Chapter Fifteen: Sorcery 7

Rita sat and thought. Once again, Blue Energy flowed around her hands. The word "hope" continued to ring through her head.

"Is there a problem, my mistress?" Goldar asked.

AHHHH! The little girl yelled by the stream. Then she saw it.

The eye.

"Eye… Eye… I want to know how the preparations are going for Sorcery 7." Rita said, finding her rhythm once again.

"I have recruited Terror Toad to help us with that. He was highly recommended by Master Vile. Apparently, he is always hungry. How he defeats his enemies is by eating all of their supplies and even soldiers! Ah-hahaha!"

"Calm down, you gold chromed idiot. Okay, fine. He will do. Have him attack and Baboo accompany him."

"What would you have me to do, your horribleness?" Goldar asked.

Rita rubbed her head. "Oh… I have a headache… Grab Scorpina. Make preparations to attack Earth."

"Why Earth?"

"I have a feeling those goodie goods on Earth are going to continue to be a thorn in our sides. We need to defeat them if we are going to have any chance of securing the Zeo Crystal. We do not need their interference."

"But, I—"

"Now I must go! I have a headache!" She shouted angrily, going to her private chambers. There were a lot of things which she needed to think about.

. . .

Joe pounded his fist in anger. "We could have lost everything! We were that close!"

Marvelous scoffed. "We would have lost what is important had we not gone back for a new power source for Guy: our humanity. We may as well have just stayed being pirates if that was the case."

"I know you're upset, Joe…" Luka said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But remember that you're not alone. We need to work as a team!"

Joe sneered. "Then I don't want to be in a team! I'm done! You are all going to get yourselves destroyed. I'm not going down with you. I was fine before I met you lot and I will be fine without you!" He ripped his shoulder away from Luka.

Miha fought back a tear. She always tried not to show how much Joe meant to her, to not look weak in front of him. She knew he valued people who carried themselves as if they were without Fear. He had been her bodyguard and friend for enough time for Miha to consider him a brother.

"Joe… please don't…" She said, trying to approach him.

Joe walked away. He turned around, a fire in his eyes. "Don't what? Look out for myself? Don't ensure I'm not destroyed? We stayed longer on Corsair than we needed to because Doc thought he lost the crystal. Did you guys see what happened to the planet? It disappeared! Would you have wanted to be demolecularized? I didn't! And I still don't. You can only play with fire so much until you get burned. I guarantee you guys that the Gokaigers will fall. Too many close calls."

"Then get out of here. We don't need your attitude." Marvelous said, throwing his arms up, motioning for Joe to walk up the stairs onto the deck. He turned around and walked toward the other end of the room. Joe nodded and without saying goodbye, made his way to the top deck. A tear rolled down Miha's cheek as she saw his boots disappear.

Grabbing a life jacket on deck, Joe strapped it on. He felt the weight of his morpher in his jacket. He went to pull it out and leave it on the deck, but had a second thought. He figured it was just as much his as anyone else's. He left it in his pocket, turned on the jets on the life jacket he had just put on, and flew off into space to find his new destiny. As he did, Treacheron stepped up from behind a box and laughed.

"Well, that worked out well. It will make taking this vessel for myself all the easier!"

. . .

"Kamen, please." Dulcea said over the communicator. "Let us go to Edenoi to help you out."

Kamen shook his head in his own shuttle, looking at Dulcea through the monitor. "I must refuse. I have seen that not only do I work better alone, but I know I cannot be so selfish. The universe needs you guys out there fighting for it, not just my planet."

"But all of us together could make quick work of Count Dregon!" Dulcea countered.

"On paper we could. He is a formidable foe. What if your team can't beat him, though? What will happen to the universe then? Solve the universe's problems and then, if you have time, come to Edenoi. Other than that, I refuse your help."

"Make us not go." Tria said, stepping into focus.

"I will if I must. You are not welcome on Edenoi. Respect my wishes." Kamen said as he cut off communications, blocking any signal from the Ragnarok from that point forward. He looked out into space. He could still see the outline of the Ragnarok in the distance. He shook his head as he thought about his homeworld.

I cannot allow others to suffer because of my people. The burden of Edenoi must fall on my shoulders and no one else's. I am to be king someday, and if I am to rule with justice, I need to prove my power. I will prove to Dregon that I was the right choice for king.

Kamen sighed and activated the auto pilot. He was tired. After what had just occurred on Regda 2, he was ready to get some rest. Especially if he was to return to Edenoi to fight. He was going to ensure Edenoi did not become the next Regda 2. He was going to bring the fight to Count Dregon.

. . .

"This is impossible." Burai said as he looked out into space.

"We saw it explode…" Reon agreed, baffled.

Claire furrowed her brow. She walked over to her console and activated the ship's peripheral video system. She pulled up the video of the day she and the rest of the Alliance Rangers had their final confrontation against the Gokaigers. The day they had failed in stopping Novact from supposedly destroying Rashon.

"Everyone, gather 'round. Look." Claire ordered.

The Alliance crew stared at the hologram, having been focused on the planet. They watched as the stream of smoke billowed across the planet, up to the atmosphere. They saw the Galleon and many of Vile's ships, including the Dark Wave, speeding away as an explosion erupted from the planet. The Alliance Warstar Armada was flying away itself, so Claire was constantly zooming in to maintain the image of Rashon. Once the shockwave from the explosion had begun to permeate outer space, and before the energy disrupted the feed, Claire paused the image. The planet was still there.

"No one bothered to check back… I mean, why would they?" Rahp asked, thinking aloud.

Priscilla had a determined look on her face. She nodded as she began leaving the room. "You guys, follow me now."

"Uh… Why? Where are we going?" Reon asked.

"I need backup. I'm a doctor. I have a responsibility to go and help anyone who may have survived. I'm not taking no for an answer."

Rahp smirked. "Why would we say no? Come on, soldiers. Let's ranger up."

Private Ubi ran to her console. "I'm already inputting the coordinates for Rashon to the teleportation bay. It should be ready to go by the time you guys get there."

"Thanks, Private. Make sure Commanding General Burai keeps this place in tip top shape." Filcar said, winking to her. She blushed as she looked to Burai, a scared look on her face trying to tell Burai she did not believe what Filcar had said to be the case.

Burai laughed. "Thanks, Drew. I'm sure Ayame here will keep me in line."

As the Alliance Rangers began their preparations to head down to Rashon, another group of rangers were already there, investigating the curiousness of its existence.

Psycho Red bent down and grabbed a handful of sand. He looked at it curiously. "This planet is definitely dead. I don't know where the life readings are coming from."

Psycho Blue shrugged, looking at his wrist tech. "I know how to read this thing. We are close to a large group of lifeforms."

"I'm going to theorize it's a group of survivors. They must be regrouping. King Estro wants us to gather all of the survivors." Psycho Yellow stated.

Psycho Pink scoffed. "Yeah, he's probably going to do experiments on them like he did to… ahhh!... ugh!" She dropped to a knee, the tech in her brain from her N-Drive Morpher forcing her to stop thinking about how she had been brainwashed.

"What's going on!?" Psycho Black demanded, running over to his ally. He helped her up.

"I don't know… anyway, let's get on with it." Psycho Pink said, storming forward.

As she and her team got closer to the energy reading, they saw a sword sticking out of a stone a few yards ahead of them.

"The life readings are coming from that sword… it's a lot of life readings…" Psycho Blue said.

"What is that sword?" Psycho Red asked aloud. "Just what is going on here!?"

. . .

As Kamen slept, the alarm on his shuttle rang. He leapt out of his bed and ran to his console. He saw a distress call coming from a planet nearby. He answered.

"This is Mast… This is Prince Kamen from Edenoi. How may I help?"

"This is Sed, Chief General of the Sorcery 7 militia. We are under attack and have our hands full. Are you equipped with an army to help us? The… thing… attacking us is something we do not have the manpower to face."

Kamen looked down at his Decade Morpher. "Yes, yes I can help. I'm close. I will be there soon."

As the shuttle made its way to Sorcery 7, Kamen sat on the floor. With his legs folded, he began meditating. The crystal indigenous to his people made itself apparent on his forehead. He knew if he was going to take a side mission, take that sort of responsibility, he would need to be ready. If he was to give Hope to people, he would need to live up to that Hope.

Parking his shuttle in orbit, Kamen teleported down to Sorcery 7. When he landed, he looked around. He saw no evidence of any battles. No evidence of a war going on. It was all the evidence he needed to know something was wrong.

"Ecto-Phase: Activate…" He whispered, triggering the transformation into Kamen Rider: Decade. He looked around, cautiously.

"Haha!" Terror Toad yelled as he leapt toward the hero. Decade quickly rolled out of the way as Terror Toad landed where Decade had once been.

"Dimension Slash!" Decade screamed as he attempted to hit the large reptile. Terror Toad swung his stubby arms and swatted Decade away with surprising power.

"Nice try, dude. Not gonna work!" Terror Toad said. As he finished, a laser-like tongue erupted from his mouth, almost grabbing Decade.

"You don't need to be eating, you round mound of sound. You need to be dieting!" Decade said, grabbing a card from the pouch on his belt. He swiped it into his morpher, producing his blaster. "Dimension Blast!"

As the blast made its way to its target, a giant yellow energy field appeared on Terror Toad's belly, causing the blast to bounce back to Decade.

"Ahhh!" He yelled, flying through the air as the explosion hit him square in the chest. The excess energy rippled out behind him, causing a large burst of flames to erupt from the ground. As he landed, he could feel the intense hit from the flames, even through his protective armor.

"Give up, bud. You can't beat me!" Terror Toad taunted.

"Oh, good job, Terror Toad! Rita will be most pleased!" Baboo said, clapping.

Decade pulled himself up. He shook his head. "What is your game, fiend?"

"I'm just hungry. I'm always hungry! So, I eat! Whenever I eat, I get satisfied for a few moments, then I eat again!" Terror Toad explained simply.

What Decade did not know, and what Baboo had been thinking about, was that a Terror Toad had a life cycle that spelled its doom: it would grow normally for about ten years, but around the age of ten, its hormones would kick into overdrive causing it intense hunger. It would eat, sending its victims to a dimension housed in its belly. The dimension would slowly drain the prisoners of their lifeforce until they were destroyed. All the while, Terror Toad would continue eating. This feeding frenzy would last anywhere between twenty hours to two days before the monster's hyper metabolism would cause total system failure. The rumor among those who had studied the species, Baboo at one point having been a researcher for the Monster Realm, was that the Terror Toad species had been cursed by Witches many, many years ago, to have such a terrible fate. Whether it was true or not could not be corroborated by science.

"Stand down now, or I will be forced to destroy you!" Decade warned, getting into a fighting stance.

"Destroy me!? Ha! You can't even hit me!" Terror Toad said, lashing out at him again with his tongue. Decade rolled out of the way again, but the tongue continued to follow him. He began running, but lost his balance and slipped on some gravel. He rolled onto his back as he saw the tongue descending upon him.

"No!" Someone cried out, jumping in front of the tongue. It wrapped itself around the woman, turning her into a ball of energy. The tongue retracted back into Terror Toad's mouth. Suddenly, the woman's face could be seen on the belly of the beast.

"Wol!" Sed cried out, helping Decade up.

"General Sed. I'm the man who spoke to you earlier." Decade informed as he got back to his feet.

"Thank you for coming. Now, help me get my wife back…" Sed remarked, pulling out his blaster. Decade nodded and the two of them began firing at the monster. The yellow shield continued to make itself known, protecting the Terror Toad from any damage.

Then, the face of Wol disappeared from the beast's belly.

"No!" Sed cried out, falling to his knees. He dropped his blaster.

"General Sed!? What is it!?" Decade cried out, rushing to him.

"Whenever the faces disappear… it means he finished…" Sed began saying, but didn't finish. Decade understood. Their faces were on his belly, signifying some sort of pending list for his digestion. Once the face was gone, he was done "digesting" them.

"We will avenge her." Decade said as Terror Toad looked at his own belly.

"Ah, man. She wasn't enough, either. I need satiety! I wanna eat the bug in the armor!" He yelled in frustration, the hunger maddening him.

"You must leave…" Sed shook his head as he said this. He pulled a small device from his pocket. Decade stepped back in shock.

"That bomb…" Decade said.

Sed nodded. "Yes… it will destroy the whole planet… I pulled it out of our base, just in case. I'm the last of my people. He's taken everyone else. I can ensure no other planet will be targeted by this insatiable beast. Please, leave. Tell of my people. Protect your own."

Decade made a move to grab the bomb from Sed. Sed shook his finger to say no. "I programmed this thing to be held by me. If it doesn't feel my specific bio signature touching it, it will explode. Now, go!" Sed yelled as Terror Toad's tongue made its way to Decade.

Decade, without any time to react otherwise, swiped the card on his morpher, triggering the command to return to his shuttle in space. The tongue ended up grabbing nothing.

"Uh-oh!" Baboo said, recognizing the type of bomb Sed held. "We gotta get out of here! Terror Toad, let's—" Before Baboo could finish, Terror Toad pushed Baboo out of the way.

"I'm not going anywhere… until I finish my meal!" The monster said, having lost all reason. He knew he wanted to eat every last being from Sorcery 7, and all he cared about now was finishing. All that was left was Sed.

"Suit yourself!" Baboo said as he disappeared.

Sed sneered. "Come and get it." He rushed toward the giant toad. As he did, he saw the laser tongue flying through the air to meet him.

"This is for you, Wol. I love you." He said, dropping the bomb.

In space, away from the planet's orbit, Kamen watched as the planet exploded. Sorcery 7 was no more. Kamen, demorphed by that point, slammed his fist into a wall. He placed his back against that same wall and slumped down until he sat on the floor. Tears streamed down his face.

I failed them! He thought, exasperated. They needed a hero, and I was not that hero… How can I be a hero to Edenoi, then? What's to stop Dregon from doing something similar to my home? My people?

He then thought of Team Victory. If Tria and her crew and been with me, especially with Zordon's newfound powers, we could have beaten that thing. At least Wol and Sed would have survived…

But that wouldn't work for Edenoi. I cannot expect to deprive the universe of Team Victory. I would either be keeping them from finding Ivicar, or saving a planet, or risking their lives so they couldn't do those very same things in the future. But… I can't do it alone…

Kamen stopped and looked down at his morpher again. He pushed a button on the morpher, causing the pouch with Rider Cards to appear on his belt. He opened it and shuffled through the cards. Each had a different mask on it, representing the different projects the Rider Program had been working on.

Kamen stood up and made his way to the console of his shuttle. He sent a communication signal to Edenoi. One of the communication techs answered.

"It is I, Prince Kamen."

"My prince… what may I do for you?"

"Tell the research team that it is time. We are going to finish the Rider Project."

. . .

"Activate force field." Joe said as he approached the planet's atmosphere. He closed his eyes and descended. Upon landing, he looked around. A couple of kilometers away, he saw a cit

Time to get a job… He thought, combing his hands through his hair. He began walking, sand crunching under his boots. Sweat was pouring down his face. Every so often he would need to peel wet hair from off his face. After a significant amount of time, he was on the outskirts of the city. He took off the life jacket and hid it under some brush. He did not want the inhabitants of this planet to try and take advantage of him, so he thought if he hid the fact he was a drifter, he would have an easier time.

As he walked into the city, he noticed it seemed empty. He laughed after a couple of blocks, seeing no one around.

Just my luck… Joe thought. A ghost town.

"Stand still, partner." A voice said from behind. He instantly threw his hands up in the air, signifying his cooperation. "Don't turn around…"

"I have only come into town looking for work." Joe said. He desperately wanted to roll out of the way, but because he didn't know how good of a shot, or how many people were with this person, he stood his ground. "I don't want any trouble."

"How backwards do you think we are here on Gamma 4? Really? I picked up an energy reading and saw yer self flying down on yer life jacket. Yer the first of an invasion!" The male voice said.

"No, I'm not!" Joe yelled out. "Please, let me turn around and explain to you what's going on!

"Why should I trust you? Yer just a pirate!" The voice said.

Joe furrowed his brow. How does he know that? Who is this guy? He quickly rolled forward, spinning around as he did. He pulled out his blaster, pointing it at his assailant. He was shocked to see who it was.

"Hahaha!" The Gold Ranger said, the voice slowly mutated to that of Tria's.

"Ah… the Fake Gold Ranger…" Joe said, curling his lip. He kept his blaster focused on the evil ranger.

"I saw you drifting through space." Fake Gold said, using Tria's voice. The only difference between what he heard from this ranger and how Tria normally sounded was the lack of emotion. It sounded like a hollow version of Tria. "When I saw you descending onto the planet, I knew I had to follow. So, do you like what I've done with the place?"

"What do you mean?"

"This place used to have a lot of people scurrying around." Fake Gold said, pointing to the different buildings. "I, well… Made sure the property was vacant."

"You're a monster."

"Hmph. Like you, pirate? What are you doing here? I'm sure you're looking for work…" The Gold Ranger said, mockingly.

"I'm no pirate. Not anymore."

"Could have fooled me!" Fake Gold said, laughing.

"So, what? Do you live here?"

"No, it's just one of my 'home away from home' locations. I like the ambience of the planet. It's cozy."

"What do you want with me?"

"To destroy you. I don't like your face."

Joe squinted, staring at Fake Gold's hips. He was studying the ranger's movements to see if he could move without being followed. He jerked to his right. When he saw Fake Gold's hips rotate to his right side, to run toward where he pretended he was going, he quickly dived to his left, to an alleyway created by two buildings.

"Ugh!" He heard Fake Gold say.

Joe reached into his blue jacket and pulled out his Dilithium Crystal and morpher. "Gokai Change!"

He jumped out from the alleyway as Gokai Blue, pointing his blaster at where Fake Gold once stood. He produced his saber, putting his blaster away. He looked around, anticipating the strike.

"He-ah!" Fake Gold cried out, appearing seemingly out of nowhere behind Gokai Blue, kicking him in the back. As the pirate flew forward, he regained his composure, tucked into a ball, and spun back onto his feet. As he turned around, Orange Energy out from Fake Gold's hands. Gokai Blue blocked one with his blade, but got blasted by the second.

"Give up now, Joe." Fake Gold said. No emotion could be heard from the statement.

"How do you know my name!?" Gokai Blue demanded.

"Everyone from The Morphing Academy has at least heard of the famous Joe Kensig."

"What!? Who are you?" Gokai Blue said, lifting himself up.

Fake Gold shot more Orange Energy out at Gokai Blue as he attempted to stand. The blasts sent the pirate ranger back to the ground, his suit smoldering. "I'm someone who wants the universe, all of it. There is no room for Power Rangers in my universe!"

Gokai Blue struggled to get back on his feet. The power that emanated from Fake Gold was impressive. He coughed, feeling blood flow out of his mouth in his helmet.

"I… I can't let you do that." Gokai Blue said.

"And why's that, little boy blue?"

"Because… because I don't want to see the likes of you bullying people around. I'm having a hard enough time as it is, fighting you. What about the rest of the universe? How will they be able to stand up to the likes of evil like you? I don't want to live in a place where I never know from one day to the next whether I will have a home, or if someone like you will appear and drive me out or destroy me, like what was done to the people of this city. I will not stand idly by. I will fight you!" Gokai Blue yelled, gripping his saber tightly.

"Bring it." Fake Gold said, sounding determined. Gokai Blue dug deep and found an inner strength he didn't know he still had. It came from courage: the strength to be able to stand up for what he believed in.

"Ahhh!" He yelled as he met Fake Gold, slashing with his excellent sword technique. He swung one, two, three times.

"Hahaha!" Fake Gold laughed as Gokai Blue missed each time, unable to keep up with the evil ranger's awesome speed. Fake Gold then quickly elbowed Gokai Blue in the back as he finished his third attempt at hitting his opponent and, while the pirate was bent over from the blow, rapidly kicked him in the stomach three times. Fake Gold then swept the feet out from under Gokai Blue. Suddenly, Gokai Blue found himself depowered. Blood run down the side of his face as he stared up at the sky from the dirt covered street. His vision, blurry.

"Now, just because I'm a bad guy, doesn't mean I also don't have 'courage'. I also have ideals. Like greed. See ya 'round, Joe." And with that, Fake Gold Ranger vanished.

Joe flipped onto his stomach. He began crawling up. He pulled himself up a few feet before passing out. The sun beat down on his unconscious body.

. . .

Beelzebub stood high on a building, looking down at the invisible Demon Trap he had made. He saw Azazel in his Demon form, taunting AM Dragon.

"The Queen wants you to return. I will bring you in alive, do not worry old friend." AM Dragon said.

"Brother, you are under The Queen's spell. Listen to me. You do not need to fight me!" Azazel said, faking concern. He knew if he sold this act, it would prompt the desired result. AM Dragon would suspect nothing.

"Then you leave me no choice. AHHH!" AM Dragon screamed, charging forward. Azazel mock flinched, holding up his arms over his face and dropping his three eyed scythe.

"Ungh!" AM Dragon said, suddenly stopped in mid air by what felt like a solid, impenetrable wall.

"Let's see if this works…" Beelzebub said, waiting to reveal himself only if AM Dragon was cured of Bansheera's influence. If not, he didn't want to have to destroy his old general, but he knew he would have to if his freedom was in jeopardy of being revealed to Bansheera.

"So, brother… how do you feel?" Azazel asked, making a scratch in the Demon Trap. AM Dragon stepped out of the circle and laughed.

"As if I'm ready for revenge. Bansheera will pay for what she has done to me."

Beelzebub leapt off the building and landed in front of two of his most faithful generals. "Hello, my friend."

"Master!" AM Dragon said, dropping to a knee.

Beelzebub smiled. "Watch out, you old witch. We're coming…"

. . .

Finster finished his preparations on the Moon Palace. He stopped the flow of his serum.

"Hahahaha!" The room filled with Red Energy. Lord Zedd jumped off his "bed".

"How do you feel, oh dark one?" Finster asked, making notes on his chart.

"More powerful than ever before!" Zedd cried out, body gyrating with excitement.

"Fantastic. I seem to have the right dose then." Finster said, finishing his annotations. "What will you do now?"

Lord Zedd picked up his Z Staff. He considered and laughed again. "There's a certain gold faced man on Edenoi. I owe him a visit."