Chapter 15 - Master's Mark
The disappearance of the Silver Ranger right after he first showed up had everyone on edge. According to Kayden's system checks - which he insisted were all working perfectly - the energy of the Silver Ranger had just appeared in the middle of the fight, and it didn't take the Rangers long to realise that whoever it had been, had bonded to the Silver Energem then and there.
Unfortunately for them, his energy trail had vanished not too long after. Kayden had tracked it all the way to the outskirts of town, but that was as far as the program he'd created was able to go. He had been working on it for some time, but the systems just weren't powerful enough to expand past the city limits. It had been a push to have them work in two separate cities, but with SPD's B-Squad team working as they did, they needed to keep their own scans ready just in case the worst happened.
With everyone uneasy and working themselves hard to try and find their newest teammate, Ari had sent them out into the woods for training, in hopes that they'd be able to tire themselves out with the exercise and take their minds off the Silver Ranger for even just a little while.
After their usual training, racing one another around the tall trees that grew in the deeper part of the forest, the Rangers took turns to spar, aiming to keep up their fighting abilities and hopefully get stronger.
Especially after Singe had almost killed three of them.
"Let's go, Chase!" Tyler cheered for the Black Ranger, who was facing off against Heckyl after bugging the White Ranger to fight him.
"Show him he's not the perfect hotshot he thinks he is, Heckyl!" Olivia cheered. Chase turned to his girlfriend, a wounded look on his face that she would root for his opponent. "Just keeping your ego in check," she smiled as the others laughed.
"I can't help it if she knows who the better fighter is," Heckyl taunted Chase, drawing his attention back to him. His eyebrows rose as he moved back into a fighting stance, his muscles just tense enough for him to spring into action at a moment's notice.
"Trying to steal my girl now, eh?" he challenged.
"No thank you," Heckyl replied politely, and cast a look over at Olivia. "No offence," he added as the others laughed.
"None taken. Just kick his ass already," she pushed. As if her words had been the go ahead, the two began to spar, seeming to be evenly matched.
"Pretty sure we know his type anyway," Shelby murmured, and Olivia swatted her shoulder quickly. "What?" the Pink Ranger grumbled, rubbing where Olivia had hit her.
"Not so loud. Either of them hear you and we'll all suffer for it," Olivia warned. They weren't stupid, after all. They'd seen how Heckyl had been with Teddie, and even now there was something going on in his head that they didn't press him on. Ivan went still, hoping his expression gave nothing away. While they all knew - except Chase, apparently - that Heckyl still had feelings for Teddie, Ivan was the only one who knew just what had transpired between the pair.
They looked up, forgetting the conversation quickly when Heckyl suddenly seemed to be repelled backwards. He barely managed to stay on his feet after being repelled by Chase's shield, which stayed strong as it shone with golden light between the pair.
"Oh? We're using powers?" Heckyl asked after recovering.
"Here we go," Riley rolled his eyes as their spectators moved farther back to avoid being caught in the crossfire. It wouldn't be the first time.
"Showoffs," Shelby muttered, irritated. Koda just giggled, and Ivan couldn't help but smile. All of them felt the crackle of energy fill the air as blue lights started to appear in Heckyl's hand, dancing around his fingers and bouncing off like little bits of electricity. Moving his arm as if throwing the energy, Heckyl let it fly out and hit the shield. Too strong for it to be repelled, the power pushed against the golden light.
Feeling the strain as his shield began to crack, Chase's eyebrows furrowed, and he called on his other power. The feel of warmth under his skin that caused it to glow with a golden hue was still a strange sensation even now, and he rarely used it, as it forced him to remember their first fight against Singe and just how badly he'd hurt Olivia.
The cracks in the shield began to repair themselves as the extra power fuelled it, causing it to glow almost as brightly as Chase was. Sensing the stalemate, Heckyl pulled his power back and let it fade as he shook out his hand. Instantly the electric feeling in the air vanished, and the others shivered without seeming to realise it.
"Not bad," Heckyl allowed as Chase stopped glowing, and the shield faded. "But I'm not entirely useless," at his words, Chase arched an eyebrow, before realising that while shaking his hand out, Heckyl had moved it behind his back. Feeling the electric energy in the air once more, Chase turned, and barely managed to dodge out of the way of the branch that had been directly in line with him and Heckyl. As he moved, his shield faded, and the rest of the team cheered.
"Some of you could at least pretend you're on my side!" Chase huffed.
"Go Chase, go!" Koda offered helpfully, and Chase couldn't help but laugh.
"Thanks Koda," he told the smiling caveman, before turning back to Heckyl. The White Ranger looked amused too, and ready to continue sparring. "Alright, maybe this will get some of you traitors to reconsider," a black aura began to surround Chase like a haze as he grinned. "Call to the beast inside! Uncage the Kiwi!" he shouted, summoning his animal spirit. It chirped a pleasant birdsong as it rose from Chase's form, standing over him for just a moment before starting to hop through the air towards Chase. To their surprise, Heckyl didn't move, and the Kiwi spirit crashed into him with a powerful lunge that lifted him off his feet and tossed him across the clearing to crash against a tree.
"Heckyl!" the others ran over, their cheers fading quickly as Chase quickly recalled his animal spirit and ran over.
"That was a little harsh," Riley scowled at Chase as he joined them.
"It wasn't his fault," Heckyl groaned as the Black Ranger started to heal his injuries. "It was mine. I should have moved, but…" he put a hand to his head as it throbbed.
"What's wrong?" Ivan asked as he helped Heckyl sit.
"I…that bird," he muttered, still dazed as he put a hand to his head.
"My animal spirit? You've seen it before," Chase said as he tilted his head, not understanding what about it had thrown Heckyl. He'd summoned his Kiwi before, both in sparring matches and in real fights.
Heckyl didn't reply straight away, trying to untangle the mess of memories that had suddenly come to him when he saw Chase summon his animal spirit. After collapsing in the fight against Singe, he'd found himself lacking the memories of what had happened prior to the rest of the team's arrival while he'd been trapped in the rubble. Ari had said it was something to do with the blow to the head, and his memories might not return, which annoyed him to no end.
"I think…I think the Silver Ranger used one too," his words surprised all of them, and Chase reeled back.
"What are you talking about?" Tyler asked, frowning.
"I don't remember much, but that…aura. The Silver Ranger had a similar one, when he stepped in to stop Singe from killing us," Heckyl told them slowly, trying to remember more. Unfortunately most of the figure's face was obscured by the haze.
"He's Pai Zhuq?" Chase leaned back on his heels, stunned by the revelation.
"Can you remember anything else about this mysterious hero?" Ivan asked as Heckyl closed his eyes, fighting the pain of his headache to try and force something else to come to mind.
"No…his face was hidden, I don't - wait…" his eyes opened, but he stared at the grass under him rather than look up, still trying to remember. "He had a tattoo on his arm, here. Black…I can't really make out what it is," he gestured, and heard Chase inhale sharply.
"Three lines, like slash marks, all together?" his eyes widened at the Black Ranger's question.
"Yes, how did you-"
"Mate," Chase couldn't stop himself from laughing. "You've just given us our Silver Ranger," he said, standing up and offering a hand.
"I have?"
"He has?" the others were just as confused as Heckyl took his hand and got up.
"What is the implication of this…tattoo?" Ivan asked, trying out the unfamiliar word. There was still a lot he had to learn about the modern world, and it seemed this was one of them.
"It's a Master's Mark. Only a few Pai Zhuq have them," Chase laughed. "And mum knows them all! Come on!" with that, he took off, leaving the others to run off.
"Ever hate that he has all the answers?" Riley asked Olivia, who shrugged.
"He might have all the answers, but magic users never give them clearly," she told him seriously.
"Mum!" Ari looked up in surprise at Chase's call, seeing him sliding down into the base.
"You're back early. Good thing I told Philip and James to wait for you here," Ari rested a hand on her hip as she saw the rest of the team arriving one after the other. "I thought I told you to train properly. Skipping out already?" she asked, sounding more amused than stern.
"Heckyl remembered who the Silver Ranger is," Chase grinned, delighting in the rare surprised look that crossed his mother's face. She turned to Heckyl, who frowned at Chase.
"I told you two things about him. I don't know who he is," he said, a little embarrassed about being thrown under the bus so quickly. Too excited to care, Chase darted over to Ari, and grabbed her arm. She hummed, but let him pull up her hoody sleeve, revealing a tattoo identical to the one Heckyl remembered on the Silver Ranger. His eyes widened.
"How?" he approached slowly, baffled.
"Whoever the Silver Ranger is, he has a Master's Mark too," Chase told Ari. Another flash of surprise crossed her face, before she laughed.
"Not bad," she allowed.
"What's going on?" James asked, not understanding what all the fuss was about. "How does a tattoo tell you who he is?" he asked what most of them were thinking.
"What is this Master's Mark?" Philip asked as they all approached.
"It's the Pai Zhuq Mark of Mastery, it's given to any student who passes their final test," Ari said, turning to go back to the computer. "And, not to brag, but I happen to know every Master there is," she laughed.
"No way," Shelby breathed.
"It's not that impressive. There aren't that many of us," Ari said as she began to bring up images on screen. They watched, taking in the faces of each of the Pai Zhuq masters. Heckyl's stomach then flipped as one looked so much like Teddie that it threw him. It took him a moment longer to realise that her eyes were green and her skin darker, betraying it to be a younger form of Ari instead.
"So how are we going to narrow them down?" Tyler asked, arms across his chest as he watched.
"Process of elimination," Ari's answer was cheerful. "I very much doubt someone crossed over from the other side, which means it can't be Masters Mao, Rilla, Lope, Guinn or Rel," she removed the images of the Spirit Masters.
"Did you say 'other side'?" Shelby caught her words, looking horrified. "You can't mean…"
"Ghosts? Yes. Most of them died sealing away Dai Shi thousands of years ago, and Master Mao…" Ari trailed off, her cheerful smile wavering. She then shook her head. "In times of great need, however, they do have the power to traverse the realms, but I doubt they would come in now of all times," she said, getting back to the matter at hand. "Okay. The Silver Ranger is a guy, so that takes away Jenna, Lily, Camille and me, obviously," she chuckled, removing the images. "Then there's Masters Finn, Swoop, and Phant, who'd be way too old to consider leaving their retirement," Ari considered.
"This feels like a rather intense guessing game," Heckyl murmured, arms folded as he tried to determine who it could be.
"That leaves Minos, RJ, Theo, Casey and Jarrod," Ari continued, not seeming to hear the comment. "Well, I'm afraid that's about as far as I can narrow it down. It's up to you and Philip," she said, turning from Heckyl to Philip. The White and Graphite Rangers exchanged uncertain looks, feeling the pressure.
"I can't believe all we needed was for Chase to show off," Shelby rolled her eyes.
"That happens a lot," Koda grinned, and Chase looked hurt as the Blue Ranger giggled, nudging him lightly. Chase then grinned, unable to hide his own excitement over finally finding out just who the Silver Ranger could be.
"I don't remember his face," Heckyl admitted.
"Indeed. It's mostly a blur," Philip agreed, not sure.
"Do you have any footage of them in action? It might help," Chase suggested, and Ari snorted.
"Do I have any footage of them? It's almost as if you forget that RJ had access to a ton of satellites just for footage of the Jungle Fury Rangers in action," she muttered, making him grin. With some quick work, she brought up footage that focused on the remaining Rangers, and all of them watched with bated breath.
"That one," both spoke at the same time, pointing at one particular image. Ari looked up, and her smile changed to a blank expression as she saw RJ on screen in his wolf stance.
"You're sure?" she asked, and they nodded. "Dammit RJ," Ari groaned, pulling her phone from her pocket. "If you're in trouble again and you haven't asked for help, then I'm going to kill you myself," Ari muttered, a hand on her stomach where three long scars lay.
"What are you doing?" Chase asked, tilting his head.
"Calling my fool of a teacher," Ari called over her shoulder as she pressed the phone to her ear. It rang, and she tapped her foot impatiently as she prayed for him to pick up.
"Ari!" RJ's cheerful voice caught her off guard. Not what she'd expected.
"Hey RJ," she answered, a little confused.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" he asked, and Ari could hear chatter in the background. "Jenna says hello, and that she expected to hear your words of congratulations before this," he chuckled. Ari frowned.
"Congratulations? What for?" she asked slowly, not understanding. "If she's pregnant again, I don't know how I'd-"
"What? No!" there was something flustered in RJ's voice now that at any other time would have made Ari grin. Even now with a son of his own, RJ was easily flustered about that. "About Jeremy. He told us that he was going to Amber Beach to help after he passed his test," Ari went still at his words.
"Jeremy got his Mark?" her voice was quiet, but Chase straightened up, turning pale.
"You really didn't know? He should have been with you already, he left a week ago," Ari cursed. "Ari, what's going on?" the cheerful voice was gone as RJ became serious.
"Get here now," Ari told him as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I think Jeremy's our new Silver Ranger, and if he is, he's in a hell of a lot of trouble," she warned.
"I can't believe Jeremy's our Silver Ranger," Chase said for what seemed like the hundredth time, still reeling from what they had learned that morning.
"You've known him since you were kids, right?" Shelby asked, looking over to where Ari was talking to the man who she'd brought with her into the base. He was only a few years older than her, but her respect for the man was obvious.
"Since I was born, really," Chase corrected her. "RJ was the Violet Wolf Ranger for the Jungle Fury team, and was also their main teacher while they fought to stop Dai Shi," he explained, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Jeremy is his son and was studying at the Pai Zhuq temple to become a Master. His family have been Pai Zhuq Masters for generations, all the way back to Minos when Dai Shi first started the Beast War ten thousand years ago," Chase explained. The others were quiet, but impressed by the lineage. "Jeremy is also one of Teddie's best friends," he added quietly.
"That's a strange twist of fate," Heckyl murmured, watching the man who was clearly distressed at the idea that his son could be missing - potentially captured by the same person who'd taken Teddie and brainwashed her.
"The chances of that have got to be close to zero," Riley agreed. "For your friend to find the Silver Energem, of all people…it's crazy," he shook his head.
"No kidding," Chase muttered.
Heckyl pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to will away the headache that was still bothering him. SPD had picked up readings of Singe's ship escaping the planet shortly after the Silver Ranger had appeared, and neither had been seen since. None of them wanted to say it, but he knew it all the same - if Jeremy had been captured by Singe, it was likely that he was with Lord Arcanon.
Not only did Lord Arcanon have the Dark Energem, he now had the Silver Energem and its owner. He didn't want to think about what Jeremy was going through. He thought of Teddie - a common occurrence - and how vehemently she refused to accept her true identity.
Heckyl couldn't help but wonder; could Arcanon do that to Jeremy too?
A loud beeping sound earned the team's attention, and they couldn't help but sigh as they hoped that it wasn't another monster out to fight them. Not while their minds were so preoccupied.
"It's a call," Kendall realised as she went back to her computers. "From SPD," she warned, and they gathered around as she accepted the link.
"Hey guys," they looked up at the screen that flickered to life above them, showing Spencer and Bridge. "Oh good, you're all there," Spencer nodded as he saw the team gathered together. He then double-took when he saw RJ.
"We found out who the Silver Ranger is," Ari told him softly. "It's Jeremy," her words were grave, and Spencer's eyes widened. He knew Jeremy just as well as his siblings did.
"I'm afraid that we've got more bad news for you, then," they all frowned at Bridge's words. He glanced at Spencer, before turning back to the screen. "There's been another reading of a ship headed to Earth, not on the path that they're supposed to take. It's Singe's ship," his warning made them all inhale sharply.
"He's come back?" Olivia demanded, trying to hide her fear. She'd never quite recovered mentally from when Singe had almost killed her. He still gave her nightmares.
"So much for scaring him away," Shelby sighed, but she knew it had been a useless thing to hope. They'd beaten him and chased him off, yes, but his disappearance was too much of a coincidence with the Silver Ranger's appearance and disappearance.
"If Singe is back…it is likely with reinforcements," Ivan considered aloud. There was a spark of energy in the air, and Heckyl shook his hands quickly. The thought of Arcanon coming to Earth made his powers grow so strong he almost lost complete control.
"Do you think he bring…" Koda trailed off, looking at Heckyl with a concerned look.
"It stands to reason that the big bad would step in when his subordinates have failed," Ari spoke, and all of them fell silent as they tried to process the idea.
Lord Arcanon, coming to Earth.
The Warlord responsible for the deaths of thousands, if not more.
The one responsible for destroying Heckyl's planet.
The alarms cut through the tense silence suddenly; so loud that they had to cover their ears. All of them turned to Kendall as she quickly worked to silence them.
"What the hell was that?" Tyler shouted over the noise, his hands pressed to his ears as the shrieking sound pierced them.
"Something massive was picked up on the systems," Kendall shouted, finally deactivating the alarms. At the same time, they realised the same emergency alarms were blaring on Spencer and Bridge's side.
"What the hell is this?!" Spencer demanded as they tried to stop them. The other SPD Rangers, as well as Sky, ran in to see what was going on.
"This amount of dark energy…it's massive…more than massive," Kendall adjusted her glasses as she blinked several times, unable to believe what she was seeing. "I've never seen anything like it. It's too much for my systems to even register!" she exclaimed as the alarm finally stopped and Spencer lowered his hands.
"What the hell could they be carrying that has that much dark energy?" Spencer demanded, as even their systems couldn't fully detect it.
"There's only one thing," Heckyl's voice was quiet, and they almost missed it through their ringing ears. "Lord Arcanon is indeed on that ship with Singe. And he has the Dark Energem with him."
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