Chapter Twenty Four: Faceting

This new creature was damned strong.

He had been forced to switch from his Turbo Powers to his regular Battle Armour after being thrown into one too many parked cars. To make matters slightly more difficult, Jabarkas had sent down a troop of Golems and they were hammering the area around them with their powerful blows. On top of that, his identity had been discovered by Liz's boyfriend who wouldn't be swayed by the threats of his girlfriend leaving him. It was almost as if the boy had been temporarily possessed by all of Steven Moss' greed and disregard for human emotions, but that would require him to be dead first and those sorts of miracles didn't happen too often. Snorting as he ducked under a chain swing from the creature that had yet to reveal its name, Weihan agreed that it was time to see how well he had progressed in the memory spell department.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other Crystal Rangers ploughing into the Golems with deadly force and accuracy. There was also some sort of lightshow happening and he hoped the strange Ranger was defending Emma, Tara and Michael. Summoning the Raptor Cannon, he sent three charged shots flying towards the monster and activated a 'boost' he hadn't used in a very, very long time. Time seemed to slow to a crawl around him as he continued to fire charged blast after charged blast at the monster at every possible angle he could think of. Only when he was confident that he had covered every escape route did he release his control of his speed. Ducking quickly to avoid being decapitated by a thick tree branch, he rolled along the ground and heard the roar of surprise emanate from the creature as it was peppered by charged bolts on all sides. Dismissing the cannon, he pulled out his Raptor Sabre and did a quick headcount on the HUD radar.

Liz and Bec had taken over from him and they were battling the monster with medium-range attacks. Liz wielded her Ivory Spear effectively and Bec's Ice Pistols were coating the creature in a thin layer of frost, making its movement slow and sluggish. Jorja, Phoebe and Daphne were making short work in turning the Golems around them to gravel and their reflexes had improved to almost Ultra Ranger-level agility. Slowly getting to his feet, he looked around to see if Jabarkas had come down to see the monster or if there were other Rangers coming in from the shadows. Much to his surprise, there were no sounds, sights or smells that were out of the ordinary…well, besides the strange crackles of lightning coming from the pub. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he would have said that…

The windows on the upper floor of the pub burst out as flames leapt into the cool night air. Clenching his teeth together, he spared one last look at the Crystal Rangers and ran toward the burning pub. As he came closer, he could hear the sounds of a single Ranger engaged in combat. Slowing slightly so he didn't tumble over, he rounded a corner and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw a member of the newest team of Rangers fighting in front of him. There were some similarities in the style used that likened it to being an offshoot of the Ninjetti Training Rachel was receiving on Phaedos, but it seemed to favour more outlandish moves and things that Ninjor would say were 'unneeded'.

The uniform was coloured a dark crimson and there was a strange symbol on the chest of the Ranger, almost like the horn of a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle. The next thing that was noticed was the seemingly random colour scheme of the rest of the uniform, including the strange gold shoulder-pads and belt. He didn't know who had thought grey mesh arms, black pants and gold forearm and fist coverings were a good idea, but whoever had designed the uniforms needed to be shot…or have their eyes checked. The gold even stretched up and around the visor on the helmet and extended to form a mini version of the chest insignia. He guessed it was to strike terror in the hearts of the enemy but he found it incredibly distracting and detracted from the whole image of the Ranger as an unstoppable force. Actually, if he were to be entirely honest with himself, the only things on the Ranger that actually were somewhat impressive were the Ninja-like helmet and the strange rod-like weapon he used.

Seeing one of the 'defeated' Golems suddenly rise up behind the Ranger, Weihan sprang into action. He barely registered the shouts from both Emma and Tara as he leapt over the wall and drew his Raptor Laser. This would require extremely precise and accurate targeting, but he knew he could trust in the Power to guide the shots. Pulling back the trigger, he allowed a thick blast of fiery energy to streak through the air – barely missing the Crimson Ranger's head – and impact against the 'neck' of the Golem. The high-energy projectile broke through the 'crust' of the Golem and flung it away from the Ranger…into a pile of gas heaters that had been put out for the cold nights. Groaning under his breath, he stowed his blaster and helped the bug Ranger with the remaining two Golems. As the last one crumbled under their attacks, he looked to one side as opened his mouth.

"What team are you from?"

"Uh…Ninja Storm in Blue Bay Harbour. Name's Hunter Bradley. I'm the Crimson Thunder Ranger."

Ninja Storm…well, it was good to always have a confirmation that there was a new Ranger team overseas. Even though the Ranger he had met wasn't the Red Ranger, Crimson was a shade of red anyway…or at least that was the BS that Eric kept spouting out. He looked behind him at the slowly dissolving body of the Golem and swallowed hard as his HUD warned him of an imminent explosion…that wasn't due to the gas tanks in the heaters but from the propane tanks inside the pub. Why a pub would have a propane tank was beyond his understanding, but they needed to act fast if they didn't want to get nuked. He lifted his left wrist to his helmet and activated the communicator.

"All right, we gotta get out of here quickly. This place is going to explode. Bree, can you lock onto the five of us and bring us in?"

"No problem. Ah also have the Crystal Dinozords on standby jus' in case."

He nodded and allowed the energy of the teleportation system to envelop his body. the moment his feet left the ground, he winced as he heard and saw the pub explode in a glowing sphere of light and flame. He hoped the pub was insured against monster attacks as if not…well, that was another thing the Rangers would be blamed for. Materialising in the Ultra Cavern, he took a quick moment to demorph and assess the situation. Bree was doing all right calling the shots for the Crystal Rangers and coming up with good tactical planning. He needed eyes and ears on the long-range scanners and Hunter…he would have to check in with his team at some stage.

"Emma, Tara, slide behind the long range scanners and see if there's anything else coming down. Hunter, you can use the Communication Console to communicate with your team mates."

The Thunder Ranger and the two potential Rangers slid behind their assigned stations and began working. He looked behind him at Michael Warwick, the Australian was openly gaping and in awe at the technology around him. Slowly, he registered Weihan's piercing gaze and turned towards him. The Orange Ranger pointed to a far corner that wasn't near anything vital and spoke in a low tone.

"You, stay in a corner and for the love of Christ, don't touch anything!"

Not bothering to see the boy go, Weihan rushed to Bree's station and ran his eyes over the readouts. From the looks of things, there was an obvious weak point of the monster that he hadn't noticed. In the centre of its chest, it looked like there was a ball of knots that every single chain was attached to. He would have kicked himself for not seeing it in the first place but, on the other hand, he had been quite busy trying to stay alive. Reaching over Bree, he tapped a few controls to bring up the real-time energy readouts of the Crystal Weapons. If the Tri Sai and the Tiger Shotels worked in the same way as his Crocodile Sais and the Sabre Claw, then they could shoot out a wave of energy when charged. He didn't know if the Ivory Spear was capable of an energy wave, but anything was really possible. They would need both Emma and Tara to join for the combined Blaster to be formed, even though the Zords of Liz, Bec and Jorja could create a Megazord or sorts. Actually, he wasn't really sure what to call it.

"Rangers, charge up your weapons and aim at the very centre of the creature. A combined energy wave attack should be enough to destroy it."

Nary was a grunt of acknowledgement received from the fighting Rangers, but they began charging their weapons with Grid Energy. That was another thing to mull over; thinking about where exactly the Crystal Rangers drew their powers from. It wouldn't be the Morphin Grid, even though their suits and powers were practically similar to the Morphin Rangers. It wouldn't really be the Ultra Grid either as the Crystal Rangers had yet to call on Assault or Hellfire Armours. However, the Crystal Coins had come from the Ultra Crystals but didn't seem to be drawing any power from them. Maybe, just maybe, it was a fine mix of the two…but that didn't make any sense either. A fine mix of the two Grids would produce Rangers that were extremely strong and had little to no weaknesses, much like the Ultra Rangers. Shaking his head, he watched five streams of charged energy lance out of the weapons of the Rangers and impact against the very centre of the monster's chest.

The fireball produced by the monster was stunning but was dwarfed in his recent memory by the explosion of the pub. He held his breath and waited for the energy glow to surround the monster…or the silver sphere to come rocketing from the heavens. A few seconds later, he saw a silver Growth Grenade plummet from the sky and explode a few metres above the flaming body of the monster. This would be the first test of the Crystal Dinozords of four Rangers. He turned to Bree and spoke three words.

"Send the Zords."

TBC…