The Silver Swordsman balled his hefty hand into a fist and pounded it hard into the ground. As the fist made contact, the ground began to shake uncontrollably. It was like a massive earthquake was in motion. The force of the shaking ground threw the rangers high into the air, only to make them slam down against it over and over again.
"I…can't…take…much more…of this!" Ziggy cried was he was tossed about.
"We need Dillon!" Summer shouted, "Where is he?!"
"Right here!" The Black Ranger answered as he fired a powerful blast from his Rocket Blaster at the target. It managed to startle him for a second. "Taryn, now!" he called out.
Seconds later, Taryn emerged from behind a tree and fired her blaster rapidly at the monster. She held her blaster sideways to fire quicker blasts. Although the attacks didn't seem to scratch the Swordsman, it did make the earthquake cease.
"Taryn?" Summer asked herself quietly. She knew that Dillon knew her name was Tenaya, why was he calling her Taryn?
With the rangers able to get to their feet again, Taryn ran over to help them up. She first went to help Ziggy because she knew that he was the newest of the rangers and could use any extra help he could get.
"Whoa, whoa, sister! Back away from me!" he shouted at her, as he made it to his feet on his own. He held out his hands so she couldn't get near him.
"Aye!" Flynn added holding up his Turbo Cannon. "Step back unless you want to get blasted to pieces!"
"No!" Dillon screamed at the Blue Ranger, jumping in front of it. Flynn immediately lowered his weapon.
"Dillon, what're you talking about? That's Tenaya!" Summer told him.
"Our mutual enemy!" Scott intervened.
"Not anymore." He said looking to Taryn. "She's on our side now, you're just going to have to trust me on this."
"Sounds like she brainwashed you to me, mate." Flynn told him.
"What Dillon said was true. Please…trust me." Taryn asked them, stepping forward. "I want to help you fight against Venjix." The tone in her voice was that of total sincerity. It was like she was a totally new person—a person they could trust. And if Dillon said that they could trust in her, they just assumed they could too.
"As much as I don't trust this, we really don't have much a choice right now." Scott huffed. It was that he didn't believe Dillon's claims, it was just hard for him to trust Tenaya, and the fact that she had a total change in character made him cautious.
"Who is this monster anyw—" Dillon began as he turned towards the Swordsman. When he got a good look at him this time, everything that he had done came rushing back to him. Everything he had done to him, and mostly everything that he had done to Taryn. "The Silver Swordsman…" he said to himself in a state of shock.
"Silver Swordsman? You know him?" Summer asked in confusion.
"I just do." Dillon answered lowly. The mere tone in his voice showed all of the rage he held towards this beast. He turned to his sister, "Stay back. I don't want you going anywhere near this monster again, got it?"
"Again?" Scott interjected, stepping forward. It was at that moment that Scott noticed the horrified look on Taryn's face as she backed away from the beast slowly. It was clear that he had done something terrible to her and she was terrified of him. No one could fake a horrified look like hers.
Dillon turned to the Blue and Green Rangers. "Ziggy, Flynn, I want you to keep Taryn away from this guy no matter what." He informed them.
"Why not!" Flynn exclaimed in an annoyed voice. "It's been a crazy enough day already—let's help the Venjix attack-bot!"
"Enough Flynn!" Dillon screamed at him. "Just protect her!"
With that Ziggy took a gentle hold of her arm and he and Flynn escorted her behind a cluster of bushed so that she was out of harms way.
"It'll be alright, okay? Just try and be calm." Ziggy assured her. His sweet words made her smile and she nodded in agreement.
"Thanks, Ranger Green." She told him.
"Call me Ziggy." He replied with a gentle pat on the shoulder. Then he and Flynn pulled out their weapons to be ready if trouble should strike.
Meanwhile, Dillon, Scott and Summer all stepped forward. Dillon activated his Morpher and held it up.
"RPM—Get in gear!" he shouted as his ranger powers took over his body. He was ready for a battle, especially against this particular bot. "Don't look him in the eyes." He warned the Yellow and Red Rangers about the Silver Swordsman.
"Why not?" Scott asked him.
"Just don't." Dillon answered simply, never taking his eyes off of the silver beast before him. Then, whether Scott and Summer were with him or not, he darted at his opponent with nothing but white fury. He knew this creature was responsible for everything he didn't know about his life and he wasn't going to stop until he was gone. "Nitro Sword!" he screamed as he began to wail on the Silver Swordsman with it. The Swordsman didn't even seem the slightest bit fazed by the Black Ranger's strikes, it was like nothing more than a feather hitting him.
Seconds later Scott and Summer ran beside him. "This isn't working!" Scott yelled to him. "We need to hit him with everything we got!"
"Let's try our weapons. It's better than nothing." Summer told the rangers.
"I'll try anything!" Dillon replied to them. Then the three rangers all surrounded the silver menace with their weapons drawn, calling their out their names as they equipped them.
"Ready for fire in three…two…one!" Scott counted down. And when the time was up the three struck with their weapons simultaneously. Their attacks hit the monster head on, but when the smoke cleared, they discovered that not even a dent made it into him. In fact, the attacks shot off of his body and ricocheted back at the rangers making them crumble to the ground.
"Nothing's working!" Summer cried as she turned to her male allies.
"We can't give up. There has to be something we can do, we just have to think." Scott told the rangers as he pulled himself off of the ground.
"I've had enough of this guy!" Dillon roared as he pulled out his Rocket Blaster and ran right at him. He was aware of the fact that his weapon would more or less do nothing, but he wasn't thinking, he was too fueled by anger.
"Dillon, stop! We need to regroup!" Scott shouted at him. "Get back here, that's an order!!"
Dillon ignored his leader's orders, he had a score to settle and he wanted to settle it now. He fired the weapon at the brute as he ran at him. The shots bounced off over and over again as he continued to fire. When he saw that his blaster did nothing, he threw it aside in a rage and just began to punch and kick at the swordsman. Not even flinching at his attacks, the Silver Swordsman raised a hand and thrusted it into Dillon's chest. The Black Ranger flew many yards threw the air until his back crashed hard into a tree. The mere force of the blast made the trunk of the tree crack and break. Dillon let out a shriek as the pain flowed into his back.
"Dillon!!" Taryn screamed. As she went to run after him, Flynn grabbed her arm.
"It's not safe, lass. Best stay here." Flynn told her in a soft voice. When he saw the look in her eyes and the pain in her voice when she saw Dillon crash, it clicked that just maybe she was telling the truth, and that maybe she was fighting with them now. Ziggy just stroked her arm sympathetically, hoping to make her feel better.
When Scott noticed that Dillon had been brutally attacked and could possibly be badly injured, he turned to the Yellow Ranger. "Summer, go help Dillon! I'll try my best to hold this freak off!" he called out to her. Summer was always the best when it came to aiding injuries and could probably help him if he needed it.
"What about you?" She asked worriedly.
"I'll think of something, just go!" he shouted back to her. As much as Summer loved Dillon, she cared about Scott too—he was like her older brother. She wouldn't want either of them to be hurt.
"Gotcha." She answered hesitantly, then bolted to go after Dillon. She just prayed that he was all right when she got there.
As she ran over to him, she noticed that he kept trying to stand, but in effect kept falling. She could tell immediately that he had badly injured his back due to the fact that he kept using the tree as leverage.
"Dillon, are you okay?" She asked, looking him over.
"Get Taryn out of here." He said with a pained voice, ignoring the Yellow Ranger's question.
Summer knew now was not the time to argue with him, so she did as she was asked. "Okay, I'm on it." She answered, pulling out her Morpher. "Ziggy, Flynn, get Taryn out of her immediately. Take her to the Garage."
A few seconds later Flynn's voice came over the feed. "The Garage?" he asked, he still wasn't 100% sure about what Taryn's motives were. "Isn't that risky?"
"Just do it!" Dillon screamed at the Morpher. "I swear you can trust her, just get her out of here!"
After a brief silence, Flynn's voice came on once again. "You got it, buddy. Will do. Ranger Blue out." He said. He felt bad that he even said the things he did, even in an injured state, all Dillon cared about was getting Taryn to safety—and that was all the convincing he needed.
Back in the bushes, Flynn flipped his Morpher closed and turned to Taryn. "Come on, Tenaya, let's get you to safety. We'll go back to our base." He told her.
"Well, is he alright? Is he injured?" Taryn asked quickly, trying to look over in his direction to see for herself.
"He'll be even better once you're in a safe place." Ziggy told her gently as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Taryn didn't answer, she just nodded with tear filled eyes as the Green and Blue Rangers escorted her out of the area. It still amazed Taryn that even after all she had done to him and his friends that he still cared about her safety. She now knew why she loved him so much.
A few yards away, Dillon leaned hard against the broken tree that his body had crushed, groaning painfully. It felt like his back was completely broken and burned like crazy. With every move he made he felt a terrible sting. He went to try and stand again, but screamed when he felt his back throb.
"Don't move! You've got a pretty severe back injury! Maybe you should go back to the Garage too." Summer told him while she forced him to sit by placing her hands on his shoulders.
"No. I have to destroy this guy so he can't hurt anyone else." Dillon answered. He took Summer's hands off of him and pushed himself off of the tree and onto his feet. "I have to do this." He made it a few steps before he started to fall. Summer ran and caught him so that he only hit his knees.
"Dillon, you need medical attention and fast." She told him. She hung tightly onto him so that he didn't fall further.
"Summer?" Dillon winced, looking up to her. He retracted his helmet so she could see his face.
"What?" she answered, looking back to him retracting her helmet as well.
"Promise me you'll be careful with this guy. I couldn't handle it if anything happened to you." He told her, grabbing the back of her head and petting it gently.
"It's a two way deal." She answered softly. Then he pulled her head towards his and the two kissed. He took her in his arms and hugged her for a few moments before letting go.
"Now let's go help Scott." He told her, pushing himself off of her and bringing back his helmet.
"Are you sure? You're back is shattered." She said as she stood.
"I can handle it. Now let's go." He told her and started to walk on. Summer ran next to him and pulled is arm around her shoulder so he could lean on her.
"Fine, but let me help you." She insisted as they headed back to the battle.
"What would I do without you?" He asked her.
"Be destroyed." She joked.
Dillon may not have known a lot about his past, but he never felt so lucky as to have two girls that cared for him as much as they did. He planned on doing all he could to keep them safe… no matter what.
As Summer and Dillon walked back to the dreaded battlefield, they saw Scott fly threw the air and land right in front of them, he had taken one of the Swordsman's powerful blows.
She let go of Dillon and steadied him and then ran over to help Scott up. "Scott!" she exclaimed.
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" The Red Ranger assured her as he stood. "I just have no idea how we hurt this freak!"
"You have to hit him in the center of the white diamond in his chest." Dillon informed them.
"I guess that sounds easy enough." Scott answered while dusting himself off.
"Don't underestimate him, Scott, trust me. You saw what he did to me when I got close to him." Dillon said, rubbing his sore back.
Suddenly, the eyes of the Silver Swordsman glowed a bright red once again, signaling that he was preparing another devastating attack. When Summer caught wind of this, she warned her friends.
"Look out!" She screamed while she pointed at the beast. But the attack was too fast for the rangers, which made them get nailed by it. When they were hit by the blast, they flew up a few feet and crashed hard on the ground. "What do we do now?" she cried.
"We keep trying!" Scott shouted in response. He pulled out his Street Saber and held it up high. He ran at the Silver Swordsman and began to swing his weapon mercilessly at him. Like the times before, these attacks did little—if nothing, to him. The menace opened his eyes once again, showing that terrible crimson color. He hit Scott head on, throwing him back to where Dillon and Summer stood.
"I'll make you pay for that!" Summer warned the man in silver. She ran as close as she could to him. It was then that the Black Ranger noticed that this time the Swordsman eyes were glowing white. He was going to do the same thing to Summer as he had to Taryn.
"Summer, stop!!" Dillon screamed. He began to run after her, his back injury making it a difficult feat. Summer hit the enemy as hard as she could with the surges she absorbed from all around her. But like their last attempts, this one proved useless.
Dillon saw that the beast was going for Summer's arm to grab her. He picked up his speed and shoved her out of the way in the last second. She rolled away to safety as the Silver Swordsman grabbed Dillon's arm in her place. He struggled to break free of beast, but the strength of this creature was all too powerful. The Swordsman looked down at the Black Ranger with his white eyes. Dillon lowered his head so he wouldn't look him in the eyes, but the creature used his free hand to force Dillon's head to face him. It was at that moment that Dillon felt his body tighten, he couldn't move, he felt as if he were paralyzed. His ranger powers left him almost instantly. His body hit the ground with a thud and he began to squirm around. This horrible feeling was filling his body like it had with Taryn earlier.
Summer ran to help Scott to his feet and noticed the Black Ranger was down. "What's happening to him?" She asked the leader.
"I wish I could tell you, Summer." Scott answered weakly. He wanted to go and help his troubled comrade, but he was too injured to move, he fell back onto his knees and onto the floor.
Summer knelt beside him, "You wait here. I'm going to help Dillon." She told him as she began to run ahead.
"Come back, Summer! Please!" Scott pleaded. He didn't want Summer to feel any part of what Dillon was at the moment. He worried that if she got to close, she'd be destroyed.
Summer ignored her leaders orders and ran over to Dillon writhing on the ground. "Are you alright? What's wrong?" she asked grabbing onto him.
"I can't stop it." Dillon groaned, pressing his head against the ground.
"Stop what?" Summer asked him. Suddenly, Dillon stopped moving. He sat up with his back to the Yellow Ranger. She remained on the ground as Dillon turned to her. When he opened his eyes, they were a bright white—he looked nothing like himself. "Dillon…" Summer began slowly, "What is this?"
He didn't say a word; he just raised his hand across his chest and a small orb of energy formed within it. Without changing expression, Dillon fired the surge at Summer, sending her flying back to Scott. The Red Ranger immediately helped her to her feet.
"Are you alright, Summer?" he asked hanging onto her.
"Ye-yeah." She stammered. She stood and leaned against the Red Ranger. "What happened to him?" she asked. Scott didn't answer, he was too stunned at what was happening around them.
Up ahead, they saw Dillon equip his Rocket Blaster and walk towards them. As he grew closer he aimed the large gun at the rangers. It was obvious that Dillon wasn't in his right mind; he would never aim his blaster at his friends—least of all Summer.
Scott turned to Summer with a serious look on his face. "Summer, we have to retreat now!" he said firmly.
"What?!" she exclaimed. "But what about—"
"I don't know!" Scott cut her off. "All I know is that if we don't retreat right now, we're done!" The Red Ranger knew that if they were hit by the Black Ranger's rocket blast in their already weakened state that they would be destroyed. He didn't know what they were going to do once they retreated, but he knew they needed too.
Summer glanced at the Black Ranger gaining on them. His beautiful brown eyes were completely wiped away by whiteness. There was no trace of the ranger she loved on his face. She knew that he couldn't control it—that it was the work of this terrible swordsman, but unfortunately that wouldn't keep him from destroying them. Right now, the only thing she could do was follow Scott's orders.
"Alright." She answered softly. Then she felt Scott grab her arm and pulled her away with him, he wanted to get her out of there as fast as he could. That was the reason Scott was team leader, he always knew when they needed to fight or retreat. As the two ran away, Dillon fired a blast at them that barely missed. A tree took the blast and fell over onto the ground. When Dillon realized they were gone, he turned back to his silver partner, and the two retreated themselves.