DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS
AN: So, the long (or not so long) awaited chapter 5 has landed...hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it!
Also, thanks to everyone that pointed out that i've been writing about the Mastodon instead of the Black Shogun Zord. I wrote the first couple of chapters using the Mastodon before I realized that it was completely destroyed in MMPR and I quite liked the idea of using Alpha to bring back the Shogun – hence, I forgot to change the Zord name. Anyway, chapter 4 has been edited to correct this mistake.
On with the story...
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"...And then there was this giant, magical tree that opened up..."
"I refuse to believe that your so-called base was inside a tree...", Tori watched Xander with a highly disbelieving look on her face.
"Yeah, I might fall for some of your stories, but not that one, no way", Kira crossed her arms defiantly.
"Well...anything's possible in the Ranger world...", Adam opted to take the less controversial approach.
"Okay, you're freaking me out now – you're starting to sound like Dr. O".
"Point taken", he secretly hoped that he would never sound like that as the Yellow Ranger made her way to the stage.
"We even had a real Dragon!", Xander continued smugly.
"I think I can top that one...", Tori countered unexpectedly; "Our Sensei was a talking-Kung-fu-Guinea Pig".
"But we had a Dragon!", Xander persisted.
"Guinea Pigs are better..."
Adam rolled his eyes at the bickering between the two whilst Kira was obviously ready for her performance as Hayley's voice was amplified through the on-stage microphone. "Introducing Reefside's new superstar – Kira Ford!"
Kira's cheeks reddened slightly at the reference to 'superstar'; the whole fame thing was taking some getting used to. Nevertheless, she readied her guitar and began the first song.
The rest of the Ranger team already stood at the front of the stage watching their friend perform – or at least one of them was, as Adam tried hard to ignore the ongoing argument between Tori and Xander.
"Dragon".
"Guinea Pig".
"Dragon".
"Guinea Pig".
"Dragon".
"Guinea Pig".
The quarreling continued for the duration of the entire performance as they prodded each other in the side with each retort.
Adam looked over to the Blue and Green Rangers as they made their way back to their seats and was glad to see that they were finally out of breath. "So...do you guys know what songs Kira just performed?", he tried to suppress his smirk.
"Err...", Xander feigned confidence; "Yeah, it was the...uhm...really good one..."
"Uh huh", the Black Ranger enjoyed the momentary silence as he still observed the two, like he would badly-behaved school kids. Adam turned back the face the right direction...just in time to collide with someone coming the other way.
"Oops...sorry", he held out a hand to steady the woman in front of him, before glancing at her face.
"Adam?", she looked at him gleefully.
"Uh oh"
"How are you sweetie?!", she pulled him into a crushing hug as he flailed his arms helplessly.
"Hi mom", he choked back; barely able to breathe. He regained his composure when she finally let him go; "What are you doing here?"
"My son tells me he's relocating and then a week later he moves away...so naturally, i'm curious as to what brought you here...", she thought for a moment; "Well...apart from the fact that you're a P-..."
"Shhh!", Adam hushed her furiously as he nervously looked around them for eavesdroppers; "Not here!"
Tori and Xander's initial interest levels had now doubled as the Green Ranger's mouth hung slightly open and the Ninja's eyebrows were in danger of disappearing into her hairline altogether.
Adam kept on walking with his mother straight out of the Cyberspace and into the adjacent park, with Tori and Xander still in tow.
"Right, you can talk now", Adam gestured for his mom to resume the conversation.
She continued as if nothing had happened; "Anyway dear, I...", she eyed up Tori and Xander suspiciously before she continued.
Adam followed her gaze and knew what she was thinking; "It's okay mom, they know".
"I thought you weren't supposed to tell anyone?", she still kept an eye on the pair.
"Yeah, and that means everyone...including you", he argued.
"But i'm your mother dear, it's my job to know what's going on".
"Whatever...", Adam let it drop before continuing; "These are my teammates – Tori and Xander", he gestured towards each of them in turn.
"Hey, nice to meet you". Tori greeted.
"Hi Mrs P", Xander flashed her his best smile.
"Call me 'Rachel' dear", she smiled back; "'Mrs P' makes me sound old!" The three laughed at the comment as Rachel looked around searchingly. "I thought you said there were four of you?", she counted the odd number.
"Oh, Kira", Adam realized; "She's-"
"Here", a voice behind him finished his sentence.
"Hey Kira", he smiled at the Yellow Ranger who had appeared by his side; "Kira, i'd like you to meet my mom..."
Kira looked at the woman in pleasant surprise; "Hi", she waved slightly in friendly greeting.
Mrs Park recognised her face almost straight away; "Hello dear, I heard you singing...you have a marvelous voice".
The Yellow Ranger blushed slightly; "Thanks, i'm glad you like what I do".
"And a Power Ranger too...you're a girl of many talents".
Kira froze at the mention of this and looked back at her, quickly trying to feign all knowledge of it; "A Power Ranger? I don't think..."
Adam hastily interrupted; "Err Kira? She knows..."
"Oh", she replied meekly, whilst raising a questioning eye towards him; an expression that was mirrored by Tori and Xander.
"Later", he mouthed back at them all, not looking forward to explaining why he had leaked all of their identities without permission.
The other Rangers seemed content enough leave the issue until a better time and they completely changed the subject.
"So Mrs-...Rachel", Tori corrected herself; "Are you staying with Adam whilst you're here?"
"Of course", she replied, grinning; "I want to make sure he keeps that apartment of his clean and tidy".
Adam sighed inwardly as he reluctantly handed over his spare key "Don't mess with anything in there!", he warned, jokingly.
"I promise", she replied innocently; but then again - mothers are notoriously good liars.
The small talk was conveniently cut short by the sound of four individual alarm tones ringing out from the morphers of their respective owners.
Adam quickly checked the vicinity for any nearby civilians who could be listening in before raising his communicator to his mouth. "Go for Adam".
"We've got a new monster...and it's not alone for once", Hayley's voice replied almost instantly.
"We're on our way", he dropped his wrist; "Sorry mom, but we've gotta go".
"I know", she said regretfully; "Be careful sweetie...", she hugged him tightly again as Adam's cheeks turned a light shade of crimson.
"Mom!", he pulled away hurriedly; "I'll be fine", he insisted, whilst ignoring the snickers coming from the rest of the team; "You'd better get inside".
"Don't worry, i'm going...besides, I can watch the fight on TV".
The Black Ranger rolled his eyes at her comment; "Just get going!".
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"Hey, stop!", the Rangers approached their targets at a run before halting a short distance away.
"We said 'Stop!'", Tori reiterated harshly.
The two figures finally turned around to face them, feigned looks of surprise on their faces. "Us?", a very human-looking creature stepped forwards slightly. Well, it would have looked human if it wasn't for the slit-like eyes with eerily-red pupils that glared at them and the unpleasant sight of what appeared to be a black, forked tongue which flickered out of it's mouth every few seconds. "I should've known that you Rangers would show up", he said with a look of utter disgust crossing his snake-like features.
"What do you want?!", Kira questioned impatiently.
The monster seemed to ignore her question as it continued it's speech; "Allow me to introduce myself...I am Ammix, Commander of my Lord Osirico's great army!", he also gestured to the robotic creature at his side; "I'd also like you to meet Raptir...", the mechanical, knight-like beast bowed obediently; "My most magnificent creation – he has the strength and ability to rival that of the greatest warriors, yet remains completely emotionless", the Rangers' wariness of the creature increased with every word as the Commander sneered at them. "Let's see how good you are...", Ammix shifted into a fighting stance; Raptir copying his move.
"Bring it on!", Adam retorted stubbornly. The Rangers charged towards Ammix in their attacking stances, morphing as they went and wordlessly splitting off into pairs.
Adam and Kira flew into action against Raptir, whilst Tori and Xander launched themselves at his master. The Green Ranger seemed to be in a rather 'hands-on' mood – quite literally as he pulled back his fist and slammed it straight into the hard metal armor of Ammix. Therefore, Tori wasn't surprised when Xander's hand recoiled rather rapidly, accompanied by a loud "Ouch!".
"Looks like you need to pack a harder punch!", the monster taunted.
With her friend still seething, the Blue Ranger called on an old favorite, as she tried to keep the momentum; "Ninja Shadow Battle!"
Xander didn't see much of what just happened, but he couldn't fail to notice that Tori had clearly emerged worst off as she crashed into the hard concrete with a loud 'thud!'. He glared back at Ammix, determined to repay him; "You want a harder punch, then you got it! Time for plan Xander!", he brought out his Mystic Morpher and quickly entered in a spell code; "Mystic Force Fighters!"
Meanwhile, both the Blade and Thundermax Blasters where unsheathed and in full use in combat against Raptir as Adam and Kira had quickly realised that in two-on-one sword combat, they were easily outclassed by the foe. However, in resorting to lasers, the chances of scoring a decent hit were vastly reduced due his impossibly thick armor.
Ammix sneered as he joined his servant, having been struck down by an admittedly lucky shot from the giant boxing gloves that adorned the Green Ranger's hands. "We'll leave you for now Rangers...", the two slowly backed away; "I'm sure that Tentacule here will give you something to think about in the meantime...", he snapped his fingers authoritatively and possibly one of the ugliest monsters the Rangers had ever seen appeared in a flash of jet-black lightning, right in front of Ammix.
The aptly-named Tentacule surged towards the Rangers, gross-looking tentacles swinging wildly from his body. They had no choice but to engage in the fight, yet they all saw Raptir disappear in another flash of lightning as Ammix continued to walk away...
"Oh no you don't!", Adam pushed himself away from the others and took off after the Commander. The Black Ranger leapt into the air, bringing the Power Axe swinging down to meet Ammix' back. The snake-like person hissed with pain as he turned to face his foe, hatred filling his eyes. "You're not going anywhere!", Adam swung the axe again before Ammix had time to react and struck him sharply across the chest.
Ammix regained his composure and unsheathed the sword at his side; "Don't be so foolish Black Ranger...you have no idea what i'm capable of!"
"Well back atcha!", Adam retorted; not stopping to think of the meaning behind the words."Blade Blasters, fire!"
Meanwhile, the others were well on their way to disposing of Tentacule as they worked together to surround him. Xander; still bearing the ginormous pair of boxing gloves, struck out at the monster. A hard punch connected with his stomach to send him hurtling into the nearest wall, Tori and Kira quickly followed up with laser fire as he crashed to the ground.
"Let's end this!", the Blue Ranger unsheathed her Ninja Sword as Kira and Xander followed suit with the Thundermax Saber and the Magistaff.
"But...you don't understand!", the creature stuttered, his courage failing him; "I'm innocent!"
"You commit the crime, then you pay the price...", Kira reiterated the point as the Rangers charged, one by one taking a vicious swipe through the armor of Tentacule.
"I'll...get...you!", the monster choked as he was defeated for good; in a cloud of smoke and flames.
"Let's go!", Tori signaled for them to go help Adam now that their own enemy was disposed of. They arrived on the scene to find the evil army Commander on the back foot slightly as he battled the Black Ranger; Ammix growled and pushed away from the fight as they joined his side.
"Let's see what you're made of!", he held his blade in front of his face, where it glowed black and magically duplicated itself.
"Gladly!", Adam retorted, swinging his axe into an attacking position; "Mastodon!"
The rest of the team quickly followed suit as they continued the roll call...
"Power of water!"
"Strong as a tree, Green Mystic Ranger!"
"Ptera Power!"
The Rangers charged down Ammix with their favored weapons drawn in front of them. Tori sent a powerful water blast straight at him; temporarily disarming the snake warrior just as the now very familiar Power Axe came surging towards him. The next strike came swiftly after; courtesy of Xander as he summoned his Magistaff. Ammix staggered backwards, barely able to stay on his feet, just as a quick follow up arrived in the form of the Ptera Grips as they repeatedly slashed through the creature's hard, metallic armor.
The Rangers stood in unison before the severely weakened Ammix as his body seemed to self-combust under the armor; "Any last words?", Adam asked sarcastically, with a hint of joy as that they were about to destroy the Commander of Osirico's army. The monster seemed uncapable of speaking as he stared at the team, with what could be mistaken for a smirk plastered on his face. "Thought not..." the Rangers drew their blasters; "FIRE!"
"This will not...be...our last meeting!", Ammix stammered as he crashed to the ground, his body erupting into flames.
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"So who wants to go for pizza?", Xander looked around the gang hopefully as they finally returned to the Cyberspace.
"I'm in", Tori quickly piped up as her empty stomach growled in frustration.
"Yep, me too", Kira agreed; "I'm starved!"
Adam looked at the trio regretfully as their eyes turned to him; "Sorry...I promised mom i'd cook dinner...".
"You? Cook?", Kira looked at him in disbelief as Tori and Xander failed to hold in their sniggers; all of them having experienced the Black Ranger's culinary skills before.
"Not funny!", he protested as he walked away, beginning to wonder if inviting his mom to Reefside was really a good idea.
"Have fun!"
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"By the power of the demons...arise!"
TO BE CONTINUED...