Chapter 20

Prismatic Knight

They connected together, machinery twisting and merging. Fire swirled around them. Billy remembered the heat, how it turned from panic-inducing to the fire in his heart. He could feel his friends with him during the change. Only now, Tommy was there too.

Green armor connected over the Megazord's previously unprotected joints and weak points. When they emerged through the change, Tommy was on the left arm and Kim had moved to the center of the chest. Power rushed through the body. They could all feel it. The Megazord was complete.

"Are anyone else's controls different?" Tommy asked.

"I have a lot more buttons and switches than last time," Kim said, taking in the sheer magnitude of them. "I don't know what any of it does."

"You have more? I have way less," Trini said.

"I have a lot more screens," Jason said.

"Looks like we've got a lot more armor too," Billy said.

"Billy! What does 'Tertiary... something Conduit' mean?" Kim asked.

"What's the 'something' part?"

"There is no way I can pronounce it. You should be here!"

"Kim, listen," Jason said. "You are exactly where you belong. We all are." The team steeled their determination and focused on the dragon. "Now, let's take this thing down."

Zack and Billy stabilized the Zord's stance.

"Trini! Go right for the sword!" Jason ordered.

"It won't matter! We're sitting ducks!" Trini drew the sword on the Megazord's back.

Tommy studied the panels on her console. "I think there's a shield." She touched a blue oval and it turned green.

The Pterazord's wings folded into each other forming a much longer sword than their fight with Goldar. The Turtlezord's shell rotated from the back and attached to the left forearm.

"This is gonna be all footwork. Zack, Billy, get ready."

Zack took a step forward, while Billy turned outward a bit to brace against an attack. Tommy held the shield in front of them.

Serpenterra swiped with its claw from the right. Trini took a hard swing at it, but Serpenterra clutched the sword and pulled. Billy and Zack had to scramble to keep from falling over.

Kim found a reservoir of additional power she could direct to the Megazord's subsystems. She sent a good part of it to the sword-arm to give Trini a chance to break it free.

Serpentera came back with another claw. It's talons raked against the shield.

Tommy slammed the shield into the offending arm. It only budged slightly.

Serpenterra pulled its head back, not letting go of the sword. White energy began collecting in its mouth.

"Shit!" Trini shouted.

"Shield!"

Tommy positioned the shield to take the brunt of the blast. Kim redirected all of the additional power from Trini to Tommy.

The beam exploded into the shield. The Megazord was blown back toward the beach, its feet carved trenches into the sand. Serpentera ripped the sword out of its hand and dropped it into the water.

"Doesn't this thing have guns?"

Kim started flipping through a list. "Plasma casters, Rail Gun, something Beam, uh... Enveloping... thingy. Which one do you want?"

"A rail gun would be nice," Jason said.

"Loading rail gun." Kim connected the rail gun to the head. The Tyrannozord's rail gun popped out of the Megazord's back and attached onto its right shoulder.

Jason's screen loaded a targeting system. He aimed and fired two quick shots. The first shot ricocheted off of the side of its head. The second exploded on its eye, right where he aimed it. It flinched, but it didn't look like the shot did much damage.

"Are you going for the eyes?" Zack asked.

"I'm trying to hit a weak point."

"I don't think it has weak points," Trini said.

"It worked before." Serpentera took a step forward. Jason adjusted his aim for the knees to stop it. Two more shots rang out to no avail. "I need more power."

Kim reached out to route some of the reserve power to Jason when Serpenterra charged another beam. It slammed into the shield and pushed the Megazord back up the beach again.

Jason gripped his controls. He knew he could pull the energy he needed straight from the grid. But it wouldn't be enough and it would be playing right into Zedd's hands.

Tommy knew what Jason was thinking. "We can't do this forever," she said. "Go for the Turtlezord's cannons."

"That's 'enveloping thingy', right?" Kim said, pulling the rail gun back. "Tommy, keep the shield up. I'm loading it to you Trini!" Kim connected the cannon to the right arm. "I think I'm getting the hang of this."

The cannon popped out of the Megazord's side and attached to the right hand. Kim noticed a sharp drop in system power. The weapons and shield were draining too much. She had to scramble to compensate.

Trini charged a shot. The gauge filled with agonizing sluggishness. Trini kept her aim on its abdomen.

Serpenterra slammed a fist into the Megazord's shield.

The instant the cannon was fully charged, Trini fired. A green ball of fire launched, point blank, into Serpenterra's belly.

The shockwave pushed both zords back, the Megazord more than Serpenterra. Billy and Zack scrambled to keep their balance. "Maybe we could switch zords after this," Zack said.

Serpenterra took a step, dragging one damaged leg through the steam and rock that had erupted in front of it. It unleashed another beam.

Kim drained all power from the weapons and put it into the shield. It pushed the Megazord back despite Zack and Billy digging into the ground.

"We're not getting anywhere," Tommy said.

Kim's eyes drew to the weapons panel. If she understood everything correctly, one stood out to her as something that might work.

"Kim, you got an idea?" Zack asked.

"Let's hear it, Kim," Trini said.

Kim shook her head. "We should use the 'something beam'."

"Yeah, yeah," Billy said. "That might work."

"But there's not enough power for it. We'd lose the other weapons." Kim winced at her next thought. "And I'd have to pull back the shield too."

"That shield is the only thing keeping us alive!" Trini said.

"I know it's a risk," Kim said. "But we need to do this together."

A silence waved over them as Serpenterra approached to attack them again.

"Let's do it then," Jason said.

Kim took all power from the weapons and shield. Tommy dropped it. The Mastozord's beam cannon positioned itself on the Megazord's shoulder. The Turtlezord's cannon and the Tyrannozord's rail gun merged with it. With everyone focused on it, it augmented itself with parts from every zord. The weapon was so massive both Trini and Tommy had to grab onto it for stability.

Serpenterra charged another attack.

Kim rerouted all power to the Megazord's beam and Jason fired.

The two beams locked into each other, competing for dominance.

The Megazord was slowly losing the clash. The silver beam crept toward them.

Billy and Zack held the legs in place. "Come on," Zack groaned, pushing as hard as he could.

"Give it everything you've got!" Tommy shouted. She started pulling power directly from the grid and pushed it into the zord. Jason followed her lead and did the same.

The other rangers could feel what they were doing and pulled power from the morphing grid into their beam. Their armor stabbed into their bodies. Trini hissed through her teeth as he armor stabbed into her lower back.

"This is going to hurt!" Jason shouted, as his own armor choked him. "Keep going!"

They pushed against Serpenterra's weapon. Kim screamed from the pain.

The Megazord's beam slammed into the dragon's mouth. It's head flew back. Trini and Tommy aimed the beam into its throat, cutting through it's armor.

Serpenterra slumped over, sparks shooting out of the gaping hole in its neck.

The rangers fell unconscious.

Jason jerked awake, still in his cockpit, but unmorphed. The monitors showed minimal activity and there was nothing but cloudy sky through the windshield. He looked around. The Megazord was laying on its back. The cannon had integrated itself back into it and, with no one conscious to control it, it had collapsed on the beach.

Jason pushed on the windshield, he had to check on his friends, but it had locked into place. While unmorphed he didn't have very good control of anything. He was going to have to figure something out. "Is anyone with me?"

"I'm here," came a raspy groan over the comm.

"Never been so happy to hear your voice, Tommy." Jason had to chuckle.

Tommy joined him in laughing. They were on the same team. It felt good. She eased back into her seat, relieved she wasn't alone.

The groan of something big and metal brought them back. They weren't done. Serpenterra, partially submerged in water, was clawing itself to shore. It wasn't over and they'd need all six of them to finish it.

"Guys," Jason said. "Kim... Billy?... Zack!?... TRINI!?..." They hung limp in their cockpits. "Damn."

"They've never done that before," Tommy said. "I forgot how much it hurts."

"Or how good it feels."

"Don't go chasing that power, Jason."

"Yeah, yeah. We're going to have to keep each other honest about that." He looked out at Serpenterra. It was getting closer. "Tommy, we have to finish this, even if it's just you and me."

Tommy slapped herself awake and took fast, deep breaths. "Gung-Ho."

Jason didn't know the definition of the phrase, but he understood what she meant.

They grabbed the controls together. "Push!" Tommy pushed back with the left arm while Jason leaned the head forward. They got the Megazord to a sitting position.

Jason ran his hands over what few controls he had. "How are we going to get this thing up?" There had to be a way he could take control of the legs.

Tommy looked over to Trini, limp in her seat, her hair hung down over her face. Without her, without any of them, they were screwed.

Trini would have called them quitters. She would have made a sarcastic comment and get them all to laugh.

The right arm spasmed slightly.

Tommy blinked. She envisioned Trini crossing her arms and pouting her lips because she thought they weren't listening.

The fingers on the right hand curled into a fist.

"Jason," Tommy said. "What would Billy say?"

"What?"

"Come on. What would he say?"

"He'd say..." Jason remembered the guy who was happy to do seven complicated things at once. "Billy would say that there's always a way. He'd smile and never give up."

"Zack would do something really stupid like jump out of the zord and use that god damn gun to try to shoot through Serpenterra's armor by himself."

Jason nodded with a smile. He could feel Zack and Billy with him and the legs moved. Tommy used Trini's resolve to lift them. The Megazord stood.

"Let's go!" They stomped into the water, uneasy footing on the rocks. Serpenterra lifted an arm, ready to defend itself.

"Sword!" Tommy shouted.

Jason moved the legs and bent down for Tommy to grab the sword. She gripped it in both hands. They charged the dragon.

Serpentera roared at them and swiped with its claw, too slow. The Megazord was already inside it's defense. It charged a shot from its mouth. They only had one chance before they'd be obliterated.

Jason could feel Kim's warmth, Tommy felt her strength.

Their sword blazed with white and gold light and pierced the dragon's heart.