"That's the last straw." Lothor snarled, finally fed-up. "First traitorous Psycho Rangers and now escaped prisoners. What kind of General is he?"
"He has his own agenda sir; he has since the beginning." Zurgane said.
Lothor growled. "I don't need you telling me "I told you so", General." He fixed Zurgane with a pointed glare. "Transport over there and take over. Kill that slimy snake if you have to."
"With pleasure."
ZzZzZ
Kalix watched calmly as General Zurgane transported into his command room. He sat without a care in his chair, as the impotent fool demanded he relinquish command of the ship. It was only when Zurgane drew his swords that Kalix finally moved. With a wave of his clawed hand he sent Zurgane flying backwards and pinned him against a wall. Kalix stood and stalked over to his rival, eyes flashing menacingly.
"You dare show your face on my ship after stabbing me in the back?" Kalix snarled. "Did you really think that would be the end of me? You fool. By having me banished you gave me the chance I needed to grow an army. I should thank you really, except friends aren't supposed to betray each other."
"You assumed I would go along with your foolhardy plan. It's your own fault for planning against Lothor." Zurgane replied defiantly.
Kalix smirked then, his anger fading to amusement. "You could have had a part in my army, been a General at least, but that fate is hardly the reward of betrayal. In fact, you're lucky I don't slowly tear your mind apart, letting you feel it as you lose yourself, but in honor of what we once had I'm simply going to imprison you."
"You'll never get away with anything." Zurgane snarled.
"Oh please, don't start throwing cliché hero one-liners at me." Kalix sneered. "Your pathetic Lothor is hardly capable of stopping me. And surely you're not supporting the rangers?"
Zurgane remained defiantly silent. He could only watch as the three knight monsters entered the room. As soon as Kalix released his telepathic hold Zurgane made a move toward the raptor, but Nyus was too fast. The bronze knight lashed out with a kick that met Zurgane's head with a sharp crack of metal on metal. Lothor's General was quickly subdued by the superior knights and led away.
Kalix smirked to himself. His game with Lothor was over, but the fun was just starting. He wished he could see the look on Lothor's face when the "evil" space ninja realized he was way out of his league. It was for that reason he contacted Lothor, his subservient act going right out of the window. He gave Lothor a full on smirk and sat casually in his chair.
"Your crony has failed Lothor, but are you really surprised? I told you long ago that you didn't want to banish me. That you would regret it." Kalix said, gauging Lothor's reaction.
Lothor's face was turning a furious shade of red beneath his mask. "How dare you! You listen to me you little upstart…"
"Oh Lothor, you don't just use cliches, you are a walking talking one." Kalix mocked. "An arrogant, unimaginative, walking cliché."
"Where do you get off talking to me like that?" Lothor demanded. "I'm not going to banish you this time. This time I'll kill you myself!"
Kalix smirked, his sharp teeth gleaming. "You think so? Well, I have something to show you and then let's see what you think."
With that he nodded toward Deder. The armored being punched in a few buttons while Kalix watched the screen expectantly. He watched as Lothor took in the sight of the cloak around half of his flagship shimmering away. He watched as the ninja's eyes grew wide at the sight of a ship twice as big as his own. Kalix felt extremely satisfied to see fear fill Lothor's eyes as he realized how much he had underestimated his ex-General.
"Now, you can do the smart thing, surrender, and be imprisoned with Zurgane to maybe earn the privilege of serving me later. Or you could do the stupid thing and try to fight me." Kalix said, eyes shinning with excitement.
Lothor quickly regained his composure and hid his fear. "Lothor serves no one."
"I had hoped you'd say that." Kalix laughed. "Deder."
The general didn't have to be told what to do. With a push of the finger two torpedo-like weapons fired from the ship and raced toward Lothor's ship. Lothor's ship fired at them, trying to blast the torpedoes, but it did no good. The torpedoes exploded and energy surged through Lothor's ship, splashing over it like water. Lothor roared with fury as his ship systems short-circuited and everything shut down. Hooks shot out from inside one of the flagship's hangers and attached themselves to Lothor's ship and began to pull it in.
"You should have just surrendered Lothor." Kalix taunted. "It would have saved you the humiliation."
"You--."
"Won't get away with this? You're hardly in a position to throw THAT particular cliché at me." Kalix continued to taunt. "Just sit back and relax Lothor. Your days as a force of evil are over."
ZzZzZ
Running a simulation with Sebastien for the first time was quite an experience. His fighting style was extremely different from both the Thunders and the Winds. It seemed the stealth and ambush bit of his training went out the window in a close combat situation where neither was possible. Instead he became extremely aggressive and he had enough ice tricks to keep the three Winds on their toes. His tactics were very different and Sensei noted with some dismay that the others weren't adapting well. The Winds had a hard time defending against him, and the Thunders couldn't seem to work with him.
The Thunders didn't seem to mesh as well with Sebastien as they did with Cam. Sensei noted that with interest. It seemed that though Blake seemed to put some trust into Sebastien, Hunter's inability to do so affected the battle tremendously. In fact, it seemed as if the two were beginning to get in each other's way rather than trying to cooperate and get things done. Sensei just hoped that this inability to work together wouldn't affect them on the real battlefield where someone could get hurt.
A beeping noise by the computer caught Sensei's attention. He bounced his way over there and found that it was the pager Kale had left for Cam. He looked over as the simulation ended itself and the rangers collected themselves. He sighed to himself when he saw Sebastien and Hunter glaring at each other. Something was going to have to be worked out between them before they got themselves or someone else hurt.
"Rangers, I believe Niko and Zadan are trying to contact you." Sensei said.
Hunter and Sebastien continued to glare at each other, but the others rushed over to pager. Shane knew how to work it from watching Cam do it and managed to pull up the message. The two Psychos were summoning them to the ship, just like Kale would. The six rangers streaked away leaving Sensei behind. At the usual spot they were transported into the cavern where they were met by the two Psychos.
"Kale's escaped!" Niko exclaimed.
"Actually, Dr. Radkee finally got fed up with Kalix and escaped taking everyone with him." Zadan replied. "He's invited us all to his ship; we thought you might like to meet him and the others."
"Another ship?" Dustin asked voice excited.
"He's got it hidden in the ocean." Niko said, indirectly answering Dustin's question
"Sweet!"
Shane and Tori shared a look of amusement at Dustin's enthusiasm, but the mood quickly grew serious again as Blake asked the question everyone was truly wondering. "How's Cam?"
"He's...still not awake." Niko said. "That's all we know."
The rangers shared looks of disappointment and worry, but agreed to go with Niko and Zadan. Niko used Kale's communication systems to send a brief message back to Radkee including their coordinates and the next thing everyone knew they were on a completely different ship. It had better lighting and was obviously much, much bigger than Kale's shuttle. The room that they appeared in was obviously the command bridge as there were different stations and a huge viewscreen at the front.
"Dr. Radkee, about time you grew a backbone." Zadan teased as the good natured doctor approached them.
"Watch it you, you may still have need of my skills." Radkee retorted before grabbing the younger man in a headlock.
"Rangers, this is Dr. Kardan Radkee." Niko said, not even moving to help his teammate. Niko then went on to introduce the rangers, though he faltered at Sebastien, who had to introduce himself. "Where are your teammates?"
"Harper's sleeping and Sizvu working on some projects." Kardan said.
"Did you get Kale out?" Tori asked hopefully.
"Aye, but there's a problem.
"What problem?" Zadan asked.
"It seems when Kalix was tearing through Kale's mind the lad pulled his consciousness very deep into his dark subconscious and either can't or won't come back. I've no psychic powers with which to help, but Amias is doing what he can."
"Amias?" Niko repeated, blue-green eyes gone unbelievably wide.
Kardan nodded. "Aye, do you kn---."
Before the doctor could even finish what he was saying Niko took off out of the room. It didn't matter that he didn't know where he was going. He mentally reached out for Amias, trying to search out his older friend's familiar presence. Suddenly it was there, like the feeling of cool water in his mind, he felt Amias for the first time in several years. He easily followed the feeling to Amias and had to restrain himself from tackling his wayward teammate. As soon as he entered the room Amias's head shot up and he pulled his mind back from Kale's and stood up.
"Niko?" Amias whispered, just as surprised to find his Navy teammate still alive. Somehow he had never heard that Niko was Psycho Navy. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you kid?"
"Makes me more interesting than you old man." Niko replied.
They moved as one and enveloped each other in a huge hug. They were both more than a little excited to see someone else from their planet still alive. For a long time they just stayed that way and enjoyed the fact that among so many stranger they hadn't known long they were suddenly with someone they had known for several years. Finally there was some familiarity.
"I can't believe I never picked up on the fact that you were Psycho Navy." Amias said as they pulled apart.
"I walked right by you when I busted Kale out." Niko said, slightly ashamed of himself. "How did Kalix get a hold of you? Where did you go when you left Dai II?"
Amias smiled at his younger friend's curiosity. "We'll talk later Niko-kan, I promise. But right now I need your help fixing the mess Kale's made of his mind."
"Let's do it." Niko said, excited at the idea of working with his teammate again.
Zadan watched from the doorway, happy for Niko, but jealous all at the same time. He knew for a fact all his teammates were dead. He'd helped kill them all himself. He had no one left. No one except Niko who, until just, now had not had anyone else either. What was he supposed to do now? Niko would surely forget about him and spend time with his real teammate, his ranger teammate and not his Psycho teammate.
"You're not forgotten lad." Kardan said as if reading the Psycho's mind. "He's just happy to see his teammate, but he's still going to come to you tonight."
Meanwhile the ninjas were left wondering what else could go wrong. First Cam was seriously, maybe even fatally wounded. Then Kalix got his claws on eight Gems of Power and now one of their best allies, Kale, was out of the game for a while as well. On the bright side they gained a new teammate, Sebastien, and apparently four new allies. Maybe things would start to look up for them.
ZzZzZ
"Come out come out wherever you are." Psycho Blue called as she and her teammates scoured Lothor's ship for everyone hiding on it. Choobo had given up without a fight, but Lothor, Kapri, and Marah were still unaccounted for.
Marah bit back a whimper and tried to stay hidden. Normally she would have tried to put up some kind of fight or just transport away, but Kalix had some kind of forcefield around the ship that blocked transportation. Fighting against the Psychos just wasn't an option. She knew she was no match for them, none at all. She was sure even her Uncle couldn't stand up to them. They were on a whole different level of power.
Suddenly her closest was torn open, the metal shrieking with protest, and a blue hand snatched her out of her hiding place. Psycho Blue's visor glowed with glee as Marah struggled. She laughed mockingly, the distortion making it even more malicious.
"I could say you put up a fight and finish you off myself." Blue said, enjoying the fear in Marah's eyes.
Marah shot a beam at Psycho Blue, but it didn't even faze the evil warrior. Blue tossed her across the room and smirked at the sickening crack her head made against the wall. She was unconcerned by what kind of damage she might do to the pathetic excuse of a warrior. Evil space ninja. She sneered in her mind, approaching the crumpled form with every intention of finishing the pest off. She would have too if Red hadn't caught the thought and ordered her to bring Marah to Kalix as their master had ordered.
Meanwhile Kapri had decided to try and fight Crimson and the Psycho Ranger was just toying with her. He blocked all her attacks with a bored manner and laughed as her attempts grew more desperate and sloppier as well. When he finally grew tired of it he caught her wrist, swung her up into the air, and flung her out of the room and into the hall. He followed, laughing as he knelt beside her unconscious form. These fools wanted to take over Earth?
Red didn't have to look far. Lothor was sitting on his throne, not hiding at all. The evil ninja stood as Red entered the room.
"If you think you're taking me prisoner--."
Lothor didn't get anything more out. Red attacked with fierce efficiency. Lothor blocked everything that Red threw at him and managed to get in a few hits of his own, but Red could recover quicker than Lothor could. Then Lothor blasted Red pointed blank in the chest and it sent the Psycho Ranger flying. As Red got to his feet, he smirked behind his helmet.
"If you think that's powerful then you really are pathetic." Red sneered. "I'll show you power. Psycho Slash Attack!"
Lothor threw up a shield in front of himself, but it didn't help. Red's energy blew the shield apart and hit Lothor hard enough to send him flying back into his throne. Lothor sat on his throne dazed and hurt as Red approached him. Red mentally told the other Psychos of his success and they reported the same back.
With that task done they took their captives out of the ship and headed toward the command room. Kalix wanted to see Lothor face to face in order to properly humiliate the so-called evil space ninja. Crimson couldn't wait to see it. He had waited long enough to see Lothor bowing before them and he didn't want to waste anymore time.
ZzZzZ
Amias shoved Niko to the side as an energy blast ripped past where the younger boy had been. He then helped Niko up and the two of them looked where it had come from. Niko wasn't surprised to see Nyus, but he was surprised to see Kale as just the Black Knight Ranger along with the Green Knight Ranger. They were fighting fiercely against the knight monster, both obviously putting everything they could into the fight. Niko winced as Kale was sent flying from a shield-bash to the face. The Green Knight Ranger lunged, swinging his huge battle axe, but Nyus was quicker and ducked the axe and swiped the Green Ranger across the chest with his sickles.
"Valin!" Kale shouted, getting to his feet.
Nyus turned on him. "I'd worry about yourself Blackie."
"Don't call me that!" Kale roared and lunged at the monster with reckless abandon. He was rewarded with a rib cracking kick to the chest.
Niko was surprised by Kale's recklessness. It made him wonder just how long ago this memory was from. It was obvious that though Kale was a good fighter he definitely wasn't experienced yet. He kept making novice mistakes and Nyus was taking advantage of them. Likewise the Green Ranger, Valin, seemed to be having almost as much trouble. They couldn't seem to touch the monster and the only ones doing any sparking were them.
"Rez, we need help." Kale called into a device on his wrist.
"Sorry Kale, you guys are—ahhh!"
"Rez!" Valin and Kale shouted at the same time.
"He's okay, but you guys are on your own!" Another voice said.
Nyus laughed at them. "Looks like your teammates have abandoned you. Now what are you going to do?"
Niko glanced at Amias as the two Knight Ranger went at Nyus again. Amias was watching, caught up in the moment. Niko didn't blame him. It was really easy to get caught up in someone's memories, especially bad ones. But he knew they had a job to do and it didn't include watching Kale relieve his worst memories.
"Amias, let's put an end to his nightmare." Niko said, catching his friend's attention.
Amias's head snapped around. "Oh yeah, no reason for him to suffer through it again."
Niko stepped forward and grimaced as Valin was sent flying by a kick. "Kale! Kale this isn't real!"
Kale didn't acknowledge them and instead leapt at Nyus's back as the monster approached the fallen Valin. Nyus swung around and caught Kale on the point of one of his sickles. The blade went right through Kale and protruded out of his back as Nyus laughed. Valin jumped up to help his teammate, but Nyus swung around and flung Kale's limp body at the Green Ranger. Both rangers went tumbling and that's when the memory got fuzzy, as if Kale had only been half aware of what was going on. The last thing they saw before the memory faded was Kale getting picked up by Nyus and transported away.
Niko glanced at Amias. "This isn't going to be easy, is it?"
"Nothing can ever be easy for rangers."
ZzZzZ
Kalix smirked at Lothor as the Psycho Ranger brought the evil ninja before him. "Ah Lothor, glad to finally see you in your rightful place bowing before me."
"This isn't the end Kalix." Lothor snarled.
The raptor laughed. "No, this is just the beginning of my conquering of Earth. This is the end for you though, unless you earn the honor of serving me."
"I would never serve a slimy snake such as yourself." Lothor retorted.
"Suit yourself." Kalix said with a shrug. "You'd hardly make more than a monster in my army anyway, and a pretty pathetic one at that."
Lothor bristled, ready for a fight, but one restraining hand on his shoulder was enough to keep him down. "I should have killed you when I had the chance."
"Yes, you should have." The raptor looked at the Psychos. "Take them to holding cells with the rest of their underlings. I'll deal with them later."
"Yes Master Kalix." The Psychos replied and led Lothor and his nieces away.
Kalix looked at the Knights of Destruction. "You three, I've programmed coordinates into the computer. I want you to go there and do as much damage as you can."
"Yes Master Kalix."
ZzZzZ
"They may be at that a while." Kardan said, ushering the rangers and Zadan out of the infirmary where Amias and Niko were diligently working. "You may as well go home, but I'll give all of ya TansComs so you can get back here and/or communicate with us and each other."
"I'm not leaving." Zadan said firmly, as if Radkee would argue with him.
Kardan smiled. "There are guest quarters down the hall. You and Niko are welcome to live here. Kale too since all he's got is that horribly small shuttle."
The rangers accepted the TransComs Kardan offered them, though Sebastien was still trying to catch up with everything. He was beginning to think he was going to need it all written down for him to understand what had been going on. Still, he went along with whatever his new and more experienced teammates did and accepted that they would obviously know better. He stayed silent as Shane thanked Kardan for the devices and the visit to his ship and then transported away when they did. They arrived just outside of Ninja Ops, but something stopped Sebastien from following his new teammates in. His instincts flared, a sense of something terribly wrong overwhelming him. He looked around, trying to find the source, and jerked with surprise as he heard an outraged roar come from inside Ninja Ops. Sebastien turned and hurried to catch up with his teammates and he stopped dead in his tracks as he saw what had caused Hunter's anger.
Ninja Ops was almost completely destroyed and Sensei was missing.