War of the Hidden
Disclaimer: Nothing that you can google belongs to me.
A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, going back to school swamped me. Here's the next chapter...
Ch. 13
"Wakey wakey, little Ranger!"
Something that felt like a rod prodded Maxi on the side, causing her to wince. She opened her eyes slowly and found that she was on the floor of a cell in some kind of evil base. It looked strangely like the Lord Zedd and Rita's Moon Palace.
"Get up, you pathetic Power brat!"
Maxi clenched her fists and growled as she pushed herself to her feet. "Ragdlog!" she snarled, raising her fists as she dropped to a defensive stance. The vampire laughed and pushed her tiny fists aside.
"You are not a match for me even if you have your powers."
"We'll see about that! Shift into Turbo! Lightning Cruiser, Turbo Power!" Maxi raised an eyebrow at the vampire from behind her helmet. "Your move, Ragdlog!"
"Ha!" Ragdlod laughed. He picked up his rod and began twirling it. "You've made the wrong move, Ranger! Hyah!"
"Whoa!" Maxi gasped as she blocked the attack just in time with her Turbo Sword. With both the Turbo powers and the Sage magic backing her up, Maxi was able to match the vampire. Problem was, she was only able to match him.
"Well then, I'm waiting," Maxi said as she exchanged blows with Ragdlog. The vampire looked at her in confusion.
"Waiting for what?" he demanded.
"Oh come on, every evil villain has to rant about how their plan has fallen into place and the Power Rangers are going down. No one's an evil villain until they tell the world how they're going to take over the world. You must know that…but then again, you are only second-in-command," Maxi added. Ragdlog growled.
"How dare you!" And Maxi smiled behind her helmet. Her plan had worked. Now the vampire had gotten angry and with anger comes mistakes. This was her chance to end this once and for all.
"I mean, I'm a leader myself, I would understand why your boss wouldn't tell you, a lowly second, his plans on how to take over the world," Maxi continued.
"Why you little--"
"Enough!" a voice boomed. Jumping slightly, Maxi and Ragdlog whipped around to see who it was. It was another vampire (big surprise!). Except this one was young…younger than all the other vampires they had been fighting, anyways. He was not much bigger than Maxi herself—yeah right! Maxi was only four-feet-two! The new vampire looked around 13-years-old and six-foot-two, a good two feet taller than Maxi. His hair was snow white in contrast to Maxi's jet black. Truth be told, he looked the exact opposite of Maxi…if you didn't count the face. His face was the splitting image of Maxi's, a mirrored opposite (with some additional vampire-istic features).
"Atirddez," Maxi muttered as she stared him down. Something was off about him. Something that makes him looks different than other vampires. It was something to do with his eyes. It was crimson like the eyes of all the other "regular" vampires, those that drink human blood, but there was something different about them, but Maxi couldn't put her finger on it.
"Sage," Atirddez replied. Then he turned to Ragdlog. "Let her go."
Ragdlog stared at him in shock. "You can't be serious?!" he demanded.
"I am. Let her go."
"Wh-why?!"
"You attacked her from behind. You snuck up on her. That was not the honorable way. You haven't won until you have done it fair and square. Now let her go! I will not conquer Earth as a coward!"
"Yes…sir," Ragdlog grounded out grudgingly. He grabbed Maxi by the arm. "You got lucky this time, you pipsqueak, but next time, I won't let you get away that easily." And with that, he tossed her out.
Maxi landed on Earth with a thud. With a grunt, she pushed herself to her feet and teleported back to Rootcore, not even bothering to look around at where she was; it didn't matter. She just needed to get back to the others, and quick.
"Hey guys--" Maxi was cut off by the scream of shock.
"Ahhh!" Her friends were all there at the base of Rootcore. They had gathered there to brainstorm ideas on how to rescue her, but they got stuck at the part of where she had been taken. Her sudden appearance caused quite a scare, especially her yell in the quiet room.
"Lori!" the Jason cried in happiness upon seeing her.
"Lian!" everyone else shouted as they all rushed up to where she stood by the entrance. Rocky was the first to reach her and pulled her up into a bear hug.
"Don't you ever do that again!" he said. Maxi would've replied…if he wasn't squeezing her so hard that she could barely breathe.
"Down Rocko!" Aisha commanded.
"Yeah, Rocky, calm down," Adam said. "You're squeezing her so hard her face is the same color of your shirt!"
Rocky smiled sheepishly as everyone laughed. "Sorry," he murmured into Maxi's ear as he lightened up and she perched on one of his arms like a small child. Maxi grinned back at him. She was just as happy to see them as they were to see her. Over Rocky's shoulder, Maxi smiled at Aisha to show her appreciation for coming to her rescue. The second Yellow Ranger just responded with a light hug.
"You okay, Lor?" Jason asked once the rowdiness died down.
"Never better, Uncle Jase," Maxi replied. "I've got another long story to tell."
So Rocky brought her over to the table where everybody gathered around to listen. Maxi told them about her being the Sage and what happened at the Moon Palace.
"They let you go?" Blake asked doubtingly. "Just like that?"
"Atirddez demanded that I be released," Maxi said. "But Ragdlog didn't seem too happy about it though."
"I don't get it," Shane said. "Why would they let you go? Holding you ransom would've been the perfect way to get to the rest of us. And even if it wasn't, keeping you captive would mean one less Ranger to fight."
"I dunno," Maxi shrugged. "But Atirddez was babbling about honor and being fair and square and stuff like that. He said that the way Ragdlog captured me what cowardly and demanded I was released."
"Dude, that's just like Koragg!" Chip exclaimed.
"Who's Koragg?" Jason asked.
"Me," Leanbow said. Everyone turned to him. "I was Koragg when I was under the Master's evil spell. I guess a part of me had surfaced because I would never do anything without honor, even while I was Koragg."
"And you turned out to be the father of the Red Ranger," TJ mused.
"Maybe Atirddez is the father of Lian," Dustin said.
"He can't be," Maxi replied. "I mean, he was young, real young. I don't how he managed to get all those other vampires, clearly older than he is to follow his orders."
"He may look young, but he could easily be a hundred years old for all we know," Bella reminded her.
"But he's physically a child," Daggeron pointed out. "He can't reproduce."
"Vampires can't reproduce," Carlisle added.
"I still think he's somehow related to Lian though," Dustin replied, a little disappointed.
"I think it's weird that Atirddez is based in the Moon Palace," Aisha said.
"It's it kind of strange," Adam agreed, "using the old base of Rita and Zedd."
"Not really," Justin said and everyone turned to look at him.
"Why not?" Kat asked.
"Didn't you guys notice?" Justin asked.
"Notice what?" Zack asked.
"His name," the Blue Turbo Ranger said, "it's--"
"Rita Repulsa and Zedd backwards," Trini interrupted, figuring it out. Justin nodded.
"Exactly. 'Atirddez'," he scribbled on a piece of paper that happened to be in his pocket at the moment, "spelled backwards is 'Zeddrita', or 'Zedd Rita'. 'Asluper' is 'Repulsa' spelled backwards, and well, 'Lord' is 'Lord'."
"And you know something funny?" Maxi asked. "His second-in-command is named 'Ragdlog', which is 'Goldgar' backwards."
"No way!" Rocky exclaimed. Maxi just nodded. "That's so weird."
"Do you think there could be connection?" Kelsey asked.
"Probably," Alyssa nodded.
"Atirddez must be a big fan of Rita and Zedd to name himself after them," Tanya mused.
"Then he must be a young vampire, probably grew up around their time," Jason theorized. They all knew he didn't mean physically growing.
"I agree," Maxi nodded. "And there's more. Something's weird about Atirddez, even for a vampire. He looks…different."
"Different how?" Max asked. Not knowing any vampires besides the Cullens, who were special themselves, he didn't really understand what Maxi was talking about. Neither did many of the other Rangers.
"It's something in the eyes," Jasper said.
"You noticed too?" Maxi asked him. The former Civil War major nodded.
"Some of them were like that, but others looked normal."
"It was weird," Emmett joined in. "The ones that had the eye thing, they acted weird too. They were liked all zoned out. Even when they did talk, it was…"
"Strange," Rosalie finished for her husband.
"Maybe those vampires are like monsters?" Bella said.
"No, each monster had a distinct personality," Maxi told her. "These vampires were like, uh…."
"Brainwashed zombies?" Chip guessed. His teammates rolled their eyes and sighed with exasperation, but Maxi smiled.
"Exactly!"
"But what does this mean?" Cole asked. "Do we fight them differently?"
"No," Jason told him. "We fight them just like how we've been fighting them before."
"And hopefully, we fight harder," Zack added.
"And with honor," Maxi said. "If Atirddez is fighting with honor, then we have to retaliate. We are the good guys, after all."
"She's right, we must fight with honor," Trini and Leanbow said at the same time.
