Chapter Thirty Seven. What Lies Beneath.

Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload...

With the spirits of the Silent Strike Megazord informing them that they needed to find the Glace Crystal for the collection, the rangers regrouped to discuss Danni. It didn't take long for Nahir and Paige to head over to Sinnoh and pick her up. After a brief discussion, Danni and Paige went to the highest peak of the Merlin Plateau, hunting for the remains of the artefact. After encountering a ranger, they made their way to the cavern before being attacked by Jyllatile, a Dark Spectre that was following them. As both rangers morphed to take her on, Paige unleashed Bill's brand new weapon onto Jyllatile, the Toxic Armour. After a brief battle with the Zords, which included the destruction of the Houndoom Zord, the two female rangers were saved by a mysterious figure wearing a golden gauntlet, who vanished before they could talk to him. Later, Danni again said her goodbyes to the rangers on the Silver Gyarados before leaving...

"Hmmm..."

"What a way to spend the night, huh?" Luke muttered, ignoring the musing from the other man. "Random flash of energy, so now we're running around to try and pinpoint it."

"Think that it could possibly have been spent better," Duo commented, getting up from where he had been examining the ground. "Like sleeping. Dreaming. Thinking about stuff."

"Oh goody!" the purple ranger remarked, sarcastically. "Let's share deepest darkest thoughts."

He paused for a moment, trying to feel his way around where they were, before speaking up again.

"Where are we, anyway? I wasn't paying attention on the way over. Plus, it's dark."

"Errr... I think that we're at the Perrin City golf course," Duo remarked, looking around in bemusement. "I'd rather be on the nineteenth hole right now."

"The nineteenth hole?" Luke asked, looking over to the dark outline of the club house in the distance. "The bar? Brilliant, let's check out the building. If you were going to steal something, or... Do whatever, I don't know, it's probably more likely to be over there than here on the fifteenth fairway."

"So... You play golf?"

"I'm a rich white guy, of course I play golf," Luke laughed, already starting to head over to the club house. "I've played here many many times."

"Guess I'm following you then," the black ranger remarked, shaking his head. "Seriously, you've played here?"

"Yeah, many times. Think I already said that."

"Cool."

Gen-esis Over-load.

Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear.

Poké Rangers! Go!

Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout.

Coming together to fight the evil

G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria.

They will always save the day.

Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons.

Poké Rangers! Go!

The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot.

But then they lost their edge!

Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory.

Poké Rangers! No!

The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land.

Gen-esis Over-load

Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him.

It's time to battle...

All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them.

Poke Rangers! Go!

Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles.

Power of the Eevee!

Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198.

Poké Rangers! Go!

Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01.

Power of the Eevee!

Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo.

Genesis Overload!

Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI.

Poké Rangers!

Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger. Created by MakubeDaKiddX.

Genesis Overload!

Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01.

Power of the Eevee!

The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear.

Poké Rangers! Go!

The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them.

Verger needs you!

Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat.

To fight that evil!

Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high.

And save the day!

Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears.

Poké Rangers! Go!

Katie transforms into her Battlizer.

Power of the Eevee!

The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord.

Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!

The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear.

Power of the Eevee!

The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes.

Poké Rangers! Go!

Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them.

Genesis Overload!

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

Poké Rangers! Go!

"Is it exactly as you remember it?" Duo asked, following Luke inside the building, the purple ranger having used his telekinesis ability to open the lock up, evading the alarm system. "Never got in here before."

"Are you a member?"

"Nope."

"That's why then. I didn't know you played golf."

"Well, normally I don't," Duo answered, rubbing the back of his head. "I play about twenty games each year. It's not a regular thing."

"You any good?" Luke wondered, glancing down at the portable scanner that he had been given by Bill earlier to help them pin down the energy signature. "Because..."

"I'm not bad. Could be better, could be worse. If I played more, I bet I could be really good."

"Part of golf is being really arrogant," the purple ranger remarked, nodding in appreciation. "Not a big part, but it helps."

"See where you might fit in there then," Duo smirked, still following Luke away across the foyer. "But... You know where it is that we're going yet?"

Looking up in front of him, Luke let out a whistle of appreciation at the sight of where they were headed.

"The trophy room," he said, rubbing both hands together. "Which is interesting to know. Whatever that energy spike was..."

Not even finishing his sentence, he brought his hand up and pushed the door open with the power of his mind, revealing the room behind it, the riches within laden complete with various trophies from floor to ceiling.

"... It came from here. Mmm-hmm."

"You think that it's a trophy?" Duo wondered. "Because, there's got to be about forty in there. It'll take a while to check them all."

Again, Luke let out a grunt of acceptance, before glancing at the one in the middle of the room. A large silver trophy with an oak base and two ears at the top.

"That one looks good," he remarked, looking down at the scanner. "Seems to match as well. There's definitely readings coming off it."

"Great, so let's steal it and make our way..." Duo started to say, before seeing the look that his fellow ranger was giving him. "What?"

"We're not thieves," Luke demanded, giving him a filthy look. "I'm not stealing from this place. That happens to be the first prize in the tournament that they're holding... Not tomorrow, but the day after. If we steal it, it goes against everything that we stand for."

"When were you so up on upholding the law?"

"When it became about something that I care for," Luke replied, coldly. "You steal from a golf club, it's bad karma."

"So, how are we going to get it then?" Duo demanded, throwing both hands up in exasperation. "Seriously, I want to know."

"I have a suggestion actually," the purple ranger smirked, again rubbing both hands together. "A pretty good one."

"Okay, grip it and rip it."

Bringing the driver up, Duo quickly smashed it against the ball, sending it sailing high and far through the air until it came down into the ocean.

"Nice shot," Luke muttered, moving over to his own tee, the purple ranger testing his own club, before moving to hit it, the shot easily matching the distance that Duo's had gone. "Huh, bet I can increase a few yards onto it with telekinesis."

"Isn't that cheating?"

"Yeah, I suppose. That said, if it comes down to the last hole, and I need to hole a forty yard putt to win, or if we're losing drastically I might add a little touch of fate to the shot."

"I still can't believe that you entered us up," Duo muttered, shaking his head. "Was there really no other way for us to do this?"

"Nope, not at all," the purple ranger replied, before the two heard a cough behind them, before turning to see Katie walking down the stairs towards them, a puzzled look on her face.

"Any particular reason why you two are shaking golf balls into the ocean?" the red ranger asked, looking at the two of them. "Or, are you just incredibly bored waiting for something to happen."

"Practice," Duo replied, placing another ball on his tee. "Lots and lots of it."

"We've got a strange reading from the trophy at a golf course," Luke offered, grinning at her. "Right? You following?"

"Just about. It's heavily complicated stuff but I'm following," Katie replied, sarcastically. "Your point is?"

"We think that the trophy might contain an artefact, so we're going to win it," Duo quickly said, hitting another ball into the ocean. "Rather than steal it, which would be a crime. It's the first prize in a tournament tomorrow. Members get free entry, along with their playing partner. We win the trophy, we can examine it."

"I still think stealing it would have worked just as well," the black ranger remarked, watching her head away in the opposite direction, back up the stairs. "But, let's get as much practice in as possible. Otherwise, we might crash and burn."

"Well, that's those two off doing something useful," Katie said, walking onto the bridge, where Bill, Lance, Nahir, Paige, Xavier and Ryan were all waiting. "They've come up with a beauty, it involves them trying to win a golf tournament."

"Ah, it's a noble sport," Lance replied, quickly. "It's so much better than tennis."

"To be fair to them, there is a small energy reading at the golf club," Bill offered. "I sent them over last night, they did come back and mention that the might have tracked it down."

"What sort of reading is it?" Xavier asked, interested. "Genesis, Spectre, UFER..."

"UFER?" Paige asked, giving the blue ranger a bemused look of surprise. "Something that you're trying to..."

"Unidentified Flying Energy Reading," Xavier said, quickly, his voice dropping slightly. "My little joke. That quickly failed."

"So, what can we amuse ourselves with until those two either win that trophy or fail miserably and have to try to steal it?" Nahir wondered. "There is one huge thing that I wouldn't mind knowing."

"The figure who helped Danni and Paige on the Plateau?" Ryan asked, stroking his chin. "We're trying to find one man, or woman, in an entire region. Let me know when you've got a place to start."

"Someone else is taking out Dark Spectres," Bill remarked, grinning at everyone. "I say that we start with the Dark Spectres."

"We need to find out who it is right away," Xavier said. "This is dangerous. If it's some yahoo off the streets looking for a thrill, they could get badly hurt. At least we know what we're doing."

"Sort of," Nahir muttered. "We still know nothing about these things."

"Nice day for it," Luke commented, as the two rangers found themselves making their way towards the check in desk. "No rain, no snow..."

"Anyone that you know playing in the tournament?" Duo wondered, grinning over at a pair of female spectators. "Any old rivals that could come back and bite you?"

"Seriously, what's wrong with you, thinking that?" the purple ranger demanded, shrugging his shoulders. "It's not a clichéd movie where it all turns into my triumph over my sporting rival."

"Okay, Happy Gilmore, I was just kidding," Duo quickly said, taking a step back. "Let's get over there and prepare to hit the fairways."

"How hard can it be to track down a Dark Spectre?" Paige wondered, the five remaining rangers all watching Bill run the satellite across the region, almost with disinterest. "Come on, there has to be something out there. Some way that you can track them down."

"Do you know a way that it can be done?" Bill demanded, slightly irritated by the comment. "Because, if you do, I'd just love to know it."

"Okay, there's no need for that, Bill," Lance interjected, taking a step forward to calm the aggravated PokéManiac down. "Calm it down."

"What I was trying to say," Paige replied, a little annoyed by the way Bill had reacted at her comment. "Is that if there's a way that it can be done, surely you can figure it out. You're good like that."

"Bill," Xavier said, looking over to the red haired PokéManiac. "Remember when we've had previous encounters with Dark Spectres. Octomius, Infiltra and Jyllatile. You must have picked something up then with the satellite scanners. Is there anything consistent in their attacks?"

"I'll go over it, see what I can find," Bill remarked, moving over to his console. "But, all of those were picked up when they took on a host body similar to their original one before they became Dark Spectres, when they did something out of the ordinary or when they were attacking. So, I'm not holding out for much hope. We, and by that I mean me, have tried scanning for them before with no luck. For all intents and purposes, they're invisible in their spectral form."

"Unless there is some recurring thing in those three cases," Nahir commented, leaning over to try and get a better look at the screen Bill was sat in front of. "Something that you can grab and try and scan for. With one isolated incident, you might be out of luck. Two, probably more or less the same. Three... There's a bigger picture."

"If you're that confident in this, then get over and help on out," Bill muttered. "I welcome your input."

"So, this is the quick rundown of the tournament," Luke said, quickly giving Duo the information after the black ranger had made the comment about taking four days out of his life. "In the morning, we play eighteen holes. The top four teams after that round then compete across the front nine, the two lowest scoring teams get knocked out after those nine holes, before the final two teams go the back nine to decide the winner."

"Alternate shots, yeah? You take one, I take the next? Seriously, that the competition structure? Man."

"That's the game. Perrin Club special tournament rules. Separates the men from the... ones that are worse at golf."

"Sounds about right," Duo remarked. "Well, don't hit it into the rough with your tee shots every single time and we won't argue."

"Don't bunker them every time I send them straight down the middle and..." Luke retorted, grinning at him. "And we won't argue."

"Already arguing, are we?"
The smug voice came from the man stood in front of them, a black haired figure wearing a stetson, red shirt and jeans, along with a pair of cowboy boots.

"You'll be doing that a lot by the end of the day," he remarked, smirking over at the two rangers. "Especially when we clean up and take the trophy. Right Maxi?"

The shorter figure next to him, wearing a yellow shirt and jeans, nodded at them, mirroring the smirk on his playing partner's face.

"Keep telling yourselves that," Luke retorted. "Whoever you are."

"I'm the club champion," the cowboy hat man shot back. "Raul Kempes. This is my playing partner, the former club champion, Maxi Mascherano. We're going to clean up, taking glory back to our day job."

"Suppose you've got to have something to celebrate when you go back to the burger place," Duo commented, leaning back against the wall at the side of the clubhouse. "Along with your employee of the month award. Bet that was a tight fought contest against two spotty teenagers, a pensioner who is one bad day away from suicide and a hyper intelligent Mr. Mime."

"Actually, we're both corporate heavyweights on our day off from the largest corporation in Verger," Kempes said, smugly. "So, that proves your theory to be completely wrong."

"I didn't think that Sunderland Industries let their staff take the day off to play golf..." Luke started to say, before the two of them burst out laughing.

"They've had their time," Mascherano smirked, folding his arms. "We work for Reims."

"Thought that Reims were a joke," Duo remarked. "That's what you always said."

"Reims are not a joke," Kempes commented, giving the two of them the same smug look. "We are the largest corporation in Verger. See you two on the fairways..."

Watching the two of them saunter away, the black ranger turned to his playing partner.

"So... They're bigger than you?" Duo asked, a mock-evangelical look on his face. "Really? Well, I say you, I mean your father's company..."

"No, they're the biggest corporation in Verger doing what they do. It's grandstanding. We're a multi-regional corporation, which makes us... Anyway, mind games are over. Let's play some golf."

"Hey, check out what I've got," Bill laughed, pushing his chair back away from the console to show a live satellite feed of the first hole at the golf club where Luke and Duo were playing. "We can see what's happening with them. Watch them crash and burn..."

"They might not," Nahir pointed out. "They might do well. You ever think that?"

"Nope," Ryan commented. "Doesn't playing a team sport..."

"Which golf normally isn't," Katie remarked, interrupting him on the spot. "So..."

"... Require the players to be in complete harmony while engaged in the contest. Those two could snap at any moment and lose their cool, they could fall out... It's likely. Given the way both of them are."

"You ever consider the possibility that you might be raining on their parade?" Xavier asked, as Luke stepped out onto the tee to make his opening shot on the par four. "Come on. If it all goes wrong, they can just use their abilities to... Bend the laws of gravity. And physics. And golf."

"He'll crash one straight down the middle," Nahir said confidently, watching Luke bring his club back...

... And do exactly as she had foretold, hitting it a good two hundred and eighty yards, a logo on the side of the screen telling them that he had been hitting it into the wind.

"See," the yellow ranger remarked, a little more smugly than she had to. "Okay, let's see Duo possibly mess it up."

"That's not going to happen," Katie offered. "Since we've got nothing better to do, you want to have some little side bets on this?"

"I'll bite," Ryan said, quickly. "Twenty bucks says he hits it into the bunker."

Bringing his five iron up, Duo caught the ball sweetly and brought it down onto the green, earning himself some applause from the watching spectators around him.

"Nice shot," Luke remarked, heading over to the green, his putter already in his hands. "I'll just knock this in for a birdie, and we'll take it on from there."

"Hand it over," Katie said, giving the green ranger a smug look. "Or, double or nothing? I bet he holes it."

"Mmmm..." Ryan said, quickly musing on it, before dropping another twenty dollar bill down onto the table. "Let's go for it."

"There is, of course, a serious point to all of this," Lance remarked, giving all of them looks of bemusement. "Bill, how goes the search of the region for any Dark Spectres?"

"Still a whole lot of nothing," the PokéManiac answered, it quickly becoming apparent that it was his turn to give out a strained look. "This isn't easy, they're very adept at hiding."

"How annoying," Ryan remarked, first for the comment about the lack of Spectre action, second for the sight of Luke sinking his putt to put himself and the black ranger one under for the day. "I think I might have to stop the betting. Otherwise, I'll end up whiting out."

"Damnit!"

The shout came from Duo on the sixth hole par three as his tee shot sailed up into the air and into the water, much to his dismay. It sank like a Golem in the ocean, the black ranger already shaking his head as he moved over to watch Luke take the next shot.

"Just when we're two under as well," the purple ranger muttered, giving him a dark look. "Come on, head in the game."

"I know, I know," he shot back, already seeing Luke take an approach shot and land the ball on the green roughly two feet away from the hole. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, take more care with the wind," his playing partner warned. "Okay?"

"Okay, I got it," Duo replied, already trotting out onto the expanse of the green to line up his shot. "Just knock it in for bogey and we'll move on."

Even as he finished speaking, the black ranger did so, relieved by the sound of the small white ball dropping into the cup. What was more surprising was the pat on the shoulder he earned from Luke as he came over, the two of them ready to make their way to the next tee.

"Just keep concentrating," the purple ranger said. "You're doing well. Just keep calm, keep focused and we'll do it."

Upon making their way across the grass, he found himself glancing across to the scoreboard to see how they were doing in the scheme of things. Currently, they were tied in third place with two other teams, behind the joint leaders of Mascherano and Kempes who were four under with another group after ten holes.

"We're not too far behind," Duo commented. "We're one under, right? So, if we birdie the next hole and nobody else does, we'll be third alone behind them and in the next round."

"Lot can happen in twelve holes," his playing partner remarked. "Don't get cocky."

"It could be worse," Nahir commented, smiling slightly as the video pictures on the screen showed Luke stepping up to the tee. "At least they aren't getting battered every which way out of sight."

"No, they're not," Xavier remarked, a trifle sarcastically. "Amazing how one days worth of practice can suddenly make them brilliant. They have to slip up somewhere."

"What's up with the negativity all of a sudden?" Lance wondered, not really taking his eyes off the screen as Luke made a less than perfect drive off the tee, the shot kissing the rough edges of the fairway. "Not like you at all."

"Guess I'm just bored of hanging around waiting for something to happen," the blue ranger replied. He leaned back in his seat to shrug at the Dragon Master while speaking, letting his head slip back onto the top of his chair while he looked at the ceiling. "Guess I was right about them slipping up."

Swearing silently under his breath, Duo brought his three wood back and took a furious swipe at the ball, striking it away down the fairway. It evaded the bunker to the front left of the green, but still fell short of the island of green more than twenty yards ahead of it. Already, he could hear Luke applauding the effort as he made to follow it away down the fairway.

"Sorry I couldn't get the better of that," he muttered, following his playing partner. "Just didn't get as much on it as..."
"Hey, I think you did good in the circumstances," the purple ranger commented. "Don't worry, I'll hole it here for an eagle."

And that he did. His shot went impossibly high, rolling an even greater distance until slipping gracefully into the hole, the smirk on his face a sight worth seeing as he turned back to his playing partner.

"It's all in the mind," he said, a little too much emphasis on the final word as the black ranger returned the grin. "Three under for the day."

"No way he made that shot on skill alone," Katie remarked, shaking her head in disbelief. "That's impossible."

"A big part of golf is being mentally strong," Lance offered. "Although, I doubt telekinesis comes into that phrase somehow. It probably wasn't what the original meaning of the thought was."

"Think I might be getting something," Bill mused, softly. He turned away from the screen to show several black dots on the map of Verger. "I'm very slowly picking something up, it might take a while but I've narrowed down several areas."

On the seventeenth, with the two rangers still three under par, they ran into trouble. Luke's opening tee shot had found the trees and the follow up shot from Duo had barely halved the fairway. With two shots down, the purple ranger managed to thrash his shot onto the rear of the green, nearly twenty feet from the hole.

"Come on," he muttered, giving his playing partner a desperate look. "Need to pull something out of the hat here."

With Duo moving over to take his putt, he looked over to the scoreboard, seeing that they were currently in the last qualifying place behind Kempes and Mascherano, with two other groups there sandwiching the Reims employees. On the par four they were currently playing, unless Duo holed the putt, they were looking at dropping out of the requirements for getting to the next round.

"Guess it might have to come down to the final hole," he commented, as Duo's putt fell slightly short of dropping into the hole. Moving over to it, the purple ranger easily knocked it in from three feet, not even bothering to look around at the scoreboard.

Barely ten minutes later, the two of them found themselves making their way off the final hole, a par three, slightly relieved. Having taken several seconds to size up his shot, Duo had teed off and landed it barely inches from the hole, much to Luke's relief as he had made his way downhill and tapped it in for a birdie. With everyone else dropping shots, the efforts over the course of eighteen holes had been enough to send them in in the third qualifying place, avoiding a playoff between three other teams for the final spot in the last four.

"Well, at least we got away with it," Luke said, the two of them going towards the clubhouse to get something to eat. "That's a relief. Although, we will have to be better come the next round. We play like that again..."

"Check that guy out," Duo interrupted, pointing across to where the two of them could see Kempes talking to someone on a cell phone, the golfer doing his best not to be seen by anyone as he lurked behind a pair of trees. "You think he's acting suspicious?"

"A little," the purple ranger commented. "You have to wonder what's so secretive that he can't..."

Without hesitating, Duo broke away from him and began to head towards Kempes, turning invisible as he walked across the grass.

Pressing himself up against one of the closer trees, the black ranger could just barely hear what was being said ahead of him, Kempes' attempts for secrecy meaning that he wasn't speaking the loudest he possibly could do.

"Yes, yes sir," he said, a slightly subservient tone in his voice. "It's all going fine. We're doing well, we're into the second round and we can win it. I believe we can."

He was almost ready to turn around and leave, his interest well and truly lost in the conversation. The shady way that Kempes had been acting had intrigued him moments earlier, but now it seemed a pointless act that he had gone through with.

That was when he heard it. A name that could have meant anything, but resonated within him for all the wrong reasons.

"Trust me, Dennis," the golfer said, all traces of his previous manner gone. "We'll win this. And then you can examine the trophy for whatever it is that you need..."

Reacting to the phrase, Duo quickly found himself straining closer for information, only for Kempes to hang up and walk away whistling.

"At least they're through," Bill remarked. "That's... Well, better than any of us expected, I think."

As if to answer him, the communication system beeped loudly, the sound alerting everyone on the bridge. Even as the PokéManiac answered it, the voices of Luke and Duo came through the system.

"Hey guys!" Duo called. "How's it going? You missing us?"

As the black ranger finished speaking, Xavier couldn't help but make the comment to poke at the two rangers.

"So, Luke," he said, quickly. "How many shots have you altered with your ability? We're really wondering at that. We've spotted at least two, so..."

"All of that has been complete and utter skill," the purple ranger retorted. "Apart from that one shot which went in for the eagle."

"Pay up!" Nahir shouted, grinning at the blue ranger. "Now!"

"What's up, guys?" Lance asked, folding his arms as he looked over to the console where the voices were coming from. "You just called up for the banter, or...?"

"We think that the Coppingers have a ringer in the competition," Duo replied. "I just overheard a call from one of them to a guy named Dennis who wants to examine the trophy."

"Are you two so bored waiting for the next round that you're listening in on private conversations?" Paige wondered, rolling her eyes at what the black ranger had just said. "Because..."

"That does sound worrying," Katie said, moving closer to the communications array. "It really does. It could be innocent, but..."

"Anything else you know about the ringer?" Lance asked. "Anything that might help us know for sure?"

"They work for Reims," Luke offered, speaking into his communicator. "Personally, I think that's enough reason to hang, draw and quarter them but..."

"Huh," the Dragon Master interrupted, a little sarcastic in his comment. "Don't suppose you know that Reims is a Coppinger front? We've long suspected that to be the case, but there's actually very little proof of it rushing around. They may not be Coppingers per se, a lot of regular people work there who have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, but they are working for them it would appear."

"So, not mutants then?" Duo asked, a little sadly. "We don't get to morph and beat the crap out of them if they get the trophy instead of us."

"Well, if that happens, you might want to miss the morphing part out," Nahir commented. "That'd probably help."

"It is imperative that whatever this trophy is, it does not fall into Coppinger hands," Bill remarked. "Just... Use your best judgement if it comes down to it."

"That's just asking for trouble," Paige said, grinning at the thought. "Do you guys actually have any judgement?"

"Just luck," Duo replied, sarcastically. "I've got to this point in my life purely on luck, rather than making any brilliant judgement calls."

"I can believe it," Katie remarked. "So, what now for you guys? Anything special?"

"Lunch and then tee off again," Luke answered. "It makes you quite hungry, all this golf. Other than that, hopefully we'll be back with the trophy in the next six hours."

"You guys doing much?" Duo wondered, trying to make some more conversation. "Because we'd just hate you to be sat around bored while we do this."

"Actually, we're watching you," Nahir commented. "So, that's the boredom part accurate... I jest. Go on, get going guys!"

"Good luck," Katie offered, sentiments that were quickly echoed by the rest of the rangers before the line went dead.

"Coppingers on the golf course," Ryan said, softly. "It's like a really bad mystery. Somehow."

The first nine holes of the second round came and went. With a mixture of skilled play, the use of their abilities... (Duo had gone invisible at one point and stopped an opponent from knocking a tap in for a birdie) and their opponents dropping shots, the two rangers found themselves entering the back nine needing to beat Mascherano and Kempes to take the trophy. The other two pairs had finished below them, now settled in third and fourth place before heading to the club house to drown their sorrows.

"Look at that," Duo commented, as he and Luke stood face to face with their opponents on the tenth hole tee. "You actually can play golf. Thought you were just bluffing."

"I never bluff when I'm being deadly serious," Mascherano retorted, giving the two of them a dirty look. "So there!"

Instead of rising to the bait, the two rangers chose to remain solid and steely in the face of what their opponents might throw up against them.

"After you," Luke finally said, gesturing to the tee. "We insist."

"Got it! I've got it!" Bill yelled, leaping out of his seat. "Oh, you thought that you could run from Uncle Bill, but I've tracked you down, you pesky little critter. Nothing escapes me!"

As he began to laugh away at his victory, the other people on the bridge looked at each other a little uneasily, before he regained his composure to speak.

"Sorry, he's been causing me grief. If it's a him. Or a her. I don't know. It might be genderless. Anyway... Here's a little riddle for you. When you leave a Ditto at the breeding centre with another Pokémon for breeding purposes, how come it always transforms into a Pokémon of the opposite gender when by law it should transform into an exact replica of the one that is already there."

"Bill..." Katie said, a little tired by the outburst he had just made. "What have you got?"

"Oh, right," the PokéManiac replied, a little sheepishly. "I found a Dark Spectre. It surfaced in... Let me see..."

Pausing slightly, he turned back to the computer, double checking his findings before grinning around at the rangers.

"There's one in Sycamore City. I'll upload the coordinates to you and you can get down there and check it out."

"Brilliant!" Xavier exclaimed, almost leaping out of his seat. "Finally some action."

It had come down to this. The final hole. The previous eight had been a massive struggle between the two teams to try and grab a lead. As both of them had quickly discovered, taking the lead wasn't a problem. Keeping it was harder. On the tenth hole, the two rangers had managed to win the hole, before the next two had been won by Mascherano and Kempes, putting them one up. The next hole, the thirteenth had been halved, before a thirty foot putt from Luke had evened them up at the fourteenth. The fifteenth hole hadn't revealed a leader, before Kempes chipped into the hole from the rough on the sixteenth to put himself and Mascherano one up. On the seventeenth, their previous nemesis, the two rangers managed to redeem themselves and win the hole to take it all level. On the final hole, the par three that they had done so well on earlier, Luke's opening drive had been well placed, but Mascherano had caught the wind, leaving him way off. With the greater distance to the hole, Kempes had then missed the putt by barely inches, leaving the black ranger to step up with the chance to win it.

"And this final putt will decide the way that the trophy goes..." the announcer said, his voice dropping several octaves as Duo stepped up to his ball, the putter in hand. "If he makes it, Sunderland and Roronoa will take the championship."

Standing where he was, Luke heard both Kempes and Mascherano whispering the word 'miss' under their breath several times. Already, he was prepared to give the ball a touch of psychic interference if need be, yet the purple ranger was more than willing to give Duo the benefit of the doubt.

Drawing several deep breaths, the black ranger crouched down, checking the lie of the green to determine his aim. Standing back up, he took up the position and started to bring it back slowly, trying to ascertain the power he needed to put behind it. The silence of the crowd behind him was almost deafening, the only sound of breathing threatening to get to him.

Finally making his choice, he brought the club back and struck the ball, watching it go off on its path...

"This is just about typical," Paige remarked, shaking her head. "An alley. The bane of our existence."

"You didn't have to come if you didn't want to, Paige," Xavier retorted, angrily. "Seriously... We don't hang out in that many alleys."

"That's for creepy maniacs," Nahir offered, trying to be helpful. "And our two resident maniacs are off on the golf course."

"That's not a nice thing to say," Katie remarked, looking around the alley for any signs of what Bill had found with the scanners barely minutes earlier. "You guys see anything?"

"What are we looking for then?" Ryan wondered, the green ranger folding his arms to keep out the bitter cold of the wind in the air. "The thing is with Dark Spectres... They're good at hiding in dark alleys."

"He has a point, Katie," Xavier said, bringing up a torch to flash around the alley, the beam of light raking around the darkness with little effect. "It is like looking for a Magmar in flames."

"Yeah, I already thought of that," the red ranger remarked, dryly. Without hesitating, she reached into her pocket and drew something out, tossing it into the middle of the alley. No sooner had the rest of the rangers realised that it was one of the Genesis artefacts that they had previously recovered, they were assaulted with the sight of the Dark Spectre in question erupting from a trash can to pounce on the item...

Just as quickly, a figure leaped out from behind something they couldn't quite make out, a golden gauntlet on his arm...

"Sorry, boys."

The voice came from Kempes, the Coppinger in front of them blocking their way out of the club with the trophy. Having expected it as soon as Duo had dropped the winning putt and they'd collected the item in question at the presentation ceremony afterwards, both rangers shifted into fighting stances, realising that he could well turn violent.

"You're not getting it, we will defend ourselves if it must be," Luke warned, seeing the puzzled look flashing already across Kempes' face. "So..."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, puzzled by the warning. "I just wanted to apologise for the attempt at psyching you out earlier. We all say things with mind games... Hey, you played some great golf. Unbelievable shots. Tell you what, how about we have a drink in the bar and call it evens."

"Well, that sounds pleasant," Luke remarked. "Guess for someone who works for Reims..."

Interrupting him, Kempes was suddenly thrown forward by an unknown force, the smaller frame of Maxi Mascherano behind him, the eyes black with something beyond them.

"Oh nuts!" Duo exclaimed, seconds before the possessed figure brought up his hands and threw them aside easily, the power of his mind forcing them against the white painted walls.

"Dark Spectre?" Luke wondered, before seeing the smile play across the figure's mouth. "Possessing a Coppinger. That's irony."

Upon his attack, Duo had dropped the trophy to the floor, the Dark Spectre was already making his way to retrieve it for himself...

... Only for Luke to pick it up with his own telekinesis and smash it into the face of the being, Mascherano's body flailing back in pain. His concentration broken, the two rangers were instantly free from his grasp and able to get back into the fight. With the possessed Mascherano moving up to attack them, Luke hit him in the face with a telekinesis backed punch, the strike staggering him.

"Give! Me! The! Trophy!" the figure roared, leaping back towards them. "Now!"

"You didn't say please," Duo retorted, the black ranger already in motion to dive aside and scoop up the trophy. "And, you didn't win it, so..."

Throwing his hand up into the air...

I really hope Bill managed to get this fixed, he thought with a grimace as he opened his mouth to speak. Otherwise, I'm going to look a bit of a fool...

... "Cress Crystal!"

Just as he had expected, the weapon appeared in his hand, the teleporting amps that Bill had placed around it doing their jobs. Even as it began to glow in the presence of the Dark Spectre, Duo flung his arm forward and forced it into Mascherano's chest. It didn't take long for the light and the force of the crystal to fling the being out of the Coppinger's chest, the shadowy being vanishing instantly in a crumble of dust. It didn't take long for the unconscious Mascherano to follow him to the ground, the figure grunting in pain as he hit the floor.

"Well..." Luke said, dusting the front of his shirt off. "That was unexpected. Very unexpected."

"I say we get out of here as quickly as possible," Duo remarked, pocketing the crystal before making for the door. "Before we get asked some questions we find difficult to answer."

As the golden light penetrated the chest of the Dark Spectre, the four rangers saw the figure behind it, already lowering his golden gauntlet, his face covered by a golden mask rather than the hood as before.

"That your guy, Paige?" Katie asked, the figure already turning to run. "And, that's not going to work twice."

Even as she finished speaking, Nahir had already moved, her body a blur as she easily overtook the moving figure and ploughed him into the ground, the mask dropping away from his face.

"You!" Paige exclaimed, seeing the face of the figure as the mask dropped to the floor. "That's... That's not possible."

"Long time no see," he said, a nervous grin on his now revealed face. It was slightly different than before, he looked older than before and he now had a beard. But, there was no mistaking him as he lay on the ground in front of them. "You miss me?"

It was Crane...

Author's Notes.

It's Crane... Crane... Crane! What's he doing there?

Answers soon. Very soon.

If you hate golf, then it's probably not the greatest chapter for you. But, either way hope that you got some enjoyment out of the side plot of the others doing what the others do.

Next one will have answers... Many answers.

Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.

On that next chapter, it's entitled Fury Of The Forest. Preview below. Don't know when...

Errr...

And there's something very special the chapter after that.

Think that's it, so thanks for reading.

Don't forget to review! Crane is replying for this chapter.

Chapter Thirty Eight, Fury Of The Forest, preview.

Paige: What are you doing here?

Crane: It's a long story.

Bill: You seeing this?

Crane: Dark Spectre reading in... Slowpoke Forest.

Ryan: We can take care of it, if you want to catch up with stuff.

Xavier: What's going on with this forest?

Bill: There is a legend about that forest, you know.

?: His name was Jason. And today is his birthday...

Coming soon.