In the woods surrounding the park, Tyler followed Fury at a safe distance, trying to be as quiet as possible. It wasn't the first time that he had to use a certain element of stealth on his journey to find his father. One of the things that quickly became apparent as he followed the clues left behind in his father's journals was that Dr Nevarro had gotten himself into some pretty interesting places. That is to say, on more than one occasion, when his search required it, he had to go places he was not meant to go. While he had on occasion found himself being ejected from places by security, law enforcement...sometimes even the MILITARY, he had pretty quickly learned how to move quietly and on some levels try to avoid being noticed.
Fury went further and further into the woods, much further than Tyler had expected to go. He had his suspicions why he was still wandering around, and hadn't simply returned to the ship as it seemed Sledge and his cronies had. However, the longer he followed him, the more it seemed like he was just walking around in circles.
Tyler started to get frustrated, thinking about this. It all seemed like a waste of time. All this time he was following Fury, while his friends were no doubt busy heading back to the Command Centre to figure out what they were going to do about Sledge, while he was here following Fury on what seemed like a wild goose chase.
Chase...that gave him a thought. Chase had called him on his decision to run off after Fury. He had told him that they needed to work together. He had heard from Keeper that he was meant to be some kind of leader, but right now, he wasn't leading much of anything. Chase seemed much more like a leader than him. Chase had done nothing but try and help bring the others into the team. He had worked hard to help them get used to their new responsibilities. In return, all Tyler had done was keep the fact that he had damaged Chase's property in a childish act of vandalism. He didn't deserve that, he deserved better from his team.
Tyler had finally had enough of this pointless pursuit and decided to bring it to an end, calling his Dino Sabre to his hand. He started to speed up a little, still keeping quiet, hoping to catch him unawares. Perhaps if he could take him by surprise and overpower him before he had a chance to fight back, this might not be a completely wasted endeavour. Perhaps he could strike a blow against Fury, taking out one of his generals, and in the process, perhaps even force some answers out of Fury about his dad.
As he got close though, he realised a fatal flaw in his plan. Fury stopped still and started sniffing the air. His fears were confirmed as Fury spoke.
"Wait, what is that stench?" He asked, starting to turn around. Tyler quickly took cover behind a nearby rock. "It smells almost...human."
Tyler could hear Fury coming closer, and gripped his Dino Sabre tightly. Fury was about to discover him. He had no doubt that he would have to fight. His heart started pounding, and he could feel adrenaline coursing through him as he focused on his anger, hoping to harness it to lend him strength. He didn't know if Fury was responsible for his father's disappearance or not, but it was far too much of a coincidence for him to believe he didn't at least know something about what had happened. He could see Fury's distinctive shadow coming over his cover, and prepared to strike. He stopped though as he heard something. Clearly Fury heard it too, since he seemed to move away.
"Fury! Come! Get over here!" Sledge commanded him. Tyler risked a peek over the edge of the boulder. Sledge and Wrench had indeed returned, or...perhaps they had never left! Either way, it was clear this was no chance meeting.
"Finally, I thought you were never going to return." Fury grumbled. "So, is your plan on schedule?"
"So far the Rangers are taking the bait, and leading Scrapper straight to their base!" He declared proudly. "They are more foolish than I thought if they believe I would show them such mercy unless it profited me."
"Soon Scrapper will be able to tell us exactly where their base is, and the Rangers will have no more value to us!" Wrench said gleefully. "They've already found half of the Energems. With their technology, we're bound to find the rest in no time...and there'll be no one left to stop us!"
Tyler felt ill as he heard this. He'd thought something seemed off with the battle. The Rangers hadn't just lost, they had been decimated! They hadn't broken off the battle and run, Sledge had more than enough opportunity to destroy them on the spot! He had let them go. He had said that he wanted to give them the opportunity to give up the Energems themselves, telling them he would destroy the planet if they didn't. Thinking about it now, his plan didn't make much sense. Presuming the Energems survived the Earth's destruction, it would leave him searching for them, tiny gems, spinning through the vastness of space! Now he realised that Sledge had no intention of letting them go. He had wanted them to go, so they would lead him right to their base, and to the means to find the other five Energems.
"He's going to destroy our base, and everyone along with it." Tyler whispered. He pulled out his communicator, trying desperately to hail the others to warn them, hoping he wasn't already too late. Maybe if he could raise them before they got to the base, he could get them to lead Scrapper away. "Kendall? Kendall? Chase?"
He naturally thought to communicate with them first. So far, he considered them to be leading the team. Unfortunately, he got no response. Checking the screen, he could see it was cracked, and all he could hear was static. It was clear his communicator was damaged in the battle. As Sledge and Fury left, he realised that left him with only one option. He got up; running as fast as he possibly could, praying he could reach the others before it was too late.
Back at the museum, Kendall worked feverishly as she tried to get the new upgrade ready. She'd been working on new weapons for a while, but in addition to them, she had been looking for a way to refine the suits, in order to maximise the output of the new weaponry without putting undue strain on the Rangers and putting them at any greater risk.
The new weapons were arrayed on the table before her as she made her final adjustments. Some sparks flew from the large, pink drill she was working on, burning her hand. She bit her lip to stop herself from swearing. It wasn't as though she wasn't used to the odd accident. She didn't have time to stop right now; it looked like she was just going to have to work through it.
She turned to the screen to her right, which was running simulations based on numerous equations, checking how the weapons should perform. She smiled as she saw that they were working within safe parameters. She knew a lot more work would need to be done to refine them, but they would serve them in battle, even if they did run a little rough.
"Chase, where are you?" She asked as she got onto the communicator.
"We're close; we should be there in a couple of minutes." He told her. "We could do with some good news right about now."
"Well, I have some of that." She replied as she got the first aid kit, starting to rub some after-burn cream into her hand. "Your upgrade is ready to go. It'll run a little rougher than I'd like, but it's ready to go. I just need your Dino Chargers to upload the program."
"Well, we're almost there." Chase told her. "Get things ready to go. We don't have a lot of time."
"Yeah, I kind of got that." Kendall answered as she cut the link. "I just hope it's enough."
Back on the streets, Tyler ran though the streets; using all the athletic ability he had to take short cuts on his desperate pursuit of his friends. He knew they already had a head start, and could only hope that he would get to them before it was too late. Every second he ran though, that hope was fading fast. As he got closer and closer to the museum, he knew that the odds of catching up to them were fading fast.
He arrived in the loading area of the museum just in time to see Chase swinging himself into the entrance. He was too late; the Rangers had already reached the Command Centre.
"Chase!" He called out, but the Black Ranger was too far away to hear him. He looked around just in time to see Scrapper firing a blast his way. He was barely fast enough to duck, narrowly missing being vaporised by the attack.
"Too late Red Ranger! The secret's out!" He told him, firing again to keep Tyler pinned down. "I can't wait to tell Sledge, he's going to set me free for sure!"
Tyler took cover, preparing to make his move, but he couldn't help thinking about what he had said. He was doing all this...to be released? He didn't want any kind of payment or reward; he was doing all this just so that Sledge would let him go? He couldn't help remembering Ice Age, and his ferocious battle with them, the way he fought to the bitter end when it was clear he was about to fail. Both of them had agreed to help Sledge to be let out, and Ice Age had been so desperate to be free, even his own destruction was preferable to returning to the ship. He had now experienced how powerful Sledge was, but now...he didn't even want to imagine his cruelty if his prisoners were willing to do anything just for the chance to be released! Now more than ever, he was certain that Sledge had no compassion, he would never have offered them the opportunity to leave with their lives if it didn't somehow benefit him.
He could only watch as Scrapper turned back into his claw mode and grabbed onto the back of a passing truck. He didn't just leave to return to Sledge. Of course! He would need a ship to get back to the prison ship! He still had time, but it was clear that he needed to move quickly if he was going to stop him in time. He jumped into his jeep and gunned the engine, heading off in pursuit. If he got back to Sledge, then everything was lost. He couldn't let that happen! He couldn't fail his team.
Meanwhile, the others got back to the lab, finding Kendall making the last few adjustments to her machine. They could all see the bandage on her hand.
"Kendall, are you...?"
"You don't work in science without the occasional mishap." She interrupted Chase. "Where's Tyler?"
"He went off after Fury." Chase told her. "I don't know where..."
"Never mind, we don't have time to worry about that." He told them. "Give me your Dino Chargers, now. I'll have to upload Tyler's later."
The Rangers all did as they were told, at which Kendall loaded them into a machine, and started working on a keyboard. They all saw the Dino Chargers starting to glow as she uploaded the new data into them.
As he stood close to her, Chase noticed something else about Kendall. He could see that some of her make-up had run. It was clear she had cleaned up a little, but she hadn't had time to do a great job of it. He knew it was just Kendall's way, that she liked to keep things impersonal and professional, but he could tell that she had shed some tears. He couldn't help smiling a little to see that. As much as she wanted to deny it, it was obvious Kendall cared about the team.
"I'm upgrading your Dino Chargers using the transmuter. Once the upload is complete, you'll be able to access Dino Steel Mode."
"Dino Steel?" Riley asked. "That sounds pretty awesome!"
"What is Dino Steel?" Koda asked. He brought up a display while they were waiting.
"It's a kind of additional layer of armour." She told them. "It provides a little extra protection, and also helps to power your unique weaponry. It's all here."
She showed them the table, which held their new weapons. The Rangers all started to inspect it, marvelling at the new arsenal.
"This is...this is pretty dope Ms Morgan!" Shelby complimented her, lifting the Tricera Drill, getting a feel for the weight, and imagining using it, giving it a couple of thrusts to practice.
"Now THIS is what I call firepower!" Chase agreed, picking up his Para Chopper. "I'd like to see those monsters shrug off the effects of this thing."
"Well, you'll all get the chance to try it out soon." Kendall assured them, pulling their Dino Chargers out of the transmuter and handing them back. "Now all we have to wait on is..."
Just then, they got an alarm. Kendall went to the computer, followed by the others.
"Wait, they're attacking now?" Riley asked. "It's not even been a whole hour!"
"I don't think the bad guys care about keeping their promises or fighting fair." Shelby sighed. "So, where are they?"
"That...doesn't make any sense." Kendall responded. "The attack, the energy blast...it originated right outside."
"Wait...what?" Chase answered. He hurriedly looked to the computer and saw that she was right. Kendall pulled up some security footage that showed Tyler arriving, before Scrapper fired his blast at him. Chase went very pale.
"Shit!" He muttered. "He...he must have followed us, he knows where we are!"
"That's why Sledge let us go. He didn't want to destroy us, he wanted to destroy EVERYTHING!" Riley concluded. "He wanted us to run right back here..."
"And we all fell for it!" Chase concluded.
"Guys, look!" Shelby called out, drawing them back to the footage. "He ran off, and Tyler's chasing him! He's going after that thing alone! We need to help him!"
"Well, it looks like we get to field test your new tech a lot sooner than expected." Chase commented. "We need to find..."
"Use your communicators." Kendall told them. "I've hacked into the anti-theft tracking system in Tyler's jeep, and routed the signal to your communicators. They should lead you right to him."
"You hacked into the tracker system?" Shelby asked. "Is that legal?"
"It's about as legal as running an unlicensed weapons manufacturing lab under a museum." Kendall replied. Shelby just nodded in understanding.
"Right...got you." She answered as they all filed out of the lab. Kendall turned back to her work, and started scouring the city, hoping to figure out where Tyler was heading.
On the road, Tyler followed Scrapper as he hopped from vehicle to vehicle, presumably heading for his ship. He arrived just in time as he saw him leap into what LOOKED like a pile of scrap, until it started to take off.
He knew he didn't have long, if the ship got airborne, then there was no way for him to pursue. He didn't have any options. He put the accelerator down, and ploughed his jeep straight into the ship. It spun away, colliding with a wall. Scrapper only just managed to jump clear before it exploded. Tyler got out, and surveyed the damage to his radiator and fender. He just sighed.
"My insurance company is NEVER going to believe this." He said bitterly, before morphing and turning back to Scrapper. He'd lucked out destroying his ship; he didn't want to give him another chance to get away.
"Hey!" He called out, loading a power cell into his Dino Blaster. "You owe me a new fender!"
Opening fire, he hoped to end it before Scrapper could regain his bearings. Unfortunately, before the shot could hit, Wrench leapt into the way, blocking the attack with his axe. It spun out of his hand from the force of the blow.
"Ow, that really stings!" He complained as he started shaking his hand out. Tyler looked on in astonishment at what he saw next.
"Are you...are you CRYING?" He asked. "Seriously? You start a fight, and then you cry when someone fights back?"
"You messed up our plans!" Scrapper snapped at him. "You destroyed the ship! Now I have to wait on Sledge sending another!"
"There's no way you're getting back to the ship!" Tyler told him, rushing towards him, pulling out his Dino Sabre. Wrench reclaimed his axe, heading to intercept. They fell upon each other in a vicious battle. Tyler quickly found out that appearances were deceptive though. This creature, despite actually crying when he took a hit, was still a formidable opponent. He sent Tyler flying, before Scrapper finished the job, raking him with his claw. Tyler hit the ground, his suit disappearing, and his strength completely spent.
He tried to get up, but his strength failed him as they approached. Wrench just stood over him with his axe at the ready, levelling it at his neck.
"Do you know how long it takes to rebuild one of those ships?" He asked him, bringing up the axe, ready to take Tyler's head from his shoulder. "Say goodbye!"
Wrench was blasted from his feet by some all too familiar power blasts. Tyler allowed himself a little smile, as everything faded into darkness and he fell to the ground unconscious.