Hey, guys! I'm back with another installment of everyone's favorite PRJF series! Well, I know it's mine. LOL. Anywho, I'm sorry for the delay. I was updating some of my other neglected fics. Now that that's cleared up, let's begin, shall we?
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing Power Rangers, Disney or Saban related. I do wish I did. Again, 32 episodes… NOT ENOUGH! LOL
A/N: This installment is set between Ghost of a Chance and Bad to the Bone.
Power Rangers Jungle Fury: RANGER TROUBLE, DANGER DOUBLE
The air within the lair of the dark lion lord was thick with tension and the stench of failure. The wily Camille paced back and forth in the main chamber as she contemplated the latest defeat she suffered at the hands of the rangers who grew in strength thanks to the core three achieving Jungle Master Modes.
"Oh… that was brutal." She murmured to herself in a pained tone.
"Brutal, indeed."
Camille whipped around to see Carnisoar and Jellica enter the room and judging from their body language, they were none too pleased with the results of the last battle.
"How did they manage to gain such immense power?" Jellica asked he reptilian underling before turning her attention to Dai Shi. "And Dai Shi, how could you fail to destroy them?"
"Leave him alone!" Camille protested in Dai Shi's defense. "Neither of us is at fault. We had no idea they'd be looking for the Jungle Master mode, so back off!"
In a move that would only be described as… suicidal, Camille launched an attack on the more experienced Jellica. Try as she might, the sly chameleon was no match for the Sea Overlord as Jellica easily warded off the lizard's advances with her trusty staff.
"Watch your tongue, little girl!" Jellica threatened. "Before I rip it out and use it to polish my staff!"
Camille pursed her lips tightly out of reflex and backed away from Jellica as she didn't want to incur her wrath any further. The Sky Overlord smirked as his comrade put the mouthy reptile in her place and looked at his feline inspired protégé with disdain.
"Dai Shi, it's become painfully clear that your rinshi aren't fit for the task of destroying the rangers. For this reason, I decided to call in a couple of favors."
"Favors? From whom, might I ask?" Camille asked timidly.
"Just watch… you might actually learn something." Carnisoar held up his arms and his majestic wings fanned as he called out to the heavens. "My warriors; come forth!"
The ornate double doors open to reveal a female hyena dressed like she was a hip-hop DJ complete with headphones draped around her neck and a masculine wolverine who wore a streamlined version of samurai armor. The duo walked in much to the delight of Jellica.
"Ah, the infamous Switchblade and Howlena." Jellica acknowledged. "Your reputation precedes you."
"Oh, thanks, girl! Publicity is everything, you know!" Howlena cackled. As she did, the scowl Switchblade wore gave everyone the impression that he was about to toss his cookies.
"It boggles the mind how someone could remain so cheerful all the time. It makes my head hurt." He grumbled.
"Oh, lighten up, sweetie!" Howlena begged. "I think it's great that we're celebrities."
"I'd hardly call us 'celebrities', Howlena." Switchblade shot back in a low voice.
"Whoever said opposites attract must have had these two in mind." Camille thought in disbelief at the conversation between the two newcomers. Growing annoyed, she finally spoke up. "Just what do they bring to the table besides material for those daytime talk shows I keep hearing about? They don't look so tough."
Those were fighting words as far as the two honored guests were concerned because Howlena whipped around to face Camille and turned street in the blink of an eye.
"Excuse you!? I got your 'tough', Miss Thang! Peep this!"
Howlena slow walks up to Camille as if she were on the Serengeti Plains. Carnisoar, Jellica and Switchblade wisely cover their ears and Dai Shi follows suit. Camille, however, is oblivious to what everyone else is doing. Howlena looks the chameleon in the eye and lets out a scream that could have been heard on the other side of the planet. The sound waves from that scream blew Camille into the far wall and she nearly made an impression in the hard stone.
"And that's how I roll! You BETTER think twice before you step to me again, trick!" She warned. Even though it came out as her trademark jovial cackle, the tone was not misconstrued. She was as serious as a heart attack.
Camille, who was now trying to shake the cobwebs, slowly rose to her feet and walked back to her original spot.
"Duly noted." Camille conceded before she looked to the shogun wolverine. "And him? What's his talent?"
"He has a name! Somebody get her before I go off on her again!" Howlena shouted, but Switchblade just held up his right hand to calm her down.
"It's alright, Howlena." He said in a low, deep voice before he looked Camille in the eye. "And you don't want to know… trust me."
"On the contrary; I believe I do." At this point, Camille morphed into her own battle armor and held her sais at the ready. Camille just chuckled at the scene and stepped back to allow her belligerent beau to show what he can do.
"Come at me, lizard!" He ordered.
"Allowing the lady the first move… how noble of you."
"Nobility has nothing to do with it."
The crafty reptile just scoffed at her opponent before rushing at him with sais gleaming in the torchlight. Switchblade just shifted his weight slightly and before Camille could land even one strike with her weapons, streaks of light flew through the air signifying his retaliation against Dai Shi's right hand. Camille's screams could be heard as the wolverine ceased his assault. To everyone's amazement, Camille's armor bore the claw marks of his vicious attack before she powered back down to her human form.
"As I said, nobility has nothing to do with it." Switchblade repeated.
"Alright! I stand corrected!" Camille groaned.
"Impressive." Dai Shi praised.
"I told you we could bring it!" Howlena cackled happily.
"Indeed. Not even the rangers' Jungle Master modes can stand up to your powers." Jellica observed.
"In light of this new development, you are now charged with the destruction of the Power Rangers." Carnisoar granted. "Go and leave nothing in your wake!"
"You know how we do!" Howlena looked at Camille and smirked.
"We shall succeed where others have failed." Switchblade bowed to both the Sky and Sea overlords and turned to leave, but not before Howlena gave Camille one parting word…
"Deuces!"
Meanwhile…
The animal hospital was as busy as ever when R.J., Fran and the rangers decided to drop by for a visit. The head chef of JKP walked up to the receptionist's desk where the young intern looked up.
"Hi; are Keenan and Gwen around?" He asked.
"Yeah, they are. Keenan's in the wild animal compound and Gwen…" The girl checked the daily schedules and the clock on the wall. "…should be finishing up with a patient by now. Would you like to wait for them?"
"Sure."
"Great. Just have a seat over there."
A few minutes passed after they took their seats in the waiting room and soon Gwen appeared with a book in her hands. As she walked over to speak to a nurse, Fran and the rangers notice that she was being followed by a parade of six baby ducklings.
"Awww, they're so cute!" Lily cooed.
"Adorable."
The yellow balls of downy fuzz peeped and followed Gwen as she went from one nurse to the next. After she finished her rounds, Gwen looked up to see her friends waving to her.
"Hey, guys."
"Hey, Gwen." Theo greeted with a chuckle. "Um, I'm not sure if you know this, but you're being followed."
The head vet looked behind her to see six fluffy babies looking up at her. With a smile, she looked back to her friends.
"Oh, yeah. Their mom got hit with a wayward baseball and broke her wing. She's getting patched up while we look after her babies."
"Oh, that's awful. She's gonna be okay, right?" Fran asked with concern.
"Of course. She's in good hands here." Gwen nodded.
"That's good." Casey replied.
"Oh, where's Keenan right now?" Lily wondered aloud.
"He's looking after Serena." As Gwen relayed the information, her brother walked in and noticed Lily looking at the ducklings for what seemed to be a long time.
"Don't even think about it, Lils." He warned gently.
"What? I can't look at baby ducks?" Lily asked in slight disbelief. She knew what they were driving at, but she just played it off.
"Look, yes. But we had to make a wanted poster with your picture on it." Gwen smirked. "They're still talking about the Great Makomba Caper around here."
"Oh, come on. You know I can't resist something so adorable. It's his fault for being born so cute." Lily pouted and that made Keenan laugh.
"It's alright, Lily. We still love you and know you wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Kidnap… now, that's another story." Gwen added with a laugh.
"That's not fair. Don't you trust me, Gwen?" The yellow cheetah asked.
"Ask me again when I figure out why there are four ducklings behind me instead of six." Gwen stated with her right eyebrow slightly raised and arms folded. Lily's guilt didn't become evident until peeps were heard coming from Lily's pockets and two yellow balls of fluff popped out to say hi to everyone.
Everyone immediately turns to Lily who just laughs nervously.
"Uh… you like my new mp3 players? It's called iFluff!" Fran just hung her head down in shame as the guys held in their giggles.
"How!? For real, I think we need an alarm system to signal when Lily takes one of the animals." Keenan joked and Gwen held out her hands.
"Jig's up, Lily."
The blonde cheetah looked down at her fuzz filled pockets with a look of annoyance on her face; but she couldn't stay mad at the babies.
"Thanks a lot, you two." Lily couldn't help but giggle as she gave the ducklings back to Gwen. "Can't blame a girl for trying."
Gwen just shook her head as she set the little ducks down with their siblings.
"Okay, now go with the nice nurse so you can visit mama, okay?"
The six ducklings peeped cutely and did as they were told. As they followed the nurse to see their recovering mother, Gwen just looked at the guilty cheetah.
"I know what you're gonna say; I'm sorry." Lily apologized. "I guess I can't help myself around babies."
"I guess not." The ebony ranger smirked. "Oh, speaking of babies… I was hoping you guys would stop by because I wanted to show you this."
"What is it?" Casey asked.
"It's sort of a baby book I put together with pictures of all the little ones that we treated here." Gwen opened the book and inside were hundreds of pictures of all the juvenile patients that came through their hospital. The group marveled at each picture but it was a pair of spotted babies that caught their attention. "That was the day Makomba and Sapphyri were born. They're eyes weren't even open yet."
"Aww!" Lily squealed from the cuteness overload and that was when an earsplitting scream was heard over Lily's voice. The sound was enough to make everyone inside cover their ears.
"Geez, Lily; tone it down!" Fran tried to shout over the piercing screams.
"That's not me!" Lily shouted back; her voice barely audible over the noise.
Before they could react, the scream rose in volume and the sound waves shattered every piece of glass in the front of the hospital.
"Oh, man! We just had those installed!" Keenan groaned.
"Not really an issue, bro!" Gwen reminded.
When the noise finally died down, RJ looked to the others with a knowing glance.
"Fran, you stay here. We'll go see where that sound came from."
"A-alright. Just be careful, okay?" Fran replied as she adjusted her glasses.
"We will, Fran." Casey and the others ran out and followed the noise to its source. When they arrived, they saw a creature standing there.
"Youch! Who let the dogs out?" Theo asked in disgust.
"Just what we need right now. A monster who's ugly AND tone deaf!" Casey added.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" The voice boomed and soon the first monster was joined by another. "You'll regret those words!"
"And I know you ain't baggin' on nobody's looks, you Justin Timberlake knock-off!" Howlena shot back at Casey. "And what about you? I think Jet Li exploded and you're one of the pieces!" She directed that insult towards Theo.
"Talk about double trouble." Lily replied. "Didn't Dai Shi try this last time with Bai Lai and Carden?"
"Don't insult us by lumping us in with those two has-beens." Switchblade snarled back. "We're far superior to those birdbrains."
"We'll see about that! RJ, you and Fran get everyone to safety. We'll handle the rest." Casey said to his mentor.
"Right." RJ nodded and ran back towards the hospital to aid Fran in getting the employees somewhere safer. Once the coast was clear…
"Let's do this! Ready?" Casey asked the others.
"Ready!" They answered. The five rangers slipped on their Solar Morphers and shouted…
"JUNGLE BEAST! SPIRIT UNLEASHED!" In five flashes of light, the Jungle fury Rangers were poised and ready to face off against this new evil duo.
"Oooh! Pretty colors!" Howlena laughed maniacally.
"It's a shame they'll all be stained with your blood when we're finished." The hulking wolverine threatened.
"Not happening!" Gwen shot back. "Although, I'd love to see how black and blue looks on the both of you!"
"Let's take these guys down before they cause any more damage." The red leader suggested.
"I'm surprised they haven't called for any rinshi yet." Theo observed.
"We need no assistance; especially not from those underlings." Switchblade answered.
"Yeah, we got this!" Howlena cackled.
The five rangers call for their secondary weapons and charge at Howlena and Switchblade with the boys taking on the wolverine samurai and the girls taking on the hyena. The battle ensues and much to the chagrin of the rangers, they're having a tough time getting the upper hand with the duo despite the numbers being in their favor. After a few traded blows, Switchblade and Howlena landed punishing kicks that knocked all five rangers back.
"Man, they're tough." Keenan groaned.
"Then how about going Master?" Lily suggested as Casey helped her up.
"You read my mind, Lils."
"Yeah, good call!" Theo agreed.
"JUNGLE MASTER MODE!" The core three shout.
Their bodies glow with fiery auras in their respective colors and three claw-like devices appear in their right hands.
"CLAW BOOSTER!"
Casey, Lily and Theo hit the buttons on top of their new accessories and their suits and helmets gain new white accents and jets. The new transformation leaves Gwen and Keenan awestruck.
"Awesome!" Gwen gasped.
"Now, that's what I call an upgrade!" Keenan agreed.
"Hmmph. I'm not impressed." Switchblade scoffed.
"Let's see if we can't change that!" The red tiger replied.
The threesome rushed forward to meet Switchblade but the samurai-esque wolverine used his sharpened claws to block every punch, kick and strike the rangers threw at him.
"THIS is the all-powerful Jungle Master mode? What a joke!" Switchblade scoffed.
"Joke? I love jokes! They're so funny!" Howlena laughed.
"Try laughing this off!" Lili and her teammates all shout… "FIRING JETS!"
The jets on their suits come to life and the threesome rocket forward to perform a finishing blow… but they were in for a surprise.
"Nice battle cry… but check this out!" Howlena stood in front of her beau, took a deep breath and released a scream that blew the three rangers back towards Gwen and Keenan. The volume and the force of the sound also knocked them all out of their morphs.
Gwen and Keenan run over to help their fallen friends.
"Whoa, are you guys okay?" Gwen asked with concern.
"Could be better." Casey grunted.
"Man, we got worked big time!" Lily groaned as Keenan helped her up.
"YEAH! How you like that?" Howlena taunted. "You guys are wack! I barely broke a sweat!"
"For once, my dear, I agree. These weaklings are not worth out precious time or effort." Switchblade then looked to his lady. "Let us leave."
"Yeah, let's kick rocks! Deuces, losers!" Howlena and Switchblade vanished from sight leaving the rangers to wallow in defeat.
"Okay, what just happened?" Theo asked.
"You don't wanna know." Keenan answered with a cringe.
Casey stood there looking at the spot where their strongest foes to date stood and clenched his right fist.
"If they can beat the Jungle Master Modes, what can we possibly do to win?" He thought to himself. He looked to his friends and let out a sigh. "Come on, guys. We need to go back to the loft and think of a plan."
"Let's just hope we can come up with one that works." Theo groaned as they made their way back to JKP.
END OF CHAPTER ONE
Yikes! Looks like the rangers have finally met their match! How are they gonna beat these new foes if they're not strong enough? Stay tuned and as always, read, review and Pass it on. I'm also working on Love Across Time so hopefully I'll have an update either by the end of this week or the beginning of next week. Until next time, CIAO FOR NOW!