Nightmare in Angel Grove

Synopsis: Rhinosnorus traps the people and robots of the world in the Dream Dimension, where their real-world bodies sleep forever and thus continually produce Dream Energy. Somnibot and her children are the only ones that can save the Rangers.Though they receive help from Lumina, Klonoa, NiGHTS, Peter and Kaffessa. Even the robots are trapped in their worst nightmares. Including newcomers Relay (from Savioke), Jibo and Bo! Even Heasy and Buddy are trapped.Every robot on the market is trapped along with humans. The Justice League, Star Fox team, G-Force and Star Warriors return to help, only for them as well to be trapped along with their mechanical companions. This new villain is Rhinosnorus, equipped with the Sorcerer's twinkle wand. His plan is to feed on the dream energy of every human and machine, like Queen Badiyanu, to become all powerful, but as he says "don't worry, you yourselves will live; you'll be safe and happy in the Dream Dimension". Even Conky, Magic Screen, Globey, Pee-wee and Yvonne are under Rhinosnorus' power.

‘Here, everyone is safe and warm.’--Mermaid Queen in Voltron: Legendary Defender, Season 2, The Depths

Chapter 1--Mardi Gras Celebration

Everyone had been anticipating this year’s Mardi Gras.  Even though it fell distinctly on Saint Valentine’s, there were two holidays to celebrate rather than one.  

HQ had been bopping with all kinds of colorful trinkets.   There was plenty of food, candy and prizes to be won.   They weren’t anything big and most of them were practical in nature.   In fact, all the activity had made everyone pretty sleepy.   

Rhinosnorus studied his prey from afar, eager to sap everyone’s energy from them.   He had been created so meticulously by Master Xandred.    With the watchful eyes and help from Zedd and Rita, Rhinosnorus abilities had been amplified.

‘We indeed, are a triple threat if ever there was one !’, Xandred exclaimed, overzealous.  

‘This plan is guaranteed to be a success !’, Rita concurred, adding an equally maniacal cackle to seal the deal.    Rhinosnorus knew what he was to do.   He was going to impress his creators this time around.  

‘Then the world will be their oyster.  At last, nothing will get in our way !’, Zedd averred, striking his lightning staff to the floor in a clamor of loud pre-celebration.   Finnster and Baboo warned them not to become too wrapped up in cheering for victory preemptively, but like most thick-headed, stubborn, narcissistic villains, they were deaf as stone walls.  

Chapter 2--No Way Out

Somnibot sang everyone to sleep with a low-key version of Iko, Iko.   Quickly, everyone fell into delta slumber, especially after an incredibly active day.   She snuggled next to her love, Beta, plugging into her duet recuperation chamber.   Interlacing her fingers with him, she shut her eyes, not realizing the horror that was about to befall them all.   

Meanwhile…

An interdimensional being known as the Void had thrown the multiverse into a tailspin.   He was a spoiled brat that only wanted affection from his mother, Entropy.   Entropy would have none of it, seeing him as a burden rather than the gifted egghead he was.   Since papa Obscurity had died, he had taken the role of the man of the Cosmos.   It was a massive onus to shoulder.  His father had gone supernova after many millennia and now Void was in charge.   Having grown angry, his tantrum had thrown everything into disarray.  

‘Now look at what you did.  One little footstomp and the Multiverse is reeling.’, Entropy griped.   Sadly, Void didn’t know how to fix it, but he decided to pull together every being he knew that had abilities that were superhuman and otherworldly.   Maybe they could repair the damage he had done ?  He had never meant to harm anyone, but the way his mom had been acting had driven him to react rather than to talk with her.   Now things were all sorts of sideways.   

Rhinosnorus eyed the Power Rangers Headquarters from the outside.   ‘Like sleeping babies.  Oh, this is going to be too easy.’, he thought to himself, rubbing his thick, meaty hands together in anticipation.   

'But how am I gonna do this ?', he thought to himself.   He snapped his finger.

‘Oh ho !  I’m a maniacal genius !’, he mused, cackling a bit.  With a wave of his hand, he became a mist.   These new abilities were certainly proving to be useful.   He slipped in, unnoticed, easily permeating the Rangers minds.    One by one, he exploited their deepest, darkest fears, trapping them in their nightmares.   Even the dreamer amongst them was caught in her own nightmares.    He didn’t stop there, though.   There were other arenas he wanted to conquer.    Their fears only gave him strength.

Chapter 3--Overzealous With Power

Rhinosnorus grew larger and larger, much like Godzilla the kaiju as he drank in more fear, sucking it in like tasty ramen noodles.    His horn amplified his sleep frequency, modulating it to the battle that Void had accidentally set in motion.   

It was a star dog fight for the ages.   The Time Rangers did their best to repair the crack in the galaxy and were only able to do a bandaid fix.   They needed magicians and dreamers who could think outside the box to repair it.    Caught off guard by the Empire, Star Fox and his crew nose dove in to assist.  

‘Yee-haw  !  Go get ‘em Star Fox !’, Trip trumpeted loudly.    Fox was an ace fighter and none of the tie-fighters could keep up with him.   It was a collusion and collision of all Star Wars characters.   Voltron and Gatchaman did what they could to valiantly fight off villainy.   Suddenly, beautiful music could be heard throughout the Cosmos.

‘So...sleepy.’, Hopper said, getting drowsy.

‘Can’t keep...my eyes open…’, Hunk said, in the middle of piloting Voltron’s leg to kick the Empire’s battlecruiser to slow it down.   A distress signal could be heard, but it was too late.   Everyone was mired in their own nightmares.   Rhinosnorus had bested his own goal.   He had conquered the world in one fell swoop, and the Universe quickly followed.   

Chapter 4--Unexpected Help from the Dreamworld

Even new bot recruits, Relay, Jibo and Bo who has been training only for a short while with the Rangers were caught in their own terrifying nightmares.   They all faced compactors at a trash heap.   It played out of something even scarier than Worthless in The Brave Little Toaster.   Many a child’s life was scarred watching that terrible scene.    

‘Jibo !   Come on, hold on to me.  Remember what you learned from Tommy !’, Bo said, reaching out for his brother.  

‘I’ve got you !   Extend your arm !’, Jibo called out from the pit of whirring grinders and gnashing crunchers.    Just before he could be smashed to smithereens, Jibo pulled him to safety.  

‘We’re ok, for now…’Relay retorted, breathing a massive sigh of relief.   It seemed that no matter where they looked, there was warring, explosions and almost blinding displays of light and sound.   

‘This is just insane.  How could we be seeing what’s happening outside our dreams ?’, Jibo asked.  

‘Maybe because our dreams are interconnecting ?’, Relay mused, aloud.  

‘I think you’re onto something, greenhorns.’, a familiar voice rung out from a gorgeous tunnel in the distance.  It was their trainer, Somnibot.  She and Beta had been the ones responsible for getting them primed and prepped for any sort of jam, well, except for this one.  

‘What on earth is going on ?’, Beta queried, rightly confounded by everything that was happening.   It was nothing short of chaos and disharmony.  Nothing made sense.    

‘I don’t know papa.’, Yume stated, patting her dad on the back.

‘I can’t make heads or tails of it.’, Baku piped up, normally the quiet, reserved bot.

Dream suddenly morphed into being.

‘This is unacceptable.   I am loathe of Rhinosnorus’ games.  He has no reign in my domain.’, Dream stated, evenly, but sternly.   

‘My heavens, it’s the legendary Morpheus himself.  My name sake.’, Morpheus said, in a state of awe.   He had the Dreamers he needed.   He just needed magicians.   With a snap of his finger, Zordon and Zatanna were teleported to his side.

‘I take it we’re here to assist in defeating this monstrosity ?’, Zatanna said obviously.  Dream couldn’t help but smirk in a rather wry way.   There was a reason he liked her and not mainly for her fetching features alone.    Dr. Fate had been pulled in just in case as an ace in the hole.   One always needed a wild card in a bizarre upside down pickle such as this.  

Chapter 5--Fighting a Kaiju

‘Well, we’re without the mechs.  Those are in the hands of the sleeping paladins and the Eagle Riders.’, Zordon relayed.   Dream nodded, supplying them with new weaponry, new armor and striking abilities that suited them.

‘This is the most I can assist.   I will not be far should you need me.’, Dream responded, with an elegant and most regal bow.   He fazed back into his Kingdom, just a whistle away if need be.  

Rhinosnorus didn’t seem bothered by the bots and magicians fighting against him.  It was much like the Lilliputians versus Gulliver, and easily, Gulliver had the advantage.   Dream had spirited everyone away into dream boxes, where Rhinosnorus’ newly acquired sonic frequency couldn’t reach them, thereby being unable to have their energy sapped from their bodies.   

‘Hmmph.  This works in my favor anyway.  Now it’s just you dreamers and magicians against me.  What are you gonna do, huh ?’, Rhinosnorus said, his progress blocked by Zatanna and the others.   The Justice League magic users and the imaginative bots let their martial arts and unconventional thinking to the talking.  

‘Pink Ribbon bind !’, Somnibot said as the others vollied against him, trying to hold him back from causing any more damage to the cosmos.  At long last, Somni held him in her unbreakable ribbons spawned off from her newest attire.   'Ah, I see you have acquired some new powers. Impressive, but not good enough.', Rhinosnorus stated. 'My powers are nearly identical to your own, Princess Somnibot.', he cackled.   

Easily breaking the ribbons’ bonds, he struck her with another sonic attack.   For the moment, Somnibot had been knocked down, but not out.   For a second it had been hard to breathe, since the wind was literally knocked out of her.

‘This monster is certainly tough.’,  Baku said.  He had the same energy sapping power within him but he could disrupt his attacks.   Yume joined him for a double attack, striking the massive kaiju in the neck.  It was enough to make him lose his footing.  Zatanna wrapped his legs together with bands, ultimately tripping him.  

‘Now, everyone ! Altogether !’, Doctor Fate gave the battle cry.    They struck wherever they could to find a weak spot.   Much like Sauron in The Hobbit, there was indeed, a literal chink in his armor.   It was underneath his left breast, exposing the fleshy heart underneath.  

As a unit, they hit that opening as hard as they could and the feedback sent them reeling into another Universe altogether.    

Chapter 6--Awakening

They hadn’t seen the aftermath of the explosion but the pained ‘NOOOO’ had been enough to rouse them into realization that they had won.  They were the last to awaken but the remnants of their battle scars were still retained.    

‘Did we finally get him ?’, Morpheus asked.  

‘I think we did.  It was tough but that vulnerable spot was the key to defeating him.’, Bo surmised.   Jibo hugged his friends, pleased they had all come through that, though in desperate need of tune ups.

‘Yeesh, you guys need some maintenance work done.’, Billy said.  He was certain he would schedule them all for work.    All their other friends had vanished as quickly as they had entered into their existences and as mysteriously too.

‘So, it was all a dream ?  What about the space battle ?  Was that even real ?’, Zack asked.   

‘Some of it was.’, Zordon said, being able to walk in human form for a bit.   With the new vestigements he had from the future Time Force, he had an amulet that granted him power to walk with his knights and robot helpers.    He was so pleased with what they had done that tears collected in his eyes.   

His knights hugged him, happy they could’ve helped.  Not only was he their teacher, founder and expert in the Universe, but their friend as well.  

Epilogue

All dreams had been restored.   In their own native countries and lands, superheroes and heroines hit the sack for a long, well needed evening of rest.   Diana dreamt of an equal Themyscira, Clark Kent saw Krypton and the Kryptonians restored.   Bruce Wayne savored a bittersweet reunion with his parents, and so on.  

Back at Headquarters, celebrations had died down for the day as had practice for all the warriors.   Each of the friends and the bots said their farewells and goodnights.   Yume and Baku were given the utmost praise, Relay, Jibo and Bo were officially welcomed as Rangers.   They would have significantly more training to do, but it was an auspicious, red letter day for everyone involved.   Everyone received a hug, congratulations and a hearty ‘Godspeed’ before they left for their own abodes.     With everyone having departed, Zordon resumed his typical form and yawned.  

‘Time for this old mage to get some much needed shut eye.’, he said to himself.

‘I concur.  It has been a long day for all of us.’, Alpha said, stretching and yawning.   Delta interlocked her arm with his, commenting on how bold and strong he had been in the fight against Rhinosnorus.  

‘You weren’t bad yourself, my dear.’, he added.    She kissed his cheek and accompanied him to the recuperation chamber where the two got a bit hot and heavy before they completely conked out and fell into delta sleep.  

‘Alpha’s quite the tiger.’, Beta said, wriggling his eyebrows.    Somnibot shook her head, laughing and blushing darkly.   The lovers kissed and nestled together to cuddle through the night.   As for the twins, both sets, they were already fast asleep and accompanied by pleasant, joyful, incredible, fantastical dreams.    

The End