Chapter 8 – Coming In For The Kill
Previously - The Machine Empire Generals had to shield their eyes as a bright red flash of energy burst out from the ten human. When the light cleared there were ten red rangers standing in front of them, determined that the Earth would not fall that day. The Generals prepared their various weapons, the battle for control of Serpenterra was about to begin.
"Alright I'm going to stop Venjix from getting to Serpenterra", Cole declared, "everyone else split into pairs and choose a General". The other rangers nodded and split up to pick their opponent with Jason joining Cole in chasing after Venjix.
Automon was probably the strongest General outside of Venjix himself. His body was predominately black with orange patches on his arms, legs and chest. His head was also orange with a silver face plate and a couple of antennae on top of his head. He could be considered as the Venjix of his time, a powerful warrior that got a bit too strong for King Mondo's liking. That was over a century ago and his skills had gotten rusty since then but he still talked a good game, "Careful rangers, I'm too much for you to handle", he taunted.
"We'll see about that", Leo replied and pulled out his weapon, "Quasar Saber".
"I like your style", TJ added, "Turbo Lightning Sword".
The General chuckled and a burst of fire erupted in front of him. A large orange bladed sword appeared in his hand, "Fire strike", he called and a stream of fire shot towards the two rangers.
Underneath their helmets, Leo and TJ's eyes widened and they quickly rolled out the way. Leo immediately got to his feet, "Two can play at that game", his Saber began to smoke as he channelled his own fire power into his blade. The two weapons met with a blaze of fire and the excess energy slammed into the dirt either side of Leo and Automon. Both warriors put either through at test of strength as they tried to gain the upper hand. The robot General pushed Leo away and kicked him in the gut, finally putting some distance between them. The orange bladed sword came crashing towards the Red Galaxy Ranger but Leo was quick enough to roll out the way, "Gotta be quicker than that", he taunted.
"Try this on for size", Automon cried and unleashed several small fire bursts from the tip of his blade. Leo stood tall and deflected all of them away. He kept moving forward and was soon within striking distance of the General. Automon tried to fire again but Leo struck his sword at the exact same time, causing a strong reverberation that broke the General's sword in half, "My sword", he roared.
Automon barely had time to mourn the loss of his sword when he was struck across his chest multiple times in quick succession. He couldn't see the source of the attack until the red shaped blur stopped moving, revealing the Red Turbo Ranger, "What do you say Leo, shall we put this guy out of his misery?" TJ called out.
"Thought you'd never ask", Leo chuckled and charged up his Quasar Saber. The two red rangers were on opposite sides of the General and they attacked from their different positions. A red wave was propelled by Leo as TJ charged with his sword ready and spun through the General with a vicious cut. Automon's chest sparked and he split in half through the waist, the two different parts exploding on impact with the ground.
Up on a cliff overlooking the excavation site, Andros and Carter were engaged with General Steelon, a black and silver bodied robot with a fly like visor and oversized golden shoulder pads. Steelon used a pair of blasters to pins the red rangers behind a large rock, "We can't stay behind here forever", Carter said.
Andros looked around and suddenly had an idea, "I'm going to draw his fire, once he's distracted don't stop blasting him".
Carter nodded pensively and he wished that the Red Space Ranger had given him more details about his plan. He was surprised when Andros burst from their hiding spot and ran to the edge of the cliff with his Astro Blaster ablaze. He managed to land a few shots before diving sideways off the edge, "No!" Carter called out. Steelon was shocked for a moment that Andros had seemingly thrown himself off the cliff and that gave Carter the opening he needed. The Lightspeed Ranger vaulted over the top of the rock and unleashed a barrage from his Rescue Blaster. The stunned General had no defence to barrage of laser fire and soon both of his weapons were disabled.
"Please have mercy", Steelon pleaded, "I was exiled for being too weak, I'm not a fighter". Carter thought he heard a hint of regret in Steelon's voice and slowly lowered his blaster. Suddenly a sharp blade sprang out of the General's arm and he swung at Carter, catching him on the chest. Sparks flew off of the red ranger's suit as he was pushed back towards the cliff face, "Stupid human", Steelon spat as he raised his arm up, "robot's don't beg for mercy".
The Red Lightspeed Ranger braced for the impact but it never came as something sliced through Steelon's arm. Carter looked up and saw Andros flash overhead on his Galaxy Glider with his Spiral Saber in hand, "I thought robots were meant to be smart", Andros taunted, "that's twice in a week you've fallen for that trick".
Steelon looked at the remains of his arm and oil spurted out from the stump. Carter slowly got to his feet and picked up his blaster, "Please you wouldn't shoot an unarmed robot would you?" Steelon stuttered.
"Normally I wouldn't", Carter began, "but you attacked me when my defences were down". Carter fired a continuous stream of energy from his weapon that pushed Steelon over the edge and into the Valley below. The General smashed into the ground, broke into several pieces before bursting into flames. Andros floated down next to his colleague and looked on with a sense of satisfaction.
Near the bottom of the cliff, Eric and Aurico were struggling to slow down the General known as Tezzla. Almost exclusively white bodied, Tezzla had a distinctively feminine shape and that explained her banishment from the Empire. Rumour around the court was that Tezzla had caught the eye of King Mondo, much to the jealously of Queen Machina. She was banished to the far corner of the galaxy on a trumped up charge of treason just before the Empire moved towards Earth. A psychically weak but clever fighter, she was wielding an electric whip against the ranger duo.
Aurico was cartwheeling down the soft surface with Eric sliding down close behind. The pair landed at the foot of the hill in a heap with the female General looming over the top of them, "I'm open to suggestion here waterboy", Eric growled.
"Must you assign nicknames to everyone", Aurico sighed, "we need to neutralise that weapon of hers".
"Gee really", Eric shook his head and tried to think of a plan. As he was doing that he silently cursed Alex and Time Force for taking some of his toys away. Once Ransik was imprisoned, Time Force had blocked access to his Battle Armour as well as Wes's Battlizer, their logic being that they didn't want too many toys from the future kicking around in the present day when there wasn't a major threat for them to deal with. Just then Eric looked up and saw a loose pile of rocks just above the General, "I've got an idea", Eric stated and he unleashed a barrage from his Quantum Defender.
Tezzla ducked slightly and was surprised to see the Quantum Ranger's shots fly over her head. Moments later she felt the ground begin to shake under her feet and a few pebbles rolled past her feet. She turned around and several large boulders were flying in her direction. Despite her slender appearance in comparison with the other Generals, Tezzla was still heavy on her feet. She tried to move as quickly as possible but the larger rocks caught up with her and smashed into her chassis. The General was so distracted that she didn't notice that she was heading straight towards the Red Aquitar Ranger and his blade. A quick swipe took her arm off and the shoulder and she crashed to the ground in a heap.
The two rangers stood over the fallen General as she inspected the remains of her chassis. Several sparks were flashing off her body and numerous panels were dented and missing, "Please I never wanted to do this", Tezzla began, "I don't have long left, please make this quick". Eric and Aurico looked at each other and the Quantum Ranger reluctantly prepared his blaster. Aurico turned away, even though Tezzla was a robot she was still a sentient beings and he didn't want to see it end this way for her. There was a single blast and moments later Eric walk past him, neither of them said a word or looked behind them.
Near the entrance to the factory, Wes and Tommy had cornered the fourth General, Gerrok. The green bodied robot had a head shaped like a beetle and fought with a pincer like weapon that tried to crush the two red rangers. The weapon locked on tight around Wes's lower body and the Time Force ranger struggled to get himself free, "Hang on Wes", Tommy called out, "Zeo V Power Sword". A bladed weapon appeared in his hand and he sliced Gerrok across the chest, freeing Wes from his grasp, "You still good?"
"Oh yeah", Wes wheezed, "might have a few bruises in the morning", he then turned his attention to the wounded General, "so why did Mondo get rid of you?"
"Too bloodthirsty", the robot growled, "after one incident at an orphanage, Mondo expelled me. Said I was a liability", he cackled manically and dug his weapon into the ground.
Tommy began to shake with rage and threw his sword at the feet of Gerrok. The General was expecting to block the attack but it stuck in the ground a few feet in front of him. He looked up just in time to see the Red Zeo Ranger flying overhead and land a powerful kick in his chest. Gerrok countered with a strong blow with his pincer weapon but Tommy shrugged it off like it was nothing. A barrage of kicks and punches were unleashed with an intensity that the robot had ever seen.
Wes looked on with a mixture of awe and fear as Tommy continued his relentless assault. He called on his Chrono Sabers and decided to end this before his fellow red ranger exhausted himself, "Tommy, send him my way", he called out. At first he wasn't sure if Tommy heard him but a powerful dropkick propelled Gerrok into the air. Timing his jump perfectly, Wes executed a Time Strike that cut Gerrok into several pieces. The remains of the General landed in a pile behind the Red Time Force Ranger and exploded on impact. Wes jogged over to Tommy just as the Red Zeo Ranger was retrieving his sword, "You feeling alright Tommy", he asked.
There was a few moments of silence before Tommy said, "No one who harms children deserves to live", he said with a monotone and he turned and walked away. Wes was rooted to the spot, the Machine Empire General had found Tommy's berserk button. He prayed that no one else did that in the future, otherwise they were in a world of trouble.
General Venjix had tried everything but he still couldn't break past the defences of Jason and Cole. He took a few moments to assess the situation of the battle. All of his Generals were gone, a loss but they were too unstable to be of any long term use to him. With his Cogs destroyed that just left the grand prize of Serpenterra up for grabs. He didn't want to launch a suicidal attack when he was so close to victory but he needed to get inside where he was safe, "Give it up Venjix", Jason began, "your army's been destroyed, there's no one left".
"I still have control over Serpenterra", he growled and pushed a button on his remote and the giant craft began to move slightly.
The two red rangers were knocked off balance enough for Venjix to charge towards them, swinging a blade in the process. He sliced them across the chest and they fell to the ground, "No come back", Cole tried desperately to claw at his legs but it was too late. The mighty zord began to break free of the surface and hovered a few feet off the ground.
"Damn it, we've failed", Eric punched the ground in frustration.
"Not yet we haven't", Andros called out as he flashed past on his Glider, nudging Carter off in the process. He reached down and grabbed hold of Jason and Cole, dragging them up onto his board. The Galaxy Glider was slow with three people on it but they were able to jump through the entrance hatch just before it closed.
"It's getting away", Leo cried as the zord left the magically powered atmosphere on The Moon.
"Can we catch up with the Megaship?" Tommy asked TJ.
The Red Turbo Ranger shook his head, "We can but Karone said the outer shell of Serpenterra is too tough for the Mega Laser to penetrate".
"We need have to try", Wes stated.
"Yeah but truthfully it's upto Jason, Andros and Cole now", Carter sighed. The seven remaining red rangers looked overhead as Serpenterra headed for Earth, all of their hopes now rested on three lone red rangers.
TO BE CONTINUED