Chapter 47: Breathless Battle

"Well, that was more of a reaction than I expected."

Two weeks had passed since his Interdimensional jaunt and Weihan couldn't have been more amazed with what had occurred. After showing Gaby the slightly edited footage from both suit cameras, she had grudgingly admitted she had been wrong about the thought of other dimensions but had apparently spun into a strange stunned and calculating mood the next day. What the catalyst for the mood shift had been was anyone's guess but he didn't stick around to hear the theories. He had teleported to KL about an hour later and had promptly fallen asleep on the hotel bed for thirteen hours. Upon awakening, he found that the Head Chef had graciously prepared a meal for him as thanks for destroying the Wraith the previous day and had asked how he had done it. Much to his groggy amusement, he actually had to think about the Colossus Wraith as, from his point of view, it was more than a day ago. Plus, he had to think past the raw fear he had felt during the battle with the Awakened Spider Wraith and the amazement of the Ultra Mode that had been unlocked. Shining Light had informed him that it was an once-in-a-lifetime event and wasn't likely to be repeated again. After his holiday had ended, he had come back to Sydney and discovered, to no one's shock, that he was effectively benched. He also found out that he would have to hand in his Turbine when he did come back to work but that was only for a routine check-up.

Downloading the music from the USB Drive had come soon after and the Ultra Cavern was pretty much constantly filled with the music of μ's. That had also set the stage for connecting with the internet in another dimension and time. Despite a few hiccups and accidentally seeing a headline about the moon cracking, it had gone over quite smoothly. He had also seen a few interesting headlines from an undetermined point in the future about some beacon being attacked but he supposed it wasn't really worth losing his mind over. Chuckling to himself as a rather late reply from Kotori flashed onto the screen, he sat back in the chair and wondered what the next move should be. Bloodless Mary and Jabarkas had been rather quiet and he was wondering when the other shoe would drop. He was also tinkering on allowing a live feed from his suit camera to the chat room but he wasn't so sure how that would be practical as he couldn't be expected to reply in the middle of a heated battle. Shaking his head for the umpteenth time, he began wondering why he hadn't done this at home but was interrupted by the ringing of his phone.

"Hello?" He knew he sounded more awake and alert than he felt but that was beside the point.

"We have a problem." Gaby's voice was terse on the other end. "We have a new Wraith that has come out but whatever it is, it won't fight Serena."

He didn't know why but he was having flashbacks to the feeling he felt in his gut when he had laid eyes on the resurrected Spider Wraith. The creature had said its anger and hatred towards him had allowed it to travel through the dimensions and gain a new form. He wondered if he should be asking the girls to look out for more Wraiths but abandoned that train of thought. He couldn't think of any recent creatures that he had fought that would want a rematch and even the thought of a Wraith-ified Face Sucker didn't hold any weight as he was sure the Ultra Blasters had thoroughly destroyed it. Hell, he could practically go stand in the spot where it had met its end and see traces of the scorching on the pavement.

"What does it look like?" He asked, feeling a pit in his stomach forming.

"It's a rotting horse creature, if you can believe it." She said. "From what she's been able to pick up, it keeps calling itself Slashing Vengeance and…"

He vanished before she could finish.

Location: Secondary Control Room

"Shit. Holy absolute shit." He stared at the image on the screen and chewed his bottom lip. "Add a fuck in there for good measure and I'm thoroughly screwed when I face it in a few minutes."

The screen showed Slashing Vengeance, in all his rotten glory with the addition of several mirror shards protruding from his shoulders and elbows in a crude parody of Grash'Nak. Its flesh was still the same green and black decaying colour it had been a fortnight ago but he could see signs that its 'reclaimed' body had fought with the Ultimax. For one thing, its head was still a twitching mass of mincemeat with two eyes on top and a protruding slab of flesh whose function he could only guess at. It was turning out to be worse than he had thought; an enemy from another dimension had held onto its hatred for him and had crossed over. It almost made him wonder what other enemies would be wanting a piece of him from the other dimension. On the other hand, he somehow couldn't see the Spider Wraith returning back to the 'home' dimension just to get at him. Serena shook his head and crossed the floor, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around.

"You can't go out there on your own!" The Secondary Rider shouted. "It wouldn't even attack me so we don't even know what it can do!"

He shook his head once. Slashing Vengeance was only here because of him. If the resident Ranger had explained to the resident AJ what was going on from the start, none of this would have happened. On the other hand, he would have wished for the chance to pilot the Ultimax anyway which…honestly made his head hurt just thinking about everything. Not wanting any more brain damage from trying to figure out when those headlines had come from, he summoned the Turbine to him and looked at the ring of symbols once again. He liked to think nothing happened to him by chance and that was something that had been vindicated by recent events. Something was on the horizon and Slashing Vengeance being pulled here wasn't going to be the last monster he had to fight again. On the other hand, he didn't have to worry about the resident Grash'Nak being unleased as the Orange Ranger hadn't used the Cerberus Crystal in the battle against Jabarkas.

"This is my fight." He stated, glancing through the tinted windows to the horse-like being below. "I started it in the other dimension and I'm going to finish it here."

Serena shook her head slowly. From what he had explained to them and shown them, he hadn't been in either dimension for long enough periods for any enemy to develop a grudge against him. She had caught AJ chuckling softly to herself but the blonde hadn't elaborated on her behaviour so she had chalked it up to another oddity of the woman. The direction they would have to go in to destroy the creature was as clear as day. Weihan had somehow managed to procure the assistance of the two Rangers in his battle with the Colossus Wraith a fortnight ago, so there was no reason he couldn't do the same thing and ask for help from the same Rangers. On the other hand, he had played it off as a fluke that they had been in the same area together and hadn't seemed to mention seeing the identity of the Silver Ultra Ranger. She wondered what it would take for the strange Orange Ranger to come back to deal with the monster but dropped the thought almost immediately.

"You were only in that other dimension for a few hours." She spoke with a slight condescending tone. "You can't have started anything with…"

"Ranger! Come out and face me!" The insane voice sent chills down their spines. "I can smell you with this new form and I know you're here!"

Weihan swallowed hard and began running through a plan in his mind. It was extremely risky and would mean placing all of his trust in her but it could destroy Slashing Vengeance or the Wraith he had become. He would also need to instruct her on what to do for the last part of it but, with a little luck, it could be pulled off. If everything failed and he was left with the choice of seeing people die or blowing every ounce of cover, he would go Ultra and answer the prickly questions later. Muttering another curse under his breath, he wondered how long it would take for one of the Sydney-based Ultra Rangers to step in but dropped that train of thought. Slashing Vengeance was his responsibility and he would need to be the one that took out the rampaging beast permanently.

"We can't let it keep running around like that." Zara nodded once. "It won't fight Serena and we don't have time for any other Rangers to happen across this. I like it about as much as you do but you're the only option for this."

Serena looked out at the Wraith and shook her head. Even though he had rushed headfirst into several previous Wraith battles, they had pretty good ideas of what sort of powers they had. This new beast was a conundrum in and of itself as it wouldn't even give her the time of day for a proper battle. Weihan would be literally going in blind; though he looked as though he knew exactly what the equine beast could do. On the other hand, the Riders would be turning in their Belts to Gaby so she and the technicians could run their routine check-ups on the System.

"I still think this is a bad idea," she said, "but if you're determined to see this through to the end…"

"Fuck no," he said, surprising everyone. "It's suicide to walk in there without a backup plan. I have one but I'm going to need your help for it."

Location: George Street

"Well, this isn't the worst idea I've had in the past fortnight."

No, the worst idea would probably have been acting on instinct to punch the Spider Wraith away from Nozomi…but that had worked out well for everyone concerned in the end. Yet, standing opposite the Wraith Slashing Vengeance had somehow turned into; he couldn't help but wonder if this was a sign of things to come. Jabarkas had displayed his ability to create monsters and said monsters could possibly, if given enough emotional leverage, be turned into future Wraiths and send out for revenge. It would clearly mean a cycle of repeated battles and he would have to adjust his strategies accordingly or, as he had done a few moments ago, drill information into Serena's mind via good explanation. In reality, he had used a bit of magic to implant the motions and instruction into her mind directly but it hadn't really been that difficult. Surprisingly, and somewhat suspiciously, there had been faint traces of magic present in her body that couldn't be explained by her use of the RUNNER System.

Seeing the human in front of him, Slashing Vengeance growled under his breath and took a step forward. The human in front of him had snatched his rightful victory from his grasp. He only wished he had a chance to use the majority of the powers he had leeched from the awakening monsters against the pretender when he had the chance. That way, this weakling would be dead and there would be no one to challenge his rule. However, that didn't matter anymore as his victory was assured if the human never morphed.

"You…" He snarled. "You stole my rightful prey away from me. The slaying of the destructor of Dark Hoof was to be my atonement for standing back and watching such a thing to happen. Even with the immense powers granted to me, it would have been a walk in the park."

The Trotter-turned-Wraith lunged at him, causing the RAPTOR Rider to leap back and wonder why he had chosen to go untransformed. The wonder turned to alarm as the Wraith's claws slashed the front of his shirt. If he didn't keep his wits about him, he would end up with more than just a shredded chest. Summoning his Turbine to him, he placed it on his waist and slid the Morphing Gem into the depression just as the Wraith leapt at him with both fists outstretched. The upgraded armour slid into place a fraction of a second later and protected him from the majority of the blow, though it did nothing to stop him from flying back into pillar cracked from his counterpart's Battlizer finisher a fortnight prior. A second blow to his chest left him shaking his head to clear the warning boxes as Gaby screamed at him to get up and stick to the plan. Catching a rapidly descending object on the fringes of his vision, he summoned the Rider Blade and blocked a thick pillar of rebar. Slashing Vengeance reached out with his free hand and grasped the blade, thin rivulets of silvery blood dripping on the ground.

"But you just had to be there!" Weihan eyed his weapon and hoped it wouldn't shatter so soon after it had reformed during the battle with the Spider Wraith. "Your meddling snatched my rightful victory from my grasp and I wasn't allowed the chance to destroy you as that creature possessed my mind soon after. Tell me, little Rider, can you really trust those around you?"

Slashing Vengeance probably though he was delivering some sort of proclamation that would throw him off his game; if he wasn't already suspicious of the new hire, not to mention the strange mentions previously, he would have fallen right into it. Slightly shifting his head up to peer over the shoulder of the horse-like monster, he could see the yellow and white form of the secondary Rider creeping up behind the Wraith. As he had instructed, she was sticking close to the shadows and taking advantage of several blind spots. As the monster clenched his fingers around the reinforced Rider Blade, he shot a slightly worried look at the metal and hoped he didn't see any cracking on the edges. With his System going to be handed in after the conclusion of the battle, he wouldn't have any time to recreate the blade or strengthen it with ZARS or that stockpile of Universal Steel flecked with Zycordian Diamond Ninjor had sent. He didn't think he would need his System anyway as there weren't likely to be any attacks in the two days. Slashing Vengeance brought his head close to his helmet and chuckled darkly.

"I have seen things in my travels that you would find most interesting," he snarled. "Mainly regarding something you left behind in one of your jaunts. Oh, I cannot tell you what it is because it is too deliciously ironic…that you will live on even after your death!"

Huh, that was rather interesting. He always thought that the energy infusion of the Orange Ultra Crystal would mean that he would pretty much be immortal in one way or another but to hear that he would eventually die was…actually rather mundane. He had died once before but he doubted he would get another chance at life as the Ultra Crystals would probably go into a dormant state until they were needed again. He supposed he would float around the Morphin Grid or the Ultra Grid until he was needed again to give advice to the next generation. Whether that constituted as living on after death was still up in the air but he would cross that bridge when it popped up. He just hoped it wouldn't come during the final moments of his life as that would seriously suck. He also hoped he didn't travel to other dimensions upon said death, though that would be rather interesting in and of itself.

"Save your breath, horse face," he chuckled as Serena crept closer. "You don't scare me in the slightest. I've taken shits that were scarier than you. You seem to have history with my counterpart and that's fine…but here is where you die for good!"

Kicking his feet against the ground, he slid out from under the surprised Wraith as Serena struck. Using her enhanced speed, she slashed the beast several times with her new Speed Spear. The weapon was a reinforced shaft of metal that tapered off into a pointed tip that was encrusted with diamond dust. Weihan didn't know if it could change forms for advanced strategy but, seeing as though it had been created entirely with earth-based materials and technology, he wasn't going to hold his breath for a miracle. However, it seemed as though the weapon was doing its job in slicing through the armour on Slashing Vengeance's chest without any overt heating on the blade. Darting in for a few quick strikes on the back of the creature, he wondered how it was doing any damage at all without visible heating elements but dropped the thought. Most likely, he wouldn't receive a straight answer if he asked. Drawing back his right arm and noticing the other Rider doing the same, they struck out with a yell at the chest of the monster; the impact sending him staggering back with fresh blood spurting out of its chest.

"You…you little nuisance," Slashing Vengeance looked down at the silvery liquid seeping out of the wound. "You hurt me and for that…you will die."

Stowing the Rider Blade in its subspace pocket, he shared a look with Serena. The monster had failed to kill him when he had fought it in the other dimension – and that had been with the power of Grash'Nak supporting it. Moving in unison with the other Rider, they lunged and began hitting the Wraith with nothing more than their fists and feet; though, in his case, his fists and feet were wreathed in blue flames. With a crash and crunching of asphalt, Slashing Vengeance slid across George Street and came to a halt in front of a repurposed former McDonalds restaurant. Looking around wildly for an exit path, he found none but found himself strangely at ease with his impending destruction. Air Sickness and Psychocorn would have received the mental tremor that signalled his first death and they would be no doubt confused at the second tremor that would happen in a few moments. As expected, the two Riders were leaping at him with their legs extended – tongues of flame and lightning dancing on the ends of their feet.

"Double Rider Kick!"

The impact smashed him into the reinforced armoured door of the Monster Shelter, sending a tsunami of pain rippling through his body. His legs locked into place and he found moving his arms extremely difficult but somewhat more manageable than moving his head. Small explosions in his internal organs made his chest convulse and an involuntary cough forced its way out of his lips.

"So this is how it ends." Slashing Vengeance seemed almost melancholy at his impending death. "It is what I expected, of course, and I do not fault you for attacking me with that plan. Indeed, it showed great tactical ability and strength; something I saw in your counterpart and in Equestria. However, there will be a greater challenge in the future, something that will take all of your willpower and strength to defeat. I met another being in my travels and he promised a drawn out destruction for you in the next few months."

He hoped the Rider would know what to do when the time came or it would certainly spell his death.

"Grand Bloody will return."

TBC…