Dissidia: Power Rangers
Episode 3: By the sign of a grave, will an oath be sworn?
Rocky did not want to believe what he saw. There, right in front of him, lay a fellow Ranger, dead. Elizabeth 'Z' Delgado was studying the corpse, whilst Kimberly tried her best to comfort Rocky.
"Well, judging from this wound, he was stabbed in the back by a sword. He most definitely did not see it coming. His facial expression clearly demonstrates shock."- said Z, walking a set amount of steps towards an otherwise ordinary patch of grass- "Look, a small, yet noticeable trail of blood. Judging by the pattern…he was lifted up, and shaken aside. Whoever did it is powerful, ruthless and cold blooded. There are signs of a battle here, a very long one. These are most definitely caused by laser blasts and explosives. I'd say…it was a sneak attack, and the Ranger was killed by someone WHILE he was fighting someone else… damn…"
Rocky was shaking. He clenched his fists, his eyes burning with anger. He had never seen ANYTHING like this before. Never…the thought of losing his life while on Ranger duty…
"I may not have known the guy…but…damn it!!! I'm gonna find whoever did it… that bastard better pray I NEVER find him!!!"-he said, raising his fist in the air. Kimberly gently grabbed his fist.
"Rocky… what will that solve? You kill the one who did THIS…then what? Will that make you feel better? Will that help you sleep at night? Knowing the one that killed some guy you've yet…you've never even met, is buried six feet under? When has revenge ever solved anything?"-said the Pink Ranger, a much more mature woman than the valley girl Rocky had known for over three years.- "I should know… someone close to me was killed once… I wanted revenge so badly…and I got it…she's still not back. I still miss her so badly…"
At that moment, Kimberly's tears formed in her eyes, as memories of Trini's funeral came to her mind. Rocky could not have known why she was crying, as he had yet to live that moment. However, his anger was slowly giving way to sympathy.
"If I may, and sorry to interrupt. But…Rocky has a point. Granted, so do you, Kimberly, but, here's how I see it. Somewhere, out there, there's a Ranger killer on the loose. If we don't stop him…wanna bet he's gonna try for a second killing? Do you want to risk the lives of the fourteen remaining Rangers like that…because you don't want 'revenge'? It's not revenge when you want to stop a dangerous villain, who is a proven danger to the community,"-were Z's words.
"Please, let's not fight over this… Justin's dead. I…we should take a moment to mourn him,"-said Kimberly, her head down in respect for the fallen Ranger.- "He was an excellent Ranger. He was particularly exceptional in that he donned the Spandex at an age when his peers…would have preferred playing video games than risking their skin for their fellow man. Oh, God. What have you taken away from us?"
Rocky hated seeing a grown woman cry. Amazingly, Rocky had immediately recognized Kimberly immediately, in spite of the fact that she was well over 13 years his senior at that moment. This flattered Kimberly, who was glad to hear she still retained her youthful appearance. However, that happiness was short lived… Z had approached them, and told them of the dead Ranger.
Rocky just kept looking at Justin's body. He didn't know the guy, but…he was angry. Angry that such a young man, that looked to be a year older than him, at the most, had his life cut so tragically short. The fact that the guy was a fellow Ranger, and judging from his outfit, a fellow Blue… Rocky felt a kinship with the guy just knowing that they shared a color. Rocky wanted revenge so badly.
A pair of red, cybernetic eyes were spying the mourning trio. The owner of the eyes was accompanied by the loud, boisterous King Mondo.
"Targets Confirmed. The weakest link appears to be, judging from the M-Grid wavelengths…the Yellow one. Target locked. Proceed with Venjix order number 814-931: Elimination of weakest link Ranger Operator."-said the owner of the red eyes, Tenaya 15.
"Venjix!!?? I thought I placed him in charge of the Theta quadrant of the Horse Head Nebula!!!! Why is he here??"-asked Mondo.
"Venjix is Ruler and destroyer of Earth and the Human Race. Currently, only the city of Corinth remains. Venjix shall destroy the city in due time. I was created as a Human Infiltration Attack Bot, designed to…"- Tenaya kept talking, but the rest of her speech was unimportant.
King Mondo remained silent for a while, and finally said- "I think… the Venjix I'm thinking of is NOT the same as the one you're talking about."
He looks at the Rangers, and spots one he'd specifically like to get his hands on.
"Ah! The Blue Zeo Ranger! A slight change of plans, my dear. Our target is the Blue one!"-said Mondo, his full metal body brimming with confidence.
"Negative! Our orders are to destroy the weaker Rangers first! This is so we can-"- Tenaya was cut short of her expository speech.
"My dear, if we eliminate the STRONGER Rangers first, we will be finished that much sooner! Besides, eventually we'd have to face the blue one, so we may as well just save ourselves the trouble and finish him now!"-said Mondo.
"That goes against orders. We must-"- Tenaya saw that Mondo had simply walked off towards the Rangers. At that moment, she had received a transmission…
Rocky had lifted his gaze to see the Machine Emperor walking towards them. He saw in his hands the Sword of Damascus…and a Ranger helmet.
"Wuahahahahaahaha!!! Blue Ranger!! I want to add your helmet to my collection!!!"-cried out Mondo, his hollow body echoing his hearty yet cruel laughter.
"You!!!! You must have done this!!!!"-Rocky points to Justin's corpse. Mondo looks at it, and shakes his head. His eyes then begin to glow red.
"Damn, here I was, thinking I was the only one to have killed a Ranger. Damn!!! Lot of Jackals. Humph, anyway, I'll soon have three more Ranger heads in my shelf…"-Mondo readies his sword. Rocky glares at him, and morphs.
"You moron, you're outnumbered!!!"- as Rocky says that, Z and Kim morph, and take their battle stances.
"He looks slow…but remember, he's already killed one of our own."-said Kim.
"The three of us can probably take him. It should not be too hard,"-said Z.
Just then, a giant beam of light shone down from the Heavens. Rocky and Mondo were trapped within a force field. Kimberly and Elizabeth were incapable of getting in.
"Looks like its gonna be one on one, Blue Ranger. Lest we forget…you've lost to me once before. This will be easy,"-said Mondo. He takes a battle stance, ready to finish the battle in the least amount of effort he needed.
Rocky readied his Zeo Blades, and leapt forward. He hits Mondo with a butterfly kick, and mixes it with a few slashes from his Tonfa Blade Hybrid. A kick to the Machine Emperor's chest finished off that combo. Mondo was taken aback slightly, but his mighty body withstood the majority of those attacks, leaving the emperor to feel but a slight tickle.
Mondo readies his sword, and slashes at the Blue Ranger. A Horizontal slash was quickly avoided thanks to a back flip, however the Sword also created an air vacuum completely capable of slicing through stone. Rocky could never avoid that vacuum, so he took the brunt of that secondary attack. Of course, a Ranger's suit has various powerful capabilities, so Rocky was spared the lethal attribute of said attack. However, he was still on the ground, his suit throwing off sparks.
"Ha! This is going to end more quickly than I thought. Just like that weak little White Ranger, I'm going to cut off your head and keep it as a trophy."-boasted the Emperor.
Mondo then prepared to finish off the Blue Ranger. He held his sword aloft, swung hard…and hit the dirt. Rocky had managed to roll out of the way, whilst the force made by the sword's impact lifted him off the ground. He got on his feet rather quickly, and readied his Tonfa Blades once more.
"Asshole!!! Piece of shit bucket of bolts!!! I'm gonna cut you to pieces!!!!"-cried out the Blue Ranger.
Rocky lunged toward the emperor, swung both his blades, and with an X slash, managed to scratch Mondo's shell. However, that was all that attack had managed, a scratch in the shape of an X.
"Damn it!!! Rocky, hang in there!"-cried out Kimberly, still morphed and ready for action. Z was, at that moment, looking for a way to penetrate the force field.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! You can't even scratch me, you pathetic little bag of flesh!!! I'm going to mount your head right above my Oiling Chamber back at my palace!!"-said King Mondo.
Mondo readied his blade for yet another attack. Rocky leapt back, prepared for the worst. Suddenly, Mondo's foot started throwing off a few small sparks. The emperor began to cry out in pain.
"Arrgh, I got a little dirt in my ankle. I got to shake it off,"-said the emperor. Rocky got an idea.
Rocky took his Zeo Blaster, and aimed at Mondo's feet. He fires continuously, and soon, a cloud of dirt covered the machine.
"Ha!!! What are you trying to do, get me to cough to death? I have no lungs!!! Ha ha ha- ooohhhh!!!"- Suddenly, Mondo began to cry out in pain, as his entire body began to shake. His joints began to throw sparks.
"No, I saw what a little dirt did to your foot. I just wanted to see what would happen if your entire body got covered in dirt,"-replied the Blue Ranger.
"Z!! Can you explain?"-asked Kimberly.
"Machines tend to be rather fragile. If they get anything like dust or dirt in their circuitry, it fries. Looks like the King of machines is not at all insusceptible to this weakness. That's the main reason Krybots have a spandex coating,"-said Z in reply.
"No!! I am the King of the Machine Empire…the greatest empire the Universe has ever seen…I have conquered countless galaxies… Slain people by the billions…I won't…die…like…THIS!!!!"- Mondo spoke these words as his body threw off countless sparks. It appeared, for but a brief moment, that he would explode. Instead, his body simply fell to the ground, now silent.
Mondo's body was throwing smoke from his joints. The emperor was now immobile. Rocky had taken the Sword of Damascus. He holds it aloft, swings hard, and slices Mondo in half.
The force field had gone down. Rocky, still holding the sword, walked towards Justin's body. He was soon followed by Kim and Z. He took the sword, swung hard, and made a small ditch. He then, slowly and gently, placed Justin's body in it. Afterwards, he buried the body in dirt. Z and Kim had taken a stone from nearby, and placed it o top of the burial site. Kim took her blaster, and used it to write:
Here Lies Justin Stewart
A Fine Ranger.
The three say a silent prayer. The wind gently caressed the now demorphed rangers, and wiped away Kim's and Z's tears.
"Come on, there are still ten other Rangers to find. If we are lucky…that's how many we are going to find. We also have…one more Ranger that needs to be buried,"-said Rocky. He was determined, not ONE more ranger will die while he still stands. He will not allow it. He swore that oath on Alyssa's helmet.
"Good work Tenaya 15. Retrieving Mondo's body must have been a harrowing task. His body shall greatly serve our purpose. You may leave now to stand guard,"- said 'Venjix's voice. Tenaya leaves the cave. From the shadows, Deviot steps out.
"My, Mesogog, nice work. I had no idea you could imitate voices so well,"-he said
"Yes well… let's just hope what you said about that guy proves to be true. If so…we will have one hell of a trump card in our hands…"-said Mesogog.