POWER RANGERS: ZERO HOUR - Nine
Written by DTM666
Based loosely upon Countdown to Destruction by Judd Lynn
Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.
Note: This chapter has been recently revised from its originally published version.
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"Finally got sensors to work, Billy."
"Confirmed. Let's see what's going on... oh my God."
"What is it, Billy?"
"It's a global invasion. Alien forces are everywhere."
"So that's why the teleport system isn't letting us out."
"As I said, some kind of failsafe system to keep us from risking ourselves from unnecessary harm."
"Okay, so how do we get around it?"
"We can't. Outward teleportation system is completely shut off from us."
"So we're stuck."
"Maybe... but then again, maybe not."
Already pushing their Galaxy Gliders to the absolute limit, the four Space Rangers were closing in on their hometown of Angel Grove and they could tell that the city was under mass panic. A plan had been converged during the way to split up and cover certain parts of the city, but without Andros on their side, their job was going to be much tougher. Nonetheless, they were resolved to save their city and the four Space Rangers broke off their formation, all of them flying in different directions.
Cassie went for a small crowd in front of one of the smaller markets, which seemed to have been devastated by aerial attacks and more. Surrounding the small crowd of people were various Pirahnatrons and Quantrons, all of them armed with long-range blaster rifles. Immediately, Cassie summoned her signature Satellite Stunner weapon and fired several charged shots to break off the crowd of monsters, all the while avoiding the barrage of fire that was sent her way. One lucky shot managed to hit her Glider's underside, causing Cassie to momentarily lose control. After regaining control, she maneuvered the glider into diving into the last pitch of monsters, then jumped off. When she had the glider in view, she fired a charged shot at the glider, which caused it to fickle with energy. When it drove into the monster crowd, it exploded and took a few of the monsters with them. Cassie soon played crowd control, guiding the small band of humans to the least monster-infested area she could see from her point. Just as the crowd was away, Cassie was ambushed and piled on by several of the grunt soldiers.
Carlos found himself near the warehouse district, caught in a dogfight between two Velocifighters. He had managed to avoid fire, but his Glider took one hit and Carlos lost the ability to steer it. The two Velocifighters. With no other option but a dangerous stunt with a slim chance of success, he leapt off the Glider, which flew into and collided with the Velocifighter in its way, destroying them both. The pilot of the other fighter, surprised by the sudden tactic, was soon met with the full impact of Carlos' flying kick, which broke through the cockpit. Pulling out his leg from the shattered glass slowly, Carlos ripped off the cockpit and tossed aside the Quantron piloting it. Quickly, he jumped onto the pilots chair, gained control of the fighter, and steered cleared of an incoming building.
With a fighter in Carlos' control, he made a quick pass on one of the main streets and fired several shots to dispel the monster crowds. What resulted was enough of an opening for the civilians to escape from their constrained spots, only to be surrounded again by more monster troops. Carlos made another pass and fired more shots to clear up the crowds, but then the long-range ground troops took notice and fired their rifles at the rogue Velocifighter, with Carlos doing as best as he can to avoid incoming fire. Things only got more complicated when more aerial forces joined in the fray and soon Carlos jumped out of the fighter and straight into the crowd of monsters, who soon surrounded him while the fighter he flew collided with another.
With unorthodox stunts in his Galaxy Glider that he would normally restrain from using, TJ seemed to have the least trouble dealing with the Velocifighters. His flightwork had managed to confuse enemies and at one point, two fighters crashed into each other, the flaming rumble dropping on several of the grunt soldiers. TJ continued his daredevil tactics until a stray laser shot caused his chest to explode (the suit, not the actual flesh) and launched off the glider, which was later destroyed. The monsters below soon pounced on TJ, who was completely helpless against the awesome numbers of the Alliance army.
Rather than stay airborne for a long time, Ashley leapt off her Galaxy Glider and dove into a crowd of monsters and fought them off single-handedly. For a moment, she was able to hold her own until one of the Quantrons managed a blow across her helmeted head that stunned Ashley for a moment. She tried to fight back, but was soon surrounded and pummeled mercilessly by the monsters surrounding her. She soon heard the sounds of explosions which caused the monsters to run away, leaving her alone. Ashley looked around and saw missiles flying into the monster crowds. She tilted her head upwards, moving around in circles to find the source of the missiles... until she set her gaze on a familiar figure floating in the air. Could it be?
"Andros?"
She couldn't believe her eyes – she thought that he had been lost after a torpedo attack had destroyed his Galaxy Glider on their way here – but all her instincts had confirmed what she had hoped for.
Indeed, it was the Red Ranger in battlized-form, staying airborne while launching various missiles at the army of Quantrons and Piranatrons to clear the way. He couldn't see all the monster soldiers, but he did notice Darkonda several feet away, who hadn't done much except direct the various monsters under his command. He began a strafing run, extending his Spiral Saber out. Darkonda immediately took notice and launched several of his own energy bolts at the fast-approaching Andros, whose energy shield defended him from the bounty hunter's attacks. Once he was close enough, Andros executed an extended energy slash that struck Darkonda, forcing him to teleport away. Andros returned to the air and continued to launch as many missiles as possible to clear the way of monsters and direct crowd control.
On top of one of the buildings still standing, Ecliptor emerged to check on the progress. He scanned the city streets (flooding with thousands of grunt soldiers) and saw four Rangers within the crowd fighting for their very lives. His eyes continued to scan the area until he saw the Red Ranger, who continued to launch missiles at the grunt soldiers, destroying them. Ecliptor couldn't believe he survived a torpedo shot from a Velocifighter at near-pointblank range.
"Red Ranger survived?" Ecliptor scowled, gripping onto his sword, "Not for long."
With his sword extended forward, Ecliptor fired a green laser bolt that struck the Battlizer Armor's rocket pack, which shorted out the entire armor, causing Andros to fall onto several monsters. Like savage predators would, several Piranhatrons and Quantrons immediately piled up on the stunned Red Ranger, quickly pounding away at their new prey until Andros powered out and soon began to fight feverishly. His efforts had somehow managed to get him closer to Ashley, who was getting pounded and bounced around by a rag doll among a bunch of soldiers. Soon the two found themselves backed against a wall, where several grunt soldiers pulled out their rifles and fired, nearly all the shots from the twenty or so grunt soldiers made their mark on the two Rangers, knocking them down and breaking their morph. Andros and Ashley, now in ripped civilian clothes, were writhing in pain, but blocked it off momentarily to escape their enemies' wrath.
---
"General, we must attack!" the first officer stood from his chair in the hidden Japanese warroom, but the Japanese general in charge of Monster Island shook his head.
"We cannot," he said, "It's not our affair. And it's a grave risk."
The second officer stood from his chair. "With all due respect, General, this is a battle we must forcibly involve ourselves in, regardless of our personal feelings."
"I agree that this is a major threat to Japan and the entire world," the general said, "But is it worth releasing our monsters and ordering them to fight the invaders, who are attacking only with grunt soldiers and fighter planes?" He paused for a moment to glance at the window, which showed the lush, tropical island with a giant, green-scaled lizard creature rampaging in the background. "And if we do succeed, what makes you think we will be able to return our captive monsters back here?! They will only cause further damage!"
There was a short moment of silence before the first officer spoke out. "It is a chance we have to take, General. And should these monsters go crazy after the enemy has been defeated, well..." He cleared his throat before continuing. "We've got them here before. We'll sure as hell do it again."
And for the first time since the fighting began, the general smiled. "Make preparations."
---
Having broken through the outer lines of the Alliance fleet, Zhane piloted the Astro Megaship into Earth's atmosphere, but was ambushed by several fighters and a battleship, which bore a different hull design from those in space. Zhane pulled a sweat as he maneuvered the Megaship to avoid fire and managed to take down a couple of fighters. As good as he was doing, Zhane knew that fighting within the atmosphere in ship mode had always been a hazardous affair due to the limitations of atmospheric dogfights. The Megaship, while able to land and fly within atmospher, was still considered a spaceship for the most part. If only the shuttle is in its docking bay instead of being flown around by former Rangers, he would have been able to form the Megazord and control it through automation. There was one other option
"I need the Megawinger," cried Zhane, "Alpha, take control of the ship and get her outta here!"
"You got it, Zhane-o," Alpha 6 replied as he plopped his way to helm control. "Be careful out there."
Zhane didn't reply, as he was busy making his way to the Glider room. Once there, he ran towards the nearest jumphole and preprogrammed it to teleportation mode, almost losing his footing before he could jump in. An instant later, Zhane found himself in the cockpit of the Megawinger as it emerged from its hiding place on the moon. The sudden appearance had surprised several fighters, which allowed Zhane to finish them off with quick laser bursts. The 'Winger's flight path would cross a cruiser, which fired most of its active flak guns at Zhane, but the shields held and Zhane fired back several laser bursts at the cruiser; not enough to destroy it but enough to cripple it.
Upon reaching Earth's atmosphere, Zhane keyed in the command to convert Megawinger from standard Ship mode to Warrior mode, which is what gave the 'Winger its Zord classification. By the time the transformation was completed, the 'Winger landed on the battered streets of Angel Grove, where he could see the various fighter groups flying around, laying waste to the city. For the first time in his Ranger career, Zhane felt overwhelmed and was unsure as to how to proceed.
---
"This isn't good." Adam Park's words sounded grave as he watched the scanner monitor display the words INCOMING x5 in bright flashing letters.
"Don't say that, Adam," Rocky warned him as he narrowly missed a barrage of laser beams and shot down a three-fighter flight group. "I've got things under control."
"Under control?!" Adam shouted in disbelief, "Just try outrunning five torpedoes!"
"Don't have to." Rocky said those words with a hint of cockiness as he steered the shuttle towards the closest Dark Fortress he could find. Adam didn't understand what he meant until he saw that they were approaching the starbase.
"You're not thinking what I think you're doing," he quipped.
Rocky didn't reply, as he continued his course and alternated his attention between the old-style radar and the massive Dark Fortress, to which the shuttle was getting closer to. Jason slowly stood from his console and slowly approached the cockpit, suddenly also aware of what his Red Ranger replacement was planning on doing.
"Rocky," the former Black Ranger said, "You're getting way too close for comfort."
Rocky cut the throttle to half, slowing the shuttle down as it neared its approach towards the Dark Fortress. Adam worriedly looked into the radar, seeing that the seven torpedoes, now joined by three others, were fast approaching. He soon stared ahead and saw that they were dangerously close to colliding with the Dark Fortress. Before he could utter another word, Rocky immediately pulled the column back and punched the throttle to full throttle, barely scraping the paint of the hull of the Fortress. The barrage of torpedoes, rather than pursue the shuttle, blasted against the outer armor of the fortress, causing various explosions to erupt and the affected hull plating to be obliterated. While it didn't destroy the Fortress, it did deliver significant damage.
Adam let out a sigh of relief while Jason wiped his brow of sweat and gave Rocky a cold glare. Rocky noticed the two glares, but kept his eyes on the fighting ahead.
"Well, it worked" was Rocky's only bitter reply.
Jason shook his head. "Let's get to Earth. Maybe the odds will be better in our favor if we stuck together."
At that moment, the shuttle did a sharp 180 degree turn and flew towards the blue-emerald planet that had been the Rangers' homeworld. Rocky focused on pumping whatever spare power he could to the engines, all the while avoiding any stray fire or conflicts. On his side, he could see the Astro Megaship pulling out of the atmosphere and back into the middle of the fleet, which almost all simultaneously opened fire. Rocky could see the Megaship under constant fire just before it left visual range. Rocky thought of turning, but resisted the idea and continued onward.
It took several seconds before Rocky could see the city of Angel Grove. The city being devastated was nothing new to him, as several monster attacks had been frequent during the Ranger days. The city being devastated this badly was a new sight to him and the other two former Rangers, whom assumed their respective stations in the shuttle cockpit. Within the distance, he could see the Megawinger slowly picking away at several stray fighters but still surrounded. He piloted the shuttle towards the 'Winger.
"Here we go, guys," Rocky told them, "Time to rumble."
At the pull of the trigger, blue beams shot from the tips of the shuttle's wings. The stream of blasts took down several Velocifighters in their way, attracting some attention away from the 'Winger. Silver Ranger, noticing the provided distraction, made a march towards a nearby group of grunt soldiers. Without hesitation, Zhane commanded the 'Winger to make hard stomps that caused powerful shockwaves powerful enough to send the Alliance armies flying all over.
With the majority of fighters destroyed, the shuttle made another pass towards the 'Winger, who was still dealing a couple stray fighters. However, the shuttle soon buckled under the laser fire of another wave of Velocifighters. These were different from the others in which they were faster and stronger. Rocky fired several shots at one of them, but none of them did enough damage to any of them. He tried to evade their fire, but they were coming from all angles and soon various circuits began to spark, much to the horror of the three Rangers on board.
"Shields are buckling, Jay!" Adam called out.
"Rocky, get us out of here!" Jason shouted.
Before Rocky could reply, there was a loud burst of static coming from the speakers, prompting the three passengers to block their ears momentarily before the static faded into a faint voice, broken up to bits and pieces by the still-existing static prevalent throughout.
"Jas.., can y.. h..r me?"
Though barely audible, Jason recognized the voice. "Billy? Bro, is that you?"
"It's me, Ja..n," the voice replied, still garbled, "I'm g.... to activa.. tra...or beam that will b...g you to saf..y. Brace for te...." At that point, the message
"'Brace for Te?'" Adam repeated, "Brace for what?!"
His response was a bright flash of light that enveloped them all.
---
"Where did they go?" the Silver Ranger asked just as he witnessed the Megashuttle seemingly vanish out of thin air. Before he could react, the cockpit shook heavily as the MegaWinger fell under heavy fire from the VF-20 Velocifighters and their concussion missiles. While the lasers had proven ineffective against the 'Winger's outer armor, the missiles pierced through the mechanical droid without a hitch, explosions rupturing the smooth surface of the hull. Silver Ranger tried to pull off a quick turn, but found his controls dead. Before long, the cockpit was engulfed in flames and Zhane had no choice but to abandon ship.
Through the emergency hatch, Silver Ranger launched himself out of the dying MegaWinger and into a pile of rubble. The hard landing and the resulting explosions had forced a hard demorph, causing the Silver Ranger suit to disappear and replaced with tattered Earth clothes. Fortunately for Zhane, the area that he crashed into was devoid of enemy or civilian. Zhane stood and turned to have one last look at the MegaWinger as it slowly tumbled to the ground, falling under a barrage of missiles that had blown off portions of the Zord's outer shell. The land was hard and loud, but didn't result in a massive explosion.
Collecting his remaining wits, Zhane ran towards the nearest manhole, pulled the cover off, and leapt in to the city's sewer system. He began running through the tunnels to find a suitable spot to emerge, hoping that the other Rangers were alright.
---
Carlos' battered body bounced off several large pieces of building debris before landing on the pavement with a sickening thud. Carlos tried to regain some strength in his legs to stand up, but couldn't. From the distance, he could see Cassie and TJ taking massive beatings before losing their morphs, just as he lost his a short while ago. Suddenly, he had found the strength to run to his fallen Rangers and help them back up. Even though they were together, the three Space Rangers were horrifically outnumbered by the Alliance grunt soldiers.
"Pull out!" TJ shouted, "RETREAT!"
No arguments were necessary. The demorphed Rangers ran as fast as their legs were capable of going from the growing army of Quantron soldiers. Even with their powers at full-strength, they would be hard pressed to win this fight. Without them, victory wasn't even an option. Survival is all that matters at this point.
The battle would be lost... it would only be a matter of time.
End NINE