Power Rangers: Steam Force
Ch21: Righting a Wrong
"Damn it!" Kivo yelled as he slammed his fist against one of the bare walls in the Operations Station. He took in a deep breath immediately after, hoping to calm himself down as he slowly released it. "First the others get captured and then he gets himself hurt… Today can't get any worse." He muttered as he started towards the control room, hoping there was any good news to come from the General.
As he entered, Kivo saw Lohan at the centre console while the operators worked away at their terminals, scouring the entire city for any sign of the rangers' energy signatures or the Terrasoid general and his weaponized plant monster. The old General shook his head as another reading of one of the city's sectors signalled a negative. He looked up to see the approaching Cog ranger and turned shouted over his shoulder to the operators. "Continue the search! We can't let these things keep our rangers trapped." He was met with quick salutes as he straightened up from the console he'd been leant over.
"I take it that means we've got nothing just yet." Kivo said as he looked to the floor, a feeling of guilt washed over him the more he dwelled on the fact that if he wasn't the Cog ranger, that incident might've been resolved then and there.
"Don't go blaming yourself for what happened, Kivo. Come on, let's have a chat in my office." He nodded toward the door near the back of the control room and led the way for the Cog ranger. Upon entering, the General took his seat and motioned for the ranger to take a seat.
Kivo shut the door behind him and followed General Lohan's instructions. As he sat the General rubbed his tired eyes, the last few rays of the setting sun bled through the blinds of the office window. "Been a long day, huh?" The Cog ranger said.
Lohan wiped his hand down his face and nodded. "First the Terrasoid attack while we were transporting the white Steam morpher, then Jordan showing up out of nowhere and using a weapon that we now know was hidden for a reason, and finally Stinger's surprise attack after taking out the Champion… it'd be fine that was the end of all this. Having lost the other rangers though, we're still in a crisis and we can't rest until we put things right."
Kivo nodded. "We'll find a way. Can you get a hold of Welkin, maybe if we teamed up again, we'd be able to do this in no time at all."
The older man shook his head. "Unfortunately I've heard nothing from Mr. Stross, despite my efforts to get in contact. Wherever he is, he doesn't seem to be picking up." Kivo sighed and his shoulders dropped before he slumped in his seat.
"Then it's just up to me… Hey, Lohan. Why'd you choose those guys to be rangers in the first place?" He finally said as he looked the General in the eyes.
Lohan saw the look and knew what he really meant. "Well… I didn't technically pick them. Steam Protocol was one of two defensive failsafes invented to protect the City from unconventional threats. The Clockwork ranger powers were the other. The Protocol consisted of finding candidates that responded well to a crisis and certain talents to back them up. I had a young soldier scour the city for said candidates using the City's civilian database. When I saw them, I gave them a bit of the bootcamp experience to see how they'd react to a strange military man giving them orders out of nowhere. They took it well though and despite their differences, they fought well together. Since then, their differences and willingness to meet each other at least half-way have strengthened their bonds both on and off the battlefield. I didn't make the call on who could become a ranger, but I did make the call on who was worthy to keep being one. Despite their conflicts, they've proven that working through those issues make them better. I'm sure you've seen that firsthand, haven't you?" He said and smirked at the young ranger sat opposite him.
"Yeah, I guess I have…"
"That wasn't really what was on your mind though, was it?" Lohan said, his smirk widened as Kivo caught onto the fact that the General had known the real intent of his question from the moment the ranger asked it.
"I can't seem to get anything past you. Yeah. I guess this whole situation with Jordan and losing the others… it made me question why I was even a choice for the Cog ranger. I know I still have to make amends for what I did to Lloyd and any other people I've hurt… but I don't know if I deserve that chance. Jordan seems hell bent on fighting me to the end and seeing him like that- I started to think maybe my only chance at redemption is to let him do what he needs to." Kivo sighed and stood, heading towards the door.
"Wait a moment Kivo. I know how guilty you feel about that. Everyone's seen how hard you're trying to fix things. The other rangers forgave your actions didn't they? I think you can find some way to reason with Jordan, get him to calm down enough to understand that you're trying to fix things, don't you think?"
Kivo turned back to the General as he finished speaking and nodded. "Yeah, I'll… give it a try. It's worked before, so maybe talking things out would be best. Thanks, Lohan."
He gave a short nod of approval. "Go on, kid. I'll let you know when we've found Stinger and that freaky science project of his."
[Steam Force]
Jordan slowly opened his eyes and flexed what he could of his sore body, looking to his sides as he saw the ice packs that had been placed around him on the bed inside the medical bay in an effort to cool him down. The white ranger placed the back of his hand against his forehead and wiped the cold sweat away.
He then looked over to the nearby chair and the person sitting in it, watching him. Jordan's eyes narrowed. "You…" He said as little more than a mutter.
"I know you want to kill me right now, but hear me out first." Kivo said, gesturing for the white ranger to hold off on any sudden and drastic movements.
Despite Kivo's insistence, Jordan tried to jump out of bed, only to be met with excruciating pain as he jerked about in the bed, immediately clamping his jaw shut as the pain coursed through him. "Fine…" He eventually relented, knowing it would still take some time until he'd recovered from his injuries.
"I don't expect you to like me. What I did wasn't right. When I realised all that, I just wanted to disappear so I couldn't hurt anyone else. Then Lohan gave me an offer, I could start to right my wrong and save lives by fighting the Terrasoids. I don't expect you to forgive me either. But we're all fighting to stop the Terrasoids now. Even if you hate me, we're still better working together. This team is dysfunctional, we've had problems like this before, some of the other rangers didn't like the idea of working with me either at first. But we worked through our problems and won because of it. I need your help Jordan, as much as you hate me, the others did nothing wrong and they need to be saved. If you still don't like the idea of having me around after then, I'll gladly resign as a ranger. Just give it one chance, for them."
Jordan sat back and sighed as he shook his head. "What the hell? I guess I can't keep going solo at this rate… the Shovelance's overheating is still too much for the ranger suits to handle. Ah, fine!" He said looking the Cog ranger directly in the eyes. "One time, I'll play nice this one time. Nobody else should be lost to the Terrasoids, especially not the people responsible for keeping everyone else safe."
Kivo nodded. "That should go for you too. I saw the side effects of using the Shovelance for too long. I'm why you're back here in the first place. We might not be friends but we rangers still look out for each other. Hopefully Lohan will have a location tomorrow, get your strength back while you can, I don't need you going down again." He finished speaking and rose from the seat. The Cog ranger walked over to the door and stopped before opening it. "Besides, you need to be there, for when your brother finally wakes up."
[Steam Force]
Soon enough, the next day, Kivo and Jordan headed out to search for Stinger and his weapon. As they scoured Vicdon for a trace of their mutual foes, the communicator on Kivo's morpher pinged. He brought it up quickly as the recovered white ranger stopped and waited in anticipation.
"We've got a lock on their energy signatures and we're receiving several reports of fleeing civilians. They're outside the train station, move quickly you two." He said to the rangers before the call ended.
Kivo and Jordan looked at each other and exchanged silent nods. They could fortunately be professional about this it seemed, that enough was progress in the Cog ranger's eyes. Without a second thought, the two broke into sprints and made their way to the outside of the train station, one of the more lavish areas of the City decorated with well maintained flowerbeds and shrubbery. It was clear where the city's money was going alongside the big shallow pool fountain in the centre of the space, but there were more important things to be concerned about at the moment as Kivo and Jordan arrived to see Stinger in hysterics as the vines from the maw of the Terrasoid weapon dragged in a pair of innocent bystander and absorbed them into its maw the same way that it had with the rangers.
"Hey Stinger! Ready for round two!?" Kivo said, calling out to the Terrasoid General in a taunt, hoping to take all of his attention considering the Cog ranger's past allegiance.
"You're back for your friends! Good then you'll perish with them you traitor!" Stinger snarled as he aimed his Needler at him.
"Remember, just like we planned." Kivo nodded to Jordan who tilted his head and shrugged. As the two readied their morphers, the Terrasoid general fired at the Cog ranger, leaving only moments for him to transform.
"Gear shift!"
"Full Steam Ahead!"
The two quickly morphed and Kivo blocked the needle shaped energy blasts with his Cog rifle, diving forward into a roll before he came to a halt on his knees where he lined up a shot under Stinger's guard. "Blind fire won't get you anywhere Stinger, what you need." He paused and sucked in a breath as she shot out three rapid but accurate blasts from his Cog rifle, all hitting Stinger square in the chest and causing his foe to stagger backwards. "Is accuracy!" He finished whilst Stinger shrugged off the effects of Kivo's attacks.
The wasp-based Terrasoid snarled and charged Kivo, who switched his weapon to it's melee form while he was being rushed. The Cog ranger soon blocked his enemy's oncoming attack, despite having been forced back by the initial clash, Kivo was holding his own against Nyllia's favoured Champion. As he resisted the force against him, the ranger nodded over Stinger's shoulder to the white ranger who now ran at the Terrasoid weapon with Pipeblade and Steam Blaster in hand. Stinger's attention was wholly on defeating Kivo, likely to present his broken body as a present for Nyllia, something that he wouldn't let happen. Even if he was playing distraction to occupy the heavy hitter of the deadly duo, he wouldn't go down against Stinger of all things.
Jordan charged the plant creature holding the rangers and likely even more innocents such as the ones they watched get swallowed up by the weapon's maw. As he charged, several vine tendrils burst out from the creature's throat and threatened to capture the white ranger too. Jordan shook his head and fired directly at the weapon's mouth, sending searing hot slugs of plasma through the air. They struck the bio-weapon dead centre in the mouth and caused it to unleash a wailing shriek while the tendrils recoiled and the maw of the creature burned.
"If you think that hurt, then you'll hate this." Jordan said as he continued forward and combined the two weapons in his hands into the compact Steam Flamer. As soon as he closed the distance enough, the white ranger unleashed a stream of brilliant flames that lit up the area and caused the weapon to wail and shriek like a banshee even more, though this time, it coughed and sputtered until it released the contents of its stomach, maybe a dozen or so individuals, chief among them, the remaining Steam rangers. The five of them were covered from head to toe in strange green gunk and as they rose from the ground to see the scene, Ayana flicked the gunk from her hands while Mia took a couple of short sniffs before her nose recoiled.
"Why did we have to get swallowed whole? Now I'm gonna need to bathe for a week just to get the stench out…" She grumbled. The rangers soon caught notice of Jordan and headed toward their unexpected ally.
"So, finally made your mind up to help us, huh?" Lucas said, more than a little irked with the new white ranger's actions from the previous day.
"Think of this as me repaying the favour for keeping my brother safe when he was with you guys. Now, you gonna morph so we can finish this or what?"
"I'll give the orders around here thank you." Alex once again took charge as she led the rangers in their counterattack. "Ready guys?"
"Full Steam Ahead!" Together the rangers morphed as a cloud of steam enshrouded them, soon dispersing, leaving them ready for battle as the Terrasoid weapon shook off the last of the flames from Jordan's devastating attack.
"Alright, let's get some payback for that thing dragging us into its stomach!" TJ said a little too cheerily as he beat his fist into his hand.
"Calm it down, thing's nearly done for anyway. You guys know how to work the Rail Cannon right?" Jordan butted in again.
"We're not amateurs, remember you're the new guy here." Alex butted heads with the take charge white ranger as they all keyed in the code for their heavy weapon.
0-3-4 … Shipping … Rail Cannon … Arriving
As it transported onto the battlefield, the six of them gathered around it, from where he battled Kivo, Stinger looked over and then growled at the Cog ranger. "Gah, this isn't over ranger! I'll watch from afar as the weapon grows and destroys this whole City!" He said, unfurling his insect wings and making a hasty retreat after his declaration.
"Yeah, we'll see about that." Kivo said as he joined the rangers as they finished propping up the Cannon. He immediately aimed his rifle at the weapon and began winding up the charger to aid in the plant creature's destruction.
"Loading compression shell!" Mia and Ayana confirmed as they slotted the heavy ordinance into the Cannon's barrel.
"Aiming Rail Cannon!" Alex and Jordan confirmed as they locked the weapon's targeting vector onto the Terrasoid abomination.
"Locked and loaded, let's show 'em who's boss TJ!" Lucas confirmed with his teammate on the other side of the Cannon.
"Firing Rail Cannon!" The blue ranger confirmed as he and his green comrade pulled back on the bolt trigger.
As they did so, Kivo's Cog rifle reached a supercharged state. "High noon blast!" He said as he pulled the trigger, putting everything he had into the attack.
The bronze energy bullet shot towards the weaponised plant as the burst of energy from the Rail Cannon travelled alongside it. Before either reached their target, the bullet curved and merged into the energy blast, creating an aurora of vivid colour and further empowering the attack as it hit the creature head on and lit it up in a brilliant explosion.
Before the rangers could celebrate however, as the flames died down and the charred plant remains came into view, the rangers watched as what was left began pulling itself together and regrowing into a giant variant of the plant creature.
"I think we're gonna need a whole lotta weed killer for that thing." Ayana said as they looked on as giant vines extended from the maw of the weapon and lashed out at anything in reach causing chaos and destruction to the nearby area.
Before they could go into action, Alex's morpher chimed and she immediately answered the call. "General? We've still got a situation here."
"I understand that. Our people just got readings of another giant that appeared. Guess this weapon can grow just like them. We're just getting readings on it now but it's worrying." He expressed his concerns to the red ranger.
"Worrying, what do you mean?"
"It's much stronger than what you've faced before, I'm afraid this calls for drastic measures. We're sending you all the programs for a new Megazord combination, bringing all your Zords together. It's unlike anything we've created before and we hope it'll be enough. Good luck rangers, Lohan out." He finished as Alex's other teammates looked at her.
"Does that mean what I think it means!?" Lucas asked, his grin could almost be seen through his helmet as he practically jumped at the idea.
"We'll follow your lead Alex, just tell us what to do." The black ranger nodded to her leader while Ayana shared in Lucas' excitement while she rubbed her hands thinking about the new addition to their arsenal.
"Alright rangers, everyone to their Zords!" She declared as the zords were summoned from their hiding place in the old rail yard and Vicdon's clock tower rose up and marched to the battlefield.
"Red express rider engaged!"
"White mono rider engaged!"
"Blue speed rider engaged!"
"Green tram rider engaged!"
"Yellow bus rider engaged!"
"Black passenger rider engaged!"
"Watchtower Megazord engaged!"
As each ranger confirmed their Zord's operational status, the Steam rangers' control boards lit up with a new notification while Kivo's morpher pinged. "Hmm, this could definitely work. Ready when you are guys!" He exclaimed as he gave the Cog wheel on his morpher a spin.
"Let's go rangers, engage Megazord sequence!" Alex confirmed as they each pulled back on their levers and their Zords including the Watchtower Megazord rose high into the air to begin their new configuration.
From the Watchtower Megazord, many of its heavily armoured components split off, leaving the shell of the Watchtower bare and skeletal. Next, the white and blue rail riders opened up and wrapped themselves around the arms of the Megazord. Then, the yellow and green rail riders fused with the legs of the Megazord, creating a wheel assisted underfoot as some of the armoured panels from the Watchtower connected to the legs, granting it additional resilience. The red express rider was next, connecting to the body of the Watchtower, serving as a heavy plate of armour where it mattered. The actual clocktower head of the Megazord then disconnected, leaving space for the black passenger rider to connect and reconfigure into the new head of the Megazord. As it did so, the sleek visor of the new Megazord shone red and the whole contruct's colours began to darken, becoming more shadowed while still keeping some of their old tone. Then, the clock face attached itself to the chest of the Megazord while the noses of the express and mono riders flipped open to allow hands with long wrist mounted swords to extend from out of them. It's head looked sleek and aerodynamic, swapping out the steampunk conductor's hat for an armour plated face and wings at the side of the head to improve its wind cutting design further. At the completion of the Megazord, thick dark clouds seemed to blot out the sun and cause the whole area to darken with them.
The rangers were quickly transported to a new cockpit for their combined Megazord. Gear and Cog iconography and greebles clung to the walls painted in a bright bronze to contrast against the black as they ticked away while pipes covered the ceiling and some of the floor while they rumbled from the pressure inside. The Steam rangers sat at their consoles in two groups, depressions in the floor while a central walkway was where Kivo stood as he slotted the Cog rifle into an obviously shaped space for his weapon in the floor, pushing it forward like a lever.
"Midnight Junction Megazord, armed and ready!" The Cog ranger christened the new Megazord as they took control and set the Megazord in motion to put an end to the Terrasoid weapon for good.
The Terrasoid soon noticed the new hulking addition to the ranger arsenal and hissed as it lunged its vines towards the Midnight Junction Megazord. "Not this time buddy!" TJ said as he took control of the arm and cut through the giant vines effortlessly.
The weapon recoiled but pressed its attack, releasing more vined from its mouth, yet the rangers quickly dodged the bio-terror's second attack, owing to the enhanced speed of the new Megazord. Kivo drew his Cog rifle from the control shaft and aimed it. "Alright everyone, let's finish this thing for good!" As he spoke and the rangers began prepping the weapons systems for a final attack, the weapon struck again launching more vines in the unending onslaught. Kivo was caught off-guard and froze as the weapon's appendages struck and aimed for the Megazord's chest, he braced for impact but was surprised as the white armoured arm of the Megazord quickly cut away the attacking vines.
"Oh no you don't! Take this!" Jordan called as the Midnight Junction Megazord counterattacked and stabbed the creature in the chest with its sword. Kivo looked over, slightly stunned to see the white ranger work to help the team in that situation.
Jordan saw him and gave him a short and quiet nod before returning to his control board. "He we go rangers, full power to all engines!" Kivo announced to his teammates as he took the role of impromptu conductor and levelled his rifle at the Terrasoid abomination out of the windows of the cockpit.
"Final Departure!" The seven of them called in unison as the Midnight Junction Megazord skated at even higher speeds than the Steam Titan could reach and cut in an X motion as it reached the retreating weapon dicing it in a single and swift execution of its arm mounted swords. They cut cleanly and soon surged with energy before finally being consumed in a fiery explosion as the Midnight Junction Megazord turned its back on the blast.
Kivo gave a proud nod and shouldered his Cog rifle. "This one's been cancelled!"
[Steam Force]
After defeating the Terrasoid's newest challenger, the rangers returned to the Operations Station full of cheer and confidence in the power of their newest addition to their arsenal. With the Midnight Junction Megazord all on their minds, they found the control room abuzz with relief that the incident was finally over and that the same joy was spreading to their mentor and his staff, the former of who smiled and clapped as they entered, followed by the operators in the room.
"You all did well out there today, especially you two. I'm glad you were able to overcome your differences and I hope you can both grow from today." He nodded to Kivo and Jordan.
The white ranger rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly before looking to Kivo. "Look, sorry for how I acted before, I was being kind of a dick about you when I learned everything. That fight though, putting yourself in the danger zone and trusting me to save your friends, it took some guts and some faith in me to do that. I haven't even earned anything like that yet. I know now that I shouldn't be looking back on what you've done and I shouldn't've pushed myself with the Shovelance either. I'll admit, it was stupid." He held out a hand awkwardly to the Cog ranger, which Kivo took and shook. "This doesn't mean we're all buddy buddy though, just so we're clear. I don't know if I can forgive you for what happened to Lloyd… but I can work with you at least."
Kivo nodded. "Then that's a good enough start for me."
"Alright, then everything's good! Let's go out and celebrate, I'm starving after being in that thing's stomach for so long." Lucas said as the other formerly captured rangers all began to listen to the growling in their stomachs too.
"Hey, let's go back to that Cafe Mia works at." Ayana suggested as the rangers began to walk out of the Station for their next vital mission.
"Sure, as long as the guys stay out of the kitchen this time." Mia reminded them of the incident as they walked out, the girls erupting into laughter.
"Yeah, who knows, they might blow the whole place up if we let them near another oven!" Alex joined in on the laughter at the expense of the guys while their newest addition walked behind them and cracked a slight smile. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to get to know the rangers who had befriended his brother. Maybe one day, Lloyd could wake up to see all of them and Jordan looking over him. Until then, he didn't mind a little company for once while he ate.
|Steam Force|
That's chapter 21 and a wrap on the new white ranger arc. While he isn't thrilled to be working with Kivo all things considered, it seems Jordan at least respects his teammate enough that he's willing to fight alongside him now. I know I said I was going to explain the reason for the Shovelance being banned but it slipped my mind until after i finished writing this. I'll include that bit of detail in the next chapter though since it's important information for the future but isn't too extensive. I'm sure getting a working model is definitely a priority though if they can overcome the repercussions of using it since it's a pretty powerful weapon.
The other big thing here was of course the new Megazord. It took me a fair bit of time to come up with a name I like but the Midnight Junction Megazord is one I'm really happy with and I like the design enough. I still have two more Megazords to debut for this series just to tease that but this is the mid stage 'basic Megazord plus sixth ranger's' that got its debut here alongside the returned to complete team. I wonder how long they can keep their numbers strong this time. I really enjoyed writing the new Megazord debut though, it was a bit of a surprise too so I hope you all enjoyed it too. Thanks for reading and to drop on some real world events, I hope everyone's staying safe, staying alert and not panicking right now. Much love to all my readers out there and if you need excess toilet roll... I can hook you up. Jokes aside, thanks for reading and I hope to catch you in the next one!
Next chapter: Dark Temptations
Synopsis: Nyllia begins a new and diabolical plan in an effort to split the rangers and circumvent their newfound strength and their solidarity as a team. In her efforts to do this, she sends her newest Champion after Mia. But this new plot is unlike any other she has concocted so far and as the black rangers' search for answers regarding the fate of her parents continues, can she stay on the right path? Or will she fall for the Queen's schemes? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Steam Force
