Chapter 53: Decisive Defeat

A thunderous explosion brought him to his senses.

Billy opened his eyes wearily and pushed his body upright, looking around to gauge his surroundings. He was at the bottom of a steep hill, the soft grass under his fingers pulsing with a strange energy. Shaking the cobwebs out of his mind, he took a few moments to wrap his mind around what he had seen and, of course, the gravity of the situation he was in. He was inside the Elemental Morphin Grid with Twilight Sparkle and Rarity and all three had been apparently knocked out by the intruder defences. For reasons he could only guess at, he had been thrust into a world of sorts where Cestria was still alive and he was on Earth fighting against a seemingly revived Zeltrax. Running his tongue around his teeth, he could almost taste the banana bread/waffle combination that he had been eating. The world had fallen away when he had questioned why Cestria was with him and he had vitally important information dumped onto him by Shining Light, the spirit of the pony that was now residing with Cestria. He had no reason to disbelieve the information or the circumstances he was in but that brought up the question of what he was going to tell Princess Celestia.

"Rarity, can you see if Billy is awake yet? We need his help against this thing!"

Dropping his train of thought in a heartbeat, the Midnight Blue Ranger looked up in time to see a massive flower of flame and smoke bloom; followed shortly by the morphed form of Rarity leaping at the same insectoid monster he had seen in his 'delusion'. Forcing himself upright, he scrambled up the side of the hill and drew on the power of the Grid to summon his armour wordlessly. As the Power flowed though his body, he summoned the Element Blade Blaster and waited for the smoke to clear before firing. The bolt of charged plasma sliced through the air, impacting against the armoured back of the insectoid monster. The insect screeched and whirled around as Billy leapt into the air, delivering a double kick to the head of the creature. As the monster stumbled around blindly, he looked back at the two ponies, taking note of the various scorch marks that adorned their uniforms.

"Thanks for keeping me safe while I was out. We have a larger problem on our hands though; the monster isn't trying to destroy the Grid from the inside, he's after the information storage. Dark Hoof is after one specific set of co-ordinates – the ones for the dimension of the Ultra Rangers."

Twilight blinked in shock as she processed the information, and then mentally smacked her head as she wondered why she couldn't have figured it out sooner. She had sat through hours upon hours of lectures about the Grid, the nature of the Power and the mysteries of the Grids by Billy and the others, but she hadn't thought it was possible to access the information. Clearly, she had slipped in her studies and wasn't going to make that same mistake again. Turning around to look at the seemingly downed monster, her mind began to work overtime as a plan began to form in her mind. Wherever the end of the road was, it was a clear bet to assume it led to the information storage. That meant their job would be a rather simple one: to stop the monster from getting past them.

Billy was probably thinking the same thing she was: the information could not be allowed to fall into Xonix's claws. Even if they wanted the alien warlord out of Equestria, to send him back to the dimension which he had originally come from wasn't on the table either. The Crystal Rangers already had enough on their plate as it was and the return of Xonix would make their cup spill over. Grimacing under her helmet as her stomach rumbled softly, she wondered why she was thinking up so many food-related thoughts on a slightly empty stomach. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, he looked around them in an attempt to find inspiration from their surroundings. They were inside the Grid so, presumably, they should have access to events happening in other dimension as well…it all made her head hurt like crazy but if that was their only shot, they would have to take it. Keeping an eye on the monster, she hurriedly explained her plan to the others. After she was done, Billy looked at her with an unsure glance.

"That's…incredibly risky but it just might work. We can use the images as they appear but we don't know what's going to appear. It's a double-edged sword but it's the only option we have."

Twilight nodded and, with a brief burst of sparks, leapt at the monster. The creature had just righted itself when two powerful hooves slammed into its chest, sending the monster flying a good distance away. Twilight didn't know how they would 'rope' the images their way but she was willing to try anything. Conjuring up a magical rope, she fashioned it into a crude lasso and threw it up into the air. Firing another blast from the newly-combined-and-named Magic Vulcan, she gave the rope an experimental tug to see what it had snared. Flipping back to avoid the retaliatory blasts from the beast, she mused on the fact that it was extremely like fishing, though there was much more at risk than going hungry.

"I don't get it at all. The Elemental Powers should have taken him down so easily but now…"

The voice grabbed her attention. It was of a human female, complete with the strange accent that she had heard from the leader of the Crystal Rangers. Craning her head up, she could make out a tall blonde dressed in a light red or pink shirt looking at a set of metallic and crystalline scraps on a table of some kind. There were rips and tears in her clothing as well as dried blood smeared across her eyes and face. Dragging in the image, the Purple Ranger's eyes widened briefly as a slightly older version of Weihan walked through the door. Now, she was absolutely certain that the image was of events to happen in the future.

"I've done some talking with Shannon and Scorpireno. The Elemental powers were never meant to stem the attacks…and now that Zeltrax has effectively nixed any further attempt; we're at a dead end."

Gritting her teeth together, she fought not to become drawn in to the images. Whatever would be happening in the future was for him to deal with and it wouldn't be swayed by anything she told him. Swinging her head around, she flung the roped images at the monster, noting that they seemed to hold some weight to damage the creature in a burst of sparks. She didn't know who this Zeltrax was but if he had destroyed or damaged a set of powers in some way, he was someone to watch out for. Leaping out of the way, she only had time to blink before two 'sets' of images flashed pat her head. In one of them, she could see someone who looked a lot like the Orange Ranger stepping into a large cylinder of some kind while the other showed…well; it showed the images that the false Nightmare Moon had shown her. As the howls of the monster reached her ears, she wondered about the images.

Technically, nothing could be in the Grid if it hadn't been experienced in the past, present or future. However, this was also true for a number of connected dimensions. So maybe there really was a world out there where the spell of that monster all those years ago had the intended effect and had sent practically all of them into a lust-fuelled orgy. A place where she had been filled up repeatedly and made to endure the most forbidden sensations as she was penetrated from all angles…and she needed to stop that train of thought right now before the moistness between her legs seeped through the uniform.

"Incoming!"

Billy dove to the side as a flurry of energy bolts peppered the area. Pulling the staves free from the loops, he held them up in front of his body as they transformed into both halves of the Acceptance Lance. Not wanting to be forced to use the weapons as a shield, he drew his arms back and flung the weapons in the general direction of the monster; minutely changing the flight path of the weapons with his Element. The Lances shot through the air to embed deep into the chest of the monster. Smirking in apparent victory, Billy leapt up and kicked a serries of floating images in a follow-up attack; the voices that emanated from them never seeming to blend together.

"We have an issue here. We don't know where he came from, who sent him and what his orders are. We only know that his name is Dryken."

"Kim, why do you and your family always attract the evil ones?"

"Nick, don't go alone. CryoRex is sure to have something planned."

"I'm sorry, but we can't go on like you. We want to step down."

The images smashed into the chest of the insectoid monster in rapid succession, bursting apart into showers of sparks. Billy had a strange feeling that those future images weren't destroyed but had returned to whatever void that they had come from. Everything about this plan made his head hurt but they had to destroy the monster before it could access the database. Unfortunately, it seemed that fate was not in their favour. The Midnight Blue Ranger flicked his wrists to retrieve his weapons as another image formed in front of him containing…a series of random numbers that looked like some advanced form of binary code. His mind struggled to comprehend what they could mean and why they would have materialised in the Grid when Rarity sent it flying towards the monster, jolting the image and turning it on its side. Billy's eyes widened as his Lance slipped from his fingers, his arms instinctively reaching out to grab at the precious image before…

"Heh. Thank you very much; Dark Hoof anticipated you would pull this move off sooner or later."

The insectoid creature carefully cradled the image 'block' in its claws as the numbers rapidly scrolled down. To come into the Grid was an experience many monsters would give their lives to see, but to serve the Master was the best option. Its antennae jerked up as it began translating and transmitting the data to the receivers. Dark Hoof would know what to do then but, as was with the case for most things, he had to stall for time. It was also reaching the end of its tether as the images, no matter how far in the future they were, had hurt it immensely. Its stomach gave a sudden and final lurch as it imploded, ichor leaking through the cracks in its exoskeleton.

"Yes, Dark Hoof knew you would attempt to use the images from the past and future in your attacks; images that have come directly from the information storage you were trying your hardest to protect! The Grid knows all and soon, little Rangers, soon you will find out how lucky you all were that Night Shade suppressed Zedd!"

Billy's mouth dropped open in shock at the revelation. Lord Zedd was still alive and, somehow, Xonix was suppressing his power. If it was true, it was certainly something to keep in the forefront of his mind. However, no matter if the monster had gotten the data it was looking for, it couldn't be allowed to leave here alive. That data was too sensitive, too important, for Xonix to be allowed to leave Equestria…even if that meant the alien Warlord would have to be permanently sealed off from his home dimension. Energy ran over his hands as the Acceptance Lance levitated off the path and split into its component sections. Information flowed into his mind and he allowed a small smile to creep over his face.

In a flash of azure light, the Tricera Cannon appeared and hovered in front of him, both halves of the Lance attaching near the barrels; the points facing outward. Twilight and Rarity gasped in amazement as the Magic Vulcan disassembled and combined with the already powerful weapon. The Magic Launchers slid over the top horn cannons to form a visor for the top of the head, the Gem Vulcan turning 180 degrees to slide into an open port on the underside of the weapon. As if on instinct, the Purple and Green Rangers stood behind Billy, placing their front hooves on his back to steady against the tremendous recoil. For his part, Billy plucked the combined weapon out of the air and readied himself for the blast. Sure, they had failed in their mission but he would make sure Xonix stayed in Equestria.

"Tricera Bomber – fire!"

TBC…