I would like to thank LovingGinger30, Fool Arcane Kaiju, Ahkalia, NitroTheKidd88, Author196, UgunsGreka, HiroshitheHawk and WinxPossible for allowing me to use their characters . Also, NitroTheKidd88 [( *• ̀ω•́ )b] is my beta reader and my house stock for everyday monsters. Thanks for support guys and hope the story will be a great success and you all enjoy it.
Chapter 6- Strength is in Protection, Belief and Trust!- Twyla's Realisation!
Once again, Majestic Hills College was filled with students. It was a working day once more, for students and teachers alike. Lexi was walking out of her class, another successful day of being an assistant-teacher.
For a moment, her thoughts drifted- what would she have for lunch today..? The takeout joint nearby was having a special, right..? But, at the same time, she could get some coffee...
Though, quickly, her thoughts were interrupted by a loud THUD. As if something- or someone was slammed against a board or locker.
As she approached the scene, she saw two boys and a girl, surrounding- no, harassing a girl in a black dress. The goon males pinned her to the wall, and the girl was threatening her- not even trying to lower her voice.
"This is her!" said one of the lackeys. "The same girl that made Leon mess with us, and the same one who's been hanging out with him!"
"Yeah, yeah!" the other yelled. "Teach her a lesson to never mess with us, and stay away from Mia's crush!"
The girl, Mia, seemed glad to reply, leering down at the other fearful girl.
"Listen up, you slut." Mia hissed. "Go near Leon ever again, and you'll be hearing from us!"
"I don't think so." Lexi intervened, stepping between Mia and the other girl. "Let go of her instantly, or I'll report you to the Principal."
"Piss off, lady." Mia said, in a threatening tone. "Unless you want to get your ass kicked by Mia Samuel!"
"Your words don't scare me!" Lexi boldly declared. "Get away from her, or get ready to face the consequences!"
Though, before any sort of fight could take place, a teacher walked up. The two lackeys let go of Twyla as soon as they saw her sternly approach.
"What is going on here?" she asked.
"Nothing, Miss." Mia spat, anger clear in her tone. "We were just solving a bit of confusion, and I think we're done here. Let's head to class."
The glares directed to Twyla and Alexandra as they left clearly stated- "this isn't over." Though, the teacher chose to ignore it, and kept moving.
Lexi went to approach the girl in black- who was collecting her things on the floor.
"You okay?" she asked. The girl nodded, gently.
"Yeah… Thanks for helping. My name is Twyla." the girl introduced herself, adjusting the hood over her head.
As Lexi saw her face, she recognized her as one of the people Aloora asked her to meet and bond with.
"You can call me Lexi." she smiled. "Mind joining me for coffee? Seems you have a free lecture."
To Twyla's own surprise, she nodded. She briefly wondered what exactly made her say yes- normally, she wouldn't think to speak with a stranger…
But, she had a feeling to go with her...
...
Within his own chambers on Zuthora's warship, Eliastro sat, scheming and plotting. He had overheard Arustar and Zuthora talking about the weaknesses and strengths of the rangers…
If he could use that to his advantage, perhaps he could reign victorious.
He laughed, sickly green eyes staring at the indigo-colored stones in his hands.
"This time… My plans will not fail."
...
It was rather a schedule at this point- the six rangers would meet up at their usual spot for lunchtime. There would be banter and conversation, of varied topics. And, considering how diverse their group was, the topics often took interesting turns.
Though, this time, Twyla couldn't be bothered to listen. All of her thoughts went straight back to the incident in the morning, and her interactions with Lexi.
...
Though Lexi invited her in rather kindly, she sure did not cut corners. Immediately, Lexi seemed determined to raise the topic of "Twyla not defending herself while she should".
"So, Twyla, tell me… Why didn't you talk back- or even try to resist?" she asked.
She was definitely not expecting such a straightforward question to be put up to her like this. She wanted to avoid it and run, but it felt like something was keeping her in place, not even letting her stand.
"Because I'm far too weak to fight back from anyone doing anything to me… Or the people I care about."
The words found their way out without her even thinking about it.
Lexi almost winced- she had expected that the girl sitting with her was somewhat unconfident in herself, but that was more than she expected. She wanted to talk with her more, convince her that she was much stronger than she thought.
"That's not true! That's only what you think, and not the reality of it- and you have to accept it! I know it's easier said than done, but it won't change until you stop pitying yourself."
"I'm not pitying myself." Twyla replied, almost aggressively. "It's the truth, and I'm accepting it. Don't push your ideas onto mine."
"Listen to me, Twyla. Strength is in belief and trust, you have to understand this. It's not all about physical strength. You have to defend yourself and the people you care about with the strengths you do have!"
...
"Twyla's been quiet…" Roxy muttered.
"She's always quiet." Blaise scoffed in reply.
"What's up, Twyla?" Leon asked, looking at her with concern. "You've been like this for awhile."
"Oh!.. It's nothing… Just thinking."
"You can talk to us about it, y'know?" James offered.
"If you're comfortable." Tabitha added.
"Yeah, sure…" Twyla mumbled in reply.
Before they could start up another conversation, Eldon approached their table
"Yo, guys!" he greeted. "Roxy, mind having a talk with me?"
Though she nodded and left, she seemed to have some sort of frown on her face.
"Wonder what they're talking about for her to make that face..?" James mumbled, on Roxy's unfavorable reaction.
"I bet it's Eldon." Tabitha uttered, with a glare on her face.
"Tabi… I know Eldon, he's a good guy, but just a little overprotective…" Leon tried to reason with her. "I bet your older brother is overprotective of you, too."
For a moment, Tabitha's demeanor faltered, unnaturally so, almost with fear in her eyes. She'd like to believe that no one saw that- but she knew better. Before James could speak up, Roxy stormed back to the table.
And she was angry.
"Want me to fight him for you?" Blaise asked- somewhat jokingly.
"At this point, go ahead." Roxy huffed. "Eldon's being too clingy!"
"He's just worried for you." said Twyla.
"Way too much-" Roxy began, but was promptly interrupted, by the ringing of an alarm. They quickly recognized it as coming from their morphers. With mixed reactions, they headed off to their destination.
Unbeknownst to the rangers, Eldon followed after them…
…
"Rangers!" Eliastro greeted, with an evil smirk. An army of gobots accompanied him. "It's quite the pleasure to meet you all once again…. Especially you, blue girl."
"Can't return the enthusiasm." Tabitha scoffed.
"If you won't leave, it seems we'll just have to destroy you ourselves!" Leon threatened., turning towards his team. "On me!"
"Defender Beasts, rise to defend!"
They were still a bit off-sync, but they had definitely improved from their first time. Their armors formed, as their minds were filled with the image of their spirit bonding with them.
Creeping up from behind shrubbery, Eldon recoiled in shock- watching the group of misfits turning into superheros- the same ones that were the talk of the town.
"James, Roxy, Blaise- you're all good at handling crowds. Take on the gobots. Tabi, Twyla- we'll handle this devil." Leon ordered to his teammates.
They nodded, spawning their weapons and initiating the plan- a streak of green, orange, and yellow cutting through the robotic army, and the warriors of red, black, and blue combating the villainous extraterrestrial general.
Roxy took her staff, and with grace, rushed into a group of gobots. She dodged under their sloppy strikes, and countered with her staff- using its long range to efficiently knock down groups at a time. She leapt and kicked another, then lead into a spinning strike with her staff. Just as quickly, she turned to the rest of the gobots, her staff crackling with electricity. With a final, resolute slash, a wave of lightning rushed towards them, destroying all that were left on Roxy's end.
Par for the course, Blaise was focused on releasing his anger to empower himself over the gobots. Though his movements and slashes with his nagamaki were rough, sloppily cutting through gobots, his actions with his hands were precise, clean, and heavy. A powerful punch knocked a gobot back- throwing its body into another, followed by a spinning kick that took out three. With his nagamaki glowing with orange light, he lept up and stabbed it into the ground, causing cracks to form, and the same orange light to shoot upwards from it. As he climbed back up, out of breath, his side of the battlefield was littered with fallen enemies.
James was using his whips and wit to destroy the gobots. As he struck down one, two, kicking down another, he moved faster. He wrapped his whips around a group, and slammed it into another group, knocking them all down. Without losing momentum, he reverted the whips back into nunchaku, spinning them in his hands. Each rotation resulted in a powerful gust of wind, cutting through and destroying the remaining gobots.
Meanwhile, Leon, Tabitha, and Twyla were dealing with Eliastro. Leon tried to use his katana to slash down on Eliastro, but he dodged it with ease. When Twyla tried to stab at him, she got the same result.
Tabitha stabbed forwards with her trident, but it was promptly blocked by his own blade. As he tried to deflect her off, the Red and Black rangers stabbed at him with their respective weapons, knocking him off her, skidding back.
Despite the blow, there was a grin on his face.
Tabitha rushed forwards to strike, but he swiped his empty hand, sending her back. As Leon and Twyla tried to hit him, they were quickly knocked down with a wave of dark electricity.
"It seems as though you've gotten weaker than last time!" Eliastro laughed, stabbing his sword into the ground. "From the Black Ranger, I'd expect it- but not from you two."
Twyla seemed to be in shock from the words.
"Don't you dare say that to her!" Tabitha yelled glaring at him. "She's as powerful as the rest of us!"
Slowly, the three rangers rose to their feet.
"Strength isn't just about how much muscles you have, or the amount of powers under your belt… For us, it's our willpower, and our trust in our teammates!" Leon declared.
"You've gotten better at this." Tabitha smiled towards Leon beneath her helmet. He seemed bashful.
"You talk such a big game…" Eliastro hissed, raising his blade. "Can your childish ideologies save you from this?!"
As they ran to attack Eliastro, their strikes were easily countered and deflected away. With a slash of his blade, a powerful wave of black lightning sent them flying, knocking them down, de-morphed.
Unconscious.
"This is all I needed! All according to plan." Eliastro grinned- but was quickly hit by a gust of wind.
"Not on my watch, scumbag!" James cried, whips in hand. "You'll pay for what you did to my brother and Tabi!"
Roxy feinted a strike towards Eliastro with her bo-staff, which he dodged, with ease. Immediately afterwards, Blaise slammed into him- knocking him off balance, and was kicked once more in the face. As soon as Blaise lept back, James rushed in with his whips, striking again and again and again, until at last, Eliastro was on the ground.
Though, the general was wearing a large, evil grin on his face, chuckling eerily.
"Seems I hit you too hard. The fall must've made you delusional." Blaise scoffed, stabbing his nagamaki into the ground. "Giggling like an idiot even when you're getting curbstomped…"
...Quickly, they realized this was a part of his plot.
Suddenly, three cages came down from the sky, each towards a pair of rangers.
One trapped the unconscious Tabitha and Leon- effortlessly trapping the defenseless duo.
James and Blaise were quick to react- with Blaise lifting his weapon, and James tackling them both out in perfect synch. The second cage landed on an empty target.
The third went towards Twyla and Roxy- the former still frozen in shock. Roxy quickly pushed Twyla away, but was too slow to climb out herself. The cage landed over Roxy, to her dismay.
As Eliastro lept up, a large monster hulked up to the scene. It was barely humanoid, with a body made up of chains. However, the armor it wore resembled some sort of cage. Though no mouth could be seen, the monster was able to speak.
"If you pesky brats think you can defeat The Great Eliastro, then you must be fools." the giant uttered, in a deep voice. "This isn't even a sample of my lord's brilliant strategies!"
"We'll defeat you no matter what tricks you throw at us! Blaise, Twyla, handle that cage monster. I'll deal with Eliastro." James ordered- stepping in as a leader.
"Dude, by yourself?" Blaise asked, confused.
"I can take him. Come on, go!"
"Right, right… Twyla! Come on!"
Eldon felt helpless, hiding behind the bushes. He could do nothing as his sister and her friends were getting brutally beaten by the monsters. A feeling stirred within his heart, telling him to help them, defy the dread- but he felt as if he had no power to even look them in the eye.
On the battlefield, the three rangers were struggling to lay a solid attack on the two adversaries. With Twyla still in disarray from Eliastro's taunt, Blaise still exhausted from the fight prior, and James stressed from taking the burden of leader, it was a greater struggle than they planned. It wasn't long until the three were back on the ground.
"With half of your team gone, only consisting of a bloodlusting snake, an over-excitable jock, and a pathetically weak coward, you stand no chance against us!" laughed Eliastro.
"Perhaps if the Blue Ranger had taken the Black Ranger's place, then the result may have ended in your favor." the cage monster taunted, prepared to finish the three.
"Maybe instead of black ranger if there had been the blue ranger, then your condition may have been better" taunted the cage beast, ready to finish the three off.
However, before it could land its finishing blow, a blur of crimson light struck at the monster. The rangers were stunned to see…
"Eldon?!" Roxy yelled, from behind her cage.
"Stay away from my friends, freaks!" Eldon warned, surrounded by a crimson aura.
Within Twyla's mind, a repeat of very time she was called a coward, weak, pathetic played back in her head like an infinite repeat. Though, it was quickly interrupted by a female voice.
"Twyla! Don't listen to what they say. You are strong enough to fight for yourself, and those you care for." the voice said, cutting through the flashback. "Fight for what you believe in!"
Eliastro glared at Eldon- despite his fierce introduction, he was terrified. With the raise of his hand, the cage monster shot a hand forwards, trapping Eldon as he stood.
"You dare interrupt Lord Zuthora's conquest?!" Eliastro roared, raising his sword. "If you're so eager to die, then you can go first!"
"Eldon!" Roxy cried out, trapped behind an unbreakable cage.
"No, no, no..!" James hissed, too sore to move.
"Damnit, come on!" Blaise swore at himself, struggling to get up.
Before the blade could reach him, it was stopped- Twyla stood in between the two, shield raised high. Behind her helmet, she wore an expression of determination.
"What..? You weakling again!" cried an angry and frustrated Eliastro. "You have the gall to stand against me?!"
"I.. am not a weakling!" Twyla declared, deflecting away Eliastro's sword, sending him stumbling backwards. "Strength isn't just physical- strength lies in belief and trust! I may have a hard time trusting others, and I might've struggled to believe in myself, but not anymore. My teammates, my friends helped me, even if they didn't know who I was. That's where this trust comes from!"
She began emitting a dark grey aura, as the blade extended from her shield.
"I won't stand by and let the people I care for get hurt anymore! You'll pay for hurting my friends!" Twyla cried, and rushed forwards.
With a growl, Eliastro lifted his sword quickly- barely guarding against the powerful slashes from Twyla- getting struck by quite a few. Quickly, the cage-like beast released its hold on a now unconscious Eldon, rushing forwards to assist Eliastro, standing in-between the two. With a struggle, Blaise and James got up as well, ready to assist.
Quickly, Eliastro realized this wouldn't end well for him. The plan came first. Raising the device on his wrist, he began to teleport him and the cages away.
"Take care of them for me." he huffed, and vanished away in light.
"Damn tail!" Blaise cursed. "Run and leave your lackey to die, insignificant coward!"
Twyla's aura grew larger and brighter the more she fought- matching the giant creature's attacks blow for blow. While she took the brunt of the offense, Blaise and James took to the sides, striking at the creature while it was distracted. While unified, they maintained the upper hand.
"It's time to end you! Hippocampus Final Blast!"
With a circular motion, an orb of dark energy formed, and with the thrust of her shield-blade, the orb was sent towards the monster. Before the orb landed, it turned into the shape of a Hippocampus, and rushed into the beast- destroying it completely.
"Holy crap, that was sweet!" James cheered. "Nice going!"
An honest grin formed beneath Blaise's helmet. "Good job, Twyla."
"Y-yeah…" Twyla mumbled, shakily.
"You alright?.." James asked, skeptically. "You're shaking a little hard."
"Of course, I'm fine-"
Twyla didn't get to finish, as she promptly collapsed.
...
"Hey. Hey! Wake up!... Come on, you weren't even hit, you can take it! Get the hell up!"
Slowly, Eldon's eyes opened to an unfamiliar location- some sort of empty castle. C3. Though, it looked as though this was going to be some sort of lounge- as he was lied down on some sort of couch.
"Finally…" the voice's owner scoffed, slouching back into a chair.
He could recognize it- Blaise watching over him- Twyla and James also seated nearby- with the former exhausted, and the latter unusually tense.
"What the hell is going on..?" Eldon groaned, trying to sit up straight. He was disoriented and confused, sure, but he did remember what had happened. "Where's my sister..?"
"Roxy, along with Leon and Tabitha were kidnapped by a monster." James replied, an unusual edge to his voice. "But, we'll get them back."
He got up and left- a bit too quickly, too suddenly…
Blaise could've sworn he saw tears in his eyes.
On the inside, something told him to follow- and he complied, lifting out of his seat and walking after him- surprisingly, without a remark.
For a moment, it was silent, with a heavy tension of uncertainty. Neither Twyla nor Eldon opted to start a conversation, instead deep in thought on what their next move should be.
Or, whatever it could be.
On the other hand, Eliastro couldn't be more gleeful- all of the pieces to his plan was falling into place. Though the other three had escaped- but that was fine. They could be taken care of later.
He had locked the rangers he managed to trap in an odd palace- all three unconscious, tied down, and placed on a bed.
"In two days is the Lunar Eclipse…" Eliastro muttered to himself. "The preparations are almost complete for then, but…"
A wide grin stretched across his face, as he laughed to himself.
"I'll have to get my hands on the Royal Three…"
Author's note: So here is the next chapter. Sorry guys it took so long to update but I was really busy. So, the three rangers had been kidnapped and Eldon knows the ranger's secret identities. I wanted this chapter to be Twyla focused but then I thought it to make it a three parted chapter to give story an interesting development. So what do you think Eliastro's plan is? And who- or what is royal three? Review your thoughts. Until next time bye!
Next Chapter - Strength is in Protection, Belief and Trust! - It's First Time!