Kyle knew what was going to happen seconds before it did. Tiger Rogue had been trying to rile Sid up ever since they'd arrived. It was a task that didn't take much. Sid had a quick temper and most people never would have tempted him. But Tiger Rogue had nothing to fear. He towered above Sid at an imposing 7'4'', but size had never stopped the Sid before. Sid lunged at the taunting Rogue, but Kyle reached out with skill learned from five years of dealing with his teammate and snatched Sid by the back of his shirt. Sid was yanked to a stop, overbalanced, and fell on his butt.
"What's the matter Greenie? Afraid I'll hurt the kid...again?" Tiger taunted.
Instinctively Kyle put a hand on Chris's shoulder. He didn't need to look to see his teammate tense. The motion didn't go unnoticed by the Rogues. Kyle knew the situation was just going to continue getting worse. The last time they had been faced with the Rogues the numbers had been more even, though Sid had been in no condition to fight and Chris hadn't been much better. With three against nine the odds weren't in their favor.
"We're supposed to be working together." Kyle said, ignoring Tiger Rogue's baiting.
The Rogues laughed mockingly at that. Kyle didn't find anything humorous about it. Tarnin had specifically told the Rogues to be nice, but then they never had been good about following orders when Tarnin wasn't watching. They got up to a lot more than their master ever knew. And Kyle knew that no matter what the outcome he and his teammates were going to be blamed for what was about to happen.
"We'd never work with pansies like you. Especially not you two." Star Rogue said, throwing a disgusted look at Chris and Sid.
Kyle was instantly reminded of what had started the feud between them. They had all been on the same station together and things had started off rocky, but decent between the two teams. Then Scorpion and Tiger had caught Chris and Sid together in a rather compromising position. Turns out the Rogues were all homophobic in varying degrees of severity. Unfortunately for Sid and Chris, the two that found them just happened to be the violent homophobes. If Garnes hadn't found them and raised the alarm Chris and Sid probably would have been killed. Things never got better from there.
Of course, the worst thing the Rogues did was catch Brandon by himself. Beating up the youngest member of a team was bound to have the worst results. Tarnin and the Psychos handler at the time, Domis, had barely been able to separate them and even then it had taken several hundred Aeroi fifteen minutes to finally take down the last fighters. There was no repairing damage like that. The two teams were doomed to hate each other to the bitter end.
"Tarnin isn't going to like that." Kyle said. Keep them talking, maybe they won't attack. Kyle wasn't usually one for backing down from fights, but this was one he knew they wouldn't win. He didn't want to see his teammates beaten again.
"What the boss doesn't know won't hurt us." Nova Rogue said with a devious grin.
"We're not scared of you punk asses." Sid snarled.
Tiger snorted while Scorpion smirked. Faster than the eye could follow Scorpion's tail lashed out. Sid gasped and jumped backward, feeling the wind as the barbed tip barely missed his ear. If the attack had meant to strike he never would have avoided it. His heart thumped painfully in his chest and he stared wide eyed at the Scorpion Rogue.
That was too much for Chris. With a roar like a wild beast he pounced. Scorpion was unfazed and didn't bother to try to avoid the raging Psycho. He caught Chris's fist and showed his strength by swinging Chris into the air and them back into the floor with bone jarring force. Chris lay stunned and unable to breathe for several minutes as Scorpion smirked down at him. Then, Scorpion reached down and dragged Chris to his feet and shoved him toward Kyle. The line of Rogues laughed as Kyle tried to catch his teammate, but the strength of Scorpion's push overbalanced Kyle and they both went down.
Sid snarled and tensed to pounce when the Stealth Rogue stepped forward. The fight drained out of Sid and he instantly backed off. Instead he went to help his teammates up while trying to ignore the snickers from his rivals. He was boiling with rage and hatred, but was resigned to the fact that unless they got more teammates the Psycho Rangers were now going to play second fiddle to the Rogues. That meant enduring humiliating situations like this one.
"Rogues to the command room." Deder's voice boomed over the intercom.
"You got lucky." Star sneered. "But don't think we won't continue this."
Sid shifted his eyes to ignore the lustful stare from the Stealth Rogue that promised all sorts of things he definitely didn't want. Without another word the Rogues left leaving behind a rather shaken up trio.
ZzZzZ
Hunter had never really seen himself as much of a cuddle person, until he had Dustin snuggled nice and warm in his arms. He loved the way he could feel every breath Dustin took, part of it because of his arms wrapped loosely around the younger boy's body and part because of the warm breath of his neck. He loved the warmth he could feel radiating deep into his own being. And he loved the sense of peace that the simple action of holding his boyfriend brought to his battered soul. It was the feeling of love in that one, simple action that made him want to never let go.
"You're warm." Dustin murmured.
Hunter smiled. He loved that sleepy quality Dustin only ever seemed to have in his voice when they were cuddling. It was something that was all his and no one else could have it.
"You're not too cold yourself." Hunter replied softly. He didn't really want to make Dustin think and wake up more. The sleepiness was adorable.
Of course, there was the matter of the growing wet patch on his shoulder. He was just mildly annoyed by the drooling, but that was overruled by the thought of the childish glee he was going to get from teasing Dustin for it. It was the same kind of glee he got from tormenting Blake for the same thing. Of course, the blush was much cuter on Dustin's cheeks and it did something to him that Blake certainly didn't.
"Love you." Dustin murmured deep in clouds of warm fuzzy sleep.
Hunter pulled Dustin closer to him and forgot all about the drool. "Love you too."
The peaceful moment was shattered as alarms blared. Dustin jerked awake and instinctively pulled away from Hunter. The alarms were momentarily forgotten as he felt wetness on the side of his face and blushed deep red as he realized he'd drooled on Hunter. Hunter grinned and ruffled his hair before Cam's voice blasted through the intercom system.
"We've got Rogues issuing a challenge." There was a pause. "Kardan, Sizvu, I think there's something you should see."
"On our way." Kardan's voice replied.
"Right, everyone else morph and go." Shane ordered.
Hunter sighed and stood up as Dustin straightened himself out. "Better wake up quick. Can't afford you going out there not fully awake."
"I'm good." Dustin replied quickly.
"Then let's do this."
"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form! HA!"
"Thunder Storm, Ranger Form! HA!"
They then used the coordinates sent to them from Cam and transported. When they arrived the rest of the team quickly joined them. They found themselves faced with an intimidating line of what looked like a mix-matched team of Rangers. There was something off about them though. The colors of their suits were muted, dull, and ugly whereas normal Ranger outfits were bright and vibrantly colored. It was obvious going Rogue did something physically to theirs suits to make the outside as ugly as the inside.
Sebastien stared in horror at the two behemoths on the Rogue team. The Scorpion Rogue was at least seven feet tall and the Tiger Rogue was even taller. Everyone on the Ranger team had to look up at them. They looked as if nothing could bring them down. Luckily for Sebastien's nerves his attention was drawn away from them and to the shorter, but still taller than him, leader of the Rogues.
"So, you are the Rangers that Master Kalix is having such a hard time with?" Star Rogue spoke with malice. There was a moment of silence and then the Rogues began to laugh as if the Rangers were the funniest joke they had ever heard. "I say we have them beat within the week."
"I give them two days." Nova Rogue said.
"You're nicer than me. I give them maybe two hours." Scorpion spoke up.
"You're all talk." Hunter snapped, seriously irritated by the implication that they wouldn't' be a challenge.
Chaos erupted almost too fast for the Rangers to comprehend. Hunter's words seemed to spur the Rogues into action. Hunter barely got his staff up to block Tiger Rogue's claw-like weapons. Unfortunately the staff slotted snuggly between two of the blades and with a twist of his wrist Tiger Rogue tore the staff from Hunter's grasp. Hunter tried to back pedal away from his hulking foe, but Tiger was quicker than a man his size had the right to be. He backhanded Hunter with enough force to knock him tumbling backwards. Hunter lay on the ground where he landed feeling as if a steam roller had just crushed every bone in his body. Tiger Rogue hit like a jackhammer and Hunter had a feeling that had only been a minimal amount of power.
This is going to be tougher than I thought.
ZzZzZ
"Oh my god." Kardan breathed in shock and awe.
Beside him Sizvu gasped. "It can't be."
"Craggan..."
"Kardan--."
"He's gone Rogue? How could he go Rogue?" Kardan continued, ignoring his friend.
"Kardan, that's not the same Craggan we used to know lad. You can't let who he used to be keep you from fighting him." Sizvu warned. "Besides, I always had a funny feelin' about the lad. Never quite right."
"We should go out there. He's our responsibility."
"Aye, just remember this isn't a reunion."
ZzZzZ
Cam ducked and rolled under Scorpion Rogue's fist, but was caught with a powerful kick to the back. He was knocked flat on his stomach and quickly got to his feet and spun with just enough time to block another kick. The force behind the kick made him stumble back slightly, but he was able to leap backwards as Scorpion's deadly tail struck at him. Cam winced at the sound the stinger made as it hit the ground. The impact would have speared him straight through his suit.
Tori couldn't believe her luck. She would have gladly taken Psycho Blue over the two female Rogues she was faced with. Both of them were equally as quick and agile as she was. They were obviously highly trained and worked flawlessly together as a team. They had the added advantage of being totally ruthless as they were willing to do anything just to hurt her.
Dustin felt completely overwhelmed by the emotions being so close to the Alpha Dragon Rogue dredged up. The memories of how Ja'lar had treated Akar were fresh in his mind. He could sense that the Dragon Dual-Sabers had been deeply connected with Akar and because of that Dustin felt a certain connection to the previous owner as well. Because of that he felt the intense need for retribution for what Akar had been put through.
"I smell dragon on you, but you're not a draconan." Alpha Dragon said.
Dustin didn't feel the need to reply. He felt the unusual urge to ruthlessly pound the Alpha Dragon Rogue into the ground. He pulled his Ninja Sword and lunged. Ja'lar used one saber to knock the sword aside and then used the other saber to slash Dustin across the chest. Sparks flew, but Dustin ignored the strike and spun quickly to fend off another swipe at his back. He wanted to avoid pulling his dual-sabers, but knew that he couldn't wait forever.
Only a few feet away Sebastien was struggling with the Warrior Rogue. The Rogue was silently beating him and nothing he did made a difference. He felt like he was fighting Gold and Silver rolled into one plus more power. Every hit felt like it was breaking bones and one swipe of Warrior's massive broad sword took Sebastien to the ground and he was very slow to get up.
Quick. That was the first word that popped into Blake's mind as he faced off with the Delta Dragon Rogue. Delta was quick. It reminded him of how quick a snake could strike. The next word that popped to mind was brutal. Delta struck like a hammer and each blow that landed to the chest knocked the breath out of him. He was having a problem catching his breath and that was making fighting more difficult.
In a flash of light Kardan and Sizvu appeared to face off with the last Rogue. It was their ex-teammate Craggan, now the Gold Battle Rogue. Despite seeing him on the screen nothing compared to seeing him in person. His broad frame was standing in the same nonchalant pose he had always taken when dealing with others. The only time he ever looked ruffled was when Harper was around.
"Craggan? What in the depths are you doin'?" Kardan demanded.
"What's it look like?" Craggan sneered. "I've found a winning team. A team that doesn't align themselves with filthy Basiacan scum."
"Harper never did anything wrong to you or anyone else." Sizvu replied. "If anyone is the monster it's you for turning your back on your team and your very soul."
"Don't give me that bullshit." Craggan snarled. "You drove me to this by siding with that alien freak."
"Did you forget that I was an alien to your planet too lad?" Sizvu demanded.
"Enran's didn't betray my people."
"You can't hold Harper responsible for the actions of his entire race." Kardan tried to reason. He was painfully aware that they probably couldn't bring Craggan back to their side, but he still had to try. "He's not like other Basiacans."
"But you wouldn't know that, would ya lad? You never gave him a chance." Sizvu added.
"Enough!" Craggan roared.
Kardan and Sizvu threw themselves to the side as Craggan's rocket launchers appeared and fired. The fire licked at Kardan's back as he quickly morphed. Sizvu rolled to his feet and morphed at the same time. He spun and brought his own rocket launchers into play, but Craggan easily avoided the rockets and the resulting explosions. Kardan lunged at Craggan from one side while Sizvu leapt at him from the other. Craggan pulled his Battle Sword and slashed Kardan while simultaneously kicking Sizvu square in the chest. Kardan stumbled back from the sword, but was able to jump a leg sweep. He was caught completely by surprise by a kick to the back.
"Switch!"
All the Rangers on the battlefield were stupefied as Rogues easily shifted around while they were still fighting and switched targets. That left the Rangers with the agonizing task of trying to adjust to a new opponent with new tactics. Some adjusted quick while a few faltered and struggled.
Hunter matched his new opponent, Delta Dragon, move for move. Delta was just seconds quicker than Hunter, but the Crimson Ranger was still quick enough to block. Delta didn't like that, not one bit. He wanted his enemies on the ropes, not fighting toe to toe with him. Hunter watched as Delta took a step back from the fight and then did something that had become surprisingly familiar. Delta summoned his dual-sabers just the way Dustin did. Delta assumed Hunter was going to be at a disadvantage having already lost his staff. The Rogue was not prepared for gauntlet that looked surprisingly like a tiger to appear on the Crimson Ranger's hand and was further surprised when blades swished out of the tiger's mouth. Still, Hunter only had one weapon granted it had three blades, but Delta was armed with twin sabers that still gave him a slight advantage.
Things just continued to get worse from there. The Rogues were a much different threat than the Psychos had been. Each one had a different power with different abilities and different fighting styles. Where the Psychos had always seemed to target the same ranger, the Rogues enjoyed mixing it up. Every few minutes one of them would call for a switch and the rangers would be forced to adjust all over again. But the Rogues seemed to be ready for each different fighting style the rangers employed.
With humiliating ease the Rogues tossed their opponents one by one until there was a pile of groaning rangers. Slowly the Rangers pulled themselves together and formed a line. They would continue to fight, but things were looking dire for them.
"Okay, who wants to play first?" Star asked.
"Me!" Several voices called at the same time, but one voice managed to boom over them all.
"Go ahead Scorpion. General Tarnin didn't say anything about not being able to kill them." Star said. "But I doubt you'll get a chance to feed."
"No matter." Scorpion boomed, stepping forward.
The line of Rangers tensed in preparation. Surely one Rogue alone couldn't take them all. Although, he was much bigger than any of the Rangers, but even giants could fall. They waited in tense silence as Scorpion strode forward as if he had nothing to worry about. His tail was held just behind his left shoulder, the barbed stinger dripping with venom. His whole body language screamed of arrogance, but he obviously had every reason to be arrogant.
"Alright Rangers, let's see what you've got." Scorpion taunted.
The Wind, Thunder, and Samurai Rangers were smart enough not to make a move. Their training taught them to let the enemy attack first. But the Ice Ranger had been taught differently. When not in stealth and ambush mode the Ice Ranger became very aggressive and for that reason he alone charged the massive Rogue. Sebastien ducked under Scorpion's fist and kicked the Rogue's side. Scorpion didn't even flinch at the hit and swung around to grab at the Ice Ranger. Sebastien ducked back and then sprung forward with a kick at Scorpion's knee. The blow landed and Scorpion grunted in pain, but it put Sebastien within striking distance. A brutal back handed punch floored the Ice Ranger and then Scorpion stepped down on his stomach and effectively pinned Sebastien to the ground.
Scorpion looked toward the Rangers who had yet to move. "Next?"
With their teammate in danger the rules of combat changed. Hunter and Blake charged first with Cam close behind them. The three Winds moved so that they were behind Scorpion, hoping for an advantage that way. Scorpion clotheslined the two Thunders then grabbed Cam under the arms and launched him over his head. The three Winds were taken by surprise and knocked to the ground by their teammate. Scorpion laughed and reached down to grab one Thunder Ranger in each hand and easily lifted them both up they their throats. He looked down at the pinned Ice Ranger and smirked, though it was hidden behind his helmet.
"You..." Scorpion trailed off. There was a funny tingling sensation in the foot pinning the Ice Ranger to the ground.
With a snarl Scorpion jerked his foot back and shook off the ice that had started to form on his boots. Sebastien rolled away and to his feet and faced Scorpion ready to fight. Scorpion had his hands full and wouldn't have much of a way to defend himself. Sebastien lunged with a kick, but was surprised to find a navy body flying at him. The impact caused both rangers to cry out and they hit the ground tumbling in a painful pile.
Hunter growled fiercely and sent a powerful charge of crimson lightning into Scorpion. The Rogue roared and threw Hunter into Sebastien and Blake as they struggled to get up. Scorpion instinctively spun and blocked Shane's Ninja Sword with the pincher-like blades on his hands. He kicked out at Tori and ducked Cam's kick. When Dustin attacked he stood his ground and grabbed the Yellow Wind Ranger with both hands. He lifted Dustin over his head and began bending the Ranger the wrong way intent on breaking Dustin's back.
"Dustin!"
Hunter scrambled to his feet and lunged at Scorpion in a blind rage. A bone cracking kick sent him flying back the way he had come. Dustin cried out in agony as his body bent further than it was ever meant to bend. His cries sent bolts of fury through his teammates and they all scrambled to help him. Scorpion twisted and turned and used his tail to knock away everyone until Shane was the last one standing.
"Let him go!" Shane demanded.
"Make me!" Scorpion taunted in return.
Shane snarled and lunged. Scorpion's tail whistled through the air with frightening speed and accuracy. Shane never had a chance. The stinger slid through his suit like it was paper and struck home just under his collarbone. Almost instantly a wave of dizziness flowed through him and his strength failed him. His legs gave out and he would have fallen if he hadn't been drawn into Scorpion's crushing arms.
"Shane!" Tori and Dustin cried out. They both moved to help their friend.
"Come any closer and I'll crush him." Scorpion warned, squeezing his prey for emphasis.
"Just crush him and get it over with!" Tiger shouted.
"I'm hungry." Scorpion replied.
Shane wanted to struggle, but he couldn't move his body. He was fully aware of what was happening around him, but it was as if he was just a spectator. His life was in the arms of a maniac and he couldn't do anything. Being helpless was not something he liked, especially when it put him at the mercy of a merciless Rogue.
Suddenly lasers rained down on the Rogues from above sending them scrambling for cover. Scorpion was struck on the back and released Shane. The ship blasted by overhead and then swung around for another pass. Tori and Dustin lunged forward and pulled Shane away from Scorpion as the ship fired on the Rogue once more. Scorpion was transported away seconds before the lasers could hit. The other Rogues were transported away seconds later.
"Shane, oh god..." Tori was trying desperately not to cry.
"He's still morphed. He's still alive." Dustin mumbled as he half tried to comfort Tori and half tried to comfort himself.
Hunter glanced up at the ship as it buzzed by overhead and watched as it zoomed off in the direction of the Battle Rangers' underwater cruiser. He thought he recognized the ship, but pushed the thought away. Shane was a much more pressing matter. He quickly scrambled to the Red Ranger's side and gently lifted him up. Shane made a soft sound of protest, but Hunter ignored it as he transported them both to the infirmary with Kardan right behind him.
Kardan used a special device to force Shane to demorph. Instantly he began working. Hunter stepped back when he saw the bloody wound on Shane's shoulder. The sight of blood itself didn't make him sick, but the blood coming from someone he cared about did. As soon as the rest of the team transported in he ushered them out of the infirmary with an insistence that they let Kardan work in peace.
Before they could get very far Niko and Zadan came running up, asking about Shane. No one had an answer. The group started to trudge toward the War Room to talk when the elevator from the flight deck opened. Two familiar men stepped out.
"Amias!" Niko lunged forward and pulled his friend into a hug.
Amias returned the hug with equal vigor. "Good to see you Niko-kan."
"What are you doing here?"
"We'll talk about that later." Amias said as they broke the embrace. "First off how is Shane?"
"We don't know anything yet." Niko replied, glancing at the group behind him.
"Wish we would have arrived just a little bit sooner." Harper spoke up, drawing attention to himself.
It was then that everyone realized he was cradling something in his arms. It didn't take much to see it wasn't human. Harper quickly explained to the Earth bound Rangers that it was a female Draconan. He explained how they found her and they all watched with curiosity as Cal'ias extracted herself from Harper's arms and flung herself at Dustin. Dustin barely got his arms up quick enough to catch her.
"You smell like dragon." Cal'ias said.
Dustin frowned as he remembered Alpha Dragon saying the exact same thing. Did having possession of the Dragon Dual-Sabers have some kind of effect on him? He hardly used them, but he supposed that the very first time he pulled them apart some kind of dragon energy had probably been imprinted on him. For obvious reasons the Draconans could smell it.
"Will you be my daddy?"
The question totally caught Dustin off guard and he stumbled for an answer. His mind shut down and all he could do was blink down into the little draconan's yellow-green eyes. The scene would have been funny if the situation wasn't so serious.
"Come on Cal'ias, Dustin is too young to be a daddy." Harper said, reaching out for the draconan.
Dustin could feel the little one's sadness and quickly spoke up. "But I'm the right age to a brother."
"Brother?" Cal'ias repeated with delight.
Amias and Harper shared a relieved smile before leading the way to the War Room. There was a lot to discuss and not a lot of time to do it. They could only hope that Shane would recover quickly, because they were going to need everyone in tiptop shape for what was coming.