Power Rangers: Steam Force
Ch8: Broken Spirit
Things had wound down for the rangers in the few weeks since the battle with Ophyoc and fighting with the Mythos rangers. Since then, they've gotten some rest regarding monsters, but the Terrasoid threat still loomed, and soon, these rangers will face a powerful foe.
The rangers were lounging around as it had been a rather sunny day, along with the fumes from the factories in the work district, the whole city was rather hot and there wasn't much for them to do on that particular day. Lloyd sat up on the couch and wiped the sweat from his head, giving the room a look around, he noticed something.
"Hey, anyone know where Mia went?" He asked, realising that there was no sign of the black ranger anywhere.
Ayana gave a yawn and opened her eyes, giving them a rub as she did. She looked like she'd been sleeping for a while and her hair looked really messed up. "W-What's going on?" She said, still yawning and trying to wake up fully.
"Lloyd's asking where Mia went." Lucas informed the weary yellow ranger as he read a magazine, not taking his head up or taking his eyes off of the pages to answer.
Alex walked into the room through the door to the bathroom with a thoughtful expression. "Hey, anyone else seen Mia today? She wasn't here this morning and I haven't seen her anywhere today, anyone got a clue where she is?" She asked as she took a seat on the couch between Lloyd and Ayana.
Lloyd thought on it a bit. "I've got no clue, she's always been really private and shut off. Even though she's our teammate, she's the friend we least know about." Lloyd paused. "Maybe TJ has some insight into this?" He finished.
Ayana gave a mildly annoyed look as she pointed to the chair nearest the couch, TJ was curled up on the cushioned chair, arms wrapped round a pillow,head resting on it.
Lloyd approached and poked him to try wake him up. "Hey, TJ, get up. We need your help."
It had no effect the sleeping blue ranger, except to cause him to talk in his sleep. "No… Keep away… It's my marshmallow…" Lloyd stepped back, he was clearly weirded out by TJ's sleep talk.
Ayana gave a sigh and grabbed a glass of water and poured it over TJ's head, causing the blue ranger to snap awake and jump from the sudden disturbance of his sleep.
"Hey what was that for!?" He asked as he regained his bearings.
"Well you weren't waking up." Ayana gave a sadistic smile as she looked back on what she did. Getting to do that to an upperclassman, even if he was her friend, it still gave her quite the thrill.
"Anyways, we need your help with something." Alex said, jumping in before anything could happen.
[Steam Force]
Within the Terrasoid hive, Queen Nyllia sat upon her throne. At the foot of the raised area that her throne resided knelt two individuals. One was Stinger, while the other was Kivo. Yet again the boy had aged, he now appeared to be a 16 year old teenager and wore some light and simple leather armour pads overlaying torn clothing.
Stinger broke the silence in the room. "My Queen. I have almost readied Kivo for his duty, yet there is one key thing I must teach him if he is to become the champion of the hive. Yet in order to do so, I would have to sacrifice yet another opportunity to destroy the rangers."
Queen Nyllia arose from her seat and ran her fingers through her long black hair. "I see. Take him with you, if he is to one day surpass us, he needs experience choosing creatures to destroy the humans. Let him pick the monster. If he chooses poorly, show him why. That will be all." She ordered, nearing the bottom of the sloped area before the two of them.
"As you wish." Stinger responded as the two stood up and left to begin preparations.
The Terrasoid Queen watched them as they left. As the two reached the exit of the throne room, Kivo glanced back to see that the Queen had turned away and was now heading back to her throne. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he turned back and left the throne room.
Within the holding area of the Terrasoid hive, there were numerous unique monstrosities. Kivo and Stinger walked among them as they looked for a suitable candidate.
Then the young champion saw one. It appeared to be themed off of a scorpion, it had two heavily armoured legs, yet they were exposed at the back where they looked like sticks. It had two sets of arms, the lower pair seemed to be composed of a poison gland and stinger that would usually be on a scorpion's tail. Yet the upper arms were thicker and were armed with two lethal pincers. Set into its body was a small face with small feelers and a small mouth with sharp gleaming teeth, a yellowish fluid dripping from its mouth.
"This one." Kivo said in an angry tone. Stinger came closer and eyed it up, looking closely at its capabilities and armament, his antenna twitching as he did so.
"Wise decision, boy. This one is deceitful and I'm sure it'll devastate those rangers if it gets its hands on them." Stinger then turned to the scorpion themed Terrasoid. "You! What is your name?" He demanded.
The Terrasoid's feelers moved around as it spoke. "I am Venomtori, commander of poison, at you service." Is answered, kneeling as it did.
[Steam Force]
The rangers had split up to scour the city, yet again, for one of their teammates. Lucas headed out on his own to find her, knowing the back alleys best, whilst Lloyd was looking through the upper class district and TJ was checking the low class areas for any sign of her. Ayana and Alex had the least exhausting job of all, staying in the operations station and waiting to see if she showed up there if the other rangers found her, there was two to make sure she didn't run off or do anything violent with them, like others had done, beforehand.
"It's kinda ironic that they kept us here to keep her from doing something stupid, we're the one's that did that stuff. Maybe they think we might do something like that again." Alex suggested as the two sat on opposite ends of the couch in the middle of the operations station.
Ayana gave a grunt and turned away from the white ranger. Alex gave a blank look as she wondered what that was about. 'She's not done that before, then again we've not been alone in the same room with each other for a while now. Maybe it's something that happened recently? Well, no use trying to figure it out on my own, might as well ask her.' Alex thought to herself as the girls sat in silence.
"Ayana, something bothering you?" Alex asked, the yellow ranger gave an annoyed groan, which piqued Alex's interest even more. "Did I do something?" She asked in quick succession.
"Fine, I'll tell you. I could handle TJ being from the upper class, but then out of nowhere, you end up being from there too. Maybe Mia will turn out to be like you two next, who knows! By the end of this I bet I'd be outnumbered by the amount of you there are and be left alone again!" Ayana yelled.
Alex was stunned by the sudden outburst from the yellow ranger and had no clue what she was going to say next on the matter. Even if there weren't any other rangers from the upper class, Alex knew how the incidents in the past few months had made quite a divide between a few of the rangers, and it would be hard to repair the damage that was done.
[Steam Force]
Within the education district, which seemed far more modern compared to the rest of the city, Mia sat alone in a small apartment. She removed her shirt to reveal the dragon tattoo on her back, she then placed her hand on it.
'It's been seven years, but I'm not giving up. I'll find them' she thought to herself as she felt a strange presence in the room. Mia quickly put her shirt back on and looked around the room. "Is… Is someone there?" She asked her voice sounding afraid.
For a few seconds there was nothing but silence, then. "I can help you find them." A sinister voice spoke.
Mia was very afraid at this moment. She knew something was wrong, but the offer the sinister voice was making, it was too good to pass up. "H-How?" She stuttered.
"Simple." The voice answered before a figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing that the voice belonged to Venomori. Mia hadn't seen the Terrasoid threat yet and the monster lunged its two stingers on its arms into the black ranger, injecting her with a lethal poison.
Mia turned around in shock to see the Terrasoid standing before her with a sinister grin. Her vision became blurry as she collapsed to the floor and her body went limp.
"Goodbye ranger!" Venomori chuckled as he left to black ranger to the poison.
[Steam Force]
Lucas walked along the streets of the education district, where things were getting busy due to the time of day. As he searched through the civilians for any signs of Mia, his morpher beeped and he stopped after it caught his attention.
"What's going on?" He asked, pulling it up to his face.
TJ's voice came through the speaker. "Just talked with Lohan and we think we might have a lead on where Mia is. Unfortunately there's another issue. There's an attack on the other side of the city. We're heading to the site now. She has a small apartment near to where you are, shouldn't be too hard to find. Get her back and get down here." The blue ranger informed him.
"Understood." Lucas confirmed before keying off the communicator on his morpher.
After a few minutes of searching the nearby apartment building, Lucas noticed that one of the doors was open slightly, and the lock was broken off. He entered to see Mia on the floor, almost lifeless in appearance.
He rushed over and knelt down. Tapping her to see if she would wake, yet unfortunately that wasn't the case. He lifted her up and placed her arm over his shoulders and supported the rest of her body with his other arm. "I better get you back. Hopefully whatever it was that happened isn't serious." He said as he walked, almost carrying the unconscious ranger.
[Steam Force]
The remaining four rangers arrived on the scene of the reported attack to find the area ransacked and no sign of any monsters. The area looks like it had suffered from an attack recently but other than that, there was no trace of the Terrasoids. Then Alex saw someone out cold lying on the ground.
"Guys, over here!" She called rushing to the unconscious man on the ground, soon followed by the other rangers.
Lloyd looked the man over to find that he had been stung with an impossibly large stinger for anything natural. "This isn't good. Looks like there's some monster going around stinging people. He's still alive for now, but we need to get on top of this. I'll call it in. TJ, get a hold of Lucas and let him know the situation. This could get worse if we don't find this monster." He ordered.
TJ nodded as Ayana and Alex lifted the man up and Lloyd went to call Lohan about the situation. "Lucas, you there? We have a problem."
"It's bigger than you think." The green ranger replied.
[Steam Force]
Back at the operations station, the five rangers were sat down waiting for any word from Lohan after handing Mia and the other victim over to him. They'd been taken to an off site facility so they could recover properly.
Ever since earlier on, since her conversation with Ayana, Alex had been on edge and TJ had noticed there was something on her mind. He sat down next to the white ranger and turned to her.
"Something up? You look like something's troubling you." TJ asked her. Alex broke her chain of thought and looked at him.
'I shouldn't say anything. I know it affects us as a team, but it's not me who needs to tell the others. Ayana needs to do it herself. Whatever reasons she has, they're hers and I shouldn't do anything to force it out.' She thought to herself, deciding to go with a lie.
"Oh, I- Uh… I was just thinking about something. Its nothing, don't worry." She told him in response, stuttering a bit as she said so.
Before anything else was said, an alarm went off in the ranger base, calling them to action.
"Looks like whatever that thing is, is back. We better get there before it has a chance to disappear again." Lloyd told them as the rangers got up and raced out of the building to deal with the Terrasoid threat.
[Steam Force]
The morphed rangers arrived to find Venomori standing over an injured citizen. There was fear in the eyes of the civilian as Venomori loomed over them.
"All I need for your wish to come true is one little sting. Then you can find your lost loved ones, and be with them, for eternity." The last two words of the Terrasoid were dark as a sinister look spread across the creature's face.
"Stop right there!" TJ called, which got the attention of Venomori.
"Ah, rangers. I've been waiting for you. But you seem to be missing a member. It seems my venom worked better than first thought on you humans. So come at me, I'm sure you're no match!" Venomori called out.
"You're the reason one of our friends is missing is out of action. I knew it. You're gonna pay for everyone you've hurt today!" Lloyd burst out, startling the others with his aggression.
Armed with a pipeblade, Lloyd rushed in and began to bash recklessly at Venomori, who simply endured the attack before knocking Lloyd to the ground in front of the other rangers with his large pincer arms.
"I knew you were a bunch of worthless pathetic humans, just like your friend. And soon you'll join her."
[Steam Force]
Inside what looked like an old hospital wing, Mia awoke from her comatose state, looking around, her eyesight returned and she saw Lohan sat at her bedside.
"Good you're awake. There isn't much time, I need you out in the field ASAP. The situation isn't looking good. Can you fight?" He briefed.
She waited a few seconds before answering, still hesitant while she spoke. "I- think I can."
"Good. We managed to get an anti-venom to counteract the effects of the Terrasoid that's been attacking, but we can't afford anyone else to be stung, otherwise they might not make it. But I have a plan to stop this thing." Lohan explained to Mia.
[Steam Force]
Back on the battlefield, the outcome wasn't looking well, any time a ranger would try to attack with either a pipeblade to deal a physical attack or a steam blaster to deal and energy attack, Venomori would shrug it off, like he was bred to counter their weapons. One thing was clear, his armour was too thick for their current arsenal, with him not even compromised, their finisher might not even work. The only thing they could do is hold out and wait for aid.
Lloyd rolled out of the way as Ayana was thrown into the others and used his steam blaster to try and hit Venomori in the face. The large armoured claw guarded the face of the Terrasoid and Venomori chuckled.
"Now you see. There is no way you can get through armour as thick as this." Venomori boasted. "But don't worry, you'll be at peace soon enough" A dark smile once again came across his face as the others slowly got up.
"It's no use. We need to get out of here now." Alex told the others as she held her arm.
A voice came from behind the rangers. "You don't need to worry." They turned to see Mia walking towards them, in an instant she morphed and held her head high. The others were relieved to see her alive.
She quickly dialled twice into her morpher.
1-0-1 … Shipping … Pipeblade … Arriving
0-7-3 … Shipping ...Steam Blaster … Arriving
Mia stood with both of the weapons before slotting her pipeblade into the nozzle of the steam blaster, the others looked on to see that the two had fused into a singular weapon.
"Steam Flamer, ready!" She called, aiming it at Venomori as she took steps toward the Terrasoid.
"I told your friends that their weapons wouldn't work, don't make me laugh." Venomori grinned as his feelers moved around.
"This was designed with you in mind." Mia said as she got within range, pulling the trigger, the air in front of her was lit up by a stream of flames which ht Venomori and scorched his armour.
Venomori jumped back as his exoskeletal shielding melted and he was left defenceless. "This can't be happening. I was made to destroy not to be destroyed" He groaned.
Mia stopped firing and stepped in line and looked at the others. "You guys want to have a go?" She asked, sounding more confident.
They gave nods, excited about the new weapon. Each of the rangers summoned their Pipeblades and Steam Blasters before connecting them together and aiming them at Venomori.
"On your mark, Mia." Lloyd told the black ranger looking at her.
"Okay… Six!" Mia called, beginning the countdown.
"Five!" Alex followed on.
"Four!" Ayana confirmed.
"Three!" Lucas said.
"Two!" TJ exclaimed.
"One!" Lloyd finished.
"Furnace burst!" They all called together.
"Incinerate!" Mia called out as each pulled the trigger and unleashed a burst of flames from their weapons, engulfing Venomori.
When the flames subsided, all that was left was ash, until the dark spores arose from the remains of the Terrasoid and reanimated him as a giant.
"Red express rider engaged!"
"White mono rider engaged!"
"Blue speed rider engaged!"
"Green tram rider engaged!"
"Yellow bus rider engaged!"
"Black passenger rider engaged!"
"Coupling zords! Steam Titan Megazord engage!" They called as the several zords came together to form their megazord. Finally, the head popped up from the body, sporting the steampunk conductor's hat and the Megazord was complete. "Steam Titan Megazord ready!"
Although he was reanimated, Venomori still suffered from the burns inflicted before and his armour was diminished. "If I'm going out, I'll take you with me!" He yelled, charging in and clamping down on the Megazord's arms with his pincers, immobilizing the Titan. With his stinger arms, he lunged into the chassis of the Megazord, attempting to puncture the hull.
With a swift kick from the megazord, Venomori was knocked back and they were now free. Then the rangers readied to finish off the Terrasoid.
"This is for everyone you've tricked and hurt with your Venomous words!" Mia exclaimed as Venomori got up.
"Max Speed! Collision Strike!" They announced as the megazord increased its velocity, lifting off of the ground and leveling out horizontally before dealing two powerful propelled punches on Venomori which obliterated the Terrasoid.
[Steam Force]
The team were gathered around in their seating area after the battle. Lucas looked at Mia, still running his head over what the monster had been talking about.
"So, care to tell us what happened, why you were gone, why that monster got the better of you?" He asked, then Mia froze up.
Alex could see she was scared after Lucas came out with that. "It's okay, we're not gonna judge you." She reassured.
Mia was more relaxed now and took a deep breath. "He was promising help to me to find my parents, he caught me off guard and… and he got me." She explained to them.
Still needing elaboration, Lloyd jumped in. "What happened to your parents for it to come to that, did something happen today that made this come on?"
"It was seven years today. We were on our way to our summer house not too far from here. We were caught up in a horrible storm. Our car was sent off of the road and down the hillside. It rolled for a while and I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up…" Tears began to form in her eyes as she remembered the tragic memory. "My twin brother… Akira… He- Died, I wasn't even allowed to say goodbye, I never got to see him again…" Tears rolled down her face as she sobbed. Lucas put a reassuring arm round her. "My parents… They were gone when I woke up. To this day I've never found them. Ever since then, I've been on my own..." She said, still crying.
The other rangers couldn't believe such tragedy. It was a tough time for her, and they now knew why she was so shut off. All they could do is comfort her until the pain subsided and try to help her through the depression it was causing her.
Lloyd was thinking about something before looking at her with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, you're not alone any more. We might fight amongst ourselves sometimes, and we're by no means perfect, but we stick together through the good and bad times. And together, we're gonna find your family." He told her. A faint smile came across her face as tears rolled down her cheeks.
[Steam Force]
Within the Terrasoid hive, Stinger knelt before Queen Nyllia. "My Queen. It's Kivo, I believe he is ready." Stinger informed her.
Nyllia gave a maleficent smile at the Terrasoid commander. "Good. Then the next phase of my plan begins. Keep training him for now. I have other matters to see to… Personally."
|Steam Force|
That is chapter 8 finished. We've delved into the tragic past of Mia and the rangers have a new weapon to fight the stronger Terrasoids with. And Queen Nyllia has a devious plan for the next chapter to close off the character focus arc.
I've been busy with coursework as it's close to the next deadline for my current units so updates will be slow but I'll try to get out 2 chapters per week if possible. Primal Protectors will also be out next week, it'll probably be at the start of may though and one of the other stories will be next week too. The good news is, after this next month I'll be finished with all my coursework, hopefully, and be off college till the end of the summer so I'll have more time for writing. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go catch up on a lot of reading.
Next Chapter: Into the Hive
Synopsis: We look at Lloyd's past and find out more about the projects that led to the creation of the steam and clockwork morphers. Unfortunately, the red ranger's father and his lab team have been kidnapped by Queen Nyllia and taken to the Hive for an unknown reason. The rangers mount a vital rescue mission to make sure that the future of Vicdon isn't in jeopardy and in the process, learn of the leader of the Terrasoid leader and a new contender much like them that could in time destroy them completely. Next time on Power Rangers: Steam Force.
