Cosmic Squadron Stellarman Phase 24: Resurrection
Disclaimer: I do not own or make any claim of ownership upon the Super Sentai series, which belongs to Toei. Stellarman and its various characters are mine, and if you're interested in using any elements from it, just ask me.
Note: An information page with all kinds of awesome artwork of the characters and mecha is up now at Spectrum of Madness. Check it out.
Before Alex's sword could bite into the Truthbringer's shoulder the hourglass in his torso opened, emitting an explosive spray of sand. Caitlin ran and hurled herself out of its effective radius, her unprotected skin covered in red marks.
But as she looked up it didn't seem as if Dracon V's suits were doing much to protect them, either. They staggered back and forth letting out sounds of pain before falling to the ground, their battle suits fading away as they did.
"What did you do to them?" Caitlin yelled.
"Showed them how dangerous living in the past can be," the Truthbringer laughed. "That's why they named Prox Retro. Now they'll have to remember what life was like before they had special powers."
Caitlin looked down at her ring. Should she use it? She'd been hit by the same thing as the others, could she even evolve? And even if she could, could she put a fight against a Truthbringer all by herself?
"You know, I've never actually seen just how far I can push this…" Prox Retro said thoughtfully. "If I hit you all again maybe you'll turn into babies."
"Cosmic Evolution!" Caitlin yelled in reply. The familiar disc with Vulpecula's star at its center enveloped her, but the pain that had plagued her whenever she tried to channel Starlight didn't. Before the surprised Truthbringer had even registered that he had a new opponent StellarPink had laid him out with a one-two punch.
Awkwardly Prox Retro propped himself up on one elbow and spun his hourglass again. As a wave of sand erupted from the end but before it hit Pink she disappeared into thin air. A second later there was a soft crunching and a series of footprints appeared in the dust, leading over a hill.
He looked back over at the members of Dracon V, still flat on their backs from the full brunt of his reversion sand, and would've smirked if he'd been given a mouth. "They'll still be here in a minute…wait until Master Vayon hears I've finished off one of Stellarman!"
He took off in the direction of the footprints with long, thudding steps. In a second he was over the hill and went through a small pass between two low cliffs. The trail ended a short way in front of him, and StellarPink returned to visibility, kneeling in the sand and clutching one arm.
"What's the matter?" Prox Retro gloated. "Don't worry, one more hit and you won't even be able to remember what pain is."
"Or maybe you'll learn what pain really is," Pink retorted.
"What?"
There was a whistling sound overhead and then a large, dead tree on the top of one of the cliffs toppled onto Prox Retro, pinning the surprised monster beneath it. Pink held out her hand and caught the Arc Blader which turned visible again. She walked over and stabbed one point into the monster's chest as hard as she could. Prox Retro gasped in pain but Pink just twisted her weapon, widening the wound. Finally she yanked upward, slicing Prox Retro's head in half. The monster slumped groundward, and immediately the sensation of hot needles covered Pink's body. It was all she could do to will away her battle suit before she fell to her knees in pain. For real, this time.
With a sigh she peeled herself out of the sand and limped back to where they'd left Dracon V. As she came up a few were reverting back to normal from their own battle-ready selves. Alex looked up as he saw her return, a glint in his eyes that Caitlin hadn't seen too often but knew to mean respect.
"Our powers work again…either the monster was faking us out or you took care of him for us," he said.
Genny beamed and clapped her friend on the back. "She's always been good to have around."
Caitlin staggered. "Don't get used to it. I think when the monster shifted us back he just shifted me back to before my powers were killing me. They are again."
"All said, if Proxordo sent a monster we'd probably better be moving on before they find out he's dead and send another," Alex addressed the group. "Everybody up in the air."
The members of Dracon V split up and each ran for one of the parked dragons before climbing in. Genny jogged toward hers then turned and called over her shoulder. "Catie? Aren't you coming?"
Caitlin didn't answer.
Lupus loped between the burnt shells that had once been N. Armstrong University. Littered here and there were the forgotten corpses of a student or security guard who hadn't gotten out of the way quick enough from whatever had descended on the campus. As Daniel was about to get out, either to see if he could identify anyone or just to get a moment of relief from controlling Lupus, a huge flying shape zoomed past above and then wheeled around for another pass.
"Why are you guys following me?" he asked, annoyed.
"You think we got somewhere to go?" Cliff retorted.
"I thought you'd at least be following Bohdi. You got so much respect for him."
"I do," Cliff answered. "And that's why I gave him his space when he told me he wanted to be alone for a while."
"Cliff's right. About us having anyplace to go, anyway," Aki said, not quite calmly but without the energy that had marked nearly every sentenced Daniel had heard from her mouth. "I already checked my parents' place, it's been completely toasted. At least there weren't any bodies."
"And what about you, Cliff?" Daniel asked.
"Catie's doing that. I honestly don't think I care either way," he said simply.
"Were things really that bad at home?"
"Yes," Cliff replied with finality. "So where are you going?"
Daniel sighed and thought for a minute before he answered. "I was going to head up toward Georgia and see if it was just Cape Lombard, or if Vayon blew up everything. After that, I don't know. If you guys want I guess you can come too."
"There's no reason to stick around here," said Aki.
"For once we agree," Cliff added.
"Then let's go," Daniel said and pushed the throttle all the way forward. His arm ached but he ignored it with all his might. He had to see more. He had to know that those other teams that had appeared in their absence were managing something of a holdout against Proxordo. Certainly what he'd seen since arriving back on Earth didn't look like any Utopia he'd ever imagined.
Just above he could make out Aquila keeping pace with him, then something heavy landed on Lupus's back.
"The hell-"
"Hey, you guys have the fast ones. Cut me some slack," Aki said.
"It's kind of nice to cut loose with these things, even if it does hurt like blazes," Cliff gasped.
"Thrive on the pain, Cliff. Let it make you stronger," Daniel goaded him.
"You're gonna have to try harder than that to impress me!"
"Macho boy talk! Yawn!" Aki interrupted. "Do you guys even know where we're going?"
"Is one place really better than another at this point?" said Cliff. "Like…that place over there?" Aquila banked toward a collection of rectangular shapes on the horizon, obviously buildings, and Lupus leaned and turned as well. It only took him a second to see why Cliff had picked it. Striding among the outlines of buildings was a dark figure that loomed above even them.
"You realize if we try to fight like this, we could very well die just from trying," Daniel reminded him.
"Life isn't there for you to sit and watch, new kid," Cliff said with that familiar swagger of his.
"No…no it isn't," Daniel agreed, smiling a little despite himself.
"You two finally said something I can get behind," Aki said, and from her tone Daniel guessed that smirk of hers was back.
"I would've figured you were the one girl on the team who could talk to us neanderthals," Daniel replied, feeling himself loosening up and able to ignore the pain much more easily as instinct took over. Even if their powers were a strain, even if they did bicker and have their disagreements, it truly dawned on him for the first time that they were a team. They'd stuck it out this long as a unit, they'd do so until the bitter end, even as the world crumbled around them.
The Truthbringer spat a steady yellow beam from his mouth, tearing three houses to bits as the Ptolemic Machines pulled to a stop nearby. He turned toward them but the expression on the monstrous face lodged in his torso didn't change. His body was yellow but covered in plates of a brown chitin-like substance, and a row of spiky protuberances ran from the top of that face down his back. Speaking of his face it like a pudgy troll's with beady eyes, a pig-like nose and a cavernous mouth full of jagged teeth.
Aki recoiled. "What's that monster supposed to be?"
"Pissed?" Cliff ventured.
All at once the Truthbringer rolled itself into a ball and thundered toward them. The Ptolemic Machines scattered, the end of Lacerta's tail clipped off as it rumbled past. The Truthbringer rolled to its feet and as he did Aquila swooped down and clawed at its shoulders only to be batted aside like an insect. Daniel reached for the firing controls but as he pressed the button his arms seized up, sending a pathetic a flickering barrage of lasers spattered against the Truthbringer's back. With a lightning-fast movement he turned, slamming his foot into Lupus and knocking the robot wolf onto its back.
"Bas Eye!" Aki screamed to vent the pain of firing her own robot's weapon. Lacerta's eyes glowed and shot a pair of shimmering beams that penetrated a crack in the armor covering the Truthbringer's arm, making the appendage go limp. The Truthbringer grunted and reached out for Lacerta before Aki could work up the courage to ignore her pain and fire again, when a five-headed snake tackled him.
"Bohdi!" Cliff exclaimed.
There was no reply as the Truthbringer wrestled with Hydra and threw it away. Suddenly the tip of a shining blade jabbed through the monster's torso. A look of surprised crossed his face just before his body tumbled off the blade, which they could see was Monoceros's horn. The Truthbringer exploded as so many of Proxordo's freakish soldiers before him had.
"You okay, Bohdi?" Cliff called.
"If you wouldn't mind giving me a lift back to the Dome…I can't feel my arms."
"Sure man," Cliff sighed with unmistakable relief. "Maybe it's a good thing we left after all, though."
As the five Ptolemic Machines turned and headed back the way they'd come, small hunks of burnt debris were starting to crawl together…
As the Ptolemic Machines approached the entrance to Sol Dome's hangar a white and pink fox ran up and joined them.
"How's things at home?" Cliff asked.
"Nothing left. The yacht's gone, they probably tried to get away on that," Caitlin replied.
"Yeah, kind of expected that," Cliff said as the door opened and the robot brigade returned to their darkened storage space. Standing on the far side of the room, her eyes only glowing to life as they approached, was Valentine. She immediately jogged up as the first boarding ramp opened.
"You're back!" she shrieked.
"What were you doing there?" Bohdi asked, grimacing and rubbing his ears.
"Hoping you'd decide to come back. I had something I wanted to tell you before, but you seemed so distraught when you left I didn't want to add to your problems."
"Well what is it, Val?" Daniel asked with what patience his weary mind would allow.
"I…I…" She ground the toe of an artificial foot into the floor of the hangar. "I think I found a way to fix how your powers are hurting you."
"WHAT?"
"Don't get ahead of me!" Valentine cried defensively. "I think, that's all, and even if we went ahead with it, there would be side effects. That's a guarantee."
"Why didn't you say anything before?" Cliff asked, folding his arms in a distinctly put out fashion.
"Because there are other teams out there now doing what you used to have to do by yourselves. Because you'd already done and risked more than we felt we should've asked of you. And because, like I said, the process won't be without side effects of its own. Side effects you may not survive."
Daniel turned to face the rest of the team. "Guys, I'd like to ask you all a question."
"What's that, kid?" Aki asked.
"Why'd we all decide to come back?"
"Because I'll be damned if I end up living on another blasted dirt ball like Chahi," said Bohdi.
"This isn't a problem that'll go away unless we make it go away," Cliff answered.
Caitlin shook her head, then said, "Because on this team my kid brother's the only one who expects me to hold their hand all the time." Cliff shot a slightly sour look, but said nothing.
"Aki?" Daniel prompted the last member, who'd been looking away the entire time. She didn't reply right away. Instead he sighed, shook her head, clutched her forehead for a minute then opened her mouth.
"Because you guys are the closest thing I ever hard to people who can understand me. Plus, what've I got left besides this team? My school's gone, my family's missing…my whole world just disappeared while we were on Ikardaa. I could leave to go looking for my family and everybody else, but if I stayed I'd be doing more good for other people. And honestly, I'd be able to deal with all this a lot better if I kept hanging around you guys."
Daniel smiled, and the expression spread to the others within seconds. "Val, I think we're sticking around. And I think that also means we're willing to try out this solution of yours."
"Let's go, then," Valentine said without inflection.
Vayon clenched the haft of his staff as the Fire formed itself into a roiling cone around him. As always, shapes and images formed. Risen tearing furrows in streets and pouring hunts of crystal into the ground. Five dragons flying in a V over the ocean. Then he saw his latest Truthbringer, Prox Nemesis. Undying vengeance personified, truly a fearsome creature. But then Prox Nemesis's troll-like face distorted and he exploded as a unicorn impaled him through the torso.
Jagged hunks of the creature's body dragged themselves together, and in a flash the Truthbringer was reborn. He sported another pair of arms behind the first, and the spikes running down his back were twice as long.
Vayon smiled passively. He'd created so many Truthbringers, simply compressed the Fire of Truth hard enough with a virtue or vice in mind and something formidable was created. Just what he couldn't always be sure, and Prox Nemesis was truly one of the most powerful. If Stellarman thought they'd seen the last of that creature, they were in for a rude awakening.
The images changed. Vayon could see Kyle sleeping in a patchy tent in that empty lot on the fringes of what had once been called Cape Lombard. He awoke, a pleased look on that snide face of his. It wasn't just a look of pride, he had something in mind.
Mentally Vayon reached out to Prox Nemesis, placed an urge to head south toward the ruins of Cape Lombard in his simple mind. Even as he watched the visions in the sheets of Fire showed Kyle vanishing. If Kyle was up to something, perhaps he could help the delinquent along…
Bohdi was the first one to climb into the pod Valentine had appointed him. His clothes hung on a rail opposite the pod. Doing his best to respect Bohdi's privacy, Daniel stripped to the skin and climbed inside his own pod.
"So what exactly's gonna happen once we're in here?" Cliff asked, casting a sidelong glance at Daniel's pod.
"This will implant a kind of circuitry inside your bodies that will carry most of the Starlight you channel and in the process take the load off your own bodies. If I do say so myself, it also collects more Starlight than you do by yourselvesand transmits it more quickly," said Valentine. "You won't even need to use your cards anymore."
"That would be nice," said Daniel.
"But you said there might side effects," Caitlin reminded her.
"Well…the system might be a little too efficient," Valentine admitted. "It should allow you to use even more Starlight than you're used to, but you might end up calling on more than you expected. It'll take some getting used to."
"Kyle's been using his a lot longer than we have and it hasn't burn him out. Why do we need to get implants to use ours?" Aki grumbled as she climbed in anyway.
"He's had years to temper his body too," said Valentine. "You don't feel like waiting that long, do you?"
"We started this, let's finish it," Daniel said.
Valentine walked to a console and pressed a row of buttons. On the other side of the base Commander Thebes didn't even look up as the lights in her room went dark. A sweet-smelling gas filled the five pods and they heard a soft metallic clattering.
"When you guys wake up, Stellarman's going to be stronger than ever," was the last thing they heard before going under.
It was almost imperceptible at first. A dull ringing against the wall of Sol Dome. Within minutes a spot of white had formed on the side of what had been a laboratory. As it grew, a sulphurous smell filling the air as it grew to a man-sized orifice, through which dove StellarBurn. He rolled to his feet and looked around, taking in his empty surroundings.
"Looks like they closed this stupid place down without those stupid kids around," he murmured. He knocked the door off its track with a kick and ambled into the hallway. The lights were out, but on the inside of his visor he could see outlines of his surroundings. Vayon hadn't missed a thing with duplicating his old power suit.
"Let's see…was it this way or that way to the hangar?" He jogged off in the direction that felt right, shooting fireballs at any door in his way. As he followed distant instincts the doors started to get thicker. He reached one last security checkpoint and burned his way through, coming out into a vast room where two rows of giant animal-like shapes greeted him. Grinning triumphantly he started walking toward Monoceros.
"Who the hell let you in here?" said a tired voice.
"Oh yeah. If it isn't…what'd we call you, anyway? That's the one thing I'm still trying to remember," Burn jibed at her. "Thebes, that was it."
"How'd you find Sol Dome again?" she demanded. "Oh Thebes, you're probably thinking one of your precious kids accidentally led me here or something. Maybe your stupid mind wiper just didn't work as good as you hoped on someone like me. For a couple weeks I honestly didn't remember how I ended up back in juvie, but then it started creeping back. The suits, the monsters, the hot black-haired girl I used to work with. I had a general idea where I used to work, how it was laid out. Face it Thebes, your tricks just don't work on me. I've got more power than any of the dumb kids you've duped into doing your dirty work."
"You're not taking any of those machines, Kyle."
"Are you saying you'll stop me?"
"You're damn right I am."