Martial Strike
Confidants
Disclaimer: I don't own power rangers or the concepts and a thanks to decode9 for the use of the true legend war story concept. The following has over time devolved into a ridiculously over the top sort of parody of many things, as a warning, comedy is one of the main themes and focuses here, so if you were expecting something serious, you've come to the wrong place. With that light warning out out the way, enjoy.
The sound of panting filled the air around the rangers as they trekked up a dirt path drawn into a steep hill. Having made their way out of the City, the six rangers were making their way up the rural path to the site of Alyssa's old home. She had however, neglected to mention the steep climb to the others and a couple of them had begun to complain.
"How… Much… Farther… Is… This… Place?" Sora asked as he gasped for air, falling behind the other rangers.
"Hey Dan… Can you… Carry me? All out… Of energy…" The orange ranger asked, letting her arms drop limply in front of her lent over body in a dramaticized action.
Dan quickly shook his head. "Not gonna work Mizuki. Carry yourself up the hill or else you'll lose your fridge privileges."
"No… Fair…" She groaned as she plodded on.
Toward the front, Ella looked over her shoulder to see a pretty picturesque view of Novaton. "Hey guys, look." She pointed it out to her friends. "The City looks pretty nice from here."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Alyssa started. "Looking at it from here, it doesn't look like it's under the oppressive rule of a madman."
"Even Corporate Tower doesn't look so bad." Trouble commented offhandedly as they continued their walk. Only when she heard a combined 'are we there yet' from Sora and Mizuki did she turn around and yell. "Quit complaining!"
"Come on you guys. Alyssa, you said it was just over this next ridge right?" Dan asked as he made his way to the front of the group and walked next to the black ranger.
She gave a nod. "Sure is, I just can't believe I'm coming back, it's a little surreal." Alyssa sighed and stopped walking as Dan turned his head and stopped in his tracks.
"Hey, we're all here for you. Come on we've only got a few feet to cover before we can see the place." He said with a reassuring smile.
With her resolve strengthened by her friends, Alyssa carried on and made it to the hill's summit. As she stopped to take in the sight ahead, her eyes went wide with shock. Her home…
"Hey what are you all staring at?" Mizuki asked as she finally dragged herself to the top of the steep hill, the last of the rangers to make it there. Then, as Mizuki too looked out at the scene below her it dawned on her.
Right where Alyssa's home used to be, the ground had been carved out and the rangers now stood looking down from above, at a Quarry. A fairly active Quarry with many workers going about their work day, excavating stone from the ground. Toward the far end of the Quarry, there appeared to be a larger gravel road heading out toward Novaton that was barred by a wire mesh fence with barbed wire atop it. On closer inspection, it looked as if armed guards patrolled both the perimeter and area of the Quarry.
"Something about this place doesn't look right." Trouble said as the others took the scene in.
"Yeah, looks like whoever owns this Quarry might be a fan of forced labour by the look of those guards." Sora observed.
Dan let out a heavy breath of air. "Whoever's behind this probably caused the fire that burned down Alyssa's house too." The red ranger deduced as he squinted to try and get a better luck at the armed guards. "And I've got a good idea who that someone is."
"Hey, you alright Alyssa?" The blue ranger asked as she looked to the black ranger who now hung her head low.
"Not really. My house was burned down… My sister died in that fire… And for what? So somebody could build a Quarry here?" She seethed as she clenched her fists tightly and gritted her teeth.
"Alyssa, come on we'll get down there and deal with whatever's going on in that Quarry. Just stay calm and we'll figure this out alright?" Dan tried to reason.
"No… I'm mad as hell and someone's gonna pay for what they've done!" She exclaimed as she activated her Martial Harness.
"Wait Alyssa-"
"Martial Spirit, Strike Out!" She called, morphing in a flash of black energy and leaping from the ledge down to the gravel surface below.
"Damn it Alyssa." Dan sighed. "Come on guys, we've gotta get after her!" He ordered the others as they readied their own Martial Harnesses and leapt from the ledge performing a mid-air morph.
"Martial Spirit, Strike Out!" The five rangers called as they were enveloped in flashes of coloured energy.
[Martial Strike]
Dropping to the ground ahead of the others, Alyssa landed with a combat roll, coming to a stop on one knee. Standing, the black ranger scoped the area to find a pair of armed guards stood close to a nearby group of workers. The guards were geared up in black tactical outfits and protected by unmarked Kevlar vests. She hadn't been noticed yet, now would be the perfect time to strike, take out the guards and then get her answers from the workers. Then she could deal with whoever had done this. As she called upon her scythe and prepared to charge the foes, she felt a hand clasp her shoulder.
Alyssa reacted quickly to the perceived threat, twisting her body around and swinging her weapon at her foe. Though she quickly paused as a metallic clash rang through the air and looked on the person she had attacked. Dan stood holding one nunchaku with both hands, using the chain to stay the black rangers scythe.
"Dan? I could've cut you in half just now. You shouldn't have come after me. Thanks to you, they'll be onto us." Alyssa pointed to the two guards, now alerted by the noise coming from behind the set of shipping containers where Alyssa, Dan and the remaining rangers stood.
"Maybe if you hadn't tried to bisect him they'd still be none the wiser." The white ranger pointed out. "Alyssa we get you're upset but let's take this slowly and figure this out."
"Sora's right." Trouble nodded before cracking her knuckles and drawing her dual sais. "But first we might as well crack a few skulls."
Alyssa sighed. "Fine, but by the end of the day, if this place isn't a wreck I'm gonna be really mad."
As the two armed guards made their way toward the crates they raised their rifles and moved cautiously. When they came around the corner, Ella stood with her bo staff in one hand, waving with the other. "Hey fellas, surprised to see me here?" The pink ranger greeted them casually.
The two guards turned their heads to each other and then back to Ella. "It's the pink ranger, get her." One of them called as they fired short bursts of rounds from their rifles.
Taking her bo staff, she vaulted and danced out of the way of the bullet spray in a blur of motion, the rounds of fire just barely flying by her. "Woah, these guys mean business. Little help guys?" She called up the stack of shipping crates.
On request, the orange and red rangers leapt from their hiding place between two containers and town onto the guards below. Their dual tonfa and nunchucks in hand, the rangers struck the guards on the head, knocking them out cold as Mizuki and Dan landed.
"We got your back Ella." The orange ranger said with a thumbs up.
"Could've helped out a little sooner, that was a close call." Ella said, relieved that they hadn't managed to injure her in that firefight.
Making their way around to where their remaining teammates now were, they headed toward the place Alyssa had seen the workers. Dan nodded as they walked. "These guys were using live rounds, you're lucky you managed to get around them in time. But the fact they are using live rounds must mean they don't want people coming in or getting whatever's in here." He theorised as the three rejoined their teammates.
"More like they don't want anyone getting out." Isabel said to them, overhearing Dan's guesses, pointing with her sai to the shackles locked around the feet of each worker. "And guess who put these guys here." She added in a tone making it seem like the answer was obvious to everyone present.
"Let me guess." The red ranger sighed. "The Corporate King."
"Exactly." Alyssa chimed in. "He's the one who paid to have my house burned down so he could buy the land it was on. Then he had this Quarry dug out and put these guys to work here." She explained from her own deductions.
From where he had been talking with the workers, Sora came over to where his teammates stood. "Just had another chat with them, they say the Corporate King had them all arrested for nothing or taken when they were fired from his company and put to work on this private Quarry since it'd be free labour for him. They asked if we were here to free them all. What do we say?"
Dan put the hand to the base of his helmet. "Alyssa!" He spoke up, the black ranger snapping her head toward him as he called out to her.
"What?"
"It's your call. How do you want to shut this place down?" He asked her.
The responsibility had now been put on her shoulders. This was a forced labour camp, the workers here weren't responsible for what happened to the her only relative. Chances are, some had died under the Corporate King's neglect and working them to the bone. The big Corporate overlord was no better than a slaver at this point and Alyssa knew what had to be done. Before saying anything, she took a deep breath. "Alright. Ella, Mizuki; see if those two guards have any keys on them and then get to freeing these guys."
"Right!" The two girls nodded as they ran back to the detained guards.
"Okay, those shots they managed to fire off probably caught somebody's attention, right? We should get ready for another fight." She suggested as Dan decided to take the lead once again.
"Good idea." He nodded as the rangers turned to face a group of advancing security guards.
As they came closer into range however, a large explosion coming from within the group of private security knocked the guards in several directions, left them sprawled across the ground and rocked the area. Regaining their bearings, the rangers looked to the source of the explosion to find Big Oil standing where the Quarry's guards once stood. The monster jumped up and down, rolling its arms as it saw the rangers.
"Guess who's back!" He called out to them as he unleashed a spray of fire from his lighter attachment.
As she looked at the flames the black ranger took a hesitant step backwards, wishing with every inch of her body that she could just flee at the mere sight of the fire their latest foe emitted. But then her friends would be left to fend for themselves against the powerful foe. She tried shaking the thoughts from her head when a steadying hand was placed on her shoulder.
"Remember, we've got your back." Isabel said as she took her hand off the black ranger drew her dual sais.
"And we'll support you through your fears." Sora added, gripping his grapple and aiming it at the lighter arm of Big Oil.
"Because we're friends Alyssa. And that's what we're here for. So let's beat Big Oil for good, save those captive workers and blow this place sky high!" Dan declared as he began spinning the two nunchucks in his hands.
Reassured by her friends, Alyssa gave a firm nod and drew her scythe. "Thanks everyone. Let's do this." She said as she led the charge toward Big Oil.
Coming in close range. Alyssa locked her weapon with Big Oil's gas pump arm attachment, prying it away from the rest of Big Oil's body and exposing it for the red ranger to follow up with an attack of his own. Activating the concealed blades inside his nunchucks, the short stabbing blades extended from the ends of his twin weapons as he span them around, slicing away at the exposed body before Dan brought all four ends into his hands and stabbed the monster's exposed side.
"Gah! You'll pay for than one ranger! I'll blow you away with this one!" Big Oil declared.
Like before, Joe and another teammate were in close proximity to the monster and would face the full impact of a fuel explosion. "Sorry, not today Big Oil!" Trouble exclaimed as she leapt through the air and stuck one of her sais into the nozzle of Big Oil's left arm. "Looks like you're all dried up!"
"No, my precious fuel!" He cried out as he failed to unjam the sai from his weapon.
"That's not all we're taking from you!" Sora jumped in, firing his grapple at the monster's lighter attachment. Hooking around the weapon, Sora took the line it was attached to and began swiftly climbing the framework of a nearby industrial crane. Once he was at the level of the crane arm, he broke off the line and tied it to the frame before rappelling down the line itself. "Guess he'll be tied up for a while too."
As the rangers regrouped, both Ella and Mizuki emerged from around a corner. "It wasn't easy…" The orange ranger panted as she tried to catch her breath.
"But we got all the workers to safety." Ella finished the other's sentence, sounding equally exhausted.
"Great work, we were just finishing things up here too." Dan patted the shoulders of his two teammates before gesturing behind them to the disabled Big Oil. "Alyssa, you want to do the honours?" He asked, turning around to his other comrade.
The black ranger quickly nodded. "With pleasure." She said as she focused the power of her ranger suit into her scythe, the weapon being surrounded by black energy. "This one's for Nina." She said calmly as she charged forward and sliced Big Oil vertically.
Moving away from him, she and the other rangers watched as the monster began to surge with energy and bloat. "I think he's gonna blow!" The white ranger voiced his concerns.
"Yeah, let's get somewhere safe." The red ranger agreed as he and the others sprinted for the now open gate in the security fence.
"Uh-oh! Looks like I've gone bust!" Big Oil cried out as he erupted into a huge explosion that then caused a chain reaction, taking many vehicles and explosive containers with it. The eruption of multiple explosions caused a great rumble as the Quarry was blown up.
Getting off of the ground, the rangers watched, relieved that Big Oil was finished and that the Quarry was shut down, saving innocents in the process. Having foiled more than one of the Corporate King's plots today, the rangers were satisfied that their job, at least for today was done. As they began to walk off however, they heard the sounds of a helicopter coming close to the site of the Quarry.
Sat inside the helicopter was none other than the Corporate King and his underling Oily Bill. "No, my Quarry! My free labour! All gone! I'm gonna have to fire so many people because of this!" The Corporate King yelled from his seat as he saw the multi coloured figures of the rangers below. "That does it! Bill, is the Monster Supersizer Nine Thousand and One, trademark, ready yet!?" He demanded to know.
Oily Bill nodded as he gave the Corporate King a remote with a single red button. "The boys in the lab put a tracking chip in Big Oil that's designed to survive explosions. The laser's already locked on boss so just push that button."
"That really is convenient. Maybe I could pitch this to other rich business guys at the next Corporate Con. Remind me to make it pricey though." He added with a manic laugh as he pressed down on the red button as a large beam on energy shot out from the distant Corporate Tower, arcing over the sky and striking the point where Big Oil had fallen.
In an instant, the monster was reanimated and grew to the size of a giant and awakened with a triumphant roar. "I'm back and business is booming!" Big Oil announced as he towered over the now helpless rangers.
"It actually works." The Corporate King said with surprise that one of his projects had actually succeeded. "Okay pilot, that's all I need to see. Take us back to Corporate Tower!" He ordered as the helicopter flew away and left the rangers to fend for themselves.
Back on the ground, the rangers looked up in shock at the sudden reanimation and gigantification of the enemy they just defeated. "Hey, Orika, Jason? You guys seeing this?" Dan asked over his communicator.
"Yes, we see it." Orika answered. "It looks like-" She was cut off as static sounded through each ranger's helmets.
"What the hell's going on?" Trouble asked.
As if on cue, another voice sounded through their comms but not a familiar one. It was an elderly man's voice. "Forgive me for the intrusion but I couldn't sit by and watch any longer."
"Huh, who are you?" Mizuki asked.
"That's not important right now." He brushed aside the question. "I'm sure we'll meet soon enough anyway. I want you rangers answer my question though. How badly do you want to stop the Corporate King?"
"After today? That's the one thing I want the most." Alyssa quickly answered for them.
The mysterious man on the other end chuckled. "Then it seems we have a common enemy after all. And that dear rangers makes us allies. Now enjoy more fruits of my labour." He said before the comms cut off.
"What was all that about?" Ella asked.
While the others shrugged, Sora quickly noticed something interesting in the sky above them. "Hey guys, look!" He pointed towards giant spheres of blue light that seemed to distort the sky around them.
"Woah, is that the help he was talking about?" Dan asked, watching with wonder.
"I hope so." Trouble quickly commented.
Flaring, the large blue spheres gave way to six similarly large metallic animals. Each looked to be of a gunmetal colour while sporting glowing yellow eyes. Each took the form of a different creature. A Chinese Dragon, Dove, Tiger, Flamingo, Leopard and Fox. Each Mechanical Beast's eyes flared to life and the the metal animals pounced on Big Oil.
First, the Dragon, wrapped its long body around the monster's body, locking its arms into place and preventing it from attacking. Then the Tiger and Leopard attacked with their fangs and claws, sparks flying off of Big Oil as they tore into it. Then, the Dove and Flamingo pecked away at it with their metallic beaks, further damaging the giant of a monster. Finally the Fox began mauling Big Oil's face, clawing and biting at it.
"No! Not the face, not the face!" Big Oil cried as he danced about and tried to break loose.
At that, the Fox detached and the Dragon loosened its grip entirely, coming loose and flying around to face the severely damaged giant. Opening its metallic maw, the Dragon unleashed a powerful beam of yellow energy that struck Big Oil head on, causing the monster to surge with energy.
"Not again! This time I'm going outta business for good!" He cried out as he erupted for a final time into a huge explosion.
And with that, the giant metallic animals that had save the rangers were once enveloped in blue energy that distorted the space around them and, without warning, disappeared into thin air. The rangers could only watch in stunned silence as their saviours disappeared and were thankful that whoever had sent them decided to help them. Yet they could only wonder who this mysterious person was.
[Martial Strike]
Returning to the Dojo, it was now evening and the rangers were in a celebratory mood and had tuned their radio in to Rebel Radio to hear some songs from their favourite Rebel Radio DJ, E. Though several of them were ambiguous when it came to saying when 'DJ E' they were referring to. Particularly when Ella asked them. As they hung out on the couch. Alyssa Stood up from her seat and turned to face them. Around her neck, she now wore the N shaped pendant she had kept hidden from them before confessing her past to the team.
"Hey, everyone…" She said a little shyly. "I just want to thank you all. For helping me through everything today and understanding why I got so angry when I saw what had happened to my home."
"It's understandable. I grew up in an Orphanage that the Corporate King tore down to make room for that big tower of his. I tried killing the guy a while back so I think I know where you're coming from." Dan said, playing it off with a laugh. "Trouble helped me past that and we're all always happy to do the same for you." He added as his other teammates nodded in agreement
Alyssa gave a wide smile. "I mean it, thanks everyone! I just wanted to say this. No matter what, I'm always with you guys. Whatever we're fighting, whoever we're fighting. You can all count on me!" She declared to them as she placed her hand on her necklace. "I think that's what Nina would want too, for me to move forward with everything and go on to help others."
"That's great to hear Alyssa, we're countin' on ya then!" Dan smirked giving a big and in Alyssa's opinion, a cheesy thumbs up but she couldn't help but laugh, it was finally starting to feel like she'd got something that resembled a family back and that made her happiest of all.
As they laughed and talked away, Orika and Jason entered the room. "Everyone, I know you all want to know about those machines that looked like animals that saved you." Jason said, getting the six's attention. "Those are called Zords. Orika and I analysed them while they fought with Big Oil. From what we found, whoever built them, is also the one who created your morphers."
"So whoever that guy was on the comms." Ella started.
"Used to work for the Corporation." Sora said, realising what this meant.
"Then that's good right?" Mizuki asked. "If he made these morphers for the Corporation but he's fighting against them like we are, then he could help us right?" She suggested.
Orika nodded. "That's right. We think he wanted to liberate the Morphers from Corporate hands too but didn't know they already had been when he made those Zords. We'll try to track him down and ask for his help but for now we know we have a new ally, whoever he is."
"That's right." Jason interjected with a nod. "But aside from that, you've all done great work today. Stopping the bad guy's plans and saving those that were innocent to it all. That's the kind of thing that makes you rangers. Get some rest guys, you've earned it. One more thing though. Alyssa, mind coming over here and having a light spar?" He asked.
The black ranger nodded as the mentor led the two away from the group to spar in private. As they geared up in sparring gloves and bounced back and forth at each other, getting in light jabs and kicks where they could, Jason backed off for a moment and spoke up. "Hey Alyssa, I just wanted to say you did really well today. You opened up to everyone in a way you couldn't have before. It was mature of you, to tell the ranger about your past and face what you've been running away from. Always remember, that's what friends are for and you'll keep getting stronger as a person. Facing your fear like that and charging head on at Big Oil even though he could use that flamethrower of his on you, it was brave. I'm proud of how you handled everything Alyssa. Keep growing and be open with your teammates if anything ever troubles you okay?" He asked as he blocked her attack and countered with a few punches of his own.
At that, Alyssa had her opening and struck at the ribs he exposed with a roundhouse kick. Holding his ribs he quickly conceded after that skillful blow. "Thanks Jason, I'll keep that in mind." She said bowing to him before leaving to join all her friends.
'Maybe I could learn a thing or two from her example and finally tell them all what I've been hiding.' Jason thought as he picked himself up and watched from a distance as all the rangers and Orika, laughed and talked, enjoying the peace they had won today.
[Martial Strike]
"Uh-hey… Is this Callie?" Alyssa's voice asked from the other end of a phone call.
"Yeah, something I can help you with?" Callie, the girl Alyssa had met in the Coffee shop a few days ago answered.
"It's Alyssa, the girl you met in Corpa Coffee the other day who was sat moping. I just wanted to say thanks for that talk, it helped a lot… And I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out sometime. If that's okay with you?" Alyssa asked, somewhat nervous about talking with someone she barely new.
"Oh, so that's your name? Okay Alyssa, sounds great! I'll call you later since I've gotta deal with some work stuff but I can tell we're gonna be besties in no time! Let's not go for coffee though." Callie laughed happily as she said goodbye and ended the call. With that she walked along the street and towards the site of her job in Novaton.
Meanwhile, in the highest floor of the Corporate Tower, the Corporate King and Oily Bill were now in the latter's office, quite smaller and less lavish than the CEO's office but necessary for today's business.
"So what's this surprise you've been hiding from me that's supposed to help destroy the rangers? You know how I hate surprises Bill, unless they're good surprises, then I like them." The Corporate King contradicted himself as the PA system built into Oily Bill's desk buzzed.
"Sir, we've got a ms. Dalton here to see you." The Receptionist on the other end said.
"Send her in." Oily Bill said as the two waited several minutes for her to reach their floor.
"So, who is she, your secret weapon for defeating the rangers?" The Corporate King asked with a snicker.
"Oh Boss, she's my secret weapon for everything. Officially she runs the Logistics and Administration of my own Oil business." He explained as the door opened.
"Unofficially I do everything so he can sit back and get rich without lifting a finger." A familiar female voice said as the two corrupt businessmen turned their heads to the door to see Callie walk into the room.
"Boss, may I introduce the brains behind my money. Caroline Dalton." Oily Bill said, rising from his seat and waving his hand toward her.
Callie sighed and shook her head. "You said you had a problem I could help you with right? Why'd you want me here exactly, Dad?"
|Martial Strike|
And that's a wrap on Chapter 19. There were a couple setbacks for getting this one out when I wanted to but at least it's out and it didn't take a year this time! So, Alyssa's former home was turned into a quarry with slave labour, they blew it up and saved the prisoners and then we had the first monster to go giant and the reveal of the ranger's six Zords. Well at least the near complete versions but more on that later. If you want to guess as to who built them/who they belong to, leave a review on that. Jason also had some words of congratulations to Alyssa for opening up to them and it seems like he could take a page out of her book too. She also seems to have mad a new friend… with the enemy too it seems. How will that affect things going forward given she's also Oily Bill's daughter? I guess you'll have to find out.
So the character focuses are out of the way and it's time to wrap the Dr. Death overarching plot now. So thanks for reading and I'll catch you in the next one.
Next Chapter: Thanatos
Synopsis: When the Corporate Cops begin a crackdown on finding Dr. Death, the rangers also race against them to find the man who had been sending monsters against the two sides as part of his elusive 'tests' but are they ready for what they find? How will Callie factor into the Corporate King and Oily Bill's future plans to defeat the rangers? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Martial Strike.