Chapter 9 - City Under Siege

What the hell happened? Why is everything so dark? I can hear… beeping. My body aches, my head is hurting. What the hell? Wait… those three, dammit I've never been caught slipping like that before. You bastards! Hez's mind raced. I feel… a hand in mine. I wish I could see, what the hell? He struggled until his eyes opened. He could see a white ceiling his vision slowly came into focus. He could hear the beeping more clearly as he shifted his eyes around the all white room. He figured he was laying in a bed, a hospital bed to be specific. Shit he thought it himself. He tried to sit up but the pains rushed through his body. As a did so, his forearm brushed something soft and silky. He tilted his head to see Katrina laying her face onto the cushion of his bed. His eyes widened, how long have I been here? His mind raced once again as he ignored the pain, sitting up. Katrina began to stir and in response, he stroked her hair.

"If you weren't so beaten up, I'd beat the life out of you," she said groggily.

"Sorry, someone beat you to it," Hez joked.

"Who?" The question was met with silence. She looked up at him, his eyes were averted to the window. "So it was them?" He nodded at her question and sighed.

"When did the say I can leave?" He asked.

"You're still need your own clothes you can leave whenever." She replied as a stood up. Hez hopped out of the bed noticing his pains were beginning to diminish greatly. He shrugged off the feeling as anger. He grabbed his shoes and sat in the chair to slide them onto his feet. He winced as her performed the task.

"You have that look in your eyes."

"Where's my jeep?" was all he said in reply.

"Can you not be a stubborn fool for one second? You're body is banged up, you're just waking up from having the crap beat out of you and to top it all off you look like total shit. What's your father gonna think of this? No way in hell he's gonna believe you were with me all night and if he does then the apple doesn't fall far from the stupid tree." Katrina lectured Hez as he stood there dumbfounded. "Yea that's right, I said it, you're an idiot."

"I hate when you make sense," Hez said sitting back down in defeat. "Where are the guys?"

"Oh uh…. they're running the dojo." Katrina said half heartedly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A fist made of rock thrusted at Aj's helmet. He slipped it and landed a body hook before driving his foot through the center of the putty. "Why the hell is there so many?!" Aj yelled as he parried a punch into his elbow, shattering the fist.

"No idea but where's Katrina? Could use the extra man power!" Brian yelled as he sliced the stomach of a putty and side kicked its chest. Neil swept the legs of a putty while NC jumped into the air, bringing both knees into his chest before shooting both feet out, drop kicking the rock monster into the group of others.

"There's no end to this, what the hell!" NC yelled. "Someone call Katrina, we need the help!" Donna spun out of the way of a kick and put her index and middle finger to the temple of her helmet.

"Earth to Katrina. We could use your help." Donna said as she used her one arm to block and parry attacks. She checked a kick before round kicking off the head of a putty.

"Hez is awake guys I'm on the way." Katrina replied. It wasn't seconds before her yellow energy transported her into the battlefield as a ranger. She drew her bow and began letting arrows loose into the putty.

"Took you long enough!" Aj yelled as they regrouped.

"Had to check on Hez, excuse me for being caring." Katrina snapped back. They faced down a line of Putty that soon made a whole.

"My my, you rangers really are a force to be reckoned with. To have taken on as many Putty as you have is no easy feat." An armored being walked his way through the ranks of the Putty as he spoke. "The only thing I wonder is, how are you lot alive after what Lord Zed did to you? No nutter I guess, I'll just take the glory of spilling your blood here and now." The being wore golden armor with a black trim. His helmet had a t shaped visor that was lined in silver. Sprouting from his helmet was a black t shaped emblem. His armor was separated at the joints to allow him freedom of movement. While seeming bulky, the armor was both protective and mobile.

"Who even are you?" Aj asked annoyed.

"I am the Chromium Gold Beetle, the one who will kill the rangers for good!" The being yelled as he charged them. Neil nodded at Brian and rushed forward hoping to compete in a singles fight. He checked a low round kick and blocked the combined high round before firing off a straight punch the was parried. The Beetle leaned in with a elbow that Neil met with his forearm to block. "You're strong, but you rely too much on strength." Neil felt a slap on his bicep and before he could react, his helmet was struck by the elbow. Neil stumbled backwards, his eyes glazed over from the force of the blow. He lost his footing and began to fall to his right but the Beetle never let him hit the ground. He kicked Neil, sending his body flailing back to his team.

"I'll gladly take you all on."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So Katrina just up and left?" Ren asked Hez.

"Yea after we left the hospital she said something important came up and she bolted. Hope everything is alright." Hez replied.

"So what do you wunna do since we got time?" Ren asked as he threw a ball at the wall, catching it as it bounced back. Before Hez could answer they heard a loud crash and screams. Hez ran to Ren's window and looked back.

"Shit let's get out there!" He yelled. As Ren went for the door Hez was shooting himself out the window. He landed in a crouched position as Ren came through the front door. They saw an abundance of Putty destroying anything they could find. "Where did these guys even come from?"

"No time to think let's handle this quick before they, do any more damage." Ren said as the two ran towards the rock beings. They punched their way through them and realized the numbers were seemingly never ending. Sirens sounded close to them.

"That doesn't sound good," Hez said as he lowered his stance and drove his elbow into the side of a putty. Cops drove onto the sidewalk and exited their cars with guns drawn.

"Get out of the way!" They shouted.

"Kinda not an option! Get out of here there's too many!" Ren shouted back while sweeping the leg of a putty causing it to crash to the ground. The cops stood their ground but more putty showed up, turning their attention on the police. The officers opened fire, barely doing damage to the rock beings. They drew closer and closer.

Shit, Hez shouted in his head as felt something around his waist. He looked down to see shining partials of light being drawn to his waist. A belt formed and out of instinct, Hez reached into his back pocket pulling out a card with a green heart on the back. Ren pushed away from a putty and felt the same sensation. He drew his card looked to Hez who nodded. "Henshin!" The two yelled in unison as they ran their cards through the slit of the belt buckles. A large glowing card formed in front of them both. As they ran through the cards they emerged from the other side covered in their armor.

"What the hell are these things!?" The officer yelled as he fought frantically to keep from getting dragged from his squad car. He felt the pulling force lessen. As he looked to his leg, he could onto see an arm gripping at his leg. "What the hell!?" He looked up to see an armored man wielding a sword cutting through the numbers. Blade slipped a punch and pressed his blade into the neck of a putty before slicing on an angle to decapitate it. The officer pressed his back against the car , he sat in shock. A loud thud was heard from the room of the car. As he looked up, Kamen Rider Chalice crouched down with his bladed bow in hand.

"Run," Chalice said. The officer stood to his feet and raced down the block. As Chalice jumped off the car, Blade stood beside him.

"Where's the other officer?" He asked.

"He took off running before they got too close. Let's go find the rest they ran towards the park."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Aj's body rolled on the ground as he groaned. He stood to his feet just to feel Katrina's body slam into his. Brian and NC came at Chromium Gold Beetle from his left and right sides. He slipped Brian's punch and countered with an uppercut. NC got a hand on Chromium. As Chromium rifled a ridge hand strike at NC he blocked and drove his knee upward but he could no longer move. "You made me use my trump card. I applaud you Blue Ranger," Chromium headbut NC and drove his foot into his chest. Chromium looked to the sky as the rangers slowly regrouped and noticed two figures on a building.

"Well rangers, looks like you get a live another day." Chromium Gold Beetle turned his back to the rangers, walking away with his remaining putty. They walked towards a rift that opened in the air and disappeared without a trace. Soon as they were gone, Chalice and Blade landed on the ground, their backs to the rangers and they looked towards where Chromium left.

"Damn, knew we shouldn't have tried to cut through downtown to get here," Chalice said.

"Just how many of you are there?" Blade heard called from behind him. He looked a see six people in colored suits. "I asked you a question." The green one stepped forward.

"Why does this place get weirder by the day?" Blade asked in a low tone almost as if speaking to himself. " Who are you? The gay pride brigade?"

"That's not even funny," the pink person responded.

"Look I don't care who you are, if you're looking for a fight, I'll gladly give you one." Neil cracked his knuckles after speaking. The rangers charged forward as Chalice drew back on his bow and fired energy arrows. The ground exploded around them as they continued moving forward. The Green Ranger swung his blade at Blade who blocked the strike and thrusted his foot into Green Ranger's shield. Blade turned to block a swing from the Yellow Ranger's dagger. Blade landed a round kick to the Yellow Ranger's side, knocking her out of the way. The Black Ranger swung his axe, forcing Blade to double back. He clashed with the Black Ranger repeatedly.

"You're good, but we're better," the Black Ranger said as the Green Ranger struck Blade across the back in a downwards slash. His armored plating shot sparks as it was cut. Blade flinched before thrusting his leg backwards into the Green Ranger's stomach. Blade drew a card from the deck hanging from his belt and swiped it through his belt. The blade of his sword began to glow as he took a readied stance, blade held firm in front of him. The rangers charged him and one by one were cut down. Sparks flew from their suits as Blade struck them across the sides.

Chalice blocked a punch from the Red Ranger who also blocked a kick. They continued throwing blow for blow, blocking and checking everything into a stalemate. The Red Ranger thrusted his hand forward, all fingers extended and pressed together. Chalice recognized the move and parried instead of blocking. He saw the fingers form a fist as it thrusted forward a small distance but with great power. I was lucky to avoid that. Thank God its Aj's favorite move. Chalice thought to himself. He looked through his visor to his right and noticed the Blue and Pink Rangers closing in. Chalice parried a punch from the Red Ranger over his shoulder, allowing it to aim for the Pink Ranger. As she slipped the punch, Chalice drove his elbow backwards into her helmet. She stumbled back as the Blue Ranger quickly took her place, wrapped his arms around Chalice and lifting him off his feet.

"What goes up must come down!" Blue Ranger yelled as he bridged while swinging Chalice up and over. Chalice slammed his palms into the ground and used the force of the move to swing his legs over, continuing his body rotation and flipping out of the hold. Before he could completely recover, Pink Ranger was throwing a barrage of punches. Chalice slipped the first and parried the second. He blocked the final from the inside using his forearm. He used his free hand to grab the attacking wrist and back fisted her helmet with the arm he used a block. He lowered his stance, driving his elbow into her side before making a small jump as he rotated his hips and shot a reverse side kick into the same side he just landed the elbow strike. She toppled over, rolling down the street. The Red Ranger rushed forward followed by blue. They attacked in unison, Red punching while Blue kicks or Blue punching while Red kicks. Their tactics pushed Chalice back. He wasn't able to block every attack and was thrown backward by the force of both of their strikes landing together.

"Not so tough are you?" Blue Ranger said with a cocky attitude. Chalice rose to his feet holding a card in his hand. He swiped it through the slit of his belt and his bow appeared in his hand again. He widened his stance and drew back on it, the energy building as small particles coming to a single point. The rangers steadied themselves before an energy in their colors engulfed them, taking them from the area. Chalice released his hold on the bow and looked towards Blade who was standing alone. The two looked to the skies, watching the six colors fly through the clouds.