Chapter 6 "Defearius' End"
Both Eve and Ryder were startled when their Samuraizers beeped. The GAP sensors were linked to their Samuraizers, so they knew when and where a Nighlok attack is happening.
Eve answered hers, "What's going on?"
"I don't know. My Morpher isn't new like yours and Lewis', I can't check coordinates," Ryder said on the other end. Not long after, they heard another voice on the line.
"Hey guys, sorry for not picking up sooner. Mr. Vitar hates it when phones ring during class,"
"Lewis, what are you jabbering about?" Eve asked while reading off the coordinates from her screen, "Defearius is at the marketplace."
"I thought we're not going to interfere," Ryder stated in a high pitched voice, trying to copy Eve's exact words from before.
"We're not," Ryder knew Eve was frowning when she said this, "We need to avoid the area until we know the fight is over," Eve prayed the guys wouldn't go to the marketplace. She was going there to observe the combat skills before finally putting her mission into action,
"Where are you guys?"
"The docks,"
"Um…at school,"
"Geez, you're such a dork, Lew. Even on vacation, you still go to school,"
"Lay off him, Ryder,"
"I was only joking,"
"That's enough joking then. Remember, meet back at camp by 6," Eve hung up and sprinted out of the woods with the marketplace set as her destination. She brushed past trees and leaped over logs and rocks in seconds, but her attempt of reaching the marketplace in time proved to be futile instantly. She stopped at the outskirts of the woods and rapidly sketched out a symbol.
車
Car
A pink Mustang appeared before her. Eve hopped onto the driver's seat and buckled up. Why do I need to take risks today? Turning the key, the engine roared to life. Are kids even allowed to drive in this time?
The Rangers arrived on the scene just when Defearius blared his signature deafening noise at innocent civilians. Jayden had reviewed the plan to the others prior to leaving and felt bad for including Antonio in this fight when he needed to recover. But he was the only Ranger on the team who knew how to play guitar. Plus, no matter how many times Jayden tried to suspend him from this fight, Antonio diligently stated how it was his duty as a samurai to protect the city.
Each Ranger was equipped with some form of musical instrument or object that produces distinct noises. Mike had a large timpani drum Kevin was armed with a violin, Emily was ready with her flute and Mia had her keyboard. Jayden gripped his blow horn in anticipation. If his plan didn't work, they would all be doomed.
"What is this?" Defearius laughed, "A colorful orchestra? I bet none of your instruments would defeat me. But let's see how you'll deal with the Moogers first,"
Ryder carefully hid behind a fallen fruit stand and watched the Moogers appearing from thin air. He fingered his Morpher, waiting for the opportune time to aid the Rangers.
"What are you doing here?" Ryder nearly jumped out of his skin when a little boy showed up from behind him, "I know it's you, Ryder,"
"Lewis?" Lewis turned off his Guise and his regular appearance returned, "Yeah, now what are you doing here, disobeying Eve's orders if I may add?"
Ryder started making excuses, "Yeah, but..." Then he realized something, "Wait a minute! What are you doing here, Lewis?"
"I knew you would pull a stunt like this, so I came. And I was right!"
"Yeah yeah," Ryder knew he couldn't resist watching the fight. Knowing Eve, she couldn't either, "Eve should be coming soon,"
"What? And ignore her own orders? That's..." Lewis trailed off. A pink Mustang pulled up near the fruit stand with their leader in the driver's seat. Eve hopped out of the vehicle and joined her team behind the fruit stand.
"...not so far-fetched," Lewis finished off, surprised, "Eve?" Ryder paid no attention to the Magenta Ranger's arrival, instead he continued to spectate the fight. The Rangers had already took down most of the Moogers. They would come after Defearius soon.
"I knew you guys want to catch a glimpse of the action, so I came here to fix things," Eve shoved Ryder to get his attention, but he still wouldn't look at her, "Now, both of you get in the car."
Jayden sliced the last Mooger with his Spin Sword. It was time to carry out the plan. Thanks to Mia, Jayden figured that to defeat a Nighlok with a weapon of sound, he needed sound. He had to create a sound that would rebound the Nighlok's attack. He didn't have time to test out his theory, but he formulated a couple of back up plans just in case.
"I guess it's up to me to silence you Rangers for good!" Defearius' speakers were turned bright orange, he was firing up for an attack.
"Now guys!" Jayden sent his team's cue. Plan A: use low tones. If the team could produce a deep enough sound, it could beat Defearius' bellowing noises. This required Antonio, Mia, Mike, and Jayden to play their instruments simultaneously and as loud as they possibly can.
Antonio strummed the lowest note he could play on his guitar, Mike pounded on his drum, Mia slammed her fingers repeatedly on the keyboard, and Jayden sounded out his blow horn. All four of them built a wall of sound that only deflected some of Defearius' oncoming attacks. But the four were knocked to the ground anyway. Thankfully, their hearing was still in check.
Plan B: use high tones. Since Defearius is part wolf and he harbored canine ears, a high pitch noise would drive him mad as would any other dog. Antonio had to participate in this plan as well. He rounded up Kevin and Emily once he stood back up.
"Um, Antonio?" Emily timidly piped up.
"Yeah?"
"I can't play," Antonio whipped to see the Yellow Ranger pointing to her Samurai helmet. He quickly found a solution, "Em, just play the keys," He turned to Mia, could you help us out?"
"Sure thing," Mia drew out a symbol and directed it to Emily's flute. The wind instrument made an ear-splitting tune in unison with Kevin's violin and Antonio's guitar. Defearius' wolf-like ears rang and the Nighlok backed away, but he wasn't surrendering.
"Is that all you got?" His amps and speakers changed into cannons and fired at the Rangers. Fire nearly engulfed them and their instruments as they collapsed onto the ground and demorphed.
Lewis couldn't take the sight of his parents weak state. He wanted to plead with Eve to let them help. But he knew, they were going to bounce back from this setback like they have always done.
Lifting up his head from the concrete, Jayden met Antonio's eyes, "Plan C!" he said to his friend. The Gold Ranger nodded. He morphed and crawled over to retrieved his guitar, which had received a few dents from Deaferius latest attack. Oh that Nighlok is going to pay for this!
"Alright Nighlok, it's time to face the music!" Antonio pulled out a cable and plugged one end to his guitar. He charged at the Nighlok, even though he kept firing volleys of fire in the Gold Ranger's way. Antonio dodged and flipped out of every single blast thrown at him. He even managed to slide in between Defearius legs and clung onto its back.
Now behind the Nighlok, Antonio's eyes searched Defearius' back. It was quite difficult to do so since he was bucking like a bronco. His back was similar to the back of an actual amplifier, a combination of Antonio's two specialties- technology and music. He plugged the free end of the cable into a jack then he called to Jayden, "Headphones, Jayden!"
Jayden tossed Antonio his gold headphones. He caught it and plugged in the jack to Defearius' back as well. Then, he placed the headphones on Defearius' ears. Antonio jumped off the Nighlok and stood his ground. He whipped out his pick and strummed a powerful chord. The team strained their ears to hear the sound that would end this monster for good. But nothing came. Not even the Future Rangers behind the fruit stand could hear anything.
Only Defearius heard it, and how unfortunate was it for him. Antonio had plugged his guitar into the Nighlok's amplike body and as long as Defearius wore the headphones, he would be the only one to hear his own blasting volume.
"Make it stop!" Then in a brilliant flash of light, his amps and speakers fell apart and lay broken on the ground. All that was left was his gray wolf fur.
"Way to go, Antonio!" the team cheered as Jayden pat him on the back. Then, the Red Ranger brought out his Fire Smasher.
"Fire Smasher, Cannon Blast Mode!"
The rest of the team re-mophed and assembled the 5-Disk Beetle Cannon. And with the Rangers' Power Disks in place, it was ready to fire,
"Fire Strike!" Jayden said as he pulled the Blaster's trigger and sent the Disks flying at the wounded Nighlok.
Once the Disks made contact with Deferius, the energy from the Samurai Power Disks ignited an explosion, swallowing him in a body of fire.
"Oh no," Eve muttered to herself. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a leather bound book. After quickly scanning a specific page, the book only confirmed her worries, "Guys, this is bad,"
Ryder was about to ask what Eve was talking about when the supposed destroyed Defearius grew into 170 ft. giant. The three young Rangers watched as their parents activated their Zords and formed the Beetle Blaster MegaZord. But Antonio remained on the ground, from reeling in the giant fish to shredding his guitar in order to defeat a Nighlok, he was exhausted.
Lewis gaped either at witnessing the Beetle Blaster Megazord or the realization of what Eve was talking about earlier, "This isn't right. They're not supposed to defeat him yet!"
"So, you're saying getting the job done earlier is a bad thing?" Ryder asked, "Think of this as extra credit!"
"No. Ryder, ever since we arrived at this time, we messed with the course of events.
What do you think would have happened if we haven't fought Defearius, or camped in the woods, or go to the Cupcake Cafe? This could mean big trouble later," Lewis ran a hand through his hair. Ryder had barely caught the sight of his friend's eyes when he had done that.
Ryder brushed these warnings off and took out a miniature model of a crane. It's crimson metallic wings were spread out while it balanced on one foot. He raised his head just in time to watch the Beetle Blaster Megazord fall on its back. Defearius launched an attack that was more than the Rangers could handle. It was time.
"Is that my Zord?" No doubt it was her Zord. Her parents had given the Crane Zord for her birthday, the first ever Zord made by a non-Samurai. Eve had enough, she nearly lost her head. Ryder hadn't been following her orders and kept on doing his own thing. Now, he stole her Zord from her backpack. It was the final straw. But before she could perform severe disciplinary actions on Ryder, he morphed up and threw the crane up in the air. The crane heightened to the size of a Zord. Ryder hopped into the cockpit and fired up the wings.
Ryder, in full Mega mode, steered the Crane to Defearius' eye level. He recognized the controls from the training demo simulation and began to drive the Zord as if he had been doing it for years. Then, the Crane swooped and circled the Nighlok, causing him to focus his attention on the tiny bird. While this happened, the other Rangers in the Beetle Blaster Megazord took this time to stand back up and call the SwordfishZord and the TigerZord to form the Battlewing Megazord. Ryder veered the Crane out of Defearius' reach and let the Zord touch the ground.
Emily could tell from that outrageous act of courage had to come from the child of one Antonio Garcia. She would have to make sure to tell Antonio about that later.
"Mega Blade, Activate!" The Megazord's mighty katana was brought into play. Then the Battlewing shot into the air and brought down the katana on Defearius while yelling, "Flying Flash. Mega Spin, Katana Strike!"
All the rangers spun their power disks and slashed with their Mega Blades. The Megazord mimicked their actions with its own katana and cut Defearius in two. The Nighlok was struck down but not without exploding in a series of well...explosions. The Battlewing Megazord turned away from the damage.
"Samurai Ranger, victory is ours!" Jayden declared.
Hours later, Eve paced back and forth at the campsite, deciding what punishment to dish to Ryder. Tying him to a tree trunk and set him afloat on a river? No. Suspend him from a high point and whack him like a piñata. Not quite. However, she did like the suspension, but she thought of a different kind.
She had forced him to hand over his Gold Morpher and Guiser before pacing. Eve placed the Morpher in a safe place then fiddled with the Guiser's settings after finally straightening out her punishment.
"Spike Skullovitch?" she read from the latest scannings. She looked at Ryder questioningly, "Congrats on being discreet. Now, stand here."
Ryder, for once, did what he was told and stood in front of her. Eve pulled the Guiser's trigger and the green beam shone on Ryder, transforming him into Spike. Then she took out her Spin Sword and smashed Ryder's Guiser into pieces.
"From now on, you will be Spike for the remainder of the trip and you're suspended from your Ranger powers,"
"Wait, what?" Ryder huffed and put his hands towards his face. It was definitely not his own,
"Why? I just want to have some fun that's all, tell her Lewis,"
Lewis was on the hot seat now. He looked between Ryder and Eve, whose side to take? When asked to choose or be put under pressure, Lewis tends to over-think things.
Ryder is his best friend and so is Eve. He had been going to the same school with Ryder ever since they were little. Eve is his neighbor and his greatest confidant. It seemed who his better friend was. If he went with Ryder then Eve would be mad at him, and with her being the leader and all. All this pressure got him to say something he didn't want to say.
"Alright! It was my fault. I don't know how, but the serum didn't work. Now mom and Mentor still remember who we are! Don't get mad at me!"
"What?" Eve screamed, forgetting about Ryder for a moment, "How could this happen?"
Lewis still had an angry Eve on his hands, so he tried to explain, "They remembered everything. It's either the serum didn't work or-"
"-Or there wasn't any serum in the cupcakes," Ryder held up the water bottle full of the serum. During Lewis' confession, he spotted the bottle in the trees behind the tent.
Eve took the bottle in her hands, "How could have I missed this?" The water bottle was too similar to the actual water bottles each of them have. She must have picked up the wrong bottle,
"Wait a minute, how do you know if this is the serum?" she asked Ryder.
"Oh, I marked the top of everybody's water bottles with their first initial. This," he pointed to the bottle cap, "has no initial."
"Clever," Lewis commented, he had thought it was Eve who did that.
Eve hastily stuffed the bottle of serum into her bag, "I'm going to put it in their water supply. Maybe if we're lucky, all the Rangers could take it. Lewis, are you coming?"
"I'm in," Lewis picked up his knapsack and was ready to go.
"What about me?" Eve glared at Ryder, "I want you to stay put, and without your Morpher, I'm sure you will. Today, I lost trust in you. I don't think you should accompany me on missions anymore. C'mon Lewis,"
Lewis nodded, "I just need to get something real quick first, okay? I'll be with you in just a sec," Eve smiled before trekking down the hill. He hastily searched the tent for his Xel, he lost it today. Giving up on the search, he sighed and was about to return to Eve when he saw Ryder picking at the fire, annoyed.
Something about what Ryder did infuriated him. Checking to make sure Eve was not within listening range, Lewis turned to Ryder, he thought about what Ryder had done ever since they came to 2012. Turning on his Morpher when he wasn't supposed to, stealing a Zord, and recklessly controlling said Zord... If Ryder wouldn't listen to Eve, Lewis thought, who knew when he would stop listening to his parents, Mentor, or even him. Eve wasn't the only one who lost faith in Ryder today.
"You messed up big time. Now, why don't you ever listen to her?"
Ryder stood up angrily and got into his face, "Leader or not, I don't have to obey her every command like you always do! Lew, when are you going to man up?"
"Oh it's Lew now?" Lewis had a revelation. He thought back to all the times he had been insulted by Ryder. Maybe his own best friend was the reason he had self-esteem issues, "Not dork, or loser, or nerd?"
"Geez, I was only joking,"
"Joking? Were you joking when you said you were going to graffiti half the city walls? Or when you said you weren't going to get arrested? Or when you said we're best friends? If we were best friends, then why do you treat me like your own personal punching bag?"
"To toughen you up! Ever since you've met Eve, you've been such a weenie,"
"I listen to her, she's our leader and she knows better than you do,"
"No," Ryder glowered at his best friend, as if what he was about to say next was serious, "it's because you're a spineless fool in puppy love. You like her,"
"What?"
"You heard me. And if you didn't have so much of a huge crush on her, you'd be on my side. We're best friends, almost brothers. Why aren't you with me anymore?
"Maybe it's because you've become such a jerk who needs to pull some big stunt. Why do that? Need attention from the dad you never see?" As soon as he said this, Lewis immediately regretted it. He expected Ryder to lash out and punch him.
To his astonishment, Ryder didn't say anything, instead only shifted his body away from Lewis. Lewis knew he hit sore spot. He walked towards Ryder to apologize, but realizing that Eve was waiting for him, he pushed this task aside until the next morning. He turned the other direction and ran to catch up to Eve. Apologizing could wait until tomorrow.
A/N: I really want this story to go well. Do you think I need to move along? I think I'm really slow on getting to the point. I hope I make up for it in the next chapter where there could possibly a major Jia moment that would be sure to cheer up the back to school blues.
I hope everybody had an awesome Winter Break and I wish you all good luck for the upcoming year.
I'm so pumped for Megaforce, I watched Ciara Hanna's (aka Gia, the Yellow Megaforce Ranger) Youtube video. She seems like so much fun!
And I've been getting some reviews to continue with the Two is Better Than One Story. If you guys have any song requests, I would be sure to consider them for future chapters. I actually planned it to be a one shot. It was my first one shot/song fic so I probably didn't a do a good job with the conclusion, so I can tell why you guys think there's more.
Okay, but before I go, a sneak peek for the next chapter is in order:
"What are you two doing here?" Emily asked cautiously as she examined the two.
Eve fingered her backpack strap nervously under the gazes of her her dad and the Rangers. They shouldn't know about the serum. She stared directly into Jayden's eyes and knew he still remembered her. But what could she do? Force him to drink the serum?
Lewis tugged on her arm, a gesture for an impromptu escape. They made a mad dash for the door but Antonio quickly blocked their path, "Not so fast ninos," He crossed his arms, "You have some explaining to do,"
Bear with me, all of you Jia fans. The next chapter would sure to leave you smiling. Keep the reviews coming!
*~Bluefire510~*