Volume VII - The War of Rangers
Chapter 51—Invasion
Amy
I was sure I was dead.
I mean, I had only seen Aaron lose control like that once, and he destroyed Mount Imperious then. So, it was only logical that after standing right next to him while he pulled a stunt like that, I died.
But I could still feel pain. And I could still hear voices. Really loud voices.
"It's just like your vision!"
Vision?
I pried my eyes open, staring in awe at the sight before me.
I was on the ground, face first pretty much, but Dustin and Hunter had tried to form a protective wall in front of me. It seemed Dustin had an air barrier or something in front of us.
"I thought I could prevent it," Hunter said pitifully.
"What's going on?" I asked, trying my best to sit up.
I don't know how I'd missed it, but Aaron was standing a good 30 feet away from us, his body covered in reddish light. It was like he was engulfed by a fireball. And he was screaming. Really, really loud.
"Aaron! He's...he's putting out Chrominite energy!" Dustin shouted over the commotion of Aaron's powers.
"Oh no," I mumbled, half to myself. "He's using Gabriel's Angel powers..."
"What?" Hunter screamed, outraged. "How? Why?"
I closed my eyes, trying to focus. I had picked up some of Aaron's frantic thoughts right before he transformed. Yes! I remembered now.
SPD had somehow come through the portal at the Ninja Academy, ambushing us right before Aaron could initiate the teleportation sequence. His powers would have been more than enough if he didn't have to shield us from Gabriel's blast. Gabriel had somehow made his way all the way across the Academy grounds and attacked us with the most horrible amount of energy I'd ever had aimed at me. It was surprising Aaron was able to hold it off.
And teleport us.
I explained to Hunter and Dustin as quickly as I could.
"But now the Chrominite energy is killing him! Eltarians can't mix with Cronus energy and keep their sanity! That's how I became twisted into one of Zeus's flunkies," Hunter said. "We have to stop Aaron before he explodes."
"Explodes?"
I looked behind me at the rest of the rangers. Somehow, I was the only one awake. It must've been my psychic powers or something. They'd been...developing lately.
"Aaron's putting out more energy than his body can handle. He really is the most powerful thing I've ever seen...but his body can't handle the power," Hunter continued, almost in awe.
We were all silent.
"That's it!" Dustin suddenly shouted, excited. "He can't handle too much power!"
"Um, yes," Hunter replied uneasily, "that's what I said. Are you okay?"
"I'm great!" Dustin continued, still excited about something. "And here's why! If Aaron is already overwhelmed by his power, what if you gave him your foresight? Your visions always knock you out cold, draining most of your energy. With all the energy Aaron's putting out, he'll most likely have a vision and expend a good chunk of his power!"
Hunter's face broke out into an all-out smile. "God, I love you!" He shouted, sharing his husband's excitement.
"Amy, you stay here with Dustin. If anything happens to me, get everyone to safety," the King of Eltar told me.
"You got it," I replied obediently but somewhat confusedly.
Dustin and I stared, watching as Hunter somehow gathered more power from his fatigued body. His Dyr Orion state was just incredible; I had no idea how someone in Hunter's condition could go from frail and fragile looking to invincible. His short blond hair immediately shot back away from his face, spiking jaggedly. It seemed to undulate in the air as it lost its color, becoming pure white and brilliant. His body was on fire, a silvery light emanating from every pore on his body.
Empowered by his Seraph heritage, Hunter stepped through the first ring of Aaron's Cronus energy. Aaron's scream immediately became more of a strained, clenched growl. Honestly, it was horrifying.
But Hunter's own silver aura erupted from his body as it parted Aaron's dome of power. The King pushed further, until he was only feet away from Aaron. I saw Aaron's mouth move, but I had no idea what he was saying. Not over the havoc his power was wreaking.
I saw Hunter lift his hands and place them on either side of Aaron's face. Instinctively, Aaron's hands wrapped around Hunter's wrists. Even from 30 feet away, I could tell Aaron's eyes were clouding over and that his absorption powers were taking over. It was like his body was on survival mode.
Seconds later, Hunter dropped to one knee, his transformation beginning to falter. His aura shrank noticeably, barely outlining his body. But Aaron's continued to grow.
"We have to get him out of there!" Dustin panicked, observing Hunter's barely conscious state.
"No!" I shouted. "Hunter's orders were to leave and get everyone to safety. We have to hope he knows what he's doing."
"I can't just leave him," he said, shaking his head. "You get everyone out of here. Take them to the palace. They should be safe there."
"Are you insane?"
Just then, Aaron began to flicker. The sky seemed to darken temporarily before a flash of energy split the skies and struck Aaron in the head. His body shined once more, brighter than ever, and then everything stopped at once.
—51—
Honestly, it felt good to finally be able to kick back and not worry about SPD breathing down our necks. Doc Ol said it would only be a matter of time before they tracked us to Eltar and started their attack again.
But I really didn't care.
Dustin and Hunter's plan to avert Aaron's self-destruction worked like a charm, and the Prince of Eltar was currently resting in his bedroom in the palace. Patrick suggested that Aaron was probably tired of waking up on med beds, anyway.
I had to agree.
Presently, I was sitting in the courtyard with all the others; the rest of the Cyber Squad, the Mecha Squad, and Doc Ol. Dustin joined us later, but apparently Hunter wouldn't leave Aaron's room. I guess he felt guilty or something. My psychic powers didn't quite work on Hunter—I couldn't read his mind like I could read all the humans'. Sometimes, if Aaron or Patrick were extremely emotional, I could get into their heads. It seemed their human emotions weakened their psychic field.
"I could get used to this," Matt sighed, stretching his legs out and glancing up toward the starry sky. "It's so chill here."
"Ever heard the phrase the calm before the storm?" Josh asked, the condescension clear in his voice.
"Way to ruin it," Grace shot back, sticking up for her Blue Ranger boyfriend.
"I'm afraid Josh is right," Doc said to his daughter, who was wrapped snuggly in Matt's arms. "I doubt SPD knows we're here on Eltar, but this planet is their priority. They're going to bring this war to a head within the next few days."
"How can you be sure?" Jay asked, his voice vibrating through his body and in turn echoing in my head. After all, I was lying on him. He was warm. All the time. I guess it had something to do with his fire powers.
"I know how SPD works," Doc replied lowly. Bitterly.
I didn't need my psychic powers to feel the resentment our mentor had toward Space Patrol Delta.
I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped short when I sensed a new presence in the courtyard. Three to be exact. All Eltarian.
"Aaron's awake," I said, sitting up and glancing at Jay.
The whole time we had been trying to "relax" in the courtyard, I could hear Jay's frantic, anxious thoughts in regards to his best friend's wellbeing. But I didn't think I needed my powers to know Jay was worried.
"Really?" Jay asked quickly, sitting up just as fast. "Are you sure?"
I nodded. "I can feel his presence. He's with Patrick and Hunter. They're coming this way."
I stood so Jay could in turn do the same, then stepped back to let him go search for Aaron himself. I knew he wanted to. He didn't need to say anything.
But Jay didn't have to go far. As I'd told him, Patrick, Aaron, and Hunter were already coming this way. They were talking in light, happy tones. I could hear Hunter explaining that he'd had a vision that Aaron would try to teleport everyone to Eltar. And that it would end with Aaron losing control of his powers.
It certainly explained why Hunter was so stubborn about teleporting us, even if it killed him.
"Dude!" Jay shouted up the pathway to Aaron as he sped over to meet him and wrap him in a hug. "You did it! And we're all alive!"
Aaron broke out into a grin, returning Jay's hug. "I heard it was a little bumpy."
"Just a little," I chimed in as I met up with the group of guys.
Aaron loosed a lopsided grin my way as he looked over toward the gathering of people. "What's going on out here?"
Jay beamed brightly. "Dude! It's your welcome home party!"
Aaron cocked an eyebrow, laughing incredulously. "Are you serious?"
"We figured since you didn't get to celebrate your birthday and we have a few days before we have to worry about SPD…we'd spend a night letting go," Patrick said, smiling at Aaron's reaction. "We just got bored while waiting for you to wake up."
"Well," Aaron said, his voice dropping in volume in slightly, "now that I'm here…LET'S PARTY!"
I had to laugh.
I mean, there wasn't much else I could do. Things were so confusing at the moment that I didn't really know whether to laugh or cry. Laughing just felt better for the time being. Even though I knew what the others were thinking. Even though I knew Doc Ol was worried we'd be demolished by SPD. Even though I knew Dustin was thinking this was the end.
I laughed.
And so did everyone else.
Through the tension, and the worry, and the anxiety, and the fear – we laughed. And we ate, and we drank, and we told stories, and we pretended everything was okay. We pretended that tonight wasn't possibly our last night to let loose—that we weren't in a fight for the universe.
We pretended.
—51—
I awoke the next morning to Jay's jumbled dream sequence playing loudly in my mind. He was dreaming about shopping and weird animals and other completely unrelated things. So I let him sleep.
I rolled out of bed and let my feet fall firmly to the ground, and then glanced out of the futuristic windows of the palace's guest quarters.
The white-blue sun hung haphazardly in the sky, somewhere between a few stray, pale purple aurora clouds. I stood for a few moments, staring blankly at the setting before me until I could think of what to do with my morning. I doubted the others were awake yet and I wasn't quite looking forward to any psychic sessions or weird Eltarian customs.
For example, Eltarians ate with their eyes closed. Well, unless it was a casual setting like last night, that is. But, if I were to walk into an Eltarian family's house during dinner time, they would all have their eyes closed while they enjoyed their meal.
Aaron said it had something to do with tasting the food. The way he explained it made sense—that by cutting off one of the body's major senses, the others were strengthened. Who knew Eltarians were so big on taste, though?
I, personally, found it weird to eat in silence with my eyes closed.
But eating sounded like a good idea. I stepped out of the room and made my way to the kitchen, falling victim to my stomach's incessant growling.
By now, I had learned my way around the living portion of the palace quite well. Dustin told me that Hunter had a large portion of the palace completely redone to fit a more "domestic" role. He'd basically set up the middle level of the palace to look like its own town home.
"Morning."
I almost jumped out of my skin.
Hunter was sitting at the head of the kitchen table, his eyes glued to a view screen on the other end of the dining room.
"You scared the shit out of me!" I finally said, catching my breath.
He grinned, not unlike Aaron. "Sorry about that. Dustin says I do it all the time."
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," I joked with him, heading for the pot of coffee he'd made.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Well enough, I guess," I said, taking a seat next to him. "How about you? Did you finally get some rest?"
"That I did," he answered with a chuckle. "It was well deserved, I'd say."
"I have to agree there," I said, glancing at the news program. "What's on?"
"Oh," he said through a sip of coffee and seeming to notice he had a muted view screen up, "it's a news report. Apparently the people of Eltar are getting fed up with the Council."
He barely seemed to exert any effort, but suddenly the view screen began broadcasting its audio to me.
"Oh!" I exclaimed, surprised by the clarity and volume of the program. "That's…that's new."
"News broadcasts are done telepathically on Eltar," Hunter said. "I hope that's okay. You're not hurt, are you?"
"No," I finally said, "no, I'm fine. It was just surprising, that's all."
He didn't say much else, but we both listened intently to the news program. Several Eltarians were arguing heatedly about the Council retarding Eltar's natural evolution, and it wasn't until a few minutes passed that I realized one of the Eltarians was Nike Zeta—Hunter's younger sister.
The doors of the kitchen flew open, an armed guard marching into the room in perfect formation. A tall man with short cropped blond hair and piercing eyes stepped forward, his green garments flowing around his royal armor. His face was clouded by a day's worth of stubble, but the wisdom in his eyes betrayed his youthful appearance entirely.
"It's begun," he said to Hunter, his voice rich and deep.
Hunter stood immediately, a look of distress masked by his determination. "How many?"
"At least a hundred war ships," the man said, "maybe more."
I looked between the two. "SPD is already here?"
"Prepare the Eltarian Land Forces and the Eltarian Fighter Force," Hunter ordered the man.
He nodded.
"And dad," Hunter added as the man prepared to leave, "get mom to safety. We'll handle this."
I had no time to react to this news. I had just met Zordon.
—51—
"Several outposts have already been established on the moon," Hunter was saying, briefing the whole team. "Their landing parties have started setting up command posts in different hemispheres of the planet."
"Do we know who's leading the invasion?" Aaron asked.
"Most likely Gabriel," Hunter answered. "He'll most likely come toward the palace."
"Then we need to split up," Aaron suggested. He stepped forward and brought up a holo-map of Eltar. "Team One will be Matt, Grace, Michelle, and Sanders; you guys take the east. There's lots of shade and water for you to work with there.
"Amy, Jay, Melissa, and Kevin; you four will take the west as Team Two. Most of the west is land and will most likely be where the brunt of the troops will land. Team Three—Brianna, Josh, and Corey; I want you three on the south end. It's the second most likely place for them to land. Patrick, Beth and I will operate as Team Four and stick to the north and try to keep Gabriel away from the palace."
His orders weren't up for debate. We took them obediently and felt the strain of the war back in our bones. Whatever brief reprieve we'd had last night was quickly dissipating to the back of our minds, and the only thing now on them was a way to win. A way to survive.
Jay and I headed out of the War Room immediately with Kevin and Melissa, the Red and Yellow Mecha Rangers. I could tell from the way that Aaron had divided the teams that he didn't want to break up any couples—he knew we'd work better together, when we weren't constantly worrying about the wellbeing of our significant others. That was why he stuck Grace and Matt together. That was why he kept Patrick close by. That was why Jay was by my side, and Melissa and Kevin were tagging along with me.
We headed to the main teleportation banks of the palace, the large room we'd teleported to on our first trip to Eltar. It felt like so long ago that we were before the council, telling them how Gabriel was "dead." It felt like another lifetime.
Within half-an-hour, we were on the other side of the planet. The western hemisphere of Eltar was just as beautiful as the north: blue grass spread for miles in every direction of the large city we'd landed in (a place called Zeshin), and the dark architecture of the city contrasted sharply and elegantly with the rich vegetation.
But I had no time to admire the scenery.
From the government operated building we'd teleported into, we could easily see the pack of large SPD spacecraft in the fields miles out. Hundreds of little dark colored dots scurried out of the ships in neat rows of militant soldiers, and more fliers were landing by the minute.
"Looks like we've got our work cut out for us," Kevin said heavily.
"Aaron said the ELF would be here to back us up shortly," Jay said. "All we have to do is hold SPD back until they can mobilize. Then we'll kick them off the planet before they can even get comfy."
Somehow, Jay's confidence made me feel better. Even though I knew it wouldn't be that easy. Even though I knew there was a good chance we could die. For the first time since becoming a Ranger, I was truly terrified.
"Let's stick it to 'em then," Melissa said, cracking her neck as she and Kevin headed for the door.
We wasted no time getting to the landing zone. We wanted to wage battle as far away from the city as possible, so we flew to SPD at near warp speed. Courtesy of Melissa using her Spiritos power and me using my Force power.
SPD attacked as soon as they saw us.
I flipped over a group of twenty soldiers, bringing a sphere of concussive force energy into my hands as I arced over them, and then slammed it down on them. All twenty of them flew through the air. They didn't get up when they landed, but I knew they'd live to fight another. Just not today. I headed for the nearest platoon and decimated them with another round of energy.
They were surrounding me now, too close to blast. I went on the offensive, using my arms and legs as my weapons of choice.
The battle dragged on. It felt like hours crawled by as Jay, Kevin, Melissa and I felled hundreds upon hundreds of troops. Their fliers were taking pop-shots at us from the skies, forcing Melissa and I to shield Jay and Kevin whenever we could. Kevin took down as many of the ships as he could, using his Lunarus powers to ground them with the power of gravity. But it felt like for every two he destroyed, five more took their places.
"Where the hell is our backup?" Kevin roared, slamming his elbow into the chest of a soldier and flinging him into three more.
"Aaron said they'd be here," Jay panted back in response, zooming by and taking out four soldiers with a super-speed kick.
"Aaron," I called into my commlink as I blocked a laser blast back at its shooter. "Aaron, we could really use some help right about now!"
"We've got bigger problems," he said after about 30 seconds of silence. "SPD's got new Zords. And Doc says from the looks of them, they've implemented Gabriel's Titan Mode technology."
My helmeted head turned toward Jay in worry. "Is that even possible?"
"Afraid so," Aaron said over the commotion of a battle. "Patrick, on your six!"
Kevin and Melissa regrouped around me, the wave of soldiers seeming to thin. "What's going on?" Kevin asked quietly.
"These 'Titan Runners' have pushed Team 3 back into the city. Kordus is under heavy fire and the ELF is trying to evacuate as many people as possible," Aaron continued.
"What if we call the Zordians?" I asked. "They could even the odds, right?"
"I thought of that," Aaron replied, "but they're all the way on Earth. SPD will intercept any transmission we try to send out."
"What about a telepathic transmission?" I asked, quickly activating my Gauntlet Guard and sniping down two soldiers who were trying to get the sneak on us. "If I could reach them, do you think we'd stand a chance?"
Aaron was quiet.
Patrick was the one who responded. "Amy, if you can get in touch with the Zordians, I know we could BURST Execute and wipe the floor with these Titan Runners. Aaron thinks that if you can make it back to the palace and use the Psychotelepathic Cranial Transmitter to amplify your telepathy, you might be able to reach them."
"Done," I said shortly, nodding at Jay.
He looked ready to go.
"Amy," Aaron was back now, "be careful. The Transmitter handles all psychic operated equipment in the capital city. If you can't do it, don't push yourself. It could wind up destroying your brain."
I was happy Jay didn't hear him. There was no way he would have let me do it if he had.
"Let's fall back to the teleporters," I instructed the team.
Our timing couldn't have been better.
A new wave of soldiers deployed from one of the landing ships, their blasters opening fire on us. Kevin was hit.
Again.
And again.
"Wait!" Melissa called to us, Jay and I ahead of her and her fallen boyfriend. "He's hurt!"
"Shit," Jay swore, "we have to hurry!"
"Just go," Kevin groaned, "I'll be fine."
I looked at Jay.
And then a barrage of laser fire hit him. Not just once, not twice—not even three times. It was like they had skewered his body with a thousand laser bolts. I watched in horror as his suit vanished in a puff of yellow flames.
There was a scream. A shrieking, banshee of a scream that seemed to shake my body. It took me a second to realize it was me. But I didn't care. I took to the skies slowly, levitating at first and then flying. A bubble of pink energy flickered into existence around me, strings of force power crackling around the edges.
I didn't want to kill.
I really didn't.
But it was us or them now. I hated it. It made me sick to my stomach to have to use my Ranger Powers to take lives.
But I had no choice.
The sphere of energy around me shrunk as it became an orb of psychic power in my outstretched palm.
"SIGMA BOMB!" I hollered, casting the energy orb into the air like a volley ball.
It arched over the soldiers, lingering, before it rained hundreds of smaller blasts upon them. As each blast erupted, a dome of pink energy overtook the horizon. Until finally, a massive explosion rocked the planet like a magenta sun had risen from the ground. Where the SPD ships and soldiers once were lied a crater the size of 10 football fields.
I had killed them all.
Every single one.
—51—
The teleportation banks in the palace were offline. Gabriel had cut the main power supply and Aaron wasn't even sure if the Psychotelepathic Cranial Transmitter was still online.
But I wasn't giving up.
Melissa and I flew as fast as we could to the palace. We'd teleported to a city 30 miles south of Eltar City—a place called Radymax that was just as densely populated as the capital city. It was no easy feat to commandeer the teleportation banks of Zeshin. Everyone was trying to find a way out of the city. It was the same in Radymax. Everyone wanted in to the banks. We wanted out.
I didn't blame them, though.
SPD was in full assault now. Teams 1 and 3 had long since fallen back. Team 3, consisting of Josh, Corey, and Brianna, was pinned inside the city of Kordus, without teleportation banks. Not to mention, the Titan Runners were hunting them down—destroying the city block by block.
We hadn't had radio contact with them in the past 30 minutes.
As Melissa and I glided over the masses of people surrounding our teleportation destination in Radymax, I could see the smoke rising from Eltar City like a cancerous black plume that looked as out of place on Eltar as I did.
It was awful.
War had officially fallen on Eltar.
The War of Rangers had begun.
Melissa and I flew in silence, Jay and Kevin's bodies resting on a disk of Force energy inside of mine and Melissa's form of transportation. It was an odd pink and yellow bullet shaped capsule that hurtled us through the air at speeds close to 240 kilometers an hour. So I wasn't complaining about its oddities too much.
I flinched as streams of laser fire ricocheted off our barrier the closer we got to the palace. We were less than a mile away now, and the fire was increasing. The sky lit up with bursts of white light, the ground shaking haphazardly. I swore I heard thunder in the distance.
"Is that Aaron?" Melissa asked me warily.
"That must be him and Gabriel going at it," I mumbled, my scanners trying to get a read on their energy levels. "My sensors can't even measure the amount of power they're putting out. It's…it's unreal."
She nodded as we drifted forward, the speed of our capsule slowing as we neared the palace. Several of its spires had crumbled. The thin shield around the palace rippled as eruptions of cannon fire spread over it like fiery tumors. I knew the backup generators would run out soon. If the Transmitter was still online, it would only last as long as that shield stayed up.
"You get Jay and Kevin to the infirmary," I said to Melissa as we landed, "I'm heading for the Transmitter."
She nodded as she levitated them with her mind. "You got it."
"Thanks," I said hurriedly, sprinting to give my powers a rest.
"Amy!" she called out to me.
I turned.
"Good luck."
I grinned behind my mouth guard. "Here's to hoping I won't need it."
With that, I was gone.
Without the short range teleporters to get me to the palace's main citadel, it took me ten minutes to reach the Transmitter.
It was a huge spherical device, glowing colored panels occupying most of its surface. The Transmitter itself hummed quietly, like the wings of a small insect, and it seemed to radiate with energy.
This was it.
I demorphed, hoping to conserve energy, and took a few cautious steps toward the Transmitter. It took up the majority of the small room, guard rails circling it and a few consoles visible behind it. I guessed the consoles would be my best bet and made my way to them.
It became clear all too soon that the consoles were, in fact, my worst bet. They were fried. Dead. No power, nothing. The raw Transmitter was my only hope.
I took a deep breath. It was all up to me. If I failed, we were dead. All of us. Even Jay.
Jay.
My motivation returned to me. Thinking of him, lying in the infirmary, clinging to life—it did something to me. Patrick and Aaron had had their close calls. They had been in comas and surgeries and had all these out-of-this-world experiences—but the rest of us? We were human. We didn't rapidly heal. We didn't have special psychic powers that could help us. Our Morphers were our only defense. And without them, we were fragile.
We were mortal.
I extended my hands to the enormous circular Transmitter, focusing on all the power in my morpher. I knew I used it too much. I knew my psychic abilities had become an everyday sense that had seamlessly woven its way into my life. And I knew that was my advantage.
Even if I was human, this Morpher chose me for a reason.
I could do this.
I felt the energy pouring from me, entering the transmitter and reconfiguring it. I felt my Force abilities increasing, felt the Transmitter boosting my telepathy. I heard the thoughts of hundreds of thousands of people—SPD humans dying, Eltarians worrying and scurrying, my teammates determined and fighting. I could see everything. Hear everything. My powers were at a new precipice. It was tempting to delve into every mind I could find. I was tempted to know everything.
But I resisted.
I pushed my mind beyond Eltar, extending it across the universe. I could pick up on faint thoughts of billions of inhabitants of other planets. I could pick up on the primal, non-verbal thoughts of countless different species. And I blocked them out. I blocked out the Aquitians on planet Aquitar. I blocked out the Triforians on Triforia, the thousands of different species on Onyx, and the curious thoughts of the planet Inquiris. And as my mind hurtled toward Earth, I blocked out the comparatively louder-thinking human beings. Their thoughts were so projected. So loud. So desperate to be heard.
I narrowed my scope.
I could feel the presence of the Zordians, but their minds were heavily guarded. Their thoughts were quiet—private.
But not Tonyxyn. He and I were linked. And he could feel me reaching out to his mind.
I began to form a coherent thought. To tell him of our predicament. To beg for his help.
And then everything went dark.
I stumbled away from the Transmitter, shocked at the sudden quietness of the world. No thoughts. No sights. Just the Transmitter room.
It had shut down.
"NO!" I screamed, thrusting my hands at it to try to re-energize it.
Nothing.
Frantically, I brought my morpher toward my face.
"Aaron, do you read me?"
"Amy, are you okay?" Beth responded to my transmission.
"I'm fine," I said, "where's Aaron?"
"Aaron's kinda busy with Gabriel," she said hurriedly. "Tell me you have good news for us."
"Afraid not," I replied, suddenly out of breath, "the Transmitter shut down just as I was about to contact Tonyxyn. Can you send Patrick to maybe re-energize the Transmitter? Maybe some electricity would do it some good?"
Beth was silent, and I assumed she was relaying my message to Patrick. Suddenly, he was speaking through my morpher.
"It doesn't run on electricity," he said, disappointed. "It…it runs on a sort of psychic-enhancing ore called Elysium. If the Transmitter's offline, you must've burned through its reserves. We'd have to get more before you could use it again."
I swore. "What if I teleported to a different city and use their transmitter?"
"Even if you did," he sighed, "the palace has the largest, most powerful one on the planet. I don't think the others would reach to Earth."
"Then we're fucked," I groaned.
—51—
Aaron versus Gabriel was incredible.
I had made my way back out the battlefield under orders relayed from Aaron. He was trying to keep up with Gabriel, whose titan armor—a royal golden, gladiator-like battle suit—was nullifying all of Aaron's attacks. But Aaron was able to hang in there. Even without the Orion Radiance Battleizer.
But that was the only thing going in our favor.
Corey, Josh, and Brianna were finally able to escape Kordus when Grace, Matt, Michelle, and Sanders showed up. The combination of Sanders Aquos powers and Brianna's Tundrus powers allowed them to pretty much surf their way out through a series of rivers. From there, they made their way to a small island called Pravvys, where they proceeded to teleport to Radymax and head here to back us up.
Hunter thought it would be best for us to stand united instead of spreading ourselves thin.
So we did.
But we hadn't heard from the King since. Both he and Dustin had gone to seek help from Zordon about something, and we were to keep SPD busy. And away from the palace. Away from the underground bunker where Doc Ol and the rest of the royal family waited.
I felt my body's energy reserves waning as I spiraled through the air and slammed my heel into a soldier's chest. I glanced to my left and tripped another one, then brought my hand into a firm palm strike in another soldier's sternum. A troupe of Gigadroids was being deployed, but they were so useless that their only purpose now was to distract us from the soldiers.
And the ELF—the Eltarian Land Forces—were decimating them easily. I had never seen an army so in sync. They were like one huge team. Honestly, if we weren't in the middle of a war, I would have stopped and studied them in mere fascination. They had weapons, but they opted for physical combat, dodging laser bolts or blocking them with their wrist-mounted shield generators. I couldn't decide if it was because they didn't want to kill the SPD soldiers or if they didn't want to waste ammo.
"Is it just me," Matt called above the calamity of battle, "or are we winning?"
I judo flipped a Gigadroid, ripping off its arm and using it to club another two across their face plates. "Yeah," I called to him, "I have to agree. What the hell is SPD thinking sending foot soldiers in?"
Grace landed near me, her black aura dying down as she shorted out a small group of Gigadroids and then delivered a backhand to a soldier. He was out cold.
"This is the decoy," she said solemnly. "SPD is wearing us down so the Rangers can finish us off."
If my helmet wasn't covering my face, I'm sure Grace would have been able to see the look of sudden horror on my face.
The news was bad enough—sudden and unexpected, yet logical at the same time—but the fact that it came from Grace made it worse. She was emotionless when she said it. Cold. Calculated. Distant.
Mesomorph had really done a number on her since turning her against us.
"They know the SPD Rangers can't keep up with us when we're at full power," she pressed on, looking at Matt and I, the battlefield nearly still now. "So they sent in the soldiers as fodder."
"How could they do something like that?" Beth demanded as she made her way across the battlefield, kicking Gigadroid pieces out of her way and stepping over unconscious soldiers. "I mean, how could they just assume we wouldn't kill them?"
I grimaced on the inside. I felt Melissa's eyes on me, but I didn't say anything.
We began to slowly regroup, Patrick and Aaron still missing. We could hear the thunderous collisions of Aaron and Gabriel's fists. It sounded like they were ripping a hole in the universe with how powerful their blows were.
"Mesomorph's rule on warfare," Grace mumbled. "In chess, the pawns go first."
The ground rocked unsteadily as an eruption lit up the skyline.
"C'mon," Beth said, turning to face the far off hills were Aaron and Gabriel were having their showdown, "Aaron might need our help to use the Orion Radiance Battleizer."
As we approached, it became clear Aaron would not need our help.
Gabriel was panting heavily, his wings drooping somewhat in their crystalline, metallic armor. His gold and white armor seemed damaged, the red accents on it nearly blackened from where Aaron's photon bursts had hit him.
Aaron was worn out, too, but he looked amazing. He was flawlessly using the Eyr Orion form, his Ranger suit long-since abandoned. His clothes were torn, nearly shredded, and his body looked bruised and bloodied, but his eyes were determined. Fierce. Victorious. His normally light brown hair floated around his face like he was underwater, its rich color now purely white. I felt like I could the very muscle fibers of his body, except for those in his face. He was just…unbelievable.
Patrick was assessing the battle, his Ranger suit just as dinged up and battle-worn as the rest of ours.
"He's winning?" Sanders asked, looking up at Aaron and Gabriel, who were at the top of the hill.
Patrick nodded quietly. "At least I think so. This invasion feels…premature. Wrong. Something's…off."
Grace nodded, her visor shooting open and her mouth guard receding so her face could be seen fully inside her helmet. "That's what I'm thinking."
Patrick copied Grace, his visor and mouth guard retracting into his helmet. "It's gotta be a trap."
We all took a page from the book of Grace as we let our visors and mouth guards reveal our faces. The ELF was advancing on us now, no doubt waiting for orders. We were all confused as to whether we should return to the palace or try destroying SPD's outposts. Not to mention, we wanted to know what was going to happen with Gabriel. And I knew the ELF's secondary priority was to secure the Prince.
Aaron.
"It's over, Gabriel," he barked, his voice echoing and magnifying ethereally. "Give it up."
"Is it?" Gabriel panted out.
"Your forces have deserted you, and I don't think anyone's coming to back you up," Aaron replied confidently. "Surrender."
Gabriel stood to his full height now, taking in a deep breath. And then he began to laugh. It was quiet at first, before it began to overpower every other sound on the planet. His face contorted as he let the laughter flow from his open mouth, almost like it was mocking the skies.
"You fool," he finally said, a grin smeared on his face. "I'm nowhere near being defeated. Did you really think this was it? Did you really think this was the limit to my power?"
A crack in Aaron's confidence. Even from 20 feet away, I could see the doubt creeping into his glowing eyes.
Gabriel lifted a hand in the air, a beam of Cronus energy firing off into the aura-filled skies of Eltar.
And then the ground began to shake again.
We all commanded our visors and mouth guards back into position, glancing around to make sure the ground wasn't going to give way beneath us. I looked up at Gabriel, his body shaking with laughter. Aaron seemed confused, but stood his ground.
"This, Eyr Aryn, would be my cavalry!"
"Look!" one of the ELF soldiers shouted, pointing due south.
I couldn't believe it.
The Titan Runners.
They burst out of the crystal clear water, having driven on the bottom of Eltar's oceans from the south end of the planet, all the way to the north. I had forgotten the palace was so close to the coast.
There were 16 of them. Two teams. Each one complete with a Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink, Shadow, Omega, and Nova class Titan Runner vehicle. Titan Runner 1 – Red was a speeder class, light weapons framing the body and spoiler. Titan Runner 2 – Blue was one-of-two fliers: from what I could tell, it was a sort of hover chopper with large missile launchers flanking its twin turbines. Titan Runner 3 – Green was the heavy artillery—large cannons deployed from the sides. Runners 4 and 5–Pink and Yellow, respectively—were nearly twins with heavy firepower and light armor. Runner S—Shadow, was the real heavy hitter: a full on multi-purpose tank with various armaments and thick, intimidating armor. Runner O—Omega, was another speed-class vehicle. It seemed to be a lot like Titan Runner 1—medium firepower, medium armaments, and lots and lots of speed. Above them all, though, was Titan Runner N—Nova. It was essentially a stealth jet. With big missiles. And heavy guns.
And there were 2 of each.
We got to experience the guns firsthand.
Melissa and I instinctively threw up a force field, but it shattered after only 30 seconds.
"SPREAD OUT!" Patrick roared above the gunfire, diving out of the way of several laser bolts.
An entire platoon of ELF soldiers weren't as lucky, and I stared in shock as their bodies disintegrated before me, cannon fire from a Green T-Runner engulfing them.
Aaron took to the skies immediately, gathering energy in his hands as he attempted to fire at the Titan Runners.
Gabriel intercepted the blast and turned it into dust of energy, catching Aaron off guard with his speed.
"I told you it wasn't over for me," I heard him gloat.
"Fall back to the palace!" Aaron shouted down to us.
But we were cut off by a wall of laser fire.
We were trapped.
I was fully prepared to surrender my life, but not my free will. None of us were. We were going down fighting.
Aaron looked torn as he descended to join our huddle. He didn't have the power to fight off Gabriel and 16 zords. And none of us had enough power in our suits to put up a good resistance. But we sure as hell weren't going to let that stop us.
"My orders are to bring you back," Gabriel mumbled, staring at us like he'd trapped his prey. "But I take orders from no one. KILL THEM!"
I braced for impact. We all powered up, and Melissa and I threw up the most powerful shield we could manage. Grace reinforced us and Corey lent her solar powers. Aaron's Eyr Orion light energy doubled the size of our shield, and I saw a thin net of electrical energy from Patrick and Josh outline us. Our dome of energy rose as we tried to muster up the most powerful barrier possible.
Gabriel laughed mockingly at us. "Is that the best you can do?"
And then, something weird happened.
One of the T-Runner N's spiraled out of the sky, managing to level out before hitting the ground. Another of the T-Runner 3s was sent flying by a burst of energy, and both T-Runner 1s were surprisingly blindsided by several laser bolts.
"What the…?" I heard Gabriel shriek, spinning around in the sky to find out who attacked his forces.
But I knew.
I knew the second I stopped worrying so much. The second I let my mind unclench. The second I let our bond reassert itself.
Tonyxyn.
