Author's Note: Sorry about the delay, but it took me a while to come up with a format for some of the things in these remaining chapters that I liked. Basically, I kept changing my mind.

Oh, and the Ranger Rule Tyler references is from Code of a Ranger by Marius Girl.

Power Rangers: Geo-Force

Chapter 36: Here Be Dragons, Part 1

"Ready Conrad?" Tyler Forge, Geo-Force Red Ranger asked his friend and teammate.

"Yeah, I think so," responded Conrad Mason, Geo-Force Green Ranger, from his place in the center of a ring of boxy electronic devices that had been set up in the back yard of the Forge home. "You sure this is going to work?"

"We know the portable combat simulator works Conrad," Dramlin Zell, current Red-1 Ranger for SPD Terran Division's Alpha Squad replied for Tyler.

"At least when it's hooked up to the SPD power network," finished Kris Forge, Alpha Green-3. "Hence the point of this experiment. Boom designed this system to be used by undercover teams when they have to do prolonged surveillance. So we need to see if it will work when drawing power from a household system. Initial tests on apartment and office buildings have already been done."

"How did those go?" asked Craig Kingsley, Geo-Force Black Ranger. The two SPD Rangers exchanged a glance.

"There are still a few bugs," Dramlin muttered.

The three Geo-Force Rangers exchanged a glance of their own, and then Tyler's eyes widened as a realization dawned, "That power outage in that office block downtown last week! That was you guys, wasn't it!?"

"No!" Dramlin defended. "That was Boom and the Beta Squad."

Conrad's hand went though his hair in his nervous habit, "This isn't gonna fry the house's power grid, is it?"

"It shouldn't," answered Kris, "but even if it does, Dad shouldn't get too mad. After all, we're testing SPD tech here. Boom promised he'd fix anything that got fried and until he does, Dad and Ty can stay in the Academy's guest quarters."

"Oh great," Tyler rolled his eyes. "If anything goes wrong, I am so blaming this all on you," Tyler informed his older brother. The Forge siblings exchanged a glare.

"Okay, getting on with this, "Dramlin announced, "beginning program." The Karovian touched a few buttons on the control pad he was holding and the machinery started to hum. Projection grids on the faces of the holo-emitters began to glow and suddenly six stooped figures appeared, surrounding Conrad. They were generally humanoid in outline, but were covered in dark green, gnarled reptilian scales; however they didn't fit the description of any known bipedal reptilian species. For one thing, instead of fingers, their "hands" tapered into single curving blades.

Conrad looked around at the creatures, "What are these things?"

"Something Boom came up with after watching some old twentieth century horror movie," Dramlin answered. "He calls them Tyranodrones. They're actually pretty tough."

"Great," was all Conrad had time to say as the first of the Tyranodrones attacked. He ducked under a slash to his head, and knocked the impressively solid holographic opponent back with a kick to the chest. Conrad sidestepped another attempted slash, grabbed the drone's wrist, and flipped it onto its back while nailing the third drone in the head with a side kick. The young ranger flipped away from the attack of two more of the Tyranodrones, only to be knocked to the ground upon landing by a leg sweep from the final drone. Conrad got into a kneeling position just as the two Tyranodrones he flipped away from made downward strikes at his head. He threw up his arms in a block and invoked his elemental power, the substance of his forearms shifting from soft tissue to an incredibly hard, marble-like material. The Tyranodrone's blade-hands met Conrad's transformed arms, and they froze. Conrad looked up past his arms in surprise and saw that the blades were flashing in and out of existence.

"Um, guys?"

Kris swore. "The program's malfunctioning. The impact with your arms should have shattered the blades, but the software doesn't know how to handle it."

Everyone jumped when one of the emitters started sparking. Dramlin yelled something that was a fairly vehement Karovian swear word, "The software glitch is causing a power feedback." Several more emitters started sparking, "Unplug the system!"

Tyler reached to unplug the equipment from the house's external outlet but was driven back by sparks at the connection. Suddenly, in an even larger shower of sparks, the plug pulled out of the outlet. Tyler looked at Craig, and the concentration etched on the Black Ranger's face indicated that he had used his recently discovered telekinetic ability to rescue his boyfriend. Craig dropped the power cord as Tyler looked over at his brother, "How bad?"

Kris sighed and answered without looking up, "About three quarters fried. I'm almost afraid to ask, but how's the house?"

Tyler entered the family home and tried a few light switches and then finally checked the displays on the house's small fusion core. All of its indicators were showing that the device had gone into emergency lockdown. Even if the house's wiring was still okay, it would be at least a day before the core was back up and running. Tyler came back outside, looked at his older brother and said, "Dad is going to kill you."

Kris groaned, "Can today get any worse?" In answer to his question, because the Universe never let's that question go unanswered, the three Geo-Force Rangers' communicators beeped. Everyone glared at Kris.

"Thanks big brother," Tyler said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "You just had to go and break Ranger Rule number 14, didn't you?"

Kris blushed his brother's Ranger color, "Sorry."

The three male Geo-Force Rangers stood in a group. Tyler looked at Conrad and Craig, and getting nods indicating they were ready said, "It's Morphin' Time! Power of Fire!" Flames leapt from Tyler's Geo-morpher and wrapped around his body, leaving his Red Geo-Ranger armor in their wake.

Conrad yelled, "Power of Earth!" Starting at his morpher and moving across his form, his body turned to green stone. When the transformation was completed, the stone shattered away revealing his Green Geo-Ranger armor.

Craig finished with, "Animus Spirit Power!" Golden plasma spread over Craig. When it shattered away, he was encased in his Black Geo-Ranger armor. Their morphs complete the three teleported out in color-coded flashes of light.

The male Geo-Force Rangers arrived on scene, the plaza in the center of New Tech City's governmental hub, just in time for Craig to catch his twin sister Melissa, the White Ranger, as she flew through the air. "You okay Sis?" he asked.

"It's about time you guys showed up!" was Melissa's rather indignant response. Before any of the boys could respond, the source of the White Ranger's unscheduled flight came into view; a ten foot tall, humanoid elephant with green skin, massive tusks, and what looked like ferns for ears. Andrea and Nia, the Yellow and Blue Rangers respectively, were raining fist, foot, weapon, and power strike blows down on it without much effect.

"That's Pachigerm," Melissa answered the unvoiced question. "You guys want to give it a try?"

Tyler nodded, "Right. Craig, let's see if it can take the heat."

"Okay," Craig responded, stretched his hands towards the Biorg, and then yelled, "Solar Flare!" invoking his power strike. Simultaneously, Tyler mirrored Craig's movements and invoked his own power strike with "Flame Strike!"

A stream of golden solar plasma and a burning fireball leapt from the two Rangers' hands and slammed into Pachigerm . . . who backed up all of a half step. "That the best you've got Rangers?" the Biorg taunted.

"Any other ideas, fearless leader," Conrad asked. However, before Tyler could answer Pachigerm was upon them and all the Rangers had to focus on just staying alive. This latest Biorg was unbelievably strong, seemed completely impervious, and was disturbingly fast for its size.

After being knocked away for the seventh or eighth time, the Rangers had lost count, they tired to regroup and combine their weapons, but never got that chance as Pachigerm yelled, "Not so fast Rangers! Spore Trumpet!" The Biorg inhaled and then blew a cloud of dust on the Rangers, coating them all in a layer of some kind of powder.

"Ugh, what is this stuff?" Conrad complained as he tried, ineffectively, to wipe himself off.

"They're spores. Ferns release spores to reproduce rather than seeds," Andrea explained.

"Reproduce . . .?"

"Oh, it's nothing like that Rangers. Here, allow me to show you," Pachigerm then snapped its massive fingers and the Rangers were wracked with explosions, as each of the thousands of spores covering their armors simultaneously detonated. The Rangers managed to stay on their feet, but not for long, as Pachigerm charged through their ranks. The Rangers went flying, crashing first into the sides of the buildings and other architectural features of the plaza, then into the ground, where their morphs, having expended all their energy protecting the Rangers from serious injury, failed, leaving the Rangers barely conscious in their vulnerable civilian forms.

Pachigerm looked around at its handiwork, and then moved towards the nearest prone Ranger form, that of Andrea. "You're closest, you're first," the massive Biorg said as it reared back with its fist, ready to dispatch the fallen Ranger. However, before Pachigerm could strike, it was interrupted by a shout of, "Don't you dare touch her!!"

Pachigerm turned to find Conrad on his feet. "Impressive Ranger, you're actually standing. Tell you what; I'll finish you off, then the girl."

Conrad seemed to ignore Pachigerm's actual statement and said, "No one or no thing will ever hurt Andy as long as I'm around . . . Power of Earth!" In a flash of green Conrad morphed.

Pachigerm laughed, it was a cold, hollow trumpeting sound through its trunk, "You're morph's failed once already, what makes you think it will protect you a second time against me?"

"Cause I'm not done yet." Conrad straightened, and even through his visor looked the much taller Biorg dead in the eyes, "Geo-Force Green Ranger, the Strength of Earth! Dragon Strength Form!!" Every rock, stone, pebble and bit of dirt or dust within a dozen feet of Conrad was pulled towards him and began swirling about his body, and then was sucked into his Ranger armor. The black portion of Conrad's armor covering his shoulders and upper torso became and metallic chest plate. His gloves became heavy armored gauntlets, complete with armored knuckles. His boots became heavy armored boots that seemed to connect him directly to the earth. The horn motif on his helmet expanded up, off his helmet, rounding and becoming to massive, curved horns. The transformation complete, the Strength of Earth sigil on his chest flared with green light.

Pachigerm took a step back, "Only the Red Ranger can . . ."

"Ty's got his Dragon Form, now it looks like I've got mine. Terra Crush!" Conrad stomped his foot on the ground, the pavement buckled and a huge shockwave of green energy plowed into Pachigerm, knocking the Biorg off its feet. As Pachigerm tried to stand, Conrad was on him, pounding it with super-strong blows. This is what the other Rangers saw as they regained consciousness and regrouped.

Seeing his friends were up and okay, Conrad decided to finish the fight, "Say goodnight ugly. Horn Charge!" Conrad ran full on at Pachigerm, the horns growing from his helmet charging, that energy spreading over the rest of his body until he became a rushing shaft of green energy . . . that ran right through the Biorg. Conrad's form solidified as he came to a stop on the other side of the Biorg, which feel backwards and exploded. Conrad began to turn back towards his friends when, deep inside the remains of Pachigerm's synthetic skeleton, a vial of putrid green liquid was ruptured.

Pachigerm roared as he grew to monstrous height. "Fine," Conrad muttered. Thought I'd have to wait to see if this worked the same for me as it does for Ty, but I guess not. Auroch Zord, Arise!"

At Conrad's call, the large bovine Zord thundered to the scene. Conrad jumped to the cockpit and grabbed the control crystal. Just as Tyler had described happening with his Firedrake Zord, the energy of Conrad's Dragon Strength form immediately transferred from him to the Zord. However, in this case a much more radical transformation took place, as the Auroch grew in size and transformed into a massive, horned, Green Earth Dragon.

Pachigerm seemed to consider the situation for a second, and even took a step back as the Earth Dragon roared, but then collected itself and tried its Spore Trumpet attack again. The Earth Dragon was coated, and Conrad got a bit concerned, but the feeling he was getting from the Dragon was one of . . . amusement? Conrad soon understood when Pachigerm snapped its fingers and the spores detonated. The Dragon didn't flinch . . . in fact, it kind of tickled.

"Okay ugly, you had your turn, now it's mine!" Conrad studied his controls, and was rather upset when he found his Dragon didn't seem to have a warrior mode, just a set of controls that were dark at the moment. However, Conrad recovered when he saw another option. "Alright . . . Primal Quake!"

The Earth Dragon's massive horns began to build energy. When the power reached its peak, the Dragon drove its horns into the ground. Glowing green fissures opened up in the ground all around Pachigerm. Suddenly, the ground was sundered in a huge torrent of energy from deep within the Earth that obliterated the Biorg. When the smoke cleared, the ground was whole. The Green Earth Dragon roared in victory.