Chapter 11 – No Remorse
June 3 1998 – Angel Grove Cemetery
It felt strange for the sun to be shining on today of all day's. A few minutes ago Reiko Chan had been laid to rest, surrounded by her family and the rangers assorted friends. She was now another sad statistic to add to the ever increasing list of monster related fatalities. Astronema had been strangely quiet since Reiko's death, perhaps fearful of the angry backlash that would come from the rangers.
The ceremony itself was short and simple, funded by the wealth that Aimi had inherited through INET. She had spent most of the last week burying herself in the arrangements, mostly to distract herself from her sister's death. At Reiko's graveside was Cassie with TJ standing a couple of paces behind. A few feet further back were Ashley, Carlos and Charlotte. All the teens had ditched their signature colours for the day and found something black to wear.
Cassie laid a single pink rose on the freshly compacted earth and slowly stood up. After reassuring TJ that she wasn't going to cry, the pair approached the rest of her friends, "Thanks for coming today guys", she began, "I know my Mom would've appreciated this".
"Don't worry about Cass", Carlos replied, "all of us really liked your Mom, it's the least we could do".
"I didn't see your Dad here thought", Charlotte commented.
Internally Cassie winced, the relationship with her Dad wasn't great. She hadn't seen him since her parents' divorce several years ago. Even though they weren't on good terms, she had hoped that he would've turned up to support her. Deciding to leave the subject of her Dad to one side, she quickly changed the subject, "Any word from Andros?" she asked Ashley.
"Yeah he's ready when you are", she replied. The red ranger had opted not to come to the funeral for two reasons. Firstly he was meant to be keeping a low profile on Earth. He didn't want word getting out that someone from another planet was living amongst them. Secondly Karovian culture didn't believe in burials and he didn't feel that it was appropriate for him to attend. He still wanted to do something for the pink ranger so he had arranged a private service.
"I didn't think Andros was a religious person", Charlotte said as they walked around the side of the cemetery.
"He's not really", Ashley replied, "he told me that Karovian's don't have a religion as such, it's more like ancient traditions. Karovian's believe that a person's soul returns to the planet after their death but the only way to do that is through a ritual cremation". The red and yellow rangers had spent the last few days bonding over the traditions and cultures of KO-35. Some of them seemed unusual to Ashley but then again, Andros probably felt some Earth customs were weird.
They turned the corner and came across a medium sized pond surrounded by trees. Andros was standing next to the lake with a small wooden raft at his feet, "Hello everyone", he greeted, "how did it go".
"As well as a funeral can go", Cassie replied, giving him a small smile.
Andros nodded in acknowledgement, "I'll talk you through this as we go", he placed the raft on the pond and turned back to Cassie. "Did you bring something that belonged to your Mom?" The pink ranger nodded and handed over a photo album. Andros looked at the book, "Are you sure you want to burn this?"
"Yeah", Cassie replied, "I've taken out a couple of special pictures but I thought if her spirit isn't returning to the planet then at least her memories can".
The red ranger carefully placed the album on the raft, "Normally we would place items important to the deceased on the raft along with their body", he explained. He placed a pile of leaves and wood on the raft before lighting a couple of candles. Their fragranced scent filled the air as Andros began to chant in a strange language, one they assumed was Karovian. Once he had finished chanting, he lit the raft on fire and nudged it into the center of the pond.
Everyone watched the funeral pyre burn for a few minutes before the flames began to die down and the raft sunk into the lake. Cassie walked over to Andros and placed an arm around his shoulder, "Thank you for doing this Andros", she whispered.
"What are friends for Cassie", he replied. The pink ranger was slightly surprised as this was the first time he had called any of them his friends. It was obviously true that grief did bring people closer together.
"I don't want to spoil the moment but we should get going", TJ said to everyone, "we've got a lot of planning to do". Everyone nodded and slowly made their way back to the car park where Storm Blaster and Lightning Cruiser were waiting for them.
Little did they know that someone had been watching them from the shadows.
Stewart Residence
As soon as the funeral goers got home, they changed out of their formal clothes into something more casual. They then gathered in the front room where Xander, Aimi and Justin were waiting for them. Due to the funeral they had delayed their departure from Earth so they needed to finish off the final arrangements. The death of Reiko Chan had also highlighted a serious problem for them. If they were away from Earth, they might draw away some of Dark Specter's forces but probably not all of them. They could be too far away from Earth to return in time to protect it against an attack. There might still be a few rangers and their allies on Earth, the Zeo Rangers in particular. Their powers though were still unreliable to be used in the long term so that largely ruled them out. That's when Xander dived into the INET archives to see if he could find something useful. Today he was presenting them with what he found.
"And you're sure this will work?" Andros asked.
"Reasonably", Xander replied, "it's never been tested before but an INET computer simulation suggested that it should work".
"But a protective field covering the entire Earth?" TJ began, "that thing will need to draw massive amounts of power".
"According to the schematics it runs off the Earth's natural magnetic field", he replied, "we just need to place the transmitting beacons in the correct locations". He brought up a map of the world on the television screen. "There's three locations on the planet where they need to be placed. Due to the size of the beacons, we need at least three people on each".
"Oh and they need to be activated at once", Justin added.
"Hang on though", Carlos said, "I'm not a math genius but there's eight of us, excluding Justin".
"He's not going", Charlotte added quickly.
"I guessed as much", the black ranger continued, "but one team will be a man short".
"I know that's why I've called in some extra help", Aimi replied. Almost on cue there was a knock at the door, "That'll be them", she stood up and approached the door, "try and be nice".
The group weren't sure what she meant by that comment until she opened the door and they were greeted by the beaming faces of Bulk and Skull, "Greetings team", Bulk said.
"This was the best you could come up with?" Ashley began, "all the resources of INET and the best you could do were Bulk and Skull".
"Hey we're not that bad", Skull replied, "plus we really want to help".
"And they know who you are", Aimi added. "We haven't had time to vet everyone at INET yet so we don't know how trustworthy any of them would be with a secret like this".
"Trust me, it's always the person you'll least expect", Charlotte added bitterly. She stood up and approached the television, "Team one will consist of Andros, Ashley, Carlos and Xander. This is the most important location so they've got an extra person. Team two will be Cassie, TJ and Aimi and finally myself, Bulk and Skull will be team three".
"Shouldn't you have some ranger back up with you", Carlos asked, "just in case".
"Ah that's where I have some good news", Charlotte began but she was interrupted by the sound of an alarm.
"What's that noise?" Bulk asked as he covered his ears.
"The attack alarm", Andros replied, "Astronema's attacking the city somewhere". He pushed the television remote and the map changed to one of Angel Grove, "There's a massive energy spike down by the docks".
"That's weird", TJ said, "it's much stronger than anything Astronema's sent before".
"Then we'd better be alert", he replied. The others nodded in response before reaching for their morphers, "Let's rocket", Andros called and the team morphed in a flash of light. They ran into the yard and called on their Galaxy Gliders. One by one they jumped on their boards and soared off into the sky.
Angel Grove Docks
When the rangers arrived at the docks, everything was quiet, perhaps a little too quiet. There were no workers in their immediate vicinity so they were safe to disembark from their Gliders without surprising anyone. Cautiously they looked around but after a few minutes searching, they couldn't find anything. "Perhaps they've moved since we picked up the signal", Cassie said.
"We would've seen them though when we flew overhead", Andros replied. He brought his communicator up to his mouth, "Charlotte where's that energy signature now?" he asked.
"According to the reading it's all around you", she replied.
"Hey doesn't this area look familiar?" TJ asked the others.
"I was thinking the same thing", Ashley replied, "reminds of the first place where-"
"I first arrived", a horribly familiar voice called out, "what can I say, I'm a sucker for routine". The rangers turned around and confirmed that their worst fears had come true.
"Divatox", TJ spat. The pirate was still in the wedding dress she was wearing when they last saw her, except now it was frayed and torn around the edges. Her hair was wild and uncombed and there was a maniac glint in her eyes. Her twisted smile was almost animalistic in nature.
"Is that you TJ", she asked, "I must say I preferred you in red".
"How did you survive the collapse of the Muranthias dimension?" Carlos called out.
She tilted her head to one side and grabbed a chunk of her hair in her hand, "Simple really, I absorbed the remains of Maligore's power before the dimension imploded. Been trying to find my way out for ages". She flashed the rangers a toothy smile, "The price of freedom was my sanity".
"So not much then", Cassie shot back.
Divatox clapped her hands together, "Oh how I've missed this banter and I have to say that I really enjoyed your Mom's funeral today". The pink ranger clenched her fists as Divatox hopped up and down on the spot. "My escape also gave me another talent", she looked around a couple of times, "wanna see?" Immediately her skin began to turn red and harden into solid rock. The transformation tore the remains of her wedding dress from her body and her hair fell out of her now rocky skull. She grew in height until she towered a foot above the other rangers. They took a step back as they were now face to face with something similar in appearance to Maligore, except a female version.
"This is not good", Andros gasped. Divatox took one step towards the rangers and swiped at them with her giant fist. They momentarily got airborne before slamming into a nearby shipping container. "Yup definitely not good", the red ranger gasped.
"And do you know the best part about this", the now gravelly voiced Divatox called out, "I get to keep my magic". She shot purple lightning bolts out of her eyes, fortunately the rangers were able to roll out the way.
"How are we meant to fight that?" Ashley asked the others.
"Dunno but I'm going to give it a try", TJ replied and called on his Astro Axe. He jumped towards Divatox and swung his axe at her body but the blade bounced off her rocky skin. "Great her skin's just as hard as Maligore's was", he groaned. Carlos tried to use his Lunar Lance but he had the same lack of success as the blue ranger did. Divatox chuckled and backhanded the two rangers away. They tumbled across the ground and demorphed.
The girls decided to keep their distance from the monstrous mutant pirate and used their Star Slinger and Satellite Stunner to blast Divatox from a distance. Their energy shots rocked the pirate but they weren't causing any significant damage. Divatox responded by using a combination of her laser eyes and her new ability to create fireballs. This duel assault not only kept their girls moving but also prevented them from shooting accurately. It was perhaps inevitable that they would get hit by the pirate. Ashley took the full blast from some purple lightning and Cassie jumped straight into the path of a fireball. They landed next to their fallen team mates and were also forcibly demorphed.
Seeing his team fall around him spurred Andros on even more. Hoping that his Spiral Saber would have some effect against the stony skin of Divatox, he rammed it into her chest. The pirate roared in pain and tried to swipe the red ranger. He almost got out of the way but he caught glancing blow on his shoulder. He staggered in pain and resolved not to get hit by her again. He rolled down low and ran the spiral blade across her legs, hoping to slow Divatox down. As he rolled behind the mutant pirate, he attached his Astro Blaster to complete Booster Mode. From his position on the floor, he fired and caught Divatox in the chest. Initially it looked like she was going to fall but after a few seconds, she began to take walk towards him, "Nice try red ranger", she roared and kicked Andros in the stomach. He flew through the air and slammed into a storage container next to his friends. As he writhed in pain, his morph also failed him.
Divatox strutted towards the fallen rangers and began to gloat, "Finally I'm going to put an end to your meddlesome rangers". Stopped when she caught sight of Andros, "You're new", she muttered. She counted off the rangers with her rocky finger, "I'm missing one". As soon as she said that, a blue jeep slammed into her and sent her crashing into a pile of oil drums. Charlotte stepped out of Storm Blaster and put herself between Divatox and her friends.
"I knew we should've checked to see if you were definitely dead", Charlotte called out.
"You just can't keep a good diva down", Divatox growled as she got back to her feet.
"Charlie get out of here", Carlos shouted, "you don't have your powers, you'll be killed".
"That's what I tried to tell you earlier", she replied. She held up her left wrist and flashed her Turbo Morpher, "I'm back in the game". She turned back to Divatox and pulled out her Turbo Key, "Shift into Turbo", she called. In a flash of blue light she morphed into the blue Turbo Ranger for the first time in two months. She pulled out her Hand Cannons and aimed them at Divatox, "Bring it on Divatox", she snarled.
TO BE CONTINUED