Chapter Twenty One. Infiltrate
Previously On Poké Rangers Cosmo Force...
After meeting Zoma and enlisting his help in translating the map, the rangers returned to the Stronghold to use the archives. They went their separate ways, before the five cadets were attacked by one of Samedi's mercenaries, a Raikova. He beat them down with his electrical attacks, even beating the arriving Falco with relative ease. Payne managed to help them escape to Doctor Katongo's labs where the Psorian gave them the Delta Armour upgrade. They battled Sha again, this time managing to beat him with their new weapon..
"So, you see, Tanara," said the suited man, smiling at her. He was a dark skinned human, she was a Tentarcl, a Tentacruel-like Poké Alien. She had a humanoid body with light blue coloured rubbery skin, while her head was shaped like a miniature Tentacruel, the tentacles hanging down like hair. They were in one of the restaurants on the Stronghold, plenty of beings around . "I think it's a reasonable agreement."
"You'd preposition a diplomatic ambassador of Hyoori?" she asked, her tentacles forming into a smile. "That's brave. Tell me, what do you have upon my opponent?"
"You obviously want something about him," replied the man. "I can't help but wonder why you'd want to discredit such a fine political figure."
"I am not going to lie to you," she said. "I don't like Lucian Graimy. He's an annoying little parasite, one who thinks that he can usurp me from my position. If you've got dirt on him, I want to know it."
"Guess nothing really changes over time, huh," said the man, dryly. "No matter what the year, there's always scheming politicians trying to keep themselves in office."
"Hey, if he's done something illegal, then I think the voters should know about it," she replied. "Is the discrediting of an opponent really a bad thing if they've got something to hide. The fact that he's an opponent is just a by product, something unrelated completely to my way of thinking."
"Yeah, I would believe that if you hadn't already said that you didn't like him and he was trying to usurp you," said the man, smiling. "Now... Did I thank you for coming?"
"You did," she said. "Now speak!"
"I'm sorry, but all I can tell you is that Lucian Graimy is a fine upstanding politician. He's going to make a fine replacement for you," replied the man, as a younger Tentarcl, one in the Tentacool walked up to the table.
"What do you...?" Tanara demanded. "Jelf, what are you doing here?"
Rather than answer her, Jelf produced a blaster pistol and shot her twice through the head. She slumped to the table dead, before her aide dropped the weapon next to her, turned and ran off into the crowd. Nobody stopped him, too shocked by what had happened to react...
It seems like the end of time
Poké Rangers Cosmo Force logo appears in the starry sky.
Like something bad is coming.
It fades out to reveal the galaxy, filled with planets. The Stronghold appears in the background.
We're living in an unsafe world
Max appears in his quarters. Max Redwood. Red Cosmo Ranger. Created by Hotrod198.
The cracks are coming through.
Sandy appears in the computer room. Sandy Garcia. Blue Cosmo Ranger. Created by PikaFlash.
Darkness rising and falling
Lily appears in the combat arena. Lily Yushaa. Black Cosmo Ranger. Created by Cyborg-Lucario.
Means the universe is calling.
Nick appears in the engine room. Nick Miele. Green Cosmo Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles.
Poké Rangers: Cosmo Force.
Diana appears in the armoury. Diana Camerons. Yellow Cosmo Ranger. Created by PikaGod.
Nothing is quite as it seems
The five rangers morph into their ranger forms.
We're losing it all.
Falco appears in the cockpit. Peregrine 'Falco' Griote. Silver Mirror Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo.
We need a brand new salvation
Oblivings swarm across the screen in an army.
Something to save us...
The Night Hawk flies through the galaxy, panning to a shot of the crew through a window.
Poké Rangers: Cosmo Force.
The Cosmo Megazord and the Mirror Hawk Megazord appear on a planet.
From the stars and the distant past,
The rangers pose with their weapons, before firing them.
Come to conquer, you'll never last.
Poké Rangers Cosmo Force created by Blue Bongo. All rights reserved.
Cosmo Force!
"Okay, go!"
The five rangers, all wearing their new Delta Armour began to move at the command, walking towards the large hoarde of Oblivings stood ahead of them.
"Oblivings..." muttered Lily. "That's original. Can't we get something different and new for a change?"
"Apparently not," said Max, aiming his Cosmo Pulse Rifle at the crowd. "Either way, let's give them everything we've got. Treat them like any other foe."
The five weapons came up, all letting loose a stream of blaster fire into the crowd. As soon as the front line of Oblivings fell, more moved over to take their place, swarming towards the rangers.
"Guess we've got to get up close and physical," laughed Nick, as he ducked under a flying elbow strike from one of them, before back kicking it in the chest. "Just hope we don't have a blackout!"
"Hmmm..." said Sandy, battling two of the Oblivings at the same time. "Interesting observation. These suits may upgrade our strength, speed and durability, but..."
She kicked the closer one to her in the face to knock it out, before repeatedly punching the other.
"... They can't make Nick come out with good quips."
"Hey," he protested. "I resent that remark."
"Tough," said Diana, taking a break from tossing one of the Oblivings into a wall. "That's the way it falls. Like an Obliving. It falls like an Obliving."
"Apparently it afflicts Diana as well," mused the blue ranger. "How terrible."
"Okay, mouthy," said Diana. "Let's see you do better."
Shrugging, Sandy grabbed an Obliving by the throat and leg, spun and tossed it against a wall. Hard. "Playing some hardball."
"It might just be me," said Max, softly. "But, why are we having this debate about how can come out with the best quip after beating an Obliving senseless. Because..."
He spun and hit one with a Fire Punch, dispersing it into oblivion.
"... You do that, you're going to get burned."
Groans rang out around the battlefield, before the scenes surrounding them faded to white.
In the next moment, they were back in the training area of the Cosmo Force academy, their Psorian scientist stood watching them.
"Sorry about the lack of originality in the foes," said Doctor Katongo, apologetically. "But, it's actually been used as a training program for helping new recruits battle Oblivings. I couldn't make the adjustments in time."
"Ah, it's no problem," replied Sandy. "It's still proof that the Delta Armour appears to be working, so..."
"Yeah, I am satisfied with the results," said the Psorian. "Given the way you've beaten the simulation five times, I'm more than happy to sign off on it as working."
"Good!"
At that, everyone present turned to see Falco stood leaning against the wall in the corner of the room, a folder under his arm.
"If everything's in order, then I have an assignment for you," he remarked. "Something to pass the time until we can get into the archives."
"Cool," said Diana. "What is it?"
"I want you to investigate the death of a Hyoori diplomatic ambassador," said Falco, taking the file out from under his arm. "Tanara St. Coil."
Nick snickered at the name, forcing Lily to reach out and hit him on the arm. Predictably, Falco ignored him.
"I saw some of that this morning," said Max, quickly. "What's to investigate? Her aide shot her, didn't he? In a public place, hundreds of witnesses."
"I also saw that," Lily offered. "And obviously in better detail than you since he denies it. Claims to have been unconscious."
"Convenient excuse, huh?" asked Diana. "Okay, let's get this on. Makes a better way to spend our time than doing this."
"I'll let the five of you work out your own plan of action," said the Mirror Ranger. "In the meantime, I shall continue to negotiate for our use of the archives. I may need to go directly to the top in order to access the top secret sections."
"Straight to Galactic Executive Krengelore?" aske Sandy. "Cool. Give him our regards."
"I'll be sure to do that."
"Right," said Max, banging a fist on the table to help get his point across. "Here's the plan. We need to try and formulate what happened to St. Coil. Sandy, you and Nick can go to the scene of the crime, talk to any members of staff who saw it go down, Lily, you and I are going to head over and interview the assassin. Diana, you're to go over the witness statements, over every bit of information already gathered and see if you can spot any anomaly within the data."
"How come I get the really boring part?" asked the yellow ranger. "Surely I'd be better use elsewhere."
"I'm sure you could probably find a way to make it more interesting if you really thought about it," replied Max. "That's the most important part of the task. Go over all we have, everything Cosmo Force has. There's bound to be something in there."
"I'm not happy about this."
"You're not meant to be."
"So, he shot the ambassador, dropped the blaster and ran?" asked Nick, looking down at the table in question, a member of staff next to him and Sandy. "So, he'd be stood where I am, Cadet Garcia, can you sit down where the ambassador was sit so we can get a better view of it."
"What do you want me to do?" asked the staff member, a Typhig. "Sit where her companion was sat?"
"Yeah, sure, go for it," replied the green ranger, drawing out his Cosmo Blaster as Sandy sat down. "Don't worry, the safety's on."
"You shoot me in the face, you'll annoy me," warned Sandy, sarcastically. "Because..."
"Don't worry," offered the Typhig waiter. "If he shoots you, I'll testify against him, make sure he never sees the light of day again."
"Aww, isn't that sweet," said the blue ranger, smiling at him. "Anyway, what about her companion? What did they do when she was shot?"
"Screamed a bit, then called for some medical assistance and Cosmo Force. You probably don't need me to tell you that it was too late and she died."
"You are Jelf Iorkiss Bastworick Ranelli Piotr Francis Bellamy, correct?" asked Max, looking across at the Tentarcl across the table. "Former aide to Ambassador Tanara St. Coil?"
"You already know I am, I'm not talking on the grounds that you won't believe me," muttered the aide. "Look, I didn't shoot her. Why would I?"
"We're not here to discuss motive, you slimy little parasite!" snapped Lily. "We don't care why you did it, we know you did it. We've got witnesses, we've got visual evidence, we've got fingerprints on the weapon. We've got financial statements stating that you were paid a large amount of credits for an unknown piece of work. If you want to explain all that away, we're listening."
"Ah..." moaned the Tentarcl, his head dropping. "I knew that'd come back to bite me. I can explain away the credits."
"Start talking then," replied Max. "Unless you want to spend longer in here."
"Tax laws," said Jelf, quietly. "Not too long ago, the ambassador was paid a substantial sum for raising an issue up in the Council. However, she didn't want to declare it, knowing that she'd have to pay a sum of it to the proper authorities, as well as explaining how she came across it. So she split it up and divided it across her aides, on the proviso that we all paid her back gradually over a period of months. I'll plead guilty to aiding in fraud, but I didn't kill her."
"How do we know you didn't want to keep the money?" asked Lily. "Oldest motive in the galaxy for murder."
"Because she guarded against the possibility," replied Jelf. "If she did die in such a way, the money was designated to go straight to her surviving relatives. That was laid down in the contract signed with the bank. Maybe you should check her daughter out, her brother, her mother."
"We don't tell you how to do your job, don't tell us how to do ours," said Lily, angrily. "Honestly, that's a dumb way of killing someone. Better way would have been to take a sniper rifle, or a hover vehicle bomb or..."
"Lil, not relevant," said Max. "Don't tell him how to do his job... Never mind. Mr. Bellamy, can explain away the fact that literally hundreds of beings have seen you do the deed by now? Be it eye witnesses, or footage shown on the news."
"I can't believe it hasn't struck you yet that I might be being framed," muttered Jelf. "There's probably a desparate shapeshifter out there somewhere in need of money."
"Blame a shapeshifter," said Lily, shaking her head. "Here we go. Oldest excuse in the book."
The same thing was ocurring to Diana at about the same time. The idea that St. Coil had been murdered by someone other than her aide in her head, she went back across the notes, searching for anything that didn't quite line up.
What would have made it a lot easier was if the restaurant had an Automated Biological Scanner. But she was out of luck there.
And then a thought struck her, a distant memory making its way through the gloom of her mind.
"No way!" she whispered, not seeing the other four rangers coming back into the room. "No way!"
"What is it?" wondered Lily. "What's got you in such a tizz?"
"All of this is starting to look dangerously familiar," Diana muttered, looking across the notes in front of her. "Oh no! No! No! No! It can't be her!"
"What, what are you thinking?" asked Max. "Tell us."
"I think I know who it is," said Diana, her head dropping. "Mrekking hell, it can't be."
"Who?" asked Sandy. "Who do you think it is?"
"Someone I went to the Cosmo Force academy with," said Diana, softly. "Rina Vela-de-voir. Also known as..."
"Infiltra!" Nick exclaimed, letting out a whistle. "Man, that's not good."
"Infiltra?" asked Lily. "What's the story? And if she's so worried about it, how come you're not?"
"It's a legend of the Cosmo Force academy," said Sandy, softly. "Anyone who went there from an early age knows the story."
"Rub it in, why don't you," muttered Max. "I never heard anything about it."
"Me neither," said Lily. "Guess they must have missed it out at some point."
"Well, it is only a story," said Nick. "But..."
"Didn't you just hear me say that I was in the same classes as her?" asked Diana, harshly. "Man, you really need to listen."
"Okay, okay," conceded the green ranger. "I thought you were joking."
"You want to hear the story?" asked Diana, sarcastically. "I warn you, it contains strong language and scenes of a sexual nature."
"Why, you make out with her?" wondered Max, before flinching, wondering why he had said it.
She ignored him, before starting to speak, ready to tell her story.
"I was in the academy at the time, this you already know. We had just taken the regs class..."
She was referring to the class which taught aspiring cadets several aspects of the galactic law that they needed to know in order to work for Cosmo Force.
"... And we were bored. Me, I was bored, a couple of my friends were bored. And also bored was Rina."
"Nice that you're on first names with a professional killer," said Lily. "Nice one."
"I sure am, LILY!" retorted the yellow ranger, emphasising the name. The black ranger immediately got her point and shut up.
"Well, I looked around and there was Rina at the back of the room, hassling some of the younger cadets. She was in the same year as me, but there were some first years in there to 'observe' how the top students work. Supposedly an inspiring thing. How effective it is is open to debate. Anyway, Rina was really been cruel to them, the instructor, old Commandant Crady was out of the room. This was when he had the addiction to blue dust, although we didn't know that at the time."
She was referring to the revelation that one of the Cosmo Force academy instructors had been ingesting blue dust for several years, something that the Stronghold tabloids had really enjoyed revealing. Commandant Crady had eventually been forced to step down by the pressure forced upon him by the media.
"Like me, she's a shape shifter. Unlike me, she's part Mystigar, whereas I'm part human. When I knew her, she wasn't a powerful telekinetic warrior, but she was fast, strong and troublesome. That ability to change shape was also her real trump card. Anyway, she was trying to get some spare credits out of these younger cadets, anything of value really. Well, eventually, one of them tried to resist and she gave him a pretty brutal going over. Because of Rina's abilities, nobody really wanted to say anything. But, I don't know why I did it, I did. I told her to give up."
"That's our Diana," said Sandy, smiling. "Standing up for the little guy. Eventually."
"Anyway, she had a weapon on her," continued the yellow ranger. "Strict academy rules that trainee cadets aren't supposed to carry them. Well, you know, that's one of the things about graduating. You get issued your weapons, you get permission to carry them around in public with absolutely no consequences. Well, unless you let your Cosmo Blaster off into a group of children, then there's consequences, then you get the idea. She brought out her weapon and tried to stab me with it. We fought, were pretty well matched in the end as it'd turn out, we both held a decent knowledge of unarmed combat... I managed to disarm her. In the end, the fight was broken up by two or three of the instructors. There were a whole load of witnesses, I wasn't in any real trouble. Not as much as Rina was. She was kicked out and supposed to be locked away in Acathria for a few months as punishment. Yet, she escaped before she could serve her sentence. It later did become apparent that she resurfaced as an assassin. I encountered her while on an early mission in my career. I discovered she had taken the name Infiltra. Again, we fought. This time, she won. Put me in the medical bay for a few days. When I recovered, she had long gone. But from time to time, I heard stories about what she was getting up to. And here we are now. The Stronghold. Looks like she's struck out again."
"Wow," said Max, letting out a whistle. "That's quite a tale."
"You're not kidding," repplied Nick. "We have to get her. Imagine what that'll do for our reputation."
"How do you catch the uncatchable though?" asked Lily. "Her being an assassin is bad enough. Being a shape shifter makes her ten times more tricky. She could be anyone. Even you!"
She pointed at Diana.
"How do we know all that's true?"
"The story gets worse," replied the yellow ranger. "What really makes Infiltra so dangerous is that as part of her Mystigar lineage, she can absorb memories and abilities from those that she touches. Any attempt to counter her would be futile, we could arrange for code words and secret handshakes, but if she manages to get that information, it could be catastrophic. If we're going to try and deal with her this way, we're probably best treating each other as suspicious. If we put into place a code word, she got it and said it, we'd naturally lose all suspicion and be more vulnerable."
"That makes some sort of sense," said Sandy. "What's the plan? Go out and look for her?"
"What, a shape shifter?" asked Max. "You out of your mind? Even if she's still on the Stronghold, she could be in one of a thousand different forms. Even if we did see her, there's no guarantee she'd be in her actual appearance."
"He has a point," replied Diana. "Think about all we can do is play the waiting game."
"I hate the waiting game," muttered Lily.
"Might as well call it a day," said Max. "Let's get a few hours sleep, meet back here later and try to work out a better plan."
"I'm game for that," said Sandy. "It's been a long day. And what with spending most of it either being beaten up by a Raikova or testing out the Delta armour, we could do with the rest."
Diana didn't know what had awoken her. Back in her home, she realised she had fallen asleep atop the covers, still in her uniform. All she knew was that somewhere in the room, something had been knocked over. Almost on auto-pilot, she got up, picking up her Cosmo Blaster and slippping it into its holster, heading out of the bedroom of her apartment, the one she shared with her still-offworld roommate.
She walked into the living room, seeing what had fallen almost immediately. A vase had shattered across the carpet, dust from within everywhere. She hadn't realised just how long it had been since anyone had lived here.
It was then that Diana saw her stood across the room, a pink skinned Gardevoir-like Poké Alien wearing a set of blue battle armour complete with a cape in the same colour.
"Hello, Rina," she said, softly. "Long time no see."
"You knew it was me," the assassin replied, dryly. "I'm most impressed."
"Why are you here?" asked Diana. Her hand fell to the Cosmo Blaster at her waist, ready to bring it up and blast her if the worst came to the worst. "Take it you're not making a house call."
"I'm not a doctor," she said, dryly. "What, can't I stop by and visit an old friend?"
"Of course you can," replied Diana. "Why don't you go and see them then."
"Oh ha ha," answered the assassin. "That's funny. That's really funny. You're a funny girl, Diana. Heard you were back on the Stronghold and couldn't resist."
"You shot Tanara St. Coil, didn't you," the yellow ranger said, her voice accusing. "Who asked you to do that."
"Sorry," replied Infiltra. "Never heard the name before it was all over the news."
"You're lying!"
"Prove it."
In reaction, Diana brought free the Cosmo Blaster from her waist, moving to fire at the intruder. Before she could get it up, Infiltra tore forward and punched the weapon up into the air, the shot slamming into the ceiling. She then kicked out and knocked Diana to her knees, moving then to hold her down, both hands on her throat.
"I once told you that you wouldn't get anywhere in life. Still no match for me," she taunted, running a hand across Diana's shoulders, her fingers dancing across the lightly gelatinous skin. "I still think I was right. You... You're a slave to the whims of your superiors. Me, I'm a free spirit, I go where I want. Good girls do finish last in this life. When I'm retired to Nagrant to enjoy life, you'll still be doing the thankless task of policing this galaxy. Who's the real sucker here?"
"Hey, I'm proud to do what I do!"
"Can I ask you a question?" asked Infiltra. "You hate me because I'm a thief, a murderer and many other things that might stick if you throw them at me. On the other hand, Max Redwood was a thief before he became a Cadet. Lily Yushaa... Well, if she'd carried on the way she was going, I believe she'd be a serious rival to my title as Galaxy's Greatest Assassin. You associate with those two, yet I'm a contagion. Double standards, my dear. Double standards."
"Redemption is a funny thing."
"Funny. If you murder once, you're a murderer for life," retorted the assassin. "Hell, how is what I do any different from what you do? You Cosmo Force Cadets shoot enough beings in the line of duty. We're both doing it for a cause, the difference is mine is for my own."
"Which is the reason I'm obliged to stop you," said Diana. "For the record... I'm not sorry."
She brought her morpher up, activating it with a shout. "Cosmosis!"
The energy erupted from the device, transforming her into her ranger suit. The sudden burst of power was too much for Infiltra to hope down, Diana sprang up, spun and kicked her in the chest. She let out a hiss of pain and slashed out with her fist, hitting the yellow ranger in the face. In response, Diana jumped up and hit her with a flying kick, the blow forcing her back towards the window.
"Think I'm going to end up paying for this," she muttered, before throwing another kick at her opponent. Infiltra crashed against the window, before being hit again, the two of them crashing through it out onto the plaza outside.
Infiltra had come out of it better than Diana had, transforming into a Sleepbear to avoid being badly hurt by the fall. She moved back into her regular appearance, immediately grabbing the yellow ranger up by the throat and tossing her against the wall. Grunting in pain, Diana kicked back, landing a blow into Infiltra's stomach. The power behind it was enough to stagger her slightly, causing her to double over in pain.
"How do you like that?"
"Barely felt it!" retorted the assassin, summoning up a ball of telekinetic energy and zapping her. As Diana was again thrown back, this time landing on her back in the middle of the street, the yellow ranger realised that it wasn't going to work.
"All right," she said, angrily picking herself up. "You want to play rough? Delta Force! Initiate Attack Mode!"
Diana's ranger suit turned a lighter shade of yellow, the number five on her chest melting away into one long streak of black down the middle of her armour. A small electric insignia appeared across the upper right side of her chest, while a white and black stripe appeared across each arm of her new armour. The boots and gloves turned black, while the Ditto helmet shifted away to be replaced with that of a Galvantula. Twin blasts of electricity erupted from her shoulders before solidifying into a curve. Her Cosmo Pulse Rifle appeared in her hands.
"Unimpressive," retorted the assassin. "Is this how you seek to beat me, Diana? Fancy armour and cadet combat moves which I have long since passed the need to use."
"Let's find out then, shall we?" the yellow ranger demanded, pointing her Cosmo Pulse Rifle at Infiltra. "Want to try me?"
She fired, sending a blast of energy towards her opponent who teleported away, reappearing several feet to the left. "Telling you, you're going to have to try harder to hit me than doing that."
"Okay, I concede," she admitted, putting the weapon away. "Let's do it then. You think you're better than me…"
"I know I'm better than you," the assassin retorted, sarcastically.
"… Prove it!"
At that, Infiltra tore forward, teleporting through the air to appear in front of the yellow ranger, moving to hit her with a telekinesis backed punch. Had she been in her regular form, or even her regular ranger suit, Diana wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.
Yet, her Delta Armour changed that. She managed to get up both hands and grab the wrist, stopping Infiltra's blow in its tracks. The assassin's eyes widened, the reaction increasing as Diana kicked her in the side before twisting her to the ground, landing her on her back.
"Okay," Infiltra conceded, again teleporting away. "I tell you what. You've got some skills. Let me go, we'll call it even and I won't have to put you down."
"You know, Rina," said Diana, thoughtfully. "I've got to give you credit. I never thought you could surprise me as you just have. I thought there wasn't any way that you could still be as arrogant as you were back in the academy."
"And you're still as sarcastically bitchy as ever. Maybe we just don't change."
At that, Infiltra punched her in the side, twice, her attack powered with a burst of psychic energy, Diana was thrown away from her, her body smashing against one of the walls of her apartment building. "Maybe you should have taken that offer, love."
Ahead of the downed yellow ranger, Infiltra turned to run, teleporting away several feet at a time.
"You're not getting away that easily," muttered Diana, tapping the side of her helmet. Her visor activated, locking in on the trail of teleportation energy, rendering it into a visible path in front of her. "Thanks for this ability, Doc."
Getting to her feet, she began to follow the trail, activating her communication device. "Hey, guys, you awake yet? I've got a lock on her…"
"Okay, where is she?" asked Max, the other four rangers morphed and following Diana. She had morphed out of her Delta Armour by this point, back in her regular ranger suit. "You see her anywhere?"
"Just the trail," answered the yellow ranger. "It's going cold, I think she's stopped here somewhere. Maybe it's her hideout."
Nick looked around the warehouse, letting out a snort as he surveyed it. "You'd think a galactically famous assassin would have a better place to lay low than this damn hole," he remarked. "Like a penthouse in one of the big hotels or something."
"Bit conspicuous, isn't it," said Lily. "It's not really going to happen, the staff could see her and… It's just struck me that that wouldn't make a difference since she's a shape changer."
"Exactly," replied Diana. "Either way, I don't think this is her hideout to be honest. More some place that she ran to in an attempt to escape from us."
"Have I mentioned how much this job can irritate me at times?" wondered Sandy. "Is the floor going to collapse below us? Is she going to open fire from some hidden space, or is she going to throw a quantum grenade at us? All in all, there's just one big bag of fun with how she can take us out before we even see her."
"Yeah, but there's five of us," said Nick, confidently. "And one of her. Add Falco into the mix when he gets over here and I think we can toast that assassin a new shell."
"That makes no sense," pointed out Lily. "Half breeds don't have shells. Unless one of their parents was something that did have a shell, but that's just common sense."
Shrugging, Max continued to walk forward, suddenly feeling something below his feet. The ground sinking in beneath his boot, the meaning immediately hit him. "Uh oh," he groaned, his head dropping. "Guys…"
A stream of electrical energy raced through the floor, the blast sending all five rangers down to the ground, the blast coursing through their bodies.
Ahead of them, they saw Infiltra laughing at them, a remote in her hand. "Ah, congratulations, Red Ranger. You've proven yourself to be completely vital to my plan of escape. When you've recovered the feeling in your limbs, you might want to applaud my efforts. I know I'd want you to do that.
Seeing them still unable to move, the assassin turned to flee, confident that she would escape...
"Mirror Wing!"
... Only for Falco, morphed into the Mirror Ranger suit, to slam his weapon into her face and knock her onto her back, gasping for breath.
"You're messing with the wrong space station," he warned. "Rina Vela-de-voir. You are under arrest for countless acts of murder, resisting arrest, assault of a Cosmo Force cadet, identity theft..."
"Yeah yeah," she said, dryly. "And those are my good points. Can I just tell you that you're not going to take me alive. Ever."
Moving a hand down to her waist, she plucked a silver device from somewhere and punched down a button upon it, laughing as she did so. "Enjoy my backup plan, Cadets!"
Teleporting away, the sound of crashing metal emerged outside the warehouse, almost as if something large and heavy was making its way towards them.
"Let me guess…" said Sandy, dryly. "Only one thing that's going to be."
As they ran outside, they saw the mechanoid towering above them, resembling an Emboar with the head of a Gardevoir and the tail of a Smeargle. In front of them, they could see Infiltra waiting for them, a huge smile upon her face.
"This is your end, rangers," she chortled. "I bought this thing long ago in anticipation of this moment."
She teleported away, reappearing within the mechanoid. "Time for you to feel my full wrath, rangers!"
"Where do they pull these things from?" wondered Diana. "Either way, think we should break out the heavy artillery?"
"Oh yeah," said Max. "That's exactly what we need. Cosmo Fighter power!"
Swooping down from the sky above them, the Cosmo Fighters arrived on the scene, the automated transport systems bringing the rangers on board. In response to their arrival, the morph drives activated, transforming the Cosmo Fighter into their Zord forms.
"Activating morph drive 2.0. Cosmo Megazord formation!"
In response to the command, the five Zords began to change. The Infernape Zord's legs and arms tucked in to form a torso, all while the Grovyle split into two to form a pair of legs which attached to the bottom of the Infernape Zord. Both the Porygon and the Mightyena Zords moved up to form arms that became attached to the shoulders, the Porygon on the right, the Mightyena on the left. Finally, the Ditto Zord moved up to the top of the machine and covered the Infernape head to form an entirely new facial structure.
"Let's get her!" yelled Diana, the giant robot moving forward towards Infiltra's mechanoid. "I've got a huge bone to pick with her!"
The Cosmo Megazord moved forward, punching Infiltra's mechanoid in the body. In retaliation, it punched them back, before striking with its tail. Sparks rose up from the scrape of metal against metal.
"That's loud!" complained Sandy. "I'm all for slowing it down a little. Cyber Pulse!"
At that, the Porygon arm came up, shooting a blue energy beam into Infiltra's mechanoid, slowing it down. Yet it didn't stop, still moving towards them.
"That didn't work," commented Diana. "Guess we go to plan B."
"We have a plan B?" wondered Max. "Go for it then."
"Giga Slam!" commanded the yellow ranger, punching a button in front of her. The Cosmo Megazord tore forward, lowering its head to slam the blow into the mechanoid, yet down to the huge bulk of the Emboar body it didn't take much damage.
"You know what we could do with," said Nick. "Some sort of attacks that are effective against this things typing.
Down below them, Falco looked to the sky and gave the command. "I summon the Night Hawk!"
Far away in the docking bay, the ship rose up from the securings, directed by Techno 9 and began to fly through the Stronghold, homing in on the battlefield.
As the Night Hawk came swooping down out of the sky, the Mirror Ranger leaped up to get into the cockpit. Reaching down to a pad, he keyed in a code, pushing the numbers four, eight, seven and one, the input bringing the console to life.
"Activating morph drive! Mirror Hawk Megazord!"
Responding to the command, the Night Hawk transformed into a mechanical Pidgeot. Soaring through the air, the Pidgeot began to change, the face moving forward to balance on the body, revealing a new humanoid face ahead of the Pidgeot crest. The legs moved down to the rear of the figure, combining with the tail feathers to create legs. The wings stayed where they were, while a pair of arms emerged from the body, the talons from the feet moving up to attach to the end of the hands. The transformation complete, the Mirror Hawk Megazord landed on the ground.
Inside her mechanoid, Infiltra cursed several times, annoyed at the arrival of the new threat. "You won't take me in. I promise you that!"
"That remains to be seen," replied Falco. "Air Slash!"
The talons upon the Mirror Hawk Megazord swept out, digging deep into the body of Infiltra's mechanoid. Huge gashes were left within the body, gaping wounds across metal.
"She's all yours, Cadets," called the Mirror Ranger, clearing his throat. "Let's take her in."
"Right!" yelled Diana. "Star Blade! Now!"
At the yellow ranger's order, the huge sword appeared in the hands of the Cosmo Megazord, the weapon swiping out three times to hack away an arm and half the head of the enemy robot.
"Think this might be the time for a cutting taunt?" wondered Diana. "Or if nothing else, probably just the Star Blade Assault."
As the weapon began to glow with a sheen of white energy, a stream of purple energy erupted from the mechanoid and vanished far away into the distance. Before anyone could question it, the Star Blade came up and struck out five times, obliterating it in a storm of fire and metal.
The remains hit the ground, yet no card appeared, nothing signalling that Infiltra had been captured. It was Falco who voiced the thought first, saying what all of them were thinking.
"She got out," he said simply. "Teleported on out of there before your attack, meaning she escaped. Could be anywhere by now, we're not going to get her back."
"Damnit!" Diana yelled, punching the console in her cockpit. "Can't believe that, we were so close to getting her!"
"Calm down Cadet Camerons," said Falco. "It's not your fault, you all did stellar work to try and take her in. None of you are to blame for her escaping. We'll have to forget about it and move along, take away what we've learned here and hope that we'll get another shot at her in the future."
"Well, it's a relief to have her out of the way for the moment," said Sandy, the five rangers walking through the Stronghold towards the archives. "Even if we didn't take her down, then at least she's probably not going to come back here for a while. If ever… How long do you think Infiltra will live for? Naturally, I mean?"
"Don't know," replied Diana. "Formshifters do live longer than some species throughout the galaxy. Half breed Formshifters… Depends on what their other half is. For example, I consulted a doctor about this, provided I'm not KIA for Cosmo Force…"
"Like the odds of that happening," muttered Lily. "Ten percent of Cosmo Force Cadets will be injured or worse in the line of duty. It's a statistic."
"I'm sure you just made that up on the spot," commented Max. "We all know that's not true."
"… Provided I'm not KIA, I'll live the average life length of an ordinary human. Sucks, but what can you do?"
"Diana, can I ask you something?" said Nick. "What's to stop you living even longer by shifting into a younger form and stopping yourself from dying that way?"
"Can't," she answered. "I imagine that someone thought of that before, but it doesn't work. Even if the body stays young, the mind ages just the same. After a certain point, it'll just… Fizzle out and die. And everyone with the ability to change shape would like to die in their own form."
"Oh, thought it'd be something like that," Nick remarked. "Obviously you wouldn't be able to live forever, otherwise this place would be overloaded with them. Just wondering."
"And is there anything wrong with the idea of Formshifters living forever and overloading the place?" asked Diana, inquisitively. "If there is, please let me know and then I can beat you with the racist stick."
"You have a racist stick?" wondered Max. "That's cool. You beat someone with it and it calls them names? That's awesome."
"I'm pretty sure you know what I meant," said Diana. "Anyway, we're here. We've not captured Infiltra, we've got a task to do now, one that Falco probably intends for us to do to the best of our ability."
"I know," said Sandy, looking up at the archive building. "We need to find the planets on those charts and go there."
"All so we can see what it is that's so special about them," mused Lily. "Hope it's going to be more interesting than it sounds."
Author's Notes.
Think we all hope that.
Infiltra... Remember her? Huh? It's been a long long time. And you have to wonder about the canon of her past appearances now. Or do I have a plan?
Anyway, sorry about the delay, I've had writer's block. And other things on my mind.
Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.
The next one? Well, I'm going to be honest, I've cut the season down from forty episodes to thirty two. So, this is over the half way point, there's eleven episodes left after this. Plus two movies, the first of which will be started in about five chapters. So something to look forward to.
And the next one is entitled Ice. Pretty simple, but effective. Preview below.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Don't forget to review! Please!
Chapter Twenty Two, Ice, preview.
Nick: I never want to see another star chart as long as I live.
Golde: Approaching Smaltempra, we'll hit it in half an hour.
Lily: You may mock the fur, but I'm not the one who's cold. So there!
Diana: Ooh, she has a point. That is warm.
Max: That's impossible.
Sandy: Who would build something like that?
Falco: This is going to get rough, Rangers. Prepare to fight!
Coming soon!