The Battle of Corinth
'You know if this was a movie or a story, this would be the point where some good author would write a really good piece of descriptive crap to tell the 'viewer or reader' just what was happening. However this ain't a story. God how I wish it was.'
~ The Last Entry of Eric Myers.
Eric closed the page of his journal and looked around at the tattered remains of the bunker he had been living in for the past 3 days. It looked like any other, dull, dark, dank and lifeless. Then he remembered that as of Venjix, that's what the outside world looked like too. Letting out a deep sigh he turned his attention to the woman and children that had fallen under his care currently mostly asleep, in some respects he hated the fact that he had to be the one to take them. No, that wasn't right he didn't hate them.
He turned his head down and looked at the tattered morpher that clamped down on his wrist. This was what he currently hated right now. If his DNA wasn't locked to one of the most powerful forces on the planet then he would have been able to stay with the Silver Guardians. His eyes began to water at the mere thought of that moment, that moment of hell. One of the children who couldn't get to sleep looked over and saw him crying and it didn't bother Eric at all. In fact almost nothing that used to make his blood boil bothered him anymore.
Eric wiped away the tears and flashed the kid a weak smile, hoping that it would convince him to go to sleep. The kid didn't really respond, he just turned away from Eric and made no more movements after that. Eric thought about everything for a minute, he hated himself and his powers at this point in time. How had this happened? How had they failed? How had he allowed this to happen? After all what's the point of being one the most powerful rangers around if you can't even protect those that you love!
A loud thud startled some of the refugees, however after seeing that it came from Eric they simply ignored it and returned to sleep. Eric was startled himself. However when his head snapped in the direction of the noise he discovered that it was his own fist that had slammed into the metal wall. Eric brought his hand back and rubbed it with other, it was throbbing and still stinging from his battle earlier today.
"Grinders." he uttered with a venom and bitterness in his voice.
Those machines reminded all too well of the Cyclobots that he had once fought, perhaps this was why this situation was different. In the future robots are considered second class citizens, even lower than mutants were. Is it possible that Thrax was not the first robot to rebel? Was Venjix the reason for the robots dismissal? If not then why the hell hadn't Time Force come back to help.
Eric stopped and left that last question in his mind. Without a doubt, that scared him more than anything else in his life. What if this was meant to be? What if humanity is destroyed before it triumphs?
Eric moved his hand up to his eyes and rubbed them in frustration. He had no way of knowing. A part of him hoped that this was as bad as it was going to get, that this is when things started to be turned around.
Yet how could it?
Venjix had already declared victory and as far as Eric could tell, that was the truth. Or so he had thought up until he had heard that message. The girls voice that was guiding him through this time of chaos and strife. If it wasn't for her message pushing him on he would not have made it this far. However he knew that the party could not afford to lose much more time. The city of Corinth was the last city in the region that he knew of that hadn't fallen to Venjix. Yet he knew that it would not stay that way for long.
Eric clutched the Quantum Defender in his hands. This weapon had saved everyone here on more than one occasion. He started the rigorous and monotonous exercise of cleaning the weapon, that in itself was a big mistake. The weapon reminded him of the first real conversation that him and Taylor had ever had.
For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, a meaningful smile came over his face as he remembered their first meeting. It had grown from that first joint battle with the Wild Force rangers, the two had both enjoyed each other companies until finally they stopped just being friends. From there their lives were changed forever, the two fell deeply in love and Eric had been truly happy for the first time in his life. The two would have been married for 5 years in two months time.
Eric's moment of happiness quickly changed. He swallowed as his mind started to replay a day that would change everything forever.
"So what exactly are you saying Cole?" Wes asked the Wild Force leader.
"I'm not sure exactly, that's the thing. Princess Shayla called us all back and told us that we were needed to be rangers again. Unfortunately she was only able to contact 4 of us though."
Eric nodded in response.
"You can't just walk out of the army whenever you feel like it slick."
Wes gave a sideways glance at Eric but chose to ignore him.
"So she just called you back with no explanation at all?" Wes asked.
"No she said...." Cole stopped in mid sentence. His senses were all telling him that danger was coming. This wasn't a good sign.
"GET DOWN!" Cole yelled as he tackled a nearby Silver Guardian member. As Cole took him down Eric felt the heat of the energy blast soar inches past his own head.
Eric and Wes both turned around. Neither was prepared for the sight that awaited them.
"What on earth?" Wes said.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that this may be why your team got recalled Cole." Eric said as he started to bark orders for the Guardians to break out the heavy weapons and get in formation.
Cole stood up to be greeted by the sight of an army of machines. They were marching down the street quite openly, firing at everything and anything in sight, However it seemed that the closer they got the more they focused on Cole and the others.
"Fire!" Wes and Eric shouted at the same time.
The Silver Guardians let loose with all the fury that they could muster. Many of the machines took direct hits and crumpled into heaps on the floor. Unfortunately the other machines seemed unhindered by this and simply continued on, crushing the fallen machines beneath their weight. One of the robots fired off a shot that hit one of the gunners on a cannon. As the Guardian fell to the floor his last shot got a group further back in the ranks and caused them to explode from the sheer power and heat.
Wes and Eric looked at each other and nodded. This was no longer play time. Cole also understood and stepped to the left of Wes with his Growl Morpher in his grip.
"Quantum Power!"
"Wild Access!"
"Time For, Time Force!"
The battle was illuminated by an overpowering red glow as the 3 Red Rangers morphed into action.
Charging forward the 3 rangers began a close quarters assault of the approaching army while the Silver Guardians continued the long range assault.
Eric Threw himself at his attackers, practically shoulder barging his way through the ranks getting himself right in the thick of it. Once he was there he used his powers to jump and hold himself in the air while he performed a series of kicks, sending all of his opponents flying into their allies. Eric landed and allowed himself a brief smirk before blocking an incoming attack and countering it.
Spinning around and sending his left leg outwards he clipped 3 more with his foot and sent them colliding against other machines with a loud clang of steel smashing steel. Eric suddenly felt the wind rush past behind him, turning his head around he saw Cole snap off the head of one of the machines and really tearing up the opposition.
"Guess you don't like machines" Eric said dryly.
"In general no and in this case they represent everything I stand against just like the orgs." Cole replied.
Eric watched as Cole plunged his fist deep into the chest area of a machine, Eric could hear the casing giving way to the power that had just collided with it.
Eric pulled out the Quantum Defender and set it to burst mode. Firing the awesome weapon like an UZI he walked calmly towards Wes, shooting anything foolish enough to cross his path. Wes had his Chrono Sabers out and was quite happily slashing away at the seemingly endless horde of cyberenemies. Eric changed to the default mode of the Quantum Defender and shot at an opponent that was about to fire on Wes, bringing it down with a mighty explosion.
"You owe me one." Eric said.
Wes looked at him and jumped high into the air and performed one of his signature attacks at something behind Eric. Eric turned around to see the pieces of four or five machines just inches from his feet.
"Even!" Wes yelled with a grin on his face.
As Eric was about to reply his world was turned upside down, his body sent sent spinning as both he and Wes were hit by some sort of beam.
The two felt themselves hit the floor, they were then joined a moment later by Cole. Wes looked at him, his body had demorphed and was not moving.
"No," Wes mouthed silently in sudden despair.
Eric looked at Cole, his eyes widened in disbelief. Cole's body was slumped and demorphed, but he had been doing so good a moment ago. What happened? Eric looked up to see that the machines had parted in the center to reveal a different type of machine. This one had clearly just blasted Wes and himself as he had a large weapon attached to his arm, had he been the one to blast Cole as well? Cole had been a lot closer to the machine than they were.
Eric stood up, his body was telling him not too. Only a moment ago he had been doing fine and now just one blast had knocked the fight out of his body, that did worry him slightly. However he had a another trick up his sleeve.
It wasn't the Q-Rex, but it was the next best thing.
"Mega Battle Armor!"
Seconds later, Eric found himself equipped with his very own Mega Battle Armor. Consisting of a red and gold chest plate, golden boots, and an armoured headpiece and visor, the armor was also endowed with two detachable steel fins. When summoned as weapons, Eric knew, they could be used as two respective blasters, or even a set of deadly swords.
Eric smiled, his body was no longer feeling tired.
Eric saw Wes watching his transformation and nodded at him.
Stretching out his right hand, Wes proceeded to concentrate, focusing on only one thought. As he did so, a glowing white orb began to materialize above his palm. Eric instantly recognized the white light of the Battle Fire.
Wes closed his fist around the orb.
"Battle Warrior Armor!"
Instantaneously, the glow from the Battle Fire spread out across the body of the Red Time Force Ranger. Moments later, Wes found himself coated in a magnificent red and gold armor. In addition to forearm coverings, and golden steel boots, Wes' armor was also equipped with protection for his waist and hips, acting almost like a belt. From his gold and silver chest covering, the armor stretched up his shoulders, and down his back. Attached to his back coverings were two crimson firebird wings, giving the armor an almost mythical look to it. Upon Wes' helmet rested a golden headcover, from which protruded a mighty red horn.
"Warrior Armored Ranger!"
Looking himself and Wes up and down, Eric smiled under his helmet, silently challenging the Machines to test them now.
The battle looked as if it would now be won. The two were able to toss aside the smaller machines like nothing. The blaster machine was proving to be more difficult. However Eric extended his weapons out into swords and sliced off an arm of the blaster bot. With that Wes lit up his sword and finished it.
Eric wasn't entirely sure weather Cole was alive or not, all he knew was that this battle was slow and grueling and there was no time to check. There seemed to be no end in site despite the fact that he had lost count of the number of machines that he had sliced or blasted to pieces. Just when he thought the worst was over, a large explosion echoed from behind them.
Eric turned around to see that the long range support was no more. The Silver Guardians were all cringing on the floor in pain.
"Eric, I think we are in trouble." Wes said to him.
Eric turned as the floor began to shake and tremble. There coming into view was a new horde of machines, however these ones were more up to a zord size. Some were flying and some were marauding over the buildings leaping from one to the other.
Eric swallowed as on his level another wave of these machines came creeping around the corner. He couldn't keep this up forever. Suddenly the air was filled with a mighty crash. A fireball lit up the sky as one of the monstrous beasts were sent hurtling to the ground.
A squadron of attack planes had rolled into view and were now engaging the enemy.
"Well I hope they are good," Wes commented.
"They ought to be, that's Taylor's squad." Eric said with a smile. With that he had a restored reason to fight. Eric began firing on the approaching wave with his blasters and the fight started all over again. The fight went on for what seemed like an eternity. Eric could hear the dog fight that was occurring high above his head, the air was filled with heat as bullets and missiles were being fired right and left.
Then the unthinkable happened.
Eric looked up at the sound of a plan going down. His stomach churned and tied in knots. His body froze, Eric hit the floor hard as the machines seized the opening and unleashed more of the heavy artillery upon him. Eric didn't even realise that his mega battle armour had been knocked out of commission. All he could see was Taylor's plane going down in flames, closely followed by others in her squad. Eric felt his emotions exploding inside him. He couldn't believe this was happening. She couldn't really be gone..... could she?
Eric let out a blood curling scream as tears flooded down his face inside his helmet. His world had just crashed into a nearby building. He could hear Wes calling to him but he couldn't make it out. This was a fight that they were not going to win.
The fight had gone out of him.
"Eric!" Came the loud voice that shook him out of his nightmarish memory.
Eric rose to his feet and saw a man heading towards him in a hurry, he also wore the tattered and ripped remains of a Silver Guardian uniform. Silver Guardian enforcer Derrick Chaw had been a friend of Eric's ever since the guy joined about 4 years ago, one of the few as Wes liked to joke. He was Eric's and Wes' choice for second in command and the one that would hopefully someday replace them as leader. Guess that wasn't going to happen anymore.
"What is it Derrick? Grinders?" Eric asked, not liking the worried look on his face.
The young man shook his head, his short cut black hair dusty and laced with slashes of blood.
"Worse than that Eric, bandits." Derrick replied, his slightly Asian features curved into a look of worry and anger.
"Well that's just perfect." Eric stated coldly. If there was an argument that humanity did not deserve to be exterminated like rats, these type of people were not that argument.
"These guys are worse than the machines." Eric said. Derrick nodded in response.
"What are we going to do? It's not like we have anything worth stealing anyway." Derrick asked, trying to remain as calm as possible as not to cause panic for the stirring refugees. Eric raised an eyebrow and nodded in the direction of the woman.
"Need I say more?" Eric asked more bitterly than intended.
Derrick swallowed hard and dry. Eric noticed that Derrick was sweating from head to toe and he wasn't. He wasn't sure weather that made himself stronger or too terrified to care. Either way it didn't matter, he knew what he had to do.
"Stay here." Eric said bluntly and began to move in the direction Derrick had just run in from.
"You can't be serious! There are at least 3 of them and neither of us are in prime condition." Derrick replied a sense of urgency in his voice.
Eric stopped, he stood there for a moment and then gave a very simple instruction.
"If I don't come back in 5 minutes. Shoot to kill, anything that moves." Eric said.
"But... you move." Derrick said in shock to his order.
Eric turned his head away from him.
"If I'm not back by then, then I won't be moving." With that Eric slowly forced himself to head through the corridor near the entrance to the bunker. Eric moved slowly through the compound, though it didn't take him long to find them. They were not trying to be quiet.
Eric pushed himself against the corridor wall, he could feel that one of the other guys was about to come around the corner, his shadow was edging closer to where Eric was waiting. Eric took a deep, silent, breath and as the figure turned the corner Eric wrapped his arms around the man's head. Muffling him and snapping his neck in one smooth motion, his clothing and large muscles reduced the snapping noise. Another one rounded the corner only this one wasn't within Eric's grabbing distance. The other man shouted and pulled out a large blade that had clearly been scavenged from some butchery shop. The other two men rounded the corner and stood face to face with Eric.
Great. One more than he had thought. They were all wearing camouflage gear, this striked Eric to be a bit odd but then he was still in what was left of his own gear. They all looked a bit out of place.
The larger of the three men came forward first and sent his leg forward. Eric dodged but only barely. That was no ordinary kick, they were clearly military trained. Eric began to block his quick precision blows, each one designed to end this fight as quickly as possible. Eric turned his head just in time to duck as the man with the large blade swung for him. Performing a back flip Eric put some distance between him and them, the men stopped they were clearly rethinking the physical approach.
Eric however wasn't. Choosing to go after the one with the blade first Eric moved to the right and managed to smash his knee cap sending him down to the floor. Unfortunately that had left him open and the smaller man that had not attacked yet got a good punch in to the left of his ribs. Eric winced in pain but refused to go down, flicking his foot outward he sent the smaller man flying across the room. The larger man moved forward but Eric was already one step ahead of him. Pulling out a metal baton Eric summoned all his strength into this overhead strike. The other man blocked the strike but it ultimately helped him very little. The metal baton snapped the bone in his arm like a twig, especially when the force that Eric delivered was that of a ranger.
The smaller man was getting to his feet, he pulled two small knives from his inside pockets and was about to attack when he saw the morpher on Eric's wrist. The man quickly changed his mind as a look of fear creeped onto his face. Spinning on his heels the man took off in the direction that he had just come in.
Eric's body was shaking, it always did after a fight now. Especially when it was with other humans. Eric forced the baton back into it's case and looked down at the only one left, he seemed unconscious and that was good enough for Eric.
Eric's thoughts were shattered as the loud repetitive fire of an automatic weapon filled the air and with the acoustics of the bunker it was made ten times worse. Eric then heard fast moving footsteps, Eric was then greeted by the sight of soldiers. Eric was filled with relief when the soldiers shouted their ID.
"Corinth Alpha Escort Team 1! Hold your fire!"
Eric sank down on the floor as the adrenaline left his body.
"Eric Myers. Exhausted Ex-Silver Guardian leader." he responded.
The soldiers lowered their weapons and hurried towards Eric.
"I'm Lieutenant Santos. Are you ok sir?" he said it with a respect and admiration that Eric was not used too.
"Yeah I'm fine. Please tell me that you guys are the ones that are going to get us out of here." Eric replied.
Santos nodded and ordered a nearby corporal to help Eric to his feet.
"We followed your heat signals after we got your message before the comm's systems went dead." Santos said.
Eric stood up and nodded thanking him. He then told Santos where the refugees were, on second thought he had better go first otherwise Derrick might shoot one of them or worse they would shoot Derrick.
A few moments later Eric watched as everyone was escorted out of the bunker, Derrick had a baby in his arms and nodded to Eric. Eric nodded back, now able to stand on his own again.
The corporal that had been helping him had been in awe of him since he had laid eyes on Eric. Eric had picked up on it.
"There something that I can help you with Corporal?" Eric asked.
"No sir, it's just that. Well. Your one of the Silver Guardians, the leader right? So doesn't that make you a Power Ranger?" he asked curiously.
"Yeah, it does. Doesn't really matter now though does it." Eric replied, clearly indicating that the conversation was over.
Eric moved out of the bunker and into the sunlight.
"Best time to move is at dawn, night is no help as those things can see better us. Yet the sun coming up seems to cause some interference with their sensors." Santos said.
Eric looked at the transports that everyone had packed into.
"You've got too be kidding." Eric said in shock.
"What's the matter? Afraid of school?" Santos said as the squad began to pile into the school buses that had become the transports.
Eric got into the back of one and as he sat in his seat he allowed himself to drift off into an uneasy sleep.
************
Eric shot up from his seat as an explosion woke him up. Lots of people were on either side of the buses firing wildly in the direction that they themselves had just traveled from. Eric turned around to see what they were firing at. To his dismay it was those leaping machines of death, some however were making the change to allow them to take flight. The buses would never make it to Corinth if that happened.
Suddenly the roar of jet engines filled the air.
"Yeah! Go Eagle squad!" Santos yelled as a fighter squadron began to reign fire down upon their enemies.
They traveled through the battlefield and Eric watched as Santos fired out through the broken windows at anything that wasn't human. Unfortunately at points that was pretty much everything in sight.
Eric moved to the front of the bus, his ribs had bruised but he was coping with the pain and thankfully had managed to get some rest.
"I thought Venjix hadn't been able to get to Corinth yet!?!" Eric yelled over the gunfire.
"They hadn't but I guess they have now!" Santos yelled back.
Eric gritted his teeth and un-holstered the Quantum Defender. He wasn't about to come this far and be turned back now.
"With all due respect I think the situation calls for something a little more powerful don't you?" Santos called as a massive plane came crashing to the ground.
Eric looked at the Quantum Morpher. His hand was shaking and he didn't have time to respond as Santos' short wave radio picked up a transmission from the dogfight that was occurring high above their heads.
"Eagle 1 is down, I repeat Eagle one is..." Santos turned off the radio.
"We don't need to hear that." Santos said.
Eric nodded his head in agreement, then his attention was captured by something else. He hadn't noticed that the city had been creeping ever closer it looked rather peaceful on the inside, but there was one hell of a blockade on the outside.
As the buses pulled in, Eric noticed a motorcycle drive in the direction that he had just come from. The soldiers filed out the civilians and moved them into the city. Derrick and Eric both moved with them to the entrance of the city. It was then that they heard the blockade start to really let loose it's payload. Energy weapons that had a remarkable resemblance to that of Eric's old friends were in use now instead of the automatic rifles that the escort squad had been using.
Eric saw a Colonel standing in front of a jeep observing the battle. A man was reporting something to him and it didn't make him look happy, Eric then realised that the air fight was no longer being fought. There was no one left to fight it.
The soldiers all went off to join the blockade and were keeping the enemy at bay. Suddenly another bus came into view. A grinder was half hanging off of it. As the doors opened the top half of a Grinder was thrown out of the doorway. Followed by a young man giving a woman a child. Eric smiled, clearly he wasn't a soldier but he was helping anyway. He could be used as an argument for why humanity deserved to live.
Eric watched the bus drive away into the city as the blockade was slowly starting to fail, parts of it were gone and some of it's members were starting to retreat.
Then Eric saw the same sight that would haunt him forever. The cold, relentless bringers of death. Grinders. An army of them were slowly marching toward the city just like it had been when Eric had been in Silver Hills.
The baby in Derricks arms started to cry. Eric watched as the Colonel drove away in his jeep as the fallback order was given. The situation was all too familiar.
Eric leaned on the only remaining Silver Guardian jeep as Wes unwound Eric's arm from his shoulder. Eric looked himself over, his body was bloody and his gear was ripped. His powers had given out and Wes was still in his armour form, he couldn't believe it.
"Eric get out of here. Fallback." Wes instructed.
"Not without you, there is no way I am leaving you here Wes." Eric replied.
"Listen Eric we don't have time for this. I can hold them here, I can keep them at bay here. You can get their families out!" Wes yelled pointing to the fallen Guardians.
Eric looked at them and slowly but surely nodded his head. Deep in his heart he realised that he wouldn't be any help now. Besides he didn't really have the will to fight, not anymore.
"Ok Wes, but you better follow me the minute we are clear." Eric said as he got into the jeep.
Wes swung his sword around and gave them a wall of fire to buy them a little time.
"Your not getting rid of me that easily Eric. Now go." Wes said, turning away from Eric as he did.
Eric didn't know what else to say, in his head he knew that Wes was on a suicide mission. In his heart he hoped to God that Wes would find a way to make it out alive.
Eric slammed on the accelerator and sped off back to HQ where he hoped to find help and the homes of the families he had been entrusted with. Eric could see Wes in his rear view mirror. Getting smaller and smaller. Until finally he could see the fight no more.
He tried to call HQ but as he expected the communication was being jammed. Then his heart stopped as the noise of a large explosion assaulted his ears. The shockwave made the car tremble as he drove on.
Eric didn't dare look back. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to believe.
"Eric we have to get inside the city now! They will start to seal up in a minute!" Derrick called.
Eric turned and looked at him. There was no way that the city could seal itself before the Grinders made it inside. He knew what he had to do.
He put one hand on the child in Derricks arms and the other around the amulet around his neck. Tearing the amulet off if himself he gave it to Derrick.
"I love you know but this time I have to do what I should have done the first time." Eric said to the little guy.
"Tell my son I was a good man." Eric said to Derrick with a smile. Then he turned away from his son and Derrick and broke into a run, all the soldiers that were retreating saw Eric run in the other direction and Eric could hear them shouting for him to fallback.
Not this time. Eric pulled the morpher up to his mouth for the first time since Taylor had died. He had a new reason to fight, no he decided it was the same reason just slightly different. His Son, his family.
"Quantum Power!" The dusty and scarred morpher came to life and unleashed it's energy over Eric and with a powerful burst of energy transformed him into the Quantum Ranger.
Eric let out a battle cry and ran headfirst into the Grinders. He knew that his armour was out of the question his powers had taken too much of a beating, but he had another weapon in mind.
"Q-Rex Arise!" Eric yelled.
A flash of explosions and lighting signaled the arrival of Eric's favorite weapon.
The Q-Rex began to assault the oncoming army of mechanical beasts while Eric kept the Grinders busy.
"Q-Rex Fire!" The Q-Rex fired it's cannons on command and fought valiantly, however in the end th mighty machine was toppled by the sheer number of enemies that stood in it's way.
Eric felt the Q-Rex fall and sighed. He had hoped that the two of them would have been enough but clearly not. That left only one choice.
*Taylor, Wes, Derrick, Cole and Johnathon, my son, I do this for you... *
Eric pressed the button for the Mega Battle Armour and the morpher overloaded.
"You will not take Corinth." Eric said to the Grinders with a smile on his face as his powers started to reach critical level. The Q-Rex began to glow a bright red as did Eric.
*Goodbye.... Son*
With that they both exploded and took everything with them. No one would know of his sacrifice.
No one except his Son.