Hello Ranger Fans! I know I said about every week, but I kind of got writer's block for a little. I'm not completely happy with this chapter, so I may come back and edit it later.
(Late 2021 Spidey again. This chapter's content has been very slightly changed, mostly to follow the changes I made to the last chapter. Thank you for your understanding!)
Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers. If I did, I would pay Toei to produce the footage for this story so this could be real.
Myth 4: H2Oh No!
"Give it up, Gryphon!" Jay shouted as he and the other Rangers lept from a rooftop to the next. The Gryphon he was shouting at was a humanoid in bronze armor with giant wings. A roaring lion-face design disguised his identity from the world. He had been attacking the streets when the Olympian Rangers had shown up, and given chase.
"At the velocity he's going at, added to the head start he already had… I calculate the chances of us catching him at about… .5% chance," Mera noted as she continued her sprint. "We need a new plan."
"What do you say, oh fearless leader?" Nate asked as he maintained his speed ahead of the others. "Do you have a plan, or will you get us surrounded and outmatched again like last time?"
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking…" Jay said as he took the lead from Nate. "Maybe if… Valerie, prepare your bow! I have an idea!"
"Ok," Valerie said as her bow appeared in her hands as she maintained her pace. "Now what?"
"Try shooting my sword at him." Jay shouted as the weapon appeared in his hand before he tossed it to Valerie. He watched as she nocked it in her bow.
"Lightning Arrow!" Valerie and Jay shouted as the sword went flying through the air and flew a few hundred yards, but still landed short. Jay grabbed his sword as he ran past.
"We have to run out of roofs eventually," Victor remarked.
"He has wings, remember?" Nate responded. "Duh!"
"We're losing him!" Valerie shouted as Gryphon started to flap his wings and rise from the updraft of air.
"Guess I'll have to do it myself! Ocean Trident!" Nate shouted as he lugged back his arm and hurled his trident right into the Gryphon's right wing, causing him to crash back down onto the concrete rooftop.
"Good job, Nate!" Jay congratulated. "You got him!"
Gryphon stood up and pulled the trident out of his wing before flexing it. He found it still worked just fine. He was about to flap his wings and fly away before Jay slashed both off with two sword slashes, causing Gryphon to scream in pain
"I, Gryphon, will remember these injuries, Red Ranger!" he screamed in a deep, beastly voice as he was surrounded in black smoke, before disappearing.
"Red Ranger?" Nate shouted into thin air. "I hit you first, you miserable monster!"
"Jay kind of landed the more important blow," Valerie said as a door appeared for the Rangers to walk through back to base.
"Now, now," Jay said. "It was a team effort, and…"
"Team effort? If it weren't for me, that armored jerk would have been half way to Angel Grove!" Nate complained as the team stepped through the door and found Hermes waiting for them. They demorphed as Nate continued his rant.
"I'm done playing second fiddle to you, Jay!" Nate said. "I'm taking you up on your offer of taking leadership starting tomorrow!"
"Fine with me," Jay said. "Let's see how you do."
"I regret my decision," Jay said as he did another push-up. Nate was standing above him and the others, counting off.
"And 50!" he said. "Now take a quick break!"
"Ow!" Valerie said as she held her right arm. "I was done after 20, much less 50."
"Alright, break over! Jumping jacks! Let's go!" Nate commanded.
After 50 jumping jacks, Valerie was prone on the ground, Jay was holding onto the wall trying to catch his breath, Victor was drinking water and Mera was steaming mad.
"I would not mind doing all of this exercise if you would join in!" she shouted.
"Why would I?" Nate said, "I'm the leader now. That puts me above you. Now, let's go to the school track and run a mile!"
The other teens just groaned in response. This was going to be a loooong training session.
Hades looked on the blue flame screen as he watched the Rangers running on the school track.
"The Rangers look exhausted after all of that running," Hades said. "Looks like the perfect time to attack. Gryphon!"
The bronze villain appeared from a cloud of black smoke.
You called, my master?" he said as he kneeled before the King of the Underworld.
"I want you to distract the Rangers while I prepare a monster for a sneak attack. Take some Spartoi with you, and do not fail me!"
"Yes, milord," Gryphon said as he stood up. "I shall defeat the Red Ranger first! Then the others will fall!"
He turned around and vanished into the smoke he once again created.
Hades reached into the brazier.
"Let's see the Rangers beat her," he said.
"One more lap!" Nate yelled from his seat on the bleachers as he watched the other Rangers continue to run.
"So…tired…" Jay said as he shifted to a slumped walk. "Need...rest."
"This is ridiculous!" Valerie shouted up to Nate. "We've been running for the last hour. I don't know how much more the rest of us can take!"
"Do you think fighting monsters is a cakewalk? We need to stay in shape! Quit whining and get running!" Nate retorted.
To the surprise of all of the teens, Gryphon flew right above Jay and tackled him to the ground before pulling out his sword.
"The Red Ranger is no more!" he said as he was about to bring his saber down into Jay, before Victor came barreling in with a shoulder charge. Gryphon was sent tumbling to the ground.
"Spartoi! Attack!" Gryphon yelled as he stood up and raised his sword. A portal appeared above his sword, and Spartoi jumped out before drawing the swords they now had.
"We can't handle swords unmorphed…" Jay started to say before Nate declared his plan as the new leader.
"Attack!" he shouted as he charged at the Spartoi head-on.
"Are you insane?" Jay shouted. "I am not fighting them unmorphed. It's Morphing Time!"
The other Rangers ran up next to him and activated their morphers.
"Fine!" Nate said as he quickly backtracked back to the group. "But I get to say it; It's Morphing Time!"
"Pink Olympian Power!"
"Yellow Olympian Power!"
"Black Olympian Power!"
"Blue Olympian Power!"
"Red Olympian Power!"
The Rangers were surrounded in a flash of colored light, and were about to start the roll call when Nate took off summoning his trident as he ran. The others shrugged and ran in behind him, summoning their weapons as they ran.
Mera stabbed her spear into one of the holes of the ribcage of one Spartoi and threw it up in the air for Jay to slash with his sword as he soared through the sky like an eagle before finally succumbing to gravity.
Nate ripped a sword from a Spartoi's grasp with his trident before stabbing it quickly in the head. He ran towards his next objective: Gryphon, who had chosen his next target to be the currently landing Red Ranger.
Jay whirled around and blocked the bronze sword with his own sword, forcing the two to push their blades towards each other, with each one trying to get the upper hand. Gryphon quickly disarmed the less skilled Ranger, and was about to slice him right before Nate stabbed him in the wing again in the exact same spot as before.
Gryphon dropped his sword in surprise, giving Jay the opening he needed to roundhouse kick him in the right side, knocking him to the left. Nate pulled out his trident as the armored warrior tumbled to the bleachers, where Victor had smashed some Spartoi together, and made them disintegrate into one another.
With the Spartoi defeated and Gryphon prone on the ground, the Rangers regrouped in front of their defeated foe.
"What should we do with him?" Valerie asked.
"We cannot bring him into base with us," Mera said, "but we do not have many options besides leaving him."
"What's to stop him from attacking us as we leave?" Victor asked.
"Well, I think…" Jay began before Nate cut him off.
"It doesn't matter what any of you think. As leader, I think we should just destroy him now," Nate said. "He can't attack us again if he isn't around to attack us."
The others gave him death glares through their helmets.
"I can take the training. I can somewhat take the 'holier than thou' approach. But I will not accept my decision being considered useless," Mera said. "Now, someone needs to, as the expression says, knock you off your high horse and…"
She couldn't finish her sentence before a vortex of water swallowed her up from under her. As they looked around frantically, Victor and Valerie were sucked up by a water vortex, leaving just Nate and Jay standing. They turned around to see a green monster with a scaly body, no armor of any kind and an arm that looked like a sea monster head, which was currently sucking up the last of the other three Rangers in a whirlpool of water.
"Mmmm, tasty!" it said as Gryphon teleported with his signature smoke next to it.
"I would like to introduce you two to Charybdis," he said. "She likes to eat objects and people with her whirlpool creating abilities. She has eaten your friends, and she'll eat you too!"
Charybdis pointed her "mouth" at the ground and let out a vortex of water into the dirt. Jay and Nate jumped out of the way as the vortex shot out of the ground at where they just were. As Nate ran towards the two monsters, Jay grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the monsters.
"We need to regroup!" Jay shouted over the slowly growing whirlpool.
When Nate shook his head, Jay dropped his head in defeat.
"For the record, I think this is a bad idea!" he shouted as he and Nate ran around the whirlpool to face its source.
"Ocean Trident!"
"Lightning Sword!"
The two charged at the scaly monster and slashed or stabbed their weapons. It had no visible effect, as if some invisible force was protecting the beast from harm.
"Fools! I can use my whirlpool abilities for defense as well! I have a small water 'suit of armor' on at all times!" Charybdis roared in a gravelly yet feminine voice.
"That gives me an idea!" Jay shouted over the ever-growing and roaring whirlpool. "May I suggest something? Or will you just automatically shut it down?"
"Go ahead!" Nate shouted.
"Let's retreat a little bit and I'll tell you my plan!"
The two began to run away from the battle before Gryphon flapped his wings and soared over them to block their escape.
"There will be no retreats this time," he said. "That's how you beat the Minotaur. You see, we learn quickly. Every trick you use will be a trick you cannot pull off another time!"
"You talk too much," Nate said as he punched Gryphon in the helmet so hard it sent him tumbling again. The two continued their mini retreat until there was the entire track length between them and the whirlpool, with Gryphon prone in the center.
"Two things, 1) We are beating Gryphon way too easily, and 2) which one of us can counter him and which can beat Charybdis?" Nate asked.
"We don't have to divide the battle, if we can just put aside our differences. Why did you decide you would be the better leader?" Jay asked in return.
"Because I thought that I was better than you, I was stronger, faster, more agile. I thought that was all it was about. Plus, I thought I was the more popular choice. We never really voted. You became the leader because you wore red."
"Being a leader is more than who is more athletic, or who the most popular choice is or even the color of the Ranger. It's mostly about being able to accept other people's ideas. It's about knowing everyone's strengths and weaknesses, and planning accordingly. I let you lead the team because I wanted you to learn that. The question is, have you?" Jay asked his teammate.
Nate stood there for a minute, contemplating what Jay had just said before nodding his head.
"I guess I have," he said. "Now what was your plan?"
"Water conducts electricity, and she's wearing 'water armor', so what if I summon a lightning attack?" Jay suggested.
"Let's find out!" Nate said, "attack!"
The two charged back at Charybdis and around the still growing whirlpool as Jay raised his sword to the sky. The sky darkened as thunder clapped and lightning cut across the sky. A bolt of red lightning struck Jay's Lightning Sword as he quickly slashed it down into the monster. Red lightning coursed through Charybdis as the sword slashed through her. She cried out in pain as the two Rangers posed in front of her exploding body.
The whirlpool spluttered and slowly shrank down before spitting out the other three Rangers, who landed on the ground and looked around disoriented for a minute.
"What just happened?" Valerie asked in confusion.
"Where are we?" Victor asked.
"Is Nate still acting as leader?" Mera asked.
Jay and Nate ran up to their friends and helped pull them up. Valerie stumbled and fell into Jay. Both were glad they had their helmets on to hide their blushes as they stepped away from each other.
"No, I'm giving control back to Jay," Nate said. "I've learned that being a leader is more complicated than I thought. He's more qualified to lead than I am, and I'm sorry for ignoring your suggestions. One has to lead by example, and Jay can do that well."
The remains of Charybdis were surrounded by a blue flame circle as they pieced themselves back together before she grew to several stories tall.
"May I?" Nate asked.
"Go ahead," Jay replied.
"We need the Zords!" Nate shouted into his morpher.
"On their way!" Hermes said as he clicked a few buttons on the rune keyboard.
In the distance, the Rangers could see their Zords running or flying towards them. The Rangers lept and landed in the cockpit before inserting their Olympian Gems.
"Time to form the Megazord!" Jay ordered before, to his surprise, the console began to glow with a blue light.
"Rangers," Hermes announced. "Because of Nate's new improved trust in the team, you have unlocked a new mode for the Megazord."
On the dial where the Zord modes were, a new selection appeared labeled "CENTAUR MODE".
Jay grinned under his helmet. "Let's try this out! Activate Olympian Megazord: Centaur Mode!"
"Right!" the other Rangers responded, with Nate the loudest of all. All five Rangers turned their dials to the correct mode.
The Horse Zord was first, as it ran forward and had the head move into a chest cavity before closing up.
The Bull Zord was next, as its head came off before the legs folded into the body. The entire Bull Zord then landed on the horse as the bodies clicked into place
Next came the Owl Zord. As its head detached from the body and the body detached from the wings, the wings clipped onto the sides of the Eagle Zord and expanded, forming the arms.
The Eagle Zord was next. As its wings clipped off together in one long arc-shaped piece and its legs slid into its body before it connected to the Horse Zord and Owl Zord, it was now forming the entire body of the combination. The Eagle Zord head screeched and opened up its mouth to fit the other side of the Owl Zord's head into it, revealing a different robotic face.
The Fish Zord clipped onto the back after folding a bit to form the quiver, with the dorsal fin splitting into "arrows". The Eagle Zord's wings went into the Megazord's left hand to create a bow.
"Olympian Megazord: Centaur Mode! Ready!" the Rangers shouted as they met up in the central cockpit. Jay was in the front with Nate diagonally to his right, Victor diagonally on his left, Valerie diagonally behind Nate and Mera diagonally behind Victor.
Charybdis opened her "mouth" and launched a vertical water vortex blast at the Megazord but, due to its four legs, the Megazord was able to gallop out of the way and launch an arrow from its bow at the monster's head-arm. It had no effect on the green beast.
"What do we do?" Valerie asked.'
"It's time to pull out our secret weapon!" Nate said as he pulled a lever to the red setting.
"Activate Lightning Arrow!" Nate and Jay announced as a sparking arrow was placed into the bow as the Megazord slowly pulled back the bow. As Charybdis charged, the Megazord released the arrow. Electricity coursed through the monster again as she fell to the ground, before quickly getting back up.
"Nice try, Rangers!" she cackled. "But that won't work this time!"
"I have an idea!" Nate exclaimed.
"What is it?" Jay asked.
"My lever has five colors, so let's try a different elemental arrow," Nate said. "I think we should try the blue one."
"Let's give it a shot!" Jay said as Nate pulled the lever to the blue setting.
"Typhoon Arrow!" the Rangers shouted as a small whirlpool appeared around the Megazord before the Megazord placed the point of an arrow into it. As the Megazord raised the arrow, the whirlpool shrank to fit around the tip as the Megazord pulled back the bowstring as it galloped away from Charybdis to avoid her strikes. As soon as the arrow was pulled all the way back, the Megazord released the arrow and the whirlpool followed. As the arrow struck Charybdis, the whirlpool turned into a huge spiral that threw Charybdis into the air before causing her to crash to the ground. The Megazord posed in front of the monster as she exploded.
"My lord," Gryphon said as he kneeled in front of Hades' throne. "I have failed you."
"I know," Hades growled. "And what do you plan on doing to correct that?"
"Well, where Charybdis failed, maybe her sister can succeed," Gryphon said as a purple monster stepped out of the shadows. She had 3 long necks and three heads to go with it, and where her arms should have been were long necks and heads as well. Finally, she had a head design on her chest, giving her six heads total.
"I, Scylla, will defeat the Blue Ranger for you!" she roared through her main head.
"Shall I send her now while they are unprepared?" Gryphon asked.
"No, revenge is a powerful motivator," Hades said. "Let's save her for later. If this battle of good and evil is a game of chess, I want to keep my advanced pieces a secret for now."
"As you command," Gryphon and Scylla said as they bowed before disappearing into a cloud of black smoke.
"Next time, I will target a different weakness!" Hades shouted out to no one in particular. Persephone turned away from her husband with a look of worry on her face.
"Fight hard, Rangers," she said, "and prepare…"
The demorphed Rangers stepped through the doors and found themselves back in the temple. As soon as everyone stepped through and the doors closed, Nate cleared his throat. The other Rangers turned to look towards him.
"I just wanted to apologize to everyone for the way I acted," Nate said, "And I may not be the leader anymore, but that doesn't mean the lessons I learned are gone. I know now that Jay deserves to be lead because he doesn't think himself above us, and actually listens to our ideas. I also learned that, as a member of the team, I should do the same."
The other Rangers clapped.
"We knew you would learn eventually," Valerie said.
"Hey, Hermes?" Nate asked. "Why didn't you try to teach me those lessons to me earlier? Like when I was forcing the others to train?"
"I am not your only teacher," Hermes explained. "There are some things we must learn for ourselves. You learned the consequences of your actions, and in a way, you taught yourself."
"Now that that's cleared up, who's ready for training?" Jay asked.
All of the other teens gave him death glares.
"Is it something I said?" Jay asked.
Please review! I really appreciate it when someone does!
