Green with Evil
Rescue – Part 1
Billy doesn't have a stand a chance. That isn't a criticism of Billy's fighting ability. It just is what it is. He knows this and more importantly, he fears that Scorpina and Goldar certainly know this. Still, it didn't mean he wouldn't try his hardest, or hold them off for as long as he could until either Jason was found or the others showed up. Or both, that would be good, too.
"You're outclassed," Scorpina says, this wasn't a question as much as it was an observation, and probably the truth.
"Don't under estimate me," Billy says, readying his Power Lance in front of him. The problem is that there are two of them. If he was going to stand a chance, he needed to separate them somehow. His only advantage is having some toys up his sleeve, their effectiveness however is debatable has they haven't been used before.
Goldar charges forward first with his sword in hand, he swings it forward and Billy counters it with his Power Lance and is meeting each of Goldar's continuous strikes with relative ease. Goldar's style is pretty predictable and Billy, predicting Goldar's next strike from above, hits Goldar low unexpectedly and then twirls his lance over head to hit the golden giant in the face.
"You pest!" Goldar yells, partially in pain, mostly furious.
"Getting him mad was a variable that I had to live with," Billy says to himself. "Now, his rage will add strength to his attack, but less on his focus. Distance, keep your distance, Billy." Goldar rushes forward once more, his attacks are heavier but his form isn't as sharp. Billy uses this to his advantage. He breaks his Lance into two short Lances and uses both of them to help gain an upper hand.
Billy swings one lance and Goldar blocks it and then Billy uses the other lance to pierce into Goldar's stomach. Billy then jumped up and delivered a kick to Goldars chest, sending the brute flying back to the ground. Just as Goldar is about to get up, Billy pulls out another device.
"Mastodon hooks!" the capsule transforms into two long tusks connected by a chain. Billy threw the tusks, each tusk landing just outside of Goldars arms. The chain then tightened, locking him in place.
"You're clever," Scorpina suddenly says, walking forward. "But it takes more than that to win. You're nothing without your teammates for support. You don't fight like someone who is a fighter. You fight to subdue, to stop, but not to kill."
"Killing is weak. Anyone can take a life," Billy counters.
"You can't," Scorpina spits back.
"I've destroyed a handful of Rita's monsters," Billy says.
"Did you? Or was it your leader that made that call?" Billy didn't know how to respond to this…and she was definitely getting inside his head. "Could you kill me?" she asked, lowering her weapon and exposing herself for a direct hit. "It would be easy, just do it."
Billy considers this, but realizes that she's trying to get a rise out of him. Even if he did strike, it wouldn't be that easy. She wouldn't let it. Still, since this is a game of minds, Billy decides to play fire with fire. He quickly connects his two lances and goes for a quick strike to her stomach, the metal hitting pure armor but still hard enough for her to hunch over in pain and surprise.
Her eyes narrow. Billy goes for another strike and she lifts up her weapon to counter and then performs a spin kick so fast that Billy has no choice but to take it, knocking him away. Scorpina regains her composure, licks her lips and smiles at the blue ranger – a dangerous smile.
"You really think you'd be strong enough to finish me even if I let you?" she hisses.
"I probably won't be the one to destroy you, Scorpina. But you will be destroyed, along with Rita and all she stands for," Billy says.
"Alright, enough playing around," Scorpina twists her head, cracking her neck and then takes in a deep breath, eyes closed. When her eyes open it becomes very clear she's in kill mode. "Feel my sting." She raises her weapon to the air and it glows a bright sun gold; she whips it around her head before launching it in the air, slicing at Billy and sending him to the ground in excruciating pain.
"What is this...?" Billy says, feeling the pain throughout his entire body. If this is how it felt with his suit on, he could only imagine how he'd be feeling in his civilian form. It was as if his entire nervous system was being attacked at once. His focus is off. He doesn't even notice her approaching him, she delivers a kick so hard that it knocks him off the ground and landing on the hood of a parked vehicle, causing the alarm to sound off.
Scorpina turns toward Goldar and approaches him with her blade before her. She analyzes the material in front of her, it would certainly have to be strong to hold Goldar. She taps it with her blade once and nothing happens.
"Interesting," Scorpina muses.
"Get it off me," Goldar says, in a demanding tone. Scorpina gives him a look that causes him to make what sounds like an apology muffled under his breath.
"You need to control your temper, my love," Scorpina says. "This is why you're here." Goldar says nothing, even though if it were anyone else he'd surely be yelling profanities. She swings her blade down on the steel chain, causing it shatter into pieces. Goldar gets up and wipes off any remnants stuck to his chest plate.
"Thank you," Goldar says reluctantly, he raises his sword and then turns toward the Blue Ranger.
"I don't know how much more of this I can take…" Billy says, getting up from the car. It seems that Scorpina's sting has worn off, but he's still feeling very disoriented. And now both of them were before him.
"Ready for round two, Blue Ranger?" Goldar taunts.
"Are you?" Billy says with feigned confidence. Goldar raises his sword and Scorpina meets it with her weapon – both of which start to glow a bright gold. "This can't be good…" Golden beams of light blast forward at Billy, hitting him directly and destroying anything it comes into contact with, the car, a street lamp, all pulverized. After the smoke clears, Billy is seen on the ground, covered in debris.
"Alpha, what's the hold up?" Kimberly says impatiently. So far their infiltration mission has been a success. They got 100%, grabbed the disc, and have made it up the main floor bathroom without being seen. With little to no help from Alpha who was reading the security camera's wrong. Fortunately, Billy's distraction was proving to be enough to keep practically all personnel preoccupied.
"Remind me to ask him how he did that," Zack says.
"Rangers, there is a caravan scheduled to get off the base. You need to get in it. Once you're off the base, you'll be able to teleport out and help Billy," Alpha instructed. "Ayi-yi-yi! It's leaving in two minutes."
"It's never easy…" Zack says.
"It looks like that bathroom window opens up to an alleyway connected to the transportation units. You need to get in that alley and wait for your window to board the vehicle," Alpha instructs.
"We have less than two minutes," Trini reiterates. Without wasting another second, she moves toward the window and lifts it up. She removes the screen door silently and crawls out first. Kimberly is second, with Zack bringing up the rear. All three of them keep low as their make their way through the alley. They hear trucks starting and stopping and are very unsure which one they should be looking for.
"Alpha, which one is it?" Trini whispers into her communicator.
"The big one," Alpha responds back. All three of the rangers exchange glances and then look out to the vehicles before them. They are all big, to say the least.
"That one?" Kimberly points to one with the hatch open, and all things considered, it was the biggest. They all agree and get ready, fortunately the personnel are low.
"Let's move," Zack says silently, adjusting his head mask. He creeps out of the alley runs toward the side of one truck, keeping low with it. He creeps along the truck, peeks over and sees no one looking. He quickly dives for the other truck and gets himself inside. Trini and Kimberly follow in suit and Zack helps them both into the back of the truck.
"That was simple enough…" Kimberly says and Trini quickly hushes her.
"Don't say that, any number of things could go wrong now, let's just lay low until we can get out of here," Trini says. The three of them duck behind some freight and wait for the vehicle to leave.
"Alpha, checking in, we're in the transport," Zack says.
"Good job, Rangers," Alpha says. "Right now I'm aligning the satellites to our previous searches. Hopefully we can kind a match."
"How is Billy?" Trini asks and Alpha doesn't respond right away, which causes concern.
"Alpha?" Kimberly presses.
"Things in Angel Grove are... Ayi-yi-yi…" Alpha doesn't finish his sentence but they get the general idea. The back door to the truck closes and they begin to drive off.
"We're almost there, Billy, just hang in there a little bit longer," Trini says out loud, mostly in an effort to comfort herself. Billy's been through a lot – they all have – but one of his struggles in being a ranger was always the physicality of it. Billy is brave, but he isn't Jason when it comes to fighting.
"He's going to be okay, Trini," Zack says. "Billy's the smartest guy in the world, probably. Even though he didn't have a lot of options, he wouldn't go into a fight without a plan, or at least half of one. And half of one of Billy's plans is probably still better than a lot of fully thought out plans."
The truck starts to pick up speed, which gives them a sense that they're in the clear. "Rangers, you're good to go!" Alpha says, much to their relief.
"Awesome, let's never do that again you guys," Kimberly says.
"Alright guys, let's get to Billy," Zack says and then he raises his communicator. "Alpha, we're heading to Angel Grove City now – please let us know if there is any progress on Jason."
"Affirmative – good luck, Rangers. Be careful,"
"Thanks," Zack replies. "Alright, let's get going." The three of them activate the teleportation on their communicators and black, pink and yellow lights enveloped their bodies, transporting them away.
Angel Grove City is a wreck. The air is filled with the screams of running civilians, and the ground quakes with every explosion – big or small – that seems to come every other second. Police have arrived on the scene, but are being berated by the Putty forces.
When Zack, Trini and Kimberly arrive, it's on the top of one of the central buildings, giving a clear view of the devastation.
"No, please!" screams a Police officer. Kimberly points to the man below them and are horrified by who he is up against.
"Now die!" Scorpina laughs, bringing down her weapon on the officer, ending his life.
"Scorpina is here?" Kimberly says, aghast.
"And Goldar," Zack says, pointing to the golden brute across the square. "There's no way Billy could have handled both of them."
"Oh, Billy…" Trini sighs. "There he is!" she exclaims, pointing to the blue ranger, still transformed, but under a pile of debris. "Sabre-Toothed Tiger!" Trini yells, raising her morpher above her. She jumps from the building top and the yellow light fades, revealing her Yellow Ranger suit.
"She's not playing around today," Kimberly says. "Let's go, Zack." Kimberly pulls out her morpher, "Pterodactyl!"
"Mastodon!" Zack yells after pulling out his morpher. They both transform and leap from the building, joining Trini below. Goldar takes notice of the Rangers arrival and quickly joins Scorpina, who kicks the body of the dead officer off of her blade.
"How nice of you to finally join us," Scorpina says. "I was getting a little impatient."
"You think three of you are a match for us?" Goldar taunts, raising her blade in front of him.
"Shove it, Goldar. We're about to send you packing," Zack replies. "Kim, get to Billy, make sure he is okay. Then use that Bow of yours and start clearing house. Trini and I have these two, right?" Zack says, he looks at Trini and hopes she's up for it; ever since her recent loss, she hasn't been on her a-game when it came to fighting.
"Power Daggers," Trini holds of her hands and summons her weapons. "Waiting on you," she says, looking at Zack.
"That's what I'm talking about; Power Axe!" Zack summons his weapon and readies it in front of him. "Kim, go!"
"On it!" Kimberly takes off behind them and heads for Billy. He doesn't seem to be moving, but it seems some Putty's have taken notice to him as well and begin approaching. "Power Bow!" she calls out and leaps in the air. "No you don't" she pulls back the bowstring and fires off three arrows, hitting each Putty in the back of the head, causing them to crumble into dirt.
She lands on the ground and continues her sprint, spinning and kicking one Putty out of her way in the process. She slides to Billy's side, setting down her weapon in the process. She places her hand on his shoulder and examines the rest of his wounds. His suit had some cosmetic tears, but nothing Alpha couldn't fix.
"Hey…" Billy says, his voice pained.
"Oh, Billy. Thank goodness you're alright," Kimberly says.
"I wouldn't go that far," Billy admits; Kimberly laughs.
"Okay, let's get you out of here." Kimberly gets up and starts pulling some of the heavier debris off of him. Billy wiggles when he can and watches carefully as Zack and Trini battle Goldar and Scorpina on the other side of the complex.
"You're gonna lose, Black Ranger!" Goldar says, seeming so sure of himself.
Zack met Goldar hit for hit with his Power Axe, proving to be much more difficult that Goldar would have liked.
"Try this on for size," Zack jumps in the air and delivers a series of kicks, throwing Goldar off balance and then Zack lands, spins and manages to hit Goldar directly across the face with the back-end of his Axe, sending the monster flying to the ground. "Bet you didn't see that coming. That was for Billy." Zack turns his head and sees Trini struggling with Scorpina and he takes off to help.
Trini swings one of her daggers and Scorpina ducks and delivers a quick punch into Trini's stomach, causing her to take a step back.
"Is this really all you have?" Scorpina says, disappointed.
"You don't know all I have," Trini spits back.
"Show me that pain. The loss of Daniel," Scorpina's mentioned of him does more than take her off guard, it's like a shot through the heart.
"Don't say his name," Trini growls.
"He was an old friend of yours, no?" Scorpina slowly approaches. "A dear, dear friend who saved your life from one of your own, at the cost of his own personal health." Trini begins having flashbacks to the school shooting, he did save her. If it weren't for him, she wouldn't be here.
"Yes," Trini says.
"And then you killed him," Scorpina says bluntly. "Daniel was a tool. Nothing more than a device for Rita to use to summon a greater evil. She preyed on his insecurities and his wounds and made him better than anything he could hope to become," Scorpina gets uncomfortably close to Trini as she continues. "He was weak. And you had no choice but to put him out of his misery, because at the end of the day, he was fundamentally evil."
"He wasn't anything like you," Trini says, her voice choked up, her vision becoming blurred from the water trying to escape.
"You're right. I would have destroyed you. He didn't have it in him."
"He was brave and strong the fight the evil consuming him," Trini says.
"Don't confuse bravery with weakness. He wasn't strong enough to hold on, but he served his purpose. The sacrifice for the sixth ranger," Scorpina finishes. "The good news is, I have a feeling you'll be seeing Daniel again very soon," Scorpina says this in a whisper, really close to Trini.
"I said, don't say his name," Trini inverts her daggers in her hands and swings back, hitting Scorpina – much to her surprise - in the stomach with both blades. Trini then leans forward and extends one leg back, kicking her in the same spot in the stomach, causing her to fumble back. Trini quickly turns around and runs, jumps and delivers a solid right hook into Scorpina's face; her long, dark hair whipping around as she took the hit.
"My face…" Scorpina says, mortified, touching her check with her free hand. "You have no idea what you just did." Scorpina runs forward, swinging her blade up, down, across and whatever way she can to land a hit; Trini is more focused and is able to parry most of the hits or dodging others.
"Need a hand?" Zack says, jumping into the fray. Scorpina swings down her weapon, but Trini catches it between her two daggers, leaving Scorpina exposed.
"Power Axe Cannon," Zack turns his Axe into his shotgun mode, cocks the lever and pulls the trigger. A burst of energy is released and hits Scorpina point blank, and at that proximity sends her flying back, breaking through the glass window of a building and landing on – and breaking – a desk.
At this point, Kimberly and Billy rejoin them, "Nice shot," Billy remarks. Trini immediately hugs Billy who makes a little complaint over bruising.
"I'm so glad you're alright," Trini says, relieved.
"Me too," he agrees.
"Scorpina!" Goldar calls out horrified, running across the complex, finally having come to his senses, and stops at the broken window that she was blasted into. He holds out his hand and she takes it, allowing him to pull her out of the building and back onto the ground. Scorpina has a few cuts and scrapes on her face and her arms and she seems less composed than before, which didn't bode well for the rangers.
"Feel my sting, Rangers!" She yells, throwing her boomerang.
"Brace yourselves guys!" Billy warns just before the inevitable strike. The boomerang hits all of them in a row before returning to its master, sending them all to the ground, writhing in pain.
"What's happening to me?" Zack calls out in agony.
"It's part of the attack…it's attacking our central nervous system," Billy tries to explain but stops once his own pain becomes too much to handle.
"Goldar, let's do it," Scorpina says, raising her weapon to the sky. Goldar raises his sword and the golden energy swirls around their blades, firing at the rangers while they're on the ground.
"Damn it," Zack cries out, while the rest of his team screams in pain. "We need some serious back up…."
"Ayi-yi-yi-yi Rangers, I'm trying!" Alpha says to no one, having been watching the horrific display in the viewing globe. He enters some data into the main console and presses a green button. The results come back positive. "Yes! I've done it! I've found – wait, what did I find?" Alpha stops and reads the data. "Ayi-yi-yi – I've found the morpher, but I haven't found Jason."
Alpha looked to the viewing globe, he needed Billy's help. He activates the communicator and rings to Billy. While still writhing in pain, Billy manages to activate his communicator for a response.
"I'm a little…busy…" Billy tries to explain.
"Billy, I've found Jason's morpher, but it's not activated. Or if it is I can't tell. But if I focus on bringing that back and Jason doesn't have it, he could be lost forever."
"You're bringing this up to me now…" Billy responds deliriously. "I have no date in front of me to make a calculated decision…"
"There is a chance that Jason could be morphed and is waiting on us," Alpha suggests. "The guess either way is 50/50 based on my results."
"Alpha, I trust you…just get Jason home."
"Ayi-yi-yi," Alpha inputs data into the teleportation grid, using the information he synced with the morphing grid and the NASADA satellites. "I hope this works," The automaton presses enter and bright lights begin to transmit from the teleportation poles positioned around the command center and suddenly a white light generates back into the command center. Something is found! The light is bright and Alpha watches closely, hoping when it clears that Jason will be there…