Chapter 12

For the next two weeks Kimberly avoided Xavier like the plague. Xavier could not understand it. Every time he saw her she went the other way but then sometimes he caught her following him home. Jason was having the same trouble with Trini. Even Tony couldn't talk to Heather with out the girls pulling her away. Luckily for Tony Heather was so smitten by him that she went to his house all the time to be with him. Outside Andor and Pearth, Tony had a very strong relationship. They wouldn't even talk to Pearth when she came by. It seemed like this would go on forever until events conspired to revile the truth to all.

It all started the day Brad returned to school. His hand had been so badly damaged that it had to be amputated. When he first got to school everything was normal but as the day wore on he began to hear the whispering, the jokes about what happened to him. At the end of the day it felt like the whole school was laughing at him. While most of the people didn't out right laugh in his face a few did. One of them was a short little Asian girl. Brad couldn't even remember her name. She was a complete nerd right down to the thick glasses and braces. Her hair was greasy and flat and her body had no curves. Brad used to say she was flat as a board and easy to nail. He believed that all he had to do was make the offer and she would jump all over it. He could not handle her laughing at him. She did it every time she saw him. Finally he could not take it anymore. At the end of the day he confronted her.

"Listen you little bitch I don't care what happened to me you don't have the right to laugh at me." He said as he grabbed her and slammed her against the wall. He expected her to cry and beg not to get hurt but what happened next he would remember for the rest of his short life. The girl just smiled as she seemed to change shape. Her skin got hard and cold. It transformed in to gold armor. She grew taller and filled out. Her glasses and braces went away revealing a beautiful but menacing face. Her hair was pulled back into a braid that went all the way to her butt with a gold tip on the end that was razor sharp.

Suddenly Brad felt a pain rip into his gut. It felt like a fire had erupted in his gut. His eyes grew wide but his mouth would not work for him to scream. He looked down and saw a glint of metal. His brain didn't register what it was. Blood poured out from around it. The girl pushed his chest and he slid away. The girl held a large sword with a curved blade called a kriss. Brad fell to the ground and closed his eyes for the last time. The girl laughed as she turned.

At that moment Jason rounded the corner of the hall. He was greeted by the scene of the girl standing over Brad. He saw her bloody sword and without hesitation He pulled out his morpher. He didn't even look to see if the coast was clear.

"Tyrannosaurs!!"

The red ranger pulled out his sword and leapt forward. Him and the girl parried and thrust at each other until they ended up locked up. Jason was so absorbed in his battle that he didn't notice where Brad's body was.

"Who are you?" He asked. Suddenly the girl pushed him. He tumbled over Brad's body and rolled to his feet. While physically he was alright it dawned on him that he was covered in Brad's blood. He was visually shaken by this.

"Wow you're so lucky to bath in the blood of the dead." The girl said. Her voice was very seductive but there was a hint of malice. She laughed at the ranger as he tried to wipe off the blood. Her laughter sounded like broken glass.

"You bitch who the hell are you!?" Jason yelled at her. She laughed some more.

"You may call me Scorpina and I will see you soon." With that she vanished in to a puff of smoke. Jason stood there for a few more seconds before he powered down. Before he could do anything else though the other rangers came around one end of the hall and Xavier and his friends came from the other end. Before he could warn the others they saw the body.

"Oh my god!" Kim said as she turned away. While the rangers were disgusted by what they saw Xavier and his crew didn't seem bothered. In fact Xavier had the hint of a smile on his face.

"Well that is one hell of a mess for the night janitor." He said as he turned to leave. The rangers could not believe what they were hearing.

"A man just died and all you can do is make jokes." Billy said moving towards Xavier and his friends. Andor stepped forward.

"You call that a man, someone that hits girls and forces them to date him. You need reevaluate what you call a man." He said as he turned away.

"He was still a human being. Your coldness is not wanted or needed." Trini said looking at Andor with disgust. Andor just shook his head he could not understand how when someone is alive people could hate them but if they died suddenly they were good people. It was like all of their sins were forgiven. It made no sense to him. He and the others turned and walked away. As they left Billy went to call the police and Kim ran after Xavier.

"Hey Xavier, how can you be so cold?" she asked. Xavier spun around to face her.

"You mean to a guy that physically attacked a good friend of mine and had my girlfriend attacked by one of his goons? How can you even ask that question?"

"O.k. so maybe he wasn't the greatest guy in the world but that is no reason to be happy about his death."

"I wouldn't say that I am happy with his death but I sure as hell am not upset about it." Xavier said as he turned away. Kim shook her head as she walked back to her friends. After the police got there and took Jason's statement the rangers decided to go downtown to a street fair that was going on. As they arrived they barely missed running into Xavier and his friends.

Xavier waited until they had pasted before leaving the ice cream parlor. He looked over at Pearth and smiled.

"Looks like I ended up buying you ice cream twice."

"Yep a girl could get used to it too."

"Ha ha ha." He said as he went to look at a booth. The booth had a bunch of velvet paintings. One of them had caught Xavier's eye. It was a picture of a gymnast with her back towards the painter. She was positioned as if she had just finished a floor exercise with one leg flat and the other slightly bent so she was resting on her toes. Andor walked over to him with Pearth.

"Are you o.k.?" Andor asked turning towards Xavier. For a while Xavier said nothing he just stared at the picture. Pearth and Andor didn't say anything they just waited. Finally he turned to them.

"I'm not sure. You would think that after all this time stupid stuff like this wouldn't hurt but seeing her avoiding me and not want to tell me why just gets me."

"Well you come to a new place and every time you expect it to be different that some girl will accept you. It just seems weird that she dumped you before you told her the truth." Andor said with a smile. Xavier let a smirk crossed his face. Before he could say anything Jason and Tony walked over.

"I don't think that it has anything to do with his secret." Jason said. "I figure it's your personality is way to abrasive. What do you think Tony?"

"No it's his face that scares the girls away." Tony said. "I guess you just can't have the outstanding good looks like me."

"Yeah because you have to beat the girls off with a stick." Xavier said.

"Well I use something that rhymes with stick."

"I've seen you in the shower and you shouldn't be talking." Pearth said with a small smile.

"When did you see him in the shower?" Andor asked. Before Pearth could answer Tony did it for her.

"Well she wanted to see what a real man looked like so I volunteered."

"I was so disappointed too. Who would have thought that they were so small?" Pearth said with a grin. The others bust in to laughter even Tony. Before the conversation could continue there was a loud explosion. Xavier immediately snapped his head in the direction it had originated from.

"What the fuck was that?" he said trying to scan down the street. It was difficult because most of the crowd was running towards them. Suddenly Xavier saw why they were running. A huge construct rounded a corner up ahead. Its body was stone but it had four steel tentacles and two large steel grinders instead of teeth. It was shaped like a giant skull on rollers. It filled up the entire street. As the people scrambled to get away some fell over and would have been crushed if not for the Power Rangers. In a blinding flash the rangers dove down and scooped up the fallen people and put them safely up the street. After thanking them the people ran.

The monsters tentacles flailed around causing damage to the surrounding buildings. The rangers were so intent on making sure the monster didn't kill anyone directly they missed the collateral damage. Xavier saw this and knew what he had to do.

"Don't get involved in the fight just help the people." He said. The others nodded and went to work. Pearth ran over to two children that were separated from their parents. The monsters tentacles had thrown a car in their direction. Pearth ran forward and standing between them raised her hands over her head. She then brought them down in an arch to her sides forming a dome of ice. She then comforted the kids.

"Don't worry everything will be all right." She said in a soothing tone. While the kids were still freaked they seemed to understand. The car hit with a tremendous crash but it didn't even crack the dome. Pearth removed the dome and the kids ran off.

One of the tentacles raked a building sending two people plummeting to the doom. Tony took off like a shot leaping in to the air and catching them. He hovered in the air for a few seconds looking for a safe place to put them. Once he saw a spot he put them down. After they took off he flew back to the battle.

The monster tried to flank the rangers by sending a tentacle threw ground. The rangers quickly dodged it when it ripped out of the street. While it failed it did ignite a gas line. Fire ripped out of the street. Andor jumped in front of it and took control of the fire. Spinning his hands at an incredible speed he created a whirlwind and put out the fire.

Suddenly a water tower and several large chunks of mortar were knocked loose from a building. Moving quickly Eagle and Xavier ran to help a young woman that had tripped on the sidewalk. Eagle dove on top of her and used his body to shield her from the mortar. Trini saw him dive on her and watched the chunks of building slam into his back. Just before the water tower could hit Eagle and the girl Xavier was underneath it. Bracing himself he caught the tower. His bending legs were the only outside sign that the weight was troubling him. The metal sides groined under the stress of the sudden stop but they didn't break. Turning Xavier threw the tower off to the side. It broke after that. Eagle shrugged off the concrete and helped the woman up. She ran off without even a thank you. Trini had seen this but couldn't believe that the mortar had not hurt him. This momentary distraction was all the monster needed. Sending out two tentacles it snatched Trini off the ground. She let out a scream. The other rangers couldn't get close enough to help because of the other two tentacles. Eagle started forward but felt a powerful hand on his shoulder.

"You can't help unless we're pulled into the fight. You know that."

"But you don't understand that is…" Xavier cut him off.

"It doesn't matter who that is. I've taken enough liberties with the rules today as it is." Before Eagle could plead his case any more there was a flash of fire behind Xavier. He whirled around to see Goldar. He was brandishing his sword.

"Don't you dare try to help or else." He said. Xavier seemed to be thinking about that for a second then a smile crossed his face.

"Or else what?" He said getting right in Goldar's face. Goldar answered with a sword in his gut. Before he fell he spoke one more time.

"Looks like we're in this one boys and girls." With that he fell to the ground. Eagle lost no time. Running forward he dodged the monster's tentacles and plunged his left arm into the mouth of the beast. The sound of metal on metal filled the air and then the grinder just stopped. Reaching up with his right arm he grabbed on of the tentacles and began to rip it away. Pearth saw what he was doing and began to freeze the metal where it entered the stone. Andor grabbed another one and Tony flew over and grabbed the two holding the yellow ranger. Goldar went to attack Pearth as her back was turned. Before he could get to her though a hand wrapped around his throat. He was hoisted of the ground in to a fireman's carry. Suddenly he was pitched off to one side with enough force to plant him in to the ground. He was then lifted out of the crater and slammed back with his face up. Winded and groggy he barely registered the figure standing over him. Xavier raised one hand over his head and then leaned over and waved it back and forth in front of his face.

"You can't see me." He said and then he stood up and shimmied his shoulders. With that he fell almost flat on his side with his arm extended. His fist slammed into Goldar's head and drove it down in to the ground. Standing up he watched the rest of his team finish up.

With one tremendous pull all four tentacles flew out of the monster. Tony flew back with Trini.

"Eagle now!" Tony shouted. Eagle nodded his head and suddenly the top of the monsters head exploded. Eagle pulled out his arm and looked back at the rangers.

"Finish it rangers." He said as he moved away. The rangers assembled the power blaster and blew the monster away. As they all celebrated Trini looked at Eagle's arm. At the shoulder it was a bloody mess but the further down she looked the less blood there was until it was solid metal at his hand. Before he could say anything to her the ground started to shake. Coming from the same direction as the first was another Skull Roller.

"We got another one guys." Kim said. Suddenly Xavier spoke up.

"Make that two." From the other direction another Skull Roller blocked the street.

"You get one and we'll get the other." Jason said. Xavier nodded to the red ranger and looked at his crew. He didn't even have to speak.

"Release restraint!!" Andor and Pearth said as they pulled off their bracelets. Soon Andor stood in his armor and Pearth in her gown. Tony just let out a scream and suddenly was in his get up.

"Night Eagle systems activate!" Jason yelled. Suddenly he was all chrome. Xavier crossed his arms in front of him.

"Slayer X!" He shouted as he dropped his arms. Standing in his leather jacket he looked over to his team and the rangers.

"Round 2."

Author's Notes: Another almost pointless repost but I do just because I can.