The World's Ablaze

Synopsis: Angel Grove begins to experience a dangerous heat wave. The Rangers, their bots, and their allies begin to suspect that something evil is once again behind it.

‘Yeah, it’s a hot one.   Like seven inches from the midday sun.’--some lyrics from Santana’s Smooth

‘Hot time summer in the city back of my neck gettin’ dirt and gritty.’--classic rock n’ roll song

‘It’s too hot, too hot baby.’--classic R&B/soul song   

‘But the media men beg to differ, judgin’ by the hole in the satellite picture. The ice we skate is gettin’ real thin, it’s gettin’ warmer out so you might as well swim.  My world’s on fire, how ‘bout yours ? That’s the way I like it and I never get bored.’--Smashmouth, All Star

Chapter 1--Eggs Frying on the Sidewalk

It was unusually hot all over the American countryside.   Not only that but even places that weren’t torrid in the summer were experiencing unbelievable heat waves.   Heat indexes were maxing out on thermometers everywhere and the Rangers were incredibly concerned about it.  

‘We have to do something.   A lot of people will have heat stroke, heat exhaustion or worse if we don’t get to the bottom of this.’, Kim said, taking a sip of coconut water and twisting the cap back onto the bottle to save the rest for later.

‘This is indeed something that is alarming and you were right to be concerned.   It seems that an ancient foe, Brolar, has decided to turn up the heat on us all.’, Zordon explained.    Brolar was an archaic sun god that had been adulated by thousands of worshippers, but once Amun Ra came around, Brolar was forgotten; overshadowed if you might.     

He grew envious and his once luminous power became obscured.   Instead of bringing people joy, gladness and ripened crops he began to scorch, burn and sear.   He demanded praise and all he got was fear. It was up until the time the cult of Brolar had begun in the 21st century by a random homeless man turned guru that had found an old text containing Brolar’s essence.     To make a long story short, it was the guru that released Brolar back into the world. Finding the guru as the only devotee, Brolar again turned to rage and reverted to his old menacing ways. Thanks to him, it felt like everyone had become fried eggs on the sidewalk.

‘There’s got to be a way to stop him.’, Zack stated, perfectly content in the AC.    All of them realized they would have to venture into the blazing heat but Brolar had to be defeated or everyone would be boiled alive.    

‘The text in which he was imprisoned is missing but I have a new friend to introduce that can help us in locating it.’, Billy said.    The new bot’s name was Lexi. She had the ability to find any book, anywhere.  She was a living library and massively intellectual.    She wasn’t bland or boring; Lexi had a great sense of humor and adored pop culture.    She was just a youngster and wanted to make her ability count for something. Her creators thought she had been ‘broken’ somehow, so they left her in the dump, until Billy found her and had assistance with other mechanics to repair her and she was as good as new.

‘I think I know of the text of which you speak.  All books, even scrolls, even the fragments of unwritten stories as yet unwritten are all stored within my CPU !’, Lexi said, somewhat boastfully.    Quickly she processed the information that Zordon had doled out earlier and began a search for the ‘Ancient Cult of Brolar’. It wasn’t a minute too soon, either, people had begun suffering the effects of heat fatigue and heat stroke.   

Chapter 2--Brolar’s Menacing Continues

Brolar didn’t seem to care that many people were only beginning to feel the relentless torrent of the roasting of the sun’s rays beating down upon them.  

‘That’ll teach them !   They need to RESPECT the source of all LIFE !   I *am* the Sun. Not Apollo ! Not Amun Ra ! None of them !  I came before they even existed from the Father of All Gods. Minor God though I be, the SUN belongs to ME only !’, Brolar bellowed, angrily beating his fists against a hot dog cart after the vendor quickly served him a coney.    In his hands, the coney became cooked to a crisp; a withered, burned version of its former self.

Back at Ranger HQ...

'Kotal Kahn and his people, the Osh-Tekks, have GOT to be jealous.', Herman said before drinking some ice tea that Conky has prepared for him. Even Reba and Yvonne were getting a cold drink.   There wasn’t a lot of time for the friends and their bots to savor cooling off with refreshments, especially after they got word of what Brolar was doing.

‘This one looks like he’s a bit too hot to handle.’, Reba quipped.

‘Ha, good one Reba.’, Herman commented.    Yvonne, Reba, Herman and the others transformed, leaping into action.   There wasn’t any time to loose and luckily for them, Billy had outfitted the suits to have cooling tendencies.   

‘Who are you yahoos ?’, Brolar asked, scoffing at the mortals around him.  

‘We’re the Power Rangers.   You do realize that if you keep this up you’re potentially killing would-be worshippers.’, Kat responded, her nose was pressed against Brolar’s.    For such a tiny, insignificant mortal, this little lady had a lot of guts. The whole group stood strong, tall and confidently against him, ready to use all weapons and power at their disposal, knowing that the battle wouldn’t be a simple one.  

Chapter 3--Turning Up the Heat

Brolar was unrelenting in zapping the Rangers and their compatriots with barrage and waves of heat.    He didn’t understand why his attacks had little to no effect on them. The Rangers used every ice and water spell in their arsenal, thwarting him with a unity of chilly counterattacks.

Brolar was becoming rather annoyed with how effective the counter attacks were.    Feeling weak, he used what power he could to enlarge himself and become indomitable.   

‘Try getting in a shot now, you punks !’, he jeered, sticking his tongue out childishly.    At his new height, none of the Rangers could reach him.

‘This is getting old !’, Adam exclaimed.

‘Time to call forth MegaZord !’, Jason agreed.   Tommy called forth DragonZord to help as well. Herman, Rhea, Yvonne, Conky, SICO and family built their own Zord together, known as the Toppler.  

'Initiate docking sequence, now !', Herman called.

The Toppler began to take form as the Puppet Rangers sped into the cockpits of their Zords.

'Toppler transformation sequence complete !', Magic Screen said.

'Let's roast 'im !', they said in unison. The sun god was unimpressed.

'HA ! You think your little toy can withstand my heat, human ? This fight is just WARMING UP!', the sun god said, reaching untold of heights and girth.   He was the most macho, gargantuan being they had seen. One wallop after another, Brolar doled out punishment.   

‘We have to work quickly.   The solar panels can’t take much more of these torrid temperatures.   They’re overheating !’, Billy observed. If that happened, everyone would be doomed and all would be broiled alive.    

Chapter 4--Apollo Loses His Patience  

In an act of supernatural deliverance, Apollo arrived, not in a chariot, but in a golden Cadillac.   

‘Be a good lad and take good care of Gilda will ya ?’, he said to the young demigod, Sunny, in training.    

‘Hey.  YOU ! Yeah, Mr. Titan.  I’m talking to you. You’d better listen up.’, Apollo said.   Brolar seethed.

‘Ugh, if it isn’t Apollo.  My Gods, you are worse than Amun Ra.   You think you’re so important an SO wonderful.    No one worships you anymore. I’m forcing people to worship me !   Fear and loathing are the only ways to enact, nay enforce respect from these ridiculous troglodytes.’, Brolar laughed.   Apollo shook his head.

‘Millennials.’, he muttered.    The Toppler and the Megazord united had been a mighty nemesis for Brolar and had weakened him but not to the point of putting him in his place.   

‘I’m still a contender in this match.   There’s no way you guys can possibly overthrow my reign on this planet.’, he said, cockily.

‘You mean the planet alone.   If you don’t stop…’, Kim said, starting to feel the effects of the heat getting to her.    All of them were suffering massively. Herman turned up Toppler’s capability to deep freeze Brolar, delivering a frozen fist of justice straight to Brolar’s bread basket.   Apollo joined in, tossing in a hefty haymaker to the jaw. Brolar began to lose footing and toppled. Yvonne used ice ability to keep him in place. Easily, he broke free of the ice enclosing his feet and did his utmost to take a final swing at them until Zeus showed him who was boss.

‘Apollo, you’ve done quite enough, but I’ve got this covered.’, he said.   Apollo, as well as everyone else, was speechless. Brolar, once powerful and invincible, had been reduced to a whiny, bratty, spoiled little toga wearing ninny.    Unable to cause any further damage, all he could do was spout a fizzling flame on his forehead before it went out like a sparkler on the 4th of July. Defeated he sighed.   

‘Fine.  You win this round.   I’m powerless now. Guess I should find employment doing something worthwhile.’, the former demigod stated with a sense of defeat.    Apollo and Zeus had done their jobs and could return to Olympus without anyone being the wiser.   As for Brolar, he was forgotten quickly and found a fulfilling job as a lifeguard and a life coach on the side.

Epilogue

The temperatures began to lower to normal levels and Zordon felt relieved.   He could survive another day and HQ could as well. Everyone returned and made a beeline to Ernie’s for shaved ice.    It was a sweet, icy treat that wasn’t too terribly decadent or overindulgent. After a long, arduous day, it was just what everyone needed to unwind.   

'Brolar's gone ! I can't believe it !', exclaimed Magic Screen.

'Yeah ! No more oppressive heat waves !', Pete replied.

'And to think, we didn't even have to halt production of our show in the interim.', Starry and Clockette concurred. Conky took a sip of his ice tea.

'We really kicked the sun god back to wherever he came from.', he said.

At last, they could all kick back at the local pool and relax before heading back to Headquarters for the night.    There would be more activities tomorrow with the Boys & Girls Club and indigents in need. Wherever there was a necessity to be met, the Rangers and their friends would be there, no matter the weather and no matter how big the need.

Even in this small way, they were making a difference and giving so much more than hope to those who sincerely an desperately longed for it.

The End