Chapter 7: Wrath of the Dark Master Part 2

It had been about an hour since Spyro had pulled us out of the fight with Malefor, the four of us just sort of hung around, still morphed, waiting for the go ahead to rejoin the fight. "So… on a scale of one to ten..." began Kevin, "How screwed is New Harmony?"

All of us just sort of sat in silence, the destruction of our hometown wasn't exactly an idea we wanted to contemplate. I had no idea what Spyro was up to or why he was making us sit out our own city's destruction, but it was beginning to try my patience. I wanted to jump back into the fray, save the city, ya know… be a hero? Isn't that what we were given these powers for?

I slammed my fist into the wall in frustration, "Dammit! We should be out there! Malefor's going to level our city! Kill our families and friends along with everyone else in New Harmony! We can't just sit here and do nothing!" I yelled, I was losing my mind right now, I had no idea if Mom was caught in the middle of this rampage or if it had already claimed her life, god I can't lose a parent again! Not like this!

"No one's going anywhere!"

We all turned to see Spyro enter the room, "You four almost died out there! You can't fight Malefor!" He yelled, something about the tone of his voice seemed a bit unhinged, like he was really freaked out about something.

Dean stood up, "But we can't just let him steamroll New Harmony! There are innocent people there! Dying! Someone has to-" He began but Spyro didn't let him finish, growling at him.

Spyro paused for a moment, "I can't do this to you four… I had no right to involve you…" He said, I didn't like where this was headed, "Remove your morphers, I'm not risking your lives anymore," He said.

All of us paused, just like that? He was going to strip us of our powers just like that? "Are you serious?! Malefor's destroying our city and you want us to just give up the one thing that can help us stop him?! Are you out of your mind?!" Kevin snapped.

Spyro glared at him, "I can't do this to you! It's my fault Malefor launched this attack! I can't be responsible for the deaths of four good people, give me your morphers NOW!" He roared.

I could tell no one was willing to do what he asked, everything we knew and loved was at stake here! "No! I'm not giving up just because Malefor turned up! My mother is out there! Our families are at stake! How the hell can you ask us to stand down now?!" I yelled.

Spyro was furious, I could tell, "Don't fight me on this Dylan! Malefor's my problem not yours, I'm doing this for your own good!" He growled.

Spyro could be very intimidating when he wanted to be, easily towering over me on all fours, but I had to stand my ground, I had no clue what had gotten into him but I needed to snap him out of it. "You chose us to defend our world! You knew we'd have to fight him eventually! Why are you suddenly changing your mind?" I snapped back.

Spyro looked like he was about to burst, overwhelmed by emotion, I could even see tears streaking down his face, "Because I can't watch more good people die alright?!" He cried, all of us just sort of stopped, confused as hell, "I've watched countless people like you die fighting Malefor's evil, be it during the war or cleaning out the remains of it afterwards. Seeing you four being decimated by Malefor, it… it was too much… I couldn't… I… had no right to do this to you… I… I..." He said, beginning to choke on his words.

The other rangers just sort of looked to me, silently asking me what we should do. I wasn't about to give up my powers and doom my world, but I couldn't put Spyro through this turmoil either, he'd done so much for us as heroes, even as friends… "Spyro… you didn't hurt us by making us rangers..." I said.

Kevin then stepped forward, "If anything… you made us closer… better," he admitted.

Dean stepped up next, "I mean, we get to save the world! Do good, help people, how can that be a bad thing?" Dean asked.

Jess then followed, "How can you ask us to give this up? Especially when our world needs us most?" She asked.

Spyro said nothing, just sort of staring sadly at the floor, I approached Spyro, "We all agreed to this, and we're all going to finish this, together, even if you took our powers, we'd still try to fight, because it is our fight now," I said, before all four of us surrounded the purple dragon, standing together, united, "You made us Power Rangers, and more importantly, you made us close friends, please… let us do this," I pleaded with him.

Spyro paused, I couldn't tell if we had gotten through to him or not, but eventually, "Activate the Zords, you can't fight Malefor on foot he's too strong," he finally relented.

We all couldn't resist cheering, finally we were going back into the fray, the others ran off to get in their zords, I went to follow but, "Dylan," Spyro called to me, I turned in his direction, "Be careful out there, please," He asked me. I gave him a thumbs up before rushing to my zord.

The Zords were all parked in a room just outside the training dojo, so this is where they came from! "Alright rangers! Let's save our city!" I said before each ranger hopped into their zords.

"Blue Ice Zord! Ready for some evil dragon hunting!"

"Green Earth Zord! Ready to rock and roll!"

"Yellow Electricity Zord! Look out Malefor because here we come!"

"Red Fire Zord! Let's go save the world guys!"

I watched the Rangers fly off in their zords, part of me really didn't want them to go, but another knew they were right, I needed to let them save their loved ones, their city, I just hoped to the ancestors they could survive the battle, I didn't know if even the zords would be enough to fight Malefor and his minions, but I would just have to trust in them…

Meanwhile…

The city soon came into view, it seemed that Malefor had wasted no time and had begun leveling the city, however, it didn't take him long to notice us, "Well well, look who's finally come back to face me, eager to die already Power Rangers?" He scoffed.

I glared at him from under the visor of my helmet, "You're the one going down Malefor! You messed with the wrong city! Let's do it rangers!" I said before divebombing my zord right at him.

The Zord was much larger than the ol' dark master, so I was able to squash him with a fist right into the pavement, or so I thought before he managed to throw me off, "Oh so it's like that is it? SCORN! Make me grow!" He ordered Scorn, Scorn fumbled in his satchel for a growth potion, but managed to find one and hit Malefor with it, causing him to grow to about the same size as our Zords, "There, now it's a fair fight… or… so you'd think," He said before latching himself onto my Zord, "I know you're in there little ranger! Come out and play!" He cackled before biting down on the head of my Zord.

The metal and glass covering the cockpit crunched and cracked from the force of his mighty maw, but the zord still held up enough to keep Malefor from catching me in his mouth, "Back off!" I cried before having the Zord grab Malefor by the horns and throwing him off.

Kevin flew up next to me, "You alright in there Dylan?" He asked me.

"Yeah I'm fine," I said, "Just keep on him, don't let up!" I ordered Kevin before launching myself back into the fight.

Dean and Jess were trying to keep him at bay with elemental shots, Dean trying to pin him to the ground with his earth breath while Jess zapped him with lightening. Malefor was able to break out of Dean's rocks and smacked Jess' Zord right in the face.

I rammed Malefor right in the back, causing him to stumble a bit but he managed to catch himself, he quickly ripped a building right out of the ground and cracked my Zord with it, god I hope no one was in that building, as it shattered into pieces immediately on impact with the Zord's metal head.

Kevin came flying in with a blast of ice breath, getting him right in the face, ice forming on his ugly face, but he powered through it and grabbed Kevin's Zord by the throat and choke slammed it through another building I really hope was empty.

Malefor stood tall over us, "You four are beginning to test my patience! You should have ran while you could! You might have lived a longer life!" He roared before slamming his front leg on the head of Kevin's Zord, trying to crush it and Kevin along with it! "Don't fight against it Blue Ranger, just accept death with DIGNITY!" He growled, pressing harder.

I couldn't sit here and watch this! "Get off my friend asshole!" I cried, throwing fire breath right at the Dark Master, catching him off guard and causing him to cry out in pain and stumble backwards.

Malefor for whatever reason, seemed confused by this, "I… Impossible! That hurt! Why did that hurt?!" He questioned, he studied his hand for a moment, as if checking it for something, "I must not be at full power yet… no matter, I will crush you pathetic humans regardless!" He growled.

He wasn't at full power? That didn't bode well for us… or did it? "Guys! He's not working with a full tank here! If we form the Mega Zord we might be able to take him down for good!" I said, if we could take down Malefor here and now the city would be saved for good! We had to at least try it.

The Zords began to form together, oddly Malefor just stood there and let it happen, I guess he was just that cocky that he thought he could take us in the Mega Zord while running on fumes, well… we were about to prove him dead wrong!

The Mega Zord formed, "Alright guys, time to take out the trash!" I said before propelling the Mega Zord forward.

Malefor however quickly pounced on the giant gestalt robot, sending it, and by extension us to the ground with a huge thud, "You think your toys can defeat me children?! Your pathetic Mega Zord is NOTHING to me!" He said, as if to demonstrate this, he tore the left arm of the Mega Zord clean off, wires and sparks burst from the socket as Malefor tossed the metal arm aside.

We had to get him off before he literally tore the Mega Zord apart! The Mega Zord punched Malefor off with it's remaining arm, knocking him off and allowing Mega Zord to get back to it's feet. "You humans are a tenacious bunch, I'll give you that, but even at half strength you cannot hope to stop me!" He said before sending a volley of ice crystals right at us, each one embedding itself into the Mega Zord's metal hide.

We all ducked and scrambled to get out of the way of the bursting sparks assaulting the cockpit, "Man, if this is Malefor at half power, I'm terrified to see what he's like at full strength!" said Kevin, I couldn't disagree, but we had to hold strong and hope we could beat him.

Malefor began to wail on the Mega Zord, knocking it around like a giant metal heavy bag! It was just about as fun for us as you'd expect, it was like being on the world's most sadistic amusement park ride! Just staying in my seat was a challenge with everything rocking around violently. "We can't take much more of this guys! The shields are giving and we're losing power!" Dean pointed out, making this whole ordeal even worse than it already was.

Malefor on the other hand, was having a ball, cackling like a madman as he battered the Mega Zord, "Having fun children?" He asked as he grasped the Zord by the neck, bringing the cockpit right up to his face, "I assure you, I will enjoy tearing this pathetic toy of yours to pieces, and killing you four for good!" He said before throwing the Mega Zord like a petulant child would a toy, sending us crashing into a bridge, and into the water beneath it.

We needed something to turn the tide here! We couldn't take much more of a beating before the Mega Zord gave out! "We've gotta have something that can take this jerk down!" I said, we could try the Mega Zord's Dragon Sword, "Legendary Dragon Sword!" I called, the sword coming down next to the downed Mega Zord, the robot clasped it in it's only remaining hand, the energy surging through the blade.

Malefor lunged at us, leaving himself open for a huge slash right across the chest, the Dark Master cried out as the energy surged through his body, knocking him down. We readied our sword again, ready to end the Dark Master once and for all.

However, we were knocked back by a sudden burst of purple energy, Malefor then began to laugh, "Well done Power Rangers, you actually managed to best me, albeit at half power, however I fear I must end this now, enjoy your pathetic little city for now, for once I regain my full power, I shall finish what I started!" He said, before suddenly vanishing in a smoky mist.

We sat there in our battered, broken Zord for what felt like an hour, we hadn't managed to kill Malefor, but at least we saved the city! For now, we then exploded into a triumphant roar, "Holy crap! We beat Malefor!" Dean cheered.

Kevin however, just shook his head, "For now, we're screwed when he comes back at full force," He said, Jess slapped Kevin in the back of the head for his pessimism, but he wasn't wrong, we barely survived our fight with Malefor at half strength, what was going to happen when he came at us fully powered?

Meanwhile…

I underestimated the Power Rangers, just as I had Spyro and Cynder all those years ago, my body still ached from that sword slash, despite them overcoming me, I had still dealt the Power Rangers a mighty blow, ravaging a good chunk of their precious city and ravaging their Mega Zord. "Master Malefor? Are you alright? Should I apply healing magic to your wounds?" Scorn asked me.

I waved him off, "I'll live, for now I need to rest, I want to be at full power when I confront the Power Rangers again," I said, I would not allow myself to be bested by children again, next time… they will die…

Meanwhile…

Back at the Temple…

We returned to the temple, still feeling the excitement of beating Malefor, sure he wasn't dead, but hey, we still saved the city right? The Zords would need fixing of course, Dean's especially, but we'd worry about that later, for now? We'd revel in our little victory.

Spyro greeted us, "Good to have you all back in once piece, good work fighting off Malefor," he congratulated us, "However… we can't ignore the fact that Malefor wasn't at his strongest," He then added rather grimly.

We all sort of looked at each other before turning towards our mentor, "What do we do then? I mean, he isn't going to just give up on destroying the realms," I asked, I was kinda worried about the answer, as I had no clue if Spyro was even okay with us fighting him again.

Spyro sighed, "There is one thing that might help," He began, "When I first began planning my Power Rangers team, I had made a morpher from my own essence to test if it would work, the Purple Dragon Morpher, I never planned on using it because I didn't think I'd need a fifth ranger, but clearly I was mistaken," he explained.

Kevin seemed relieved by the news, "Cool! Let's go get it and get ourselves a new ranger!" he said excitedly.

However, Spyro shook his head, "It's not that simple Kevin, you see… since I never planned on bestowing it upon someone, but not wanting it to fall into the wrong hands, I hid the morpher in my brother Sparx's tomb… if we were to retrieve it… you four would need to travel to the Dragon Realms," he explained.

We all looked at each other, we knew we had to find that morpher, we needed all the power we could get! "Then we go to the Dragon Realms, retrieve the morpher, and get ourselves a fifth member," I said.

Spyro lowered his head, "I warn you now, The Dragon Realm is a dangerous place, where humans do not exist, and your resemblance to the dragon's long time enemies the apes will not go unnoticed," he warned us.

He all nodded, understanding the risks, but it was something we had to do, we almost got stomped by a half powered Malefor, if we were going to stand up to him at full power, we needed all the help we could get, I just hope we can find that morpher before someone else does…

A/N: Well looks like our heroes are going to be traveling to the Dragon Realms now! What new adventures will await our heroes in this strange new land? Stay tuned!