Oh no, Dakoda thought as he unloaded a volley of blaster fire. Not him.
He looked past the monster and a frown dropped behind his helmet. It was that weirdo again…
There was little time to dwell on that, especially when the ice creature tossed a handful of seeds to the ground that blossomed into more soldiers.
Vivix, Zenowing had informed them, were a plant-based lifeform commonly used for inexpensive labor. These had evidently been genetically modified for combat.
The vivix rushed toward them, some even brandishing green and black blasters with toothed blades at the end of them.
But Dakoda had been training for this moment, and he was more than ready.
A few well-timed shots caused the first vivix to convulse wildly before dissolving, then while the others moved to fill its rank he charged forward and converted his revolver into its sword formation. A swift series of blows rendered the next two vivix into nonexistence.
Meanwhile, Chastity provided suppressive fire, using her blaster to keep any stray grunts from sneaking up on him as he edged toward the monster.
Just like the stimulation, Dakoda thought as he cut down the nearest foe.
What wasn't like the simulation was the civilian round-housing the grunts.
"Hey-uh get back!" Dakoda directed the man. "It isn't safe here."
"But I need to talk to you," the man replied.
"How about later?" The blue ranger asked. Not that he had any intention of doing so.
"Okay," the man said with a nod and a smile. "Nice sword by the way."
"Thanks…" Dakoda replied. "But hey, we got this covered. You can go somewhere safe."
As if to exemplify that point Dakoda had to grab the man by the shirt to pull him away from impending blaster fire. Thankfully Chastity was there to take out the grunt before it could take another shot.
However, that left none of them prepared for the ice monster who had since taken a deep breath and aimed his snout toward Dakoda.
"Get down!" The screamed and pushed the blue ranger away the mist as it enveloped him.
Dakoda watched helplessly as the young man closed his eyes and accepted his fate.
Shelby watched the chaos unfold from inside the museum. The monster alarm, which was required by Californian law, exploded across the walls of the food court.
For a moment nobody moved, then the tension began to boil once the realization struck that this wasn't a Saturday morning, and for the first time in decades, it wasn't a drill.
Then the panic finally broke out.
Shelby watched as chairs and tables struck the ground. Food flew or just slapped the ground with a wet ketchupy slap. The entire restaurant was cleaned out in a matter of moments.
For a brief moment she, groaned, thinking about how much it was going to take to clean all of this up.
Then the red monster burst through the wall, and her priorities were suddenly shifted to, how am I going to stay alive?
The humanoid lion swung its sword through the air, creating an electronic storm that tore across the restaurant. Bits of food, drink, and various debris went flying in every direction as Shelby hid behind the counter.
"Nothing quite like a little bit of chaos!" The creature roared and decapitated the Ranger statue that held the bulletin corkboard.
Man… if only the Power Rangers were still in Angel Grove, Shelby thought to herself. We could really use them right now.
Shelby looked to Kaylee, only to realize the young girl had taken the back exit to safety. Shelby considered the same thing but she couldn't find the resolve to move, she simply couldn't turn away from the real-life monster.
With a sharp pang of panic Shel, by realized it was just her now, and her only chance for survival was staying undetected.
"You!" The lion growled, "Where is the bird?"
Shelby gulped, nearly swallowing her tongue. She stared at the monster, and the monster stared at her. She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.
"A cat got your tongue, eh?" The monster taunted as he lifted his blade into the air. "Well, how about we skip the interrogation then?"
The sword began to charge with electric energy while Shelby watched in a haplessly frozen state. She'd seen what the monster could do with an unfocused attack designed only for devis devastation didn't want to imagine what it could do with a much more focused attack.
Just as Shelby began to fully digest the horror of her situation, a laser speared toward the monster and struck him in the shoulder.
"What are you doing to my museum?" A familfamiliare asked.
"I'm just looking for something I lost," The lion said with a shrug. "But I don't suppose you know anything about that."
The woman in a pink polo shirted raised her yellow revolver to her face. Much to Shelby's disbelief the woman was Kendall Morgan, museum supervisor.
"Get out of here Shelby," The woman commanded.
"And leave you here with that thing?" Shelby asked. And yeah, sure, it did kinda seem tempting with how Kendall tended to treat her. But Shelby just couldn't run while someone else risked their life for her safety.
"Ugh, whatever," Kendall groaned. "The Director is going to kill me for this."
Before Shelby could even ask what that meant raised what looked like a pink battery into the air.
"Dino Charger, Energize!" and with the battery horizontal in her grasp she clicked the button in the center of it before sliding the cylinder into the barrel of her weapon.
Definitely, a strange way to load ammunition, Shelby noted, but she wasn't about to say anything now.
Kendall spun the barrel of the revolver and pulled the trigger.
But the weapon merely dry dry-fired.
"is that all you've got?" The lion asked. "Looks like it's my turn!" The lion swung his sword through the empty air and a massive storm of electricity struck her chest, sending her flying backward into the wall with enough force to crack the drywall
"That was painfully anti-climactic," The lion grunted, then turned towards Shelby. "But hopefully you'll be able to bring me some entertainment."
Instead of powering up its next attack the lion raised his sword and charged forward.
Shelby swallowed the urge to run. She couldn't just leave Kendall to the creature's cruel devices. But what could she even do?
Her eyes fell on the gun Kendall had dropped when she'd been thrown into the wall. The yellow and black revolver had slid across the polished floor of the museum restaurant and was now only a few feet from Shelby.
The young waitress steeled herself with a deep breath, then lunged over the counter.
The lion took notice and his claws gouged the ground as he turned towards her new direction. But by then Shelby had already scooped the weapon off the ground.
Instinct overrode thought as everything her father had taught her came bubbling to the surface. She raised the gun and pointed toward the monster's chest.
It was upon her now, so close that its crimson body eclipsed nearly everything else in her vision.
When she pulled the trigger the universe exploded with magenta light.
Director Hart watched the chaos unfold from her Grid Battleforce office. The massive screen In front of her desk displayed various cameras. She couldn't have been prouder of how Dakoda and Chastity handled this situation, and the civilian helping out was… interesting. Behind her Zenowing sighed.
"They're doing this to lure me out," he breathed.
"I know," the director said. "But it isn't going to work."
"What about your Rangers?" Zenowing asked. Just then she saw the blue ranger grab the young man by the shirt.
"All I said was that you're not going to help them," The Director said as she opened her desk drawer and revealed a silver and black buckle with a golden coin inside.
"Might I make a suggestion?"
Just then another screen caught her eye. It showed a red monster stomping through the museum.
"Be quick," she snapped. By then she followed the camera feed across several small squares on her screen to find Kendall Morgan with a Dino Charge Morpher in hand. Director Hart's hand tightened around her morpher. "Very quick."
"In situations like this, it might be best to allow the Grid to dictate events."
"You can't be serious," The Director spat. "If I don't help them they could die!"
Almost on cue, two things happened simultaneously.
A blast of freezing mist enveloped the civilian, and Kendall was struck with a devastating lighting attack.
That's it, there wasn't any more time for pointless discussions. Director Hart shot up with her Morpher in hand.
"Wait-" Zenowing said with an air of urgency. "Look!"
turned to the screen just in time to see the young waitress grab the Morpher and pull the trigger. In a flash of pink light, a brand new power ranger stood before the monster.
Then she turned towards the other screen and something even more unexplainable was happening.
A powerful surge of energy was radiating from the block of ice that surrounded the civilian. So hot that wisps of steam poured around it.
"The Grid works in mysterious ways," Zenowing said. "And sometimes heroes are born from the most unexpected places."
For a few near-infinite seconds the only thing Tyler could feel was an all-encompassing cold. Nothing compared, not even his trip to the Arctic. This was a cold beyond anything explainable, a cold that took everything from him. He couldn't see beyond a pale blurry universe and he could feel a slow affixation taking hold of him.
This was the end. Just like countless others, he would be a victim of a monster attack. He wished he could've said that he never saw it coming but truth be told, in the back of his mind, he'd begun to suspect it from the moment he decided to interfere.
He only hoped he'd aided the Rangers enough to make a real difference. He had, after all, taken the place of that Blue Ranger. That had to count for something, right?
His vision was slowly closing in, and as the darkness threatened to consume him for good he found himself hoping that wherever his dad turned out to be it was somewhere safe.
Then a voice came to Tyler. Not with actual words but instead something closer to raw unfiltered emotions projected to him in a way he could translate into words.
You have the power within you to escape this fate
However, the path laid out before you will not be an easy one.
"I don't care," Tyler screamed out into the void in hopes the presence would hear him. "I'll do whatever it takes to survive. I won't give up until I find my dad."
Very well. May the Power protect you.
Tyler's universe was hardly more than a pen prick among an endless blackness. The cold left him with a burning numbness.
Then, there was a heat. It started from his chest but quickly grew out as it gained intensity. A powerful burning that melted the ice around him.
Tyler gained the strength to tighten his
hands into fists. He clenched them until they were bone white as fissures formed in the ice.
With the last of his breath, Tyler screamed. And suddenly everything was red.