Power Rangers: Steam Force
Ch17: Rage
While white clouds floated above, passing over the sun briefly as they did so, TJ, lucas and Kivo walked through the narrow streets of the market district. They appeared to be holding bags full of daily commodities as they walked on. Though Kivo held another paper bag which appeared to be full of candy and chocolate.
"Hey Kivo, you sure you should've bought that much? You might end up having a sugar rush if you eat all that at once." Lucas asked, eying the overflowing bag. "We could help if you want." He suggested with a grin.
"I've not had a sugar rush before though, I want to experience it myself before I offer anyone any. Besides, didn't you say that I should keep stuff like that to myself when we were in the store?" He responded, repeating the green ranger's words, to which he gave a grumble.
"Foiled by my own words." Lucas mumbled as they turned into one of the wider streets.
From where he walked beside them, TJ gave a small laugh. "Never say something that can backfire on you Lucas. I don't think he'll have any for long though, if he takes his eyes off it for a second, I think one of the girls might snatch it, then there'd be nothing left."
"Girls are pretty scary when it comes to eating sweet things, some of them are just plain scary when it comes to eating anything." Lucas agreed.
"Alright then, I'll make it my mission to not let my eyes off of this bag and make sure no one eats from it but me!" Kivo decided spontaneously.
As he made that statement, they emerged from the street into a market plaza, which was lined with multiple stores stacked with goods such as fresh produce and clothing. As they looked ahead, they saw that some of the stalls had been toppled and the people within the area appeared to be fighting with each other, some having beaten others into the ground and were still relentless with their attacks.
Walking further in, the three male rangers looked around to see the carnage unfolding around them. "What the hell's going on?" TJ asked as the civilians continued to fight.
"Domestic dispute maybe, I guess we should just leave this to the cops." Lucas suggested, carefree of the fight going on around them.
"I don't think that's gonna work, looks like they're in the brawl too." Kivo pointed out as the other two rangers looked to see multiple security officers actively participating in the brawl.
"I don't like this, something's up." TJ replied cautiously as his eyes darted, looking for a possible cause to the anarchy.
As he searched, a high pitched cackle erupted from an alleyway. The three rangers quickly turned their attention toward the noise, raising their guards as they did so. Slithering out of the alley appeared to be some form of humanoid reptile, the rangers quickly determined that it was a Terrasoid Champion and that it was the cause of the ongoing fighting. It's lower body was serpent-like while it's upper body was similar to that of a woman's, however, it's entire body was covered in scales, some appearing thicker than others. Sharp claws extended from its fingertips and sharp glistening fangs were in place of teeth. The serpent-like creature eyed them like prey as she slithered nearer.
Each of the rangers tensed up as they prepared to face up against the villain. "Hey snake lady! I bet you're the one causing all those people to go berserk, aren't you?" TJ called out as the Terrasoid let out another cackle.
"My name is Lamoria and you could say that I have a pretty venomous touch that sends everyone into a frenzy, but that's not the only thing I can use." Lamoria introduced as her predatory grin returned.
In an instant, the Terrasoid reached to her side and placed her claws around one of her thicker scales before tearing it painlessly from her body, much to the ranger's surprise. Having completely removed the scale, it now resting in her hand, the monster gave a laugh.
"Fortunately my scales grow back, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this regularly." Lamoria laughed as she put the removed scale near her fangs before spitting venom onto it, covering it in venom. As she did so, the place where her scale had once sat appeared to quickly grow, a freshly formed hard scale taking the place of the last one.
"I'm so fortunate that Queen Nyllia made me this way, being able to use my own scales like this, I can inject my venom from far away too. It's so exciting, watching you humans tear each other apart!" Lamoria cackled as she held the scale as if she were to use it as a projectile.
"Look out!" TJ warned as the Terrasoid Champion threw the envenomed scale toward the three.
While the blue and green rangers dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding the projectile weapon, Kivo hadn't fully processed the events unfolding before him yet. The poisoned scale striking into the hand that held his bag, Kivo recoiled and seethed from the pain caused by it piercing his skin. While he did so, the poison appeared to crawl up through his arm further into his body.
The Cog ranger's features tensed and he quickly dropped the bag he was holding and readied his morpher. "Now I'm mad, ready guys?" He asked his teammates as they brandished their own morphers and gave a nod.
"Full Steam Ahead!" "Gear Shift!" The three called out morphing under a short lived cloud of steam and an overlay of gears before racing out brandishing their ranged weapons.
Emerging in a blaze of weapon fire, the three believed they had caught Lamoria off guard. While TJ and Lucas fired off shots from their Steam Blasters, they quickly came to the realisation that with the serpentine body of the latest Champion, it danced easily around the fire from their weapons.
"Damn, we need a new plan." Lucas called over to the blue ranger who reached for his morpher.
"You're right. Think you could lay down some cover for us Kivo?" Though he received no answer. "Kivo?" TJ asked once again but to no avail.
The green ranger nodded his head over to where Lamoria had been stood dodging their attacks, Kivo now fought with his Cog rifle converted to blade mode, swinging viciously at the serpent-like Terrasoid.
"Looks like he beat us to it, better get in there too." Lucas commented as he too reached to his morpher.
1-0-1 … Shipping … Pipeblade … Arriving
The two steam rangers quickly drew their weapons, charging the Terrasoid Champion to back up their comrade who seemed to fight more sluggishly now but with heavier swings. As the three fought off Lamoria, several blaster shots came from behind, hitting and scorching the foe's scales who let out a pained cry.
"Meddling rangers! I'll be back to finish you off!" The Champion exclaimed before whipping the three rangers in the face with its tail, stunning them for a moment before slithering away from the battle.
After regaining his bearings, TJ turned around and gave a sigh of relief upon seeing their female companions, morphed and wielding their Steam Blasters. "Man, are we lucky you guys showed up, didn't know how much longer we'd have to hold out."
"I suppose that means you guys are in our debt then, think you could take over cleaning duty from us for the week?" Alex jested as they powered down, all but Kivo that is.
Noticing that he hadn't yet, the yellow ranger strolled over and spoke up. "Hey Kivo, the Terrasoid's gone right? You don't need to stay morphed." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Upon her making contact, the Cog ranger dropped his rifle and turned his head slightly before grasping Ayana's hand tightly and wrapping his other hand around her arm, proceeding to viciously throw her over his shoulder without provocation and let out a snarl. For a moment it appeared as if he was going to continue his spontaneous assault but shook his head and let out an enraged and primal sounding roar as he quickly fled the area.
Being helped up by Lucas, she gave a pained groan, rolling her shoulder that had been injured when Kivo attacked her. "What the hell was that, first he throws me over his shoulder then he runs off!" She blared, angry that he had done that so abruptly.
"It's like what happened with everyone in that market area." TJ noted as he looked over to what had been the sight of the domestic fight between both civilians and security officers. Reinforcements had arrived in bulk and had now detained those fighting, including some of their own. "Come to think of it, that poisoned scale the Terrasoid threw stabbed Kivo in the hand, that's when he started to act a little funny and said he was angry, maybe it's that venom of hers that sent him and the others into a frenzy." The blue ranger deduced.
"So it's not Kivo's fault right?" Mia asked, still unsure of what to make of the situation.
After a long moment of silence between the five, uncertain of how to answer that question given his previous actions and the fact they couldn't be certain it was caused by Lamoria, Alex spoke up. "You're right, it can't be Kivo's fault he attacked Ayana like that. Right now though he's a threat to everyone, including us. We need to find a way to fix this before he does any more damage." She decided before noticing the discarded scale that had poisoned their companion on the ground by Kivo's bag of candy on the floor. Kneeling down beside the improvised weapon, she examined it for a moment. "I think we've found what we need. Lucas, can you empty that bag and hand it me? We need to get this thing back to the Station."
Lucas gave a groan and emptied the contents onto the floor before handing her the bag. "Kivo's gonna kill me for this." He moped at the loss of the sweets and what future repercussions it might have for the green ranger.
"He'll probably try and kill you plus the rest of us if we don't try something, this way at least the rest of us won't be on his hit list when it's all over." Ayana commented, not helping the feeling in Lucas' stomach.
"So I'm dead either way, oh great…" Lucas grimaced, hoping that Kivo wouldn't overreact when he found out they had to sacrifice his sugary goods to save him.
[Steam Force]
Racing back to the Operations Station, the rangers quickly found General Lohan and his staff working hastily throughout the control room, coordinating security teams to quell the numerous brawls erupting throughout the city. Though there seemed to be no end as more and more fights began each minute.
The General gave a relieved sigh upon seeing the team. "I'm glad to see you're okay rangers, the city's on the verge of going into an all out riot. I've got my teams working to detain the fighters but they're spread thin. It wasn't provoked by anything though, people throughout the districts just started beating each other savagely, we need to stop this before it gets out of hand." He explained to them as Alex held the bag containing the scale from the Terrasoid Champion.
"We think we know why, there's another snake-like Terrasoid on the loose, TJ said that it coated it's scale in venom and threw it at him, Lucas and Kivo. It got stuck in Kivo's hand and after we chased it off, he ended up attacking Ayana, just like all those civilians are acting right now. We've got the scale right here, we were hoping you'd be able to do something with it." She explained the situation to him.
Lohan gestured to one of his staff to walk over, ordering him to take the bag from the red ranger and take it away for research. "Good to know it is a Terrasoid doing this. We can work on a way to counteract the effects of the venom thanks to you bringing us a sample of it. For now, I need you all out there, find that Terrasoid and stop it before it can do any further damage."
"What about if we run into Kivo though? Chances are he'll attack us like he did before he ran off." Lucas asked, hoping the General could come up with an effective solution to the temporary problem until they could fix it.
"He's still your teammate, so it'll be hard to fight him. Hold him off for as long as you can, if we're lucky it won't be long until we can fix what that Terrasoid did. Your priority is stopping that Terrasoid though, if the city goes into a full scale riot, the consequences will be on our heads. Good luck rangers, we're counting on you to save the city from itself today. Now get out there and show that Terrasoid who they're dealing with.
[Steam Force]
Advancing with haste through the city, the rangers soon happened upon Lamoria, who unfortunately for the rangers, was engaged in battle with the feral Cog ranger. The Terrasoid Champion had also called in reinforcements as a large group of drones fought by its side and appeared to be slowly wearing down the relentlessly fighting ranger.
"Damn, I was hoping we wouldn't have to fight them both at once." Alex muttered under her breath.
"How are we gonna hold them both off at once, he's stronger that the rest of us so we're in trouble if we can't do this right." The black ranger pointed out as they tried to devise a plan of attack.
"Just leave Kivo to us." TJ volunteered as he slung his arm around the green ranger's shoulders, volunteering him too.
"Wait, I didn't agree to this!" Lucas protested, to no avail.
"We were responsible for him today remember? It might've only been watching him while we were out shopping to start with but we should've done a better job protecting him from being poisoned. It's on us to make up for only watching out for ourselves in that fight." TJ reminded him of their earlier mistake, finally getting the ranger to agree.
"Fine, let's go and knock some sense into him then." Lucas nodded as the rangers stood in a line.
"Alright, you guys keep Kivo away while we deal with Lamoria. Hopefully we won't have to hold out for too long though. Everyone ready?" Alex asked as they revealed their morphers and held their arms out in front of them.
"Full Steam Ahead!" The five rangers called out in unison as a thick cloud of white steam enshrouded them for a few moments before dispersing as the team charged the enemy.
1-0-1 … Shipping … Pipeblade … Arriving
Each of the rangers called forth their melee weapons as they made contact with their foes before dividing amongst the fighting. While Ayana, Mia and Alex focused on cutting through the drone squadron, Lucas and TJ pushed their way through to Kivo.
Swinging and hitting the Cog ranger in the head with his Pipeblade, the green ranger quickly got the attention of his enraged teammate "Hey Kivo, over here!" He called out as he and TJ led the swinging ranger away from the bulk of the battle.
With each swing, the two rangers managed to block the heavy attacks of the Cog ranger, but each one wore their resistance to his attacks and the rangers knew they couldn't hold out much longer. While they fought a losing battle against the enraged ferocity of their teammate, the other rangers had cut down the majority of the drones.
Kicking a drone down and quickly dispatching it, the yellow ranger turned to her nearby teammates. "How much longer is Lohan gonna take? I don't think they can hold TJ off forever.
Alex glanced at the two and Kivo landed a punch to the blue ranger's gut, sending him staggering backwards as Kivo attempted to press his brutish attack, stopped in his tracks just before he could by the green ranger who gave a nod to TJ. Taking her gaze back to the fight in progress, she quickly slashed through the last drone standing as the three girls turned to face Lamoria who gave a cackle.
"So you've beaten all of my soldiers have you? It'll not be enough to stop me though! Come at me rangers, I'll poison you just like I did to the traitor!" She threatened as the rangers braced themselves.
As they charged, Alex stopped abruptly when the communicator in her helmet activated and the familiar voice of General Lohan spoke to her, stopping the red ranger in her tracks. "Alex, good news, we have a solution to the venom problem. We discovered that the venom from the Terrasoid is similar to Adder venom so we think that Antivenom used to treat Adder bites should work to counter the venom in Kivo and the other victims. Key in ninety four on your morpher and you'll be sent a syringe gun, but you need to get up close to Kivo to administer it. Hopefully this should solve the problem, good luck Alex." Lohan explained to her as Alex changed direction, leaving Lamoria to the yellow and black rangers.
0-9-4 … Shipping … Syringe Gun … Arriving
A small gun shaped syringe containing the Antivenom that would likely cure the Cog ranger materialised in her hand as she sprinted toward the fight between Kivo, TJ and Lucas. "TJ, Lucas! I need you to hold him still for a second! I've got something that should cure him!" She explained, calling over to the two struggling rangers.
"Should? If this doesn't work I'm blaming you Alex." Lucas decided, hesitating for a moment before he and TJ charged Kivo, holding him still with all their strength as the red ranger sprinted over to the three.
Jamming the device against the ranger wrestling for freedom she took a breath in. "Here goes nothing." She said, hoping that Lohan's theory was right before pulling the trigger.
Once the Antivenom had left its capsule and entered Kivo's body, the Cog ranger threw the green and blue rangers off of him, letting out a growl as he hit Alex in the ribs, knocking her back. From his reaction, the rangers thought that the Antivenom hadn't worked and braced themselves for the worst. Then, the ranger seemed to calm, his angry panting becoming quieter and softer until he calmed down completely.
"Huh, when did I get here? Why are you guys on the floor?" He asked as the three pulled themselves to their feet relieved to see that the plan had worked.
"Lamoria poisoned you with that scale she threw, we're guessing she did the same thing to all those civilians too. You attacked Ayana and you pretty much tried to kill me and Lucas just now. We're glad you're back to normal though." TJ explained to the Cog ranger as they turned their attention to Lamoria.
Though Mia and Ayana were holding their own against the Terrasoid Champion, without the aid of the rest of their team, they wouldn't last much longer. Kivo quickly summoned his Cog rifle, signalling the others to stay as he walked toward Lamoria, winding it up to supercharge it as he did.
Coming to a halt beside his two teammates, he aimed toward the underbelly of the Terrasoid. "Lamoria, it's time you take a dirt nap. You might've gotten away with poisoning me, but making me hurt my team, my friends because of that. It's unforgivable. High noon blast!" Kivo called out as he fired at the unarmored section of the Terrasoid's body with his supercharged rifle, the bell of the clocktower ringing as the blasts hit, destroying the Terrasoid in a fiery explosion.
As the fires died down however, the dark spores from the remains of the Terrasoid settled on the ground, erupting and reanimating Lamoria into a giant Terrasoid. Gathering around, the rangers looked up at the hungry looking creature.
"Do you want to handle this one too?" Ayana asked the Cog ranger who simply shook his head and rested his rifle on his shoulders.
"I think I've had enough of fighting for one day, this one's all yours." He added as the others formed up.
"Alright, time to call the rail riders!" Alex announced as the zords left their station, flying overhead as the rangers entered into their zords.
"Red express rider engaged!"
"Blue speed rider engaged!"
"Green tram rider engaged!"
"Yellow bus rider engaged!"
"Black passenger rider engaged!"
Though no one piloted the White mono rider, it still followed the other zords into their configuration line. "Coupling zords! Steam Titan Megazord engage!" Each of them announced as the zords combined into the Megazord, it's head emerging with its steampunk train conductor hat, it's eyes lighting up to signify the formation was completed. "Steam Titan Megazord ready!"
Through the Megazord's communicators came Kivo's voice as he watched from below. "Everyone, a snake's weak on it's underside, aim for Lamoria's stomach, that's how you'll get past those armoured scales." He helpfully informed the team as they nodded to each other before taking their individual controls.
"Thanks for the heads up Kivo." Alex responded as they prepared the Megazord to strike through the Terrasoid Champion and quickly end it. "Let's gut this snake!"
At her command, the Megazord charged forward increasing its speed until it lifted from the ground, rotating horizontally as it's speed increased even further before throwing its arms out in front of it. "Max Speed! Collision Strike!" The five announced as the Megazord connected it's fists with Lamoria's weak spot, tearing through the Terrasoid Champion who shrieked in pain as she exploded, the Steam Titan landing behind it as the rangers and Kivo cheered at the defeat of the latest villain that had almost been victorious against them.
"Hey guys, quick question." Kivo cut in on the communicator. "Do any of you know what happened to my bag, the one with all the candy and chocolate in?" He asked, Lucas' stomach dropping as soon as he heard the Cog ranger mention it.
Before anyone else could answer him truthfully however, TJ spoke up. "Sorry Kivo, but while you were all Hulked out, you stepped on it and ruined everything inside." The blue ranger lied, which caught the surprise of each of his teammates.
"I guess I'll just have to get some more then." Kivo replied with a passive tone as he powered down and appeared to walk in the immediate direction of the shop he had visited earlier in the day.
From within the cockpit of the Megazord, Lucas nudged his teammate in blue. "Hey, thanks for covering for me, I think he'd understand why we had to ditch his stash but I wasn't willing to risk it. I owe you,"
"You don't owe me a thing, you helped me back there with Kivo so it's only fair I return the favour. Besides, what're friends for?" TJ added, smiling sincerely under his helmet, not that anyone could see it.
With the threat of Lamoria over and the Terrasoids left to brood over their latest defeat, the rangers had been reminded today of how dangerous a fighter Kivo was, which made them all grateful that he was on their side now and that he's no longer the same person he was when they met him.
|Steam Force|
That's chapter 17 and yet again, I apologise for how long it's been since I've written a chapter of this. So this week is all about writing chapters for the series I've been neglecting, starting with this. After I've got a chapter out for each though, my prime focus is gonna be Mythos and getting that finally finished.
So this concludes the whole Kivo redemption arc, finally, with a bit of a contrast bringing back his violent and ruthless self and then offering a contrast just to cement his position in the rangers. Now this arc is over, the next one will be introducing a new character. Before that I've got a little bridge chapter which will involve Kivo meeting a certain pilot for the first time, I wonder how that'll go. Thanks for reading and until next time.
Next Chapter: Auxiliary Aid
Synopsis: When a Terrasoid Champion attacks the city with an armoured exoskeleton that proves to be too thick for any of the ranger's weapons to penetrate, will the arrival of Welkin Stross add to their combined power enough to breach the defences of their foe or will they need something far stronger to claim victory? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Steam Force.
