Disclaimer: You've seen it.
AN: Sorry about the updates being so sporadic. Life has a way of throwing things at ya, y'know? Anyway, enjoy.
The hologram flickered to life before them, displaying the image of three figures clad in armor similar to their own. One bore a red visor, another was purple, and the final was green. Even the translucent projection couldn't hide their fierceness as the previous day's events were played out.
"This is a holo-record of your fight with the Dai'rak." Trey stood behind the semicircle of Rangers seated around the table. It was one of the first times anyone had seem him even the slightest bit disheveled, though he composed himself as if he hadn't spent the entire night poring over every archive he could find that might have the smallest mention of their new opponents. "You may have already figured out the powers of each. Purple apparently holds the ability to cast illusions on one's mind..." Rocky shuddered. He still remembered seeing the image of Kimberly trapped beneath the lethal blades of his staff. For a split second he had lost all focus on the battle. The mistake had cost him.
"Green has shown the properties of energy control...." Kimberly and Jason had experienced that firsthand. Green had turned the energy from a charge attack straight back at them and nearly knocked them senseless. "So that leaves the Red visor in control of Shadow, which I'm sorry to say I have no clue about. There's no record of these powers in any of my files, and since he hasn't used them to their full extent yet, I think it's best to consider him more unpredictable than the others." The hologram shrunk back into the table. Trey turned to Tommy. "How is Kimberly doing?"
The Native American sighed. "Not good. Her kneecap is pretty much dislocated. If it weren't for her Powers it would have shattered completely. I think she's probably going to be on ice for at least another couple of days."
Jason nodded. He had joined his friend in scanning her condition. "That leaves us one Ranger short."
"Which is something we really don't need right now," Zack said. Everyone nodded.
"Maybe we could call in a replacement," Aisha suggested. "Y'know, another former Ranger."
Trey shook his head. "I don't want to get anyone else involved unless I absolutely have to. Bringing a civilian in at this point could very well alert Sektarus. If he knows the identity of even one of you, he could find ways to trace everyone else."
Something occurred to Rocky. "Let's not forget that if this guy finds out we're recruiting, he'll know we're at a disadvantage. Even Rita and Zedd wouldn't have been stupid enough not to press that."
'What do we do?' It was the question that weighed on everyone's minds. How could they go into battle against the Dai'rak again without Kimberly? They had been beaten to within an inch of their lives the last time.
"First order of business needs to be arranging things so we can stay out longer." The group agreed with Jason's suggestion. "We need to break. Call whoever you have to and organize your plans around fight time and the Command Center. Get whoever you can to cover for you."
"I can wire your communications through the Center's." Trey led the group out toward the main chamber.
************************
"Come on. Pick up!" Rocky waited past the fourth ring when the sound of someone coming over the line was heard. "Finally!" But it wasn't what he expected.
"Hi, you've reached the home of Adam Park. Leave a message and I'll get back as soon as I can. Bye!"
He muttered a curse. "Adam it's me, Rocky. Look, I'm gonna need you to cover my classes for a while. Something came up. Y'know...business." He emphasized the last word. Hopefully his friend would get the point. The connection was dropped. Something funny was going on. Adam never left without letting him know about it in advance. He was pretty sure nothing had been said yesterday...
"Geez, Adam, where are you?"
************************
"Angel Grove Sporting Goods, how can I help you?"
"Hi, is Katherine Hilliard there?"
"Nope. She called in sick this morning. Some kind of bug. Said she probably wasn't gonna be back for a while."
"Oh. Well, thanks anyway." Tommy cut the line. 'That was weird. I already checked our messages. Katherine didn't say anything about being sick. Maybe I better try her place and see how bad it is.' He punched Kat's number in on the console. Four rings and one answering machine message later left him no closer.
'Man, where could she be?'
************************
A warning tone sounded from one of the consoles, catching Trey's attention. He turned to its operator. "It's them, isn't it?"
"Yes. They're right in the middle of the city. It doesn't look like they're attacking anything, though. They're just.... Wait. I'm picking up another group of signals." There was a pause. He hoped this time they'd be able to decipher what the signal was. "It's Battalion forces."
He brought the image up on his own screen. "Looks like they're pretty busy."
"I wonder what they've got on their minds."
"Trouble. Patch me through the intercom to the Rangers."
************************
"How're you feeling?"
Kimberly looked up at the figure of her husband standing in the doorway. "Better. I think I'll be on my feet sooner than we planned." She caught the look of sorrow in his eye. "Tommy, stop it. You can't beat yourself up over every little thing that happens to me."
'Damn, she's gotten good at this.' Even Jason hadn't noticed the guilt he felt. "Sorry. I just don't like the situation, that's all."
The brunette sighed. "I know it's bad, but we'll get through it. We always have." He had walked over to her bedside now. She took his hand in hers. "In sickness and in health, 'til death do us part, remember?"
He smiled at her. "Even I could never forget that, Beautiful. I just don't want that last bit to happen any sooner than it has to."
+Rangers, the Dai'rak have returned to the city. There are Battalion forces with them. Take care of it, but be cautious.+
Tommy glanced an apology at his wife. She nodded. "Go. The others need you." Her only reply was a nod as he stood up and activated his morpher, then disappeared in a flash of black light.
************************
Red growled. "Where are they? Nobody is this slow."
"Will you relax?" Purple scolded. "We're here to make sure this Harvester goes up properly. If the Rangers come, then we can think about fighting. Not a minute before."
A hideous insect-looking Battalion member came up to the three Dai'rak. "Everything is prepared and we are ready to place the core inside." They nodded him away. It was a mundane task, to tell the truth. Especially for ones possessing their capabilities.
Green twitched. "They're here."
"Excellent." Red already had his twin katana blades out. "Point me to them."
Purple summoned her staff. "Sektarus told us not to engage unless they made the first move."
Green stood still for a moment, and the other two could see the energy collecting around them. "They made the first move by showing up. Now they're spying. I can detect their energy signatures on top of that office building." A blast of power was sent in the direction of the sheltering structure. "There. Now it looks like we can properly greet our company."
It wasn't long before the Rangers showed up. They pulled a short-range teleport and appeared just down the street not more than fifteen feet away, already armed and in combat stances.
"You're one short," Red called to them.
Tommy stepped forward. The sight of Kimberly going down yesterday flashed into his mind. He pointed his sword at Purple, claiming his target.
Jason was next, and he aimed his look directly at Green. 'Time to return yesterday's favor.'
The two leaders charged their respective opponents. Rocky, Aisha, and Zack followed close behind. They were prepared to switch off if any one of them was in particular trouble. Teamwork was of utmost importance now.
They had to unite, or they would fall.
************************
"Stop all programs and begin scanning those three."
"What?"
"Just do it. These are Triforian Powers, which means we've got a lot to deal with. I want to know as much as we can about them. Shut down the shielding program if you have to."
"Trey, that would leave us wide open to attack! If Sektarus finds us..."
He held up a hand to forestall any further comment. "You're right. I'm sorry. Don't go that far. Just shut down all nonessential systems and scan the Dai'rak on every possible frequency."
"Starting now."
************************
Aisha and Rocky flipped over Red and landed on both sides of him. He used his katana to block their attacks with an almost fluid ease. The blades on Rocky's staff began to spin. 'Maybe I can use these to knock him a little more off balance.' Both Rangers stepped up their attack, changing their angle just slightly so they could drive their target closer to a building's wall. Aisha used a blade on her forearm to take hold of Red's katana and morphed a cannon onto her other arm. She fired a streaming blast that pinned its receiver against the wall.
Rocky sped toward the temporarily captive Dai'rak. The beam would only be kept up for a short while so Aisha could conserve her power if the maneuver didn't work. A bare millisecond after the energy was cut Rocky drove his blade straight for his opponent, only to have it come in contact with sheer granite. He stared in shock. There was no way anyone could move that fast!
A small shift below him caught his eye. When he looked, Rocky saw a pure black shadow moving along the ground, straight towards Aisha! "Beneath you!" There was no time to make any other statement as a katana emerged from the shadow and swiped the woman's legs out from under her. Rocky sent a claw of energy along the ground that knocked the deadly weapon away just before his fellow Ranger was impaled upon it.
"You are beginning to become a thorn in my side, Ranger." Red emerged from the shadow, standing calmly above Aisha. "I think it's time to decrease your numbers a little more."
'Friend.... Hurt...No!' There was no full thought running through his mind, nothing intelligible, only the pressing need to help his friend. Emotion made him run. Emotion made his staff into an energized drill. Emotion made it bore into Red's back. It was emotion that sped his reactions enough to the point that he actually managed to stay on the attack. Aisha rose to her feet and began to help him. They were keeping Red off-balance now, altering their styles enough to keep him guessing. Things were finally beginning to go their way.
************************
"What's taking so long?"
"I'm working as fast as I can. Something's jamming our signal again."
Trey rubbed the bridge of his nose. The Rangers were doing well so far, but they couldn't be expected to keep that up forever. Hopefully physical scans could reveal what kind of technique they were using and perhaps even find a way to counteract the Dai'rak Powers.
"Keep trying."
************************
Tommy reeled from a blast across his chest. He was fighting two battles for control at the same time. Part of him wanted to break out, to lose it and just do whatever came natural. Underneath the helmet he grit his teeth. 'Can't let anger take control. Have to fight it.' Purple sent another blast from her staff. He rolled to the side and pulsed energy through his sword. More energy collected at his feet. 'Only got one shot at this...'
A flash of light was the only warning that he was even coming. Combusted energy propelled him forward as beams lanced out from his blade. Several of them struck Purple and twisted her sideways. She managed to spin with the blow of Tommy's sword and steady herself in a crouching position. The action paused as she focused on her target.
There was a buzzing in the back of Tommy's head. He shook it violently, trying to clear out the intruding sensation. It stopped seconds later. Gloved hands gripped his sword tighter. "I don't know what the hell it is you just tried to do, but it's not gonna work!
Purple regained her footing and charged him. One end of her staff planted itself in the ground and she used it to propel herself into a flying kick aimed straight at her target's head. Tommy rolled underneath the attack and stood with an upward swipe that missed by mere centimeters. His upper body twisted in one direction to block a strike toward his legs, then the other to stop an attack to the shoulders, then back again to slash sideways across Purple's stomach. He dived at her sword-first. She barely managed to catch his weapon on hers and hold him off.
The buzzing sensation returned, even fiercer than before. Tommy pressed down harder. He began angling the blade at his opponent's head. "Stop it!" he yelled. It was almost becoming painful, like a scorpion that kept stinging his brain over and over again.
Zack's smoking figure crashed into him. Limbs entangled and left the two laying on the asphalt, completely immobile.
************************
Minutes earlier...
Jason and Zack crouched behind a small yellow Volkswagen Beetle. They were currently taking cover from an insane barrage of energy pellets being launched straight from Green's palms. The two Rangers looked at each other.
"You got a plan, Jase?"
He nodded. "I think so. Dangerous and a little crazy, though."
"You mean there's any other kind of plan?"
Both of them smiled underneath their helmets. "Fire a blast under the car. I'll do what I can to throw our little friend off balance, then you come in with your axe. Got it?"
The African-American only clapped his hands as deep black energy began forming between the palms. "Make it quick, because I'm not waiting for your slow ass to get out of the way."
"Screw you."
"Exit only, man."
A part of Jason's mind, what some people would call the more sane part, was wondering exactly how he could make and take jokes at a time like this. He knew it was absolutely crazy. 'I guess it's just something we got used to over the years.' They all hated to think they had been desensitized, but sometimes truth was something you had to face.
He shook his head. There would be time to deal with morality issues later, preferably over a nice hot cup of coffee with a very pretty girl.
"NOW!"
Zack fired a wide disc of energy along the underside of the tiny Volkswagen and straight into Green's shins. Jason launched himself over the car, charging his body with energy and propelling it straight at his target. He was mere inches away before he cut the charge completely and came in with a powerful right hook that knocked the armored figure from one direction to the other. It came as a surprise to him that no bones were snapped from the whiplash effect.
An even bigger surprise came in the form of four blades grabbing the sides of his neck. Green had rolled with the blow and pulled out two five-pronged sai. The four smaller prongs of one of the weapons were what had gripped him. Surges of Power traveled along the line and began electrocuting him. His vocal chords constricted, allowing no sound to travel out through the pain.
It was now that Zack dashed across the asphalt with a large axe raised high. He gave out one loud "Kiyah!" before leaping into the air and preparing for a downward swipe strong enough to cleave a Zord in half.
No warning came to tell him of the other sai's four prongs careening straight for him. There was no chance to avoid their vice-like grip on his ankle. Even worse, there was nothing he could do to stop the rippling charge of deadly energy that shocked his entire system through and through.
The wires that connected the prongs to their sai yanked Zack's spastic body through the air before he was released to go colliding into Tommy.
************************
Rocky raised his staff high to block a downward swipe, then twirled it to spin both of Red's katana so that his arms crossed his chest. In a blur of movement Red managed to twist out of the maneuver and bring both blades to bear on Rocky's left side. He knocked them away and side-kicked his opponent in the ribcage. Aisha fired several blasts of energy that knocked him into the air.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rocky managed to catch sight of Zack's aerial incident. A sigh came out of his mouth as he analyzed the situation. 'We are going to be so screwed if things don't look up.' He summoned Aisha on a private comm channel. "Go help Jason. Give him a chance to recover, then see if you need to assist Zack and Tommy. I'll take care of Red."
His companion nodded, then pulled a short-range teleport over to where Green was holding Jason.
Rocky turned to continue his attack...but Red was gone. Nowhere in sight. 'Uh-oh. I'll bet he pulled that shadow trick again. He could be anywhere by now!' There wasn't time for him to search manually, not with his friends in danger. 'Alright, then. Let's see if I can still remember how to activate this thing...'
There was a dark flash of light that formed into a thin silver visor over his helmet. A readout in the lower corner of his display read POWER SCOPE ACTIVATED: THERMAL SCAN ENGAGED. Everything became awash with various shades of red, blue, and orange. A small targeting box began scrolling across his field of vision. It bounced around for a few moments before locking on to a form outlined on the wall of an office building. Rocky smiled under his helmet.
'You can run, but you can't hide.'
************************
Tommy rolled Zack's unconscious form off of him. 'Geez, Zack-man. I think it's time you laid off the banana splits!' He slowly rose to his feet, clutching his sword tightly. 'Alright, where'd that mind-screwing, purple-wearing freak get off to?'
"Tommy! Help us out here!"
The scream turned his attention to the side. He was about to charge, combat-ready, when a sense of confusion crashed his senses. Not far away was Aisha...
...Fighting off nothing but air.
"They're everywhere!" she screamed. Genuine fear permeated her voice. It was as if she was really under attack, but there was no one there!
It was then that his eyes caught sight of Jason, still being held captive by the electrified prongs around his neck. If not for the Power he probably would have suspected his best friend of being dead by now. Standing next to him were Purple and Green. They were obviously smug about something...
'Wait a second! Purple's Power is illusion! I'll bet she's using it on Aisha!' Tommy instinctively charged. He didn't have any particular plan, except for distracting the two Dai'rak long enough for his fellow Ranger to regain her wits.
His sword arm moved in a blur of deadly intensity. Sparks flew as steel met armor. He performed a running upward slash that struck Purple across the chest, then turned and stabbed backward, cutting a thin line straight through her armor with the tip of his blade. A well-placed crouching leg sweep knocked her to the pavement. The follow-through carried him back to a standing position facing Green, who launched the four prongs that had grabbed Zack earlier. Tommy deflected two with his sword and rolled under the other two. He brought his sword up in a powerful swipe that cut the prongs from Jason's neck. A quick grip adjustment so that his sword was once again in a standard position and he tore a deep gash down Green's back side.
"Aisha! Grab Zack and bring him over here! We need to get him and Jason out of here now!"
Jason grabbed his forearm. "No way," he rasped. "I'm staying."
Tommy took his friend's gloved hand and held it tight. "Sorry, bro. Executive leader decision. You both need medical attention."
Aisha managed to hoist Zack in her arms and carry him over. "Hey, where's Rocky?"
************************
"Trey! We have a problem!"
"What is it?"
"Something's got a hold of our scanning program, and it's backtracking the signal! If that's Sektarus, he could find out where we are!"
"How much do you have on the Dai'rak?"
"I won't know until we check the data files. I've been sending it all directly into file storage."
"Alright. Stop the program and teleport the Rangers back now."
************************
Akeras studied the situation through the viewscreen. "They'll leave before the battle is finished, my lord. How can this be acceptable?"
Sektarus turned both black, dismal eyes at his underling. "It is allowed in their form to regroup if injury has occurred to one or more of their number." His gaze shifted to a nearby servant crouching at a computer station. "What is the status of the connection trace?"
"Nearly finished, m'lord. We will have their location in..." The monster stopped suddenly, a look of dread coming over what passed for its face. "Wha...? No. Nononononononononono NO!"
"What is happening?" Sektarus growled. The creature made a gulping noise.
"S...something...backfired th...the trace, sir. We...we lost it before we could pinpoint their location. And the empowered, they...they vanished."
Black flared into bright red, burning inside of Sektarus' eyes. "WHAT?!" Dark strands of energy crackled around him for several moments as a deep growl of displeasure rose from the monstrosity. Akeras felt a slight quiver of fear at the sight. No one, not even a trusted warrior such as himself, was stupid enough to speak when his commander was in such a rage. It seemingly took an eternity for the dark force to calm down enough to speak civilly. "What area did the trace lead us to before it was broken?"
"A great desert outside of the city we have been focusing our assault on, Lord Sektarus."
"Very well. You have done your duty in remembering that location. Now go."
As soon as the underling was out of sight, Akeras stepped up. He knew his place well enough to estimate when his services were needed. "What now, my lord?"
A sound almost similar to a sigh came from the hulking mass of darkness. "Take one hundred of our remaining Battalion forces down with you and search that area. Lead them personally. I want you to find the base that they are operating out of. Eliminate anyone who crosses your path in rancor, but bring the Triforian Prince Trey to me alive."
"What of the empowered?"
"I will give the Dai'rak time to rest and rejuvenate. Then they will battle yet again.
"To the death."
************************
Trey strode into the chamber purposefully. "The Rangers are being teleported back here as we speak. What have you got for me?"
"Well, the good news is that I can positively say that the Dai'rak are purely Triforian. Whoever's harnessing these Powers is definitely from home. That makes it easier to narrow down a training simulation for the Rangers."
He shook his head. "I don't like this. Fighting against our own people..."
"It's awful, I know." There was a thoughtful pause between the two.
"What about the bad news?"
"What?"
"You said good news, which implies that there is bad news as well."
"Oh, right. Well, that's where it gets tricky. Scans of the Dai'rak brought up some interesting results. Apparently there's some kind of energy wavelength that's interfering with their normal mental patterns. I can't quite lock it down to a specific pattern, but I can tell you that it's causing some serious damage up there."
Trey leaned over his companion's shoulder and read over the information on the screen. "Could it be some kind of mind control? Brain wave/impulse alteration, perhaps?"
"At this point I'd say that if it wasn't, somebody did one damn good job of tricking our sensors."
"Can you figure out a way to reverse it?"
"Maybe. If I can't, then, well..."
He nodded. It was a part of a code on Triforia, and even among the Earth Rangers if he understood correctly. They would take their own lives before serving the enemy.
If they couldn't help the Dai'rak, they would kill them.
AN: Sorry about the updates being so sporadic. Life has a way of throwing things at ya, y'know? Anyway, enjoy.
The hologram flickered to life before them, displaying the image of three figures clad in armor similar to their own. One bore a red visor, another was purple, and the final was green. Even the translucent projection couldn't hide their fierceness as the previous day's events were played out.
"This is a holo-record of your fight with the Dai'rak." Trey stood behind the semicircle of Rangers seated around the table. It was one of the first times anyone had seem him even the slightest bit disheveled, though he composed himself as if he hadn't spent the entire night poring over every archive he could find that might have the smallest mention of their new opponents. "You may have already figured out the powers of each. Purple apparently holds the ability to cast illusions on one's mind..." Rocky shuddered. He still remembered seeing the image of Kimberly trapped beneath the lethal blades of his staff. For a split second he had lost all focus on the battle. The mistake had cost him.
"Green has shown the properties of energy control...." Kimberly and Jason had experienced that firsthand. Green had turned the energy from a charge attack straight back at them and nearly knocked them senseless. "So that leaves the Red visor in control of Shadow, which I'm sorry to say I have no clue about. There's no record of these powers in any of my files, and since he hasn't used them to their full extent yet, I think it's best to consider him more unpredictable than the others." The hologram shrunk back into the table. Trey turned to Tommy. "How is Kimberly doing?"
The Native American sighed. "Not good. Her kneecap is pretty much dislocated. If it weren't for her Powers it would have shattered completely. I think she's probably going to be on ice for at least another couple of days."
Jason nodded. He had joined his friend in scanning her condition. "That leaves us one Ranger short."
"Which is something we really don't need right now," Zack said. Everyone nodded.
"Maybe we could call in a replacement," Aisha suggested. "Y'know, another former Ranger."
Trey shook his head. "I don't want to get anyone else involved unless I absolutely have to. Bringing a civilian in at this point could very well alert Sektarus. If he knows the identity of even one of you, he could find ways to trace everyone else."
Something occurred to Rocky. "Let's not forget that if this guy finds out we're recruiting, he'll know we're at a disadvantage. Even Rita and Zedd wouldn't have been stupid enough not to press that."
'What do we do?' It was the question that weighed on everyone's minds. How could they go into battle against the Dai'rak again without Kimberly? They had been beaten to within an inch of their lives the last time.
"First order of business needs to be arranging things so we can stay out longer." The group agreed with Jason's suggestion. "We need to break. Call whoever you have to and organize your plans around fight time and the Command Center. Get whoever you can to cover for you."
"I can wire your communications through the Center's." Trey led the group out toward the main chamber.
************************
"Come on. Pick up!" Rocky waited past the fourth ring when the sound of someone coming over the line was heard. "Finally!" But it wasn't what he expected.
"Hi, you've reached the home of Adam Park. Leave a message and I'll get back as soon as I can. Bye!"
He muttered a curse. "Adam it's me, Rocky. Look, I'm gonna need you to cover my classes for a while. Something came up. Y'know...business." He emphasized the last word. Hopefully his friend would get the point. The connection was dropped. Something funny was going on. Adam never left without letting him know about it in advance. He was pretty sure nothing had been said yesterday...
"Geez, Adam, where are you?"
************************
"Angel Grove Sporting Goods, how can I help you?"
"Hi, is Katherine Hilliard there?"
"Nope. She called in sick this morning. Some kind of bug. Said she probably wasn't gonna be back for a while."
"Oh. Well, thanks anyway." Tommy cut the line. 'That was weird. I already checked our messages. Katherine didn't say anything about being sick. Maybe I better try her place and see how bad it is.' He punched Kat's number in on the console. Four rings and one answering machine message later left him no closer.
'Man, where could she be?'
************************
A warning tone sounded from one of the consoles, catching Trey's attention. He turned to its operator. "It's them, isn't it?"
"Yes. They're right in the middle of the city. It doesn't look like they're attacking anything, though. They're just.... Wait. I'm picking up another group of signals." There was a pause. He hoped this time they'd be able to decipher what the signal was. "It's Battalion forces."
He brought the image up on his own screen. "Looks like they're pretty busy."
"I wonder what they've got on their minds."
"Trouble. Patch me through the intercom to the Rangers."
************************
"How're you feeling?"
Kimberly looked up at the figure of her husband standing in the doorway. "Better. I think I'll be on my feet sooner than we planned." She caught the look of sorrow in his eye. "Tommy, stop it. You can't beat yourself up over every little thing that happens to me."
'Damn, she's gotten good at this.' Even Jason hadn't noticed the guilt he felt. "Sorry. I just don't like the situation, that's all."
The brunette sighed. "I know it's bad, but we'll get through it. We always have." He had walked over to her bedside now. She took his hand in hers. "In sickness and in health, 'til death do us part, remember?"
He smiled at her. "Even I could never forget that, Beautiful. I just don't want that last bit to happen any sooner than it has to."
+Rangers, the Dai'rak have returned to the city. There are Battalion forces with them. Take care of it, but be cautious.+
Tommy glanced an apology at his wife. She nodded. "Go. The others need you." Her only reply was a nod as he stood up and activated his morpher, then disappeared in a flash of black light.
************************
Red growled. "Where are they? Nobody is this slow."
"Will you relax?" Purple scolded. "We're here to make sure this Harvester goes up properly. If the Rangers come, then we can think about fighting. Not a minute before."
A hideous insect-looking Battalion member came up to the three Dai'rak. "Everything is prepared and we are ready to place the core inside." They nodded him away. It was a mundane task, to tell the truth. Especially for ones possessing their capabilities.
Green twitched. "They're here."
"Excellent." Red already had his twin katana blades out. "Point me to them."
Purple summoned her staff. "Sektarus told us not to engage unless they made the first move."
Green stood still for a moment, and the other two could see the energy collecting around them. "They made the first move by showing up. Now they're spying. I can detect their energy signatures on top of that office building." A blast of power was sent in the direction of the sheltering structure. "There. Now it looks like we can properly greet our company."
It wasn't long before the Rangers showed up. They pulled a short-range teleport and appeared just down the street not more than fifteen feet away, already armed and in combat stances.
"You're one short," Red called to them.
Tommy stepped forward. The sight of Kimberly going down yesterday flashed into his mind. He pointed his sword at Purple, claiming his target.
Jason was next, and he aimed his look directly at Green. 'Time to return yesterday's favor.'
The two leaders charged their respective opponents. Rocky, Aisha, and Zack followed close behind. They were prepared to switch off if any one of them was in particular trouble. Teamwork was of utmost importance now.
They had to unite, or they would fall.
************************
"Stop all programs and begin scanning those three."
"What?"
"Just do it. These are Triforian Powers, which means we've got a lot to deal with. I want to know as much as we can about them. Shut down the shielding program if you have to."
"Trey, that would leave us wide open to attack! If Sektarus finds us..."
He held up a hand to forestall any further comment. "You're right. I'm sorry. Don't go that far. Just shut down all nonessential systems and scan the Dai'rak on every possible frequency."
"Starting now."
************************
Aisha and Rocky flipped over Red and landed on both sides of him. He used his katana to block their attacks with an almost fluid ease. The blades on Rocky's staff began to spin. 'Maybe I can use these to knock him a little more off balance.' Both Rangers stepped up their attack, changing their angle just slightly so they could drive their target closer to a building's wall. Aisha used a blade on her forearm to take hold of Red's katana and morphed a cannon onto her other arm. She fired a streaming blast that pinned its receiver against the wall.
Rocky sped toward the temporarily captive Dai'rak. The beam would only be kept up for a short while so Aisha could conserve her power if the maneuver didn't work. A bare millisecond after the energy was cut Rocky drove his blade straight for his opponent, only to have it come in contact with sheer granite. He stared in shock. There was no way anyone could move that fast!
A small shift below him caught his eye. When he looked, Rocky saw a pure black shadow moving along the ground, straight towards Aisha! "Beneath you!" There was no time to make any other statement as a katana emerged from the shadow and swiped the woman's legs out from under her. Rocky sent a claw of energy along the ground that knocked the deadly weapon away just before his fellow Ranger was impaled upon it.
"You are beginning to become a thorn in my side, Ranger." Red emerged from the shadow, standing calmly above Aisha. "I think it's time to decrease your numbers a little more."
'Friend.... Hurt...No!' There was no full thought running through his mind, nothing intelligible, only the pressing need to help his friend. Emotion made him run. Emotion made his staff into an energized drill. Emotion made it bore into Red's back. It was emotion that sped his reactions enough to the point that he actually managed to stay on the attack. Aisha rose to her feet and began to help him. They were keeping Red off-balance now, altering their styles enough to keep him guessing. Things were finally beginning to go their way.
************************
"What's taking so long?"
"I'm working as fast as I can. Something's jamming our signal again."
Trey rubbed the bridge of his nose. The Rangers were doing well so far, but they couldn't be expected to keep that up forever. Hopefully physical scans could reveal what kind of technique they were using and perhaps even find a way to counteract the Dai'rak Powers.
"Keep trying."
************************
Tommy reeled from a blast across his chest. He was fighting two battles for control at the same time. Part of him wanted to break out, to lose it and just do whatever came natural. Underneath the helmet he grit his teeth. 'Can't let anger take control. Have to fight it.' Purple sent another blast from her staff. He rolled to the side and pulsed energy through his sword. More energy collected at his feet. 'Only got one shot at this...'
A flash of light was the only warning that he was even coming. Combusted energy propelled him forward as beams lanced out from his blade. Several of them struck Purple and twisted her sideways. She managed to spin with the blow of Tommy's sword and steady herself in a crouching position. The action paused as she focused on her target.
There was a buzzing in the back of Tommy's head. He shook it violently, trying to clear out the intruding sensation. It stopped seconds later. Gloved hands gripped his sword tighter. "I don't know what the hell it is you just tried to do, but it's not gonna work!
Purple regained her footing and charged him. One end of her staff planted itself in the ground and she used it to propel herself into a flying kick aimed straight at her target's head. Tommy rolled underneath the attack and stood with an upward swipe that missed by mere centimeters. His upper body twisted in one direction to block a strike toward his legs, then the other to stop an attack to the shoulders, then back again to slash sideways across Purple's stomach. He dived at her sword-first. She barely managed to catch his weapon on hers and hold him off.
The buzzing sensation returned, even fiercer than before. Tommy pressed down harder. He began angling the blade at his opponent's head. "Stop it!" he yelled. It was almost becoming painful, like a scorpion that kept stinging his brain over and over again.
Zack's smoking figure crashed into him. Limbs entangled and left the two laying on the asphalt, completely immobile.
************************
Minutes earlier...
Jason and Zack crouched behind a small yellow Volkswagen Beetle. They were currently taking cover from an insane barrage of energy pellets being launched straight from Green's palms. The two Rangers looked at each other.
"You got a plan, Jase?"
He nodded. "I think so. Dangerous and a little crazy, though."
"You mean there's any other kind of plan?"
Both of them smiled underneath their helmets. "Fire a blast under the car. I'll do what I can to throw our little friend off balance, then you come in with your axe. Got it?"
The African-American only clapped his hands as deep black energy began forming between the palms. "Make it quick, because I'm not waiting for your slow ass to get out of the way."
"Screw you."
"Exit only, man."
A part of Jason's mind, what some people would call the more sane part, was wondering exactly how he could make and take jokes at a time like this. He knew it was absolutely crazy. 'I guess it's just something we got used to over the years.' They all hated to think they had been desensitized, but sometimes truth was something you had to face.
He shook his head. There would be time to deal with morality issues later, preferably over a nice hot cup of coffee with a very pretty girl.
"NOW!"
Zack fired a wide disc of energy along the underside of the tiny Volkswagen and straight into Green's shins. Jason launched himself over the car, charging his body with energy and propelling it straight at his target. He was mere inches away before he cut the charge completely and came in with a powerful right hook that knocked the armored figure from one direction to the other. It came as a surprise to him that no bones were snapped from the whiplash effect.
An even bigger surprise came in the form of four blades grabbing the sides of his neck. Green had rolled with the blow and pulled out two five-pronged sai. The four smaller prongs of one of the weapons were what had gripped him. Surges of Power traveled along the line and began electrocuting him. His vocal chords constricted, allowing no sound to travel out through the pain.
It was now that Zack dashed across the asphalt with a large axe raised high. He gave out one loud "Kiyah!" before leaping into the air and preparing for a downward swipe strong enough to cleave a Zord in half.
No warning came to tell him of the other sai's four prongs careening straight for him. There was no chance to avoid their vice-like grip on his ankle. Even worse, there was nothing he could do to stop the rippling charge of deadly energy that shocked his entire system through and through.
The wires that connected the prongs to their sai yanked Zack's spastic body through the air before he was released to go colliding into Tommy.
************************
Rocky raised his staff high to block a downward swipe, then twirled it to spin both of Red's katana so that his arms crossed his chest. In a blur of movement Red managed to twist out of the maneuver and bring both blades to bear on Rocky's left side. He knocked them away and side-kicked his opponent in the ribcage. Aisha fired several blasts of energy that knocked him into the air.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rocky managed to catch sight of Zack's aerial incident. A sigh came out of his mouth as he analyzed the situation. 'We are going to be so screwed if things don't look up.' He summoned Aisha on a private comm channel. "Go help Jason. Give him a chance to recover, then see if you need to assist Zack and Tommy. I'll take care of Red."
His companion nodded, then pulled a short-range teleport over to where Green was holding Jason.
Rocky turned to continue his attack...but Red was gone. Nowhere in sight. 'Uh-oh. I'll bet he pulled that shadow trick again. He could be anywhere by now!' There wasn't time for him to search manually, not with his friends in danger. 'Alright, then. Let's see if I can still remember how to activate this thing...'
There was a dark flash of light that formed into a thin silver visor over his helmet. A readout in the lower corner of his display read POWER SCOPE ACTIVATED: THERMAL SCAN ENGAGED. Everything became awash with various shades of red, blue, and orange. A small targeting box began scrolling across his field of vision. It bounced around for a few moments before locking on to a form outlined on the wall of an office building. Rocky smiled under his helmet.
'You can run, but you can't hide.'
************************
Tommy rolled Zack's unconscious form off of him. 'Geez, Zack-man. I think it's time you laid off the banana splits!' He slowly rose to his feet, clutching his sword tightly. 'Alright, where'd that mind-screwing, purple-wearing freak get off to?'
"Tommy! Help us out here!"
The scream turned his attention to the side. He was about to charge, combat-ready, when a sense of confusion crashed his senses. Not far away was Aisha...
...Fighting off nothing but air.
"They're everywhere!" she screamed. Genuine fear permeated her voice. It was as if she was really under attack, but there was no one there!
It was then that his eyes caught sight of Jason, still being held captive by the electrified prongs around his neck. If not for the Power he probably would have suspected his best friend of being dead by now. Standing next to him were Purple and Green. They were obviously smug about something...
'Wait a second! Purple's Power is illusion! I'll bet she's using it on Aisha!' Tommy instinctively charged. He didn't have any particular plan, except for distracting the two Dai'rak long enough for his fellow Ranger to regain her wits.
His sword arm moved in a blur of deadly intensity. Sparks flew as steel met armor. He performed a running upward slash that struck Purple across the chest, then turned and stabbed backward, cutting a thin line straight through her armor with the tip of his blade. A well-placed crouching leg sweep knocked her to the pavement. The follow-through carried him back to a standing position facing Green, who launched the four prongs that had grabbed Zack earlier. Tommy deflected two with his sword and rolled under the other two. He brought his sword up in a powerful swipe that cut the prongs from Jason's neck. A quick grip adjustment so that his sword was once again in a standard position and he tore a deep gash down Green's back side.
"Aisha! Grab Zack and bring him over here! We need to get him and Jason out of here now!"
Jason grabbed his forearm. "No way," he rasped. "I'm staying."
Tommy took his friend's gloved hand and held it tight. "Sorry, bro. Executive leader decision. You both need medical attention."
Aisha managed to hoist Zack in her arms and carry him over. "Hey, where's Rocky?"
************************
"Trey! We have a problem!"
"What is it?"
"Something's got a hold of our scanning program, and it's backtracking the signal! If that's Sektarus, he could find out where we are!"
"How much do you have on the Dai'rak?"
"I won't know until we check the data files. I've been sending it all directly into file storage."
"Alright. Stop the program and teleport the Rangers back now."
************************
Akeras studied the situation through the viewscreen. "They'll leave before the battle is finished, my lord. How can this be acceptable?"
Sektarus turned both black, dismal eyes at his underling. "It is allowed in their form to regroup if injury has occurred to one or more of their number." His gaze shifted to a nearby servant crouching at a computer station. "What is the status of the connection trace?"
"Nearly finished, m'lord. We will have their location in..." The monster stopped suddenly, a look of dread coming over what passed for its face. "Wha...? No. Nononononononononono NO!"
"What is happening?" Sektarus growled. The creature made a gulping noise.
"S...something...backfired th...the trace, sir. We...we lost it before we could pinpoint their location. And the empowered, they...they vanished."
Black flared into bright red, burning inside of Sektarus' eyes. "WHAT?!" Dark strands of energy crackled around him for several moments as a deep growl of displeasure rose from the monstrosity. Akeras felt a slight quiver of fear at the sight. No one, not even a trusted warrior such as himself, was stupid enough to speak when his commander was in such a rage. It seemingly took an eternity for the dark force to calm down enough to speak civilly. "What area did the trace lead us to before it was broken?"
"A great desert outside of the city we have been focusing our assault on, Lord Sektarus."
"Very well. You have done your duty in remembering that location. Now go."
As soon as the underling was out of sight, Akeras stepped up. He knew his place well enough to estimate when his services were needed. "What now, my lord?"
A sound almost similar to a sigh came from the hulking mass of darkness. "Take one hundred of our remaining Battalion forces down with you and search that area. Lead them personally. I want you to find the base that they are operating out of. Eliminate anyone who crosses your path in rancor, but bring the Triforian Prince Trey to me alive."
"What of the empowered?"
"I will give the Dai'rak time to rest and rejuvenate. Then they will battle yet again.
"To the death."
************************
Trey strode into the chamber purposefully. "The Rangers are being teleported back here as we speak. What have you got for me?"
"Well, the good news is that I can positively say that the Dai'rak are purely Triforian. Whoever's harnessing these Powers is definitely from home. That makes it easier to narrow down a training simulation for the Rangers."
He shook his head. "I don't like this. Fighting against our own people..."
"It's awful, I know." There was a thoughtful pause between the two.
"What about the bad news?"
"What?"
"You said good news, which implies that there is bad news as well."
"Oh, right. Well, that's where it gets tricky. Scans of the Dai'rak brought up some interesting results. Apparently there's some kind of energy wavelength that's interfering with their normal mental patterns. I can't quite lock it down to a specific pattern, but I can tell you that it's causing some serious damage up there."
Trey leaned over his companion's shoulder and read over the information on the screen. "Could it be some kind of mind control? Brain wave/impulse alteration, perhaps?"
"At this point I'd say that if it wasn't, somebody did one damn good job of tricking our sensors."
"Can you figure out a way to reverse it?"
"Maybe. If I can't, then, well..."
He nodded. It was a part of a code on Triforia, and even among the Earth Rangers if he understood correctly. They would take their own lives before serving the enemy.
If they couldn't help the Dai'rak, they would kill them.
