Joe's Note: This was going to be a Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger crossover originally, specifically because I wanted to play with the rangers' ability to summon the powers of past teams. So basically Cordelia would have had thirty-five teams - and hundreds of rangers - worth of power at her fingertips. But… Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger is even more awesome. Because dinosaurs. And dancing. So I decided to go in a different direction.

As she stared down at the yellow and black gun in her hands, Cordelia Chase marveled at the strange duality of it: it looked far too much like a children's toy given the incredible damage it was capable of unleashing. While she was by no means an expert on guns, she was reasonably certain that the Gaburivolver fired bigger bullets than anything short of a sniper rifle, with the added bonuses of being far more portable and having unlimited ammunition thanks to the fact that it was essentially a technomantic construct. And that was even before one took into account what would happen when it was fed a Beast Battery or two. It was then that Cordelia realized exactly what words were running through her head… and realized that her life had officially gone off the tracks and fallen into the world of the weird.

Personally? Cordelia blamed Xander Harris. If he hadn't been doing that whole verbal flailing thing he claimed was trying to insult her, she never would have gotten dragged into that stupid conversation about who was smart and therefore would never have made a bet centered around an upcoming test… and their respective Halloween costumes. Which in turn would have prevented her from needing to order her girls to go along with what he picked out for her because she had no intention of being the only one who looked stupid for Halloween. That would have meant no transforming into their costumes, and no decimating the warehouse district as costumed heroes in an effort to kill off as many vampires as demons as possible.

On the other hand… she could have not thrown the quiz. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, seeing as how she'd had no idea for a Halloween costume and Xander was a boy. Obviously if given the chance, he'd want to put her in something really sexy, right?

Trust Xander to screw something that simple up.

But hey, at least she wasn't alone in her freakdom.

"All right, girls, these things are obviously not back to being the toys we bought… but we have no idea what's going to happen if we try to transform using them. Last chance to back out. Aphrodesia? Aura? Gwen? Harmony?" Cordelia looked around the circle of girls slowly, waiting for each girl to shake their head before moving on to the next. When Harmony scoffed before tossing her hair and brushing a newly dyed pink streak back out of her eyes, Cordelia let out the breath she'd been holding. Good. Because if her life was about to get even weirder, she definitely didn't want to be alone in it. "Okay. Batteries out and line up."

Even as the Cordettes moved to obey, Harmony let out a huff. "I still don't see why you get to be in charge. I mean, I get why you're Cordelia and we're the Cordettes… but shouldn't we all be equals here? We all have the same powers."

Cordelia shrugged as she shifted the Gaburivolver to her right hand and then used her left to fish out a Beast Battery. "Red is always the leader. I don't make the rules, Harm, I just exploit them for my own benefit. Brave In!" Thrusting out the battery, she pushed down on the small bump on the top near the right end, causing it to make a whooshing sound. From either side of her came matching calls, followed by whooshes as the other girls' batteries powered up. Pushing the gun's hammer to trigger whatever mechanism opened its mouth, Cordelia shoved the Beast Battery in and then smacked the top of the Gaburivolver to close it once more, praying she would hear…

"Chomp-a-chomp! Gabutyra!"

"Chomp-a-chomp! Parasagun!"

"Chomp-a-chomp! Stegotchi!"

"Chomp-a-chomp! Zakutor!"

"Chomp-a-chomp! Dricera!"

Well, that certainly boded well for their future as spandex-clad freaks of nature. Cordelia shot a grin to one side and then the other before assuming a ready stance. "Might as well go all the way, then. Kyo-"

"What is something that Harmony says on the first date?"

"…I hate you, Gwen."

Rolling her eyes, Cordelia waited for the giggling and shoving to settle down before clearing her throat. "As I was saying… Kyoryu Change!" Her left hand rose and she flicked her fingers over the Gaburivolver's cylinder, causing it to spin and emit red sparks. Then it was a hop to the left followed by moving back to the right, right foot crosses over the left and then a spin, right arm up… "Fire!" Cordelia felt more than saw the gun discharge, and then a bolt of red and yellow light came whizzing down and around her body. Lowering her arm, she did her best to remain absolutely still as there was a loud chomping noise. Costume. Then another chomp, and her field of vision became a bit more limited as a helmet appeared around her head. Running mostly on autopilot, Cordelia ignored the cheers from around her as she took two steps forward before letting her body flow a series of well practiced motions. "Hear our roar! The fanged hero, Kyoryu Red!"

Then she waited…

And waited…

And waited…

A pink form brushed against her body as it passed, and then Harmony turned back to face Cordelia before crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head. "No. That is where I draw the line. I'll do the whole 'we follow the red because it's tradition' thing, but we are not doing a roll call."

Even though she knew they couldn't see it, Cordelia found herself pouting as she straightened up. "You guys suck."

"No, that's just Harmony."

"Oh my fucking God, Gwen, will you shut up?!"

"It has begun. My destiny. It's a little sooner than I expected; I had this whole section on civic pride. But I guess we'll just skip to the big finish."

Cordelia rolled her eyes as Mayor Wilkins began to groan and squirm behind the podium, his face distorting as he transformed from a ridiculously mundane-looking human into a demonic snake. A demonic snake that quickly grew to outrageous proportions, towering over them all as he let out a loud roar of triumph. "Kinda wishing we had Kyoryuzin right about now. Or even just Gabutyra. Bite that bastard in half." As the assembled parents and guests behind the rows of graduating students screamed and stampeded toward the exit, Cordelia shot a lazy grin over at her friends. "We ready?"

"Ready."

"Did UPS deliver our latest win off eBay?"

"No. Sorry, I waited as long as I could, too."

Damn. Cordelia had really been hoping to get her hands on a Plezuon Beast Battery or three; there was no way that having access to the Plezuon Rocket wouldn't be helpful when fighting a giant demon. C'est la vie. Next time, she'd pay for the expedited shipping instead of assuming that she'd be day five, six, seven, or eight on a 'five to nine day shipping' option. Shooting a glance in the other direction, she snorted as she watched Buffy and her minions shift impatiently. They really were in a hurry to get themselves killed, weren't they? Seriously, the Mayor was turning into something that took a volcano to kill. How much damage did they really think they could do- "Now!" The crowd of students came alive at Buffy's shout, stripping off their graduation gowns to reveal a wide variety of smuggled weapons… including several homemade flamethrowers, Cordelia noted with a raised eyebrow. They really had been busy these past few days, hadn't they?

But they weren't her concern. Rising to her feet, Cordelia stripped off her own tacky red gown and then hiked up the right side of her dress, allowing her to draw the Gaburivolver from the holster she'd made for it. Then she pulled a Beast Battery for her cleavage, spared a moment to thank God once more for giving her the ability to make use of Victoria's Secret Compartment, and then tapped the small bump near one end of the battery. "Brave In!" Stuffing the prepped battery into the mouth of the Gaburivolver, she brought the gun up next to her head and flicked her fingers over the cylinder. "Kyoryu Change!" After a year and a half, the girls had enough transformations under their belts that their dance was actually graceful, rather than the stumbling mess from the day after that fateful Halloween. Rather than aim the Gaburivolver upward, Cordelia thrust hers out in the direction of the Mayor's gross and snaky form before pulling the trigger. "Fire!"

Five jets of light shot out toward the Mayor, resolving themselves into the heads of five different dinosaurs. Each one slammed into his body, making him roar in pain and flinch backward, and then looped back around to head for its owner. Cordelia waited impatiently as her costume formed and then her helmet, before dropping to one knee as she dug through the large purse she'd crammed under her chair. As she worked, she kept half an eye on the Mayor, who was winding back and forth across the stage as he stared down at them uncertainly. "Golly. I certainly didn't expect something like this…"

"Oh trust me, it's about to get even stranger." Finally finding what she was looking for, Cordelia hauled out the Gabutyra de Carnival that she had paid far too much for on eBay a few months back. She still couldn't believe how high the bidding had gone; hadn't those losers known she needed it to help save the world? Thankfully, despite not being affected by Halloween's magic, Cordelia had been able to power up the included Carnival Beast Battery and bring the toy to life. Which in turn granted her access to almost all of her fictional counterpart's abilities. "Let's go, Minityra!" After twisting the toy's head a hundred and eighty degrees, she pulled out the folding grip and then worked the lower jaw to 'cock' the crazy little thing.

"Oh! Party time! Carnival!"

The switch to her powered up form came with a bit more freeform of a dance… that wasn't really any less dorky than the one that accompanied her standard transformation. Cordelia grit her teeth and bore it, though, knowing it was a necessary evil. Thrusting Minityra into the air, she pulled the trigger. "Fire!" Minityra leapt out of her hands, letting out excited screeches as it flew around over her head, before looping around to slam into her from behind. A heavy new piece of armor formed over her chest, her costume gained some funky new white and yellow accent markings… and Cordelia struck the requisite pose. "Kyoryu Red Carnival!"

Everything around her came to an abrupt halt, not that Cordelia could blame them. She was pretty eye-catching like this… although wasn't she always? "You're lucky you're more powerful than all of us put together like this, or I would so be mocking you right now." Harmony shook her head before inserting a second Beast Battery into her Gaburivolver and rubbing it down her right arm, summoning the DriceLance and a layer of protective armor. "Have fun storming the castle."

"Have fun protecting Summers and her genius friends from themselves." Cordelia grinned as Harmony huffed and flounced off; at least she only had to face a giant snake demon. Compared to the Cordettes, she had things easy. Seriously, who thought going after a sixty foot tall monster with medieval weapons was a good idea? Pointing Minityra at the Mayor, Cordelia pulled the trigger several times, unleashing a few small bursts of energy followed by a single longer one. The small shots all ricocheted off his snake form's hide, impacting the stage and blowing holes in it. Her final attack actually scored a dark burn mark down the length of the Mayor's body, making Cordelia frown for a moment before nodding decisively. This was going to take… well, not all of their powers combined, but at least three of them. "Gwen! Aura! I need a battery from each of you!"

When neither responded, Cordelia chanced a look back over her shoulder… just in time to see Gwen kick a vampire in the chest, eliciting what sounded suspiciously like a Wilhelm scream as it went flying over the edge of the terrace and disappeared from sight. "This! Is! High school!" Giggling at her own supposed wit, the blue-clad Cordette turned and pushed the button that opened her MoBuckle. Pulling out one of the three remaining Stegotchi Beast Batteries, she wound up and hurled it in Cordelia's direction. "Insert joke about you sticking my toys inside you here!"

Cordelia rolled her eyes as she caught the battery and spun, tucking it between two fingers as she stretched her hand out in Aura's direction. "You know, now that we actually have an audience? I want to formally object to my costume color. Having the black girl be the Black Ranger is tacky as hell. And probably racist." Ignoring the oft-voiced complaint, Cordelia made a beckoning gesture and Aura let out a huff before withdrawing a Parasagun Beast Battery from her MoBuckle and tossing it her way. "Why couldn't I be the White Ranger? You know, be ironic or something?"

"I'm pretty sure that if our team had a White Ranger, it'd be Harmony."

"Shut! Up! Gwen!"

"We all know that Harmony is a slut, Gwen. But I'm starting to wonder if there's a reason that you're so obsessed with her sex life. Snapping Change!" As both of the girls in question sputtered denials, Cordelia pulled the red and white Beast Battery out of Minityra's mouth, quickly feeding three new Beast Batteries into the gun in rapid succession, cocking it each time before pulling the battery out and replacing it with another.

"Amigo Carnival! Gun-Gun-Chomp! Gotchi-Gotchi-Chomp! Gabu-Gabu-Chomp!"

Cordelia debated whether or not to fire a multi-pronged energy blast at the Mayor before ultimately deciding it was probably a bad idea. She'd never seen King fire anything other than straight up when changing forms, and what would happen if the Mayor managed to bite Minityra in half or swallow him or something? "Fire!" Energy blasts in the shape of two different dinosaurs' heads emerged from Minityra's mouth this time, swirling around over her head before diving toward her arms. The Paras Beam Gun shimmered into existence on her right arm along with some black armor, even as the Stegotchi Shield and matching blue plating formed around her left. Then she realized she had a problem: King had used this configuration once with Kyoryuzin, but never as a Snapping Change. Shit. Um. "Kyoryu Red… Motim Carnival!"

Motim. Riot. Because with the whole shield and weapon thing, she felt kinda like a riot cop. It fit, right?

Then her time for pondering her linguistic wittiness was up and the Mayor threw himself at her headfirst. Cordelia brought the Stegotchi Shield up to block his attack, feeling her boots skid backward along the ground as they bled off his forward momentum, and then grinned widely inside her helmet as he made a puzzled noise. Her right hand came up and she unloaded a barrage straight into his eye with the Paras Beam Gun, the purple-black bolts of energy causing the fleshy orb to explode. Flinching back, the Mayor let out a noise halfway between a scream and a roar and Cordelia's smile widened.

Oh yeah. This was going to work great.