Power Rangers Chapter 6: The Graveyard Zack stood on the brink of a gigantic crater; a solemn expression was on his face. His dark violet cloak swaying out in from behind him as the quick wind licked its padded surface from behind. Behind him, seven figures stood, their eye's catching some of the light from the clouded sky, giving them a liquid glint, contrasting inside their hooded cloaks. Five of the seven wore navy blue, where the other two bore red. Ahead of him, another figure, dressed in the same violet cloak as he, sat on a rock; hooded head turned to the ground. Smog sifted over the rocky ground, drifting the musty smell of dirt, stone and embers. Jason had left the small stone shack he had woken up in, and had gone straight to this solemn gathering just a short walk ahead. He wrinkled his nose as he approached the brooding collective ahead of him. There was something else he smelt in the air that he didn't like. He looked up, and grinned seeing the familiar padded cloaks of the surviving American and Canadian Rangers. His eyes were set on Zack, however, who turned around hearing the young priest's footsteps scraping across the gravel. Jason had donned his clothes, including the white pants and black leather jacket and shoes, but he left out the shirt proudly displaying his red exoskeleton against which his silver crucifix repelled against when he walked. He stopped, letting the breeze ruffle his short cut dark brown hair. He could see the sadness on Zack's face as he walked to him. "Zack?" he said as his grin faded noticing the seriousness of his hero's suffering, "What's wrong? Did something happen?" "See for yourself, kid," Zack mulled, pointing over his shoulder to the crater. Jason looked ahead, filled with morbid curiosity. He sprinted up the edge up the crater and looked out. His blood ran cold at the sight. There before him, the crater spread out a good few miles ahead, littered with smaller craters and holes in between large chunks of remaining wall and twisted masses of destroyed machinery, giving evidence there was some sort of basement to the structure that had previously stood there. Some ash coated spaces still burned with the fresh colors of fire. Unlike the other craters and wreckage surrounding the continent, this wasteland was absolutely fresh. Even more unsettling, scattered around the gray pit of destruction were the lifeless bodies of about a hundred other Rangers. Their bodies charred, sliced or beaten, some of which could not even be told which country they had originally been stationed with, and others where even the gender was not even discernable. Their bodies showed signs that there had been a battle, but only Ranger corpses lay still against the cold shattered ground. "Sweet Jesus," breathed Jason, crossing himself, "What happened here?" The seated figure on the rock ahead looked up from the ground at Jason. She replied in a gruff but young female voice. "It was the Ravnawolves," she spoke, looking out onto the scene, "Somehow they knew we were camped here. Out of no where they attacked, and look now. Not even a single one of those alien mother fuckers were killed!" Jason looked at her, sympathizing with her increasing volume of rage. I guess we didn't get to the rendezvous in time. he rationalized. The female Ranger stood and threw a rock defiantly at the rubble. Jason did not know what to say at first, then approached her to console her. "Child," spoke Jason, approaching her, laying his hand on her shoulder, "They were all good men and women. God has them now, and I'm sure they were allowed into Heaven for their sacrifice. May they rest in peace." "Their dead," she spoke, throwing his hand off her shoulder, chuckling tragically "Their dead, god boy. They didn't even have a chance against them. It's only a matter of time now. Fuck Heaven, we're all already in Hell." With that she strode past Jason, leaving him looking rejected and insulted. He spun around as she left and was about to speak but chose not to. He let her walk away. Sighing he turned around again and walked down the incline into the core of the gulf. Standing in the field of the broken stones and death that surrounded them, he began reciting funeral rites. * * * Zack had only wandered a slight distance away, and was facing out towards the remains of a major street, which was now a river of bubbling liquids, spouting off from the Imperial City miles and miles away. He was deep in thought. Heavy steps on the ground made him turn round, breaking his concentration. He was expecting to see the confused form of Jason behind him. Instead was the female Ranger in the violet cloak. She pulled her hood back, letting her shoulder-length black hair ruffle in the wind. Her slanted eyes narrowed at the sight of Earth's so called 'savior'. Her deep tan skinned face was mottled with dirt and her small lips were set together in frustration and sadness. Fists clenched she walked quickly out to the armored warrior. "You bastard," she said angrily, stepping around to his front, ranting at him in a desperate fit, "Why did you come back? We didn't need you! Before they couldn't find us. We had an army. We were winning it all back! As soon as you showed up eight days ago, they sent out the Ravnawolves. They didn't even have those fucking Hunts before they saw you! All our careful battle plans were all turned to shit when you came in. We didn't need you!!" "Stop this!" barked the Black Ranger, grabbing the woman by the shoulders, trying to stop her before she got needlessly emotional, "Get a hold of yourself, commander! Don't you think that even if I hadn't shown up they wouldn't have called in the Ravnawolves? You may have been finding ways to deal damage to them, and maybe your attacks were even hindering at times, but you weren't really hurting them! It's true that your army fought incredibly well. But face the truth! They aren't the Machina, you know nothing about the Zedd Empire, and frankly, neither do I really..." "How can you say that?" she exclaimed, "You're the one who told us those savages were even called Ravnawolves in the first place! We were thinking of calling them Wolfmen before you corrected us! How can you say you don't know anything about them? That's bullshit!" she ranted on violently, "You even came two fucking weeks after the invasion had started! Do you even remember what you said ten years ago! You lied to us!" "Quiet! Don't start into this again. Forget that, it's not important now," he began again. He tried to think of a way to get the subject back to the present, "Alpha told me what they were called when we first fought them. He knows a lot more, but we need to try and keep him repaired or there's no chance we'll learn anything else! So much of him is damaged, ok? He's got details in his memory banks that could mean our victory!" "Don't change the subject!" she spat, having been lead by him like this before, "Tell me why you were late! You broke your promise to the whole world! Do you even care?!" "Look. Please calm down!" he spoke softly, but with urgency, "We really don't have too much time. Besides, I couldn't possibly expect you to understand my reasons. Go back and get the team together, check on Alpha. Protect him. That's an order. Leave the offense up to Lee Scott and I." "He's not even a Ranger, Taylor!" she complained angrily, "I could tear him apart in ten seconds with my bare hands! Do you expect him to actually fight?" "He'll do fine," he raised a hand, "I chose him specifically for his unique abilities, honest!" "He's a god dammed PRIEST!" she spoke, chuckling as if it was a joke, "Unique abilities my ass! You must have spent the last ten years on crack!" "AT EASE, Commander Kwan!" he commanded, speaking much louder, making her back away from him, snapping into a military stance, "You have no place to question my decisions! Now do as I ordered! NOW!" Commander Kwan hesitated and then frowned. She saluted, with an air of defiance about her, and marched past him. Zack stood there, keeping his authoritative look until she had gone. He sighed closing his eyes. He had now decided what to do with the remaining Rangers. He remained only a few more minutes staring at the poison river gaping ahead of him, then shifted on his heel and headed the same way the female Ranger had went.