Jump 271: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers

Jump #271: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
>The Chariot, reversed: Lack of discipline and poor direction fan the flames of a situation already out of control.
Mistakes were made, but c'mon, who's surprised by this by now?
>Age: Old
>Location: The Moon
Listening to Rita whining about everything for centuries is DEFINITELY the way to go. Yeeeah.
>Identity: Drop-In
>Drawbacks: 10,000 Years In Prison (+300)
REGRETS. ENDLESS REGRETS. Argh.
>Color Change (1250, Drop-In)
Well, it's more permanent than a coloring charm.
>Sixth Ranger (1050, Drop-In)
Technically wouldn't this be seventh? I mean, I'm not planning on actually stealing the green ranger's spot, no matter how much of an insufferable Mary Sue the canon sixth ranger is.
>It's Morphin' Time (850)
Sometimes it doesn't hurt to be able to change forms instantaneously. With what I've got for alt forms, it's pretty quick, but it's been limited. And the larger the size change, the longer it takes.
>Teamwork (450)
Frankly the most interesting part of this perk is that a few hours of practice is sufficient to pass it on to others. You can bet I'll be using THAT aspect in the future.
>Sparks (350)
Sometimes you have to make a point. Whether a hit is effective or not, it's nice to know you're having an impact.
>Dragon Shield (300, Drop-In)
Gold is tacky, but it fits, I suppose.
>Power Morpher (200)
As terrible as spandex is, I'll be using it anyway. No mecha though; just means the canon rangers have to save the day.
>Sword of Darkness (0)
You know what's funny? I don't think I have any swords that are actually magic, yet. I mean, the Sword of Polaris thing means that I AM a sword, so to speak, but it does not so much GIVE me a sword. And this one has some nice qualities; I think I'll keep it.

So riddle me this. When is a power ranger not a power ranger? When they end up in the universe from the 1995 movie rather than the sentai show. The white(!) ranger was part of the lineup from the start, apparently, and that skews a great many things. For instance, when Goldar attacked Angel Grove, it merited a full blown military response. It wasn't overly effective, but HEAT shells proved to not be totally ineffective against giant monsters.

So! This basically means the stakes are a little higher. No, the monsters aren't just going out and murdering people en masse (not dumb enough to take THAT drawback here), but it does mean that I can't follow the plot with meta-knowledge, and it also means that the monsters fight a little smarter and actually use some degree of tactics. And that everything does not automatically happen in quarries and open fields, but in the city itself. It also means that the plot doesn't get retarded and end up in space later, but... yeah. Tech on Earth is slightly ahead of the curve, moon missions in the 90's were unexpected but apparently the case. On the plus side, the armor looks somewhat better. yeah?

Once free, I go to Earth and try to blend in, and get a job as a substitute teacher at a certain high school which permits me to disappear as needed and keep a variable schedule. Then pop into the command center after the rangers get recruited and have a quick heart-to-heart with Zordon. Explain I was dropped in from another dimension, ended up here and am definitely not a villain - quite the opposite, in fact - and want to help out. End up on the team, not fighting on the front lines 80% of the time, but actively training the other rangers. Because I have training perks up the wazoo, and due to the amped up opposition, they're going to need it.

Fun fact: gold armor goes surprisingly well with black spandex. Being the gold ranger and only making occasional appearances when things merit it seems the way to go.

So. Two years in. Ivan Ooze attacks. Which is patently ridiculous, incidentally. But once I realized I was in the movieverse... well, I'm not going to deny I had been waiting for this opportunity for quite a while. Even though he wreaks havoc on the command center and basically half-kills Zordon.

>"Oh the things that I have missed! The black plague! The Spanish Inquisition!"
"Your mother slobbering all over my sword."
>"Who the hell- OH. OH GOD WHY."

Did you know that Ivan Ooze remains weak versus nut shots? I ended up regretting that precisely twelve seconds later as I was blasted through the doors, but MAN was that satisfying. Also I didn't get the ninja upgrade that everyone else did, but that's okay, because my powers run on fiat and not the local power source.

Things... started to calm down after that, for the most part, monster-of-the-week became monster-of-the-month, but they got bulked up. Zedd's also a scary motherfucker when he wants to be.

So years of steady escalation... I basically retired after a while and just stayed on to train people and make appearances once or twice a season in fights, Rita and Zedd were the villains for significantly longer than in the show, and when they were finally replaced by the Machine Empire, it was a full blown invasion rather than the formulaic bullshit you would normally see. The rangers did an admirable job, but they could only be in so many places at once. And so force was met with force - because Earth hadn't been sitting on its laurels. (I may have been subtly helping them.)

Funny how after Earth nuked their base of operations on the moon, the remaining two years got REAL quiet.

oh my god how did i just write up this much shit for power rangers. damn you jumpchain.