"Not so easy to beat are they?" Kyle sneered at the defeated Rogues as they trudged to check on their injured teammates.
"Yeah, Kalix said we were supposed to learn something from you guys, but all I see is the same mess we went through." Chris continued.
A demorphed Star Rogue glowered at the two. "Back off assholes. We're not in the mood."
"Just remember your two biggest threats are out of commission." Kyle snarled. He stood a few inches taller than Star and that was enough.
"We still outnumber you." Nova reminded them.
Sid and Chris grinned at each other while Kyle smirked. "That was never your advantage over us."
"We're not scared of you." Stealth Rogue growled. She made eye contact with Sid and felt satisfied as the Silver Psycho shrank back a little.
"Get out of the way." Star demanded.
Kyle crossed his arms over his chest and glowered. "Make me."
"Just remember you asked for it."
The two sides tensed to attack when a new voice cracked the air. "What's the meaning of this?" Everyone present turned and then tried to straighten themselves as Tarnin's second in command stalked up to them. "Who started this?"
"They did." Both teams said pointing at each other.
"They purposefully put themselves in our way, ma'am." Star clarified.
"Not true, we were walking down the hall when they stopped us." Kyle argued.
"Liar!"
"You're just trying to get us in trouble as usual!"
"Enough!" Nassa roared. "I'm going to report this to General Tarnin. For now he wants you all back down on Earth. Make up for this loss."
"Yes ma'am." The two teams replied in unison and then glared at each other.
"This isn't over with." Star promised.
"Far from it." Kyle agreed.
With that the two teams morphed and transported.
ZzZzZ
"They're both going to have headaches for a few days, but nothing major." Kardan announced after checking Sebastien and Blake. Both rangers were sleeping fitfully as their teammates worried over them. "The upgrades to the suits Sizvu did saved their lives."
Hunter and Tori both let out relieved sighs at the same time. The two grinned at each other. They both worried about Blake, but Hunter was also worried about his new little buddy. He and Sebastien had steadily been getting closer once Hunter realized he really didn't have a reason to be angry with the younger boy. He had actually begun to learn a little bit about Sebastien, like the fact that he had four older brothers whom his parents had practically disowned for abandoning the academy. He realized that there was a lot of pain Sebastien was trying to hide, but he and Dustin were working on that.
"Ugh, I think a gorath stepped on me."
All attention shifted to the third occupied bed. Kardan grinned and went to his teammate's side. "How do ya feel lad?"
"Like a damn gorath rampaged over me, turned around, came back and gored me." Harper replied. He then realized that he was in his natural form. With a wide-eyed look of shock he shifted to his human form as quick as he could. "What happened?"
"You mean you don't remember?" Amias asked.
"I remember going out to meet Craggan and then him attacking me." Harper answered. He furrowed his brows as flashes of memories came to him. "I...I remember being zapped with something."
Kardan and Sizvu shared a look. "He had a device that forced you into your basiacan form. You two fought and you ended up pinning him to the ground."
"He shot you point blank with his rocket launchers." Sizvu continued.
"Had it not been for your heavily armored Basiacan body and the fact that your heart is in a different position than humans you would be dead." Kardan concluded. "Your Basiacan form saved you."
"Bout time it did some good." Harper grumbled. He glanced around the infirmary and saw Sebastien and Blake were in beds as well. "What happened to them."
"We had to go face the Rogues. Tiger knocked Sebastien out and Blake was shot almost point blank. Thankfully, Sizvu's armor upgrades saved both t their lives." Kardan explained.
"The really good news is that there should be at least four Rogues out of the way for a while." Dustin piped up. He was sitting by Sebastien's bed watching over his young charge.
"There's still the three Psycho Rangers." Niko spoke up. "You can't forget them."
"They hardly seem like a threat now with the Rogues around."
Kardan groaned. "Lad, you're going to learn the hard way not to say things like that."
As if that was some kind of demented cue the alarms suddenly blared followed closely by Cam's voice. "We've got Rogues and Psychos calling us out."
Hunter hesitated, glancing over at Shane. He knew he had led the team to their first decisive victory, but it didn't feel right. He had been content to give Shane the role of leadership over the past few months. He didn't really want to take the Red Ranger's place, but someone had to do it. He was sure Cam probably could have stepped up and taken the position, but he was better suited for the role.
"Hunter?" Dustin's voice called his attention back to reality.
Hunter stepped over to the intercom. "How many are there Cam?"
"Seven."
"Okay, Cam we're gonna need you this time." Hunter said. He turned to look at the rest of the room. "We're gonna need three more to even the odds."
"We'll go." Zadan replied instantly. Everyone knew without question that he meant Niko and Amias too.
"We'll be ready to back you up if you need it." Kardan said, motioning to Sizvu too.
Hunter nodded in acceptance. None of them took the time for fancy morphing calls. At Hunter's signal those going into battle morphed and then as one they transported away. They were under attack as soon as they arrived. They were systematically separated so that they couldn't help each other and they quickly realized that the Rogues had a new strategy. The Rangers quickly found themselves facing off with the Rogue or Psycho they had the most difficulty with.
Cam and Psycho Green were fighting as furiously as ever. Green needed to prove that he was worth keeping around, while Cam just fought to stay alive. After his realization that Green had been a student at the Wind Ninja Academy, Cam found that predicting his opponents moves were much easier. He knew the fighting style inside and out, but Psycho Green had also been influenced by other fighting styles and that meant he could still keep Cam just off balance enough to be a threat.
The Green Stealth Rogue was definitely a different opponent than Psycho Blue. Tori was relieved that the Rogue didn't seem to rely on her weapon as much as Psycho Blue had. It was pretty much straight forward combat, which was much easier to deal with. They were both equally swift and both fighting styles were fluid. It actually seemed like they were a little more evenly matched than either first thought. So, Stealth decided to change that.
"Wanna see something cool?" Stealth asked. She didn't expect an answer and didn't even give Tori a chance.
Tori gasped as Stealth's suit shimmered as if it were water rippling in a lake. Then to her horror Stealth disappeared completely. There was mocking laughter from her opponent, but it seemed to come from all around her. Tori cried out in surprise as she was kicked square in the back. She let the momentum carry her into a roll and then back up to her feet, but as soon as she was standing a powerful uppercut landed her flat on her back. She didn't know which way to roll, but she knew an attack would be coming and rolled to the left. She saw dirt fly from where she had just been and decided she needed to do something or she was going to be in deep trouble. So, she did the first thing she could think of doing.
"Ninja ropes."
The blue colored rope looped around Stealth's foot, instantly giving away her position. Tori sprang to her feet and attacked before the Rogue could undo it. Stealth seemed taken off guard by it and was overwhelmed by Tori's swift attack.
Dustin wished he would stop getting paired with one of the Dragon Rogues. He was glad it wasn't Alpha Dragon, but Delta Dragon wasn't much better. Not only were they deadly warriors, but his connection to the dual-sabers threw him off with feelings of betrayal and hatred. That was mildly distracting, which in regular life would have been easy to ignore, but while fighting for his life it became a very dangerous thing. Delta wasn't playing around. Delta had his dual-sabers out and using them with enough efficiency to make his ninja sword practically useless. There was only one thing he could do to keep up. Dustin summoned his dual-sabers. As soon as they mighty weapon appeared in his hands Delta backed off and Dustin could almost see the surprised expression on the draconan's face.
"How did you get dual-sabers?" Delta demanded.
"I don't think that's the issue at hand." Dustin replied with a seriousness that spoke volumes of how much the war was changing him.
Delta was silent for a moment as his hands tightened around his own sabers. When he next spoke he sounded like he had just made the discovery of the century. "That's Akar's dual-sabers."
"How did you know?" Dustin asked, genuinely curious.
"I can sense his weakness." Delta sneered. He apparently had gotten over the shock. "The question now is how well can you use those? Did you know we trained day and night with the dual-sabers for nearly three days? You can't possibly hope to beat my experience. Plus, Akar's weakness is already starting to infect you. I can smell it."
Dustin growled as feelings of anger intensified from the dual-sabers. He didn't respond to Delta's taunting. He didn't immediately pull the sabers apart and instead used it as a staff. He knocked both Delta's sabers to the side and slammed the hilt into the Rogue's ribs and then spun low for a leg sweep. Delta jumped as expected and Dustin sprang back up, pulling the sabers apart, and swept them upwards. Delta's suited erupted with sparks and the force of the attack knocked him even higher in the air. He landed on the ground a few feet away with a dull thump and didn't immediately get up.
The momentum of the battle seemed to shift in the Rangers' favor. The Rogues seemed distracted and the rhythm they had seemed to have previously was all gone. It was if by missing so many of their teammates they couldn't function anymore.
On the other hand, the Psychos had no such problems. Niko, Zadan, and Cam were struggling against their foes. Cam couldn't seem to gain any ground. Psycho Silver and Psycho Gold seemed to be trying to send a message to the two traitors. They were fighting circles around them with brutal efficiency. Still, they were the only three doing any real damage to the Rangers, a fact that did not sit well with one person watching the battle.
ZzZzZ
"What is happening down there?" Tarnin exclaimed. "The Rogues are supposed to be superior to the Psycho Rangers and yet the Psychos are the only ones with the upper hand."
"Sir, the weakness is not in the Rogues skill, but their dependence on each other." Nassa replied.
"They don't depend on each other. They can all fight spectacularly well individually." Tarnin said, watching the battle with annoyance.
"They are not used to being pinned to a specific opponent." Nassa commented. "They are also not used to being without so many of their teammates and more than that they have reason to worry about those same teammates. It is an obstacle we did not cover in training."
"It's amazing how they willingly and joyfully betrayed their original teammates only to bond so closely with a new set."
"Some aspects of being a Ranger cannot be lost."
Tarnin frowned. It seemed his Rogues had a fatal flaw he was going to need to address. In the mean time there was the issue of the battle at hand that needed to be dealt with.
"Nassa, send a platoon of Aeroi and the Knights of Destruction to spice things up." Tarnin ordered. "At least one Ranger will not be walking away from this battle unharmed."
ZzZzZ
Amias ducked and spun away from Star Rogue only to be met by a vicious kick to the face. He was knocked onto his back and instantly rolled as a big armored foot came down on the spot he had been. It was a terrifying shock to find himself suddenly facing another opponent. Two on one was not good odds.
He kept rolling as his enemies kept trying to stomp on him. He knew he would only be able to evade them for so long like that. With a grunt he got one arm under him and as he rolled he forced his body to swivel, effectively leg sweeping both his opponents. That gave him the opportunity he needed to get to his feet, but that left him momentarily vulnerable and he had no chance to duck, dodge or block the chakram that suddenly connected with his faceplate with devastating power. White light exploded in his vision and by the time it cleared it was already too late. Both Star and Nyus were on their feet and on the attack before he could properly defend himself. They kept him off balance and unable to keep up with their rapid attacks.
"One Ranger going down." Nyus cackled. He kicked Amias in the face and then jumped to the side.
Star cupped his wrists together and concentrated on his internal power, summoning a large portion of it. White hot energy crackled between his hand and formed into an impressive ball. He then pulled hi s hands back to one side and then thrust them forward.
"Star burst!"
Amias never had a chance. The energy connected directly with his chest and spread like it was liquid. His suit sparked and crackled as the white-hot energy seared over his body. He screamed in agony, the pain unbearable. He felt like he was being cooked in an oven with no way of escaping and the energy wasn't fading. It continued a torturous attack on his body right up until the moment his morph shattered away leaving him vulnerable.
The battle shifted in favor of the Rogues and Psychos the moment the foot soldiers arrived. The Rangers were not ready for the four-armed massive warriors who were all armed with four different weapons. It was a challenge they had yet to face. Even the arrival of Kardan and Sizvu to battlefield didn't help. They were outnumbered and outmatched.
The situation was looking desperate. The Rangers couldn't seem to make a comeback from the new turn of events. Amias had been transported from the battle and was followed swiftly by Sizvu who suffered a mace shot to the head. Not even Hunter using his Tiger Gauntlet could turn the tide as a shot to the face from Nova's shotgun took him out of the fight. Niko went down with a busted knee and Zadan struggled to protect him as no one had the time to transport him away. Things were looking dire.
Suddenly searing energy crackled through the air and blasted half the foot soldiers off their feet. Another searing bolt took the other half down. The battle came to a stand still as everyone's attention focused on the source of the energy. By that time no one should have been surprised at seeing two unfamiliar Rangers, but they were still shocked. One silver ranger and one black ranger stood just outside the fight. The black ranger had a hand extended and energy was still crackling around the gloved hand. The silver ranger stood with arms crossed and probably glaring.
"By the gods." Nyus swore. "What hole did you crawl out of? I thought all the Knight Rangers were killed by the Shadow Rogue."
"He missed one." The silver ranger replied. His voice was strangely familiar to the Rangers who watched the happenings with wide eyes. "Now, am I to assume that you killed my brother, Nyus? You better hope not for your sake."
"Unfortunately, I can't claim that honor Knight Ranger." Nyus sneered.
"He had a hand in it." Zadan said.
"Oh? And I suppose the rest of the Knights of Destruction helped?" The Knight Ranger mused. "I don't expect my brother went down without a fight."
"Point is he went down." Mesaus sneered.
Psycho Silver listened as the Knights of Destruction and the new Knight Ranger continued to lob insults back and forth. All the attention was off him and that gave him the perfect opportunity. With all hand blades extended he lunged for an unprotected target. All four blades slid home right into Niko's back. The movement and Niko's cry of pain and surprise drew all attention to them. Silver leapt backwards as Zadan turned to attack. Zadan instantly transported Niko away as the new black ranger on the field blasted Silver off his feet.
"I think that's enough damage for today." Star Rogue announced. "Have a nice day."
With that all the Rogues and Psychos transported away. The Knight Ranger moved to stop the Knights of Destruction, but they transported away as well. Zadan didn't stick around and immediately transported away. Kardan followed because he knew there were casualties that needed tending. Everyone else collected themselves and moved a little closer to the newcomers.
"I know you've got questions." The Knight Ranger said before anyone could speak. "But this isn't the best place. We can talk on my ship."
"I think we prefer ours." Cam replied.
"Fine with us." The Knight Ranger agreed.
Together all of the Rangers transported away.
ZzZzZ
"Two more Rangers?" Tarnin's cool composure was shattered. He was furious. "I've had enough of those rangers popping up out of nowhere. They're worse than erasan rats!"
"At least four rangers didn't walk away." Nassa mused. "And none of our forces were seriously injured this time around."
"Indeed." Tarnin agreed, calming down.
"Perhaps you should reward Psycho Silver for his use of the distraction to injure the traitor." Nassa suggested.
"Good idea and I know just what to do."
ZzZzZ
Everyone was gathered in the War Room as the two new Rangers stood in front of the room. Neither of them had demorphed yet, but no one felt threatened. There was silence for just a few minutes before the Knight Ranger finally spoke up.
"I want to know how he died. How did my brother die and who killed him?"
"Wait a minute, we're still not clear on exactly who you are." Zadan said.
The Knight Ranger sighed with annoyance and in a flash demorphed. Suddenly the room was faced with the spitting image of Kale. The same hair, the same expressive purple eyes, all of it was the same. The only distinguishing feature was the deep scar on the right side of his face from the corner of his mouth to his ear. There was a different gleam in his eyes than Kale's ever held-darker and angrier.
"My name is Zac and Kale was my twin brother." The Knight Ranger said. "Now, I want answers."
"He died fighting bravely against overwhelming odds." Zadan replied.
Zac frowned. "Against who?"
"First it was the three Knights of Destruction. Then four of the Psycho Rangers attacked." Zadan continued to explain. "They were too much. As far as I can tell he purposefully self-destructed and took out the Purple Psycho Ranger."
Zac's eyes filled with sadness as he thought of his twin being up against such odds all by himself. He felt guilty because he should have been right there beside Kale. He should have died with him.
"Zac." The black ranger beside him said softly. "You can't blame yourself."
"I should have..." He trailed off as he decided not to continue that train of thought in front of everyone. He shoved his feelings behind a thick wall and straightened himself out. "Did he die alone?"
"No, we brought him back here before he died." Zadan replied. "He died with friends."
"Then, I thank you all for doing what I should have been there to do." Zac said. "You helped ease my brother's passing and for that I'm grateful. I'll help you as much as I can. If Kale saw fit to give his life for you, then you have mine as well."
"We promise to do all we can to help you avenge his death." Zadan replied with firm conviction. He glanced at the still morphed black ranger. "Is your friend going to introduce himself?"
Zac turned to his partner and nudged him gently. "Don't be shy kid, they're rangers like you and me."
"I'm perfectly capable of seeing that." The black ranger replied.
"They're not going to bite you."
"I bite back."
"Kid, don't make me hurt you." Zac said. "It's not polite they demorphed in front of you now you have to do the same. Trust is important for teammates."
"They're not my teammates."
"Just demorph and introduce yourself before I take the power back."
The black ranger hesitated, glancing quickly at Zac. It was the first time the rangers saw him smile as he tried to comfort his partner. The black ranger finally seemed to agree. The room watched as his the suit just seemed to melt into his skin. What was revealed was a young man with close cut dark purple, almost black, hair and the same glowing green-yellow eyes as Sizvu.
"My name is Oakii, I'm the Black Bio-tech Ranger."
"You're an Enran." Zadan said, a smile forming on his face. "There's another Enran on the ship too by the name of Sizvu."
"See kid, nothing to be afraid of." Zac said, slapping his companions back. He then grew serious as he moved to sit down. "Now, I need to know everything you know. Start from the beginning."