Log on

The light of the moon shone through the window of the Computer lab - and into Matthew Kent's eyes. Sighing with frustration, he got up from his chair, walked to a nearby window and shut the blinds. Now the only light in the room was from the computer he was working at - he liked it dark. Checking the clock on the wall, he scratched his head. He realised he had been at school a lot longer than he had intended. Both his teachers and parents had given him permission to stay after school to work on the computers as he had an old, outdated 386 PC at home. Computers were Matthew's life - ever since he worked out how to move a mouse over a desktop, he was hooked. He was not a typical 15 year-old boy; he was solitary and liked it that way. He worked - and had no time for fun. No one wanted to know him, which only increased his love of being alone. It was 9:30 - he only wanted to stay until eight. He had been on the Internet, not looking for anything in particular - well, the only thing he was looking for was forbidden because of parental controls. He knew it was a physical impossibility for him to get a girlfriend unless he changed - and he didn't want to change - so these internet girls was the closest he could get to having a relationship. He picked up a small Styrofoam cup and filled it with water from a machine at the side of the room, he then returned to his computer. He typed in an address for one of "those" sites, hoping it would work. Expecting to see the warning window, he was shocked to see the website begin to open. He lurched forward … and knocked over his water. It dripped over the computer and Matthew gasped worriedly. There was a faint fizzle, and then the screen went blank.

"Oh no!" Matthew started hitting the side of the monitor. "Work! Please work!"

There was another crackling sound, and the screen came back on. Matthew smiled and sighed with relief. Something was wrong … there were swirling colours on the screen in place of the usual desktop. "What the…" frowned Matthew as he gazed upon the colours. He frowned even more as a dark shape appeared in the centre. It looked like the silhouette of a knight from medieval times. Soon, he could make out details. The "knight" was wearing some form of cloak and had armour covering its body. In place of a mouth, a dark red line quivered randomly. It had two glowing red eyes.

"Ah! Freedom! At last…" the knight roared. Matthew heard its voice through the computer's speakers.

Matthew jumped back. "Who…what are you?" He stuttered … he realised he wouldn't get a response - after all he was talking to a computer.

"200 years and I am finally free from that horrible prison!" Said the knight, ignoring Matthew's question. "You!" It said, pointing to Matthew. "You freed me from that infernal place! You must help me!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Matthew stumbled with his words as he gazed upon the figure. "How could you have been trapped in there? Computers haven't been around for 200 years! Who are you?"

"What you call `computers' have existed for thousands of years, this pathetic planet has only recently discovered the technology," explained the knight. "My name is Gigabyte."

"Are…" Matthew was still frowning. "Are you a virus or something?"

"Am I a virus?" Mocked Gigabyte as his laughter bellowed. "I am the virus! I created every virus around…and now I must reclaim my once mighty empire. Human…you will help me!" Two beams of light leaped from Gigabyte's eyes and into Matthew's.

"I obey you, oh Master." Matthew droned as he inserted a disk into the computer and initiated a download.

Day broke as Littlewood high opened its doors and hundreds of teenagers filed into the grounds. Another depressing day of "education" was about to take place. The students drowsily walked up to each other, making conversations about what they had done over the weekend. One girl did not appear to be mixing in with the rest. She nervously looked around at her surroundings. The sun glinted off her golden hair and across her face. She had a beautiful face and a body to match. There must have been at least twelve boys checking her out from various areas of the playground. Not really paying attention, a book slipped from under her arm and fell onto the pavement. Oblivious, she continued into the main building.

"Hey!" Came a voice from behind her. "Hey! Wait up!"

The girl turned around to see a boy running up to her, carrying the book that hit the ground. "Oh, thank you." She smiled as he handed her the book. "Thanks, I'm always dropping stuff like this."

The boy smiled. He had brown hair and a face that looked like a younger version of Ewan McGreggor's (or so he'd been told). He was tall, about six feet. He stretched out his hand to her. "Hi," he said. "I'm Mike…Mike Finley. Are you new here? I've never seen you around."

"Yeah," she said as she shook his outstretched hand. "Yeah, my family just moved to Littlewood. My name's Jade Robinson. Now you're here, could you help me?"

"I'll do my best," Mike replied. "What can I do for you?"

"Could you tell me where…" she checked a piece of paper in her hand. "Where room 19 is?"

"I can do better than that," Mike said, still smiling. "I can show you, I'm on my way there. You must be in my class."

They both walked down the long corridor to the classroom, Mike pointing out anything he thought Jade might be interested in. When they got to the room, Mike opened the door for Jade and they both walked in. The room was full; many students had already arrived, apparently. Mike checked across the room, and he saw…

"Luke!" Mike called. "Luke, get over here!"

A tall boy with dark brown hair looked towards Mike and Jade then walked over. "I thought you'd never get here!"

"It's school … how could I not go?" Mike said as sarcastically as possible. He turned to Jade - who just appeared to be standing quietly watching Luke. "Jade, this is my best friend Luke Middleton. Luke, this is Jade."

"Hi," she smiled. "I've just moved here."

"Hi," Luke replied. "Well, welcome to Littlewood, I'm sure you'll have minutes of fun during the time you spend here."

Jade and Luke both laughed a little too loudly for Mike's taste. Great…he thought. The most attractive girl I've ever met is about to start flirting with Luke. Just priceless!

"So, how long have you lived in Littlewood?" Luke asked Jade.

"I moved here yesterday," she explained. "I got here about 6 last night."

"And you're going to school the next day? Ouch!" Remarked Luke. "Oh well, made any friends yet?"

Jade felt a tear in her eye as she remembered the friends she had made where she used to live - a small town known as Mariner bay - now that was a place to live! There was action every day. Every day the Demonic alliance would send some form of monster to destroy the town, but they were always stopped by an Elite fighting force known as Lightspeed Rescue. Although it was scary, she and the rest of Mariner bay could rely on Lightspeed to protect them. Brought back to reality by Luke staring at her, Jade replied. "You and Mark…"

"Mike," Mike corrected Jade. "Not Mark."

"Sorry," she continued. "Anyway, you and Mike are the first people I've really spoken to here so I guess that makes us friends then."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Luke grinned a grin so wide that the stains of what he had for breakfast could be seen on his back teeth.

"Oh god…" Mike said under his breath. Then, more loudly, he said: "Class should be starting soon, we'd better sit down."

The three new friends sat down at desks near to each other. As Mike glanced over to Luke, he saw him staring at Jade from the corner of his eye - if that was possible - and when she looked round, Luke quickly turned away and Jade laughed quietly. The teacher - a stout short woman with an awful haircut - entered the room and instructed the class to take out something to read as she couldn't be bothered to teach and everyone drowsily did so. The teacher began to call the register, nodding every time someone said "present". She finally got to Matthew Kent's name, and then there was silence.

"Matthew?" She repeated, and again there was silence. "Has anyone seen Matthew today?"

There was head shaking from each student. Especially from Jade as she had no idea who he was so even if she had seen him she would have no idea.

"All right," sighed the teacher as she marked him absent. "Odd, I don't think he's ever had a day off before…"

Matthew waited for his parents' car to pull away from the drive before he emerged from the cupboard. He didn't want to pretend to be ill, he was an awful actor. He learned that the hard way - he was in a school production of Macbeth where he played the title role - only God knew why! Taking a disk from his back pocket, he booted up his almost ancient 386-processor computer. Immediately he put the disk into the computer and Gigabyte appeared on the screen - colours swirling behind him. He looked just as angry as he did the night before. His gleaming computer-generated armour phased in and out of the background.

"This is… adequate." Growled Gigabyte; he always seemed to sound furious. He looked around the screen. "Tell me human, do you have access to something your species call the Internet?"

"Yes," Matthew replied. "However, my connection is…well, awful!"

"I can upgrade everything and obliterate all costs!" Gloated Gigabyte as Matthew's eyes widened with anticipation. Total system upgrades and call charges gone just like that!

"What's the catch?" Matthew asked slyly. He had been taught to look for the catch in everything.

"You must stay online 24 hours a day." Came Gigabyte's reply.

"Fine," sighed Matthew - secretly happy about this new arrangement. "Now what?"

"Now…" Gigabyte growled. "Now I will retrieve my warriors from their Cyber prisons!"

The room filled with an eerie green glow and Matthew's computer came alive with electricity. The screen filled with light and another two shapes appeared. One looked like another knight, only with more Japanese-style armour. The other looked like a golden insect - like a wasp. Only it was humanoid in shape. They both had glowing red eyes.

"Human," Gigabyte boomed. "May I introduce you to…" He pointed to the `Japanese knight' "The Cyber-Samurai and…" he pointed to the insect look-a-like, "The bug." Both creatures laughed wildly, ecstatic to be free from the cyber-cells.

"And now…" laughed Gigabyte. "Now…I will release HELL on Littlewood! I WILL reclaim my empire!" He turned to the bug. "Do you know what to do?"

The bug nodded then crackled away in a flash of light.

In an unknown location deep within the bowls of cyberspace, sirens blared wildly. The figure paced around a circular area marked out with a ring of computer consoles. Colours swirled around the consoles and overhead but inside the floor was silver. The figure touched a button on a console and a holographic image appeared outside. The bug was wreaking havoc through the streets of Littlewood - beams leaping from his eyes, destroying all they touched.

"Oh no…" the figure said to himself. "Gigabyte has been released! It is time…the time as finally come!"

At Littlewood high, break had just begun. Students happily left the halls to engage in conversations with their friends. Luke and Jade, practically hand-in-hand, were first out, quickly followed by Mike. Two students were sitting under a tree, chatting. Both Luke and Mike hurriedly walked over there, Jade following.

"Jon, Charlotte…" Mike said smiling. "How are you?"

"Yep, dandy." Charlotte agreed. "We've just come from Science, I hate it. All the teacher does is blow things up!"

"I love science!" Jon contested. "What's your favourite lesson then?"

"PE," Charlotte replied immediately. "Of course!"

"Hi," Jade outstretched her hand in preparation for shaking. "I'm Jade by the way."

"Charlotte," she nodded.

"I'm Jon." Jon shook her hand. "Did you meet Luke earlier today?"

"Yes," Jade smiled. "Along with Nick…"

Suddenly, the ground shook violently and a nearby building collapsed. The heat of the explosion flew over the pupils and they grimaced. The bug appeared and began to walk towards the school.

"Come on guys, we have to do something!" Mike said, running towards the bug.

"MIKE!" Called Luke after him. "Just because you know karate doesn't mean we do!"

"You don't have to," he replied. "Just hit it!" As Mike ran, his body shimmered away. As did Jade's, Luke's, Jon's and Charlotte's. None on the pupils seemed to notice, as they were too busy running for their lives. The bug laughed menacingly as he saw the children run.

"YES!" He called out. "YES! YES!"

Mike, Luke, Charlotte, Jade and Jon landed roughly on a cold metal floor. They each stood up and rubbed bruises that had appeared over their bodies.

"What the…?" Charlotte gasped. "What is this place?"

"I have no idea…" Mike looked at the colours swirling outside of the circle of computer consoles that they were standing in. They all began to look at the almost-hypnotic swirling.

"You are in cyberspace." A voice said from behind them. They turned around to see a figure wearing a long brown cloak. His voice sounded gritty. "This is the Database."

"Look," Mike began. "I don't know who you are, but…"

"I am the Webmaster." The figure interrupted. "I have brought you here for a purpose."

"What's that?" Jon stepped forward and challenged the figure with a forceful tone of voice. "To stop us from stopping that thing attacking the school?"

"The exact opposite, Jonathon. Michael, Jade, Lucas, Charlotte, Jonathon…you have been chosen."

"Chosen for what? And how do you know our names?" Mike asked, astonished.

"You have been chosen to become the latest incarnation of an intrepid fighting force known as the Power Rangers Cyber Patrol." The Webmaster explained. He stepped back and, where he was standing, a table appeared with five armbands resting on them. Each band had a small computer device attached to the top.

"Power Rangers?" Jade said. "You mean like Lightspeed back in Mariner bay?"

The webmaster nodded. "Allow me to explain. Hundreds of years ago, a virus known as Gigabyte tried to enslave the galaxy. The original Cyber Rangers were able to imprison Gigabyte and his team of viruses in cyberspace. Now he has been released from his cell and is bent on building his empire once again."

"Why did you pick us?" Luke asked.

"Out of everyone in Littlewood, you were the only ones who tried to challenge the Bug. Besides, I have researched your records, you have all proven yourselves worthy of becoming Power Rangers on many occasions." The Webmaster explained calmly.

"This is rubbish!" Charlotte suddenly exclaimed. "Lightspeed are the only Rangers! I think this is all a hoax!"

"Charlotte, the proof is all around you!" Mike put his hand on her shoulder. "Look at this place! We have been teleported into cyberspace…"

"ACTUALLY, you were brought here in the data-stream." The webmaster interjected.

"We were brought into cyberspace by the data-stream and Littlewood is under attack from a computer virus! What proof do you need! I think we should do whatever we can to protect the town…and the galaxy." Mike turned to the Webmaster. "I'm in."

Jon shrugged. "Sounds like fun, count me in."

Jade smiled. "Me too."

"If Jade's in, I'm in." Luke commented.

"Charlotte?" Mike said, and they all turned to face her.

She sighed. "What's the worst that could happen."

"Excellent," the webmaster said happily. "Please, take a Cybermorpher from the table."

"Michael," the Webmaster said as Mike took his Morpher. "You are brave and strong. You will be the red Cyber Ranger and leader of the team." He gestured to Mike and his Morpher became red.

Mike smiled. "Thank you, Webmaster."

"Lucas, you are intelligent and powerful, you will become the new green ranger." The webmaster waved his hand over Luke and his Morpher became green. "Charlotte, you are agile and brave, you will become the pink ranger. Jonathon, you are strong-willed and resourceful, you will be the new blue ranger. Finally, Jade, you will become the Yellow Ranger as you are strong and powerful." He waved his hand over each of them and their Morphers became the appropriate colours.

Mike looked at his wrist and the red-tinted Morpher. "Now what?"

"Now you must activate your powers," the Webmaster said. "This can be done with two simple words: `log on'. I will then teleport you to Littlewood."

"Okay." Mike turned to the others. "Ready?"

"Ready." They replied in unison.

"All right…" Mike held his arm into the air. "Log on!"

Rescue crews raced around Littlewood. Extinguishing fires and helping people trapped under rubble. The bug continued his rampage around Littlewood. Suddenly, the wind kicked up. An electrical crackle filled the air, then five streaks of coloured light appeared behind the bug. One was red, one yellow, one green, one blue and one pink. The streaks took human form and the crackle died. Everything became still. Five people wearing costumes that were identical in every way except for colour and the pattern on the helmets were standing perfectly still. Each costume had a large design on the chest that looked like a circuit board and white bands around the arms. Gasps came from the crowd that had gathered around.

Inside his red helmet, Mike jerked his eyes towards a small girl trapped under a pile of rubble. "Can someone get that child out?"

The pink Ranger nodded and quickly pulled the child from under the rubble. She lifted her up and quickly carried her away.

"Are you…" the girl stuttered as she looked at Mike. "Are you Power Rangers?"

They all nodded. "Yes," Mike said. "We're the Power Rangers Cyber Patrol. Now run!"

"I don't care if you're the Tattooed teenage alien fighters from Beverly Hills!" The bug interrupted. "I will destroy you!"

"Oh yeah!" Luke stepped forward, still tingling from the upsurge of power in his body. "Why don't you try it!"

With that, the Bug charged at them. Luke managed to dodge out of the way whilst Jon and Charlotte struck the bug as he ran past. Sparks flew off the insect's armour but he ran towards the red and yellow rangers. Jade leapt into the air, over the bug, but he slammed right into Mike. Mike groaned as the bug laughed.

Mike frowned, though nobody could see it, then delivered a stunning kick into the bug's knee. He broke free of his grasp and began kicking and punching at different spots on the armour. The other Power Rangers soon joined in and the bug fell to the floor.

"Gigabyte!" Matthew screamed as he saw the bug fall from his computer screen. "What now? Those Power Rangers are destroying him!"

"Watch and learn, human!" Gigabyte growled. "Bug," he called. "Update profile now!"

Back in the midst of the action, the Bug began to shimmer with electricity.

"What the…?" Jon stuttered. "What's happening?"

"I don't know," Mike sighed as he turned to the blue ranger. "But you can bet it's not good."

Suddenly the bug shot into the air, surrounded by a cloud of smoke. When the smoke dispersed, he was as tall as a nearby skyscraper.

"Woah!" Charlotte exclaimed. "This is bad!"

"Webmaster…" Mike activated his helmets communication system. "What do we do now? I may be tall but…"

+Call upon the Cybermegazord, you're powers will guide you. + The Webmaster replied immediately.

"Right," Mike acknowledged. He held his right arm into the air. "Cybermegazord, online!"

The sky darkened and there was another crackle of electricity - only it was louder than when the rangers had appeared. A huge humanoid figure suddenly appeared in the air. It crashed to the ground, which shook. It was black with red trimming. It had glowing yellow strips of light where eyes would be on a human.

"Excellent!" Jade commented. "So how do we get in?"

With that, the Rangers shimmered away and reappeared in the cockpit of the Megazord. It looked similar to the Astromegazord. Each Ranger had their own individual compartment.

Mike took his hand, put it onto the control stick, and began to move the Megazord forward.

"How did you know how to do that?" Luke asked Mike.

"I have no idea!" Mike replied as the Megazord blocked a punch. "Of course, the powers will guide us!"

The bug stormed forward but the Megazord stopped him and elbowed him in the throat. The bug fell to the floor generating a bone rattling sound wave.

"How do we finish him off?" Jade turned her chair towards Mike as she spoke. "Do we have some kind of Megazord sabre like other Rangers did?"

Mike shrugged and looked as if he was about to speak when suddenly the Bug leapt up. "You won't have the chance Rangers!" He roared. "Until next time…" he shimmered away and the Cybermegazord was left standing.

A crowd was gathered as the Rangers got out of their Megazord and reappeared on the ground. Cheers echoed through streets as the people crowded round the team. Two people managed to push through. The man held a camera and the female held a microphone.

She walked to Mike. "That was amazing! My name is Rachel Maxwell from the Littlewood news network. Can we have a quick chat?"

Mike turned to the rest of the Rangers and shrugged. Jon quickly rushed to Rachel Maxwell. "We'd love to talk."

The rest of the Rangers laughed. Luke also walked to Rachel. "What do you want to know?"

Rachel took out a notebook and turned to the Red Ranger. "Can you confirm that you are, in fact, Power Rangers?"

Mike smiled in his helmet once again. "Yes. We are the latest group of Power Rangers. We're called the Cyber Patrol." Mike then explained WHY they were called the Cyber Patrol.

"So, this Gigabyte can send viruses in to the digital AND Cyber worlds?" Rachel asked as she scratched details onto the pad. "Fascinating."

Charlotte, still slightly confused looked into the camera. "Don't worry though. Now that we're protecting you, you have nothing to worry about."

Rachel smiled. "Thank you Power Rangers. Back to you in the studio."

Gigabyte screamed with anger as the bug appeared in the corner of Matthew Kent's computer screen.

"Now what?" Matthew asked. "Have the Power Rangers beaten you?"

"Hardly…" snarled Gigabyte. "I have an army of viruses. The Power Rangers and the world will not know what hit them!"