A/N: Welcome readers both new and old to the next chapter of Power Rangers Tsunami Surge! I sure hope you guys are having as much fun reading these chapters as I do writing them. Today's monster was actually a suggestion from a reader, so a big thanks to MaMcMu for the concept. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.
"Save our forests! Save our forests! Save our forests!"
An angry, seething mob of protesters filled the streets of Stone Canyon; some held signs, others screamed through megaphones into the ears of the poor cops just trying their damndest to keep what little peace there was, and others still were practically wearing nothing aside from blue and green body paint to get their pro-Earth message across. While they rallied and ranted against perceived ecological injustice, Azurine and Umiko, clad in neon blue and yellow Earth Day tank tops, were standing off to the side; the former was snapping pictures of the entire event while the latter was doing her best to shout in solidarity with the crowd while presenting a homemade sign.
"Save our forests! Save our forests! Psst! Azurine! How much longer are we going to be out here? None of these people are wearing deodorant!"
"I know it's been a few hours, but we gotta hang in there. Ever since Anton Mercer Industries announced they were buying up all these acres for their new big lab, the eco-friendly community's been on fire. And getting some shots of the action is going to help me pay rent for a while."
"And remind me again why Daok couldn't help you?"
"Because he's been acting weird lately."
"Weird how?"
"First, he tells me he's having visions of giant monsters in the ocean. Next thing, he's 'sensing energy' and right now, he's dragging Indra down to the coastline to go see what's up."
Umiko laughed at the idea of someone as scientifically minded as Indra being forced to investigate mystical visions. "That should be fun. We lead some pretty odd lives, don't we?"
"I guess, if you put all the evil aquatic mutants, colorful costumes, and random explosions in the right context," Azurine joked as her finger eagerly met the shutter for her camera. "But I, for one, think it's nice to have a day where we don't have to worry about being Power Rangers."
"Everybody look! It's the Power Rangers!"
Both women exchanged confused looks with one another as they noticed the crowd beginning to shift its focus. Immediately, they started to race towards the front of the protest to try and get a look at these supposed "Power Rangers". Sure, it took some shoving and foot-crushing, and even a tiny bit of yelling on Azurine's part (can't say living in New York didn't teach her anything) but the two of them finally managed to arrive at the front. And what they saw made their jaws hit the ground. It was them—The Rangers—but it obviously wasn't them! How could all five Power Rangers be standing right there when two of them were in the crowd, another two were miles away on the coast, and the last one was probably sleeping his way through English class.
"Who the heck are they?" angrily whispered Azurine. "Identity theft is one thing, but secret identity theft?!"
"Maybe they're just cosplayers trying to show support?"
"Like that weirdo that dressed up as a Beetleborg to fight for 'bug rights'? Hell no, they can screw up their own reputations. I'm putting a stop to this right now."
Umiko put her arm out to stop Azurine from going any further.
"How? You want to morph right here? In front of all these people? Besides, this is hardly bad publicity. They're just here to help protect the environment."
With the crowd now focused on the sudden appearance of these copycat Rangers, the fake Daok was the first to walk forward and address the people. His voice sounded nothing like Daok's; it was all rough and dry and far too deep. It rubbed Azurine the wrong way something fierce.
"Good people of Stone Canyon," he proclaimed in an overly dramatic tone. "We are the Power Rangers. You know us as the heroes of the city, and as our power gives us, we have made a decision on the forest as well as the city. We've decided..."
Suddenly, the other four faux Rangers pulled out their sidearm weapons and began trashing the surrounding foliage. Trees fell; bushes burned; flowers were incinerated; and yet this fake Red Ranger was carrying on as if nothing was happening.
"To turn it all into ash!"
He soon joined his team in their evil revelry, firing some energy blasts close enough to incite absolute panic into the horrified eco-onlookers. They scattered like roaches in the light, screaming bloody murder as they violently dispersed. Two real Rangers in the crowd were caught up in the vortex of frightened, stampeding people and unable to really do anything of worth besides keep themselves from getting separated from one another. It took a ton of effort, but they were finally able to escape and rushed into a secluded area behind some bushes and started up their communicators.
"This is Umiko. We've got a serious emergency!"
"Alpha here. I can read you loud and clear, Umiko. What's wrong?"
Azurine blurted out, "Evil versions of us are destroying a forest and causing a human stampede. This has Abysall written all over it."
"Evil Rangers? Ay-yai-yai! I'll contact the others now. Be careful out there, you two!"
With the coast clear, the two Rangers summoned their Atlantirisers and readied themselves for a fight. No way were they going to let some wanna-be Rangers get away with this.
"Guardians of Atlantis! Poseidon Power, surge!"
The holographic constructs of a blue walrus and yellow seahorse formed in front of them. Clashing onto their bodies, their Ranger suits formed in an instant. They ran out from their hiding spot to go take on these evil doppelgangers.
The pair of heroines soon found themselves going much deeper into the forest than they had originally anticipated. To make matters more confounding, there was also no sign of the renegade Rangers anywhere. It was just nothing but trees and dirt for what had to be miles. Still, neither of them was willing to let their guard down. They searched for several minutes before wandering into a clearing deep within the trees. Umiko looked around, frustrated they hadn't found anything resembling a clue until she stepped backwards; A soft, yet distinct CRUNCH! echoed beneath her boot. When she looked down, she realized it was exactly what she thought it was: sand. Trails of sand leading all throughout the woods. Umiko knelt down and rubbed some between her fingers.
"Azurine, look."
"Sand?"
"Yeah. And a lot of it."
"Think it has anything to do with those fakes?"
Umiko was about to say something when she felt a fist slam right into her face out of nowhere. She was knocked back a couple feet onto the ground. Azurine ran over to her friend, not paying any mind to the rapidly morphing pile of sand in front of her. By the time she'd helped her fellow Ranger off the ground, she was soon horrified to find the five fake Rangers standing before her. The sand… the sand was forming into their bodies!
"Guess that answers my question," she quipped, her Tusk Strikers appearing in her hands.
A woman of action, the Blue Ranger wasted no time in dashing at the impostors masquerading as her friends; in this particular instance, the fake versions of herself and Rider. Fake as they were, the bastards were also nimble; like cats on an electrified floor, they would barely touch the ground and dodge every one of her swords' swipes.
"Stay… still… damn you!"
When she finally felt she had a clean strike on her own clone, she took the chance and swung with all her might. However, the blade only met with the soft embrace of sand and the clone almost immediately reformed itself. In her shock, Azurine wasn't thinking to block when the clone Green Ranger kicked her in the back, sending her stomach right into the rock hard fist of her own duplicate. Azurine felt the air get forced out of her lungs, staggering backwards into yet another merciless kick from the false Green Ranger, this one managing to hurl her straight into a tree.
Meanwhile, Umiko was desperately wishing she could help her friend. But she had the remaining three copies to deal with all by herself and it certainly wasn't any easier than dealing with two. She did her best to play defense by using her Sea Slicer to keep some distance between her and them. The Yellow Ranger spun the scythe with fluid, lithe movements in the same way a majorette spins a baton; much like Azurine's attacks, whenever the blade of the weapon came in contact with the opponents' bodies it would go right through. But whenever they intended to hit Umiko, their fists and feet were as solid as bricks. After getting kicked in the chest by the fake Daok and tossed around by the false versions of Indra and herself, Umiko decided to kick things up a notch. She leapt high into the air and charged up the blade of her weapon, making crackle and shine with yellow radiance.
"Eat this! Ki-yah!"
With a hearty swing, the Sea Slicer unleashed a crown-shaped wave of yellow energy right onto the Sand Rangers. The resulting explosion sent sand flying everywhere, the resulting shockwave even managing to destabilize the pair Azurine was fighting. Umiko elegantly came back down to earth and went Azurine's side as fast as she could. It appeared her attack was enough to reduce her opponents back into dust, but with two clones still left to deal with, they knew the fight was far from over. However, to their surprise, the remaining Sand Rangers simply turned back into sand as well, accompanied by an even more surprising voice. The same one the fact Daok had, with a rough and gravelly tone but now accompanied by a slight air of goofiness.
"No, no, no! Not my beautiful Sculpture Rangers!"
Out from the huge heap of sand in the middle of the clearing popped out an Abysall warrior, this one, though, was more the reptilian side of scaly than the fishy side of it. He had rough, orange and tan skin; a crocodilian head, complete with a mouth absolutely full of golden, pyramid-shaped fangs; his overall aesthetic screamed Egyptian overall from his pharaoh-style headdress to the Egyptian armor he was clad in with obvious scarab beetle and pyramid imagery incorporated into it to his massive muscular tail decorated in hieroglyphs and ending in an gold ankh.
"You've ruined my hard work!" he fumed.
Azurine scoffed. "And you ruined my day, so consider us even!"
"Who are you?" demanded Umiko.
"I am the Abysall's greatest architect and artist! The all-seeing eye of the sandy shore! They call me... RRRRRRRRRRockodile!"
"I'd rather call you 'Target Practice'!" Azurine yelled. She and Umiko pulled out their Alphe-Busters and let loose a flurry of energy blasts. Rockodile countered them with a wall of unbreakably dense sand.
"Nice try, ladies. But a true artist is not so easily bested!"
From his three-clawed hands, the monster sent a wave of sand at the Rangers. He then created two gigantic fists from the torrent of sand and grabbed ahold of both, slowly crushing them with his telekinetic mastery of the golden gravel.
"Once I get you out of the way, I can finish clearing this dreadful forest for my latest commission: A magnificent sprawling palace for Lord Avalon! And I value my work far too much to fail!
Despite the pain she was experiencing, Azurine still found some humor in it all.
"I… hate… sand!"
Indra was confused. Which was bad because he'd spent so much time and effort in college that he was pretty sure he was supposed to be confused-proof. And yet, sitting on these beach rocks and meditating, all while listening to Daok speak in a language so foreign and ancient that he could have sworn he'd heard it on an episode of Doctor Who, had left him more confused than he'd ever been in his entire life. When Daok had informed him of five giant creatures off the coast then, yeah, he was super psyched to go check it out. But they'd been out there forever and he hadn't seen or heard a damn thing!
"Daok?"
The chanting continued.
"Excuse me? Daok?"
Once again, the biologist was ignored.
"DAOK!?"
Finally, the Atlantean let him have it.
"Indra! If you're not going to let me focus, then why did you even come with me?"
"I don't know? Maybe it's because I'm nice," snarked the scientist. "But I do think I at least deserve an explanation as to what exactly we're sitting here and supposedly looking for? We haven't done anything in ages."
Daok gently patted the ground next him, inviting Indra to once again sit down. He made a fuss about it, but soon acquiesced and sat back down in the lotus position.
"If you want an explanation, then you need to focus. Our powers are connected directly to that of the ocean. Every current, every wave, every life it spawns; we can sense it all so long as we focus. Now, clear your mind and picture nothing. Nothing but a perfect blue infinitude."
Indra closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and did as he was told. He focused on the sounds of the water; the waves lapping on the shore; the wind softly grazing the surface of the sea; the smell of salt in the air. It was then that the sensation of water filled his body. His mind's eye was fully embraced by the spirit of the ocean. Indra could feel it, as if every cell in his body was becoming fluid and he was becoming one with the water itself.
"Can you feel it?"
"Yeah. I can.. It's so… big."
"Now, focus. In all that open, neverending space, you need to find a spark. A power just like your own, only greater. Don't force yourself to find it. Rather, let it flow into you."
Indra felt his consciousness wander. His mind felt as if it was spread to every corner of the globe. The idea of finding anything specific in something so massive felt almost impossible. But he steeled himself, inviting the power he sought to find him. That's when he felt it; the powerful unmistakable feeling of being seen by something. Something strong that wanted to find him.
"I found—No, it found me. What kind of power is this? It's amazing!"
"So they are out there."
"They?"
"Our Zords," clarified Daok. "They're still out there, even after all this time. And they're looking for us. The Atlantirisers must have activated them and now they're using that connection to find their way to us. "
Indra then snapped out of his transcendental state and back into his body. The idea of being behind the wheel of a Zord, the kind of colossal machines he'd seen on the news countless times, was enough to shock him back to reality. Just in time for him to hear his and Daok's communicators go off.
DEET! DEET! DEET! DEET! DEET! DEET!
"Alpha, what's up?"
"Indra, Daok, we have a problem going on back in Stone Canyon. A bunch of fake Rangers attacked a protest near the forest. Azurine and Umiko went after them, and I haven't heard back from them since. I can't even seem to lock on to their communicators. I'm so worried my circuits are overloading! Ay-yai-yai-yai-yai!"
"Fake Rangers?" Daok said, concerned. While he seemed to focus on the idea of the false Rangers being the priority, in truth, it was the idea that Azurine was missing that made his blood run cold. "We're on it. Is Rider meeting us there?"
"If he can find a way to skip class."
"Either way, we need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. Let's go, Indra!"
Indra nodded and the pair morphed into action.
"Guardians of Atlantis! Poseidon Power, surge!"
The two Rangers teleported into the forest clearing and found that Rider had managed to teleport there before them. The teenage Ranger was busy looking for signs of anything because there seemed to be absolutely nothing out of the ordinary; just grass and trees and trees and grass with no sign of a Power Ranger, fake or otherwise.
"Hey guys," Rider greeted rather glumly. "If you're looking for our evil twins or our missing friends, I hate to tell you but we're SOL."
"SOL?" replied Daok.
"Shit out of luck. I've looked around and there's no sign of anything or anyone. I hope we don't have to cover the whole forest. I don't know how long my teacher's going to fall for my 'balloon in a hoodie' trick."
"Well they have to be around here somewhere. No one just vanishes into thin air."
"Then let's spread out until we find them," Daok suggested. "Six eyes are better than two. One of us is bound to find something. Keep your eyes open and your communicators active; call at the first sign of trouble."
"Right!"
Elsewhere, in a cave hidden well into the forest, Umiko and Azurine found themselves in dire straits. They were shackled to the cave wall by sand constructs, unable to morph, and robbed of their communicators. Said communicators were now attached to two new sand clones of them being constructed by their Abysall jailer. Rockodile was as giddy as a kid in a candy store, excitedly humming to himself as he applied the finishing touches to his latest creations.
"I was wrong to have put so much heart into that first batch. Now these… These Rangers are true art! Lord Avalon managed to give me the information on your appearances, but the finer details are something you can only craft after viewing for yourself. Now that they have your voices, I have but one thing left to give them: your memories."
The scaly artist sauntered over to his captives, who were still struggling to break free of their bonds, and placed one of his clawed hands onto their foreheads. Streams of yellow and blue energy drained out of the two Rangers' bodies, causing them extreme pain, though it was mercifully brief. He then walked back over to his creations, imbuing them with the stolen essence and cementing their completion as they momentarily sparkled with energy.
"We are ready to serve you, creator," they eagerly told Rockdile, even going so far as to kneel in his presence as if he were a king.
"Good, my little puppets," he disgustingly cooed. "Then you will use the devices given to you to infiltrate the Rangers and destroy them from within. Gain access to their base, destroy their weapons, and when they're at their most vulnerable… Kill them. Use the memories I've gifted you to get as close as you can before destroying them."
"Yes, creator. We will obey."
The fake Rangers then activated the communicators, putting on a sickeningly convincing act as the Blue and Yellow Rangers. Azurine wanted to scream, but Rockodile had thought to cover their mouths.
"Guys, this is Azurine. Come in."
"Azurine?" Daok's voice echoed throughout the cave. "Is Umiko with you? Are you alright? What's your location?"
The fake Umiko chimed in. "We ran into the forest chasing after the fake Rangers. They got away and I guess our signal got cut off due to the trees. We'll meet you back at the clearing."
"Sounds good. See you there."
The two clones then ran out of the cave to go carry out their plan. The real Umiko and Azurine could only look on in horror at the thought of what terrible fate awaited their teammates.
Before long, all five Rangers had regrouped in the same clearing. The three male members were relieved to find out nothing terrible had befallen their friends, but still confused as to what had actually happened. They were told that the five faux Rangers had somehow managed to vanish into the trees without so much as a trace.
"It was like chasing ghosts," Azurine told them.
"And there was no sign of any Abysall at all? No Avalon or Hapaloct?"
Umiko shook her head. "No, not even a Krilton. I think something's seriously wrong here. Maybe we should head back to the Rock of Power to see if Alpha can help us track them down?"
"Good idea," said Indra. "I'll come with you."
"Me too," added Rider. "School's practically over anyway and I'd rather do Ranger stuff than talk about The Great Gatsby."
"I need to head back to the beach. Our Zords are still on their way here. I want to be there when they arrive. They're like old friends, so it'll be nice to see them again."
Azurine grabbed hold Daok's hand, sending a slight shiver up the Atlantean's arm. "Why don't I join you? I can't wait to meet my Zord!"
All the while, Rockodile could see and hear through the eyes and ears of his sand puppets and he couldn't have been more overjoyed if he was stuffed with a year's supply of happy pills. A chance to not only destroy the Rangers' base, but their Zords as well? Accomplishing that along with the building a palace would earn him enough favor to outrank even Hapaloct! Now it all came down to precise timing and execution. He'd come too far to fail now. Soon he'd have the Rangers in his jaws and go in for the death spiral.
Arriving at the Rock of Power, Umiko and Indra got to work on trying to track down their mysterious doppelgangers while Rider got to work recalibrating the Charybdis Cannon. While Alpha helped them to understand the array of satellites they had set up, explained that each one had a different purpose, Umiko was already going across to each of the different consoles to pull up information. They pulled up overhead layouts of the forests, and even looked through the shaky social media footage taken by the protesters when they were fired upon by who they had believed to be their heroes.
Indra was positively livid; a vein on the side of his head was pulsing so hard that you'd think it was about to break through his skin. "It's one thing to attack us, but to make it look like we'd hurt innocent people? When I get my hands on the Abysall behind this…"
"Don't get too ahead of yourself," Umiko advised. "We still haven't found any leads yet. We might never find any."
"That's pretty pessimistic, especially for you, Umi. Are you feeling okay? You haven't even demorphed yet."
"I'm just staying alert. You never know when the Abysall might attack again."
"Hey, if you want to keep dealing with helmet breath, that's on you."
As Indra tried to focus satellite scanners further, suddenly an error message flashed on the holographic display screen. No matter what he did, it wouldn't go away. Alpha came over to assess the problem, allowing the Yellow Ranger to slink silently to the back where Rider was. He had all but dismantled the Charybdis cannon. All of the weapons' various components were strewn across a metal workbench while Rider himself was too preoccupied working with a soldering iron to notice when Umiko sauntered into his workspace. The clone's movements were so silent that the teenager didn't even notice when it picked up a wrench from a nearby table and stood right behind him…
"This is ridiculous!"
Indra was about to explode with anger. No matter what he or Alpha did, they just couldn't get the consoles to work. Out of options, he had to manually open up the computer's cover panel and access the hardware on the inside. What he found inside, covering nearly every bit of wire and metal, was a large amount of golden sand. His eyes widened at the discovery of something so out of place. How would sand get into their computer systems? None of them had any sand on them, and even if they did, it wouldn't have been anywhere near that much. Indra turned to see if Umiko would have some sort of idea about what was going on, but she was gone; however, he quickly noticed small piles of sand spread across the floor and leading off toward the back of the base.
"Alpha, contact Daok. I think something's wrong."
"I'm trying, but it seems that the sand that took down our connection to the satellite network also got into our communications console!"
Indra nodded before he ran off to try and track the source of the sinister sand; which led into the lab area in the back. The trail ended right at the entrance to the first lab door. Indra walked in through the door to find Umiko standing behind a distracted Rider, raising a wrench right above the teen's head.
"Rider, behind you!"
Rider immediately turned around, saw his friend clenching a wrench tightly in her hands, and instinctively kicked her in the stomach. In doing so, he sent her back into the wall, which caused a cascade of sand particles to flow onto the lab's metal floor, some even adhering to the bottom of Rider's shoe. He and Indra rushed into the middle of the room as the fake Umiko shook off the attack from the Rider and glared at the two Rangers in front of it. The clone let out an animalistic growl, twisted its head all the way around, then warped its arms into curved blades clearly made out of sand.
"¡Santa mierda! What the hell is that?!"
Indra shrugged before taking up a fighting stance. "Not really sure, but I know what it's not. And considering that's not Umiko, how much you wanna bet that's not Azurine out there with Daok?"
"We talking actual money or…"
The sand Umiko then lunged at the two of them; both Rangers dodged to opposite sides of the room to avoid being slashed by its bladed limbs. Rider ran at it first and threw a couple punches at the clone's head, only for his fists to glide straight through the sand construct's form. It retaliated with a downward swipe of its arms, which Rider only barely managed to dodge by a well-timed jump backwards. Wanting to take advantage of the distraction, Indra practically tackled the clone from behind, placing it into a full nelson hold; restraining the damn thing took every ounce of strength he had in his body.
"What did you do to our friends?!" he demanded of the doppelganger.
"The same thing I'm going to do to the rest of your precious surface world: Grind it all into dust!"
Indra then noticed his grip was suddenly loosening. The sand clone had relinquished its Umiko disguise in lieu of turning back into a pile of loose sand. Now free from Indra's grasp, it uppercutted the Pink Ranger via sand fist to the chin, then resumed its Ranger form to kick him over a table and into the wall behind him. Indra's back was less than receptive when met with the unkind embrace of a steel wall. The sand clone flipped the lab table in front of it to reach its defenseless prey on the floor behind it. Indra felt himself being lifted up by the bloodthirsty doppelganger by the collar of his shirt, its opposite hand now reformed into a blade poised and eager to pierce the man's heart.
"I know everything your little Yellow Ranger does," the construct taunted sadistically. "Meaning I know just how much she's sick and tired of being around you. If she was here, she'd thank me for this!"
"Really?" coughed out Indra. "Because the Umiko I know is really damn smart. She's able to answer a ton of questions. For example: What do you get when you mix sand and intense heat?"
A mechanical whirring sound alerted the clone to turn its head around, only for it to be greeted with the sight of a now morphed Rider, an incomplete (yet functional) Charybdis Cannon in his hands, and an itchy finger on the trigger.
"Answer?"
Rider pulled the trigger, unleashing a small green and blue energy torrent onto the clone's body. It dropped Indra back onto the floor as its sandy body instantly began to glow with heat and solidify just as quickly. There was nothing the replica could do before its entire form froze into glass. Indra picked himself up and walked over to the enemy-turned-statue with a confident smirk on his face.
"It means your ass is glass, bitch."
With the push of a finger, he tipped his petrified foe over and allowed it to shatter on the lab floor into a million minute fractals against the smooth black steel. Looking over, he noticed Umiko's communicator had been left on the floor from when the clone had broken free during the fight.
"Check it out. This thing had her communicator."
"Meaning whoever sent it must have planned this. Do you think they're okay?"
"They're Rangers too. No way either of them is going to let some random monster take'em out. But that's not our only problem. We still have a fake Azurine to deal with. This thing messed up our comms, so communication's a no-go."
"Can't we just teleport there?"
"Not unless Alpha can get our satellite connection back online. Until then, we're stuck here."
Indra was trying to stay as calm as he could; he didn't want to freak out Rider. But deep down, he was beside himself with worry.
"Umi… Azurine… please. Please be okay. You have to be."
"DAMMIT!"
Rockodile was absolutely fuming. His perfect, flawless creation had been roasted and wrecked by those Rangers! In his anger, he noticed his hostages were mockingly giggling at his visible frustration. He removed the sand gags from their mouths, allowing the laughs of both women to echo throughout the cave, only further fueling the Abysall artist's anger.
"And what's so funny?"
"Oh, I don't know…" Azurine led on. "It's just that I can't believe you actually thought you'd be able to take out our friends with your measly fake Rangers. You Abysall guys just never seem to give us enough credit."
Umiko joined in on the mockery. "Seems to me that even with a mouth that big, you still bit off more than you can chew."
"I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you. My Yellow Ranger may be gone, but I still managed to damage your equipment. And so long as I manage to take out the Red Ranger and your Zords, I'll still win!"
"Zords?"
Azurine and Umiko shared a look with each other. Rockodile stomped his feet on the ground like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Umiko noticed that while he did so, the sand binding her and Azurine's wrists would vibrate and loosen ever so slightly. With every twist of her tiny, doll-like wrists, she edged closer and closer to victory. If only Rockodile could stay mad a little longer… Shit! He stopped. Umiko had been so close! With any luck, once Daok took out that fake Azurine, then they'd get one last burst of anger and finally break free.
"You weren't supposed to know that! Ugh! It doesn't matter. My Blue Ranger has all the memories of the original, but none of the inhibitions. She'll use the feelings you have for the Red Ranger to destroy him!"
"F-Feelings?" Azurine sputtered out, her face instinctively blushing. "I don't—"
"I transferred your memories, remember? I know exactly how you feel about the Red Ranger, so there's no point in lying to me. And since your doppelganger also knows, then that means she'll know precisely how to use it for evil!"
"Our Zords are getting close. It won't be long before we can see them approaching the shore."
Daok had been putting all his energy into acting as a homing beacon for the Zords. The jewel in his Atlantiriser was glowing brighter than it ever had before, broadcasting a mystical signal through the sea to draw them.
"You sound pretty excited."
"That's probably because I am. Those Zords are like family to me. After all, they're the last and greatest creations of my people. My final connection to Atlantis."
Azurine reached over and grabbed Daok's hand, breaking his focus. Normally, Daok would've let go and gone back to focusing, but he didn't pull away.
"I know you must think about Atlantis a lot. It's only right you still long for your home; for your family and friends. But I want you to know something, Daok…"
Azurine's grip tightened as she pulled Daok in close, their faces were mere inches from each, and seemingly only separated due to their helmets. Azurine's voice was breathy and soft; enchantingly beautiful. It truly must have been that of a siren.
"I've always…cared about you. At first, I thought it may have just been infatuation. Perhaps I was falling for a beautiful man just because he's beautiful. But the more time we spend together, the closer we become to one another…the harder it gets to ignore the spark between us."
"Funny that you mention 'spark'..." Daok said as he forcefully pushed his teammate away, stood up, and placed a few feet of distance between them.
"Ow, Daok! What is wrong with you?"
"At first, I thought I might have been wrong when you grabbed my arm earlier. That maybe something was just off with me. But now I'm certain."
"Of what?"
Daok armed himself with his Fang Knuckle and prepared to defend himself.
"That you're not Azurine!"
"W-What're you talking about? Of course I am! Are you crazy?!"
Daok didn't let his guard down for a second as he explained, "Underwater can be a pretty dark place. A place where food is scarcely seen because there's hardly any light. Which is why several forms of aquatic life, including myself, have a special sense that allows us to detect the electricity in other living things. And while it doesn't quite have the same range in air as it does in seawater, I know for certain I'd be able to sense it via touch. You don't have a single iota of life running through your body. You're not alive!"
There was a brief interlude of silence. Only the sound of waves hitting rock broke it as neither Ranger standing wanted to make the first move. That was until "Azurine" started to violently cackle; the voice of the puppet transitioned from that of the person it was mimicking to that of Rockodile. That only served to piss Daok off even more.
"So you figured me out, eh? You Atlanteans are smarter than you look. Well, not by much."
"I don't know what you are and I don't care, but you are going to tell me what you did with my friends!"
"Tell you? I'll offer you a demonstration!"
The clone charged at Daok, turning its arms into spiked maces, intending to clobber the Red Ranger into submission. Thankfully, his reflexes were too sharp for that; he sidestepped the attack, turned around in the same motion, and slammed his weapon as hard as he could into the fake Azurine's back. The powerful impact sent the clone soaring across the beach, all the way down to the shoreline, where Daok soon caught up with it.
"If you won't talk, then I'll just have to beat the information out of you!"
Daok charged up energy into his gauntlet and ran forward to attack.
"Wait, Daok! Please!" the clone begged in Azurine's voice.
It was an obvious manipulation tactic, and yet it still proved quite effective as Daok immediately hesitated, dropping both his fist and his guard. And although it was only a minute window of time, it was just enough for the clone to get the drop on him. A huge sand hand erupted out of the ground and gripped the Red Ranger's entire body; its grip only tightened by the moment, squeezing the life out of Daok like a boa constrictor. The Azurine construct walked right up to Daok's face and decided to kick the dog, so to speak.
"Really, you're much too easy. All I have to do is beg and plead in her whiny little voice, and you're ready to drop everything. You're no warrior! You're a weakling! A pathetic, sniveling little guppy who will ignore his own instincts just to protect the surface woman he cherishes so much!"
"Sh-Sh-Sh-u-u-t—"
"I have all of her memories, you know. All of her knowledge, her experiences," continued the doppelganger as it leaned over to whisper in Daok's ear. "Her feelings."
"I know exactly how she feels about you. Would you like to know? The truth is: She pities you. Like a wounded, dying dog abandoned by its owner. She feels so bad for you, but deep down she wishes she could just get rid of you! You're nothing but a burden to your so-called friends, and she wishes that she never met you!"
"SHUT UP!"
A bright red light began to burn its way through the giant hand around Daok's body. He was emitting a fiery red aura that only grew brighter and brighter with every passing second. An explosion of red power erupted outwards from Daok's body, destroying his binds, and supercharging him. The replica Azurine had no time to react to anything when Daok rushed at it with all the intensity of a starved shark that smelled blood in the water; bloodthirsty, ruthless, and certain. Daok's Fang Knuckled had its teeth piercing into the construct's neck, lifting it up off the ground, and refusing to let go.
"I don't know how Azurine feels about me. But I know how I feel about her. She matters to me. And I will not stand by and let some cheap imitation try and badmouth her to my face!"
Daok tossed the impostor high into the air. He took some time to put as much power as possible into the Fang Knuckle before he, too, leapt skyward. In an instant, he started rapidly punching and striking the sand puppet all over its body, pummeling it so badly and in such rapid succession that it had no time to repair itself.
"Azurine does not pity me! She befriended me! She believes in me! Because I am not a weakling! I am Daok of Atlantis! I am the Red Ranger!"
Daok pulled his arm back one last time, and as he did so, more and more red energy coalesced in the air around him into the shape of a large, imposing hard-light tiger shark. It crushed the clone inside of its massive jaws and consumed it in its entirety. An explosion of red-hot fire cemented the end of the fight as Daok effortlessly landed back onto the ground.
"And you're dust."
"NOT AGAIN!"
As expected, Rockodile threw yet another infantile tantrum. And as before, his emotions caused the sand binding Umiko and Azurine to loosen. Umiko gave one final twist of her wrists, allowing her to at last break free of the wall, and land on the cave floor. Azurine followed suit, dropping to the ground herself. After running over and kicking Rockodile square in the stomach and the snout, they ran out of the cave into the woods.
The Abysall was practically steaming at this point, and gave chase as best he could into the thick grouping of trees. He looked high and low, but there was no sign of either Ranger. That was, of course, until he turned back around and met with the force of two sets of boots crashing into his face. He staggered backwards, but was granted no reprieve as the blades of a scythe and a pair of short swords cut into his chest. The sculptor howled in pain, sparks flying off his body as he did so.
"You kidnapped the wrong Rangers, Rockodile," said Azurine.
"And now it's time for us to show you some girl power!" boldly declared Umiko.
"Uh-oh."
"Ay-yai-yai-yai-yai! I think I've got something!"
Indra and Rider got up from the floor, where they'd been spending all of their time trying to fix the damage done to the Rock of Power's computers. It seems that they'd been able to reestablish satellite connection and teleportation, although the comms system was still down. However, what had excited Alpha so much wasn't just that, but the discovery of two Ranger energy signatures in the forest.
"It must be Azurine and Umiko! Thank goodness they're safe!"
Indra was ecstatic. "Glad to hear it. Think you can teleport them?"
"To here?"
"To Daok's location, along with us. I think it's time we settle this fight once and for all."
Back on the beach, Daok had been trying to activate his communicator, but couldn't get it to work. But before he could even begin to formulate his next step, the beach was suddenly populated by his teammates, including the MIA Azurine and Umiko, as well as Rockodile, who was looking a bit worse for wear. The two female Rangers kicked the monster in tandem and he rolled a few more feet down the beach.
"You guys are okay!" Indra declared, relieved.
"Oh, please. You really think a walking, talking pair of alligator boots is enough to take us out?"
"I'm pretty sure he's a crocodile," stated Umiko.
"What's the difference?" asked Azurine.
"Well, if you look at the teeth and the shape of the face—"
"Indra, he's a monster."
"Fair point."
Rockodile pulled himself up off the ground. Two Rangers had already been a pain, but now he had to deal with five?! He wasn't going to stand for this! With a flick of his claws, he excited the surrounding sand, making it vibrate and float around him.
"Forget the forest! I'm going to bury your entire city alive!"
Daok replied, "It's going to be hard to do that when you're the one getting put six feet under!"
"Swirling fury of the sea! Tiger Shark Power! Tsunami Surge Red!"
"Hearty strength of the sea! Walrus Power! Tsunami Surge Blue!"
"Graceful beauty of the sea! Seahorse Power! Tsunami Surge Yellow!"
"Ancient wisdom of the sea! Turtle Power! Tsunami Surge Green!"
"Playful spirit of the sea! Dolphin Power! Tsunami Surge Pink!"
"SURGING WITH THE POWER OF THE OCEAN! POWER RANGERS… TSUNAMI SURGE!"
Rockodile wasted no time in attacking the Rangers. He created a massive octopus out of the surrounding sand, guiding its tentacles to keep them at bay by swinging and swiping. The team was put on the defensive, narrowly avoiding getting smacked into the ocean or the air, and none of them could make any real progress getting to the center where Rockodile was. It was getting exhausting to have to constantly flip and jump because standing still for even a few seconds could get you grabbed.
Indra cried out, "This is—WHOA!—getting—AH!—ridiculous!"
"He's right!" Rider added as he leapt over one of the sand appendages. "We're getting nowhere fighting like this!"
That line was enough to get Daok's mind going, and sure enough, an idea was born!
"Then let's stop fighting," he suggested as he flipped not just over, but onto,one of the tentacles and started to surf along its surface. "And start riding!"
The other Rangers followed suit, each of them picking a tentacle to ride along. Since all of the tentacles connected to the central body, surfing along them would lead the team right to their puppet master, and it paid off. With Rockodile so, they all pulled out their Alphe-Busters and opened fire from above. Daok then propelled himself off the tentacle, Fang Knuckle at the ready and aiming straight for Rockodile. By the time the self-proclaimed sand master saw Daok coming, he was too late to do anything as, in a similar vein to his earlier attack, Daok's body was engulfed in bright red energy taking the form of a tiger shark.
"Fang Knuckle Frenzy!"
The artistic monster was beaten and battered in rapid succession. While it had only been five seconds in real time, from Rockodile's perspective it felt like he'd been hit almost 50 times across the entirety of his body. And by the end of the attack, it felt like he'd been struck over 200 times. His octopus construct had crumbled as any ounce of strength in his body was beaten out of him. Daok jumped back, his team gathering around him, and watched as Rockodile struggled to move in even the slightest way.
"You're finished, Rockodile! Charybdis Cannon!"
On Daok's word, the Charybdis Cannon descended from on high and placed itself right in front of him. The team took their positions as the weapon's turbines spun and they imbued it with power. Daok placed his finger on the trigger, maybe a little too eager to blast his opponent away.
"Charybdis Cannon! Ready! Aim! WIPEOUT!"
A torrent of multi-colored power tore right through Rockodile's body. In his death throes, he shook like a leaf in a hurricane as his hand reached over into a pocket on his waist. He pulled out something, whatever it was being too miniscule for the Rangers to tell what it was. It was glittery, purple, and a tad slimy; he could feel the little creature skittering around in his palm. Avalon had told him to use it in a dire situation; and as he felt the life draining out of him, Rockodile couldn't imagine anything more dire.
He opened up his maw and placed the arthropod onto his tongue. Almost immediately, something radical happened as the parasite gripped Rockodile's tongue with its legs. In a matter of seconds, it grew exponentially to about the size of a small dog. Rockodile's eyes eerily erupted with a ghostly lilac light as the hole in his stomach healed itself as good as new. The Rangers gazed on in horror as Rockodile's whole body was then coated in that same light, and promptly expanded to the size of a 14-story building. The light then faded, revealing a much larger, and much more dangerous, Rockodile.
"Now that I'm larger than life, Rangers, I'm going to end yours!"
The crooked crocodilian lifted up his titanic foot and crashed back down onto the ground. The resulting shockwave tossed the Rangers like ragdolls. The five scrambled to get themselves out of the way as the giant monster tried to crush them like ants.
"As if he wasn't enough of a pain when he was our size!" yelled Azurine.
"Daok, please tell me one of your cool Atlantean powers is growing giant," Rider begged. The boy could hardly believe what he was seeing.
"No, but I—No, we have something far greater."
Indra looked at Daok with eyes the size of dinner plates behind his visor. "You mean—"
Daok nodded affirmatively. "They're here. Surge Zords, surf's up!"
The human Rangers looked down to find the jewels on their Atlantirisers were starting to sparkle and shine. Beams of light shot from the morphers into the sea, making it light up with the Rangers' colors. The next thing Rockodile knew, a huge mechanical red and white shark sprung out from the depths of the ocean and bit into his arm; and it wasn't letting go. But it wasn't only, joined by a blue walrus, yellow seahorse, green turtle, and pink dolphin.
All of the Zords shared not only their respective Ranger's primary color, but each also had white (the underbelly for the Tiger Shark, Dolphin, and Seahorse Zords; the snout, flippers, and tusks of the Walrus Zord; and the lines segmenting the scales of the Turtle Zord) and solid aqua blue eyes. The Tiger Shark Zord also had the added detail of golden stripes along its head and body. When the ferocious Zord finally decided to release Rockodile's arm, it smacked him across the face with its tail before resuming its place in the ocean alongside its friend.
"They're amazing!" Umiko cheered.
"They're awesome!" added Indra, his words alive with enthusiasm.
"Dibs on the green one," joked Rider.
Daok stepped forward. "Alright! Let's go, Rangers!"
He jumped from the beach to his Zord, slowly sinking into its body like water. The others followed his example, finding the process of entering a Zord to be a surprisingly smooth one. Inside each of the Zords was a simple cockpit filled with water and a metallic "bubble" floating in the dead center of it. Grabbing hold of the bubble lit the entire room up with aquamarine light as the Zords charged up with power. Taking control of the Zords also seemed to connect the Rangers' minds as they could hear each other without the need to speak.
"Tiger Shark is raring to go!"
"Seahorse is sensational!"
"Walrus is in it to win it!"
"¡La tortuga está lista para la aventura!"
"I don't speak Spanish, but ditto for the dolphin!"
Rockodile regained his composure and turned his attention back to the Zords. The Tiger Shark Zord jumped from the sea again. The Abysall decided to counterattack with his tail, but the Zord's teeth started to spin and rev up like a chainsaw; it bit down on the offending tail, tearing into Rockodile's flesh, cutting through bone and muscle, all while it feverishly shook its body from side to side to cause even more damage.
"Echo Burst!"
Indra's Dolphin Zord released a volley of hot pink sonic waves at Rockodile's head. The hypersonic frequencies further disoriented him, causing him to stumble and stagger around. Next, the Walrus Zord sent out a beam of frigid cold from its mouth at the ground beneath Rockodile's feet. In his dazed stupor, he slipped and fell onto the ground with a quaking THUD!
"Umiko, I think this is our cue," Rider said. "I've got a plan. Think you can back me up?"
"Always."
Rider's Zord raised itself out of the sea and flew high into the air, far from anyone else's view. Umiko then rushed in with her Zord while Rockodile was still prone; the Seahorse Zord deployed a battalion of micro-Zords, incredibly minute versions of itself, from its abdomen. They must have numbered at least 100 and they instinctively swarmed the Abysall on the ground like a hive of angry wasps. They peppered with Rockodile with yellow laser blasts, overwhelming him with sheer numbers. Growing more and more furious, he forced himself to stand up in spite of the ice. He smashed his tail onto the ground hard enough to leave Daok and his Zord immobilized in a crater, and afterwards turned his attention to the others. Opening his massive maw, he let loose a sandstorm from deep inside; it was enough to fling the micro-Zords, Walrus Zord, and Dolphin Zord away. The Seahorse Zord managed to evade the blast, but Umiko found herself in a much more intense situation when Rockodile reached out and grabbed her Zord.
"What do I have here?" he menaced while crushing the yellow Zord. "A toy? Maybe a little snack?"
"Rider, what happened to that plan?!"
"It's already going down. Or should I say, coming down."
Unbeknownst to Rockodile, high above his head, hidden in the clouds, was the colossal Turtle Zord. While Rider wished he had the time to bask in the fact that he had the biggest Zord out of the five, he had a day to save and a rather simple way to do it. Once he knew that he was in the prime position, he had his Zord tuck its legs and head in before letting it go into free fall. He braced himself for impact as best he could as the giant turtle careened toward its target. Rockodile noticed the sudden shadow coming from overheard, but once he looked up he knew he was screwed. In the impending chaos, Umiko managed to free herself from the Abysall's grasp right as Rider crashed on top of him. With the enemy promptly smushed underneath him, Rider moved his Zord over to Daok's crater and dug him out.
"Thanks for the help, Rider."
"It's what I'm here for."
Despite all the Rangers' best efforts, Rockodile still wasn't staying down. The Zords regrouped together and the Rangers weighed their options.
"We've thrown everything we got at this guy and he's still standing," stated Indra.
"Daok, there has to be something else we can do," Azurine pleaded.
Daok took a deep breath. He looked back into his past, remembering his previous team and the hidden ability of the Zords that they had failed to unlock so long ago. Was such power even achievable? Or would history simply repeat itself? There was only one way to find out.
"We can try… We can try combining our Zords. My former team and I tried before, but we were never able to complete the process. I don't even know if it's truly possible."
"Daok, if this Ranger thing has proven anything to us, it's that the impossible is never really impossible. We trust you, all of us. You can do this. We can do this."
Daok took those encouraging words to heart. He could feel the connection grow among them; a connection of hearts; of minds; and of souls. It was time to do the impossible!
"Titan of Atlantis! Poseidon Power, Combine!"
The Walrus Zord was the first to get into formation. It folded its fins up and into its body, with the head shifting downward and the tusks shrinking somewhat as the core body separated apart into a pair of legs; a pair of boxy blue feet popped out at the bottom of the Zord. Next was the Turtle, which folded in all its limbs and head, and then split in half slightly at the bottom of its shell, clicking into place atop the legs. The right and left top quarters of the shell then swung open, turning into shoulders, and revealed a smooth silver torso with a large circular core in the center; this core was surrounded by a golden circle etched with Atlantean runes.
The Dolphin and Tiger Shark Zords were up next, following an identical process to access their combination modes. Their tails separated in half, though the Dolphin Zord had to rotate its tail to become vertical, revealing ports that allowed them to plug directly to the shoulders. The bodies then segmented, stretching out to form arms (Dolphin on the left; Tiger Shark, the right), and the heads of each Zord raised up a bit to reveal black metal hands. Lastly, came the Seahorse Zord, which unfurled its curled tail and plugged into the hole where the Turtle Zord's head used to be; only its head remained visible. A silver humanoid face with bright blue eyes folded out from underneath the Zord's mouth. And with that, the sequence was complete.
"ATLANTIC SURGE MEGAZORD!"
Shining in the sun, towering high above the sea, stood the newly created Atlantic Surge Megazord. Within its chest, the Rangers were pleased to find they were now all together in a single cockpit, each still maintaining their own control bubble. The Megazord posed, inviting Rockodile to come and try it.
"Rider, seriously?"
"Hell yeah, I'm serious. I want to punch something with this thing!"
Rockodile accepted the invitation, running at the Megazord at full speed, and got a fist in the face for his efforts. It was swiftly followed by another fist and another and yet another! Azurine wanted to break the monotony and kicked the monster square in the jaw, managing to break a few of his countless teeth. The robot subsequently grabbed a hold of its opponent's snout and spun him around and around at high speeds before tossing him like a rag doll. Not wanting to let up, the surprisingly spry mecha dashed across the water and resumed its assault. Rockodile slipped his tail around the Megazord's ankle and pulled, sending it crashing into the water. He then stomped on his metal foe's chest a few times, making things more than a little shaky for its pilots.
"Back off, fang face!"
The gold circle on the Megazord's chest started rotating as energy charged up around the core. Without warning, a plume of energy blasted out and hit Rockodile square in the chest, pushing him back. The Megazord picked itself up and the Rangers were ready to end the fight. With its right hand outstretched, the combined Zord called seawater toward itself, molding and solidifying the liquid in its hand into a huge, sickle-like sword. The Megazord clutched the sword tightly as it raised its arm in a circular motion, imbuing the sword with power as it did so; It then darted toward Rockodile at lightning speed, blade extended out and glowing.
"ATLANTIC SURGE MEGAZORD… TSUNAMI SABER TIDAL STRIKE!"
In an instant, it was all over. The Tsunami Saber sliced through Rockodile like a fish glides through the ocean. The Abysall warrior's body soon transformed into water as a large sphere of light charged up inside of his chest, getting bigger and bigger until…
BOOM!
"Abysall wiped out!" Daok proclaimed as the Atlantic Surge Megazord posed proudly, basking in the light of the sun and its colorful form contrasting against the unadulterated blue of the ocean.
With Rockodile defeated, the Rangers took to the news soon after. They gathered every reporter in Stone Canyon to explain the situation. They made it clear that the Power Rangers would never attack the city or its people, that they were framed by the same evil plaguing the city, and they stood alongside the protesters and supported their message. Thankfully, it worked. It seems the majority of citizens weren't keen on the idea that their heroes had abruptly turned to the dark side.
Not long after, the team returned to the Rock of Power to celebrate a job well done. There was music, there was pizza, and best of all, there was Alpha in a party hat. Umiko was showing off some breaking dance techniques to Rider and Indra while Daok and Azurine were off by themselves and talking. After she finished spinning on her head, Umiko offered the floor to Alpha.
"You got any cool moves programmed in there?"
"You should know that I'm always prepared to do The Robot."
The three Rangers laughed as the robotic assistant eagerly showcased his best dance impression of… well, a robot. They even cheered him on as he did so, further fueling his efforts to "get down".
"Go Alpha! Go Alpha! Go Alpha! Go Alpha!"
Azurine and Daok smiled at their friends' antics. It had been a rough day, so having fun like this really was the perfect way to unwind after a battle. But Azurine still had some questions she felt she needed to ask. And there was no time like the present.
"I still can't believe we got that pizza place to make us a peanut butter pizza just for you."
"Is peanut butter not a common topping for all surface food?"
"Definitely not. Listen, Daok, I…How long did it take you to realize that fake me wasn't actually me?"
"I was honestly suspicious from the start. She didn't have the same spark that you do."
Azurine blushed profusely and turned away to make sure Daok didn't see.
"I have a spark?"
"Of course you do. Everyone has a unique spark to them. Something about them that makes them… unique."
"Did she… say anything to you? Anything personal?"
"Nothing I believed."
Daok turned Azurine back around so that he could look her in the eye. The poor girl's heart was beating so fast she thought it was going to explode and her face was so red that she looked like a tomato.
"Azurine, I don't know exactly how you feel about me, but I won't believe the word of some murderous sand monster. I want to hear it from you. So just know that whenever you feel like you're ready to tell me, I'll be ready to listen."
"Th-Thank you. I appreciate that."
"Now, how about you show me what this whole 'dancing' thing is about?"
The pair made their way over to the others and once Daok revealed he wanted to learn how to dance, all bets were off. The warrior had no idea what he was in for, but that fact only excited him more. Where once there had been worry in his heart, it was now replaced with trust. Trust in himself, and more importantly, trust in his team. The fight wasn't over yet, but he took comfort in the fact that, for the first time in his life, the word "impossible" no longer applied to anything.
THE END