Occult Metalmorphoses
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the author created characters and concepts. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming and SA June for their OC's used in this fic.
Black… everything was black. Tranquil, for how long now? Years? Decades? Centuries? No… Far longer. I don't hear the song now. Mother is gone and all I am left with is the cold. The Blackness… the being entrenched within the lake bed of Numin thought as it began to rouse from its immeasurably long slumber. The Waves shift, the Beast in the sea is calmed but awakens me and now… I hunger.
Steadily, the grey creature buried deep beneath the water began to move its ancient body, soon bringing the water into a violent swirling vortex as it lashed out more aggressively, rising through the churning waters until at last.
The air… this scent, so familiar but so strange… How much has changed since my slumber? The beast observed as it burst through the surface of the water and took the first real breath it had taken since entering the prolonged hibernation.
Rising several meters into the air, the creature was colossal in size. Around three times the size of the Leviathan that had roused it, with skin covered in thick sickly grey scales and an almost serpentine body from which four muscular legs with three razor sharp black claws sprouted from the front of each while a single claw rested on the hind as support. Unlike the hind legs, the forelegs appeared to have opposable joints as it exercised them open and shut in rapid movements. Arching out from the back of this creature were two large crescenting wings of leathery skin spreading across an arching skeletal frame while its spine was lined with a row of spiking bones. The head of this creature was most certainly frightening. Like the Leviathan it was evidently draconic, yet unlike the similar creature, there was little trace of Serpentine features beyond that associated with draconic traits. Sporting a row of strong worn and pitch black teeth, the inside of the creature's mouth also bore the sickly grey tone the rest of its body had. A broken off horn rested between its breathing nostrils. As the colossal wings in its back beat heavily to keep it afloat in the air, the pitch black eyes flickered and it looked to the moon. With the reflected light glistening off of the still somewhat choppy water, there was now enough light to see the most striking feature of this ancient creature. Spreading like a blight across its body, a black network of veins that had looked to have crawled across the scales was now visible in the soft glow of the moonlight.
The Moon. It thought as it looked up, the creature's thoughts turning to appreciate the marvel of the lunar satellite So beautiful… If only I could… No. I must sate myself first, grow stronger, until then I will never reach it. It will never be mine. So first… The creature turned its attention to the nearby City of Numin, radiating from the lights spread throughout and catching the creature's attention. What beauty. Could a lesser species truly create something so grand… So delicious? I must investigate. It finally decided as the Colossal being beat its wings several times as it took a short flight to the water's edge where something even more resplendent than the moon or nearby City happened.
The Creature radiated with a silvery light as it took the form of energy, losing its shape and descending to the ground below. In but a few moments the creature reformed into what strangely appeared like a human man, fully clothed in a set of ragged grey robes and taking the visage of a middle aged man. The only features that stuck and hinted at his otherworldly nature was the blackened veins sprawling across his body and the two pitch black eyes resting in his sockets. The creature curled its lips into a hungry smile and opened its mouth, speaking in some ancient language, long lost to many of the beings of the modern worlds. "Now, let's see if these lesser beings are ready to feed a hungry Dragon."
[Occult Circle]
It was another cold December day in Numin and while it was a weekend and Joe had no particular plans of leaving his home that day, he quickly tossed on a red knit sweater as he made his way from the cosy lounge to the front door to answer the summons of the doorbell. He wasn't expecting anyone, maybe it was a visitor for Gabriel. Or at least he hoped so, after the stressful events of the previous day, he really didn't want to deal with anything else for the weekend, whether that be matters of the Occult or his own personal life.
Hesitantly, he opened the door to find a man. Completely unassuming, his hair was clean cut and blonde, he wore a navy blue suit and a red tie underneath a thick navy blue overcoat. Come to think of it, his features were remarkably similar to Gabriel's, a relative? Joe's thoughts would have to wait as the man gave a pleasant smile before speaking up. "Hi there, is Gabriel in? He does still live here right?"
Despite his pleasantness, Joe felt a little uneasy about him but that could just be because he was a stranger. As far as he knew, Gabriel didn't associate with anyone either and due to his background in Occult studies, something suggested to Joe that this man had intentions other than visiting.
"Uh yeah, he's upstairs in his study, head on in." Joe replied, making way for the man to enter.
As the man made his way in, he halted at the foot of the stairway. "Gabe didn't tell me he'd got a kid with him now. Interesting. What's your name?"
Joe was caught by surprise at the man's sudden interest in him as he turned around to face the man again. "Joe." He replied quickly.
"Nice to meet you Joe. I'm not surprised if Gabe hasn't mentioned me. He doesn't like talking about his younger brother much I guess. You can call me Damien." He introduced himself as he headed up the stairway to meet with his sibling.
Younger brother, why didn't he ever mention him? Joe thought as he gave a sigh of relief, at least trouble hadn't come to his doorstep again. Though for now things were calm, it was perhaps a sign of the storm of a monster that was about to hit.
While the red ranger returned to his leisurely activities, upstairs, Damien knocked lightly at the door of Gabriel's study before entering. Stepping inside, he found the teacher sat at the desk by the window, reading through a tome littered with archaic symbols and texts from beyond the Earthly realm.
"You've still got your head in the books I see." Damien said, catching the mentor's attention as he set aside the book and gave the man a surprised look.
"Damien? You usually call before you stop by, is something up?" Gabriel asked, standing up and making his way over to him.
"Can't a brother make a surprise visit? So you've got a kid with you, that's new. He doesn't look like much, you didn't make a mistake did you?"
Gabriel scratched the back of his head and gave a shrug. "Mistake?"
"You know what I mean, the Sigil ring, so what is he? If you've given away the Sigil rings, that means this' the real deal or at least you think. I need to know if you've put them in capable hands." Damien elaborated for his brother.
Gabriel tensed up. "I'm certain, you know as well as I do who leads the Cult. That's enough alarm for me to give out the rings. I met Joe while I was outside one day, in a twist of fate. He was almost dead and I took him back here to clean him up and hopefully save his life, but that's when his wounds healed and found he was an Immortal. That's when I knew things were real."
"So you mean he's the only one that can prevent Skuros' goals." Damien deducted, seeming just as educated as Gabriel in the affairs of the Supernatural realms.
"Yeah… Since he's the only other Immortal left, he's the only person that could kill Skuros before he can accomplish what he's set out to do. But he's not strong enough to stop a Dark Angel, he's more likely to be killed by Skuros in a one on one fight." Gabriel said with a grim look on his face.
"You haven't told him, or the other ring bearers?"
"No, not yet. I can't bring myself to tell him. I can't let him die so Skuros can let him loose. When it's time, I'll tell them all the real reason I had the five Occult rings on hand."
"Is that really the only reason you can't let him die? I agree we can't let Skuros win, but ever since you lost your family, you've always had an interest in the secrets of Immortality. You keep trying it your way, I'll do my best to stop Skuros on my end. Otherwise we'll have an Armageddon to deal with. Take care Gabe!" He waved as he exited the study and left the quaint home, leaving the other to reflect on their conversation.
[Occult Circle]
The midday hustle and bustle of Numin's City Centre was quickly interrupted by the shocked screams of a small group of civilians. Still cautious from the attack made by Amon in previous weeks, the terrified group of bystanders ran away as soon as they saw the corrupted and sickly skin of the Dragon walking down the street, trailing the ragged robe behind him.
Gliding along the pavement as more civilians fled, fearing his visage more than anything, he stopped at the base of a street lamp, looking the object up and down before smiling and speaking in his archaic language once more. "Simple, elegant, perfect." He commented as he opened his jaw wide.
In a stunning metamorphosis, his jaw began to shape shift, taking it's more Draconic form. When it had fully developed, he sunk his razor sharp teeth into the street lamp, slicing through the steel as effortlessly as a knife through butter. Taking a chunk out he continued, chomping it down with ease and surprising speed. Reforming his jaw into a human form, the Dragon wiped his mouth and curled his lips once more.
"Delicious, I'll have a fine meal here." He said as he scanned the area for his next target.
Stepping out into the now deserted street thanks to his eating display, the blighted creature's ears twitched as he picked up the sound of several feet pounding against the ground. To him it was the sound of a meal, in the form of whatever feeble creatures would try to face the ancient beast, had come to him. Turning he found five individuals.
Joe and the other four Occult rangers had made their way to the area as quickly as they could once they had caught wind of the disturbance and now stood face to face with a formidable foe, though if they had known this, they would've come prepared.
"Hey ugly, you this place isn't an open buffet, right?" Ellie called out to get the creature's attention.
Joe stepped forward cautiously. "Any clue what this guy is? I've never seen anything like this guy, those black veins and his eyes, there's nothing like that in our books back at the Club."
Each ranger shrugged, confirming they were dealing with an unknown. As they did the Dragon stepped forward and spoke up. He spoke in his archaic tongue, announcing something to the five rangers that none of them could comprehend.
"That language, I've never heard it before." Saya stated. "Could he be from some undiscovered race?"
"Skuros keeps recruiting any allies he can get, wouldn't surprise me." Nyssa said as the Dragon took a few steps forward and the rangers brandished their Occult rings, preparing for the oncoming battle.
As he took another step, the Dragon morphed his mouth back to it's Draconic state and unleashed a bellowing roar, causing the five to cover their ears as the sound hit their eardrums and sent shockwaves of pain through each of their skulls. However it soon ceased and the Dragon returned his mouth to its human form.
"I am the Ancient Dragon, Forswelgend!" The creature's voice boomed, this time in perfect English. "You five shall be the perfect appetiser as I prepare to devour this beautiful City!" It announced, likely repeating whatever it had said before, after somehow gaining fluency in English after the sonic attack.
"Dragon!? Guys you think this is a good idea, I don't know about you but I've been told some really worrying stories about Dragons as a kid." Max expressed his concerns as he took a step back.
"I thought Dragons were just a myth. Don't tell me we're really gonna have to fight one, I wish we had a Knight in shining armour on call for these things." Ellie let out a groan.
"Take this seriously you guys. Nyssa, Saya. You two know the most about this kind of thing, any advice on beating a Dragon?" Joe asked.
Unfortunately the two girls shook their heads as Saya decided to elaborate. "From what I've heard Dragons had the rule over Earth before any other species like Humans or even their Empyrean cousins existed."
"Please don't tell me all those Dinosaur bones are really Dragon bones." Max interrupted with his worries that weren't exactly unwarranted.
"Fortunately that's not the case. But as the Human and Empyrean species came about, the Dragons started to die off. Now there's still a few scattered around this realm from what a book I read this in said but they're rare and very docile now." She explained as the Dragon Forswelgend just stood watching them, likely wanting to savour the moment he could tear through the 'lesser beings.'
"I doubt this guy's as docile as the ones around today and I don't plan on getting eaten by a Dragon. Let's tackle this guy with everything we have." Joe decided as he and the others braced themselves and their Occult rings illuminated brightly.
"Occult Breakout!" The five called as vibrant coloured lights washed over them, dispersing and leaving them clad in their ranger suits.
Unsheathing their weapons, the red ranger pointed his rapier at the Dragon. "If you plan on eating our City, you'll have to go through us first."
"Sounds delicious!" Forswelgend exclaimed as he set his hungry black eyes on the rangers.
Charging in ahead of the others, Joe empowered his Infinity Saber with red energy and made for a lunge at the Corrupted Dragon. As he did so, the creature opened up his jaw and transformed it again into a draconic mouth. Once it had formed, Joe came into striking distance and was prepared to strike when an ominous silvery black glow resonated from Forswelgend's neck as fire of the same colour burst forth from his mouth, engulfing joe in the blazing monochromatic fire.
The other rangers hesitated despite knowing that even Dragon's fire wouldn't kill the red ranger. Deciding on an aerial attack, Nyssa, Ellie and Saya extended out their wings and rose into the air.
"Stories about Dragons usually say they're weak in the underbelly right? That's where heroes usually kill them anyway. I think we should aim for his stomach." Ellie suggested.
"You're right about it killing them when they're in their usual scaly form. Forswelgend looks more like a human right now but it's worth a shot." Saya expressed her doubts as the three took positions.
As Max helped Joe to his feet and the two backed off, the Ancient Dragon looked to the sky where the three planned to attack from and smirked. Rolling his shoulders, two wings, identical to the ones of his Dragon form only smaller to accommodate his body's current size. Taking to the air he extended out his arms as they too shape shifted to take their draconic form. Beating his wings, the Dragon unleashed a gale, throwing off the three ranged mid-flight.
While they were disoriented by the gust, Forswelgend took his chance. Darting at them one after the other, he swung violently with his claws, sparks flying off their suits as he struck hard and forced them to land.
Taking to the ground himself his gave another hungry grin. "Ready to be my meal?"
Joe took a defensive stance and shook his head. "We'll take everything you throw at us. We're not letting a Dragon do what he wants just because he's a damned Dragon!"
"I guess I'll have to remind a lesser species who's really at the top of the food chain. Dumb creatures." He said, raising his hands which had now returned to human state and pointed his palms at the group.
Thrusting them forward he unleashed two large and powerful streams of silvery black draconic fire, even more intense than the single stream that had engulfed Joe early, proving just how much of a gap there was between the rangers and their foe. As they tried to hold on, they knew they'd need some serious firepower to trump the Dragon, but where it would come from was anyone's guess.
At last, the streams of blighted fire ceased and the rangers barely stood. Joe propped himself up on his sword. "Damn it! We can't hold out against another of those attacks. Is he really that strong compared to us? We can't beat him like this…" Joe sighed as he propped himself up on his sword.
"Then do things like you always do!" A familiar voice called. Gaining their attention, the five rangers looked to find the source of the voice. Gabriel Stood off to the side, his arms folded as he watched calmly. "I had a bad feeling about this one but a Dragon, even I couldn't guess that. You're lucky I decided to check it out. You're rushing into things Joe, trying to out power something leagues ahead of you. You're usually level headed and figure out a game plan to beat something, despite it's overwhelming strength. So do what you always do, I've got faith you can."
Joe could only nod, surprised that Gabriel would come, let alone suggest he applied his usual route to an enemy completely out of their league. But it was worth a shot and it hadn't been tried yet. "Alright." Joe nodded, standing after regaining some of his strength. "Max, think you could wolf up and toss me above that guy?"
"If you think that'd work." Max said as he allowed his Lycan urges to take over, transforming into his beastly state.
Taking Joe by the arms, Max lifted the red ranger up with his beastly strength, brought him back for a startup and flung him up high, sending him toward Forswelgend before the ranger began to descend. Directing himself as he lost lift and began falling, Joe started to plummet down, with the legendary creature directly below him. He looked up in surprise as the energy of Joe's Occult ring focused around him and built up the visage of a very familiar creature.
This is me not holding back, using my head and my power, better get ready Dragon, because you're about to be hit by something you should know well. I hope this works. "Draconic Crunch!" Joe called out as the energy forming around him took the form of a Dragon barreling down on Forswelgend and crunching the human form of the blighted Dragon between its teeth. As the energy around Joe dispersed and he landed, he took the moment he had seized as Forswelgend stood stunned by the surprise attack. Empowering his saber with as much energy as he could muster, Joe drove his Saber into the Dragon's stomach, forcing a howl out of the creature.
Taking his sword out of the wound, Joe watched while the other rangers came closer and Forswelgend took several steps back, clutching the wound. "Foolish. Insignificant. Inferior creatures! I'll kill you all for this, i don't have time to feed in this sealed state. No I must grow! Back to my original state, I'll raze this City and chomp on it's metal carcass!" Forswelgend went into an uproar as his face darkened before, just as he had transformed into his 'Sealed State', he transformed into the great and terrifying visage of his true self. The Dragon unleashed an unearthly roar that echoed throughout the City as it beat its wings heavily and took to the sky, releasing a stream of silvery black fire form its mouth, greater and far more powerful than the ones it had released before now.
"Damn, even that attack Joe tried only wounded it, now it's even madder than before." Max said as they watched the beast kick up into a frenzy.
"No way we could beat something like that now. Not without some serious help." Saya added, her pessimistic approach shared throughout most of the team.
Breathing heavy, clutching onto the Infinity Saber with all his might to keep himself stood, Joe used whatever strength he hadn't exhausted in that attack to encourage them. "It's alright, if I could do that, wound it with everything I've got in me. I'm sure you guys can finish it off. You've just got to trust in what you've got to see it through." He said weakly before collapsing face first, losing consciousness and demorphing in front of them all.
They all showed concern for him and took what he had said to heart. But what did the remaining four have at their disposal to defeat a legendary creature like that? That's when Gabriel began walking over to them.
"We're lucky you know. If it hadn't been for certain events over the previous month and seemingly random occurrences, we definitely wouldn't be able to resolve this." He stated to them as all eyes turned to him, looking equally confused by what he was saying. "It looks like for now fate's on our side and even some of our enemies helped us out without even knowing it. You all remember the Occult Beasts your rings absorbed? Well I discovered why. I came here to tell you that too. I realised part way through coming here that I could've done with giving you communications stones or something to contact each other to save me the trip, but I'll work on that for next time."
"Please, Mr. Cadia just get to the point." Saya interrupted him before he went on any further a tangent.
"Focus your Occult rings, feel the Beasts trapped inside them. Back in the times these rings were created, they were infused with something called Chimera Alloy, it's the reason why your rings captured the Beasts that resonated with you and it's the reason why you should be able to face Forswelgend. Good luck, I'll keep Joe safe in the meantime."
Saya nodded a thanks as they all lined up and closed their eyes, extending the closed fists their rings sat on and focused. Nightspawn. Yatagarasu. Steeljaw. Leviathan. Each ranger could feel the pulsing energy of the creature one with their ring and in a moment of clarity, they knew what to do.
"Occult Beast. Release!" They all called out as their rings flared to life as in a reverse of the four Beasts' capture, their shapes reformed though the size was greater for all but the Leviathan, scaling to appropriate sizes similar to the latter.
When the energy faded and the four Beasts stood, the rangers stood astounded, the Beasts were there and much larger than before but the biggest thing to stand out about them was the metal coating around them, it was almost like seeing a creature made up of living metal. This was the work of the Chimera Alloy Gabriel had mentioned.
"Woah, amazing!" Max called out as another thing caught them by surprise. Under their feet, an individual aura sigil appeared each in their colour and transported them away.
The rangers each found themselves in a strange dark space, the floor immersed in thick white fog while a crystal pedestal stood before them. Atop it rested a strange sphere each coloured in their respective colour. Touching their hands to it, the rangers were taken by surprise as the sphere illuminated and ahead of them appeared a large vertical variant of their personal aura sigils, though the inside of the ring showed a visual of the outside, from the perspective of their individual Beasts.
"Wow, this is insane. Who knew this is what the rings had in mind for these guys?" Ellie commented as Saya observed the presumed control sphere.
"I don't see any controls on this, so do you all think this works like our rings do, through a psychic connection?" She wondered.
Nyssa gave a shrug from her cockpit, So if we think forward or fly it'll do just that?" She asked, unwittingly activating those functions on her Zord as it took a few steps forward before unfurling it's eight spans of wings and taking to the air.
"There's your answer, let's go Steeljaw!" Max beamed as the Steeljaw Zord took off through the streets toward the dragon as the Nightspawn and Yatagarasu Zords flew overhead.
Saya also joined the other three, her Leviathan Zord slivering along the streets behind the Steeljaw as the Dragon caught wind of the new force and turned to face them.
"It looks as if the Chimera Alloy's turned these into Zords. If I'm right we should be able to combine them, given the psychic link, maybe just thinking combine at the same time will do just that?" She suggested as Forswelgend flew overhead and unleashed a stream of fire, scattering the Zords for a few moments as they moved to evade the attack.
"Can't be any worse than avoiding this guy. Alright, on your mark Saya." Nyssa trusted command of the fight to the blue ranger as they formed up.
"Combine!" She commanded as their Zords came closer together and started up their transformation sequence.
The snakeybody of the Leviathan split in half at the mid-section, the lower half split once again, this time vertically forming legs, the fins retracted and what had once been a bone-blade was now metallic and raised into a horizontal position to form a foot for each leg. The upper half then connected as a lower body while the Leviathan's head swivelled forward forming an intimidating stomach section.
Next, the steeljaw's legs folded in and it's head turned to the ground, the lower limbs sank down into sockets formed on the Leviathan's head while the upper limbs folded vertically out to act as arm sockets and for the time being, the Steeljaw acted as body and head, while it's jaw remained sealed shut.
The Nighspawn Zord extended its wings out and downward toward its feet, The head meanwhile attached to the upper body's right arm socket and created an arm with a large scythe end with the wings and strange scythe appendages acting almost as one.
The final Zord to attach itself was the Yatagarasu. Wrapping itself around the left arm socket with its three legs, the eight wing pairs suddenly disengaged and attached to the back of this hulking metal warrior as two metallic black wings. The Chimera Alloy around the zord solidified as it did the rest of the Zords in that moment, deactivating and unifying them in that moment as the Yatagarasu's head took on the role of a spear.
As they became unified, the Steeljaw's previously locked in Jaw swung down. While the head remained like a hood, the jaw gave way to a face. Four eyes sat in sockets, one crimson, one black, one amber and one blue while underneath, an open mouth lined with perfectly flat teeth detailing rested, except there was a key detail that appeared to only add to the intimidation factor and served no other purpose, the two large saber teeth that hung down from the upper row of the mouth. If any onlookers saw this fighting a giant foe such as the Dragon, they would likely be unsure whether they should relieved or afraid, but for now, Forswelgend had to be dealt with and this was the only thing big enough in their arsenal they could count on to do so.
"Chimera Alloy Megazord, Broken Out!" They announced the name of the newly dubbed titan and looked around their pocket realm cockpits to find it had extended, each ranger now stood in the same space and looked at a huge white aura sigil display.
"Alright, let's go kill us a Dragon." Saya told the others as they took up their controls and commanded the Chimera Alloy Megazord into action.
Taking off into the skies, they soon attracted the blight Dragon's attention. He had managed to drag the battle over to a district of the City famous for high rising buildings, adding caution to their strategy. There would be serious danger for anyone caught in the crossfire and considering this was the height of the day for business, the casualties could be serious.
Letting the Dragon chase behind it as the two hulking titans flew between the rising buildings, narrowly avoiding crashes that would slow them down, the Chimera Alloy soon got a good distance on Forswelgend and turned mid air to see the Dragon as it turned the corner only to give a large beat of its wings and close the distance some.
"Alright, enough playing around. Nyssa, see what you can do about weapons." Saya commanded as they maneuvered the Megazord away from another stream of silvery black fire.
"On it." Nyssa replied quickly as she focused. Surely the Megazord would be capable of long range too, otherwise they'd be in trouble dealing with that fire if their Megazord got caught in it. Nyssa thought it over, trying several thought phrases to activate some sort of firing mechanism. Then it hit her. Fire.
It was amusingly simple and she would have laughed if not for the situation. The head of the left arm opened up its beak and unleashed a dark purple bolt of energy, hitting the Dragon square in the mouth as he opened it to fire out another stream of blighted flames. Forswelgend recoiled and unleashed a roar full of pain as he flapped his great wings to keep him ahead.
Rapid fire. Nyssa issued the command, the Megazord responding with a volley of energy bursts firing out at the Dragon as Saya took command of wing movement again. "Alright, good work Nyssa. Look, there's our ticket to finish this." She pointed out the wound Joe had made earlier. "Keep suppressing him while we close the gap. Max, Ellie, ready our weapons as best you can and aim for that wound."
"Gotcha!" The two said as they took point on finishing this.
As they came into melee range, Forswelgend looked the Megazord dead in the eyes. "Monstrosity, you won't beat me! I am Forswelged devourer of the Moon! You won't take my dream away from me, the beauty of the Moon is begging me to devour it. I won't lose, not to lesser beings and not to you!"
"Oh why don't you make like a good Dragon and be slain already!" Ellie called out over the Megazord's magical speaker system.
"Everything's ready Saya, we're charged up and set to target that spot." Max confirmed as the blue ranger gave a nod.
"Let's put him to rest then."
"Chimera Alloy Megazord. Crescent Reaping!" The four rangers called out as the scythe arm was brought back and a white energy engulfed it. In one swift arcing motion, the weapon cut effortlessly through the Dragon's already wounded body.
As the Megazord turned away, the once mighty creature let out a defeated roar the scales around the wound began to crack and give way to silvery black fire that progressed up Forswelgend's body, consuming him in the blighted fire and reducing him to nothing but as as the last of the fires quickly burned away.
The rangers inside their new Megazord gave relieved sighs now that the ancient threat was vanquished. "And that's why Dinosaur bones aren't Dragon bones Max. I also read that when a Dragon dies, their bodies are reduced to ash."
Max couldn't help but let out a hysterical laugh, the situation had been crazily against them and somehow they had managed to pull out a win, even then Saya didn't decide to drop one of his silly comments and gave him a real answer. "Boy am I relieved of that, otherwise we'd have to explain the huge dead Dragon in the middle of Numin."
"Yes that would be hard to explain." She nodded with a small smile of her own, the thought of it was a little amusing after all.
[Occult Circle]
Within the High Heavens, Sera sat on a simplistic white bed in an even more minimalist white room. There were no windows and only one door was present. Her face looked dejected as as stared down at her hands. She reflected on the past twenty four hours, how she had gone from Earth to the Great Library of the High Heavens and had now ended up here. She couldn't have expected things to go how they did and now she was here and her quest for the way to the Wellspring now hung in the balance.
Hearing the door open, she jumped, surprised by the noise and looked up from her hands to see who had entered as the door quietly shut once again. Seeing who it was, she glanced to the side quickly as they approached.
"I was quite surprised you know. It's not every day an Angel goes looking for secrets she shouldn't. I suppose since it's you though, I'm not surprised. Ever the rebellious one aren't you Sera?" A male voice said to her as he approached, he sounded calm but by the look on Sera's face, this was in fact a bad, maybe even the worst situation that could have come from her decisions.
"I'm sorry Lord Michael, but I needed to know." She revealed the identity of the other as she hung her head, refusing to look at him. "I don't understand, why am I not allowed to have my own memories? Why is it forbidden to go to the Wellspring?"
"I suppose I should've expected you would start acting a little different around other beings that aren't Celestials, but it was necessary. As is keeping those memories of yours locked away. You might not understand but I'm doing it for your benefit." He said, lifting her head so he could look her in the eyes. "You're a rarity among Angels, Sera. Because of your past you have something few Angels do but there's danger in that too. You weren't supposed to hear we have your memories, what we found there would chill your blood."
"But I need to know, isn't there any way I can see them?"
Michael shook his head. "Not without serious consequences. Ones that make becoming a Fallen Angel look like nothing. I'm doing my best to protect you Sera. But I can't forever, the other Archangels already have worries concerning you. I did my best to convince them, to go along with my plan to keep you working against the Cult but I was out voted."
"W-What's that mean?" She asked, her nervousness increasing, she already knew something was wrong, but his confirmation filled her with dread.
"Come with me. I'll explain everything. We don't have long to make our last stop in the human realm, before you're reassigned." He explained with a grim look as he headed over to the door of the isolated room.
"Reassigned? What's happening, what did they decide?"
|Occult Circle|
Ranger Arsenal - Chimera Alloy Megazord - The Chimera Alloy Megazord is the newest addition to the Occult Rangers' arsenal, composed of the four Occult Beasts which have been combined with a substance dubbed Chimera Alloy, a rare metal within the underworld that can layer itself over any organic substance and act as a living metal skin or shell, it has also proven to combine other organics together without harming them to create more powerful constructs. How it does this is a mystery and any research on it is long lost alongside whatever Chimera Alloy existed in the Underworld. Though some theorise that it now lies within the Sigil rings, both those scattered and claimed and since the appearance of the Chimera Alloy Megazord, this theory has only become more likely.
That's chapter 29 everyone and I hope you all enjoyed it. I enjoyed trying out a new style of Megazord that fit the Occult theme and was a little more unique too with it's only four Zord combination. If you were expecting Joe to have a Zord this chapter, well I'm sorry to crush your hopes there. I've got something special for him but it won't come for some time. So other highlights here were Forswelgend. I really wanted to introduce the Megazord with a powerful foe and I thought what better than a Dragon, I love Dragons after all. Having a corrupt blighted Dragon made sense given my already planned lore and having whatever remains be far more friendlier than him.
That said I took some inspiration from the Dragon Age games and envisioned it a little like an Archdemon just to give you a bit of a visual representation. It was also my take on the Bakunawa Dragon. In this, it's a species of Dragon who have an insatiable hunger for anything considered beautiful with the Moon being their top prize and doing everything in their power to rise up high enough to devour it. Then there's the arrival of Gabriel's brother Damien. For the foreseeable future though, he won't be anything more than a minor role, but his conversation with Gabriel has cleared up who the other Immortal is now for anyone who didn't know. His hinting that Skuros has other plans for the Cult that no one is aware of but Skuros and the two brothers is also something to take note of as we move on.
Finally, Sera's in big trouble it seems. This is for the setup of the next chapter. Things are going into a shift, pretty short for you readers, but it's going to cover a long span of time. Basically if you haven't read Advent Horizon (Or aren't up to date) by my good friend Sir Perfluous, which I highly recommend if you haven't, Occult Circle is doing a crossover. It isn't going to be the full team but it should be good anyway. Essentially because of the fact it's currently Winter in this and Summer in that and the two happen at around the same time, I'm going to be doing some time skipping. I hope you're all fine with that. While I'm mainly using this as a catch up, it gives me the opportunity to play around with a few things I thought might be interesting to do. Also think of the next chapter as a prologue to that crossover, just setting up what's been happening and why things are going to be like they are in that. It'll be a short one compared to most but after that I'll get back into things properly with the next arc introducing a new ranger. Until then, thanks for reading!
Next Chapter: Celestial Affairs
Synopsis: While Sera deals with the consequences of challenging the Archangels' laws and what her new role entails, the other rangers are given what Michael calls a last goodbye to their friend and teammate. That said, the other rangers aren't content to sit by and let the Celestials do what they want with a friend who in anyone else's eyes did nothing wrong. Meanwhile, The Abyssal Cult decides to change up their tactics as they prepare for the next phase of the Dark Angel's plan. Next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.
