Chapter 11: Dark Hoof
Billy was in a world of hurt.
Thirty minutes had raced by and he hadn't even made a dent in the strange creatures surrounding him. Whatever they were, they looked like Super Putties with unicorn horns and more intelligence. To make matters worse, there didn't seem to be any sort of weaknesses he could easily exploit; the only way to permanently put them down for good was the 'psycho killer' way – hit them until they stopped moving. Barring that, a dead-on blast from the Tricera Cannon worked but the hard part was getting them to stand still while their death blow charged. Twirling the Acceptance Lance in his hands, he began to wonder if sending the other Rangers to the Changeling Lands was the best idea.
Stabbing a grunt through the chest, he glanced up at the Command Tower and hoped Princess Luna was all right. She had gone with him in her battle gear to attack the new creatures attacking, but had been blindsided by several fire blasts that had come out of nowhere. For a single horrifying moment, the Midnight Blue Ranger had thought that the Orange Ranger had turned on them, but when no more blasts followed, he was sure that it had to be a fluke. Soon after, he had Luna retreat to the Tower for her own protection. That was a good thing as he had caught sight of a creature he had hoped to never set eyes on again – Discord.
The humanoid monster was sporting a new set of armour that was maddeningly familiar but wasn't doing much of anything…almost as if his initial attack had been to draw him out into the open. Grunting in surprise as a barrage of punches forced him to drop his Lance; he attempted to roll away from the vicious assault. Summoning his Element Blade Blaster, he snapped off a few shots at the grunts around him before taking stock of his situation. While he had destroyed a handful of grunts, it seemed that more and more kept popping up out of nowhere. Leaping over the heads of a group of newly-summoned creatures, he snapped off a few more, wholly ineffective, shots and started running towards Discord.
"I don't think so."
Once again, Billy dove out of the way as a powerful haymaker swished over his head. He cursed himself for not noticing the arrival of the reverse centaur creature that he had battled against the day before and recalled his Acceptance Lance. Discord was hanging in the back, apparently directing the creatures around him non-verbally. Before he even had the time to scramble to his feet, a heavy foot slammed into his back and forced him to the ground. Warnings flashed on the inside of his helmet as his armour tried to repair itself against the crushing damage being done. Attempting to raise his body on his arms was no better; every time he thought he would be able to push up…he was slammed back down again.
"Who…who are you?"
The creature above him chuckled in the same rich voice and kicked the Ranger in the side. Billy tumbled through the crowd of grunts, bowling them over and coming to a rest at the base of one of the fortified Guard posts. Struggling to look up despite the pain, Billy's mouth dried up as he saw it unhook the sword on its back. There would be no stopping the blow to come and Billy fervently hoped that Luna, Spike or whoever was in the Command Tower would be able to teleport him to safety before the blow came. The reverse Centaur stepped forward and laughed.
"Pathetic fool, I am Dark Hoof; the leader of the Trotters. I serve no one else but my Master, no matter what name or form he takes. Now…die!"
The gigantic blade rose and cleaved through the air as it fell. Billy closed his eyes and waited for the familiar feeling of teleportation…but nothing happened. There was no teleportation tingle nor were there massive amounts of pain as the blade punctured his armour. There were other sounds around him as well, things being scraped across the rocky skin of the creatures, laser blasts filling the air and muffled explosions booming out. Opening his eyes at the strained grunting above him, Billy's eyes widened as he took in the scene around him.
The Ultra Rangers had come.
Above him was Weihan in his Assault Armour, blades out and straining against Dark Hoof's blade. The White and Silver Ultra Rangers were attacking the creatures around them and were making much better progress than he had done before. Even the new Rangers, the Crystal Rangers, were fighting like pros and shattering the grunts around them. Discord was still hanging back, but he had taken something off his belt. Whatever it was, it looked to bizarre to be a weapon of some sort as there was no visible opening for a blade. Shaking his head, Billy slid away and shakily rose to his feet. Summoning the Tricera Cannon, he took aim at Dark Hoof and fired a pulse of searing energy at the reverse creature. The Orange Ranger leapt out of the way just in time and fired lasers from the shoulder cannons.
"Billy, why didn't you tell us the new guy could create Golems?"
"Golems? What are you talking about…the grunts? Aren't they Super Putties with things added?"
Weihan shook his head and the Midnight Blue Ranger realised he was dealing with a whole other kettle of fish – whatever that expression meant anyway. Further conversation was stalled when lightning blasted down from the sky, forming even more of the strange Golems. He heard a muted groan from the Ranger behind him and chuckled. Looking down at the Tricera Cannon, he noticed, for the first time, that there were strange attachments that had opened up near the main 'horns'. If he didn't know any better, he would have said they were weapon connectors but he didn't think he had any weapons to slot there. His Acceptance Lance could possibly fit but…
"Watch out!"
Flipping back, he blasted at a trio of Golems that were rearing back for…something. The energy impacted against their bodies and they fell back in a shower of flame and sparks. Blinking at the light show, he ducked as a tightly grouped trio of fireballs blasted over his head. He turned to Weihan to ask what he thought he was doing, but spied him viciously attacking Discord for some reason. The strange weapon in the humanoid pony's hands had transformed into a strange blade that looked like it was made out of pure shadow or black ice. Squinting at the weapon as best as he could, Billy's eyes widened as he recognised the weapon and what it was connected to.
The Hellfire Armour.
Somehow, Discord had inherited the Dark Ultra Crystal from Lord Zedd and had connected to it. The blonde didn't know how such a thing would be remotely possible, but for the time being, he didn't care. Summoning the Acceptance Lance for the third time in the battle, he felt for the seam that separated both halves and threw the weapon into the air. On a whim, he held the Tricera Cannon straight up and called out the first name that came to mind.
"Harmony Cannon!"
In a bright burst of blue light, both halves of the Acceptance Lance attached to the side of the Cannon with the pointed ends facing him. Not caring about what would happen with a strong kickback; he opened fire on the Golems around him and watched as they crumpled into dust within seconds. Charging up a blast, he leapt over another set of fireballs before aiming at Dark Hoof. To his credit, the creature teleported out of the way of the blast, the charged laser destroying the Golems on either side of the battling Rangers.
"The battle here is yours, Ranger. Discord – we're leaving now!"
In several flashes of light, the remaining forces vanished. After doing a quick headcount, the Orange Ranger sighed heavily and looked at Billy. Retracting his visor, the Asian said only one thing that filled Billy with a torrent of uncertainty.
"We need to talk."
TBC…
