MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS in THE
EIGHTH COIN - Part 9
Written by DTM666
Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.
Sorry for the late posting. I'm hoping to finish this story before the end of the year. Enjoy.
---
Feeling the fruits of victory close at hand, the Titan warrior Goldar stood before the opened doors of the Command Center, his eyes lighting up and a wicked smirk forming on his primal face in anticipation of what he was about to accomplish. This was the moment he had been dreaming of ever since he was released from his ten thousand year prison and after years of taking abuse from Rita and Zedd, he would accomplish what none thought was possible. And in his mind, there was nothing anyone can do about it. The Rangers were busy with the monsters and his partner was being mobbed by the army after attempting to kill the Titan. Nobody else stood in the way...
"At last, the end of Zordon and his pathetic Power Rangers is at hand," he announced triumphantly, "The ultimate prize will be mine!"
He took the first step inside the compound and took a long whiff of the air that came from it. Before he could make a further step, he saw a familiar figure in white flying straight at him with both feet fully extended. Unable to react in time, Goldar felt the full brunt of a White Ranger dropkick that hurled the dazed Titan out of the Command Center's entryway and down the steep slope of the base. Goldar rolled down the slope until he reached a gradual surface and slowly got back to his feet. He looked upwards to find the White Ranger standing tall on the base of the moutain.
"Hey, Donkey Kong! Didn't you read the club rules?" Tommy taunted, "Only those with a power coin can enter the clubhouse!"
The titan growled in response and leapt at the White Ranger, who leapt in response. When the two met in midair, Tommy pulled out Saba and dug the saber deep into Goldar's back. The Titan screamed in pain as he felt the blade punch through his armor and puncture his outer skin, though he didn't believe it to be a fatal blow. Tommy pulled the bloodied saber from the Titan's back and rolled to the ground while Goldar crashed. He saw the open wound that Saba caused and saw the blood gushing from it. Before he could do anything else, Goldar immediately teleported back to the moon, vanishing in mystic flames. The situation here done, Tommy broke into a run towards the army of monsters, where the other Rangers were.
---
There was a blanket of silence that covered the command center as Zordon and Alpha gazed towards the hunter who was the bearer of the Eighth Power Coin. Gillian's stare to Zordon was strong enough that the sage almost felt fearful of what this person might do. After all, the last time a coin bearer penetrated the Command Center unannounced, he was almost lost for good and the Command Center was in shambles. It wasn't difficult for assume that it would happen again.
Gillian turned towards Alpha, who was tending to the unconscious Kimberly. She soon took a couple steps closer to check on Kim for a moment. After staring a hole at Kim's forehead, Gillian turned to Alpha and placed a hand on the robot's shoulder.
"Step back," she told Alpha, "I'll get her out of this."
Alpha hesitated for a moment and looked up to Zordon. When he saw the sage bob his head, Alpha obliged and soon Gillian stood over Kimberly's prone body. She immediately removed the wrappings from her left hand to unveil the Eighth power coin, which was pulsating various colors strongly. She plucked the coin with the right hand and motioned over Kimberly's head, with Alpha and Zordon staring in awe as they saw the coin at work. Gillian continued to motion the coin until Kim's body briefly flashed pink and retracted her hand. In a couple seconds, Kim's eyes slowly opened up. She glanced around the room and noticed the hunter looking down at her.
"What are you doing here?" she said.
Gillian shook her head in disbelief. "You're welcome."
Kim slowly sat up and stretched out her arms while yawning. With a scanner in hand, Alpha approached Kim and checked her for a bit with the small device. After a moment, Alpha went back to work and Kim jumped to her feet before turning to Zordon.
"So what did I miss?"
---
From the relative safety of his Lunar Palace, Lord Zedd observed the brutal fighting on Earth, which had grown more furious since the White Ranger's arrival and Goldar's sudden departure. Zedd looked around and wondered where those Dark Rangers were; they should have been there by now. Then it made sense to Zedd that they would wait for their moment to strike; a fitting strategy to finish off the rest of the table scrap that remained.
It would be these stealth tactics that wins him the coin, he thought, but once again that stupid buffoon messed it up!
Almost on cue, the battered Titan emerged in the chamber of command. Zedd didn't face Goldar, but was aware of his arrival. Knowing this, Goldar took slow steps towards the balcony, dropped to a knee, and groveled to the fleshman lord.
"My lord, I regret to inform you that-"
Zedd raised his hand, which silenced the Titan. "I do not want to hear your sniveling excuses, Goldar. I want you to watch as my Dark Rangers plunder through these insignificant insects like fruit loops."
---
When Tommy got to the battlefield, he broke into a quick dash and knocked down several monsters with running forearms and sword swipes that seemed to kill anything it cut through. He couldn't see any of the other Rangers, as the monsters were occupying most of the space anyway. Tommy eventually reached Ecliptor, who noticed the White Ranger coming at him and the two engaged in a sword fight. Ecliptor managed to counter most of Tommy's attacks, who promptly blocked the counters. Even after two straight minutes of fighting, neither one was gaining an advantage over the other.
Meanwhile, Rocky had finished off several more Z-Putties and Quantrons, Adam cleared the way of Knasty Knights and Stag Beetles, and both Aisha and Billy successfully fended off the Twin Men. Slowly, the large number of monsters was shrinking bit by bit, but the Rangers were starting to feel tired after what seemed like an hour of constant fighting. Just when things seemed to be looking up, Rocky noticed several explosions in the background and the flaming bodies of monsters that were flung from the spot. He tilted his head another way to find another explosion and more monsters sent flying, but he could visibly see a quick-moving blur of light that split into five of varying colors. Rocky noticed a speeding red blur dashing right at him. He tried to steer clear, but the blur was too fast and Rocky soon felt the brunt of a fist smashing to his protected face with enough force to knock the Red Ranger down, but not enough force to crack the helmet.
"What's going on?" he blurted out as he struggled back to his feet.
The five blurs continued through, destroying everything it touched. What had once been a massive army of several hundred monsters and putties have been reduced to no more than fifty monsters, most of whom were teleporting away from here to escape the wrath of these colored blurs. The clearing of monsters had given the five Rangers an opportunity to regroup. Before long, the five blurs stopped before the now unified Rangers and solidified into five figures, with cheaply-done replica of their own Ranger suits. Colored red, yellow, blue, pink, and grey, they did fighting poses similar to the Rangers, but they did not make any sound.
"Dark Rangers?" Billy spat in realization. "They look worse than the first time around."
"Yeah, they hit hard too," Rocky rebutted, "That stung me good."
"Gotta be careful," Tommy said, "There could be people in those suits."
Adam didn't respond, as he was too busy dodging a flying kick from the Grey Dark Ranger. Another missed blow gave the Black Ranger an opening and he managed to land a well-placed punch to the Dark Ranger's face. Much to Adam's surprise, the head of the Dark Ranger flew off the body and splattered on a nearby rockface. The rest of the Dark Ranger's body starting cracking and just as quickly crumbled into a pile of rotting clay pieces.
"So much for that theory, Tommy," Adam replied, "These are claybrains all the way."
Even with reduced numbers and the knowledge that their new enemies weren't human, the Dark Rangers were still proving to be difficult adversaries and other than Tommy, the other four Rangers were having a hard enough time fighting these doppelgangers as well as their own fatigue. From afar, Ecliptor saw all the Rangers fight with these awful monstrosities. Then his eyes glanced towards the straight, gradual slope that led to the Command Center. With the Rangers distracted and Goldar having tucked his tail between his legs to flee back to the moon, Ecliptor climbed up the slope without fear of repercussion. Before long, he approached the front gate of the Command Center, which was still wide open. Ecliptor nodded in approval of the circumstances and took a few steps within the dark hall. Before he could advance any further, Ecliptor was struck in the chest by various arrows that shot at him. The barrage of steel arrows had caused the warrior to stag back and before long, he found himself outside. Another energy blast followed and struck Ecliptor in the chest again, the blow enough to knock the warrior down.
"What is with you losers anyway?" a female voice blurted out, "You can't just barge in here without a power coin! It goes against the union rules!"
Ecliptor slowly got to his feet and looked ahead as a Pink Ranger emerged from the darkness that hid her. She held the Power Bow and held the arrow firmly, ready to launch the projectile at a moment's notice. Ecliptor thought of attacking and running past the Pink Ranger; after all, he was stronger than she was. Then he took note of the second emerging figure from the entryway of the Command Center. Ecliptor instantly recognized her.
"You double-crossing wench!" he growled, "You were supposed to bring the coin to ME!"
Gillian shook her head. "And you were supposed to pay me. But I never received the advance."
Ecliptor charged at the hunter, but Kimberly stepped in the way and released the arrow. The arrow managed to pierce through Ecliptor's left arm and continued on its way. Ecliptor looked at his arm as the black skin turned transparent and the green grids of his arm slowly dissolved. Outnumbered and disarmed, Ecliptor took a step back and teleported away back to his home base, leaving the two women alone.
"Okay," Gillian told Kim, "this is the part where you help the other Rangers fight... those clay things or... whatever."
Kim shrugged and ran off towards the fighting. Even from a distance, she could see the other five Rangers fighting off against the four remaining Dark Rangers and their ridiculous costumes. She instinctively leapt to the sky, summoned her Power Bow and launched several arrows to the ground. Some of the arrows managed to s, while a single arrow dug itself into the Pink Dark Ranger's cranium. Seeing the Dark Ranger struggling to remove the arrow, Tommy ran towards the grotesque creature, sheathed Saba, and delivered a quick swipe across the Dark Ranger's neck. The Dark Ranger just as quickly dropped to the ground, its sliced head bouncing along the uneven surface. Seconds after the prone body dissolved into mist, Tommy let out a relieved sigh and turned to Kim, who just landed while he was dealing with the Dark Ranger.
"You okay?" Kim asked.
Tommy nodded. "Funny, I was going to ask you the same question."
Kim didn't give an answer; she sidestepped the flying Yellow Dark Ranger, who crashed onto the wall and quickly recovered. Kim pulled out her blaster and fired a continuous laser beam that seemed to dig itself into the Dark Ranger's chest and shoot out of its back. Kim kept the beam active and the Dark Ranger slowly began to lose its form. From another angle, Tommy pulled out Saba, aimed the saber at the paralyzed monster, and tossed it so that it would impale into the Dark Ranger's chest. A flash of yellow light formed around the creature and just as quickly faded away. Another Dark Ranger has been taken out, leaving two more remaining.
The Blue Dark Ranger's various punches were pitifully executed and his kicks were telegraphed easily that Billy was able to avoid the attacks entirely. The attacks were slowly atrociously launched that it would take a lot of effort for Billy to get hit on purpose if he wanted to. Despite this, Billy decided to let the Ranger wear himself out as oppose to launching a quick and easy kill, but then changed his mind and delivered a fierce headbutt that practically decapitated the clay creature's head. Seconds later, the blue remains dissolved into mist, prompting Billy to join with the others.
All that remained now was the Red Dark Ranger, who was fighting with Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. Unlike the other Dark Rangers, whom were taken out rather quickly, the Red Dark Ranger was a formidable fighter, able to quickly block, dodge, and counter attacks from all three Rangers at once. At one point, he managed to swing his right arm at all three Rangers, knocking them back on the ground. Soon, the other three Power Rangers joined up and the Dark Ranger was clearly outnumbered. One by one, the Rangers launched their attacks, but the Dark Ranger shot out various lightning bolts that struck the Rangers. Only the White Ranger stood and he broke into a dash at the Dark Ranger. The Dark Ranger dashed at the White Ranger with blazing speed and before long, he struck Tommy with the tip of the elbow, knocking the leader of the Rangers down on his back.
"Man, this guy is starting to get on my nerves!" Tommy muttered as he and the other Rangers regrouped, "Let's finish this!"
All six Rangers went into position and summoned the Power Cannon. Before the Dark Ranger could react, the cannon fired a continuous stream of energy that enveloped the creature in golden light. When the beam faded, the Dark Ranger's form was still and lifeless. A second passed before the clay form of the last Dark Ranger slowly crumbled into a pile of gray dust.
It seemed like the Dark Rangers were defeated and victory had been assured, but then the sky slowly darkened until it was a cold, harsh layer of black. Loud thunder could be heard and crimson bolts of lightning formed, striking the very spot where the Red Dark Ranger was slain. Another set of yellow lightning bolts struck the spot where the Yellow Dark Ranger's corpse had faded and three more sets of colored bolts did the same for the remaining three. From these spots formed a orb and these five orbs of light flew from their spot, merging together to form a gigantic creature whose physical form was shrouded in shadow.
"I did not just see that!" Kim shrieked.
"Come on, guys," Tommy told them, "We've dealt with worse than this!"
---
Within the Command Center walls, Zordon, Alpha 5, and the coin bearer Gillian silently watched the battle in progress. Both the Eltarean sage and the Eighth Coin bearer seemed tense as the five essences of the Dark Rangers combined into one single entity, but neither said a word. As they watched, the viewing globe showed the summoning of the Thunderzords and their subsequent transformation into the Thunder Megazord. It later showed the White Tigerzord emerging from its hiding place and converting to Warrior Mode, the Zord's more effective mode. As soon as it showed the two transformed Zords facing this shadow figure, Gillian broke the uneasy silence.
"They are in way over their heads," she blurted out, "They're not going to beat it."
"You must have faith in the Rangers," Zordon advised, "I believe they will defeat this latest adversary."
Gillian turned to the sage, her face burdened with worry. "This 'latest adversary' is a Reaper. I've seen that kind of power put to use. That thing'll tear them apart."
Upon hearing this, Alpha shrieked, followed by a seemingly unending string of "Ayaiyaiyai". Zordon knew about Reaper monsters and their power. Like the hunter, he had seen what one such monster could do to a thousand well-trained soldiers. He knew well that this would be a futile battle.
To be continued...
P.S. - Donkey Kong is owned by Nintendo.