Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Power Rangers, Saban and Disney do.
It's been awhile, but I've finally managed to finish Ch 9. Because of my delay in producing chapters, I will be unable to finish Becoming Mighty in my pre-planned schedule. I am going to finish it, but when I return to school in one week I may be slower (if that's possible) in turning out more chapters.
Ch 9- Necessities for Survival
Trini awoke to the sound of cackles and howling shrieks. She opened her eyes and found only darkness. For a moment, she panicked. Then Trini realized that was still in the yellow ranger armor. She tried to issue commands to her suit computer through the synaptic interfaces, but there was no response from the alien technology. Trini thought about trying a voice command but the shrieks and laughter sounded so close to the Yellow Ranger she decided to continue her silence.
Trini waited for what seemed an eternity blind, but painfully listening to the various sounds and shouts that emanated from around her. Her mind began to recall some of her deepest fears and the Yellow Ranger tried harder and harder to block out the noise. Instead her mind amplified the sounds and soon Trini gasped for breath and trembled within her armor.
Jason couldn't get away. The gray beings he had come upon had formed a perimeter around the Red Ranger and every time he tried to leap out of the obvious trap, two of the creatures would also jump and pull him down to earth. Jason had also tried fighting some of the faceless beings, but his hand simply entered their gooey bodies and became stuck. Once the Ranger had even got each hand caught in separate creatures and a third launched a devastating attack.
Jason's suit, meanwhile, had been observing the tactics and abilities of these unknown adversaries. After approximately 34 minutes and 27 seconds, it teleported the Red Ranger to a hidden position some 200 meters from the battle scene.
"What's going on?" Jason shouted up at the overlooking rocks.
'This unit found it necessary to remove the Red Ranger from battle to improve his chances of success.' The computer's voice responded.
"How am I going to win against those things?" Jason pointed out with his left arm as he bend over, gasping for air, "Every time I tried to punch on of them, they just absorbed it or something. It's like they're made of glue."
'This unit has information linking these beings with the title of "Putties"' Several boxes with text and animation revealing the computer's full information, 'This unit finds it necessary to inform the Red Ranger more completely on his arsenal.'
"Alright," Jason said as he stood up, "show me what you've got."
'First, the generic weapon every Ranger possesses is the "Power Blaster..."' The computer began to explain the various armaments of the Red Ranger Armor.
Trini had nearly blacked-out from fright twice during the minutes of waiting. Her body was drenched in sweat and her pulse felt like it ran at 200 bpm. Then the voice became distinct.
"I say we kill them NOW!" Boomed a growling voice to Trini's left. Footsteps pounded in the Yellow Ranger's ears as her captors drew closer.
"They weren't much fight for the putties. I think we should let Zordon have his fun with these pitiful creatures." A venomous voice came from Trini's right.
"I would like to better examine this technology Zordon has created. With ten-thousand years of work on them, I'm sure there is much I could learn." An aged voice sounded directly in front of Trini.
"Pah! What do we need these things for?" A heavy and dull-witted voice spoke up, "Besides, we beat them so easy, their tech-no-gy no match for us." The end of the sentence brought a powerful kick to the Yellow Ranger's side. Trini crumbled and moaned to the floor. A collective gasp came from the unknown captors.
"Awake, hu?" Trini was rapidly pulled up and suspended from the floor. "Thought you'd spy on us? Learn our secrets? Did you think we didn't know!"
"I think you didn't know Baboo!" The slow voice chuckled.
"Shut up Squat!" Baboo responded.
Trini's head throbbed from the combined pain and terror she felt. Her mind barely recognized what happened for the next few minutes.
"Hm, interesting." The aged voice sounded very close to Trini. "What sort of device allowed this human to keep it's consciousness hidden from us?"
"It does not matter!" The growling voice barked, "The very fact this creature avoided discovery proves their ability to disrupt our plans. I will ensure that they do not have the chance to do so, with or without your help."
"Oh, very well!" Baboo said, "At least let us enjoy ripping them to shreds."
With that, Trini was carried out of the dark cave. Behind her, the Blue, Black, and Pink Rangers were unmercifully dragged into the desert morning, and their deadly predicament.
Jason slashed, hacked, and occasionally blasted through the putties. The putties took the beating and continued to hunt the Red Ranger, but soon their effectiveness degraded to nothing. Jason was able to obliterate the remain pieces of the putties with a few high-powered blaster shots.
"Finally!" Jason nearly collapsed from exhaustion, "Let's find the others and get out of here."
'Negative. Red Ranger must complete objective. Rita Repulsa must be forced into a retreat.'
"No offense, but I don't think I can take much more of this."
'This unit is injecting biological boosters into Red Ranger's systems. Biological systems will return to 98% energy at injections' completion.'
"Okay," Jason began to feel a little better as he thought out his next question, "how about giving me something a little bigger to fight with?" Jason re-inserted the power blasters into his armor.
'This unit only carries the power blasters.'
"Then I don't think I'll be getting very far." Jason despaired.
'However,' the computer continued, 'this unit is capable of molecularizing a Power Weapon. Specifically, Red Ranger can wield the Power Sword.'
"Um, okay. How do I 'materialize' this sword?"
'Uploading necessary information to Red Ranger...Upload complete.'
Suddenly, Jason understood the scientific reasoning behind the molecularization process, despite not passing chemistry in high school. In one swift motion, the armored Ranger thrust his open palm to the surface of a nearby rock face. Red energy glowed from Jason's hand into the rock. The energy began to take the shape of a sword nearly three and a half feet long and an inch wide. The hilt was simple, big enough for two hands to grasp, and a slight bulge with the crest of the Tyrannosaur connected it to the blade. While the rock was shaped into the sword, the very material changed into energized material, though not as powerful as the Martian mineral that constituted the suit. With a final burst of light, the sword fell free of the rock face and was gripped tightly in the Red Ranger's hand.
"That's what I'm talking about! Now, where are the others?"
'Blue, Yellow, Black, and Pink Rangers approximately two miles east of Red Ranger's position.' A map of the area pinpointed Jason's and the others' positions. 'Pink, Blue, and Black Rangers are non-responsive. Yellow Ranger is under great duress, but that unit's synaptic interface is disrupted. Red Ranger can re-initialize the other Rangers by bringing this unit within two feet of each unit. This unit will remote access and reboot other units.'
"Good plan." Jason said as he took his first leap into the rescue mission.
Trini was roughly forced to kneel after the creature, Baboo, dropped her unceremoniously. With her suit computer not responding to her, the armor had become dead weight, the gears and motors no longer amplifying her movements. Aching from the sheer effort to perform small movements, sore from Squat's kick, and pushed to the point of insanity, Trini only hazily heard the sound of Billy, Kimberly, and Zack being dragged near her.
But the voice of a new captor instantly shook Trini out of her half-daze.
"What are these things? Zordon's pets?" The female voice spat. The sound of her staff clinking against one of the other's suits rang out. "Does he dress them in these colorful suits and let them run about, taking part in his schemings?"
"Your wickedness," the growling voice rumbled, "It appears that these four are all that the mighty Zordon sent to attack us. The scouts have not reported any others in the area."
"Thank you for your report, Goldar." A small silence as Rita thought through what her lieutenant had just said. "Ha!" She squealed in delight, "The old fool must be weaker than even I thought! Sending these inferior beings, he must be all alone! Barely even worth my time."
"Your wickedness is not suggesting that we simply leave Zordon alone?" Goldar inquired.
"No, of course not you fool!" Rita snarled, "We must show Zordon that if he is going to hide behind such pathetic creatures, he dooms them to complete annihilation! Finster, Baboo, Squat! We are returning to the tower."
"And my orders?" Goldar knelled in front of his queen.
"You, Goldar, will destroy these four and then begin the destruction of every city on the planet. If Zordon wants to play war, I'll give him one."
With that, Rita created another vortex and she, Finster, Baboo, and Squat disappeared.
Goldar drew his sword from his side and leveled the blade on the head of the Yellow Ranger.
"Let's see how many swings it takes to to crack this egg!"
The golden clad dog-man lifted his sword to deliver a deadly blow to the dazed Trini.
But the strike never came to the head of the Yellow Ranger as Jason landed with the force of a supersonic jet on top of Goldar. The impact shook the ground and the earth beneath Goldar crumbled into a fifteen foot crater. The Red Ranger slowly lifted himself off of the golden warrior and walked over to his fellow Rangers.
'Initializing remote uplink.' The computer announced.
"Hurry up." Jason said in a hushed voice, "No telling how long that thing is going to stay down."
"No time at all." Came Goldar's response.
Jason turned to see the dog-man lifting his sword from the ground. Goldar's eyes burned in a seething red and his lips curled in the deepest of growls.
"So, Zordon did send another. Perhaps you'll be more of a challenge than your fellow beings"
'Reboot complete. Red Ranger should order all units to retreat teleport to Command Center. Objective achieved.'
"No, this guy's still here. I've got to deal with him."
'Warning! Other units severely damaged. Battle effectiveness minimal. Red Ranger will be alone.'
"And that's the way I prefer it." Jason ended his conversation with the computer and turned his attention to Goldar. "Alright ugly, let's see what you've got!"
The Red and Golden armored foes charged each other, blades glowing in the early morning light. Trini's screen came online just as Jason and Goldar made their first swings at each other. Then a yellow light enshrouded her vision for a moment until darkness returned. Trini turned her head to find herself and the others back in the Command Center. The Red Ranger stood in front of Zordon, a sword gripped in his hand.
Trini found the strength to push herself up and shuffled over to where Jason bitterly argued with the encased being and the robot assistant.
"Send me back there. I could have handled it!" Jason shouted.
"NO!" Zordon's voice filled the void surrounding the platform, "I cannot afford to take such risks with your lives. Goldar has retreated to the moon, he seems to have been quite injured from your attack." Zordon noticed the approach of the Yellow Ranger at this moment. "And we have our own injuries to heal. How are you feeling Trini?"
" Ai-yai-yai-yai-ai! Trini, you should not be up!" Alpha shook its hands above its saucer-shaped head. "I will bring the medical platform online and fix up all of you soon." The robot touched a few holo-buttons and another platform appeared from the darkness. Alpha then transported itself and the five Rangers to the medical platform and began to de-morph the humans.
Zordon returned to his inspection on the readings from the Rangers' battle. Despite his worst fears, the humans had completed their mission without killing themselves.
"Perhaps we have a chance after all." Zordon spoke aloud before the light from his container dimmed.