Power Rangers: Beasts of Myth
Chinese Checkers
Clarice's House
Xue browsed the Hoodraze family laptop while Clarice's father tried to teach his daughter how to fry rice, creating a delicious smell throughout the house.
"Like this, Dad?" Clarice asked as she shook the skillet with her right hand.
"Two hands, Claire, two hands!" Mr. Hoodraze replied, grabbing the pan with both his hands.
Clarice stepped away, a dismayed look on her face. Then, Xue found something interesting.
"Clarice," Xue said, waving the blond over.
The yellow ranger walked over and said, "What's up?"
Xue pointed to the screen, which had a picture of foreign exchange students coming to the US. Xue's finger was on an Asiatic girl with dyed-red hair.
"That's my pen pal from Japan," Xue said, "Her name is Izumi."
Clarice squinted at the picture and finally said, "She's pretty."
Xue nodded and said, "And she's going to be here in Bermuda Bay."
Clarice smiled at the fact that Xue could finally meet her pen pal, and said, "Cool."
Suddenly, the computer binged.
"What was that?" Clarice asked.
Xue clicked another window and said, "My mother is the family genealogist. I just has her e-mail me the family tree."
The white ranger clicked the e-mail, scrolled down, and said, "My maternal family is related to Sun Tzu."
Clarice gaped, her eyes wide.
"You mean the Sun Tzu? The famous Chinese general?" the yellow ranger asked.
Xue nodded and continued to scroll.
"Ah, here it is!" Xue said, pointing to a block.
The block was in Chinese, so Clarice couldn't read it.
"What's that?" Clarice asked.
Xue sniffed and said, "That's the Yeti I'm descended from."
Clarice mentally facepalmed and said, "Oh."
Xue logged off the laptop, closed it, and picked up her violin case.
"So, you're going to the temple, right?" Clarice said excitedly.
Xue sighed and said, "Not now. I've got too much to do; I have to study, practice my violin, and read for two hours."
"But it's summer!" Clarice replied, shocked by her friend's agenda.
Xue looked at the ground and said, "Yeah."
And with that, the Chinese girl walked off.
CAVE OPS
"And then she just walked off," Clarice finished.
Tobias nodded as he dodged another jet of water. Sean grinned, making a finger taunt. Tobias inhaled deeply and exhaled forcefully, expelling fire from his mouth.
"Wow, that's some to-do list," Tobias replied, despite the fact flames were coming out of his mouth.
Sean nodded in agreement as he summoned a wall of water to protect him.
"Yeah, it's so different in China," Sean replied, his voice slightly gurgled by the water barrier.
Skyler nodded now, but that could've been because he was listening to Underoath, the music blaring out of his earbuds. Clarice pointed at Skyler, then at Sean, and finally at Tobias, her eyes squinted in suspicion.
"You guys have been nodding an awful lot today," Clarice observed.
Tobias, Sean, and Skyler exchanged a grin. Tobias and Sean stopped sparring, and joined Skyler.
"Well, all three of us have powers," Sean replied.
"And we wondered if you had any," Tobias continued, the transition eerily perfect.
Clarice's eye twitched, and said, "Are you trying to psyche me out?"
Skyler smirked and replied, "Looks like it's working, too."
Clarice, in frustration, stomped the ground, causing it to produce a boulder. The yellow ranger then punched the boulder, which hurled itself at the three guys. However, to Clarice's dismay, the boulder went through them.
"What?" the yellow asked herself, head swimming.
The three disappeared, and Tobias, Sean, and Skyler jumped out from behind the main computer and yelled, "Surprise!"
Sasquatch entered from his workshop in the leftmost part of the cave, chuckling to himself.
"Well, it looks like you three decided to have some fun with the holograms," Sasquatch said addressing his red, blue, and green rangers.
Skyler grinned sheepishly and said, "Well, we didn't want to get squished if Clarice had powers, so... voila!"
Sean walked up to her and said, "I hope you're not mad."
Clarice hit Sean hard in the chest, and replied, "I was worried about you, you big lug!"
Sean responded with a loud "Oof" and said, "Well..."
Then, Sean began turn a red as a lobster.
Ignoring Sean, Tobias asked, "You have any idea where Xue is now?"
Clarice thought and said, "She likes to practice her violin near Ringer Fountain in Bermuda Bay Park. Try there."
Tobias nodded, and teleported.
BERMUDA BAY PARK
Xue began playing the violin solo from Schindler's List, the minor key adding to her inner sorrow. A tear found its way out of her tear ducts and dropped heavily on the ground, quickly followed by another. Xue stopped playing, set her violin down, wiped the tears from her eyes, and reminded herself she said she'd be strong.
"Pretty good," a voice replied.
Xue turned to see Tobias walking up. The red ranger sat down and smiled.
"It's... it's nothing," Xue stuttered, as she sniffed and wiped her eyes.
Tobias's smile faded and asked, "You okay?"
Xue sniffed again, wiped her nose, and sobbed.
"No," Xue said half-sobbing, bursting into tears. She then covered her face with her hands, and put her head in her lap.
Tobias patted the white ranger gently on the back, and said, "It's alright."
"No, it's not!" Xue sobbed, not even raising her head.
"Then, what's the matter?" Tobias asked.
Xue raised her head, dried her eyes, and pulled herself together.
"Ever since I was a little girl, I was pushed to be the best I could," Xue explained, "I had no free time, no time to play with the other kids. My mom would always insisted I was busy when I wanted to stop.
"But now, I'm in this brawl against Bloodwing, and I have to juggle studying, practicing, and ranger duties," Xue continued.
The girl then burst into tears yet again, and exclaimed, "I've never had to do this before!"
Tobias patted her on the back and said, "Xue, you're pushing yourself too hard. If you push a pile like that forward and don't take a break, you're going to collapse, as well as the pile, and your efforts will fall over and crush you."
Xue looked Tobias in the eye, still crying. She dried her eyes, cleared her throat, and smiled a sad smile.
"I never thought of it like that," the Chinese girl replied, "Thanks, Tobias."
Xue hugged Tobias, who blushed and said, "No problem."
Suddenly, Xue and Tobias heard a beep from their Mythic Morphers.
"Rangers, there is a Werepyre downtown," Sasquatch's voice came.
Tobias made a confused face, and asked into the morpher, "What's a Werepyre?"
"Half-vampire, half-werewolf, none of their weaknesses," Sasquatch explained.
Tobias rolled his eyes and said into the morpher, "Sounds like a tough opponent. I'm on my way."
Xue pressed the button on hers and said, "And I'm off to ask the help of the Yeti General."
Xue pressed another button and teleported to China. Tobias morphed and teleported to the fight.
GREAT WALL OF CHINA
Xue walked down the giant battle-ready wall, looking around for something. Then, she found it, a brick inscribed with a snowflake. The white ranger held her breath as her pushed the brick. To her surprise, it moved, revealing a long corridor down a flight of stairs. Xue began breathing again as she entered the corridor. At the end was a statue of a big hairy ape, sort of like Sasquatch, but white marble. Xue noticed Dorian columns were engraved on the sides of the corridor about 3 feet from each other, and felt her heart flutter as she approached the statue.
Suddenly, Xue kicked something short and cold. In front of her was a dagger, white and cobalt blue.
"Yeti Dagger," she said to herself, her voice echoing a bit in the "temple".
Xue put the dagger to her lips and began to play a part totally different from the other four ranger's, consisting mostly of whole and half notes.
Suddenly, the corridor began to shudder violently, and the ape stretched its long arms.
"Ugh, I've been stuck like that forever! So, what's up?" the yeti said.
"Forgive my haste, but Bloodwing has returned and we could use your help," Xue explained.
The yeti nodded and said, "Okay, take the Yeti Dagger. Play its song and I shall come."
Xue nodded and said, "Thanks."
Suddenly, Xue's morpher rang.
"Xue, we're getting our butts handed to us!" Tobias's voice rang.
The morpher made his voice sound like he was speaking through aluminum foil, not usual for the Mythic Morphers. Xue knew that this was an effect of the ranger suit's energy being extremely low, quickly morphed, and teleported to Bermuda Bay.
BERMUDA BAY
A half-werewolf, half-vampire that was more werewolf than vampire lunged at the rangers. Clarice slashed with her sickles for the umpteenth time and once again missing. Skyler tried to cut it off with his staff, but the Vampiric Beast leaped over him, its hind claws scratching his back, causing sparks to fly and Skyler to collapse. Sean lashed out with his whip, which wrapped around the monster's muzzle.
"Aha!" Sean said in triumph.
Unfortunately, the victory didn't last long, as the Werepyre shook its head vigorously, sending Sean every which way until the blue ranger let go of his weapon and crashed on the hood of a car. Tobias slashed the beast across the chest, who responded with a snarl. The beast charged. Tobias braced for impact. Suddenly, Xue jumped in front of Tobias, shield up, and absorbed the attack.
"Xue!" Tobias exclaimed, smiling under his helmet.
"Everyone stand clear!' Xue said as she charged and her suit began to glow white.
Xue and the monster are on a snowy mountain. Xue throws down her shield and rides it like a snowboard. Xue boards circles around the monster, sending freezing snow at the monster. The monster then becomes immobilized because it is encased in ice. Xue continues riding her shield, but quickly dismounts and uses the momentum to charge. She calls out, "Shield Slash!", holding her shield out, and slashes the monster with the end if the shield.
The monster fell and exploded.
"Mythic Yeti Ranger!" Xue called out.
BLOODWING'S CASTLE
Bloodwing growled in anger as yet another of his Beasts was destroyed.
"Lillith, activate a steam pellet!"
The woman-like vampire nodded, typed on the keyboard and pressed enter.
BERMUDA BAY
The Werepyre howled in triumph as he grew to astounding heights.
Tobias took out his Dragon Dagger, which was quickly mirror by the other four. All of them pressed the mouthpieces to their mouths, and played their respective tunes, each expounding on each other in a musical way. Suddenly, a red gleam and a green gleam appeared on the horizon, and became the Dragon and Tolroc Zords. A blue gleam appeared in a nearby puddle, and become the Serpent Zord. A yellow gleam came from a crack in the sidewalk, and became the Naga Zord. A white gleam came from inside an ice machine, which became the Yeti Zord. Of course, the ice machine broke apart, much to the owner's annoyance. The rangers jumped into their respective zords.
"Guys, let's try a Megazord!" Tobias suggested.
"Right!" the other four said in reply.
Then, in unison, the five said, "Five as one! Mythic Beasts, Combine!"
All five rangers then pressed their lips to their Daggers and played a different song that seems to fuse and come from one Dagger.
The Yeti Zord's arms swivel behind its back as its head travels down to the pelvis, its chest opens and its feet become more humanoid. The Serpent and Naga Zords attach to the left and right sides respectively and hands form from the mouths. The Dragon Zord's tail retracts, its wing fold on its back, its head folds onto the chest. The Tolroc Zord's talons attach to the underbelly and its wings stiffen to make shoulder pads. The dragon then goes into the chest part and the Tolroc Zord on top of it. The Tolroc's head jerks back to where the head is supposed to be and a face appears in the wide open beak.
"Mythic Megazord!" the rangers yell, "Believe!"
The five rangers looked around their joint controls.
"Sweet!" Tobais said, browsing his station.
The other rangers let out oohs and aahs as well, but the wonderment was broken when the Werepyre charged. The rangers quickly got a grip and the Megazord punched the Werepyre in the chest, followed by a quick knee to the stomach and a jab to the jaw. The last hit caused sparks to fly and the monster to fall down.
"Okay, that was awesome!" Skyler said, clapping in amusement.
"The fight's not over yet," Sean replied.
"Too true," Tobias added.
The Werepyre got up, shook it off, and charged again. The Mythic Megazord blocked the first punch, but the Vampiric Beast followed with a claw to the chest, a blow that sent sparks flying. The control room shuddered violently, sparks shooting from the walls.
"Better not get too cocky," Xue advised.
The others nodded in agreement.
"Let's finish this!" Tobias said.
The dragon's mouth opens and a red ball of energy charges there. Suddenly, the ball caves in on itself, and the energy becomes a beam that hits the monster, but doesn't damage the monster. "Five Beast Energy Burst!" the rangers yell as a blue beam shoots from the Serpent hand, a yellow beam shoots from the Naga hand, a green beam shoots from the Tolroc's eyes, and a white beam shoots from the Yeti's eyes. The beams spiral around the red, and connect with the monster, causing it to explode.
"Mythic Megazord!" the rangers cried in unison.
BLOODWING'S CASTLE
Bloodwing growled and muttered, "I hate those pests."
CAVE OPS
Xue finished her studying, and looked around. Tobias and Skyler were arguing who would win a fight, a dragon or a tolroc, Sean was just relaxing by the pool of water that was inside the cave, and Clarice was trying to perfect her ability to control earth, Sasquatch not too far away. Xue smiled and looked at a picture of her and some friends in China. Xue remembered the day she left.
It was a rainy day. All her family and friends had come to wish her off. She especially remembered the promise she made to her closest friend, Song Li.
"Xue," she had said, "You must be strong. For both of us."
Xue had nodded hastily and said, "Yes."
Xue smiled a sad smile for all her friends back in China, but it quickly turned into a happy smile as she remembered how she had met her American friends. Clarice. Sean. Skyler. And Tobias... Xue blushed for a moment as she flipped to a new leaf in her journal, and started writing.
Trivia: Chinese checkers, not Chinese.