The monster ain't gonna shrink [Open!]

[morphitudinous]

How could he sleep with all of this on his plate?


Billy was really beginning to feel the weight of everything on his shoulders. He'd lost a friend, was now facing the possibility of losing another, and felt hopeless to stop any of it. Every waking second was spent on these thoughts, and they were starting to leak into his dreams as well. He needed to get away.

So he sought the refuge of the Command Center late one night, feeling quite protected despite the loneliness of the empty halls. Some unknown urge carried him down to one of the basement levels. It was difficult to see here, but there was a faint blue light coming from what must have been a room. Ever-curious, he entered and found cabinets lining the walls along with a central operating table.

Above him, faint light filtered through a grate---the same grate, he realized, through which he had watched Zordon and Alpha create Tommy's White Ranger powers. That had occurred in this room, but those events felt like they had taken place a lifetime ago to him. A lifetime before Ohm, death, and new friends from beyond the stars.

In this unexplored room, there was only one option: explore it! No cabinet was left unopened, no loose tile unturned, not even the one that hid a key. That fit a keyhole on the far wall, as he found out. And that keyhole opened a door, revealing a digital screen of blueprints glowing brightly.

They weren't just any blueprints, though. They were blueprints, he realized after a moment of study, for a new set of Power Morphers. Most of the key raw materials were here in the cabinets, but a few small pieces would have to be collected outside if he was to build them.


Could he really build morphers and distribute them? With his original friends absent and increasingly unlikely to be released by Stacy, that meant creating a new team from the crew members here. It was a thought that had a list of implications increasing every second. Clearly, this fledgling idea in the back of his mind would require some careful consideration before he acted.

This thought process, he believed, would be a little easier away from this place that contained so many memories. After copying the blueprints to his omnicom and gathering the raw materials he found, he exited the Command Center and made his way up to the observation deck. It was late at night, and therefore unlikely to be very crowded. That was a good sign, he thought, but late night conversation wouldn't exactly hurt him either.

Billy found a comfortable meat-couch and started tinkering with this first Green morpher, allowing his worries to sink to the back of his mind. From what he had seen on the blueprint, this Power granted weaponry far more versatile than his own. There would not be arsenal envy with the new Green Ranger if he went through with this, Billy told himself.

Comments

[potentialmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Aloha bro-ha. What've got there?" Ron siad, poking his head over Billy's shoulder.

[morphitudinous]

Billy instinctively curled his hands inward, clutching the assembled morpher parts to prevent any spillage. Luckily he hadn't brought the central power core---dropping that could have proved disastrous.

He shifted on the couch to face Ron. "It's an incomplete version of a morpher like the one I use in battle. I've found blueprints and parts to build five more, and I'm wondering whether that would be a good idea. Naturally, most of the crew has reservations about handing out power."

He hasn't explained too terribly much, but he will if asked. These thoughts just need some space outside his head.

[ron-factor.livejournal.com]

Ron scratched the back of his head "...okay seriously? I'dve figure we'd need all the superpowered people we could get. I mean what with the pirates, zombies, parasites, giant bug aliens. It'd kind of make things easier if more people had superpowers."

[morphitudinous]

"That's my strongest argument in favor of it. I've met people here expressing frustration that they can't be of more help when we're in trouble, and I downloaded the blueprints because I wanted to help them. I remember how frustrated I was while Stacy was holding my morpher hostage."

He held up the half-finished bracer, studying it. Would he really hand it over to someone when it was finished? "But we've also seen the consequences of power falling into the wrong hands. The one who chose me was an ancient wizard with the ability to study us long before we were picked. I'm...a teenager without any sort of observation device, with thousands of years less experience, and with many faults. I think choosing teammates would be the first hurdle I needed to clear---if I chose wrong, I would pay dearly."

[thewunderkind]

There seemed to be an afro slowly sneaking behind Billy...

[morphitudinous]

Billy was likely to be eaten. Far too much of his attention was devoted to the assortment of parts before him for him to recognize the approaching menace behind him.

This horror-film moment was going to end quite disastrously, and the poor sucker didn't even know it.

[thewunderkind]

Actually she was mostly there to snoop snoop and see what Billy was up too. As the (non-existent) horror music drew to a close, she placed her arms behind the meat-couch and leaned over.

"Oh! What are you doing?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Even though Alex had begun actually sleeping from time to time a while back, he still was awoken by nightmares on a fairly regular basis. Usually he just went back to bed. Sometimes he decided to walk around the mostly silent ship to try to clear his head instead.

This was one of those nights. With Alice excitedly darting around in front of him, Alex wandered his way into the obs deck, and found Billy, consumed by whatever he happened to be working on. And shadowless. He smiled, glad to see his friend was feeling better.

He began walking over to Billy, though Alice made it to him first, climbing up Billy's leg to see what he was doing, though she didn't get too close to the morpher, having been told 'no' enough times while putting herself right on top of what someone was working on to know that if she did so now she would get another stern 'no'.

Alex was just a moment behind her, "I g-guess Alice is c-curious too." He sat next to Billy with a big smile, "C-care for some c-company?"

[morphitudinous]

Huh. Billy was drawn out of his inventing trance by the sensation of something far too small to be Renne crawling up his leg. He looked down, revealing the culprit as a small rat on his knee. Alex's pet, right?

"Hi," he whispered down to hre, loosening one of his hands and placing it palm up on his leg. The morpher was set down on the table in front of him while he greeted her.

Of course, her owner was right behind her. Noting Alex's smile and ability to come close to him, Billy nodded as the other boy sat. "I don't mind, I'm just working on a project I discovered tonight. Wondering whether following through with it is the best idea."

Right---the proximity. "I'm safe enough to approach now?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex smiled a bit wider, "Yep!" Clearly he was vary happy to find this to be the case. Alice took the open palm as an invitation to run up Billy's shoulder and wrap herself around the back of his neck. She took to using that vantage to look around at the rest of the Obs Deck.

Alex peered over at the project, "Well, what sorta project is it? I c-can't imagine you working on anything unethical, so why else would it be a bad idea?"

Never Felt Blue Like That

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Hours had been spent in the Library and later, in a Sensorium chamber. Renne had felt the sometimes-rare but real need to at least imagine he could walk or crawl through the streets of L'Langiniar. Or turn onto the coast of the Ilebian Teeth and listen to the sea roar its might.

Now however, the creature had concluded his fill of wishful dreaming for the most part and almost...strolls down the Hallways. He's getting quite good at this walking thing, really and navigation's coming along well. One paw trails while the other bears a covered plate. If anything, he can feed someone else at any given opportunity.
Of course, when his feet lead him to somewhere he's not been in a good while and that alone is a little puzzling.
The Observation deck?

Chirping quietly to himself, he shakes his head and considers turning back around. Had he become so absorbed in thought that he'd lost track of his own navigation?

Re: Never Felt Blue Like That

[morphitudinous]

Those soft chirping sounds could only come from one person. Of course Renne would worry when he wasn't in bed at this time.

Smiling to himself, Billy sets down his project and calls over his shoulder. "You're catering at this hour, Renne?"

Re: Never Felt Blue Like That

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

That earns a blush. Caught. Drat -- wait...Is that--?! Both ears immediately perk up and he lets out a chirp of what can be called consternation.
He'll of course, answer the question with one of his own.

"Bee? Noh s-leep goo-d?"

[hero-sting.livejournal.com]

Chris lately was thinking of his own role in the ship and how... useless he had felt especially after Cassie and Kawalsky's deaths but right now? He felt he needed some alone time which is why he was at the Obs Deck. That the area was occupied didn't really came as a big shock. These things happen. He wasn't really surprised that said occupant was Billy, he had an odd sleep schedule from what he knew of the younger teen. "Billy? What are you doing?"

[morphitudinous]

Predictable as clockwork, there came another voice. The ship seemed to have its fair share of insomniacs aboard.

"Hey Chris," he answered, slotting another piece into one of the bracers. "I'm experimenting with tools and blueprints I found in my team's former base. If this works as the blueprints suggest it will, I'll have another morphing device. I'm also trying to decide what to do with it if I finish it."

[hero-sting.livejournal.com]

Chris had to think about that for a moment. Morphing device? Was that similar to his Advent Deck, he wondered. The next thing to come out of Chris' mouth was something a little different though. "Good idea but... That might not go over with certain members of the ship."

[neverwastenaya.livejournal.com]

Tenaya was making her rounds of the ship, making sure she knew where everything was, just in case there was trouble again. She didn't expect there to be another large-scale incident so soon after Shiva's bombs, but she didn't exactly trust the bad guys to give them downtime. Plus, she'd been an espionage agent. Old habits died hard.

She saw the machinery in Billy's hands as she passed, and she stopped.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked.

[morphitudinous]

"If you think it's a morpher, then yes," he admits. "I found some blueprints and materials in the lower levels of the Command Center."

[neverwastenaya.livejournal.com]

"Nice," Tenaya said, moving in for a closer look. It was different from Dr. K's RPM designs, but she'd expected that. The tech would be different between worlds, after all.

"So, upgrading or trying to make your own team?"

[capture-worlds.livejournal.com]

"Up late as well, Mr. Cranston?" Tsukasa asked, leaning against the doorway. "I can understand letting yourself get engrossed in what you're doing, but you should be careful when sacrificing sleep."

Seeing the mishmash of parts caught his attention, though. "You seem to be working on something interesting, though. Care to share?" He asked, moving near the couch to further examine the morphers-in-progress.

[morphitudinous]

Billy nodded, a small chuckle sounding in the back of his throat. "After all the training and shifts I work, this is all the time I have for personal inventions. Trust me, someone will be coming along to drag me to bed soon."

He held the bracers up once more. "It's a Power Morpher, somewhat like my own. I found the tools to build five more in what's left of my team's original Command Center."

[capture-worlds.livejournal.com]

He's still overworking himself. Tsukasa mentally sighed before sitting down on a couch.

"It's an interesting design, but I think a belt would work better." He said, taking a minute to examine the braces. "After you finish them, what are you plans for them?"

[bonnypiperlad]

"What are ye working on, Billy?" Jamie asks as he wanders up, craning his head slightly to get a look at whatever it is his friend's got now. It reminds him a bit of Billy's morpher, but he's fairly sure it wouldn't be in bits all over the meatcouch if it was.

"Anything I can help ye with?"

[morphitudinous]

"A morpher," he explains to Jamie, holding the device up for his friend to see.

"I found them disassembled and sitting near completed blueprints down in the Command Center. If I choose to create a new team of Power Rangers with them, I'll have a long fight with Command ahead of me. But that seems to be my best option right now, and the one that makes sense."

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie had been about to give the device a curious poke, but stops and gives Billy an incredulous look instead. "Fight with ye? Why would Command want to fight with ye about that? If ye ask me, we'll need all we can get to help defeat the Ohm."

Shaking his head, he adds, "They'd be daft to not go ahead and let ye make a new team."