Aiden cast a look back to see if he was still being pursued as he ran into the yard, checking to see if Levi was close to him. That momentary glance away from the direction he was running caused him to miss a stack of tyres that he collided with, tumbling onto the ground. Levi grabbed him and yanked him to his feet, forcing him face-first against the shelves.
"You're not going anywhere Aiden!" He grunted as he struggled to hold him. "You're going to pay for what you've done, but first...first you're going to face your brother and explain to him why..."
Aiden pushed Levi back far enough to get a foot onto the shelves, and used that to flip over his head, landing behind him. Levi turned around just in time to catch a kick across the face, taking him down.
Aiden ran to the gates, but stopped as he found them locked. He inspected the chain holding the gates shut, and cursed his luck. He was rammed into the gate from behind, before being thrown to the ground. He got up, in time to fell a right cross across his face. He looked up to see Levi standing over him.
"Like I said, you're going nowhere." Levi told him. Aiden just laughed as he got up.
"You really think you have what it takes to beat me?" Aiden asked as he pulled off his hoodie. "I'm practically a ninja master! You've been training for a few weeks?"
"If you're so sure of yourself, come on!" Levi called out. Aiden threw his hoodie at Levi's face, distracting him as he snatched up a metal pipe and ran for him. Levi was only just able to duck before Aiden could cave in his skull! He gulped as he saw one of the shelving units buckle where he had struck.
"That was WAY too close!" He commented.
Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo could hardly contain his glee. He had managed to claw back his ratings and more with this event. In fact, he had almost doubled his audience in a week with the Ripcon battle! Fans on both sides were going completely wild for the bout. It had everything, it had drama, it had twists, it had peril...he was glad he had taken the decision to only allow the first ten minutes on free-view and had put up a pay-wall for the rest of the bout. By the time the pay-per-view figures came in, he was positive he'd have shattered another record.
"Did you see THAT folks!" Cosmo screamed, pointing to the screen. "The Red Ranger is victorious!"
He didn't even need the apparatus to know what the result was going to be. There were already people chanting for him to be gigantified. In fact, without exception, every member of the audience, even the ones cheering for Brody were calling for it! No one wanted the battle to be over just yet. As the Kudabots wheeled it in, Cosmo turned to the audience.
"You all know the score, but tonight; I have an extra special treat." Cosmo told them. "If the vote exceeds eighty percent, I'll throw in a couple of Skullgators!"
The audience erupted as he made this announcement. Cosmo wanted to really tip this over the edge, not just for the pay-per-view audience, but because it was bound to result in the Power Stars coming into their grasp. The lights on the scale started to light up, at which Cosmo grinned, seeing only the profits rolling in. As soon as it hit the top, confirming that the audience wanted to see Ripcon gigantified, he went to the console.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, you asked for it, and who am I to refuse? GIGANTIFY!" He called out. "And just to really rattle their bones, how about two SKULLGATORS!"
The audience screamed as he slammed his hands down on the controls, sending down the beams. The show was far from over, and by the time it was over, no matter what happened, Cosmo was going to be the real winner!
Down at the site of the battle, the Rangers had held back for a few moments, suspecting that the fight might not be over. They had seen Cosmo send so many giant monsters after them, some that were nowhere near the level of Ripcon, that there was no way he was going to let them end the battle there. The beam hit the ground right where Ripcon had fallen.
"Alright, I guess we saw that coming." Calvin commented.
"Call the Zords." Brody ordered them. Preston just pointed upwards.
"Guys...I don't think he's finished!" Preston gulped as two more beams hit the ground. They watched giant bones starting to form up, and before they knew it, Ripcon was standing over them, accompanied by two Skullgators. Hayley's eyes grew wide.
"OK, we barely beat Ripcon, and we've only ever faced one Skullgator." She commented. "How is this fair?"
"I don't think Cosmo really cares about playing fair!" Calvin answered.
"Levi, come in!" Brody called into his communicator. Unfortunately he didn't get an answer. "LEVI! Damn it, what is keeping him?"
"We can't worry about that now!" Calvin told him. "Sarah, call the Astro Zord. I'll call the Rumble Tusk Zord. It might not be the Bull-Rider Megazord, but hopefully they can keep the Skullgators off you till you can take down Ripcon."
"Good thinking Calvin." Brody said as they all clipped their Ninja Power Stars into their swords. "Ninja-Zords, out of the shadows!"
Back at the yard, Levi was on the run, trying to keep out of reach of Aiden's huge swings with the pipe. He grabbed a stack of hubcaps, throwing them at him like shuriken, but with little effect other than to cause him to cover up. Aiden rushed him, ramming him into the shelving units, which swayed and rocked, raining down some parts onto them.
He grabbed the pipe, struggling to wrestle with Aiden for control of the pipe.
"I don't get it Aiden, I have a brother, we fight, but I'd NEVER do anything like this to Tom!" Levi screamed at him. "All Brody's ever wanted was to find you, to bring you back! Why would you do this to him?"
"You don't pay much attention do you? Don't you get it? The bad guys are so much stronger than we'll EVER be!" Aiden yelled at him. "No one asked for the Ninja Steel. No one MADE my dad fight to keep it! You think this little shithole planet has ANYTHING else they want? Why not just let them take it and get on their way?"
Aiden kneed Levi in the gut, doubling him up and turning away from him. As he steadied himself on the shelves, Levi felt them moving. Looking behind Aiden, he saw that the strut he had hit before had broken, and was only just holding together. He positioned himself by its counterpart on the other side.
"You don't know what they'll do with it once they have it! What do you think Galvanax is going to do other than make weapons?" Levi asked him. "Even if he does leave us alone, even if he does take it and go and doesn't come back. What about the next planet? What about all the lives he takes there? That'll be on us because we gave him the weapons to do it!"
"Better them than us!" Aiden sneered. Levi just straightened up.
"Then I guess we're done here." Levi told him, gesturing to him to strike. "Go ahead Aiden, finish it!"
Aiden swung the pipe as hard as he could, but Levi threw himself out the way. As the pipe connected, buckling the support, Aiden could hear the creaking and looked up in time to see the whole shelving unit coming down. He threw his hands up over his head, but the shelves collapsed on top of him. As the dust settled, Levi got up, making his way over.
"Aiden?" He asked. He wanted to end the fight, but he didn't want Aiden to die. He wanted him to face judgement, to face the repercussions of his actions. At very least, Brody deserved to hear from Aiden himself why he had betrayed them. Why he had turned his back on everything their father had ever taught them. He started frantically trying to dig him out. "You are not getting out of it that easily! You're going to explain everything to your brother..."
He was caught by a hard punch to the jaw which threw him back through the air, dumping him a little way off. The debris started to shift, and he saw Aiden standing up. His eyes grew wide as he saw him, his clothing and even his flesh torn, barely hanging onto him in some places, and underneath, he could see metal and wires. A glowing red eye focused on him.
"Brother?" He asked. "I HAVE no brother!"
"LEVI!" Mick called out as he and Redbot ran into the yard. Mick was carrying a blaster rifle, while Redbot had converted his arm into its cannon mode. Levi rushed the robotic imposter and grabbed him, holding him tightly.
"It's not Aiden! It's a robot!" Levi told them. "Take him out!"
"Levi, get clear!" Mick screamed at him.
"JUST DO IT!" Aiden ordered him. He knew that even damaged, even though it was a robot, this machine had been programmed with impressive combat skills. He couldn't take the chance that Mick and Redbot would miss their shot. Reluctantly, they opened fire, blasting both 'Aiden' and Levi back into the debris. Aiden held onto him as a charge went through him, electrifying every inch of his body, but something else happened.
He started to get flashes of memories as he held onto the robot, which was sparking and overloading. These weren't like before, they weren't the memories he had seen already, in some of them, he was young...younger than he could remember from before. He had never had any memories dating from before he met The General and was taken in by the Westons. It was dim, but he could see a child, one that he just felt in his heart was him...then dim images, shadows almost of another child, and man...he couldn't make out who they were, but he felt love for them...were they his real family?
"It's the charge, he can't let go!" Mick called out as he and Redbot ran for them both. Mick transformed his hands into wood so they wouldn't conduct electricity, while Redbot really didn't have much problem with it. Redbot grabbed 'Aiden' while Mick grabbed Levi. "We have to separate them, he's going to blow!"
Pulling them apart, Mick threw himself and Levi onto the ground, turning into steel to shield them from the blast, while Redbot threw 'Aiden' as far as he could. In a huge explosion, he scattered all over the yard. His head, only half covered in fake flesh, landed next to Mick and Levi. The Gold Ranger picked it up, staring at it.
"A robot." He gasped. "All this time, he was a robot!"
"Levi, you really need to go." Mick told him. "I checked on the others, they're taking on Ripcon and a couple of Skullgators. They need everything they can lay their hands on!"
"Hello?" They heard someone yelling. It was Mrs Finch. Realising she must have heard the explosion; Levi quickly threw the head to Redbot, who went to hide. Mick pulled his blaster around behind his back as she arrived.
"Hey...Mrs Finch." Levi said with a smile.
"What happened out here?" She asked, noting Levi's dishevelled appearance. He was covered in muck, and he was showing clear signs of injury. "I heard what sounded like an explosion..."
"Um...it was...that experiment Mr Kanik and I were working on!" Levi stammered, trying to think on his feet for an explanation. "It got a little out of hand."
"A little out of hand?" She asked, seeing the scene of destruction in the yard. "Are you alright?"
"I'm a little shaken up, but..."
"We should get you to a hospital!" She shrieked. Levi looked to Mick, who pointed to the door, reminding him of his current priority.
"I...I have somewhere to be..."
"Yes, it's called an emergency room!" Mrs Finch told him. He just put a hand on her shoulder.
"I have an excellent personal physician. His office isn't too far from here." Levi told her. It was true that he kept a doctor on retainer. While he was on tour, he had to be prepared in case anyone got hurt or sick, and he couldn't always guarantee the state of the local hospitals everywhere he went. It also saved a lot of time since his doctor already had the medical files of his staff with her, and so didn't need to wait on files being transferred from their individual doctors.
"I'll take you..."
"NO!" Levi told her. "I mean...you should stay and take care of the show. The office isn't too far, I'll be fine!"
"As...as long as you're sure." She said, sounding a little unhappy about leaving him to take care of himself. She took out a pen and scribbled down a number. "But you call me the SECOND your doctor has seen you and no excuses!"
"I promise." He answered. With that, he sprinted away. As he did though, he couldn't help thinking about the flashes in his memory he had seen. Were they real? Had the charge somehow pried something loose? He shook his head, trying to focus on the task ahead of him. He could hardly trust a lot of the memories he had already seen. How could he rely on any memories he had when he was being electrocuted?
Mrs Finch looked to Mick.
"Um...I have...a lot of clearing up to do." He told her. Mrs Finch realised she wasn't going to get any more of an explanation out of him and just rolled her eyes, before walking away. She was all for teachers being able to express themselves in their own individual way, but even she had to admit that Mick was unique in a way she wasn't sure she'd ever understand.
Over at the site of the battle, things were more than a little bit of a struggle for the Rangers. Hayley, Preston and Brody were battling Ripcon with the Megazord, while Calvin and Sarah tried to keep the Skullgators busy.
Sarah buzzed past one of the Skullgators, knocking it off balance as she performed a scan.
"Calvin, I think I've found a weakness." Sarah told him. "My scans are showing a major stress point at the c6 vertebrae."
"Um...alright." Calvin said. "Let's pretend I don't know what that means."
"One of the back bones, it looks like that's what carries most of the strain on the Skullgators' bodies." She told him. "If we target that, I think it might bring them down!"
"Like knocking the keystone out of a bridge?" Calvin asked her as he rushed his own opponent, smashing into it with his Zord's tusks.
"Exactly!" She told him.
"Well, it's worth a shot I guess." He answered.
"I'm sending you the data now." She told him. "Aim there, give it everything!"
With that, they both powered up their weapons and opened fire. The two Skullgators shattered into a collection of bones, but instead of just falling to the ground, they reformed into a sword.
"What the hell?" Calvin asked.
"Well...that's new!" Sarah agreed. Ripcon grabbed the sword out of the air. It was larger than him, and it took both hands for him to swing. He connected with the Astro Zord first, at which all the consoles sparked and sounded warnings as it spun out of the air. Sarah was ejected by the emergency escape system, dumping her on the ground.
"Now THIS is my kind of weapon!" Ripcon called out as he spun around, smashing into the Rumble Tusk Zord. Calvin was also ejected as the Zord disappeared, being sent back to its hiding place to self-repair. Ripcon rounded on the Megazord.
"Whoa, that thing looks SO powerful!" Hayley commented.
"That guy has been playing WAY too much Dark Souls!" Preston added as Sarah and Calvin joined them in the Megazord.
"He took out the Astro Zord and the Rumble Tusk Zord like they were nothing!" Sarah told them as they took their position, lending the Megazord their power. "We're going to need all the help we can get!"
Ripcon brought the sword down in a huge overhead swing. The Rangers tried to parry it, but the blow was so string it just smashed straight through and hit the Zord. The Rangers staggered, struggling to hold on as he followed up with a horizontal slash, knocking them down.
"This is not good!" Preston grunted as he looked around. He saw Sarah getting back to her podium and was emboldened, seeing that she was still up and still in the fight. He took up position as well, while the others got back up.
"OK, we're taking a pasting, we CANNOT afford to take another shot from that thing!" Brody stated. "Preston, you take the lead! We'll use your lightning. Maybe we can take him down from a safe distance!"
"Ninja Megazord, Dragon Formation!" Preston called out as he took up the Command Position, taking the Master Blade from Brody. "Alright, let's give this a shot. Ninja Megazord, Final STRIKE!"
They powered up their lightning attack, launching it straight at Ripcon. He held up the sword, which took the hit full on, before throwing it right back at them. The Megazord hit the ground once more.
"OK...so much for that idea!" Preston grumbled. They all watched as Ripcon approached, looking to deliver the final blow. He was only stopped as a succession of blasts hit him full on. He hadn't seen Levi arriving in his Megazord.
"Sorry I'm late guys!" He told them. "I'd love to give you better news, but that was my best shot."
"That was the Rodeo Rapid Blast?" Calvin asked him. "But Ripcon's still standing!"
"And he's still got that sword!" Sarah commented. "Guys...I have an idea, I have no idea if it'll work..."
"Right now I'm up for anything." Brody told her.
"It's not what the star was designed for, but...if the Ninja Fusion Star can combine our powers..."
"Maybe it can combine the Megazord's powers!" Hayley interjected. Brody weighed up his options, something that didn't take him long at all since he was quickly running out of them. While taking chances was strongly discouraged in the ninja playbook, there was always a big belief in the benefit of doing SOMETHING instead of doing NOTHING.
"Alright, we'll give it a shot!" Brody stated, putting the Ninja Fusion Star into the Master Blade. "Ninja Fusion Star, Ninja SPIN!"
The Rangers all held on tightly as the Zords split apart and started to reform. Sarah took a look at her console as the Zords started to form up into one giant Megazord.
"Guys, I've never seen our power levels spike like this!" Sarah yelled. "We didn't blow up!"
"Both good things!" Brody stated. "Guys, where did Ripcon go?"
They got a warning of an incoming attack, and before they knew it, the Megazord had reacted, turning and blocking Ripcon's incoming attack. It swung for him, retaliating with a powerful strike that shattered his sword, sending bone splinters raining down into the streets below.
"My beautiful sword!" Ripcon whined as he watched his weapon crumble in his hands.
"You shouldn't play rough if you don't want your toys to get broken!" Brody told him, pulling the Ripcord on the Master Blade. "Ninja Fusion Zord, Final STRIKE!"
Ripcon screamed as the blade came down, glowing with power. With an almighty explosion, Ripcon disappeared, leaving the Rangers as the last ones standing.
"You wanted your rubber match, and you got it Ripcon." Brody told him. "Show's over, Ninjas WIN!"