Fanfic / Crimson Rising

Crimson Rising by LilacMoon is a Power Rangers fic, starting towards the latter half of Power Rangers Operation Overdrive and featuring a mass gathering of Rangers. When Ivan Ooze returns from the dead to mount a new campaign against the Rangers, all past Rangers are forced to band together to face a new kind of evil. As the ruthless General Gorbin makes it clear that he wants the Rangers and their powers under his control, the Rangers must face threats from both Ooze's alien army and humanity's growing distrust of them, to say nothing of Crimson Ranger Hunter Bradley learning some surprising secrets about his heritage…

Crimson Rising contains examples of:

• Adaptational Villainy: When Sector Nine issues Gorbin’s ultimatum that the Rangers must all work for him or be arrested as vigilantes, Will, the Operation Overdrive Black Ranger, is very satisfied with his decision to defect, as he wants to be well-paid and show that he’s more than just the ‘rookie’. Dax, the Operation Overdrive Blue Ranger, remains with Will primarily because he wants to reap the benefits of being a Ranger with official sanction, but Mack immediately rejects the ‘offer’ and Ronny and Rose only stay with Sector Nine for one mission before they ‘defect’ back to the other Rangers after witnessing Sector Nine’s forces prove ineffective.
• All Your Powers Combined: The only way to break the curse trapping Dulcea on Phaedos is to channel Hunter’s Phoenix powers through the Zeo Crystal.
• Antagonistic Offspring: Basically applies to Thrax, as his parents were reformed by the Z-Wave and now fight alongside the Rangers but Thrax himself remains evil.
• Archnemesis Dad: A downplayed example, as Adam Park’s father disapproves of the Rangers even before the current crisis, but obviously he can’t do much to oppose Adam’s actions as a Ranger.
• Ascended Extra:
  • From a certain perspective, Hunter goes from just another Ranger to the heir to a legendary power.
  • Kapri, Marah and Skull go from supporting characters to the main Rangers to becoming Rangers themselves.
  • When Section Nine try to discredit the Rangers using some of their old associates, such as Conner's ex-girlfriend Krista, other old allies such as Raymond (the computer genius who helped the Zeo Rangers stop Mean Screen) do their best to mount a counter-campaign to remind the public that the Rangers are heroes.
• Asshole Victim: Kat’s ex-husband Malcolm Renaldi is often depicted as a very unpleasant human being who tricked Kat into marrying him and then abused her for most of their marriage; when Billy hacks Malcolm’s accounts to steal his money, the other Rangers all assure him that Malcolm deserves it, and the man is swiftly taken apart in court after he exhausts his remaining assets.
• The Big Guy: Hunter isn't the physically largest Ranger, but his Phoenix powers easily make him the powerhouse of the now-expanded team, with most villains only able to oppose Hunter in a fight because he doesn't have full control of his more devastating attacks.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Adam’s police officer father isn’t outright ‘insane’, but it is noted that he has very rigid views that mean he sees anyone who doesn’t obey the letter of the law as criminals, which includes the Rangers even though they have never hurt anyone.
• Body Horror: A relatively downplayed example; after Malcolm Renaldi is exposed to the Pink Zeo Crystal, he is left with serious burns all over his body, with Zedd and Billy each musing that he would probably have been incinerated if he was any closer to the Crystal or if he was exposed to the full Zeo Crystal.
• Boring, but Practical: A good description of Sector Nine’s zords (based on Earth science analysing the remains of the Thunderzords for over a decade), which vaguely resemble the Shogun Zords without any of the animal theme elements, and are least powerful enough to hold their own against the monsters even if the true zords always win the day.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Jason eventually confronts Andrew Hartford for his poor choice of Power Rangers for the Operation Overdrive team, declaring that the Overdrive Rangers are now off-duty until Andrew and Mack can sort out their current relationship issues.
• Canon Welding: The fight against Ivan Ooze and Rito's destruction of the Thunderzords are both key parts of Ranger history in this fic, and Dulcea is established as Zordon’s sister.
• Cassandra Truth: The rangers spend some time unable to convince anyone that Master Vile is possessing the President, although even when Gorbin considers the idea he decides he doesn’t care so long as he gets to be in charge.
• The Chosen Many: While Hunter is The Chosen One since he has the legendary Phoenix powers, the prophecy reveals 20 rangers will take up new powers to fight Ivan Ooze.
• Crazy-Prepared: In the event of humanity turning against the Rangers on a large scale, Mr Collins and Anton Mercer had already arranged a secret base for the Power Rangers to retreat to long before Sector Nine attacked.
• Crimefighting with Cash: Aaron Collins and Anton Mercer provide important aid in setting up an emergency base for the Rangers in anticipation of the heroes being hunted by Sector Nine. They also provide suitable financial resources for those Rangers facing work difficulties after their identities went public once the crisis is over, such as buying a recording studio so that Tanya and Kira can continue their music careers, funding Adam’s legal campaign to regain control of his dojo, or altering the birth certificate of Kat’s son to list Billy as his father rather than Malcolm.
• Crisis Crossover: All Ranger teams up to Operation Overdrive play some part in the war against Ivan Ooze's forces, with the Mighty Morphin, Ninja Storm and Dino Thunder teams taking point in Earth's defence while the depowered Lightspeed, Wild Force, and Mystic Force act in a support capacity, along with the available Space, Lost Galaxy, Time Force, and Operation Overdrive Rangers serving as additional fighters (SPD and the rest of Time Force are cut off through a barrier erected by the villains until the Rangers reassemble the Zeo Crystal).
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You:
  • Hunter’s parents had to send him away for his own safety from villains such as Master Vile and Ivan Ooze.
  • Downplayed for Tori, as her father was recruited by Sector Nine to analyse the Thunderzords years before she even became a Ranger, and by the time he realised the true nature of his employers he was too far in to leave.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Since she stopped being a Ranger, Kat married an abusive criminal and has since spent the last few years in witness protection with Jason as her handler.
• Dead Man Writing: In anticipation of the attack on Triforia that led to his death, Trey left a message for the Rangers where he explained the prophecy identifying the chosen Rangers to oppose Ooze's assault.
• Death by Adaptation: Chad, Joel, Angela Fairweather and Captain Mitchell of Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue are all killed in Ooze’s initial attack, along with Trey of Triforia, the Phantom Ranger, and virtually the entire planet of Aquitar (with the exception of Billy and his daughter).
• Defiant to the End: When Trey of Triforia is captured and about to be executed by Ooze's forces, he confidently affirms that Ooze's forces will fall before he has his head cut off.
• Demoted to Dragon: The Operative Overdrive villains are reduced to just serving Ivan Ooze as part of his army rather than independent threats in their own right.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • For most of the series, Lightspeed Rescue, Wild Force and Mystic Force are basically rendered powerless as the Lightspeed morphers were damaged and the other two teams were cut off from the Animarium and Rootcore respectively in the first attack. However, the remaining Lightspeed Rangers act as medical support for the others, while Mystic Force helped to train the Ninja Storm team in their abilities by adapting their other magical talents.
  • While the Operation Overdrive team were the active Rangers when the fic begins, their hunt for the Corona Aurora is swiftly forgotten in the face of the greater threat posed by Ooze and the hunt for the Aurora is basically abandoned when Overdrive’s villains are defeated as part of Ooze’s army.
• Designer Babies: Thrax is described as basically this; when Billy asks how Thrax came into existence as he's clearly not a natural birth, Zedd explains that he was created with Finster's help in Zedd's waning days after the Machine Empire was driven back but before he abandoned his own plans for Earth.
• Discard and Draw: As part of a prophecy, the original Ninjetti Rangers (Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Rocky, Aisha and Adam), Ninja Storm and Dino Thunder Rangers all regain variations of those particular powers. As well as the aforementioned, Jason receives the Gold Dino Gem (basically the Black Dino Gem with more armour) and Trini, Tanya and Kat are entrusted with the Silver Ankylo, Green Parasaur and Violet Stego Dino Gems respectively. The Ninjetti and Dino Thunder Rangers receive new versions of their lost zords, but while Shane, Dustin and Tori get similar 'upgrades' to their original zords, Hunter, Blake and Cam have new zords, with Hunter in particular having a Phoenix carrier zord and a smaller zord that can combine with the other zords when required.
• Dismantled MacGuffin: As part of their effort to gain new powers to oppose Ooze’s forces, the Rangers have to reassemble the Zeo Crystal, which was relocated to different parts of the galaxy after the Zeo Rangers changed to the Turbo powers; Green and Pink are on Earth in storage facilities owned by Adam’s family and Kat’s ex-husband, while Blue, Yellow and Red were left on Aquitar, Triforia and K0-35, although the Blue Crystal was left drifting in space after Aquitar’s destruction until it landed on Onyx.
• Due to the Dead: The Rangers at one point take the time to have a private ceremony for those lost in the initial attack, including Trey, the Phantom Ranger, and most of Lightspeed Rescue. After the threat is over, Mr Collins arranges for an official memorial to be erected in Mariner Bay to commemorate the fallen members of Lightspeed Rescue, and he and Anton Mercer also provide financial support as Kelsey and Ryan become the heads of the new Lightspeed Guardians in Mariner Bay, a ‘sister organisation’ to the Silver Guardians in Silver Hills (Carter and Dana becoming the heads of the new fire department and hospital for Mariner Bay).
• Easily Forgiven: Defied; Ronny and Rose are allowed back with the other Rangers after their first outing with Sector Nine confirms that the organisation is too ruthless, but it is made clear that Will and Dax won’t be let off so easily after they participated in such attacks as Hunter being shot and Tori and Zedd captured. Even after Will and Dax save Tori’s sister Zoe and bring her to Blue Harbour, once the crisis has passed, although the other Rangers argue for leniency, Will and Dax are forbidden from becoming Rangers again, Dax returning to his film career and Will working for Bio-Labs security.
• Even Evil Has Standards: According to the reformed Zedd, even at his worst he would never have sent any of the Rangers to the fire pits of Duronia as Ooze plans to do with Hunter.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite having declared the other Rangers fools and dismissing the idea that he has any interest in their legacy, Will finally realises that he can’t keep working for Sector Nine when they are willing to threaten Tori’s little sister to try and bring the Rangers in line.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: In the early days of Sector Nine, General Gorbin concluded that whoever gave Ranger powers to teenagers must be "some lunatic or psychopath with an agenda of his own", incapable of comprehending that the Rangers' mentor might just genuinely want to help.
• Evil Knockoff: Ooze’s forces attempt to create Ninja Storm versions of the Psycho Rangers, but this proves to be of limited use as Psycho Crimson can’t match Hunter’s power.
• Evil Versus Evil: To an extent; Ivan Ooze is the main problem, but the Rangers also have to deal with Master Vile attempting a coup of Earth by possessing the President and using Sector Nine against them; the only difference is that Ooze is attempting a blatant power grab where Vile is more willing to be subtle at first.
• Family of Choice: While most of the Rangers haven't worked together on this scale, as the teams come together they all agree to consider each other family due to their shared legacy, such as sharing training sessions with their respective colour counterparts (Tommy and Rocky being considered 'honorary' Reds and Blues as they don't use those colours any more).
• Freudian Excuse: Zedd reveals that he was originally corrupted to evil due to his jealousy of his brother Zander’s status as the legendary Phoenix Ranger, although he was also ‘encouraged’ along this path by Master Vile.
• Heroic Lineage: The Rangers all consider themselves as sharing one of these for the most part, but Hunter takes it a step further as he learns that his biological father was actually the only other Crimson Ranger ever. By contrast, Will earns the contempt of the other Rangers when he makes it clear he doesn't care about the Ranger legacy, Adam informing Will that he's ashamed to share a colour with him.
• Honorary True Companion: While the assorted Ranger teams have an obvious bond, various non-Ranger allies are allowed on their island compound as they gather their forces against Ivan Ooze, Master Vile and Sector Nine, including Cassidy and Devin, Bulk and Skull, Anton Mercer, and the reformed Zedd, Marah and Kapri.
• Insult Backfire: The best description of Will's dismissal of Adam when the other Black Ranger expresses disgust at the notion that he and Will share a colour, Will affirming that he only cares about doing the job and making a name for himself rather than the Ranger legacy.
• It's All About Me: Will’s main reason for joining Sector Nine was that he felt he wasn’t getting any respect from the other Rangers, ignoring the fact that they made valid points about his lack of experience as a Ranger compared to them and his efforts with Sector Nine fail to produce any clear positive results.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While the more experienced Rangers resent Will pointing out that the Overdrive Rangers are the only team where none of the Rangers have ever gone evil or ‘failed’ to completely destroy their villains yet, none of them deny his accusation (although this still doesn’t justify Will betraying them).
• Just Eat Gilligan: At one point Toxa suggests they just vaporize Earth from a distance, but Ooze rejects that notion as he wants the satisfaction of defeating Zordon’s legacy directly and blowing up Earth that way would suggest that he’s scared.
• The Leader: While Hunter is The Big Guy, Tommy and Jason basically share the role of overall leader of the Ranger alliance, such as Tommy leading the team in the field or Jason criticising Hartford's choice of Rangers after Will's betrayal.
• Likes Older Women: Cam (Power Rangers Ninja Storm) and Hayley (Power Rangers: Dino Thunder) have a few moments, despite Hayley being at least a few years older than Cam (assuming that she is of a similar age to Tommy).
• Logical Weakness: Just as Ivan Ooze was born from the fire-pits of Duronia, he can only be killed in those same pits (although it takes considerable power from Hunter to keep him in the pits long enough to kill him).
• The Lost Lenore: When encouraging Tommy to get back together with Kimberly, Shane mentions his own experience with losing Skyla, musing that he would give up the power he gained from her sacrifice in a heartbeat if it would bring her back.
• MacGuffin: The Zeo Crystal not only helps to break Dulcea's curse, but can also be used to reactivate the Lightspeed and Mystic morphers, break the barriers keeping the Wild Force team from the Animarium and preventing the Time Force Rangers coming to help, and still have enough power for a new Zeo team.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Invoked; there are enough similarities between the powers of the Ninja Storm and Mystic Force Rangers for each side to teach the other a few tricks about how to use their respective elements outside of their Ranger forms.
• Manipulative Editing: Sector Nine edit the footage of Hunter killing the President to obscure such details as the fact that the president was under the control of Master Vile and was about to kill Shane, Dustin and Cam if Hunter hadn’t attacked Vile in his current host body.
• The Mole: The Rangers manage to get one of these inside Sector Nine, in the form of the reformed Rito Revolto, now in a human appearance after he was reformed by the Z-Wave, allowing him to tip them off and prevent an assassination of the Vice-President staged to look like the Rangers did it.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Sector Nine gained most of their insight into the Power Rangers from the wreckage of the Thunderzords, although in the Rangers’ defence they were in no position to retrieve the damaged zords before Sector Nine did.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When Hunter is captured by Ooze’s forces, he escapes captivity when Flurious comes to basically take out his frustrations on Hunter; while Ooze designed a cell made of metal specifically designed to contain Hunter’s fire, Flurious’s ice made the metal brittle enough for Hunter to break it and escape.
• Noodle Incident:
  • After the mission to destroy Serpentera, the Red Rangers all went out for a few drinks, and Cole apparently had such an embarrassing experience that he virtually begs the other Reds not to bring it up again.
  • When the Time Force Rangers travel to the present, Jen’s words suggest that the rest of the team will be having words with Alex when they go back, as it is implied he deliberately concealed the details of the current crisis from them to the extent that Jen intends to stay in the past with Wes.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: General Gorbin publicly claims that he’s making the Rangers official because they can’t be trusted as rogue vigilantes, but his talk with Mr Collins makes it clear that he’s only interested in getting control of their powers to increase his own authority to the extent of basically making himself a dictator, even before he shows a willingness to work with Master Vile.
• Oh, Crap!: This sums up the reactions of the six Rangers who originally fought Ooze when they realise he's back.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Only the Phoenix Ranger can wield the Phoenix Saber, to the extent that Hunter once dropped the weapon on a beach before he was captured by the villains and nobody else could pick it up until he escaped.
• Playing with Fire: As the host to the powers of the Phoenix, Hunter can generate a fire so intense that it could theoretically incinerate many of the Rangers’ more powerful current enemies.
• Prisoner Exchange: At one point, Hunter is forced to hand himself over to Ooze’s forces in order to save the captured Galaxy Rangers.
• Psychic Block Defense: Tori is revealed to be a natural shield, making her immune to attempts to hypnotise her and able to share this immunity with others once she has sufficient training.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Dax, the former Operation Overdrive Blue Ranger, makes it clear more than once that he is only working for Sector Nine due to the money and the chance of gaining a film career out of the deal, and is more willing to express his doubts about the new arrangement, where Will defected to Sector Nine essentially to prove himself ‘superior’ to the more experienced Rangers as well as the financial benefits.
• Put on the Bus:
  • Tyzonn leaves Earth and the Operation Overdrive team to defend his own planet from Ooze’s attack.
  • It is revealed that Tommy gave the Red Zeo Crystal to Andros for safekeeping after "Forever Red", explaining why he never used the Zeo powers in Dino Thunder.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Jason delivers one to Andrew Hartford regarding the entire Operation Overdrive team, noting that the Overdrive Rangers were always too willing to quit when their feelings were hurt or they felt slighted in some way even when their villains were still an active threat.
  • Tori delivers one to her father after she’s captured by Gorbin and locked up; while her father protests that he’s trying to keep her safe, Tori informs him that he stopped being family years ago, and she considers the other Rangers her family before him.
• Reforged Blade: After the Quasar Sabers are destroyed in the first assault, once the Galaxy Rangers have been rescued, Udonna is able to use her magic to repair the Sabers so that the Galaxy Rangers can rejoin the fight.
• Related in the Adaptation: As it turns out, Hunter is actually the nephew of both Zordon and Lord Zedd, as his mother, Dulcea, was Zordon’s sister while his father Zander was Zedd’s brother; Hunter was sent far into the future shortly after his birth to escape his family’s enemies.
• Robosexual: Suggested; the ‘epilogue’ notes that Mack and Rose are becoming closer, with no sign that Mack will become human as he did in the show.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • When Conner's football coach tries to force him to stay as the team needs him, Conner decisively resigns from the team, choosing his family with the other Rangers over his old dreams.
  • Will and Dax finally turn against Sector Nine when they confirm that Master Vile is possessing the President and General Gorbin kills Tori’s father and makes it clear that he's prepared to torture a four-year-old girl whose only connection to the Rangers is that she's Tori's little sister (even though Tori doesn't even know about the girl yet).
• Secret Test of Character: The test itself isn’t a secret, but Dex has Marah and Kapri retrieve one of the Zeo Crystal fragments themselves to prove to the girls that they’re no longer evil.
• Ship Sinking:
  • Tori and Blake’s relationship has ended before Ooze first attacks, with Tori now involved with Hunter.
  • Zack ends his relationship with Angela when she proves incapable of accepting his past as a Ranger.
• Small Name, Big Ego: From a certain perspective;
  • The Operation Overdrive villains were a problem for the Overdrive Rangers on their own, but they are swiftly reduced to little more than cannon fodder in Ooze’s army
  • Malcolm Renaldi, Kat’s ex-husband, is a dangerous gangster, but with Kat and her son now protected by no less than twenty active Power Rangers he fails to recognise that he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on when trying to threaten the Rangers.
• Spirit Advisor: Trey appears after his death to pass on a message to Adam and Tanya, explaining how they need to re-assemble the Zeo Crystal to deliver crucial blows to Vile's forces.
• Take Up My Sword: Two non-fatal examples of this;
  • In an indirect example, Jason receives a variation of Tommy’s powers as the Black Dino Thunder Ranger.
  • After reacquiring the fragments of the Zeo Crystal, the original Zeo Rangers each select a new person to wield their Crystal in battle as a new team of Zeo Rangers; Kapri is chosen to wield the Pink Crystal, Marah the Yellow, Justin the Blue, Skull the Green, and Zack the Red.
• Took a Level in Badass: Not only does Hunter explore his new Phoenix powers, but he and nineteen other Rangers receive upgraded versions of their former powers, such as the older Rangers receiving secondary powers as well as new Ranger forms.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Hunter needs training in his Phoenix powers, but he has enough raw power to basically incinerate any of Ooze’s minions that have given the other Rangers trouble.
• Villain with Good Publicity: While most of the public still recall the good the Rangers have done, Sector Nine concentrates on the idea of the Rangers as immature teenagers or reckless vigilantes who can’t be trusted with the power they wield.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Jason basically has to give Kimberly one of these when she almost refuses to join their campaign, although she changes her mind once she learns the scale of the casualties.
  • Will gets a few of these, with Adam in particular affirming that he's ashamed to share a colour with Will even if Will doesn't care about the legacy at that point.
• Would Hurt a Child: Sector Nine forces are even willing to threaten Tori’s little sister as a hostage to try and force her to join them.