All right, let's get this started then.
First up, the legal stuff. It's pointless and has no real weight, but it's here anyway.
All characters, locations and concepts are the properties of their respective copyright holders, whoever that may be. Since no-one reads my stuff, it's unlikely that I'm gonna get sued over it, and I'd be flattered either way, but please don't.
Second, content warning. As those few among you who are familiar with my earlier work will probably have guessed, this fic contains definite Self-Insertion/Sue and probable Canon Defilement. If any of this offends you, stop reading NOW. Although why are you reading fan-fiction if you get offended by Canon Defilement?
Now that all that pretentious rubbish is out of the way...
Poké Rangers: Darkness Rising
Chapter Three – Seeing Red.
Jon was stood outside the Veilstone city Gym. It was going to be the last one he challenged before ending his run due to his new commitments as a Ranger.
"Hey! Who's there?" Someone was standing guard at the door.
"Jon Rose, Trainer number 48506" He reached into his chest pocket and dug out his Pokédex, flipping it open to reveal his trainer card.
"All right. Head on through." Whoever it was on the door sized Jon up briefly. "You look like a pushover anyway."
Across the street, Lucas and Sonja were watching him.
"Think he'll manage it?"
"What? Getting his third badge or working in a team?" Lucas was a bit sarcastic. He'd known Jon for a long time, and he'd always seemed like a bit of a lone wolf. Maybe that was why he left in the first place, escaping restriction for a bit.
"Both."
"I dunno. He's a strong trainer, but maybe not strong enough."
Something red and orange flashed out of one of the upper windows. They'd started.
"In a team though? Probably not, at least for now."
Beneath the Mountain, more Darkness flooded into a chamber. It was beginning to take form, but it still had a long way to go. It watched what was unfolding in the Gym.
Hmmm... So, the Rangers' unity is questionable. I do believe I can make this work to my advantage...
The three of them met up outside the Sports centre. Jon had lost his battle, and seemed to be silently fuming about it. Once inside, Lucas ordered drinks, and the group sat down at a table. If Jon had been paying attention, he might have noticed a small wisp of darkness curling around, before settling into his glass. He took a sip, and the darkness slid out, flowing gently through the corner of his right eye. His cheek twitched slightly, and his eyes turned yellow. Not that anyone noticed.
A group of Karicas moved from one shadow to another as the three left the centre. On cue, they took on humanoid form and faced the trio down. Jon immediately charged straight for them.
"What are you doing? You can't take them alone!"
"Watch me."
He reached the line, and tried to deliver a running punch. The Karica simply catapulted him into a wall. He leapt to his feet, and tried to attack it again, with similar results. Meanwhile, James and Taki arrived in shafts of light.
"What does he think he's doing?"
"Dunno. He seems to think he doesn't need help. It's like he's more of a hot-head than normal."
Lucas grabbed his morpher from his belt, hitting the left button to activate the communicator.
"We've got a problem here, something's spun Jon's behaviour on it's head. What do you make of it?"
The light was watching what was happening on the screen in the trees.
I am unsure. Whatever is causing this unusual behaviour is unlike anything I have seen before. It is also impeding the teleporter; I cannot target him individually.
"What should we do?"
Get into direct contact; I can teleport both of you together.
"Gotcha."
Lucas clipped his morpher back into place, broke into a run and tackled Jon to the floor, lashing out with a kick at the nearest Karica as it tried to take advantage.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"You'll thank me later."
At once, a blue shaft enveloped the pair, carrying them off into the sky.
In the clearing, Jon was immediately restrained by the branches. It was not an easy task.
This is not good at all. The darkness has placed him under a small amount of his influence. Not enough to exert control, but enough to drive his personality to extremes.
"Which would explain why he's more impetuous than normal. But how can you tell?"
His eyes.
Lucas leant in closer, and noticed that Jon's eyes had turned a golden-yellow colour, rather than brown like they normally were.
"Is there anything you can do?"
Yes, but the easiest way is for him to break the control himself.
The trees pulsed red again. On the screen the Karicas had formed into an Arcanine, which had begun to attack the others.
"I've got to get back out there." And with that, Lucas disappeared in a shaft of blue light.
Lucas emerged out on the street beside the other three.
"How bad?"
"Very." James heaved himself up off the floor.
"All right. Here goes. Ready?"
"As ready as I'm ever gonna be."
Lucas pulled his morpher from his belt, and everyone else followed suit.
"Power of light, Poké Rangers unite! Blue Empoleon Power!"
"Green Torterra Power!"
"Yellow Pachirisu Power!"
"Pink Medicham Power!"
The Dark Arcanine then charged straight at them, and delivered a jumping slash at Lucas.
The battle was being projected onto the tree-screen.
They cannot handle this alone. They need your help.
"Well, they would."
Except that you cannot do this alone either. You need them as well.
"Get real."
I am afraid it is true. Your powers come from your ability to work as a team; something your attitude conflicts with.
On the screen, the four Rangers were scattered by a Fire Blast.
You can either stand by your lone-wolf tendencies and watch them get destroyed, or you can be a team player and save them. Your choice.
The gold colour in Jon's eyes fluctuated slightly; he was beginning to fight against the darkness.
Lucas loosed off a blot from his Blaster Sabre, which caught the charging Dark Arcanine in the shoulder and made it change direction slightly, allowing him to deliver a strike with the Hydro-Fin as it passed. At least, that was his plan. What actually happened was The dark Pokémon ignored the bolt and ran straight for him, forcing him to dive out of the way. A pink arrow soared past his head as Taki took a shot at it. The bolt slammed into the back of it's leg, sending it crashing to the floor, where it struggled to get up. More Karicas rushed from the shadows and began to heal it.
"We can't stop it. Every time we bring it down it just gets right back up again."
As if on some sort of cue a blaster bolt whipped out of nowhere and caught one of the Karicas in the side of the head, making it explode. The pair turned to see Jon, Sabre in hand.
"Did I miss the party?"
"Not yet, we're just getting started."
"Right. Let's set this up."
The five of them combined weapons to form the cannon. Jon turned the dial to the blue setting.
"Hydro-Pump! Go!"
A stream of water lanced out of the front of the cannon, striking the Dark Arcanine, and causing it to explode violently.
Impressive. But that is not all the power I gave you. GROW.
More Karicas rushed from the shadows, making the corpse of the Dark Arcanine grow to epic proportions.
"So now what do we do?"
"Rangers! You can summon your Zords to deal with this more powerful threat!"
"Right. Everyone ready?" Jon was determined to keep this a team fight.
The other four gave an affirmative.
"OK. Poké Zords, Engage!"
Somewhere, a group of five giant bio-mechanical Pokémon rose out of the ground, and rushed towards Veilstone city. The five Rangers were immediately teleported to their respective cockpits.
"All right. Sinnoh Megazord, combination sequence engage!"
At once, the Medicham and Pachirisu Zords dropped to the floor, and folded up to form a pair of legs. The Empoleon Zord then leapfrogged the Torterra Zord and connected with the pair, forming the hips of the growing mecha. The Infernape Zord then leapt up and settled into place on top of this, forming the chest and arms. Finally, the Torterra Zord climbed on, forming the back. It's head folded back revealing the head of the completed Sinnoh Megazord.
Fools. Even with this they cannot hope to stop me.
The Megazord faced down the giant Dark Arcanine, which proceeded to launch a fireball at it. Lucas hit a button experimentally, which made the mecha dive into a combat roll to dodge the blast.
"Activate Megazord Sabre!"
The mecha reached onto its back and drew a long, thin and slightly curved sword. Unimpressed, the Dark Arcanine launched another fireball. Jon pulled on the stick in his right hand, which made the Megazord raise the sabre to reflect the blast back at it's launcher. The Megazord then moved into attack, delivering slash after slash into its opponent.
"Seismic Toss!"
The Megazord seized the Dark Arcanine and threw it in to the air. As it came back down it slashed through the enemy with its sabre, sending it flying off towards the mountains, where it exploded in the distance.
Jon was back in the Gym again. The difference was that this time he wasn't expecting it to be a pushover like he had before.
"Come on, you can do this!"
That, and he wasn't going it alone this time either.
"All right then. One more to go. Growlithe! Use Fire Fang!"
The red dog-like Pokémon dashed the length of the arena, jumped up, and sunk its teeth into Maylene's Lucario. It swung it about a few times, then tossed it away, causing it to faint.
"Not bad, for a rookie. Catch." The Gym leader tossed something to him. He barely caught it before it hit the floor. A silver-coloured diamond shape, with a pair of red "i"s on it. The Cobble Badge.
Not that long after, the five of them were sat in the Sports Centre again, watching the news broadcast. This time, the crew had caught the fight from on top of a building. Not that it was hard to miss or anything; it's a bit hard not to notice a twenty-story tall robot beating up a giant Pokémon.
"Epic scenes down-town as the PokéRangers entered into battle once again. Whatever it is that's bringing these creatures here, I just know it won't succeed as long as they keep fighting."
A/N: So there we are then, the obligatory Red Ranger learns to work in a team plot. Just for the record, yes, that's my trainer number up there. Not that anyone was likely to ask.