Chapter 10: "Purge the Darkness Pt. 1"
As the petals scattered, the rangers ran over to their fallen comrades. Helping using T.J. and Carlos as human crutches, Andros managed to stand for a moment. The five new rangers turned to them and held out their hands. The one in white, who was definately a female, said in a submerged voice,
"Greetings Power Rangers of Earth. My name is Delphine, the leader of Alien Rangers." The white ranger continued as she walked towards Andros. "It has been a long time since we last saw you Andros. How are you?" Andros put his hand up to T.J., signifing he could stand on his own. He then addressed Delphine with the same courtesy.
"I'm fine." He shook her hand. "And thank you for your assistance." She shook her head and said,
"Not at all. We were glad to help." At this time, Andros faced the others indicating each member of the group.
"Guys, this is Delphine," Pointing to the female ranger. He then continued, "Aurico," The red ranger of the group bowed. "Cestro," the one in blue did the same. "Corcus," the one in black bowed as well. "and Tideus." The one in yellow bowed in the same fashion as the others. Karone, now happy that the incident was over, pulled Andros to the side.
"I'm going to check on Zhane. Okay?" She couldn't wait for a response and she disappeared in golden light. Andros looked at his sister's trail and nodded. Turning his focus on the new rangers, he said,
"So then, Trey told you about Graver?" A hushed silence over the group was aparrent. Aurico was the one who spoke.
"Correct. As soon as we heard that he was free, we made preparations to come to earth right away." Cassie spoke next, in a voice that showed worry.
"Is he really that horrible?" Not knowing Cassie's tendency to trust people, Delphine said,
"Beyond. Graver is a souless demon who slaugthered all of our predecessors." She said it as a matter of fact, but Cassie could sense the bitterness in her eyes. Moving on, T.J. asked the question,
"Then... where did he come from? We know he started on Aquitar, but how?" Cestro stepped forward,
"Perhaps it would be best if we continue this discussion somewhere more private." Nodding, the ten rangers became sources of light and shot into the sky,
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On the moon, Lord Zedd was screaming. "OF ALL THE ROTTEN, DISPICABLE AND VILE THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE! WHY DID THOSE FISH FELONS COME TO EARTH?! WHY?! WHY I ASK YOU!" He grabbed his staff and blasted several lightning bolts off its end. The entire palace began to shake at his fury. Flashing in from black and blue came Graver, while petals danced and spun into the shape of Arborisa. Zedd turned his attention to them, still smoking. "AND YOU TWO, CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT?!" Graver stepped in front of Arborisa, with a blaster at the ready. He said coldly,
"Zedd. Calm yourself. If not, you'll have a hole in your head, courtesy of me." Knowing not to push the matter, but still furious, Zedd banged his staff. Arborisa spoke up next, in a tearful manner,
"Oh my lord! Forgive me. If it wasn't for those dreadful Alien Rangers I would have-" But she was interrupted, surprisingly by Graver.
"Did you say... Alien Rangers? As in from the planet of Aquitar?" Arborisa shot him a look, but then dawning appeared. She said calmly,
"Yes of course. What other Alien Rangers do you know?" Graver smirked and walked to the one of the walls.
"Ah... so little Delphine and her play group are all grown up huh? Makes sense." Zedd looked curiously at him,
"And what do you mean by that my hunter friend?" He shrugged and turned to face Zedd. He continued in a softer voice.
"Back when I was on Aquitar, I had the pleasure of... encountering the previous Alien Rangers. Their leader, Cadeus, was young Delphine's brother. Quite the fighter. It took me almost three whole days to crush him with nearly my full power. Of course... the rangers of earth, from what I've seen... are lacking." Zedd jumped up from his seat and said quickly,
"Are you saying you can destroy the Space rangers and HAVEN'T DONE IT YET?!" Graver laughed out loud.
"I'm sorry... I don't recall you ever giving me the order to destroy them." He teased Zedd. Nearly blowing out steam, he said, in a vicious tone,
"THEN GET DOWN THERE AND DESTROY THEM!" Graver bowed mockingly.
"There we go! A direct order. Was that so hard?" He disappeared in a flash of blue and black while Zedd shouted after him,
"OOOOOOH! One of these days, I'll tape that smart mouth of yours shut!"
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Back on the Megaship, Alpha welcomed the Alien Rangers on board with a chorus of "Ayiayiayi! It's been awhile guys. How've you been?" Delphine smiled and said,
"Just fine Alpha. You are the newest model right?" The little automoton nodded and said proudly,
"Alpha 6 at your service!" However, Cestro walked to the center of the bridge and started saying,
"Now then. You asked about Graver's origins." Delphine lost her smile and became solemn again. Tideus broke the silence that followed by saying,
"The first time Graver appeared was many many years ago, back when we were still children in training ourselves." Aurico followed suit and said next,
"Back then, we had a different set of rangers. Graver, a bit rash and egotisical, wanted to try his strength against them." Corcus nodded as he said,
"However, they were strong. Too strong for him. So he sold his very soul to Dark Spectre, who granted him extraordinary power." Cestro took the reigns as he said,
"When he challenged them again, he quickly gained the upper hand. He wiped out the entire team until only their leader was left." The others glanced at Delphine, who walked forward herself. In a dull tone she said,
"In the end, no one survived his onslaught." She continued, "Of course, before the leader passed on, he sealed Graver on earth with Zordon's help. However, he is now free. So it is our duty to destroy him before he destroys anything else." After being in stunned silence, Zhane perked up and said,
"But he can corrode things with a single touch! How can you fight that?" Tideus answered him with a humerous expression,
"Graver can corrode everything... EXCEPT water. Being one of Aquitar, we have bodies composed of 90 percent of which. His touch has no effect on us." During this time, D.E.C.A. came down and said in a booming voice,
"Graver is detected. Monster is at the Angel Grove Construction District." Delphine held her hand up as the others got up. She said stiffly,
"No. We can resist him, but you being humans would stand no chance against him. Leave this to us." Andros, T.J., Carlos, and the girls all protested, but Aurico said in a final voice,
"Enough. This is for your own good. Do not come after us... we;ve seen enough lives taken by that monster." Turning their backs, Delphine said loudly,
"It's... Morphin' Time!" Blue fluid flashes covered their bodies as they said in turn,
"White Aquitar Ranger Power!"
"Red Aquitar Ranger Power!"
"Blue Aquitar Ranger Power!"
"Yellow Aquitar Ranger Power!"
"Black Aquitar Ranger Power!"
As a group, they teleported down to earth. Ashley spoke up,
"Do you think they'll be okay?" Carlos answered her in a unconvinced tone,
"I don't think so. If this guy's as bad as they said, they're gonna need help." But Andros held up his hand.
"I know its hard. But we have to respect their wishes." Karone cried out,
"But Andros-" But was cut off by,
"I'm sorry. But we can't interfere. But." He said, "If it looks like they need help, we'll go down there, no questions asked."
They still didn't like the idea, but nodded and watched the screen.
TO BE CONTINUED...