Brody was in the cave, desperately trying to reach Levi to warn him about the concert. After checking out the cave, they had found out that Stonedozer was close to the fault, and more importantly had undermined the arena. If he kept digging, it would not be long before he caused the whole place to collapse with everyone inside! Over 20,000 people were attending the concert, and Stonedozer couldn't care less about the fact almost every single one of them would probably lose their lives as long as he got the Power Stars once the dust settled.
"Levi, come in!" Brody said a little more forcefully. "Levi, are you there? Damn it, why isn't he answering?"
"The concert's probably started." Sarah told him. "Maybe he can't hear his Ninja-comm."
"He has to stop that concert." Brody told her.
"Either that or we have to stop Stonedozer from digging." Sarah pitched in. Brody just nodded.
"OK, but how?" Brody asked her. She stood up and started waving.
"Hey ugly! Looking for Power Stars?" Sarah yelled, causing Stonedozer to turn around. "Well you can't be too good at looking because there are two right here!"
"Uh...Sarah, this is a REALLY bad idea!" Brody added as he got up.
"Two people instead of 20,000 the math makes sense to me." Sarah answered.
"RANGERS!" He roared. "You've dug yourselves quite a hole!"
"Digging jokes? Really?" Sarah asked sarcastically.
"He...kind of has a point." Brody said as the Basher bots all started to abandon their picks and pick up swords to begin advancing on the Rangers.
"Once I crush you, your Power Stars will be mine!" He growled.
"So...this plan of yours." Brody stated. "What do we do now?"
"Um...hadn't thought that far ahead." Sarah admitted, tossing a smoke bomb. "RUN!"
With that, they fled the cave with the Basher bots in hot pursuit. Stonedozer was about to follow, but Ripcon appeared and stopped him.
"No, leave the Rangers to the Basher bots." Ripcon told him.
"But I can..."
"Leave them for now." Ripcon told him. "Proceed with the plan."
"As you command." Stonedozer said, heading back to the rockface, before ripping into it with his scoops.
At the arena, Levi was standing on the stage, the spotlight on him as his fans screamed in delight. He knew that some of them had paid most of their available money, and some had been waiting all night to see him, and so he was determined to give every person in the arena the show they had paid for.
"Hello Summer Cove!" He called out. "What did you think of the Rebel Rockers? Why don't you all give them a hand?"
The fans applauded the warm-up act, who had already left the stage. Levi was always considerate of others considering the humble beginnings of his own act. He had performed warm-up gigs before, and while they weren't the act people had paid to see, they did deserve a lot of credit for the work they did. Unfortunately, not everyone saw it that way. Levi had opened for more than one big act who had gotten so full of themselves they saw anyone else as beneath them. He had once opened for a guy that literally started his concert with the words, "Now that' shit's over, time for what you paid to see!" Levi never worked with that guy again, but he also made sure to never treat any of his warm-up acts that way. At one time, even The Beatles had been a warm-up act.
He started strumming the strings of his guitar, and his audience fell silent.
"Now, this is one of my biggest hits, and I know it's one you always love to hear. It's one of my favourites too." He told them.
"Long before we try,
to get tangled up in time,
We took so much for granted,
with nothing to hide,
I'll be missing you,
Oh, I'll be missing you."
Back at the cave entrance, Preston, Calvin and Hayley were waiting on word from Sarah and Brody. Preston was overlooking the arena, and they could faintly hear the sound of music. Hayley could be heard humming the tune, recognising the song even from this distance.
"I still can't believe he went ahead with the concert." Preston stated. "We've all missed out on important stuff because of this."
"Preston, he had a whole arena full of fans who had paid to see him." Hayley reminded him. "He...probably couldn't back out."
"So he refunds them or puts on another concert!" Preston said bad-temperedly as he looked back to them. "I mean...I know I've skipped shows because of Ranger duties."
"I don't think that's the same thing." Hayley offered. "He'd have to pay out thousands, maybe millions to fans if he cancelled. You don't even charge your fans."
"That's not the point!" Preston snapped. "I love magic, I'd love to just concentrate on my shows, but this is way more important."
"Preston, I'm with you on this one." Calvin told him. "But that's for Levi to figure out. He literally just got his powers, he doesn't know any better."
"Not to mention he literally just spent months as a prisoner on the Warrior Dome." Hayley reminded him. "I can't exactly blame him for wanting to do normal stuff for a while. That brain scrambling thing that Odious did to him sounds...creepy. It still gives me the shivers just thinking about it."
"Hey guys, heads up." Calvin said as he heard something from the cave. Sarah and Brody were coming running as blasts went off behind them.
"We're bringing company!" Sarah yelled as they ran out of the cave. Calvin, Preston and Hayley all opened fire into the cave, which acted as a bottle-neck, forcing the Basher bots into a narrow field of fire, meaning they quickly tore through them. Calvin looked to Brody and Sarah as they got back up.
"What happened down there?" He asked.
"They were trying to bring down the arena." Sarah told them. "I thought if we got their attention on us and not the arena, we could..."
"Sarah, where's that monster?" Brody asked her. Sarah looked into the cave noticing the one area of her plan that had fallen down. Stonedozer hadn't followed them! The ground shook again.
"He's still digging!" Sarah stated. "We have to stop him!"
"No time!" Brody told her. "We need to evacuate the concert!"
"I'll call Levi..."
"We already tried, he can't hear us." Brody interrupted Preston. "We'll have to go ourselves."
"We need to move fast or those people are done for!" Hayley called out. "Mega Morph Cycles, rev up!"
Back at the concert, Levi continued his song.
"Love will always be the key,
Look into my heart and see,
Come on now!"
He gestured with his arm to invite the audience to join in as he strode across the stage to one of his speakers. He stopped only to pick up a microphone.
"I'll, be there,
In moments of sorrow,"
He grabbed the front of the speaker and ripped it off, revealing Victor behind it. Victor just looked completely stunned, staring out over thousands of fans that were all staring at him. Levi handed him the microphone, and nodded to indicate to him to join in.
"I'll, be there,
Just tell it to heart too!"
He ripped the front off the other speaker, revealing Monty, who was on the verge of keeling over the moment he saw all the audience looking at him. Levi handed him a microphone and brought the two of them to the middle of the stage, putting his arm around each of them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for my special guest back-up singers, the heroes of the mall, Victor and Monty!" He called out, before gesturing to them to keep going.
"Our love's everlasting..."
Victor and Monty finally plucked up the courage to join in.
"I'll, be there,
There's no more denying,
I'll, be there...
Unfortunately, the moment was interrupted by another tremor, this one a lot harsher than the ones that came before it. Some of the equipment fell over, and the fans started screaming. Levi knew that the first priority was to the safety of the fans and killed the music straight away.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please try to remain calm!" Levi begged them over the house microphone. "Please make your way quickly and in an orderly fashion to the emergency exits, the arena staff will help you."
He turned to Victor and Monty.
"You guys helped before; would you do me a solid and help everyone to the exits?" He asked.
"Anything you need Levi." Victor replied. As he and Monty ran off, Monty just squealed.
"We got to sing with Levi Weston on stage!" He screeched. "This way ladies and gentlemen, this way! Don't dawdle!"
Levi remained on the stage, despite his instincts to run. People were there for him, so in a lot of ways, he had taken on a responsibility to lead that crowd. He wasn't going to leave until he was sure that his fans got clear. He looked up as he saw the Rangers arriving, coming to either side of him.
"This way Mr Weston." Hayley told him as they tried to escort him to a more secluded area. As they got there, Brody noticed Levi wasn't wearing his Ninja-comm.
"Where's your Ninja-comm? We've been trying to call you!" Brody asked him. Levi looked around, picking it up off a crate. He could see it was still flashing.
"I'm sorry, I took it off...I don't wear a watch when I'm playing, it restricts my wrist movement when I'm trying to play..."
"You NEVER take that off!" Brody snapped at him.
"Stonedozer's trying to collapse this entire building!" Hayley informed him. Levi looked horrified at the thought. He could have evacuated the building long before the tremors got this bad if only he'd had his Ninja-comm with him. He had been so intent on fulfilling his commitment to the show that he had neglected his responsibility to the safety of the people.
"Guys, I'm...I'm sorry!" He gulped. "I want to make this right; we need to get everyone out of here! Ninja SPIN!"
He morphed into the Gold Ranger, before looking to the others.
"We need to make sure everyone's out of here." He told them. "If we split up, we should be able to cover the whole arena pretty quickly!"
With that, they all ran off, hoping that people had gotten the message and were getting out before the whole building came down on top of them.
Back in the cave, Stonedozer was digging away when Ripcon got a message on his communicator. He smiled as he saw what it said.
"The Rangers are at the arena! They're trying to evacuate it as we speak!" Ripcon told him. "Bring it down, now! Turn that arena into their tomb!"
With that, he teleported out, leaving Stonedozer to re-double his efforts to destroy the arena. They had predicted that the Rangers would try to do everything they could to save the people at the arena, and now that they were there, they would no doubt sacrifice themselves if they had to in order to make sure everyone got out.
Outside the arena, people were making their way out to the safe zone in the parking lot. Victor and Monty were helping staff to ensure people kept moving, but people who had been split up from friends and loved ones were milling around trying to find them and needed to be reminded to keep moving.
Mary, the girl who had won Levi's biggest fan contest, was one such person. She'd been split up from her parents when they got outside, and now was wandering around trying to find them.
"Mom?" She called out in her terror. "Dad?"
She could hear a rumble and looked above her, just as a piece of the building the size of a car became dislodged and started to fall right towards her. In her panic she froze to the spot and started screaming. Levi put his arm around her.
"I've got you!" Levi told her, aiming his morpher up. "Storm Blast!"
The debris splintered into smaller, far less harmful chunks and rained down around them. Levi held Mary close, taking the remainder on his back, his suit taking most of the damage. As he released her, Mary looked up to him.
"Gold Ranger, you saved me!" She gushed as she hugged him tight. "You're my hero!"
"Thanks, but you need to get to safety." He told her.
"But my dad..."
"I...think that's him." Levi answered as he saw him running towards them. He recognised him from meeting Mary and her parents earlier, but he had to be careful not to let on. Of course a man running INTO a collapsing building to find a young girl, it was a pretty logical conclusion it was her dad, so Mary didn't seem to take much notice as she ran to meet him.
"Get yourselves to safety!" Levi told him. "I'm going to make sure everyone's out."
"Thank you Gold Ranger." Mary's dad replied as he ran off with Mary in his arms. Levi watched them go, and he smiled. He had made a huge mistake. He loved music, and he always would, but right now, seeing them leaving the arena safe and sound, he knew what was important.
He ran back inside, quickly finding the others as they assembled near the middle of the entrance aisle.
"Guys, is there anyone left?" Levi asked.
"No one over here." Sarah told him.
"No one in my area either." Calvin added.
"It looks like the building's clear." Hayley told him. "It looks like we're the only ones here."
"Great, now all we need to do is worry about getting ourselves out." Preston stated as a huge piece of the ceiling came down.
"Come on, this way!" Brody told them, leading the way.
On top of the cliff, overlooking the arena, Ripcon watched as the building collapsed. He had a satisfied smirk on his face as he watched it tumble down. He looked to the nearest Buzz-cam and gestured to the arena.
"Did I not tell you?" He demanded. "You see? What did I tell you? The Rangers are finished!"
"Oh my, look at the carnage!" Cosmo responded, what a knockout! Ladies and Gentlemen, it looks like Stonedozer has done it!"
The ground erupted and Stonedozer dug himself out of the tunnel. Due to his stone-like physiology, he was more than capable of withstanding the cave-in. He stood triumphantly as he surveyed his handiwork. He looked to the camera and threw his hands up in triumph.
"Did you see that Galvanax? Did you SEE THAT?" He roared. "Once I dig those Power Stars out, I'll take my rightful place as your number one contender! Keep that belt warm for me champ. Soon, everyone will be cheering MY name as they crown me the new Galaxy Warriors..."
"Sorry to interrupt, but...don't you think you're being a little premature in booking your title match?" Brody asked.
"WHAT?" Stonedozer screeched. "You escaped? Impossible!"
"Never underestimate the speed of a ninja!" Brody told him. Levi stepped forward, his weapon resting over his shoulder.
"You destroyed my concert!" He called out. "Guys, I know I have a lot to make up for. Let me take the rock-headed monster."
"We'll take care of horn-head." Preston told him.
"That'll be easier said than...wait...what?" Ripcon screamed as he drew his swords, but started to disappear. "NO!"
Ripcon disappeared and a bunch of Basher bots were teleported in his place. Calvin just sighed.
"More of these guys?" He asked. "Well if we're going to be facing them a lot, I guess we could use the practice!"
Ripcon appeared back in the Warrior Dome, completely livid. He came over to Cosmo, grabbing him by the coat.
"Why did you teleport me out of there?" Ripcon demanded. "Send me back, NOW!"
"You'll get your chance, don't you worry!" Cosmo stated, before drawing closer. "Nobody dies on this show unless I say so! Ladies and Gentlemen! Give it up for Ripcon!"
Ripcon just stormed off, while Cosmo returned to his audience.
"Now then folks, who wants to see how the new Gold Ranger fares against Stonedozer?" He asked. "Winner take all, one-on-one?"
Back at the battle site, Levi was taking his frustrations out on Stonedozer. He had threatened the lives of thousands of his fans, people that were only at the concert arena to see him, all just to get to him. He felt responsible for putting them in danger, even if they didn't know about it.
"You like earthquakes, let's see how you like tornadoes!" Levi called out. "Storm Star, Tornado ATTACK!"
The attack picked Stonedozer up high into the air, and slammed him down hard. It angered him to know that Stonedozer had shown such callous disregard for his fans, that he saw them only as a way to get to the Rangers, but more than anything it angered him to know that a lot of what happened was down to him. It was nothing short of a miracle that everyone had been evacuated and no one was hurt, or worse. It didn't bear thinking about what could have happened if he hadn't called the evacuation when he had.
"Levi, give this a try!" Sarah called out, throwing him a Power Star. "It's a little something one of my friends and I perfected!"
"Nice!" Levi called out, loading it into his weapon. "Ninja Clone Star!"
A mirror copy of him appeared, and they both fell upon Stonedozer, chipping away at him as he tried in vain to fend them off.
"I'm normally an acoustic kind of guy, but tonight, I'm going ELECTRIC!" Levi called out. "Storm Star, Lightning Attack!"
Stonedozer was hit full on by two lightning attacks at once, taking him off his feet. He struggled to get back up, but by now Levi was more than ready to finish the battle once and for all. As his clone disappeared, Levi stood ready.
"Storm Star, Tornado Slashes!" He yelled, rushing into the attack. He spun around Stonedozer, slashing at him more times than anyone could see. By the time he stopped a little way from him, Stonedozer was swaying on his feet. Levi pulled out his burger camera, lining up a selfie.
"Say Cheeseburger!" He said, taking the snap, moments before Stonedozer fell to the ground and exploded. "Stonedozer has left the building!"
"Did...did he just make an Elvis reference?" Preston asked.
"I'm more surprised by the fact he took a selfie in the middle of a battle." Sarah chuckled. "Tyler's finally lost his king of the selfie crown."