Power Rangers In Retrograde - Mystic Force – Trick 50 Light Source (Part 1)
Soaring over the city Chillfrost/Udonna felt a chill that seeped into her bones, a darkness that made her wings unusually heavy and made her breath come short. Quickly she spied an open street and came in for a landing, statues of men and women staggered at the force of her arrival but then continue on with their business, paying her no mind. Curious she took a moment to look around noting that the statues were not animate stone but fragments held together by vines with a strange glow coming from the center.
Before she could investigate further a new dragon, one still a good 20% larger then her landed, its body not covered in scales but fur and feathers with the wings of a butterfly, a fairy dragon!
"Chillfrost," she fluttered her wings as she landed, smiling as she nuzzled Udonna, "So good to see you! Have my clutch been behaving themselves? How about the Rangers? You have to tell me everything!"
"Do I know..." Chillfrost tilts her head curious.
The new dragon laughs and rears up, purring, "I suppose I do look quite a bit different, it's me, Blecker, Nikolai Blecker, though I guess I've been going by Dreadwing long enough your more use to that right?"
"D-Dreadwing?" Chillfrost balked before slowly pacing around the dragoness, "That's quite the change, even your scent has changed, you smell more of good magic, and nature then death and decay, how did this happen?"
"Hell if I know," she shrugs, "I've pretty much been dragged along by the coattails since the Mystic Force showed up, It wasn't that long ago I was human, male, single, and leading Operation turbo as the Red Ranger, now I'm a female dragon with a clutch full of hatchlings dating a wizard, who was recently kidnaped. And then became the Battilizer for the Mystic Force Red Ranger, nothing makes sense."
Chillfrost tilts her head and chuckles, "When you put it that way I suppose it is a lot to take in."
"Speaking of which any progress on finding Vida/Windshere?"
Chillfrost shakes her head, and Dreadwing lets out a mournful sigh, "And my clutch? How are my babies doing?"
"We have all been taking turns raising them, Fireheart has also stepped up and has be helping the other females deliver their own clutches. She is turning out to be an amazing midwife and surrogate mother to all the clutches. The revival of the dragons is coming faster and faster."
"To be honest when I had my Clutch I wasn't really thinking about the rival of the race, I just wanted to have children, I suppose a good part of that drive was the Pink Energy, but I'm still excited for the others, the return of the dragons warms my heart in thise cold times where so many human lives are cut down," Dreadwing smiles, "I've wanted to come back and check but well...Nick...Lightbringer..."
"Lightbringer?" Chillfrost's voice drops low and soft, dripping with concern, "What happened..."
Dreadwing takes a long breath, closing her eyes as she looks around, "We defeated Clawbster, together, drawing on all the powers of nature as the Green Dragonfire Ranger but it was already to late to save the people, and in the fight several were destroyed...Nick...took it pretty hard..."
Amongst a graveyard of shattered stone and moss a lone tree grows, from it's branches hand many pods, full of many lights, while a single red faerie flies from pop to pod inspecting them, her voice low and haggard, desperate even, "Come on, come on, just a little quicker, there are still a lot of people who need new souls, lots of lost lives that could use your light."
'It's not real, you're not saving anyone, your just shoving children into dead bodies and having them pretend to be something their not.'
Bowen grinds her teeth and growls, "Shut up, I won't listen to The Master's lies."
One of the pods begin to tear, a blue fairy, weakly floating out, Bowen flutters over to her and helps guide he toward one of the stones, "Happy Birthday, welcome to the human world."
"You, your shining with Light, but it feels somehow off," the blue fair tilts her head curious at Bowen, "Who are you?"
"I guess," Bowen smiles, at this moment at the birth of a new faerie it is a rare money of genuine warmth, "I guess, you could call me...mother."
With a wave of her hand some of the stone rose up, stitched together with vines, a hole in the chest serving as a sort of bead room, not unlike how Nicole would appear when acting as the Green Faerie's host. "Just beyond the grove is a city, there you will find dozens of sisters, I've even prepared a home for you."
"T-thanks?" The blue faerie says confused as she settled into the chest giving a soft blue blow as it stands up, Bowen floating up to the statue's face and past the blue faerie herself, "shouldn't you be directing me to some river in need of protection or something?"
"Don't push yourself, you have a home, friends, family, get to know them first then worry about your duty to the planet!"
"Alright….mother..."
Bowen smiles and waves energetically, as the goleum turns and walks off confused, "Don't worry I'll keep sending you more friends until the city is fully restored, promise!"
'You're not restoring anything, those faeries are not the souls of the people, all you are doing is forcing spirits of nature to conform to human lives, and flooding the balance of magic with confused Nature sprites.'
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Bowen howls, tears welling up as she sits to the grass, trying to stance the flow, "What do you know about people's lives all you care about is Darkness and destruction!"
'I know a lot more then that, and I can teach you. I can even show you how to actually revive the people who were lost here, not just their souls, but their flesh as well...'
Bowen stopped crying for a moment, but her eyes were still puffy and read as she looked to the sky, "Y-you can?"
The Master chuckled darkly, "That and so much more, just open your heart to me.'
"I-I can't," Bowen's voice cracked, pleading, "I-I'm the light, I-I'm suppose to destroy you."
'The light always shines brightest when surrounded by the darkness. For who can see the light when in the bright of day, only in the darkness is the true path forward illuminated by the light.'
"I-I guess that makes sense..."
"This is quickly spiraling out of control," Betty/B3 muses as she, B2/Bernard, and an Aquitian scientist review the dragon rangers nuzzling each other and fawning over a large grove of egg and several baby dragons.
"Agreed, the Rangers have completely succumb to this dragon mind, action must be taken to restore their true psyches before the damage is irreversible," B2 nods.
"If only it was that easy," a door opened as Dr. Cranston stumbled in, his entire lower half was a massive scaled covered set of dragon legs and matching tail with other scales fading up into his human torso that was covered by a loose blue dress shirt, "Those girls are ravenous."
Giving a soft gasp the Aquitian runs over and helps keep Billy standing, leaning on her shoulder and back, "I'm really not keen on you having sex with all these women, even if they are dragons, and I'm doubly not keen on what it's doing to your body," she says with a mix of irritation and worry as she glances down at Billy's dragon half.
"I wish I could come up with a good excuse," Billy says softly as he shares a gentle kiss, "But in all honesty when a dozen plus dragons are convinced you are a powerful elder and are insisting you mate with them to strengthen the bloodline of the race only a fool would try to correct them."
"Logically the fact they have had to use their own dragon magic to transform you to a compatible form would be enough to correct those thoughts but Dragons are far to prideful to admit error," B2 muses.
"Even if it means stealing away my husband," the Aquitian huffs as she helps Billy to a stool that strains under the weight of his massive dragon half. "If anyone should be bearing your children it should be your wife!"
Billy groans, "They were just suggesting that, seems they think that I can't assume my true form due to my connection to my mate, and are willing to share their power with you and make you an honorary dragon."
The woman gives a concern look as Billy, of all people, slips into the primal voice when saying mate, and shakes her head quickly, "No thank you!"
Billy smiles, "Yeah that's what I told them, though I tried to phrase it in such a way that it wasn't a slight against their 'gracious' offer and made up some excuse about how Dragons are creatures of terror and fear on Aquatar which makes such an offer tantamount to offering an earthing to turn them into a Demon from The Master's Pit."
Giving a relived sigh the woman shares another kiss, "Thanks Billy, the last thing this facility needs is MORE dragons."
Billy groans as his dragon legs twitch and the stool strains, "Trust me it's taking all the will power I can muster just to stay this human, the power, it's like a drug."
"All the more reason we need to get the others professional help," B3 cuts in.
"Unfortunately as they are now they still function as Rangers and their Dragon Power is what's helping turn the Darkness around, we just can't afford to take them out of the fight at this point in time," Billy groans as a pair of massive wights tear out of his back shredding his shirt and marking the complete collapse of the stool as he fall forward into his hands as he throws back his head in a mighty roar.
"By the gods," his wife kneels by his side in concern, "Are you alright."
"Y-Yeah...just a sudden spike of energy," Billy's voice cracks as his wings flutter, casting a devilish grin at his wife, "Need to burn off some of this dragon energy, you ever wanted to fly on the back of a dragon?"
"Just the two of us? None of your other mates tagging along?" She asks irritably as scales spread off Billy's torso and his arms start to bulk up and expand into for limbs.
"Just the t-two of us," Billy begins to nuzzle her as he glances over to Betty and Bernard, "I'm leaving monitoring Dark energy up to you two."
"We'll do our best."
"Once again, the selection ceremony begins!" Sculpin announcers as the remaining Terrors; Sculpin, Heckatoid, Gekkor, Itassis, Black Lance, and Motoombo, gather in the main chamber and form a ring with their weapons pointed toward the center as the Stone of Judgment makes it's choice.
"Oh, me?" Heckatoid exclaims surprised, "It's my turn?"
"All I do is work, work, work," disappointed the other Terrors disperse as Heckatoid grouses, "I'm hungry, when's lunch."
"All you do is eat, you slob," Motoombo groans annoyed, "Show some respect for the Stone."
"I know, I know," Heckatoid counters defensibly, "It's the rules," before turning to waddle off, "At least I have a plan."
"I'm not sure Heckatoid is ready for battle," Black Lance muses, "He's out of shape."
"What about Lienbow?" Gekkor turns to Sculpin, "Have we found him yet?"
"Don't worry, my plan is unfolding. Trust me – When we find him, The Master will be revived."
"It's almost time," Gekkor chuckles darkly as he entered the large cavern and is immediately swarmed by several baby dragons and nuzzled by Vida/Windshere's massive head.
"Welcome home mate," Windshere speaks in a low, almost dead, primal voice, more of a statement of fact then out of any actual connection the two share.
"Off me," Gekkor growls as he kicks and tosses aside the newborn dragon's and brushes away Vida's nuzzling with cold detachment as he looks out over a dozen other eggs yet to hatch. "What must I do to speed up this damnable wait, the Master needs an army and he needs it Yesterday."
"I am working as fast as I can, mate," Vida whines, a hint of desperation in her dead voice, "nature can not be accelerated, the Hatchling must have time to hatch on their own if you want them to be strong."
Gekkor once again brushes away her affections and several returning dragons dismissively, "I do not need strength, I need numbers. We will choke the light with overwhelming force, and damn how many die to acomplish it, we will not let the world fall to Light!"
Vida winces, her voice cracking, "You are being to harsh, these are our babies, not disposable soldiers, mate."
"That is where you are wrong, mate," Gekkor growls, as he punctuates his words with the primal voices, "Now spread your legs, we need more eggs, more!"
"Yes, mate," Vida's voice drops off, returning to cold, deadness. "As you command."
The Sky turns to a purple storm as Heckatoid lands in the city in giant form.
"It's my turn to bring destruction to this land!" he roars before leaning back and launching a mass of slime into the sky forming a light blue cloud that fade into the darkness as he takes out his hammer, "Soon, my poisonous tadpoles will rain down and rule the surface world!"
On the ground the Spider Ranger, Mary, and LeeLee look up to the sky with worry while most of the people remain in hiding across the city in the Spider Nests.
As Heckatoid gets ready to blow his hammer/horn he is blasted by a wave of heat and force.
"Interrupting, are we?" Sunbow/Daggeron arrives with Phineas/Phenioxflame and Thunderfang/Summer flanking her.
"Don't even try it!"
"You're making a big mistake!"
"No, it's you who is mistaken!" Heckatoid gloats.
"Hey frog-brain!" Cloudbreaker/Chip cuts in with a burst of lighting breath as she flies in and a savage headbutt, "Talk fast, where's Vida?"
"Don't try and stop me or you'll never see her again!" he counters as he bats her head away.
"Let her go!"
"Yeah!" Phineas/Phenioxflame and Thunderfang/Summer add together as the three attack together.
Heckatoid blocks their breath with his weapon first, and they go in for bite attacks he laughs evilly as the shy clears and he shrinks to human size.
"That's far enough!"
Turning to face the new voice Heckatoid comes face to face with the Orange Ranger, who is quickly joined by the three Spider-Rangers giving Heckatoid pause as he looks up to see the four dragons still circling overhead.
"You burn this toad when he's giant and we'll keep him hammered here on the ground!" May calls to the shy waving energetically, "We got this covered!"
"You can't stop my plan," Heckatoid gloats as he circles his finger overhead pointing to the sky, "wait till my babies rain down from the heavens!"
"What are you talking about?" Orange says confused as she looks up and only sees white clouds.
"Look closer!"
Both teams pause, taking a moment to examine the sky and collectively gasp both in the air and on the ground.
"Tadpoles!"
"Frog babies!"
"Poisonous frog babies!" Heckatoid gloats, "It's brilliant!"
"W-We can't destroy a bunch of babies," Sunbow/Daggeron balks.
"You have no choice," Orange shouts to the shy as she draws her weapon, dodging as Heckatoid lunges at her, "If we let them hatch the Earth will become to toxic for anything born of good magic or nature."
"Are you sure," Peter/the Red Spider Ranger asks as his team join Orange in melee combat with Heckatoid."
"I am of the earth, of the stone, that is my element, my strength and while faint now that I know where to look all I send from that sky puddle is pure poison for the earth. We can let even one tadpole hatch."
"B-But we can't serious be asked to destroy hundreds, no thousands, of unborn innocents," Thunderfang/Summer holds back a wave of bile that threatens to surge forth and rain down on the city, "C-Can we?"
"Is it better to watch them rain down and make the Earth unlivable," Phineas/Phenioxflame asks.
On the ground Heckatoid is wiping the floor with the Rangers, knocking them about with ease until he has them all battered and bruised on their backs and is able to bring his weapon to his lips and blow, The Orange Rangers and the Spider-Rangers vanishing in a wave of green particles.
"Rangers!" Sunbow/Daggeron howls in dismay.
"Now they're in my dimension!"
"Stop!" Thunderfang/Summer roars as she launches a lighting breath toward the ground only for it to scorch cement as Heckatoid vanishes. "No! Come Back!"
"Itassis," Sculpin stops his fellow Terror.
"Yes?"
"Did you talk to Heckatoid? What is his plan?"
"It seems he is not as unprepared as we thought," She begins as the Nimean Ranger arrives, and listens closely. "He has filled the sky with his offspring, and their hatching will poison the earth for all who are not born of darkness such as ourselves."
"What are the terms of the game?" Black Lance wonders curiously, a hint of predetermined disappointment in his voice, "What childish rule will he employ that will give the Rangers an easy victory?"
"None," Itassis explains, "It is a simple game, destroy all the tadpoles before they hatch, even one could cause massive destruction. Heckatoid is playing on their emotions, he knows that the Dragon Rangers are too closely bound to their own offspring to ever consider destroing another's before they even have the chance to hatch."
"Interesting."
"Nimea!" Sculpin calls suddenly as he turns to Bear!Summer.
"Yes, Lord Sculpin!"
"Have you found Lienbow yet? He must be destroyed if the Master is to be Revived."
Sculpin growls as he hands her another of his scales, "Use this scale to track him as soon as he surfaces."
"But Lord Sculpin he hasn't..."
"I will make sure he does, you just be ready with that scale!"
"Yes, Lord Sculpin!" Bear!Summer nods quickly and turns to leave even quicker.
Nimea growls as she returns to the Abandoned Pit, scale still in hand as she once again see LeeLee skulking about in the shadows, but at least she was not sitting upon the throne, which is where Nimea rests herself as she takes out Jenji's teapot from behind her and summons him out.
"I don't know why I tolerate you Vampire, you have put your lot in with the Mystic Force, I should destroy you where you stand." then she turns an irritable gaze toward Jenji, "I still have a wish correct?"
"T-That is correct..." Jenji says nervously, "M-Master."
"We are both children of darkness," LeeLee slides over with a smile on her batlike face, "every girl needs friends."
"Bah, when I was human all my friends were liars and sycophants, only interest in the Landsdown fortune and what it could get them. Even split from that life I still hold the ear of powerful beings, making you no different."
LeeLee balks, and flutters her hand grandiosely to point at herself and curtsey, "I am LeeLee Pimvare, rearrange the letters of my last name and what does it spell?"
"Oh! Oh!" Jenji pips in, "I love puzzle games...Pimvare ! Pimvare? Oh ii got it! Eimvarp?" then tilts his head confused, "I don't get it."
"It's vampire you idiot," Nimea growls, "She's daughter of Necrolai, Queen of the Vampires."
"Oh...That was going to be my next guess, honest!"
LeeLee chuckles, and despite herself Nimea cracks a small, momentary smirk, "And the Book of Prophecy said I would eventually be the next Queen of the Vampires," before adding in a low breath of disgust, "weather I want to or not."
"Your point?" Nimea growls annoyed and bored.
"My point," LeeLee hisses annoyed, "Is Queen of the Vampire is far more impressive a title then any amount of mundane wealth a human could acquire. So your family fortune means nothing to me! Less then nothing!"
"She has a point," Jenji adds with a smile, "If Necrolai were to apply all the money she has accrued over the centuries the Landsdown fortune would be paltry in comparison."
"Fine!" Nimea huffs, crossing her arms before letting another smile slip through, "I suppose having a friend can be of benefit..." before turning to Jenji, and holding up the scale, "As for you, I finally have my wish."
"Are you sure you don't want to think about it a little longer," Jenji says nervously.
Nimea growls, "Quit dodging the issue," before smiling, a genuine smile but one that ran a chill down Jenji's back, "Beside once I have no use for your magic you can go with LeeLee, return to your friends, the Rangers."
"I-I can?" Jenji perks up, "What id your wish, Master?"
Nimea smiles darkly as she hold up the scale, "A simple one. The one thing I wish is for you to implant this scale of Sculpin's into Lienbow so that Lord Sculpin can track him and thus free the Master."
Jenji swallows hard and nods, the scale vanishing from her fingers, "wish granted."
True to her word Nimea tossed the teapot to LeeLee and gave a dismissive shrug, "There is a lul in the conflict, friend, best use the opportunity to deliver the genie to the Rangers."
As Jenji moves to her side LeeLee nods, "Come on Jenji, let's get you home!"
"Thank you, both of you!"
"Tch," Nimea scoffs, "Whatever."
With an unceremonious thump the Orange Ranger and Spider-Rangers find themselves face first in the middle of a wooded plain.
"Where are we?" Orange wonders as she gets to her feet and looks around with a confused shrug.
"Oh! Oh! I got this one!" May pipes in, "A strange dimension?"
"It's time to play my game!" Heckatoid interrupts the quintet as his visage fills the sky.
"No Games!" the Blue Spider Ranger/Ben Riley calls out, "Where is the Rose Mystic Ranger!"
"Play my game or you'll never see her again!" Heckatoid demands as light blue energy filters down from his visage and forms into a large group of Styxoids.
"No problem," Mary Jane, the Pink Spider Ranger answers as she gets ready to charge into battle.
"I'm not done explaining the rules," Heckatoid pouts irritably as a spectral clock appears overhead, "You only have until the clock runs out."
"Let's do it!" Orange calls as the quintet take battle stances and the clock begins to tick.
Charging in and keeping her body in motion with slides, back bends, twirls and the like Orange weaves through the enemies as she hammers them with all her strength and skill, and a ferocity that borders on feral, "Is that all you've got! Huh? Morticon put up more of a fight in the bedroom!"
"Wait, what?" Peter looks over to Orange momentarily distracted by her words and giving a Styxoid a clear shot at his back, but spider-sense kicks in and he ducks at the last moment as he re focuses on the battle webbing Styxoids wrist together so they can use their weapons, rotting one foot to the ground to throw them off balance, and using the trees around them as anchors for swinging attacks.
"Stay focused dad!" May admonishes as she shows a similar level of skin with webs and spider-sense but adds in frost magic to further keep the Styxoids off focus.
"R-Right, sorry about that May," Peter laughs nervously the two fight back to back and he turns his gaze to Blue and Pink, "How are you two doing?"
"It would be nice to have a spider-sense like you two," blue pips in a he takes a few hit and spirals though the air but quickly creates a web line and uses that to swing into a trio of Styxoids."
"Speak for yourself," Pink/Mary Jane dances around several more, "I'm a little terrified about having any more spider DNA in me given to how embrace your dragon half has change the Rangers, it's bad enough when I wake up in the dead of night to fine Tiger or Mayday lurking in the dark in the corner of the ceiling like some monster ready to pounce can you imagine if we all did it?"
Red and White fluster a moment, "Sorry and get nearly decapitated."
Blue laughs, "True, besides cleaning up May's monthly nesting is creepy enough I'd hate to have to do it when there's a chance she might have a brother or sister growing in one."
May turns bright red and is knocked on her back, her voice cracking in embarrassment, "It's not that bad!"
"Mayday dear last time I couldn't get the cobwebs out of my hair for three weeks," Mary Jane teases.
"What are you guys talking about?" Orange looks incredulous to the Spider-Ranger between dodges and counters, "And is this really the time to be cracking wise?"
"Sorry," Red flusters as he helps White/May to her feet, "it's a bad habit of mine when I'm nervous, and the others sort of picked up the habit."
"Yeah well now you'll have to explain what your talking about to me later, you got me all curious and conf-"
"Let's make this more interesting," Heckatoid cuts off Orange as he envelopes the Rangers in an aura of multi colored light freezing them in place, despite continued struggles.
"This isn't fair!" Orange protests as she struggles.
"It's my game and time is running out."
"Then were going to play by our rules," May grunts as she manged to get her wrist turned enough to snag Orange with it and pull them together into a tangled heap on the ground.
"What was that for," Orange growls irritably.
"Let's pool our magic," she whispers.
Orange nods ans they hold hand and begin to glow, snow falls and as it does the Styxoids feet are rooted to the ground as they surround the rangers in small blocks of ice just before a ring of stone erupts from the ground all around them impaling and destroying them all and with it the ticking of the clock and the magic holding the Rangers.
"Ice job girls," Peter laughs as he helps untangle the two from the webbing tangled around them. "You really rocked those monsters world."
May and Orange groan at the bad pun, Ben and Mary Jane are not far behind.
"Oh come on," Peter shrugs, "It wasn't that bad!"
The others all glare at him in disbelief, and even under their helmets he can feel their piecing gazes, and he hangs his head low, "Okay even I was embarrassed by that line."
"Alright," Peter/Red quickly turns to the sky and clears his throat, "We played your game now where is she?"
"This game isn't over yet," Heckatoid gloats, "Let's see how you do against more formidable opponents!" And with a long breath the Rangers are once more transported away by light blue energy.
"We have to act," Sunbow/Daggeron growls as the rest of the Dragon Rangers;
Steelwing/Calindor, Deepfang/Otto, Hearthstone/Lieonna, Dawnbreaker/Chris, Mistflayer/Madison, Forestkeeper/Xander, Cloudbreaker/Chip, Fireheart/Fera Heart, Thunderfang/Summer, Furfang/Kat, and Phenioxflame/Phineas circle around the mass of tad poles. While on the ground the blue Mystic Ranger, though in a more armored form similar to Solaris Knight and wielding a mirror shield on one arm looks to the sky with the Rangers, a dozen or so snakes slithering around at her feet while she gently pets the head of one wrapped around her torso and neck.
"How can any of usss be expected to kill babiesss, esssspecially ssssince many of ussss have children of our own now? Thissss isss a ssssadistic game."
"If we don't do anything the tad poles will hatch and turn the earth into a toxic wasteland, killing every man, elf, dog, cat, and billions of children."
"A-Are we sure of that? Maybe the Orange Ranger was wrong?"
"N-No I can confirm it," Forestkeeper/Xander bits her lower lip and hisses, "Just being this close to them I can feel their poison eating away at my natural magics."
"Same here," Furfang/Kat confirms.
"And the Deep as well, I can feel the toxic flow of their poison, they will not only poison the land but the sea as well," Deepfang/Otto.
"Yes I can feel it as well," Mistflayer/Madison confirms.
"Asss can I if I focusss enough and reach out with my magic toward the pool above," the Blue Ranger/Toby further confirms.
"With that much poison there would be a change in the air as well, if only from all the dead bodies rotting during the first year," Furfang/Kat elaborates, "There is no doubt about it, if we let them fall it means the end of all natural life on Earth."
"But their babies, we can't jus-"
Dawnbreaker/Chris is cut off as a beam of white hot energy cuts through the circle and begins to incinerate a handful of tad poles, as the Rangers, including Toby turn toward the source they see the sparkling white scales of an elder Dragon readying another burst, Dr. Cranston, his wife still perched atop his head.
"What are you doing, incinerate those things That's your job as Power Rangers, Defenders of the Earth," Mrs. Cranston admonishes.
"But their just babies."
"Do you think the salmon cares about the children of the minnow as she eats mother and father," Dr. Cranston aborts his attack as he address the Rangers, "Or the bear cares about the children abandon when he eats that salmon? In nature there is a cycle of life and death, something must die so that another lives. Are you willing to give the earth to frogs and demons just because they are babies? Are you willing to watch your own children get sick and die from their poison?"
A silence fills the air as Dr. Cranston takes a deep breath and begins another round of breath, his own breathing coming short as his wing flaps become more erratic, 'Running low on dragon energy, and this breath attack is draining it fast, but can't just land until I at least put a dent in this monstrosity. Maybe this will even break through all their dragon programming...O just hope someone will be there to catch my wife when my wings fail.'
Nimea stumbles into the chambers of the Terrors out of breath but smiling, "It is done, I found an opening and delivered the scale unto Lienbow, you can track him now Lord Sculpin!"
turning to face her he laughs darkly, a few of his own scales glowing at random, "Good, good, then it is time to confront our Master's keeper."
"Can I join you? The Great Lienbow would be a good challenge to test my strength against."
"The more the merrier," Sculpin laughs, "Hurry now, we must gather the other Terrors at once."
Landing back in the city Orange and the Spider-Ranger quickly get back to their feet.
"What do you think he meant by 'more formidable opponents'?"
Multicolored Lightning crashes down and the quintet soon find themselves starting at the back of five very familiar Ranger suits.
"It's me!"
"Whoa!"
"And me!"
"What?"
"Wha?"
"Hyah!" the Five dark ranger say in unison as they spin to face their originals, the differences minor between the two teams, black collars are prominent on the clones as well as changes to some of their highlight colors.
"It's us – but not."
"Let's see you defeat..." Heckatoid appears over head with a laugh, "...yourselves."
"Great clones, I never had a lot of luck with clones," Red grouses and Blue gives him a sidelong glance.
"Hey man clones aren't all bad," Blue smiles as he steps forward offering a hand to the duplicates, "Come on were all Rangers, all family here, do we have to fight?"
Clone!Orange and Clone!White share a look at step forward, White offering her hand.
"See guys, their just like us," Blue smiles as he takes Clone!White's hand, "So they cant be pure evil."
"This is so a trap," May says under her breath.
"Agreed," Orange adds.
Blue dismisses their concerns with a wave and takes Clone!White's hand, "A pleasure to meet you!"
Then in one quick moment she pulls him close to her chest, like a human shield and in the confusion Clone!Orange levels her wand at the others and casts a spell on Red, Pink, and Orange, white dodging out out of the way due t o her spider-sense and already heightened unease.
"They turned them into dice!" White exclaims as Blue uses the distraction to elbow Clone!White in the stomach and break free while Real!White scrambles to pick up the dice.
"I'll keep you safe dad," May says softly as she clutches the dice to her chest, and then glares at Blue, "You can never trust a clone!"
"Oh come on, one of your best friends looks just like the Pink Ranger, and your own pet cyber horse has a similar face, I had to try."
May growls as she dodges an attack from one of the clones, "And got my mom and dad turned into dice for the effort! Next time you want to take a risk like that keep my family out of it, BEN!"
"Hey he's my brother too," Ben protests as the Clone Rangers attack in force.
"You two are pathetic," Clone!White chides as the two expertly avoid each other thanks to their spider-senses.
"You haven't even told her the truth, have you, Ben," Clone!Red and Clone!Blue tag team on Real!Blue.
Clone!Orange and Clone!Pink move to engage White and her their dueling Spider-Senses make it impossible for either to land a blow on the other.
"You're not a clo-" Caught off guard by the commentary May is knocked to the ground by a kick from Clone!Pink.
"Come on your better then this," Clone!Blue taunts, "MJ may not have a spider-sense but you do! Put up a decent fight Ben!"
"Cat is out of the bag I guess," Blue sighs as he starts to weave between Clone!Red and Clone!Blue's attacks, "It's a long story but yes, I'm not your Uncle May, I'm a clone of your father."
"What? When? How?" May stammers in disbelief as the clones lay her out flat, Clone!Orange and Clone!White breaking off together as May gets back to her feet.
"Mysto Ribbito!"
And then suddenly the two magical clone fuse into a giant purple frog and spit out their tongue ensnaring May and forcing her to drop the dice as she is pulled toward the giant frog's mouth.
"May I'm com-" Blue calls out but is still being kept of balance by Clone!Red, Clone!Blue, and Clone! Pink's assaults.
"Enough games," May growls, as she clenches her fists, "I want answers, NOW!"
Breaking free of the tongue May stands tall as she takes out her practice Mystic Morpher, "Galwit Mysto Ranger!"
And in an instant transforms into a hooded White Mystic Ranger as snow begins to fall, "It's time to put you on ice!" And the giant frog is encased in ice before exploding, "Checkmate!"
"Guess it's time for a new trick I've been cooking up myself," Blue calls out as quickly pulls a small screw driver from his belt and does some quick tinkering with his wrist shooters, before facing the trio of clones, "Impact webbing plus venom darts equals good by evil clones!"
Before they can dodge or react the trio of clones are hit by the webbing which expands to envelop them in a cocoon and almost immediately begins to sizzle, after a few moments the trio of clones explode.
"Well done," May hurries over, after having recollected the dice.
"Guess there wasn't one good clone in the lot after all," he says with a sigh.
"You still have to explain that to me."
"I know," Ben sighs as he turns to Heckatoid's visage, "But first things first."
"R-Right," she clears her throat as she turns to face the Terror as well, "We played your game, now take us to the Pink Ranger!"
"As you wish!" Heckatoid cackles as the two remaining Rangers are enveloped in his magic and vanish.
Dr. Cranston drops for a moment causing his wife to cry out in alarm, his breath coming short.
"You need to land, to rest," she pats his head worriedly.
"If the other Ranger's refuse to do their duty then It falls to me to save the people," his stops for a moment as he glares at the dragons, "If you are not going to help then at least get my wife to safety."
"I'm not going anywhere, if your going to kill yourself to save the world, I married you till death do us part not until it got too dangerous for me. I knew what I was getting into to when I married a Power Ranger."
"There has to be a better way," Hearthstone/Lieonna protests, "You can't just keep killing babies, even if it's to save the world."
"But we can't oppose him," Fireheart cuts in, "He's an Elder Dragon, AND one of the first Power Rangers on Earth!"
"Violá," Heckatoid goals as they appear in the Dragon Cavern, not just a projection this time but actually there, in full giant form.
"Return our family!" May demands as she hold the dice in her open palm.
Without a word the dice begin to glow and Orange, Pink, and Red reappear on their knees, Blue helping them back to their feet.
"I'm never going to look at Dungeons and Dragons the same way again," Red jokes.
"Tiger, enough with the jokes already!" Pink rolls her eyes in disbelief.
"Sorry," he shrugs, "it's a coping mechanism."
"Now that your all here," Heckatoid gloats, "I'll add you to the brood."
"Not so fast!" Orange demands, "Hand over the Pink Ranger or pay the price."
Heckatoid turns to the Pink dragon with a laugh, "You heard the Orange Ranger, gives your friends a big smile."
The Pink Dragon flares out her wings and roars, all the dragon hatchings gathering around her.
"This isn't good," Mary Jane/Pink whispers just before Vida/Windshere lets loose a blast of hurricane winds that knocks the Rangers into the far wall demorphing them and knocking them out cold.
"Come forth, Lienbow," Sculpin strides down a dark tunnel with Nemia on his shoulder and flanked by Motoombo and Gekkor, "we know you're here. Show yourself."
Lienbow growls but remains hidden until Sculpin slashes the air and shatters a prism of invisible light, revealing the Wolf Warrior.
"I know what you're here for." Lienbow says calmly, not even bothers to turn and face them.
"Then give us The Master."
"I don't think so," Lienbow finally turns and levels his sword at the Terrors.
