Chapter 7 - Chalice

The light faded and there stood Hez. His body now changed from a monster to armor. His chest plate was silver with a red marking. Shoulders covered with a thick black plate with red running around the rim and more golden markings on the top. His suit was black and skin tight almost like the rangers but had a gold marking on the from from the chest plate down to his mid quad area. His forearms had silver gauntlets and fist with silver plated padding his knuckles and the back of his fists. His shins were covered in the same silver plates that lead to his boots. His helmet had a red visor in the shape of a heart with two silver antennae facing backwards. His mouth plate was silver and the helmet black rimmed with gold. Around his waist was a belt. The buckle resembled a card with a ruby red heart. Hez tilted his head over his shoulder, slightly looking to his friends.

"It's my turn to fight," he said in a low voice but his friends heard his words and slowly eased from their tenses positions. He turned back to the Beetle Borges who looked on with still bodies and glaring stares.

"So you overcame the joker venom and took control huh?" Blue looked at Orange who was silent. "No matter, we will kill you all the same!" He dashed forward to Hez. He threw a left jab but it was met with an outer forearm block. When he threw the cross, Hez parried it and sidestepped out of the way letting Blue's momentum carry him stumbling forward. Blue rushed in with another punch but Hez lowered his body delivering a punch to Blue's stomach. The force of the punch brought Blue to his knees after a complete pause in motion. Hez stood to his feet but was met with Red charging at his top speed to rifle off a round kick.

"You will die here human!" Red yelled but his round kick was caught and his knee elbowed. As he stumbled back, Hez spinning back kicked red, knocking him to the ground. Blue and Red slowly recovered and decided to attack together. Hez raised his fists into a guard and parried the onslaught of punches and kicks. The rangers watched in awe as the two Beetle Borges fought tooth and nail just to lay a single finger on Hez. As Blue threw a wild round kick, Hez caught the leg and rolled with the momentum of the kick, twisting his leg and rippin Blue to the ground. Hez quickly stood to his feet and used his forearm to block an elbow from Red. Hez brought his rear arm up under Red's elbow to push it out of the way then used his lead arm to press against Red's elbow to trap it to his body before firing back with a hook.

Red stumbled and Hez pressed his attack using a side kick before spinning towards his back and raising his leg to chamber and fire a spinning side kick only to spin the opposite direction while bending his knees and violently twisting his hips to build as much force as he could for the jump spin side kick. The force of the kick created sparks from Red's chest plate which cracked the plate. Red dropped, gasping for air. Blue stood up but quickly blocked an elbow attempt from Hez. Using the same arm he threw the elbow with, he pulled the blocking arm of Blue causing him to stumble into the headbut. Sparks flew from Blue's helmet as it cracked. Hez pressed forward palming Blue's face while sweeping out his lead leg and planting the back of his head through the pavement. Hez slowly stood and turned to face Orange.

"Does it bother you that your creation failed?" Hez said in a taunting tone.

"Your show of skill doesn't impress me boy," Orange replied plainly. "I'm the stronger of the trio!" Orange yelled and manifested a blade in his hand. He lunged in for an overhead slash but Hez high blocked it, used his other arm to slap Orange's arm away and attempted to counter but noticed Orange was sliding the blacks forward low under his guard. Hez stepped back and met Orange's forearm with his own. Hez brought up his rear arm to switch as he guided Orange's arm up then switched his arms again as he grabbed the arm completely. Orange dropped the blade and caught it with his opposite hand and drove it into Hez's chest. Sparks flew from the chest plate and Hez stepped back. Each step backwards, Orange charged forward repeatedly slashing at Hez's breastplate. Sparks flew but Hez made no noise to show any pain. He, instead manifested a weapon of his own. It looked like a bow, a black console in the middle of two blades. He dashed backwards, using his free hand to pull and black energy created a string and arrow. As he released the arrow soared down into Orange's chest blasting him backwards leaving a trail of sparks and cracked armor pieces.

"You can have this day rangers," Orange snarled. "Mark my word, you shall all fall before Lord Zed!" As he yelled the three Beetle Borges vanished. The rangers stood still, not a sound was heard nor move made. Hez slowly turned to face them.

"What are you?" NC asked him. The question shocked everyone back into reality.

"I don't know," Hez replied. "I just know now, I can fight." The rangers powered themselves down. Their bodies and faces bruised. Neil bleeding from his nose and the corner of his mouth. Donna had a gash over her left eye that trickled down the side of her face. Brian had a cut over the bridge of his nose.

"So what now?" Katrina asked breaking the silence.

"I want answers, real ones this time." Brian stepped forward saying. As if on cue, they found themselves engulfed in a white light and soaring through the skies. This time landing on their feet in the command center.

"Welcome back rangers, I'm glad to see you're all.."

"What the hell was that Zordon!?" Brian yelled cutting him off. "I thought you said we could beat the Beetle Borges with this power!"

"And you can, you must work together to.."

"The hell we can!" Aj yelled. "We got our asses kicked out there! So much for this power huh." Aj growled at Zordon.

"Listen rangers!" Zordon yelled losing his patience. "I never said this task would be easy but it is achievable. You must work together and fight for yourselves, your families, your people and your planet! How you do that and if you fail or succeed now falls upon you!"

"That's a great speech," Katrina said sarcastically. "How do you expect us to beat Zed if we can barely handle the Beetle Borges?"

"Man listen," Aj shouted, "we don't need this in our lives. We quit!"

"Is that what you all think?" Zordon asked.

"Yes it's our decision, we quit." Brian steeped to the front of his team, standing firm. Zordon smirked and sighed deeply.

"Then go rangers, but keep the morphers. I feel they may be needed to save your lives very soon." Zordon said. Within seconds the rangers turned heel and started to leave. Their bodies carried away in the white energy.

"Zordon what will we do now?" Alpha asked. Zordon paused for a moment.

"We will wait for them to return. I chose them because I know they will not fail and will not quit."