Disclaimer: While I don't own the overall concept of Power Rangers, Zords, and all else that goes with it, I, along with the friends that are involved with the story, do own Power Rangers Literati itself and its own componants. This takes place after "Spirited Beginnings" and "Echos From The Beginning."
Power Rangers Literati
"Hard Lessons"
By J.T. Magnus, "Turbo"
Daniel walked into the classroom and dropped his pack with a sigh. It was hard to believe that last Tuesday he was just a normal - so to speak - college student... One week later, it was Monday and he had spent most of the past week in combat as a Power Ranger against monsters and evil Rangers...
Needless to say, he wasn't in the mood for Marius' comments...
"I'm so sorry, Curtindolph, with everything that happened over the weekend, I'm sure you were - tied up - and couldn't get much done... Probably was no picnic..."
Marius' highly suspicious comments, considering that the monsters they had fought had started as spiders and ants...
"So what did YOU do this weekend, Marius?"
"Wouldn't you like to know..."
If J.T. was here, the thought crossed Daniel's mind, the Black Ranger would probably slam Marius up against the wall until he told all...
Daniel almost wished he could call him...
"Alright, you two! If I have to hear one more word about Aragorn and Legolas, I'm gonna make you EAT the movies!"
Mr. Z shook his head as his manager cut loose on two of the employees. As the owner, he supposed, he should be stopping him, but the fact was; J.T. wasn't the only person tired of hearing Amanda and Yolanda going on about Lord of The Rings.
"Hey," Amanda countered, "We don't get on your case for all the comic book stuff you spout, so don't get on ours for talking about our interests, okay?"
Mr. Z laughed, "Listen to her, man. I just got you broken in, I don't want to have to train a new manager now."
There was a bell ringing as the door opened and Daniel walked in.
"Isn't this where I left? My girlfriend and her best friend talking about slash and her and one of our other friends exchanging threats?"
Mr. Z put a hand on Daniel's shoulder, "Look at it this way, man, at least you don't have to worry about missing out on anything."
"You're right there, Z," Daniel said, looking through his bookbag, "Huh..."
Justin looked up from the computer he was working at, "What?"
"It's nothing, I guess I just left one of my books back at the college."
"Did you need it?"
Daniel shook his head, "Not really, I already know what I need to for that subject, but it bothers me that I forgot it."
Marius looked down at the book in his hand, "Perfect."
Dropping the book down on his desk, he reached into his pocket and drew out a gold medallion and chain. Pulling it over his head, darkness swirled around him before forming into a black outfit. With a cruel sneer, Mars touched his medallion, causing his hand to glow before touching it to the book.
"Perfect," he repeated.
The six notes that echoed through Highway Two took most of the occupents a few moments to recognize, but one knew it immediately and hid a smile.
With a shrug, J.T. turned toward the restrooms, "I'll be back in a minute, guys. You know how it is."
"Hey," Mr. Z answered, "When you gotta go, you gotta go."
As soon as he was out of sight, J.T. focused on the Command Center and activated his communicator's teleport function. Ending up in the middle of the control consoles, he looked around confused.
"Okay... What now?"
Numerous lights and buttons flashed as beeps and whistled sounded.
"Hm... Let's look at it another way. If my girlfriend was here now, which button would Jessica not let me press?"
He looked around a moment more before his eyes locked on a large dome-like white one on the left console, "'Allo..."
Pressing down hard on it, he was rewarded when the globe at one end of the room showed a scene that J.T. recognized as Scenic City's waterfront. He knew it well, it was one of the places he and Jessica, and Amanda and Daniel, went on dates, sometimes all four together on a double-date. Right now, though, it wasn't too good a place for couples because of the monster wreaking havoc along the walk and piers...
J.T. blinked, "First a spider, then ants, now this? These monsters are so cheesy... They're not even cheddar - they're limburgher!"
Shaking his head and chuckling, he thought about the bathroom at Highway Two and again activated the teleporter.
"Have fun?" Jessica asked as he stepped back into the main store area.
"Oh, yeah, LOTS of fun. How do you guys feel about taking a break? Stop fighting each other and go to the waterfront for a bit?" J.T. put emphasis on certain words to make sure the others understood what he meant.
Mr. Z protested half-heartedly, "Hey, hey, jobs, remember?"
"Come on, Z... Monday, remember? And it's still early," Jessica countered.
"Oh, alright, guys. Just remember to be back before the after-work rush, huh?"
"Thanks, Z!" Yolanda said before they all rushed out the door.
Outside Highway Two, the other five Literati Rangers gathered around J.T.
"So, what's going on?"
J.T. was almost too busy laughing to answer Justin's question, "You'll just... have to see it when we... get there."
Amanda rolled her eyes before reaching over and slapping J.T. upside the head, "Pull yourself together, Magnus."
Rubbing where Amanda's hand had hit, J.T. grimiced, "Right... Guess it's time to... Unleash that within... Dragon Spirit!"
"Phoenix Spirit!"
"Siren Spirit!"
"Magic Spirit!"
"Demon Spirit!"
"Warrior Spirit!"
Each of the Literati Rangers were covered in a light of their own color that solidifed into their uniforms and armor.
"Everyone remembers how to use the teleport system, right?"
J.T.'s question was met with nods and affirmatives from his teammates.
"Alright, then, let's try not to screw this up, huh?"
Amanda smirked inside her yellow helmet, "You'll screw it up if anyone."
With a glare through his visor, J.T. was the first to touch his wrist and for the third time that day he activated the teleporter.
As the team materialized at the waterfront, the rest of the rangers learned why J.T. had been laughing so much.
"Looks like someone's been playing too much Final Fantasy Nine," Justin said, shaking his head, "It looks like that Tantarian monster..."
"It gets worse, look at the title - we just found my missing schoolbook," Daniel groaned.
It took Jessica a moment to accept the fact that they were supposed to fight a book with a head and nothing else, "I've heard of killer homework, but this is ridiculous!"
From his place behind a building, Mars mused aloud, "You won't find it funny very long."
Touching his medallion, he reached his hand out towards the water, "Hardshells, transform!"
As a number of greenish-blue monsters climbed out of the water, Yolanda blinked, "Crabs?"
J.T. smirked as he counted, five of them, "Good. I'm hungry... I predict there will be a fight now."
As the Hardshells rushed the Rangers, they each drew their weapons in a flash of light and the battle was joined. The Black, Red and Yellow Rangers each fought with their respective swords, the Green Ranger with her Phoenix Bow, and the Pink Ranger with her Siren Daggers.
"What do you know, I'm psychotic!"
"You mean psychic," Jessica corrected her boyfriend as she blocked one of the Hardshells' claws with her Bow.
J.T. laughed as he swung the Dragon Sword and de-legged one of the additional legs of a Hardshell, "That too!"
"Daniel! What the hell are you doing?" Amanda shouted.
Unlike the others, the Blue Literati Demon Ranger had not joined in the fight, instead he was staring off in the distance, his Demon Axe loosely in his grip. His attention wasn't on the fight between his teammates and the Hardshells, or on the Tantarian beyond, but even farther away, on a figure in black and gold that he recognized too well...
"Marius."
With a roar befitting the nature of his powers, Daniel began tearing through the Hardshells with a fury, cutting a swath straight past the Tantarian and towards his rival.
"MARIUS!"
The magician watched and smirked as Daniel charged him, Demon Axe raised for a blow. Only feet away from his defeat, Mars raised his hand and suddenly Daniel slammed into a barrier.
"You, Curtindolph, may call me... Mars."
Mars put his hand to his medallion and a sword appeared.
"Have at you!"
As the Demon Ranger and magician became locked in combat, Axe against sword, the other Rangers had defeated the Hardshells and began to fight the Tantarian.
Shaking her head after being knocked to the grounds by a bolt of lightning from the Tantarian, Amanda groaned, "J.T., you and Daniel are the Final Fantasy freaks, how did you handle this guy in the game?"
J.T. tightened his grip and took a ready stance as he replied, "This is no game, hit it till it falls!"
Leaping, J.T. twisted and brought his Dragon Sword down on one side of the Tantarian as Justin's Knight Sword and Amanda's Spell Edge struck from other directions. As the recovered, Jessica's arrows and Yolanda's Daggers flew at the Tantarian, causing it to fall out of the sky and hit the ground with an explosion of gathered energy.
Locking the Demon Axe between the ground and his sword, Mars again touched his medallion as he recited an incantation, "Resurectis Beastium!"
As he finished, the remains of the Tantarian began to glow and increase in size as they reassembled themselves. While the monster grew to a twenty-story height, it began to sprout arms and legs with which it started to knock the tops off of trees and smash piers into the water.
"Daniel," J.T. shouted, "Come on, we need the Spiritzords!"
"I'm a little," Daniel grunted as he managed to pull the Demon Axe free, "Busy at the moment! Improvise, it's what you like to do, isn't it, John?"
"DON'T call me 'John,'" The Black Ranger roared, touching the coin-like disc on his armor marked with the dragon symbol.
As one, the other four Rangers followed suit, calling forth their Spiritzords from their chamber beneath the Command Center. The four land-based Spiritzords lifted their respective Rangers up to the cockpits as the Phoenix Spiritzord dived and scooped Jessica up before looping around and landing on the shoulder of the Dragon Spiritzord.
"Cover me while I transform the Dragon!" J.T. said to the others.
"Justin, Amanda, you take it in close. Yolanda and I will give you support," Jessica said, charging up the Phoenix's Fireball.
"Roger," Justin replied, the Knight Spiritzord's sword ready.
"You and J.T. DESERVE each other," Amanda commented, spinning the Witch Spiritzord's staff.
"Would you two just go?" Yolanda asked, her finger hovering over the control to activate the Siren Spiritzord's Siren Song attack.
As the Tantarian was battered by sound and fire from afar and physical blows from up close, J.T. took a deep breath, flipped open a series of covers and pressed the switches beneath them. Rearing up on its legs as they straightened and the lower half of the Dragon rotated one hundred-eighty degrees as the neck and head dropped to the left to form an arm. At the same time, a hatch on the right side opened and the right arm extended while a head rose from the torso and the dragon mode arms folded back over the shoulders. Weilding the dragon mode tail as a sword, the dragon head roared and the wings spread as the Battle Mode Dragon Spiritzord took a fighting stance. Then it lunged at the Tantarian and swung its sword, knocking it to the ground. Before it could get back up, blows came from the Dragon and Knight in succession to take one of the Tantarian's arms off. Unfortunately for the Rangers, it immediately grew back and a storm of flying paper caused the smaller Spiritzords to stagger and forced the Dragon to catch the Phoenix before it was knocked out of the air.
"We don't have enough power to stop it," Justin said.
"Then we get more!" J.T. answered, "Let's try a little teamwork! Rangers, Spirit Megazord, form on me!"
In their respective Spiritzords, each of the Rangers entered the appropriate commands to activate the Megazord sequence. For the Dragon, the head and right arm retracted back into the torso as the legs folded in half to accept the Witch and Knight Spiritzords as they transformed into legs. At the same time as the Siren Spiritzord shifted into an arm and took its place on the Dragon's right shoulder, the Phoenix all but collapsed as it landed in the middle of the shoulders to form a new head. The Rangers' seats dropped out of the cockpits of their Spiritzords and arrived in a larger cockpit inside the Dragon, J.T. in the center with Jessica directly behind him. Ahead of J.T. to the left and right were Amanda and Justin with Yolanda in front of and between them.
"Command, ready," J.T. checked in, ready to pilot the Megazord
"All systems are good," Yolanda added, seeing that there was no damage yet.
"Primary weapons are go," Amanda acknowledged that the Spirit Megazord's built-in weapon systems were actived.
"Secondarys are too," Justin nodded as he confirmed that the weapons of the individual Spiritzords had been stored in subspace and were ready to be accessed
"Flight systems are clear if needed," Jessica continued since the flight controls were seperate from the ground-based controls at J.T.'s console.
"Spirit Megazord, online," the Rangers finished together.
"Dragon Burner," J.T. commanded. Amanda activated the weapon in the Megazord's left arm as J.T. swung it at the Tantarian, causing a wave of fire to fly towards it, burning a hole straight through.
"Whoa," the Black Ranger reacted, "That's a lot of firepower!"
The others groaned, Amanda turning to look over her shoulder at him, "Not funny."
"Whatever... Let's just end this. Combine Witch Staff and Tail Sword..."
"Right," Justin answered, then looked at his console again, "Let's see... Combine... Combine... There it is."
The Megazord's hands reached out and the two weapons appeared in them before it brought them together end to end, forming a spear-like weapon.
"Take off!"
Nodding, Jessica activated the flight systems of the Megazord, lifting the monolithic robot into the air, dodging attacks from the Tantarian.
"Justin, do you think you can charge the spear with fire?"
The Red Ranger looked over his controls for a moment, "I can try."
"Amanda, while he does that, ready another Dragon Burner."
"I still want to know who died and made you leader..."
"Actually," Yolanda commented, "Justin's the one who wanted to know that."
"Well, now I do too."
"I think I've got it figured out," Justin interrupted.
"Okay, let's go - Hellfire Spear!"
As she activated the Dragon Burner attack, Amanda muttered under her breath about J.T.'s stupid names for their attacks. At one end of the spear, the crystal of the Witch Staff began to glow, causing the spear to be engulfed in flames. Twirling it, leaving trails of fire in midair, J.T. readied...
"Dragon Burner!"
Amanda launched the attack a second time, putting a second hole through the Tantarian as J.T. threw the spear, piercing the book-monster and causing it to explode a second time with more energy than it could handle. Inside the Spirit Megazord's cockpit, shouts of jubilation echoed.
"Yeah!"
"Alright!"
"Daniel!"
Before being cut off by Amanda's cry of concern before she opened a hatchway and dropped out of the Megazord to the ground below. Running to her boyfriend's side, she was relieved to see him mostly unharmed.
Trying to sound like the outcome of the fight had been different as he used his Demon Axe for support, the Blue Ranger managed a smirk inside his helmet, "You should see the other guy, Mandi."
"What happened?"
"'S strange. Just as he was about to finish me off, Marius clutched his head in pain and disappeared..."
"FOOLS!"
Malleus Maleficarums was not happy.
"INCOMPETENTS!"
REALLY not happy.
"Each of you have been defeated... By a bunch of inexperienced CHILDREN! It is fortunate for you that I am in a forgiving mood, but mark my words - I will not always be so forgiving!"
With a motion that set the volumous sleeves of his robe swaying, Malleus turned and marched out of the main chamber of his fortress.