Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; they belong to Saban.
Chapter 29: Living to Fight Another Day/End Game
They sat on the beach, staring out into the waves. Far enough from town that they couldn't hear the sirens. Only silence. Around them, a few patches of grass and shrubs were still smoldering from the sparks emitted from the fight, emitting a low haze around them. The surf broke on the beach, coming close to Troy's shoes, but he barely noticed it. His eyes were on the sky.
They were coming.
He wondered if his parents were okay. His dad was probably in the thick of the destruction downtown, running into some building threatening to fall on its foundation. It wouldn't matter that the whole of downtown could come crashing onto his head, Carter Grayson wouldn't quit until everyone was safe and there wasn't a breath left in him. And his mom…Dana Grayson would put her patients first. There would be no other option. He thought of Ernie, at the mall. Of Mr. Burley. Of Jordan, and Howie, and their other classmates from school. Where were they? Were they safe at home?
He blinked when he realized Emma had been calling his name, and he turned to face her. She was hugging her arms to her chest to keep warm in her pink t-shirt and jeans. A few cuts and bruises dotted the skin Troy could see. "Sorry," he apologized quietly. "Just thinking."
"I know," she replied. "I was just checking to see if you were still with us."
"More or less," he replied.
"Maybe not for much longer," Jake muttered under his breath. Gia hit him in the arm with a reproachful look, and he threw his hands in the air. "What? Look around. There's a massive alien army coming. There's only five of us." He looked at Troy. "Your family said that if it got to be too much we'd have help. So where's the help?" he demanded.
"We can do this," Troy told him, but honestly, he wasn't so sure anymore. Had his father ever felt this way? Totally overwhelmed? No idea what to do?
"Yeah, 'cause we're doing such a bang up job," Jake grumbled.
"Do you remember what you said the first day of school?" Emma asked Troy. He shook his head-that seemed so long ago. "Burley asked us what species would outlast all other species, and you said us. Humans."
He looked at her, wondering where the conversation was going. "Metal Alice said being human was our greatest weakness," she continued, turning so she was facing everyone. Robo Knight stood silently behind them. She didn't know if he was listening or not. "But I think it's our greatest asset."
"What do you mean, Emma?" Gia asked her best friend.
"We have hope," Emma said simply. "That sets us apart from anything else on the planet. We have hope that things can be better. That we can be better." She stood up and offered a hand to Troy. "We can do this," she repeated. "We will do this."
Troy stared at her hand for a moment. Then, he took it, and let Emma pull him to his feet. "She's right," he said, turning to Gia, Noah and Jake. "It's not over. Not while we're still standing here. For our families…our friends…we can't stop now." He turned his eyes back to the sky. "This is our planet!" he yelled. "Do you hear me? It's ours! And you can't have it!"
Robo Knight was standing. "Red Ranger," he said, alerting Troy. Troy looked at Robo Knight, then out into the water. Something was moving in the deeper water.
"I think they heard you," Gia told Troy, and he nodded.
"Good," he said, nodding firmly. Something streaked overhead with a low whine. A silvery ship. A ray burst from the bottom, and a platoon of loogies appeared on the beach ahead of them. Another ship flew overhead, and dropped some more. Out in the water, the first of the robots broke the surface. Silver and copper, with cylindrical bodies.
"There's so many," Noah whispered.
"Be ready for anything," Troy told his team. He pulled his morpher out. "Ready?"
"Ready," Emma replied instantly.
Gia nodded. "Let's do this."
Jake pulled out his power card. "We got this," he said, more to himself than anyone.
Noah clapped him on the shoulder. "Hell yes, we do." He grinned.
Troy returned the smile. "All right then. It's morphing time!" His suit appeared in a flash of light and he summoned both his sword and his blaster. "Get off our planet," he growled at the loogies, and with that, they attacked. Emma and Noah retreated to a higher point, and used the bowgun and the Phoenix Shot to snipe at the loogies from above. Jake and Gia worked in tandem with their rock-controlling powers, creating small earthquakes and rockslides to throw them off balance. The robots in the water loomed closer. Robo Knight was using the Vulcan Cannon to take out a few, but once they figured out he was firing at them, were returning fire, so he had to take cover. Troy dodged inbetween the loogies, cutting two with his sword, destroying three with blaster shots. He moved like a man possessed. "We have to get rid of these guys first, and then take out those robots!"
"They gotta go," Emma agreed over the comms, and she nailed a loogie dead center in the chest, knocking it into another, and Troy took them both out with his sword. They fell to the ground, where they were buried by an avalanche of rock that Gia pulled off the hillside.
A moment later, the beach was cleared, save for the incoming platoon. But to their surprise, at the last moment, the robots disappeared. "What the hell?" Gia asked.
"Did we win?" Jake asked hopefully.
"Not likely," Noah said. "Look!" He pointed. Above the rangers on the ledge stood Vrak, Metal Alice and the white samurai robot.
Vrak spoke first. "You are more resilient than we thought."
"Duh," Jake retorted. "You're just now figuring that out?"
"You'll have to be destroyed. It is no longer an option to keep you alive."
"Today is your last, Vrak!" Troy promised. "Ultra Mode!" He looked at his armored teammates, and Robo Knight. "This is it. Don't quit. Everything we have. This ends here."
"We're with you, Troy!" Jake told him.
Troy narrowed his eyes at Vrak. "All right then. Let's go Megaforce!"
He missed the smirk in Alice's face, the flash of blue in her eyes change to a slightly darker shade. Missed her saying, "Run, Rangers. Right into your destruction."
The rangers didn't bother to try to wear Vrak out first. Troy called for the Megaforce Blaster straight out of the gate, and they aimed it at Vrak, who wasn't bothering to move. "I have a bad feeling about this," Gia said.
"Why's he just standing there?"
"Too late now," Troy said. "Fire!" The Victory Charge leapt forth like it was alive, bearing down on Vrak.
Vrak absorbed the hit. The power surged into his cyborg body and disappeared. "What?" Troy gasped.
"No!" Emma cried.
A light glowed in Vrak's chest. It got brighter, and brighter, and then suddenly, it burst out, wrapping the rangers in their own charge. Troy couldn't see anything but light. But he felt it when his back hit the beach-without a suit. It hadn't just knocked them from Ultra Mode. It had knocked them completely out of morph. He hit the beach and rolled awkwardly over his shoulder, crashing into Jake who was sprawled behind him. Troy reached to grab for his morpher and picked up a smoldering, melted piece of metal.
"Our morphers!" Noah said. "They…they're useless!"
"Completely fried," Gia said, holding hers in front of her eyes.
She locked eyes with Troy. "What do we do?" she asked him.
"It's your last day, Red Ranger," Vrak tossed Troy's words back in his face.
"Now that you are powerless…mankind will fall to us," the white robot announced.
"Now would be a good time for Earth's defenders to give up," Metal Alice growled. She looked at the white robot. "Messenger, would you like the honors as the prince's envoy?"
"It would be my pleasure," he said, and his chest piece opened up, revealing the missile cache inside.
"We're sitting ducks," Noah whispered. "We're dead."
"Not. Today," Robo Knight said with a dangerous metal hum. Troy looked up in surprise to see Robo Knight standing in front of them, between them and the Messenger.
"You could have joined us, Robo Knight," the Messenger said. "But you chose to fight alongside them. You have sealed your fate."
Robo Knight turned to Troy. "Your morphers. Give them to me. Quickly."
"But they-they don't-" Robo Knight's eyes flashed dark red, and Troy handed over the melted piece of plastic.
Robo Knight pulled his Vulcan Cannon and quickly fired at the Messenger, catching him off guard. Troy handed over the rest of the morphers, and Robo Knight held them against his chest.
The Messenger fired a blast of energy, engulfing their robot ally. "No!" Troy screamed, getting to his knees. "Robo Knight!"
The blast knocked Robo Knight to his back. He fell, dead weight, to the sand. Troy scrambled on his hands and knees over to him as the others struggled to stand. Troy knelt over the robot. Robo Knight's eyes flickered. He moved his arm from his chest and a compartment popped open. Inside, Troy's morpher gleamed back at him. "I…" Troy pulled it out. It looked as good as new. "What did you do?" he asked Robo Knight.
The robot's eyes flickered, then sputtered to life. "I used my internal systems to power your morphers.
"Your internal systems?" Troy clarified. "But, I don't-"
"I do," Noah said quietly. "He used his internal processing to transfer his power to our morphers." He looked solemnly down at Robo Knight. "He's dying."
"Why, Robo Knight?" Troy asked. "Why would you do that?"
"Because," Robo Knight said. His mechanical voice was so low Troy almost missed the next words, "you are my friends."
His eyes flickered. "Take this," he said, holding up his blaster with his free hand.
Troy took the blaster and gripped the handle tightly. "I'll bring it back to you," he swore. He stood up and faced the Messenger. "You're going to pay for that," he hissed at him. In a flash, without even using his card, Troy morphed, straight to Ultra Mode. He stepped forward, leveling the blaster at the Messenger. He felt a rush of energy as the others morphed to stand beside him. "Ultra Dynamic Strike," he commanded, and the others assembled the Megaforce Blaster in Ultra Mode. Troy connected Robo Knight's blaster to it and stared down the barrel. "For Robo Knight," he whispered, and then, loudly, "Fire!"
The combined blast's kickback sent the rangers skidding backwards in the sand, and they dug their heels in to keep from falling. The Messenger exploded under the combined attack, falling to the beach in pieces and bolts. The special weapons vanished, leaving the rangers standing, still morphed, on the beach.
"Just enough for one final strike," Troy said. He turned. "Thanks Ro-" He stopped cold. Robo Knight's eyes were blank. "No. No!"
Ahead of them, Metal Alice gave a piercing yell. "No one is leaving this place today!" She attacked, leaving the rangers to scramble for cover. Troy drew his Dragon Sword, absolutely livid. Metal Alice was angry. And that would work to his advantage. She wasn't processing clearly. Troy stepped out in front of her. She swung at him wildly with a fist. Troy raked his Dragon Sword in a diagonal cut, from her shoulder to waist.
He heard Vrak give a muted cry as Metal Alice dropped to her knees. Then, she exploded in a fireball.
The sound that came from Vrak was unlike anything Troy had ever heard before. He turned to the rangers, his cyborg eyes flashing. "You will be destroyed. The Armada is coming. And you'll be overwhelmed." He lifted an arm, pointing a finger above their heads.
"As will you, my prince."
Troy's head jerked, and they turned to see the largest piece left of the Messenger-his head-was speaking. "Must be a backup program," Noah suggested.
"Your new body will be unrecognizable," the Messenger was telling Vrak. "Your family and the Armada will not know you. You should go into hiding, my Prince," he concluded.
With that, the head gave a final sputter, and went silent. Vrak stared at the head for a few moments, and then he turned to the rangers. Troy dropped into a defensive stance, unsure what he would do.
"If I can't do it myself, I take comfort knowing that you won't live much longer." Vrak lifted his head, and then without another word, disappeared.
Troy followed Vrak's eyes to the sky.
The sky was littered with Armada ships. There were so many of them that he could barely see what was left of the fading sun. In the water, more of the robots appeared, heading for the beach. Purple colored soldiers with silver helmets dropped out of the sky and onto the beach and walked mechanically toward them. Something exploded on their right, raining sand and rock.
"Run," Troy said, then, louder, "Run!"
Author's Note: Ladies and gentlemen...that's it for Power Rangers: Megaforce. We've reached the official/unofficial halfway point. Things to expect in the following half: lots of ranger cameos, plenty of inside jokes, some mad action, character building, great mentor to ranger talks...and much more! Thanks for reading/reviewing/lurking. :)
