opened his eyes wide with horror. "This is not good."

"We have to do something," Kylie said.

"Sure," Dax said sarcastically. "Let's go get those abandoned morphers and become Power Rangers."

Kylie's eyes brightened. "Yes...That's what we have to do. Who knows how long it will take for Jet Force or SPD to get here. We can stop this now."

"Um, I was being sarcastic," Dax said.

"Come on," Kylie said as she moved back the way they came.

"Sarcasm," Dax said. "Seriously, look it up."

Ian followed Kylie.

Dax sighed and reluctantly followed. "I hate this school."

The Dark Shaper stood on the control deck of the repaired Shinzon ship. He had salvaged the vessel shortly after it crashed, and he used his intellect to rebuild the ship.

He used the ship's resources to create his cybernetic foot soldiers, and the vessel's tech could create monsters as well. 

Still, he needed more.

The villain opened a comm link with Agent Jaedus. The Dark Shaper had used Jaedus to sabotage the school, paving the way for his attack. "Report."

"This is perfect," Jaedus said. "They never suspected a thing."

"You're running behind," the Dark Shaper said. "Have the Mechaclones salvage what they can and return to the ship."

He disconnected the comm link.

Jaedus and his two companions had proven useful. The Dark Shaper didn't trust them in the slightest, but he couldn't question their effectiveness.

Mechaclones attacked helpless students in the courtyard outside the school.

The grunts left most of the fallen students behind. But some of the soldiers picked up the dead and injured students and carried them back towards the teleportation site.

Dax, Ian and Kylie filed from the building. They immediately saw the Mechaclones attack the students who tried to flee. Some of them were as young as 12.

Even Dax knitted his brow at the sight.

"There," Ian said. "You hated the school so much. You happy now?"

"No," Dax said. "Just annoyed."

Kylie armed the Bio Bracers on her wrists. Dax and Ian did the same.

Ian looked to Kylie. "You sure these things will work?"

"Only one way to-"

"They'll work," Dax said. "Let's just hurry up before I realize how utterly ridiculous this is."

"Fair enough," Kylie said.

The teens readied their morphers.

"Bio Burst!" They connected their bracers, triggering waves of energy that washed across their bodies. Their armor materialized as they morphed into their Ranger forms and snapped into fighting stances.

"Red Falcon!"

"Yellow Lion!"

"Blue Dolphin!"

"Gene-Tech Task Force...Bio-Beast Rangers!" they shouted together.

The Red Ranger looked down at his gloves. "Why did I feel the need to say that? Why would we announce ourselves? Seriously, let's just tell the bad guys we're here, they can attack when-"

"Dax, they're coming," Yellow Lion said.

The Mechaclones charged towards the new Rangers to attack.

"Falcon Sword!" Red Falcon armed a double-edged blade and leapt through the air towards the grunts.

The Red Bio-Beast Ranger landed while chopping his blade through a Mechaclone with a burst of spark.

Two grunts closed in from behind. The Red Bio-Beast Ranger turned and twirled his sword to parry their blows. He slashed them aside, blade sparking through their artificial bodies.

Five more Mechaclones scrambled around the Red Bio-Beast Ranger.

"Bio Blaster!" Red Falcon armed his blaster and fired pulses of cyan-tinted energy that sparked through the grunts, whipping their bodies backward.

Nearby, Blue Dolphin leapt through and armed her weapon. "Dolphin Bow!"

She snapped a volley of arrows that tore through several grunts with bursts of spark.

The Blue Bio-Beast Ranger landed in the midst of several Mechaclones that swarmed around her. She swung her bow through a low strike that knocked the legs out from under a grunt, causing the soldier to crash to the ground.

Three Mechaclones surrounded the Blue Bio-Beast Ranger and snapped whips that wrapped around her neck.

Blue Dolphin grabbed hold of the whips and tried to break free, but before she could, the grunts sent electrical charges along the tendrils. The charges thrashed across Blue Dolphin's body with bursts of spark, forcing her to her knees.

Nearby, Yellow Lion hurled a grunt over his shoulder.

"Lion Gauntlet!" The Yellow Bio-Beast Ranger armed his gauntlet.

Yellow Lion smashed a punch against a grunt's gut with a burst of spark, then smashed his gauntlet against the grunt's back, knocking the soldier down. 

He swung a hook punch across a grunt's head, then swung the same fist through a back-hand strike that smashed a second grunt's head off its shoulders.

A Mechaclone tackled against Yellow Lion, pushing the Yellow Bio-Beast Ranger through a wall that crumbled on impact.

The Yellow Bio-Beast Ranger crashed against the ground, rolled into a crouched fighting stance, and pulled out his sidearm. "Bio Blaster!"

He fired bursts of cyan-tinted energy that punctured through the Mechaclone with bursts of spark. 

"Rangers..." a voice said from nearby.

The three Rangers regrouped to see Jaedus standing alongside his two companions.

No older than 18, Jaedus wore a gray suit of high-tech armor over black leather. He wore his dark hair short, and his skin was pale. His eyelashes were so thick, he looked like he was wearing eyeliner. Short, black fur trimmed the edges of his armor.

To his right stood Kaidaron. No older than 15, he wore a slender suit of dark-blue armor, trimmed with black. He had shaggy blonde hair and dark-brown eyes.

On the other side of Jaedus stood Caemlyn. The 18-year-old wore an intricate suit of red and black armor, with sharp blades extending from the left side of her black. 

Red Falcon tilted his head at the sight of Jaedus. "Nathaniel...?" Red Falcon said. "Didn't you cheat off my last term paper? Ha. I bombed that test on purpose to watch you fail. Good times."

"And that's Christian...and Lillian!" Blue Dolphin said.

"Old names for old lives," Jaedus said. "INET squandered our intelligence. But VOLT...VOLT has shown us-"

Red Falcon looked to Blue Dolphin. "I always knew this place was a breeding ground for evil scientists," the Red Ranger said. "I always said that."

Jaedus thrust his hand forward. He fired a wave of invisible telekinetic energy that exploded against the Rangers and knocked them backward.

The Rangers crashed against the pavement and rolled into crouched positions.

Caemlyn extended her hand, and a barrel thrust from her palm. The barrel fired bursts of twirling energy that exploded against the Rangers with a shower of sparks, hurling them backward.

Blue Dolphin climbed slowly back to her feet. "Lillian..." the Blue Ranger said. They hadn't been friends, but the Blue Ranger knew Lillian was one of Academia's most promising students. As were Nathaniel and Christian. "How could you do this?"

"This school taught us nothing," Caemlyn said.

"So you destroy it?!" Yellow Lion asked as he climbed back to his feet.

"Yes," she said. "INET stands in the way of the advancement we can bring through VOLT."

"VOLT?" Blue Dolphin asked.

"Don't ask," Red Falcon said. "That will only encourage an explanation."

A red light blinked on Jaedus's gauntlet. He narrowed his eyes and cursed beneath his breath. "We're out of time." He looked to the Rangers. "We'll meet again."

The three villains teleported away with a sweep of the Shinzon ship's transportation beam. 

"Well..." Red Falcon said. "They're getting expelled, that's for sure."

The Silver Guardians escorted Dax, Ian and Kylie to the ISIS Research and Education Initiative headquarters building. Academia had operated under the research branch.

The three teens walked into a dark office with tinted windows, where a man stood staring outside.

"Leave us," the man said to the guards.

The Silver Guardians left the teens alone with the man. 

Dr. William "Billy" Cranston lowered his head. "I'm sorry you had to get involved in this."

He didn't sound sorry at all.

"We're over it already," Dax said. "Can we go home now? Yes? Thanks."

Kylie ignored Dax. "What happened back there at the academy?"

"Three of your classmates betrayed you," Cranston said. "They sabotaged the Enertron Project to weaken the school for the VOLT attack."

Dax fumbled into his pocket for his Droid phone. "Must...find...iFunny..."

Cranston turned and glared at Dax. "Am I boring you?"

"A little bit," Dax said as he pulled out his phone and started swiping through his apps.

"Dax," Kylie chided as she lowered his phone. She looked back to Dr. Cranston. "What's VOLT?"

"An organization created by someone called the Dark Shaper," Cranston explained. "He plans to advance science and genetics at the cost of human lives. He views most of humanity as inferior compared to his intellect, and he wants to wipe out that inferiority to advance the human race."

"That's crap," Dax said.

Cranston arced an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

"He has to want more than that," Dax said. "He was taking dead bodies from the school. If he thought they had 'inferior minds', why bother with that?"

Cranston clenched his jaw. "I'm not familiar with...all of his motives."

"Clearly," Dax said.

Ian shrugged. "Maybe he just wanted the raw genetic material."

"Genetic material he finds inferior," Dax asked. "Doesn't make sense." He waved his hand dismissively. "Anyway, get to the point."

"The point is you three unlocked the Gene-Tech morphers," Cranston said. "That shouldn't have been possible. Those morphers were deemed non-functional."

"Did you check the batteries?" Dax asked.

"I don't think you understand how serious this is," Cranston said. "Those morphers have essentially bonded with your genetic coding. They won't work for anyone else. You've used them to fight against VOLT once. And I'll need you to use them again."

"Don't you have, like, 70 Ranger teams already?" Dax asked.

"Two," Cranston said. "SPD's occupied with growing meta-level criminal activity. Jet Force has to stay alert for inter-dimensional threats, like the Fangaira. You would be assigned to handle VOLT specifically."

"I'm going to show you the courtesy of just saying 'no' instead of telling you to go to hell," Dax said.

"Dax!" Kylie shouted.

"Christ, Dax," Ian said. "Show some respect. He's giving us a chance to fight against the people who destroyed our school. Who killed our classmates. If you're too scared, then fine, but don't be an ass about it."

"I'm not scared, I just know a game when I see one," Dax said. He looked to Cranston. "This is a game you're playing. With the Dark Shaper. This doesn't have anything to do with him wanting to wipe out inferior intellect, or you wanting to save people."

"Dax!" Kylie shouted again. "Dr. Cranston, I'm sorry..."

"No, it's OK," Cranston said with an odd smile. "You're so sure this is a game, Dax?"

"Yep," he said.

"OK," he said. "Then play the game. Show your friends that you're right, and I'm wrong."

"To clarify," Ian said. "We're not friends."

Dax narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and stared at Dr. Cranston. The teen nodded. "OK…OK, fine. I'm only doing this to prove my point and wipe that smug grin off your face. I hate smug people. Actually...I hate people in general, but that's beside the point."

"Good," Cranston said. "I'll get you set up with a mobile headquarters and have a team show you your equipment and zords."

Ian's eyes lit up. "We get zords?"

"You're Rangers now," Cranston said. "Of course you get zords."

Dr. Cranston waited until the teens left his office. He stormed to his desk and slid open his holographic communicator. He practically slammed his hand against the panel. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt such anger.

His communicator stayed silent. He slapped his hand against the panel again. "Answer..."

The emitter hummed to life and projected an image that looked like a dark reflection.

"Does this mean we're back on speaking terms?" the Dark Shaper asked. "Or were we already on speaking terms? I lose track."

"You attacked my school," Cranston said.

"I did," the Dark Shaper said.

"That wasn't part of our arrangement."

"Our arrangement?" the Dark Shaper asked. "We never had an arrangement. We simply exchanged favors."

"This VOLT organization you've started is a sham. We both know that," Cranston said.

"I could say the same thing about INET," the Dark Shaper said. "Now...you've seen what I have up my sleeve. I know what's up your sleeve. Let's see if we can come up with a new arrangement of sorts, shall we?"

To be continued...Chapter 05