Chapter 36: Simmering Rage

He growled under his breath.

He could have kicked himself for not making the connection sooner but forced himself to drop the subject. There was nothing that could have been done even if he had known…yet; he felt as if he was responsible in some way. Looking at the battered forms of the Rangers in front of him, Weihan stopped to take stock of the strength of opposition they were up against. A flood of crocodilian monsters that was similar to the one that had been battling Billy's Zord, Discord in his Hellfire Armour, Gilda in…slightly better shape than the last few times she had been in battle, Tricksy in the back and the creature that, if he didn't know better, he would have sword he destroyed.

"Xonix."

The word felt foreign to him, even though he had spoke in many times over the past few weeks and years before. The creature still looked the same as the last time he had set eyes on him, although there was no giant blade piercing his body or rivulets of blood running over the scales. The newest feature on the Overlord was a warped and twisted scar that stretched over his torso and had probably formed after the jagged wound had healed. On the other hoof, the blade had literally run him through and he couldn't see a scar on his back. Shaking the thoughts away, he gripped his Sabre tighter as the reptilian alien's gaze swung toward him. He felt very glad that none of the others were with him as he was literally shaking in his boots. Not out of fear…but anticipation.

"Orange Ranger, I remember what you did to me. I will ensure that your visit will be as painful as possible."

Apparently galvanised by the words of their master, the monsters resumed attacking. The battlefield was filled with blasts, shouts and cries from the Rangers as they blasted their attackers left, right and centre. Weihan was aware of Liz, Bec and Jorja leaping into the fray to help the ponies and knew the other four Crystal Rangers were unsure as to what to do…even though their leader was clearly helping the pony Rangers. He didn't have time to hold their hand against the threats and sent a quick helmet message to Liz in the hopes that she would take charge of her team. Scanning his eyes over the battle, he saw the Ivory Tiger Ranger nod once and slowly make her way towards the unmoving quartet. Steeling himself, the Orange Ranger took a step towards the warlord and channelled fire into his weapon. As the flames erupted from the metal, he carefully unholstered his Raptor Laser and dropped it onto the ground, kicking it back towards the quartet of somewhat confused Crystal Rangers.

"I don't know how the hell you survived, but I swear to destroy you here and now."

Xonix laughed; a harsh sound that seemed almost mocking. The draconic being lifted his blade and walked to meet the Ranger that had bested him before. There was no doubt in his mind that the words of the Ranger were true, that he would someday meet his end staring into the expressionless helmet of the Ranger…but that day would be in the future and only after he had destroyed everything that the Ranger ever cared about. Breaking into a run, he held his blade above his head and roared as it swung down.

"Don't make promises you can't keep Ranger!"

Emma stared in shock as Weihan battled furiously against the reptilian beast that looked much different than the other creatures around them. She had used her Dragon Blade to personally cut down several of the monsters, yet there were more pouring out of nowhere and the Ranger in the dark blue uniform was openly gawking at her weapon. Phoebe and Tara were having slightly more luck than Daphne as they could easily pick out which targets were enemy hostiles. On the other hand, there were ponies in Ranger Armour galloping everywhere and talking to each other! Unicorns and Pegasi darted through the crowd and she had caught a glimpse of a statue of a winged unicorn in the middle of a fountain of sorts. She shook her head in despair and opened her mouth to speak.

"What do we do? Which side do we help?"

Liz appeared next to her and the Asian girl barely stifled a scream. Rolling her eyes under her helmet, Liz scooped up the Raptor Laser from the ground and looked around for which Ranger needed the additional firepower. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were still beating up on the Griffin in what was a clearly one-sided match. The look on the Griffin's face was enough to make her break down into giggles, but it was the wrong time and place for such a frivolous act. Rarity had her hooves dug into the ground and was blasting monsters away from the path that led to the Palace and, by extension, the Command Tower. Fluttershy and Billy were covering each other's sides as beasts exploded around them, yellow beams of energy lancing from Fluttershy's Tail Stinger. She had seen Billy stop fighting altogether and stare at Emma's weapon in deep shock, causing the Yellow Ranger to temporarily become overwhelmed.

The Ranger that she was the least worried about was Pinkie as the Pink Ranger was gleefully destroying everything around her with displays of firepower that made her brain start to hurt. Everything from liquid fire to egg white bullets came out of her Elemental Zeo Armour enhanced Boomer Blaster and every direct shot on a monster caused it to explode in a pillar of flames. A part of her hoped the cameras in the Command Tower were recording the battle as she would want to see exactly what the crazed sequence of attacks was…but the rest of her was content to let the Pink Ranger do her thing. She just hoped the off-white oil slick that had been blasted out was, in fact, oil and not something else. If it was the something else, she didn't even want to know how Pinkie had come into contact with it. Catching the attention of the Purple Ranger who was engaged in hand-to-hoof combat with Discord, she spoke half to herself.

"Help the side that's getting their flanks kicked! Twilight, heads up!"

Flinging the Laser in the Unicorn's direction, she summoned the Ivory Spear and slammed it into the stomach of an approaching beast. The wounded monster fell back and exploded in a shower of sparks as a stream of blue-black bolts sliced the air above her head. Bec was covering them from any attacks as she fought the creatures around her. One of her Ice Pistols had its blade out and was slicing into the neck of a croc monster. Liz bit the inside of her cheek as she struggled to come up with a good name for them. She heard a dull crash from the direction of Applejack and Rainbow Dash and looked over to see the Blue Ranger posing somewhat triumphantly over the battered body of the humanoid Griffin. As Gilda's unconscious form teleported away in a flash of sparkles, the two mares looked at each other before splitting up – Applejack galloping towards the group and channelling energy into her hooves.

"But…what? How can you be so calm?"

Emma's voice sounded shrill to her ears as the pony in Red leapt over their heads, narrowly avoiding being struck by the energy blasts. Tackling one of the creatures to the ground, the Red Ranger reared into the air and slammed her front hooves onto the ground; the shockwave instantly destroying a good handful of the remaining beasts. A quick mental checklist told her that there were still a few more hundred beasts to go through…but they would prevail in the end. Rolling towards the group of stunned Rangers, AJ bumped her front left hoof to Liz's fist in greeting before turning to the Emerald Dragon Ranger.

"They didn't tell ya? They've helped out a few weeks ago."

Emma cast her mind back to talking to Weihan's duplicate a few weeks ago and listening to the 'explanation' for the absence of the Ultra Rangers. She also recalled her disbelief that there would be worlds and other dimensions out there that she couldn't see. However, having being pulled into a parallel plane of existence only a few hours ago, she knew that she was very naïve and innocent on a lot of things. That still didn't make what the pony was saying make any sense. It was almost like…

The ground exploded beneath them, sending them falling to the ground. Crawling to her feet, she could hear the heavily accented voice of the Red Ranger cutting through the fog in her mind.

"Yow! Look 'ere, we can stand round talking and getting shot up or we can save the explanations for later an'…whoa Nelly."

Looking in the direction of the Red Ranger, Emma felt her jaw drop as one of the explosions fell away to reveal a monster…apparently growing without help. There were no tendrils of energy running over it or even metal fragments from a detonated Growth Grenade; it was shooting up impossibly fast and, impossibly, pulled out a blade from nowhere. Tearing her eyes away from the sight, she could see the Purple, Blue and Green Rangers galloping towards them. Somehow, the surreal imagery made her want to slap herself in the face until the crazy went away. Skidding to a stop, Twilight looked up at the monster and then glanced at the Command Tower. She wouldn't let the Princesses or their father be hurt. She opened her mouth and began issuing orders.

"Rarity, you're with me. We'll go in the Unizord…and test it out. Liz, you divide the rest of your Rangers up to cover as much as you can. We won't be able to pry those two apart until one of them gives in but we can keep Princess Cel…I mean, everypony safe."

As the two Unicorns lifted their hooves into the air to summon their Zords, Applejack glanced in the direction of the Orange Ranger and Xonix. Metal clashed against metal and screeches rang through the air, but they only had eyes for each other. One fought for freedom and the safety of those that he loved and respected. He also would be fighting for the chance to destroy his nemesis once and for all, although Applejack doubted that outcome would occur. The other battled for supremacy above all beings and to rule the worlds with an iron fist. Xonix hadn't popped his wings out yet and Weihan hadn't pulled out the Assault Armour but the cowpony knew they had them in the wings. The ground quaked as the two Unicorn Zords raced to the scene and the Red Ranger mulled over Twilight's words as she blasted away several monsters.

She had caught her leader's slip of the tongue at who she was fighting to save…and it didn't surprise her one bit. Ever since the Princess had come to Ponyville to lift that damned 'Want it, Need it' spell, Twilight had been spending more and more time with Celestia. There had been a bit of a hurdle before in regards to the aging issue, but since Billy had practically confirmed that they were immortal as well…well; it wasn't much of an issue anymore. Pausing to catch her breath, the blonde pony looked to where the titans were fighting and narrowed her eyes slightly. Was it her imagination or was Xonix…lagging?

"Feeling tired there, Ranger? All the better for your destruction to come sooner!"

Weihan didn't say anything but poured more fire into the Sabre. He wasn't tiring, but if he had to say something, he would have bet that Xonix was. The alien wouldn't tire that easily unless something was draining his energy but, for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was. There was no way that Xonix would want to risk lapsing into a Power Coma at the end of the attack, but there was definitely something off with his strikes. As the blades met once more, he carefully checked the subspace pocket for the item he had taken before the Dimensional Doorway had fully opened. He needed to wait for the perfect time to use it and turn the fight around in their favour. Shaking off the pain from a hit made in the mini-lapse of his concentration, Weihan felt a bead of sweat worm down his face.

This was going to be a long fight.

TBC…