Several grinders marched through the forest crushing foliage under boot as they continued their patrol, marching in silence. Two blurs darted above them, hopping from one tree branch to the other, a single grinder paused mid-step turning it optics to the tree line above for a moment there was nothing except the occasional rustling of leaves caused by the wind.
The grinder turned its attention back to its objective resuming its march. From above a pair of dark brown eyes watched the machines as they passed. After they reached a suitable distance she let out a breath reaching up, she tapped her earpiece.
"Cam, you were right about the patrols being more frequent. There moving away from your position, but I wouldn't take any chances we might want to move to a new location." She said
"Already on it Cassie, I'll send an update to the others about the new extraction point." Cam replied, "Start making your way back."
"You got it." As the line cut off Cassie dropped down from her position in the trees she wore a brown jacket with a pink undershirt and dark black jeans Cassie quickly scanned the surrounding area making sure she hadn't drawn any attention to herself, before making her way back towards her partner.
'I hope the others are doing alright.' Cassie thought as she made her way through the dense canopy, she stopped at the foot of a large oak tree analyzing a marking left on one of the trees a four-sided star with a small pair of what appeared to be wings extending from its back was carved into the trunk. At that point, Cassie knew she was on the right track moving on she followed along the path given to her by the trees that bared similar markings.
After twenty minutes of walking and ensuring she wasn't being followed, Cassie arrived at her objective a small cave tucked away behind a fallen willow tree the limbs easily covering the entrance hiding it from plain sight. Making her way inside Cassie was immediately blinded by several spotlights.
"Augh!" She grunted shading her eyes with her forearm before calling out in slight annoyance "Cam it's me!" The high beams shut off revealing a sleek silver and black 18-wheeler the trailer attached to the back bearing the Ninja storm emblem along with a satellite relay dish above.
The driver's side door opened A young man in his late twenties stepping out he wore a full body black Gi with green lining the Samurai Star emblem being present over his heart leaving only his face reviled Cam had short black hair brown eyes and a pair of sleek glasses. "Sorry, Cassie." He said
"Its fine, just make sure it's not one of us before you try to blind them, it's bad enough I'm out there skulking about in the trees, you're the Ninja here shouldn't that be your job." She frowned while rubbing her eyes as the spots faded from her vision. "How are the others doing?" She asked
"Lily, Adam, and Aurico have the prisoners and are working their way out of the mine as we speak." Cam replied as the two walked towards the rear of the trailer.
"What about the rookie." Cassie asked.
"Well, from what I can gather he's tracking the girl, Yang. Which means he should meet up with the others shortly. From there if we're lucky they should be able to get out without any problem." Cam said as the back of trailer opened up, a ramp extending down allowing them entry. The interior being aligned with multiple consoles and computer servers and finally at the front near the entrance three tsunami cycles.
Sitting down in front of the main console Cam pulled up four separate video feeds on the monitor "I hacked into the mines security cameras, we can see everything they see." Cassie focused on the camera feed in the top right-hand corner of the monitor, where she could see clearly see Qrow and Dynamo yellow traversing through the tunnels, they had picked up the pace seeing as Yang was now free from her cell and moving with the others, it would only be a matter of time till they met up with one another and began heading for their extraction.
"What about our eye in the sky, are they ready if things go south?" Cassie asked,
"There standing by for the signal from the other if something goes wrong they'll be there." Cam responded
"Good" Cassie said.
Cassie's eyes moved from one screen to the others looking for any sign of movement, friendly or otherwise from the tunnels. She paused on the one in the bottom left-hand corner "Uhh, Cam who's the freaky lady in the mask." Cassie said
Cam quickly turned his attention to the video feed Cassie was focusing on. His eyes narrowed in worry "Yeah I have no idea. But whoever she is, she's no friend to the Psycho Rangers, I saw her trash a group of Grinders and Xborgs." he said.
"Think she's part of those hunter teams they sent in a while back?" Cassie asked
"Definitely not. Those teams were wiped out" Cam responded bleakly while typing away on the keyboard " I'm sending a warning to Adam and the others to keep an eye out for her, we still don't know what she's doing there."
"Good idea. If you need anything I'll be upfront." Cassie said stepping away from the console to let cam work. Making her way towards the back of the trailer, passing through the door that led to the front cabin of the truck she sat down in the driver's seat, a fresh set of co-ordinates already uploaded to the dash, they began making their way to the new meetup point.
/
"Hold up." Aurico said the others coming to a halt behind him "Patrol up ahead I count five Grinders three Cogs and two X-borgs." Aurico said reaching up for the sword strapped to his back.
Lily turned back towards Yang holding out a familiar pair of gold bracelets "Thought you might be needing these." she said as yang took Ember Celica securing them around her wrist before extending them into their Gauntlet form.
"Thanks" Yang replied.
"Take them out quick, we don't need anyone raising the alarm." Adam said as he summoned The Power axe into his right hand.
"The let's do this quietly, think you and your friends can do that blondie. " Lilly said good-naturedly.
Yang looked back to Whiger and Loyax, the phantom beast extended his skeletal claws dragging them down the wall creating a trail of sparks while the aged warrior grabbed a pickaxe sitting against the wall, testing its weight before nodding to the others. As the grinders drew closer Aurico knelt down picking up a small rock. Tossing it down an adjacent tunnel still under construction a pair of steel supports holding up the ceiling, the stone clattered and skidded across the ground the sound echoing down the tunnel drawing the androids attention.
"Disturbance detected" A Cog stated alerting a pair of grinders and Xborgs "Moving to investigate." the Cog began making its way towards the tunnel the grinders and Xborgs in tow. Aurico nodded to Adam who moved up switching his power axe to its cannon mode. A ball of plasma burst from the barrel/handle of the axe obliterating the steel supports, causing the tunnel to come down on top of them.
One of the remaining grinders turned to the source of the disturbance, only for the end of the pickaxe to puncture through its chest Loyax lifted the android off the ground swinging to the right the body slipped off the axe head sailing through the air and impacting one of its comrades.
Yang rushed forward upper cutting a cog in the stomach it's body curling around her fist, the android fell to its knees arc energy spreading across its body before looking up at the blond brawler who ended its life with one final punch knocking its head from its shoulders in a shower of sparks. Lilly leapt over Yang kicking the weapon from one of the last Grinders hands striking it in the back of the knee with her bow staff forcing it to kneel, batting aside a punch she round housed the android forcing it onto its back before bringing her bow staff down into its head.
Whiger charged forward slamming a Cog into the wall burying his claws into the robot's chest, it began twitching and sparking wildly as Whiger closed his fist around a large bundle of wires and cables ripping his hand free leaving a large gaping hole in its chest, spewing forth oil, coolant and other fluids.
The last grinder pushed its comrade's body aside getting back to its feet, taking one look at its fallen comrades it turned to run only to find itself staring into Aurico's visor "Ah, ah, ah" Aurico chided wiggling his index finger in front of its optics. Quick as a flash he unsheathed his sword delivering one deep slash across its chest, the grinder fell back a shower of sparks bursting from the wound stretching from its left shoulder to its lower abdomen.
"That the last of them?" Yang asked.
"Looks like it, they won't be reporting back anytime soon." Lily noted stepping over the body of a grinder, keeping in step with Adam as they continued down the tunnel towards their objective, after seven minutes of walking with no opposition in their Yang turned to the black ranger and asked
"How did you guys even get here? I thought the portal back in Bellwood was the only way here." The blond inquired
"Your friend paradox brought us here, he contacted me a little while back, filled me in on the situation I offered to help" Adam continued " He asked me to help put a team together, so I made a few calls to some old friends." Adam said. "We got here a little while after the Vytal festival started, Lily actually managed to catch your fight."
"Seriously?" Yang asked looking to the Yellow ranger, Lilly hummed in response before saying
"Yeah, we were told they may have been posing as students I was trying to see if any of the contestants fighting styles matched up with the Psychos own. Although I have to admit you and your team are pretty skilled fighters, although you might want to work on controlling your anger you missed a lot of opening you could have exploited with a cool head" She said
Yang rolled her eyes looking off to the side before grumbling "Great, now you're starting to sound like miss Goodwitch."
"Sorry" Lilly began "I spend most of my time training students back at the Pai Zhuq academy, I'm used to nitpicking these kinds of things around the students" Lilly replied
"Don't worry about it." Yang responded with a shake of her head
"Tell me why only send three of you?" Loyax asked
"Five actually, Cassie and Cam stayed behind and are running support, they got the security camera feed looped, so these guys are none the wiser." Adam said pointing up to one of the camera's positioned on an archway above.
"Five will not be enough" Whiger stated bluntly.
"well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine." Yang quipped.
A small series of beeps echoed through the cavern Adam paused mid-step raising his communicator to reply. "Go ahead, Cam."
"Adam, we've got a problem." Cam began "The patrols in our area are starting to become more frequent, I think our little friends are starting to figure out something isn't right. Cassie and I are moving position, make your way to the storage depo up ahead you should find one of the maintenance tunnels some of the survivors used to escape when the Grimm overrun the mine. They sealed off the main entrance, but you should be able to find an access point in the storage depo."
"On it." Adam said turning back to the other "You heard him we better pick up the pace."
"Great and just when things were starting to get easier." Yang said jogging behind the others as they followed Cam's directions.
/
Qrow followed close behind Alex who had de-morphed a few moments, a bright yellow bodysuit wasn't exactly the best for stealth. Qrow and Alex came to a halt the sound of metal boots marching towards them came from the tunnel ahead "Another patrol." Alex said
"In here" Qrow said, the two ducked into one of the side storage rooms sealing the steel doors behind them, Qrow and Alex turned to survey the room around them, their eyes widened at what they saw, the room or should they say warehouse walls were lined with dozens of two-story high shelves that brushed the catwalk above, dozens of crates marked with the SDC, White Fang and Atlas military logo's adding to the massive stockpile of weapons, Dust and vehicles. The sight alone painted a grim picture of what the Psycho Rangers had planned.
"Look at all this." Alex said gesturing to the vehicles near the back of the storage depot, alongside them were more tunnels leading out of the mine. The vehicles each bearing a different insignia: Armada, Machine Empire, Tetramand, Galvin and even... Incursion. Alex stared at the small troop carrier his fist clenched, the incursions had taken so many lives that day, innocent people who'd just been trying to live their normal lives the best they could. If he'd have been given the chance at the time he would have ended that fat toad Millieous himself.
"Ozpin and Ironwood are gonna want to know about this" Qrow said snapping a few photos with his scroll pocketing the device the two moved between the line of crates some marked with the SDC moved towards one of the crates marked with a white fang emblem, a layer of dust covering its surface, sliding the lid off he peered inside his eyes widening in slight horror.
"No" He muttered reaching inside pulling the weapon from its case.
"What's up." Qrow turned towards him his eyes focused on the strange silver and cobalt lance he held in his hands.
"This." Alex replied gesturing to the weapon in his hands, reaching back towards the hilt he unscrewed the lower part of the stock revealing a crimson energy cell. "These weapons run on Ether-point energy cells, a very dangerous and volatile energy source. "He explained while Qrow stared at him in confusion
"I take it that's bad. " Qrow said.
Alex facepalmed adopting a serious tone. "Yeah, this tech is level five, despite your advancements in dust and artificial intelligence your world hasn't even achieved space travel yet making you at most a level 2 society. Which makes it way, way too advanced and dangerous for anyone here, this type of tech in the hands of the white fang is only going to lead to more trouble, I'm surprised they haven't blown themselves up yet."
"So, what do we do with 'em? " Qrow asked, he barely understood half of what the kid was saying about this thing. Tec wasn't exactly one of his strong suits but by the sound of it, if the white fang had access to this kind of firepower it could only mean disaster. "Uh, kid?" Qrow asked as Alex began rooting through another crate, pulling out a small gold and black brick purple circuitry, ran across its surface arriving at a small keypad at the center.
"Uh, what's that?" Qrow asked eyeing the device warily.
"A bomb" Alex shrugged setting the device aside turning his attention back to the crate.
"WHAT!?" Qrow yelled out before clamping his mouth shut, ducking down the duo glanced towards the door they came in from in case they had been heard. Looking back to his partner, he found Alex pulling another four bricks from the crate along with what he assumed was a detonator. "What are you doing?" Qrow demanded
"The psycho rangers are gearing the White Fang and who knows who else up for a war." He explained while typing on the keypad syncing them up with the detonator. "And a single squad of White Fang Grunts with some of these" He gestured to the crate of Laser lances." Could burn through a platoon of those knights and at least a team of Hunters before having to change the energy cell."
Alex went on to explain " I can set the charges then blow them once we're out of the mine with Yang. We can destroy a shipment of dangerous weapons to a known terrorist organization while also saving one of our own, two birds with one stone." Alex said as he set one of the charges in between two crates of dust.
Qrow was silent for a moment, before replying "Alright." Alex handed him two of the four remaining charges.
"Set one of them near the motor pool, and the other by the ammo crates." Alex said.
Qrow rolled his eyes "You know this isn't the first time I've done this, right."
"Yeah I know. Back when you were with your tribe right?" Qrow came to a sudden halt.
"What did you say?" He said turning his gaze towards Alex his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I know about your tribe and I know you left them, so did your sister Yang's mom for short time at least." Alex said as he tucked another charge beneath one of the shelves holding several weapons crates.
"How the hell do you know about that." Qrow said in a low demanding voice
"Ok, I'm going, to be honest with you." Alex said turning to face the elder huntsmen" since you probably won't bite my head off for finding out... I may have hacked Beacons student files." Qrow furrowed his brow, causing Alex raised his hands as a sign of peace" Only because I wanted to know how that Psycho bitch even got in!" Alex quickly followed up. "I did some digging to see if there may have been a leek or a mole or something that could get them in, and I found your teams old file. It was detailed, to say the least." Alex said
Qrow sighed. "Its fine, just don't bring it up again. I left that life behind for a reason." Qrow said as he attached the last charge to the bottom lid of a crate of dust. The two quickly began making their way towards the exit on the opposite side of the storage facility.
"My lips are sealed." Alex replied the huntsmen and Omni ranger began making their way towards the exit, only to come to a halt as the magnetic lock disengaged the steel doors swinging open allowing the new arrivals entry.
"Shit" Qrow cursed as the two ducked behind one of the shelves, peeking between two crates Qrow caught a flash of red and Blake pulling back he leaned back against the crates cursing under his breath.
"It's them." He said to his partner
"Think they saw us?" Alex asked
"Don't know. But I'm not staying to find out" Qrow said idly gripping the handle of his weapon. Alex turned back to the elder huntsmen, looking back past the motor pool, it looked clear they could probably sneak out without them even knowing.
"Let's head back the way we came, the patrol will have passed by now we can loop around. it might take a little longer, but we won't have to worry about fighting these guts." Alex said
"Good idea" Qrow said. the kid had a point the more time they wasted dealing with these freaks the less time Yang might have. Hugging the shelf for cover Qrow and Alex started backing up moving back towards the way they'd come in. As the steel doors came into sight a yellow blur leapt down from above "Ha" they cried.
Qrow spun around drawing his weapon Alex summoning a quasar sabre from the morphing grid, the figure landed on the flat side of row sword pushing the blade down into the ground as their bow staff struck the Huntsmen in the face throwing him off balance, the yellow blur dropped down to the floor-sweeping Alex's legs out from under him, and catching Qrow in the face with their boot.
Their backs hit the floor, Qrow's hand lashed out for his weapon only for a knee to pin his arm to the shaft of their attacker's weapon pressed to his throat. Qrow looked up at his attacker his eyes widening as did their own from behind the helmet's visor.
"Lily?" Alex groaned sitting up, while rubbing the back of his head after having it slammed against the floor.
Qrow glanced at Alex before turning his attention back towards the woman currently pinning him to the floor, she was wearing a skin-tight yellow bodysuit that in Qrow's overall opinion didn't leave much to the imagination. It would also appear she'd caught him staring if the knee that impacted his cheek was anything to go on as she rolled off him.
"Perv" She whispered getting back to her feet, turning her attention towards Alex she offered the young man a hand.
Taking it Alex pulled himself to his feet. "what the hell are you doing here, how are you here."
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" She said, several pairs of footsteps quickly closed in on their position having been drawn to the commotion.
"Alex, Uncle Qrow." Yang called out to them
Getting back to his feet Qrow turned towards his eldest niece" Hey firecracker." He said letting out a sigh of relief, that he instantly sucked back in upon noticing his niece's condition like the fresh scaring that ran down her left arm, along with the large collar fastened around her neck. Yang was quickly pulled into her uncle's chest the man whispering, "What the hell did those bastards do to you?"
"I'm fine uncle Qrow, really." Yang said pulling away from her uncle.
"Yeah, well I'll be the judge of that" Qrow shot back giving his niece a good once over despite her immediate protest.
Alex turned his attention back towards Lilly and the new arrivals, Alex's eyes widened, he shifted into a fighting stance at the sight of Whiger and Loyax "Easy, these guys are on our side." The black ranger said, once again Alex found himself shocked (and slightly giddy) he knew that voice he'd heard it enough from the ranger archives.
"Your Adam Park." He said in awe." 'The Black ranger' Your...well a legend."
Adam sighed while Lily stifled a giggle "Looks like you got a fan." she said.
Adam stepped forward holding his hand out to Alex "It's just Adam rookie, I take it your Alex."
Alex took a moment to regain his composure before replying "Yeah"
"Alright, introductions aside we've wasted enough time already. We need to find that access panel." Adam said
"Access panel?" Qrow asked
"That's our way out, there access panel to one of the service tunnels leading outside the mine." Aurico explained to them "We just have to find it first"
"I got this." Alex said using his plumber's badge display the tunnel specs, the others gathered around as staring up at the holographic display, Alex zoomed in on their current location, the three-dimensional model rotated showing what appeared to be a shaft, below their feet. "Where standing right on top of it." Alex said looking down at the stone floor.
"There has to be an access panel around here." Aurico said.
"Hold up" Alex said, noting a small point on the diagram where the tunnel seemed to just off to the side. "Keep an eye on the entrance we'll have a look around."
"On it" Yang said, Alex nodded in return and started walking Adam Aurico and Whiger followed behind him, the four stopped in front of one of the shelves of dust. "Help me move this." He said
Dragging out three of the crates the four were treated to the sight of a large steel grate attached to the wall behind the shelves, a gentle breeze blew through the now clear opening causing Alex to smile "Jackpot" Adam said summoning his Power Axe he sliced a rather large opening through the steel, Adam poked his head through the opening staring down the dark shaft below them.
"Looks clear." He said looking back at the others "And by what Cam told us we should have a straight shot out of here."
It would seem things were starting to look up. Suddenly Whiger stiffened, he turned to face the door Alex and Qrow had used to gain entry, there was silence as his ears twitched picking up the faintest sound the others were unable to detect, a subtle beeping... and it was coming from the entrance.
"Down!" Whiger called out as the solid steel door was blown from its hinges sailing overhead, before embedding itself in the wall above them.
"We got company!" Qrow called out followed by several shots from his magnum, the elder huntsmen ducked down as a laser shot past his head singing his hair slightly. Qrow dropped down behind one of the vehicles shifting his weapon into its sword variant as the small platoon of X-borgs stormed the room.
Psycho yellow stood near the back of the group flanked by Zeltrax and Fury, she glanced down a the remote strapped to her waist, for a moment she considered it, she could put most of the fighters out of commission in seconds and then deal with the rest while they most likely tried to aid their comrades. Then again, where was the fun in that.
"Find the interlopers, I want them found and brought to me before nightfall!" Psycho Yellow barked
"As you wish" Zeltrax replied drawing his malachite green blade rushing into the fray, alongside Fury.
"God damn it, just when things were starting to go our way" Alex growled in frustration
"Go help the others, we can handle this here." Adam said gesturing to Alex and Aurico, the two nodded in return darting off towards the fighting Adam and Whiger turned their attention back towards the metal grate.
Alex summoned a small gold/silver mechanical tiki head while a card depicting a red ranger appeared in his left hand. Alex opened the morpher inserting the card" Go, Go Megaforce!" He cried thrusting the morpher forward snapping the tiki-head closed.
~Morphing sequence~
Alex thrust his arms out to the side as his ranger suit from the neck down formed, Alex jumped rolling back mid-air as a red dragon silhouette flew in behind him, Alex landed the dragon closed its jaws around his head forming his helmet.
~Morphing sequence complete~
Megaforce red and Aurico sprinted past the bodies of several fallen androids towards the conflict the sounds of gunfire growing louder, with several Xborgs crashed through the shelf to their left their bodies reduced to mere scrap metal sparking and twitched violently on the floor. Megaforce red turned to his left watching lily redirect her jungle mace the chain wrapping around a grinders neck, pulling on the chain she threw the grinder overhead it's body slamming into the catwalk above. "Could use some help with these guys." She said kicking back a grinder that got to close
"On it" Aurico said drawing his sword the Red Aquitar ranger disappeared into a red blur darted towards several grinders Aurico delivered three quick strikes to one grinder before moving on to the next his unnatural speed he moved from one grinder to the other, Aurico moved his sword up knocking the grinders weapon aside kicking it into one of the shelving units, the impact causing one of the smaller crate to fall from the shelf above the grinder could only look on as the crate crashed down onto its form spilling its contents.
Yang jumped back skidding to a halt alongside the Yellow Ranger, ducking behind a shelf she began loading some of the shotgun shells she'd snagged from one of the open crates, pumping Ember Celica she launched herself up onto the catwalk, drawing the attention of a large group of androids that quickly began arranging themselves into a firing line.
Yang didn't give them a chance, with two quick jabs she fired two explosives flairs into the stacks of crates behind them marked with the SDC logo the robots were reduced to a pile of molten metal as the dust inside detonated. The blond brawler ducked down an energy bolt barely missing her head. "Yang!" Megaforce red called out to her "Pull back I got this" He said drawing his Gosei morpher and a small card with the image of a transparent tornado on the front.
Opening his morpher he inserted the card into the slot, snapping it closed he thrust the tiki forward towards a group of X-borgs
"Twistornado Card, Activate!"
The Morpher's eyes glowed as a large transparent cyclone formed in front of him, the violent winds lifted the X-borgs off their feet slamming them into the shelving units and stone walls their bodies bending at an unnatural angle quickly putting them out of the fight
"That was awesome!" Yang said jogging up beside him.
Megaforce red turned to Yang and said, "Yang you need to pull back with the others."
"No way" She argued, a roar from above drew their attention away from the conversation Yang and Megaforce red leaped back as Fury's sword impacted the ground.
"Dragon sword!" Megaforce red called out, rushing forward his blade crashed against fury's own blade neither one letting up, Alex smiled behind his helmet taking a step back causing fury to stumbled forward before slashing the savage warrior across the back, and kicking him towards Yang the blond brawl delivered a swift punch into Fury's chest simultaneously firing Ember Celica Fury cried out as he was launched through the air crashing into the catwalk.
Megaforce red turned back to Yang and said back to Yang he said. " We don't have time to talk about this, Your Aura is down, you take a hit from one of these guys you might not get back up again." He said before crying out "Duck" Yang slid under Zeltrax's blade, the malachite sword instead clashing against Megaforce reds dragon sword.
Megaforce red blocked a strike from Zeltrax, forcing his blade down before delivering a strong headbutt stunning the cyborg "So, Smitty the Psycho's have you doing their work now." Alex said bringing up his sword blocking an overhead strike from Zeltrax.
"That name no longer holds any meaning for me." Zeltrax said jumping back to avoid two explosive rounds fired from Ember Celica. "They gave me life, life your kind stole from me in the past, and now the two of you will repay it with your own!" Zeltrax bellowed. Yang rushed in using her left gauntlet as an improvised shield she knocked Zeltrax's blade off to the side, simultaneously delivering a swift punch to the dark warrior.
Zeltrax slid back into one of the shelves, growling his head snapped towards Yang four ports on the side of his helmet lit up with blue arc energy before unleashing a barrage of energy bolts directed at the blond brawler.
"No! "Megaforce red yelled shoving Yang, out of the path of Zeltrax attack, he was not so lucky. Megaforce red brought his sword up deflecting two of the bolts off to the side the remaining four impacted his chest and the ground around him, the resulting explosion threw him into the shelving unit, the structure collapsing on top of him.
"Alex! "Yang cried out her eyes shifted to red fired Ember Celica launching herself over the attack and towards Zeltrax the Cyborg brought up his shield blocking a heavy punch from Yang her eyes widened hearing him chuckle, Zeltrax bashed the blond with his shield making her stumble, following up with a slash across her midsection.
"Augh!" Yang cried clutching her side in pain her hair burned a bright gold her semblance finally kicking in, Yang cried out in rage launching herself toward Zeltrax, unleashing a barrage of quick jabs and haymakers, Zeltrax brought up his blade and shield blocking and counter other with a kick or shield bash, the attacks only fueling Yang's rage and power. Finally, one of her attacks slipped past his guard, Yang fired her gauntlets as her fist impacted his waist.
Zeltrax cried out in pain as he skipped across the concrete floor, crashing face first into one of the steel beams holding up the ceiling, the black armored Cyborg attempted to rise, only to fall back to the ground unconscious. A lull began to form in the combat, one that Yang took, to take a few deep breaths her eyes fading back to lilac. "Alex." She realized rushing over to the collapsed shelf.
Yang skidded to a halt as two of the crates were pushed aside, Megaforce red rose from the pile of crates and scrap metal, he was just thankful it wasn't dust, that could have ended badly. He turned to Yang the blond winced slightly reaching over to the gash on her midsection. "Crap" she muttered in exhaustion.
"Yang" Megaforce red said in alarm rushing over to her.
"I'm fine" Yang said closing her eyes she focused her aura visibly flared around the wound, the opening knitting itself closed, leaving behind no visible scar tissue. Yang let out a breath, having to concentrate her aura so heavily on one spot, had taken a lot out of her.
"I'm good" She said wobbling slightly, before regaining her balance.
"Let's get back to the others." He said
"Ye-" A gentle hmm filled the air as the lights on Yang's collar lit up, the blond eyes widened in horror before a cry of agony ripped its way from her throat, accompanied by similar bouts of pain from their companions.
"Yang!" Megaforce red called out in horror as the blond collapsed writhing in agony, darting to her side he angled his blade in an attempt to pry the collar off from around her neck, as he got close the energy arced from her body striking him in the chest "Augh" He cried stumbling back holding his now smoking chest.
Yang cries died down as the collar deactivated, Smoke rose from Yang's body as she groaned in pain "Why must you rangers always interfere" a voice said from behind him, Megaforce red spun around razing his dragon sword as he glared at Psycho yellow. "Oh, what's this no witty remarks or comebacks?"
"Shut up" Megaforce red switched his sword into a backhanded grip, standing in front of yang's prone form "You've done enough."
Yellow glanced down at the prone form of Yang Xiao long, she felt some satisfaction seeing a once proud and revered huntress reduced to such a whimpering mess. She smiled beneath her helmet, now there was only one last thing to do. Psycho yellow darted towards Megaforce red, the red ranger sidestepped her delivering a quick slash across the Psycho rangers back.
Psycho yellow disappeared in a yellow blur darting towards the Omni ranger, Megaforce red grunted in pain sparks bursting from his body as he skidded back against one of the shelving units "Two can play at that game." Megaforce red disappeared in a vibrant red blur rocketing into the air, the two collided with one another unleashing a shockwave drawing the attention of everyone present.
The two combatants crashed back down to the stone floor, Megaforce red slid back a few feet as did Psycho yellow the two instantly charged one another reengaging their battle "Qrow" Megaforce red called out to the elder huntsmen as he batted a punch from the Psycho ranger aside striking her in the face with the pommel of his sword, forcing her back.
The elder huntsmen cut don two oncoming Xborgs, before turning his attention to the Omni ranger "Get yang and the others and get out of here I'll buy you some time" Megaforce red unclipped the detonator tossing it to the huntsmen who easily caught it. "If I'm not out in fifteen minutes, blow the charges, no matter what they can't be allowed to target Vale, not again." Psycho yellow rammed into him forcing both of them through the stone wall.
"Kid!" Qrow called out.
"There's no time." Lily said Aurico by her side Yang's unconscious form resting over his shoulder, the cavern around them began to rumble becoming more unstable by the minute "We have to go before this whole place comes down on top of us."
"No." Qrow said moving towards the opening, only for his pathway being blocked by Zeltrax and Fury flanking them were a small army of android, the grunts were now flooding into the storage zone and closing in fast, he glanced back at his barely conscious niece then back down at the detonator in his hands. "Damn it" he muttered through clenched teeth.
/
The yellow and red blur separated after crashing through what must have been the fifth wall, Megaforce red rolled across the dirt, groaning he shook his head pushing himself up onto one knee looking up he scanned his surrounding the area looked somewhat similar to the Amity colosseum although far more barbaric "Not bad you've certainly improved since Anur transyl." she noted from her position across the arena.
"Are you gonna keep talking, or are we actually going to do this." Megaforce red said picking up his dragon sword while drawing his mega blaster from his belt. At first, neither moved both combatants waiting for the first to strike, finally Psycho yellow move forward unleashing a barrage of lightning from her Psycho slinger. Megaforce red brought up his dragon sword deflecting the blast off to the side the ground behind him erupting in a massive explosion.
Megaforce red returned fire pushing forward, the Psycho Ranger flipped and slid under the blasts, Yellow broke out into a sprint towards Megaforce red, the Red Ranger ducked under a roundhouse from Psycho yellow, delivering a quick slash across her torso followed by a vertical cut across her back, Sparks burst from her body.
Growing Psycho yellow dropped down sweeping Megaforce reds legs from under him, spinning on his back Megaforce red delivered a swift kick to the Psycho yellows helmet, giving him time to get back to his feet. Firing three lasers into the Psycho ranger's chest he rushed her following up his attack with an X slash across her chest.
Rolling backwards away from the ranger she thrust her hand out "Psycho Storm!" She cried unleashing a blast of green lightning at the Power Ranger impacting Megaforce red in the chest, his body skipped across the ground before crashing into the stone wall between two serrated spikes. Giving him no time to recover Psycho yellow darted forward.
Slamming her knee into Megaforce reds chest, she slammed his head into the wall tearing one of the spikes from the wall she thrust the jagged piece of metal towards his visor. His dragon sword shot off at the last moment throwing the blade off target embedding it into the wall beside his head. The two-grappled fighting for dominance over the other, Psycho yellow began applying more pressure to the dragon sword pushing their blade back against Megaforce reds throat. "Die" She growled.
"Not on your life" He shot back slamming his helmet into hers, rushing forward Megaforce red delivered three slashes across her chest following up with a point-blank shot to the chest with his mega blaster. Psycho yellow stumbled back her head snapped up as Megaforce reds roundhouse connected with her chin launching her across the arena. "It ends here."
Opening his Gosei Morpher he retrieved a power card from the slot in his belt buckle, placing it inside he closed his Morpher "Sky brothers!" He called out summoning a smaller version of the hawk zord attaching itself to the front of his blaster "Hawk Zord set!" He called out lining up his shot with the Psycho Ranger. "Hawk Blast!"
The hawk Zord was launched high above the arena a trail of red energy following behind it, arcing downward the zord began to spiral increasing its velocity, Psycho yellow raised her arms to shield herself from the attack. The hawk Zord ploughed into the Psycho ranger erupting in a massive explosion, Psycho yellow cried out in agony as her form was consumed by the fire.
Megaforce red brought his arm up shielding his visor from the blast, as the dust cleared he watched Psycho yellow fall to her knees, her helmet was split open what remained falling from her face, revealing what lay beneath. Her skin was a pale grey with two mandibles extending from her cheeks a set of yellow and Black horns curled back behind her head.
"Do... do you think you've won" She choked out "What they have... what your fighting to protect, can't last. NO ONE!... Can hold back the night forever, not even you or the other rangers. Human's, Faunus, Gahh, the inhabitance of this world, they were doomed from the start." She looked up at him "You know I'm right."
"No" Alex replied removing his helmet, so he could look the Psycho ranger in the eyes. "I don't. And no matter what I'll stand by them, I'll fight by their side to make sure that after all this is over, that when the sun comes up, there's still a world for them to call home." Alex replied his helmet turning and walking away.
Yellow Roared in anger" Don't turn your back on me!" she cried charging him, The Omni ranger ducked under her strike countering with a horizontal slash across her torso, Psycho yellow let out a strangled breath falling to her knees Yellow arc energy dancing across her form. "Well played... ranger" She muttered falling forward her body erupting into a massive firewall.
Megaforce red let out a long breath, rising back to his feet he stared up at the opening above glancing to the left he spotted a small raven perched on the side of the cage, its small red eyes watched him in fascination. He couldn't help but feel something off about the small bird, it's actions seemed almost human. Pushing those thoughts aside he turned away thrusting his hand skywards vanishing in a red blur darting off into the sky.
(To be continued)