Chapter 17 - Valor
"Rangers, there is trouble in the north." Zordon said as the rangers stood before him.
"Again? I thought we ran the riders out of the north." Aj replied.
"It is worse, beings started to rise from the ground," as Zordon spoke the monitors showed footage of the Kamen Riders battling the Undead. "These beings are dangerous and will soon travel down this way if we do not deal with them.
"But don't you see this? The riders hit them with everything and they kept getting up! What do you expect us to do?" NC asked.
"You must obliterate this enemy, I fear the worse of Lord Zed finds a way to get ahold of this new threat."
"But…"
"No buts," Brian interjected. "We fight for this planet and for our people. Suit up, it's morphin time!" Brian yelled. The others strengthened their resolve within his words and each pulled out their Morphers.
"It's Morphin Time!" They yelled in unison before their bodies were clad in their respective uniforms. A quick teleport to the north and they were instantly surrounded.
"Take down as many as you can!" Brian yelled as he side kicked the closest creature. The group split up. Katrina released energy arrows into the heads of many of the unidentified creatures as she saw Chalice do on screen.
"Aim for their heads!" Katrina yelled as she bent her body back into a bride to avoid a wild looping hook. As she jumped back up to her feet, Aj stood between her and the first of another as he blocked it with his power sword.
"You're getting sloppy," Aj said as he brought the blade around his head and sliced the creature from right collar bone to its left hip. "Cover me," he said as he surged forward. Katrina fired energy arrows over his shoulders, still able to land headshots as the two advanced. Aj sliced through more as they attempted to make a dent in the numbers. Neil shook the ground as he slashed his axe through the middle of one of the fowl creatures, splitting it from head to pelvis. As the axe slammed into the dirt, shaking the ground, the surrounding beasts fell on their backs. Neil took the moment to pull his blaster from the holster, firing at them as they slowly rose to their feet. NC jumped between the trees, using the length of his lance to stab through the chest of an insectoid like creature. He raised his lance with it still impaled, gripping and squirming in pain as he swung the lance, throwing its body into others of its kind.
"There's so many of them." NC said as he continued to swing his lance, hacking through the oncoming numbers. A blue energy began to emit from the blade of the lance, with one wide arched swing, the blue energy formed a slashing shockwave that decapitated many of the insectoid creatures that approached NC. For a moment he had distance, until the bodies began to move again. "Oh come on!" He yelled before Donna blasted the heads of the fallen bodies.
"The head, aim for the head," Donna reminded abc as she used her blaster to hit more of them. "NC, give me your blaster."
"What why?"
"Does it really look like you're using it?!" Donna's reply caused NC to draw his blaster and toss it into the air. Donna used NC's shoulder as a post and jumped off it to catch the blaster and rain down energy blasts. Brian ducked a punch and came back with an upwards cut, slicing from the abdomen up through the face. He raised his leg to block a kick before returning with his own side kick. The numbers started to close in. A fist slammed into his helmet from the right side, the force moving his body to the left. As he tried to recover from the blow, a foot smashed into the shield on his chest, causing him to crash through the ranks of the insectoids until his body met with a tree.
"These things are tough." Brian said as he slowly regained his footing, only to have the face of his helmet punched through the tree. Donna and NC closed in for support but the wild creatures began to howl and flung their bodies at them. NC was hit with a looping hook before another jumped up, driving both feet into NC's chest. His body flung across the ground, bouncing repeatedly until it came to a stop.
"Aj, support NC. Katrina, help me with Brian!" Donna shouted as she dodged punches while still firing blasts into the fray. Katrina took to the high ground, scaling a tree as she unleashed more arrows. The tree was quickly felled by the side kick of one of the creatures. She landed on her feet after rotating her body in the fall. Without nance of recovery, they swarmed her. She continued to release arrows as she tried to make her way to solid footing. Aj was surrounded, the aggressors inching closer ever so slowly.
This is surprisingly exactly how I pictured going out, Aj said to himself in his head. "Come at me bro!" He shouted before multiple blasts shot through the heads of his immediate threat. An armored body jumped from a tree and landed beside him. The burgundy and grey armored suit was instantly familiar as he rose to his feet.
"This battle is of none of your concern ranger," Garren said as he looked over his shoulder slightly. "Leave this place."
"Even if I wanted to, that's just not exactly possible." The Red Ranger said. Donna struggled to keep the horde at bay while she had her back to Katrina.
"Where the hell is Aj?" Katrina asked as the gap between themselves and the insects decreased.
"Rider Kick." A voice said before Chalice sailed through the sky, delivering an energy assisted flying side kick. As he connected, the body of the creature exploded along with others, creating a hole in the formation. "This is no place for you, leave rangers." Chalice said in a cold tone.
"Where the hell did you even come from?" The Pink ranger asked as she drew back on her bow, felling another of the creatures with an arrow through the head.
"This isn't the time or place for this discussion," Chalice said as he blocked a punch with ease before rifling a round kick into the ribs of the insectoid creature. He used the blades end of his bow to slash through the neck of the attacker. "Leave this to us." The Pink ranger jumped over his shoulder, rapidly releasing arrows into the heads of multiple insectoids.
"How about you help our allies? You are here to help aren't you?" The Yellow ranger asked as she continued to hold her own with the dual blasters. Chalice grew silent as the ground shook. The melody of the Dragon Dagger sounded and soon followed the screech of the beast it called upon. The Dragon Zord rose from the ground, screeching as it answered its master's call. Extending its arms, it fired blasts into the area causing a massive explosion. Dust and smoke filled the area as the rumbling of the walking beast was felt again. Chalice slowly made his way to his feet, looking around, he could see the Pink ranger laying face down. Garren was also standing along with the Blue and Black rangers. Chalice ran to the Pink ranger ignoring the others only to have the Red ranger shoulder tackle him out of the way. The Red ranger dropped to a knee as he turned Pink over onto her back. Her body seized then relaxed at his touch.
"Least you're not dead." The Red ranger said.
"You're an entire asshole." Pink replied as she made her way to her feet. Garren stood beside Chalice as they faced off against the rangers.
"Whoever you are, thank you," The Green ranger said as he stood in the middle of his team.
"Stay out of our way, everything will be much easier if you simply do as we say," Garren said.
"And why can't we work together?" The question from the Pink ranger stunned them. Garren stood in silence as Chalice replied. A second rumbling sounded. It was more distant but still frightening. The rangers and riders shot their heads up an in the distance could see a humanoid being in the city of Angel Grove.
"What the hell is that thing?" Aj asked, breaking the silence.
"Let's get over there an…." Brian was cut off by the loud sound of s hand breaking through the dirt. Following it, the body of the insectoid.
"What the entire fuck?!" NC yelled as he readied his lance.
"Rangers go! We will handle this!" Chalice yelled as he felled the first emerging creature. "The Undead are our problem!" The Green ranger and Chalice locked eyes for what seemed like hours before nodding. The two understood the situation.
"Hold then as long as you can, we will come back to support," The Green ranger said as he and his team teleported out.
"You know, if we die here I'm gonna be pissed," Garren said as he loaded a power card into his blaster.
"No ones dying today," Chalice replied as he loaded a card into his bow. "Now kill every last one of these things!"
The rangers landed in central Angel Grove. They could see the feet of the hairy beast. It almost looked like a hybrid between gorilla and man. It's face was black with long fangs the lower half was hair while the upper half was more human. The beast rampaged through the city, smashing buildings and kicking trucks. The people were in a dramatic frenzy. Brian quickly grabbed his Dragon Dagger and blew the calling melody of the Dragon Zord.
"I've been waiting too long to say this," Aj said as he balled his fist and thrusted it to the air before opening it, "we need Megazord power, now!" He shouted to the heavens and in seconds the ground began to shake. A robotic red tyrannosaurus emerged from the ground screeching. Following close behind was a black robotic mastodon. Third in formation was a flying pink pterodactyl. A blue triceratops and yellow sabertooth tiger followed suit. Each ranger jumped to their specified color coded Zord and entered their piloting stations.
"Alright Rangers, let's show this guy why you don't mess with Angel Grove!" Brian yelled as he and the Dragon Zord charged forward. The gorilla hybrid beat his chest as he roared.
"No one challenges Gorilla Grundy!" It yelled as it surged forward on its knuckles and slammed its fist into the face of the Dragon Zord with its long arms. Brian was knocked around in his seat as the Zord hit a building. Gorilla Grundy swung his long arms wildly as he attempted to hit all of the rangers. He succeeded in most cases but the sabertooth tiger Zord and pterodactyl Zord has too much maneuverability for him to land a blow. The pterodactyl fires lasers into its shoulders as the sabertooth Zord latched on to one of the elongated forearms with its powerful jaw. The metallic fangs sunk in deep. Gorilla Grundy grew angry and flailed his arm, forcing the sabertooth Zord to release its hold as it was flung into a nearby building. Donna yelped as her body slammed against the copit walls.
"This thing is tough," NC said as he positioned the triceratops into a charging stance.
"Anyone got any ideas on this one?" Neil asked.
"Rangers!" A voice called through their communications hub.
"Alpha?" Aj asked.
"Yes it's me, ieyieyie, you guys need to use the crystals we gave you. They will bring the zords together to grant you unimaginable power!" Alpha yelled into the coms.
"We got it Alpha, Alright Rangers, let's show this asshole who runs this city." Aj said as he drew a large red crystal from his belt. The other rangers did the same with their respective color crystals and placed them into the central unit. The crystals vanished as the zords charged for each other. They merged, forming a tank like robotic weapon. The weapon stood tall and resembled an armored man. The head was shielded by a horned helmet with glowing yellow eyes. The shoulders and chest were bulky as were the fists and legs. The black and red pattern ran across the chest as the metallic warrior started forward slowly. The Dragon Zord bombarded Gorilla Grundy with lasers to cover the Megazord as it picked up speed. It slammed its right fist into Gorilla Grundy's face, knocking him back. It then spun and drove the heel of its foot through Gorilla Grundy's chest. His body slammed through a building and landed against the side of s mountain.
"Let's finish him!" The team shouted together as a sword manifested into the megazord's right hand. With one slash, Gorilla Grundy was cleaved in two and exploded from the impact as the two robotic beasts stood before the flames only to walk away as the burning settled. The rangers exited the machines before they vanished back into their dwelling.
"That was awesome!" Aj said.
"Bro I wunna do that again!" Neil shouted.
"Guys," Katrina said lightly.
"Lord Zed is going down!" NC shouted.
"Guys," Donna attempted.
"We can't be stopped now," Brian added.
"Guys!" Donna and Katrina shouted to get their attention. "The riders!" They continued. The rangers ran at top speed towards the northern region cas the entered farther into the Woods they could see Undead bodies everywhere. The deeper they entered, the more the numbers piled up. They found Garren and Chalice sitting at the base of two trees facing each other. Their armor cracked and their chests rising and falling as they took deep breaths.
"Well, you guys sure took your time," Chalice said as his body eased.
"We has to handle something big," The Red ranger responded. "How did you guys do all of this?"
"Fighting… a whole lot of fighting." Garren answered.
"We made a promise, no one would die here today. Not without lack of trying but we survived." Chalice said with a sigh.
"You guys ok?" Donna asked. Garden and Chalice looked to each other before nodding. The two rose to their feet and made their way into the trees.
"Wait," The Green ranger said. "Who are you?" Chalice stopped to look over his shoulder while Garren turned around.
"We are friends," Chalice said before he continued into the trees. Seconds after they vanished the roaring sound of an engine was heard and grew faint as the road off.