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DinoCharge: Call to Arms

by

Nagi Matsuo

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Chapter VII

The Treasure Hunt - Part III

(Amber Beach Dinosaur Museum)

Closing the door of the main entrance to the museum, Emma walked out onto the deserted street, only Chase stood with two dinosaur-themed motorcycles.

"Sweet," muttered Emma, grinning, "Can't believe Gosei never gave something like this."

"Pardon?" questioned Chase, who hadn't heard exactly what Emma had said.

"Nothing," replied Emma, grabbing a helmet off the seat of one of the bikes.

"Sure," spoke Chase, putting his own helmet on, "These are the Dino Chasers, nought to sixty in a shade over three seconds."

"I'm gonna enjoy this," grinned Emma, mount the cycle and starting the engine, Chase copying her actions.

"Just stick behind me, I know where I'm going," instructed Chase, revving his engine.

"Just don't drive like my grandma," retorted Emma, before both of them set off like a bullet out of a gun, speeding towards Mt. Sampson.

-DinoCharge-

(Akumu Industries, Amber Beach)

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" whispered Jake as he stepped through the revolving doors into the lobby of Akumu Industries, quickly making his way over to the reception desk.

"It'll be fine if you stick to the plan, no deviating," warned Kendall through a hidden earpiece.

"I don't see why you couldn't do this," remarked Jake.

"They know my face, I'd be kicked out before I even get through the revolving door," answered Kendall as Jake came to a halt.

"Hello, I'm here for an appointment," spoke Jake clearly to the frazzled-looking receptionist.

"Unless you haven't noticed, there's currently an alien assault outside," snapped the man behind the counter, "All appointments are cancelled so get out!"

"Retreat, we're not getting in this way," sighed Kendall in Jake's ear.

"I got this," muttered Jake in reply, turning his attention back to the receptionist, "I'm here about Project Genesis."

The receptionist stiffened, "Authorisation?"

"Jake? What are you doing?" questioned Kendall, worry creeping into her voice.

"M856, Jacob Franklin Holling," spoke Jake confidently.

"Checks out, please continue," replied the receptionist, "Please enter the door on your right."

"Thank you," responded Jake, striding towards the door.

"What just happened?" asked Kendall.

"The real reason you recruited was my redacted file, right," spoke Jake.

"Yes," replied Kendall, sounding slightly guilty and embarrassed.

"This is a part of it," continued Jake, opening the door, "Enjoy."

-DinoCharge-

(Amber Beach Dinosaur Museum)

"Got it!" called Tyler as he pulled a glowing red Energem out off the jaw of a T-Rex.

"Already?" questioned Jason, helping Tyler down off the ladder.

"Yeah," muttered Tyler, staring at the object in the palm of his hand, hoping for the same kind of reaction Emma got, but to no avail.

"Let me try," spoke Jason, urging Tyler to hand him the Energem. Fluttering slightly, the Energem released a stream of red energy, hitting Jason's Power Morpher, which was strapped onto his waist, "It's not me, I think it was reacting to my Tyrannosaurus Coin."

"If you're not compatible," observed Tyler, seeing the Energem return to same colour it had for him, "Then who is?"

"I hope it isn't Conner," muttered Jason, unaware only person compatible with the Red Energem in the surrounding hundred miles was watching him from nearby with interest reflecting in their eyes.

-DinoCharge-

(Sampson Caves, Mt. Sampson)

Chase stood, leaning his elbows against his Dino Chaser, watching as Emma returned out the mouth of the caves, a pink Energem clamped in her hand, having ordered Chase to stay with the bikes while she went in.

"Have fun?" asked Chase with an innocent grin, eyeing Emma's dirty clothes and scratched cheek.

"I hate caves," replied Emma, stowing the Energem in her pocket and climbing on her cycle.

"Just trying to be nice," defended Chase, following Emma's lead.

"Fuck off, pretty boy!" snapped Emma, her temper at breaking point, gunning the throttle, leaving Chase in the dust.

-DinoCharge-

(Akumu Industries)

"This is so interesting and informative," snarked Kendall in Jake's ear, who had been left in the room beyond the door, an office, for the last two hours.

"Any second now," groaned Jake, Kendall's sarcastic sense of humour getting in his nerves.

"Sorry about that, Jake!" exclaimed a suited man in his twenties as he burst through the door and holding his hand out to Jake, "Don't you just hate meetings that overrun?"

"Something I haven't missed," replied Jake, standing and shaking the man's hand, "Sorry about pulling the Project Genesis card, Henry, I needed to see pretty urgently."

"What's it about?" asked Henry, sitting down across from Jake.

"The Energems," answered Jake simply, enjoying the worried look on Henry's face, he'd never liked the guy.

"How do know about them?" questioned Henry.

"I may not work with you guys anymore," spoke Jake, "But I do have contacts still."

"Contacts," snorted Kendall, making Jake roll his eyes.

"O-Oh, I understand," stuttered Henry, "Why are you enquiring?"

"Because I want back in," responded Jake with a grim look, "Vrak's back and I only just won, I need your help."

"What about the Genesis Team?" asked Henry.

"Of us that are still alive, I'm the only one who still wants to have anything to do with being a Power Ranger," replied Jake darkly.

"Well, I guess I'd show you the way to our lab," remarked Henry, "I don't think you've visited this facility before."

"No, I haven't had the fortune," spoke Jake as he and Henry stood, then muttering, "More like misfortune."

Following Henry out the door and into the corridor, Jake heard Kendall speak, "You worked for these guys?"

"I worked for some people who worked with them," whispered Jake, "Basically, I was a lab-rat."

"This way," instructed Henry, opening a door and entering.

Following him in, Jake froze in horror at the sight of rows and rows of inactive X-Borgs. Backing away, Jake felt the door behind him slam closed.

"You're working with Vrak!" spat Jake, noticing his connection with Kendall had stopped when the door closed, unaware it had only stopped transmitting one way, Kendall could still hear what was going on.

"Well done, Jake! You get a gold star!" mocked Henry, "Of course he work with Vrak, his resources could let our dreams become reality."

"More like nightmares!" hissed Jake, pulling out his Dino Blaster.

"Ah yes, we knew you were speaking with Dr. Morgan the second you stepped through our door," spoke Henry, "Between that and the Aquabase Disaster, we knew you would never come and work for us again."

"You bastard!" roared Jake, quickly morphing into the Purple Ranger and charging at Henry, only for an X-Borg to spring to life and block his path.

"Oh look, samesies!" taunted Henry, raising a Dino Blaster with a paler yellow colour.

Blasting the X-Borg to pieces, another five activated, again blocking his path. Ducking a punch and blasting an X-Borg's head at point blank range, Jake watched as it exploded violently, destroying the other active X-Borgs at the same time.

However, before Jake could even move, Henry fired his Dino Blaster at him, sending him crash back into a rack of X-Borgs, feeling them come to life and clamp him in place. Sauntering towards Jake, Henry reached into his jacket and pulled out the Blue Energem.

"This is what you came wasn't it?" taunted Henry, a smug smile plastered all over his face.

"How the fuck did you get hold of that?" spat Jake, desperately trying to release himself, but his efforts were in vain.

"We stumbled across it really, three years ago we were attempting to track down Energems, we got a signature from below the Dinosaur Museum," explained Henry, "We found something very interesting down there, someone very interesting."

"What was it?" grunted Jake, wriggling with all his might.

"A living human male, around twenty years old, most likely born in the 1970's, not that we can be sure, he refuses to say much to us," continued Henry, "He had this Energem, he did say he had been entrusted with it after its original guardian was killed by an alien."

"Just give me the Energem before I do something I regret," hissed Jake angrily.

"Trust me, you won't get the chance," gloated Henry, inserting the Blue Energem into his Dino Blaster and spinning the barrel, "How about I give this a test run?"

Firing the trigger, Henry grinned manically as a blue stegosaurus head bit down around his body, morphing him into a blue BioSuit, the off-yellow colouring showing him to incompatible with the Blue Energem.

"Shielding Warrior!" called Henry, "DinoCharge, Blue Ranger!"

Charging at Jake, Henry summoned his Dino Blade and proceeded to repeatedly slash at the Purple Ranger. Suddenly stopping, Henry watched as the X-Borgs dropped Jake to the ground, his BioSuit torn and ripped, but still in place.

Grabbing Jake's helmet, Henry pulled it off and tossed it aside, enjoying the sound of the visor smashing. Desperately reaching for his Dino Blaster, Jake felt Henry's boot slam down on his wrist, clamping it in place.

"You were always were weaker than me, weren't you?" mocked Henry, releasing Jake's wrist.

"I haven't unleashed my full strength yet," grunted Jake, summoning his Dino Blade and slashing Henry's leg, "I'm done with thinking!"

"That old line again," hissed Henry, blood dripping out the tear in his BioSuit, "Can't you come up with something more original?"

"How about this!" roared Jake, clambering to his feet and pointing his Dino Blade at Henry, "Despair awaits you at your final stop!"

Before Henry could move, Jake loaded his Dino Blade with a Power Cell and dived at his enemy, swinging his sword with all his might.

"Plesiosaurus Slash! Brave Finish!" called Jake as he delivered his blow to Henry, who was thrown back and demorphed violently.

"Please! Don't kill me!" begged Henry, "But you have to stop the countdown, all the X-Borgs are about to be activated!"

"I don't need anymore blood on my hands," grunted Jake, tossing his Dino Blade aside and walking over to a control panel set in the wall, quickly accessing it and ceasing the deployment of the X-Borgs.

"Ja…Jake!" called Kendall through his earpiece.

"Hearing you loud and clear, Morgan," spoke Jake.

"I managed to hack a satellite and reconnect to you through it, I've got in the security cameras as well," explained Kendall, "The block was in a direction, I could hear what you could hear, but not the reverse. I heard Akumu employee morph, you can't let him do that again!"

"Why not?" asked Jake, unaware to the fact that Henry had scrambled to his feet.

"His Dino Blaster was built from an older set of specifications than yours," informed Kendall, "If an incompatible user transforms by inserting an Energem directly, after a certain length of time the Dino Blaster fails, killing the user."

"You thought you'd beat me!" shouted Henry, reloading his Dino Blaster with the Blue Energem, madness gleaming in his eyes.

Jake's eyes widened and he warned, "Henry! Don't-"

Henry spun the barrel, a large wave of energy knocking Jake off his feet and Henry's Dino Blaster crackled with electricity, jumping to the racks of X-Borgs as the Dino Blaster ignited in black flames, engulfing Henry's entire body.

Climbing back to his feet, Jake sadly looked at Henry's writhing form as his BioSuit faded away, the energy wave proving to much for it. Suddenly, the Blue Energem was released from Henry's melted Dino Blaster, coming to a stop at Jake's feet, where he picked it up and examined it.

"Poor guy," muttered Kendall, sighing deeply, "It wasn't your fault."

"It is, he was a good man once, I abandoned him instead of trying to guide him away from this path," replied Jake.

"He made his own decisions," responded Kendall, "Moving on to more pressing matters, you've used your last Power Cell, you're going to have to use the Blue Energem, even though you're not compatible."

"Got it," grunted Jake, storing the Energem and Dino Blaster in his pockets.

Suddenly, the X-Borgs sprang to life and released themselves from their storage racks, surrounding Jake completely. Dodging a punch, Jake slid underneath a rack and rolled back onto his feet.

"This isn't good," sighed Jake, "The electricity from that Dino Blaster must have caused the systems to automatically activate those fucking tin-cans!"

"Most likely an anti-tampering feature," added Kendall, "Just hold on, I'll round up the others and join you."

"Sure, just make it quick!" exclaimed Jake, pulling out his Dino Blaster and Energem, hearing the line with Kendall go dead. Opening the mouth of the Dino Blaster, Jake quickly inserted the Energem and spinning the barrel.

"I'm getting sick of changing colours," muttered Jake, raising his Blaster and firing, "IT'S MORPHIN TIME!"

Bracing himself, Jake transformed into the suit previously used by the now deceased Henry. Summoning his Dino Blade, Jake slashed his way through the X-Borgs, jumping and flipping over them to get to where the sheer concentration of them was less.

"Shielding Hero!" announced Jake, striking a pose, "Dino Charge, Blue Ranger!"

Cutting a path with his trusty sword, Jake reached the door he used to enter the room and hacked away at it, stopping as soon as he created a hole big enough to fit through.

Diving through the hole, Jake sprang back to his feet to find five other doors on the corridor had opened, releasing even more X-Borgs.

"This is very bad," grunted Jake, leaping back into battle.

-DinoCharge-

(Dino Lab, ABDM)

"We're back!" shouted Jason as he and Tyler appeared on top of the Dino Marker, both managing to remain upright.

"It was pretty easy to find," added Tyler, "But then a bunch of Loogies turned up."

"Yeah, I let rookie here take care of them," agreed Jason, placing the Red Energem on the desk next to a panicked Kendall.

"No reaction?" asked Kendall, shooting a glance at Jason.

"No, a small flutter, that's all," replied Jason sadly, "I was kinda hoping I'd be back in red."

"Got it!" called Emma, teleporting in via the Dino Marker and displaying the Pink Energem, "I left Chase at the Garage."

"Good," sighed Kendall, "We currently have a situation."

"What is it?" questioned Tyler.

"Jake's facing an entire army of X-Borgs by himself," informed Kendall, grabbing the Red, Purple and Graphite Energems as well as a spare Dino Blaster.

"We have to help him," spoke Emma.

"Vrak isn't making it easy, he's send a horde of Loogies downtown to distract us," responded Kendall.

"I'll go, I'll take the Loogies, you three focus on helping Jake," assured Emma, tossing the Pink Energem to Tyler. Stepping back onto the Dino Marker, Emma disappeared in a flash.

"That's sorted then," muttered Kendall, "We'll have to use the Energems directly, we haven't go time to create more Power Cells."

"Looks like it's back to action," spoke Jason, raising his Power Morpher.

-DinoCharge-