Note: please read to the end and give me a decent review.
Power Rangers GPX, episode 29: A Bridge Too Far
:-:-:-:We're the best chance, for humanity, Power Rangers G-P-X, let's go!:-:-:-:
Sean was right. What have I gotten myself into? Rob thought to himself. I'm just a guy who picked up a package. He was trained to do this. Jeez, I should have taken it back to the post office. Yeah, way to go, Mr. 'I'm-a-Marine'-I-can-handle-this. What the hell was I thinking? I mean, that robot was attacking the city, I couldn't just stand there. Why am I in such big trouble now? If only there was—
"Rob?" a soft voice jolted him out of his thoughts. He knew it wasn't Sean because A) the voice was feminine and B) if it was Sean, he would have gone 'ROB!' "Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry," he said, turning to Bridget. "I was just a little lost in my thoughts. Um, what is it?"
"We have to put the kids to bed," she said matter-of-factly. There goes the soft voice.
"Oh, right," he said as if he'd completely forgotten.
"You've been acting strange lately," said Bridget. "Are you doing anything behind my back?"
"No!" he said. She raised her eyebrow.
"Are you sure?" she said. "I hope you're not lying to me. If that's the case, then you're in big trouble, mister." Oh, she's an O'Callahan, alright!
"I'm sorry," he said with a nervous laugh. Of course, Rob knew what she meant by 'behind her back', and it has nothingto do with being the Silver Ranger (She's afraid he's cheating on her). "Bridge, you know I love you," he said. "And I guess we should put the kids to bed."
"Of course," she said as he got up from the couch. "Bedtime, kids!"
"But I'm not sweepy!" said Allie.
"Sorry kiddo, rules are rules!" said Rob, "You too, Tommy!"
"Why do you always do this?" he moaned. "Sean can stay up until two, why can—"
"You're not Sean!" said Bridget. "He's old enough, he lives on his own, he's allowed to. Allie, get upstairs!"
"I'll take care of her," said Rob. He picked his three-year-old daughter up and despite her protests, was yawning pretty deeply. Ah, kids. He walked upstairs while Allie started to waver in his hold. She must have been tired. Just seconds later, Bridget was marching her little brother upstairs. Rob had to be impressed with how she was able to get the 10-year-old to get to bed at 9. According to Bridge, she got that from her dad and moms.
"Don't make me stand over you!" she said while he marched into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Tommy may be 10, but that doesn't mean he wants someone standing over him while he brushes his teeth, so he grudgingly brushed his teeth with Allie brushing hers at the sink next to him.
"Come on, kiddo," Rob said as he took a nodding-off Allie into her bedroom. It just so happened that tonight he didn't need to read her a bed-time story. Sean had said she was asking about the Power Rangers. It just amazed Rob how close she was to the real deal. Sean must have been bending over backwards to keep Allie from knowing (although he suspected since she's only 3 she must have believed him).
Now it was time for him to relax with Bridge. She'd already sat back down at the couch watching some show on NBC. "Hey," he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," she replied. "I saw Sean and his friends. They looked kind of lethargic."
"They did?" Rob asked.
"Yeah," said Bridge. "I don't know why. But something's wrong in that house."
"I don't think so," Rob replied. "They're college-age. They stay up late and don't get a lot of sleep."
"I guess," she replied. "I mean, the day after they showed up, the Power Rangers appeared."
"Coincidence," said Rob. "These things happen."
"Why are you saying that?" she asked. "Are you trying to—"
"No!" Rob said, trying to cover his tracks. "I don't know why, either. But I just don't think we can jump to conclusions."
"Okay," she said, but sounding skeptical. "I'm just concerned. I mean, the city hasn't said anything about it, and there are daily fights downtown. I'm surprised downtown isn't a complete mess!"
"But that's why the Power Rangers are here," he said. "Just think if they weren't here. The whole city would probably be a smoldering mess." He has to defend everyone else, after all.
"Okay," she said, a little apprehensive. "But now that I think about it, Sean seems interested in that Venezuelan girl, Mari…?"
"Maria," he said. "Wait, what?"
"Of course!" she said. "They look like such a nice—"
"Hold your horses here!" said Rob. "What if—"
"Why not?" Bridget asked. "I've seen him grow up, he's been through enough in his life, and he deserves someone who will make him happy."
"What are you going to do, are you going to—"
"Oh, no, not at all!" said Bridget. "We'll just have to see what happens."
:-:-:-:Power Rangers GPX:-:-:-:
"Alright, let's get this over with," Sean said with his characteristic attitude while putting on some padded MMA gloves. Rob had a headguard and gloves on and a mouth guard in. He looked (and felt) like an idiot. Sean was basically "training" Rob in Ranger combat. Rob did the Marine Corps Martial Arts program for cryin' out loud! And right out in the backyard of the house Sean was living in, in the middle of a cloudless day!
"Over with?" Rob asked.
"I'm just not in the mood," said Sean. Maybe Bridge was right about him. He seems kind of distant and tired.
If this is the case, maybe Rob's presence may be doing something to him. Whatever it was, Rob didn't want to make Sean—"Why aren't you wearing a headguard?"
"Because I don't need one!" said Sean. "You need one because I punch harder that you. My jaw can take a hit."
"We'll have to see," said Rob. He put up his dukes and got into an orthodox fighting stance, Sean in his southpaw.
"Ready?" Sean asked. Rob nodded. "GO!"
Rob started, throwing a punch at Sean's jaw. His fist connected, but… it didn't really faze him! Damn, Rob thought. Sean countered with a right hook. The fist connected and—holy shit! That hurt! Rob staggered backwards holding his jaw.
"What's wrong?" Sean asked. "I was holding back!" He may have been holding back, but that hurt! Sean must hit really hard for that to happen. "Are you okay?"
"I think so," Rob said, testing his jaw. Determining his jaw to be fine, Rob recovered and threw a hard punch at Sean. Sean blocked and countered with a roundhouse kick. Rob blocked that one, too. He threw an uppercut at Sean. He flipped backwards effortlessly making Rob worried if he'd alert the neighbors. Rob rushed up and threw another punch. Sean blocked and front kicked him.
Rob dodged and side kicked Sean in the chest. Sean didn't seem fazed. He just elbowed Rob in the face. That hurt a lot less than a fist. Rob shook it off, countering with a right hook. Sean dodged, nudging his foot between Rob's feet and swept kicked Rob to the ground.
"Damn," said Rob.
"Yeah, I know," Sean said as he offered his hand to Rob. After he helped Rob pull himself up he got back into a fighting position. The two continued their sparring for several minutes before Rob got tired. "Already?"
"What did they do to you?" Rob asked. "They must have given you steroids or something. You're inhuman!"
"Well, I don't remember steroids," said Sean. "I think it would have given them away. I do remember the classes being very tough and a lot of kids dropped out."
"How did they hide their intentions?" Rob asked again.
"I've been meaning to ask," said Sean. "You'd think a government agency couldn't keep a secret."
"It's called a shredder," said an authoritative voice. The two looked to see Col. Greene dressed in plainclothes. Rob's Marine instincts kicked in and he stood at attention and saluted, to which Col. Greene saluted back. "At ease, Marine," he said.
"Where'd you come from?" Sean asked.
"I'm visiting Disney World with my family this weekend," said Col. Greene. "I felt like dropping by."
"If that's the case, you can talk to my wife," said Rob. "She knows some good deals."
"Right," said Sean. "So what's this about?"
"I've been going through some files," said Col. Greene. "I found this." He handed a folder over to Rob. His eyes widened as he read the contents of the folder.
"No way," he said. "I was scouted for this whole thingamajig?"
"Mr. Jackson was a person of interest," said Col. Greene. "However, he was too old for the Project, so we went with someone else. It's no big deal, really."
"I do have big deal, though," said Rob. "What about Cassie?"
"I think that robot we had in Japan will come in handy," said Sean.
"I do believe we can get it to you in a couple of days," said Col. Greene. "How old is Cassie? Three?"
"That's Allie," said Sean. "He's talking about his baby daughter who's six months old."
"Well in that case, we could get it here in a matter of hours," said Col. Greene. "What's she doing now?"
"Maria's taken a liking to her," said Sean.
"I think she makes a good babysitter," said Rob. "She looks like she could be a good aunt one day."
"Well, my wife is probably worried about me," said Col. Greene. "It's time I left." He saluted the two. Sean responded half-heartedly and Rob stood up straight. Col. Greene turned around and left.
"Sean," said Rob. "Bridge told me you guys looked tired."
Sean froze and looked at his brother-in-law. At the same time, Col. Greene turned around and looked at Rob. Sean's face showed a look of fear and shock. And Col. Greene seemed confused about what was going on. "Well, O'Callahan?" he asked. "What's going on?"
"I don't know what he's talking about," said Sean.
"Have you actually had any time to rest?" Col. Greene asked.
"No," said Sean. "But only because the enemy keeps attacking. We don't have time to rest! We're on edge all the time, and—oh, crap!"
Col. Greene sighed. "I was afraid of this," he said. "The Pentagon's already bad with the mental health of their soldiers. I was hoping this wouldn't happen to you. I'm going to get S.W.O.R.D. to pick up their efforts in fighting the enemy. You shouldn't have to do this alone. I'll report this to my superiors." With that, he turned around and left the property.
An awkward silence fell over the brothers-in-law. Sean's confusion was obvious, but Rob didn't know what to say. It stayed that way for several minutes. Neither of them seemed willing to say anything. Had there been any desperation in either of them, they would have said something. Sean tried to speak up several times, but never got anything past the first letter. It didn't seem like anyone would say anything.
"Sean, I'm sorry," said Rob. Sean opened his mouth to say something before getting fed up and storming inside.
"What did you do to Sean?" asked Maria.
"Nothing," said Rob. "But Bridge thinks you guys look kind of tired."
"Maybe he thought it was obvious," said Aaron. "I mean, we're always waiting for another attack. It's stressful for all of us."
"That would tire people out," said Sean. Where did he come from?
"Bridget's just worried," said Rob. "You know how she is."
"Yeah, yeah,"
"How?" asked Hitomi.
"Oh, she's always been protective of her baby brother ever since—"
"One more word and you're out of the team!" Sean interrupted.
"What?"
"If Rob can get Sean flustered," said Maria. "Then Bridge must know—"
"Please be quiet!" Sean pleaded. Maria held her hands up as if she didn't expect him to say it. However, Rob knew how emotional Sean could get in this situation, so he didn't try to push it.
"Maria," he said. He made a "cut it out" sign. He knew she liked to push his buttons, but it's best to leave this be. "So what's next?"
"We lie around and wait," said Sean. "It's the worst high-paying job in the world."
"High-paying?" Rob asked.
"You got a separate account from Bridge?" Sean asked.
"Yeah."
"Good." Rob raised an eyebrow. Okay, so maybe it might not be that bad. Oh, wait, he said worst high-paying job in the world. Maybe the Power Rangers TV show was skimming over a few things…
"And don't get us starting on your news media," said Maria.
"What did you guys do?" asked Rob.
"I have no idea," said Kevin. "But we must have made them angry."
"Does this have to do anything with Ben Dreck?" Rob asked. "Sean, I said, I don't watch him!"
"He's been a pain in the ass," said Sean. "Seriously, why is that lunatic on TV? We're not here to overth—oh, fuck."
"You were getting into a rant," said Rob. Sean nodded. "I can't believe I want the enemy to attack already."
:-:-:-:PRGPX:-:-:-:
Rob should really choose his words more carefully. As the Rangers spoke, Kalderon looked down over the I-4 SR 408 interchange. An evil smirk was on his face. Several Swabots and a menacing looking wolverine (the animal) cyborg monster gathered around him on top of the building he was on. "Do you understand your mission, Mauler?" he asked.
"Of course I do!" said Mauler, whose right arm was mechanical. "Destroy that thing, right?"
"Correct," said Kalderon.
"And we're doing this…" Mauler paused and then said, "Will this keep people out of the city?"
"There are more roads into the city than just this," said Kalderon. "This just happens to be an important interchange."
"Oh, I get it," said Mauler. "Do I need to say it?"
"I think we'll leave at this," said Kalderon. "Well, go ahead."
"NOW we're talking!" Mauler shouted. "Swabots!" He and the Swabots jumped off the building and teleported onto the upper SR 408 Bridge, causing several cars to swerve. Mauler tore open the drivers' side door of a Bentley and dragged the screaming owner out. He roared in the middle-aged man's terrified face and tossed him aside. He smashed the hood of another car, lifting it up and throwing it down.
Mauler laughed sadistically while several Swabots drove the commuters off the bridge. Others began to place charges on the bridge. "Come on Rangers," he said. "Let's see what you've got!"
:-:-:-:Power Rangers GPX:-:-:-:
RING, RING! RING, RING! Click! Sean pressed the speaker button on the landline phone (yeah, they have one) on the island counter. "Go ahead," he said.
"We have enemy activity on the east-west SR 408 bridge," said the operator on the other end. "Swabots and a wolverine-like monster have shut down traffic on the bridge. The National Guard is on its way."
"What about the police?" asked Rob.
"Do you actually think some Florida State cops with handguns can stop a wolverine cyborg?" the operator replied.
"Sorry," Rob said embarrassedly.
"We also have the National Guard bomb squad—"
"Bomb squad?" Aaron asked. "Why?"
"Because the enemy is setting up demolitions charges on the bridge!" he exclaimed.
"Dammit!" Sean shouted, realizing the implications. "Let's move out! Ready?"
"Wait, what about Cassie?" Maria interrupted, holding the baby in her arms.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" Sean shouted. "What the hell are we going to do?"
"There's a SWORD agent a block away," said the SWORD agent on the other end.
"Wow," said Sean, impressed. "These guys are good. I hope they aren't spying on citizens."
"The agent lives a block away," said the other agent. "And we're successful because we don't spy on ordinary citizens."
"Ah hell," said Sean. "Alright, get that agent over here ASAP. Alright, you guys ready?"
"Ready!" The Rangers got out their keys, and Rob his cell phone-like Silver Morpher.
"GPX, Start It Up!"They jammed their keys in their morphers, morphed, hopped in their Indys (except for Silver's new Silver Cycle) and sped off.
If the Zordonians' plan involved traffic jams, they were succeeding. Traffic was backed up for miles. Needless to say, it made it hard not only for the National Guard to arrive, but the Rangers. And Mauler loved every single minute of it. Any remaining commuters had been rounded up on the bridge and bound. Meanwhile, Swabots were planting charges on the bridge support columns. Police cars could be seen in the distance on I-4 directing traffic into downtown.
"They'll be here any time," said Mauler, getting a little impatient. "If not, I'll ah, here they come!"
The Indys sped down the I-4 shoulder from the north, right past the police barricade (the State cops aren't going to be happy) and skidded to a stop near the overpass. They got out (and off) and huddled up. "So now what?" asked Kevin. "Are going to kick their arse?"
"No, we need a plan," said Sean.
"A plan?" asked Aaron.
"Yeah, let me think," he said, pausing. "Okay, I got it. Two of us will take on the monster. Another two will free the hostages and another two will stop the Swabots planting the charges. Who's up for what?"
"Hitomi and I will handle the Swabots," said Kevin.
"I could work with Rob," said Aaron. "We'll take the hostages."
"That just leaves me and… Maria," said Sean. "Alright, let's MOVE!"
Mauler watched them break up, Hitomi and Kevin making for the support columns and Sean, Maria, Rob and Aaron made for the overpass. They leapt on to the overpass. "Alright ugly," said Sean. "Michigan sucks!"
Mauler growled. "Get them!" The Swabots left on the overpass charged forward. The Rangers split up according to plan, Rob and Aaron going to the right (for the hostages) and Sean and Maria straight ahead (for Mauler).
The Rangers pressed their belt buckles and their weapons materialized (except for Rob, who just drew the Silver Sword) and laid waste to the non-upgraded Swabots. Aaron and Rob were swarmed by Swabots. The two started swinging away relentlessly. They fought in tandem, taking out one Swabot after another. Rob would stab, Aaron would chop them down.
Rob ducked, allowing Aaron to swing at the Swabot. The robot's upper half flew over the two. They really worked well in tandem. In fact, Aaron's old bludgeoning strategy was changing. He looked much more finesse. Rob still looked jerky, though. Despite that, as he thrust the blade of the Silver Sword into the neck of a Swabot, he looked like he was getting the hang of being a Ranger.
Rob jumped over the Swabots, landing right in front of the hostages. They were surrounded by what looked like an invisible fence. "They held the others in that," Aaron said while giving a Swabot a headlock. Rob looked back. He noticed the posts planted at different intervals, but no way of shutting the fence off. This was going to be difficult.
Below the overpass, Kevin and Hitomi got to work immediately. The other four jumped on to the overpass and the two pressed their belt buckles. Kevin shot down two Swabots while Hitomi drew her arrow and shot down another one. They were gathered in the central pillars, and it looked like they'd have to jump the median to get to them. Kevin did just that, jumping into the southbound lanes, while Hitomi stayed on the northbound lanes.
Kevin approached slowly, letting off shot after shot. Hitomi summoned her Am Staff, a naginata-like weapon that was Daisuke's repainted Mountain Staff, and rushed the Swabots. She let loose on them, taking them out one by one. "Take the far pillar!" Kevin shouted. "Hold them off from there!" Hitomi waved back and tore through the Swabots.
Sean drew his Octane Blaster, tossed it in the air and summoned his GT Sword. Maria just summoned her Haz Daggers and tore through the Swabots. Sean caught the blaster in his left hand and shot a Swabot that came near. He locked blades with a Swabot. Maria thrust her dagger into the Swabot's back. The two fought the Swabots backwards, working in tandem. Sean blocked a Swabot sword and Maria stabbed the same Swabot in the gut.
Sean shot a Swabot and off'ed another's head. A dagger flew past his head, embedding itself in a Swabot's head. Maria ran up, grabbed the dagger from the robot's face and thrust it into another Swabot. "Wow," Sean said before blasting a Swabot and spin-attacking another.
So now came the hard part; how were Aaron and Rob going to disable the force field? As the hostages looked on, they inspected the force field. "I can't find anything," said Rob. Aaron slammed his fist on the force field. The electric wall gave him a little shock. "That was bad," said Rob. "Let's try this." He shifted the Silver Sword to the Silver Blaster, took aim and shot one of the posts. The post exploded.
"Well now," said Aaron. He wound up his axe, and, "TIMBER! !" The post began to break. The Zordonians must have been smart, because when a hostage tried to escape, he ran into the electric force field. "We'll have to break it down," said Aaron.
"Then let's get to work," said Rob.
Hitomi shot an incoming Swabot on and had begun working on far end of the overpass while Kevin stayed put. The OPD bomb squad had shown up and began working on the demolition charges. Kevin and Hitomi had to keep the Swabots at bay. Every now and then a couple of Swabots would drop down from the overpass, forcing them into action. A couple shots and arrows did the trick. "You know, for advanced aliens, these are pretty simple charges," said one bomb squad member.
"Maybe they're not as advanced as we think," Kevin quipped.
"No, this is typical demolitions explosives," said the cop. "It should be done—Watch out!" Bang! "Keep your head in the game!"
"What game?" Hitomi asked, lowering her bow.
"HEY!" said another cop. "Watch it!" Another Swabot jumped down. Hitomi shot it quickly.
"You can't even beat Ohio State, how can you beat us?" Sean taunted before Mauler tried to swat him off the overpass. He jumped out of the way and Maria took her chance, thrusting a dagger into the cyborg's circuitry. Mauler felt it in the right arm and tried to dislodge her, shaking his arm around. The dagger dislodged and Maria fell backwards… perilously close to the edge. Sean knocked Mauler to the ground, rushing to save Maria.
"Hold on!" He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her up. To their surprise, the two touched. They froze in this position. Then Mauler took a swipe at them. They broke apart, Sean jumping to the right and Maria flipping over Mauler. "Come ON!" Sean taunted. "You're not even—" SNIKT! "Oh, that's interesting."
"Just wait!" Rob pleaded with a desperate hostage. "We're working on this!" To his left, Aaron was chopping down another one of the electric posts. While not a sergeant, Rob had learned a few things in Iraq, like crowd control. "Don't move! Do you want to get zapped?" a good attempt at a warning, if any.
"Look, I just want to get out of here!" the desperate hostage shouted. "Please, tell me when—" A Swabot that had escaped Sean and Maria's wrath grabbed Rob by the neck, dragging him away. Rob grabbed the robot's arms and thrust it back in front of him. He staked the robot right in the gut then chopped its head off.
"Now are you going to listen?" he asked. Every single hostage kept calm and carried on.
THWIP! Hitomi let an arrow fly, striking a Swabot in the chest. About five Swabots lay in front of her, arrows sticking out of them. She pressed her belt buckle and another arrow materialized. She notched it in her bowstring and prepared to draw. "We're almost done," said the bomb quad member. She kept looking as she heard Kevin shoot two more Swabots (her HUD alerted her to them).
Kevin shot another Swabot, but it sounded close enough that Hitomi had to look behind her. PING PING PING her HUD alerted her to a Swabot to her left. She drew her bow and let it loose. In a shot that would make Katniss Everdeen jealous (the book came out in 2008. She's read it), it struck the Swabot right in the eye. "Wow," said the bomb squad member. "I'm glad she's on our side."
CLANG! Maria's dagger got caught in Mauler's Wolverine claws (small-case means the animal, upper-case means the character, got it?) and he tried to twist it out of her hands. He swiped at her with his biological left paw. She ducked and he drew his right arm back. He swung his claws at her—but he stopped and howled in pain. Sean took another big swing. Mauler grabbed his sword. Sean took the initiative and shot Mauler in the cybernetic arm.
Mauler fell backward. His arm was not as strong as his hide. Sean swung the GT Sword in Mauler's face. Mauler snarled and growled while Sean took several big shrugged them off, typical of Wolvferine physiology. Maria surprised him, jumping on his back, throwing her arms around his neck and thrusting her dagger into his cybernetic shoulder. He let out a blood-curdling scream.
Aaron was just about done with the final post. He wound up, took a big swing and struck the post. It started to crackle with electricity, exploding in small places before falling to the ground. There was only one post standing, but there was no need to care. The force field would no doubt be gone and the hostages could escape. "Semper Fi," Rob said with a salute.
The hostages, surprised as they should be, warily got up and started to leave. "There's a police line to the east," said Aaron. The hostages thanked them as they walked away. Any Swabots left were gone. It wasn't long before they were all to the police line and safely away.
"Almost got it…" the bomb squad member assured Hitomi. She was getting impatient. She already had ten broken Swabots in front of her. Shouldn't this have been finished earlier? She looked behind and noticed Kevin was struggling with a Swabot. It grabbed his rifle and was trying to pry it out of his hands. She drew her bow again and let it fly. The arrow barely missed Kevin's head, but hit the Swabot's.
"Thanks," said Kevin. Hitomi nodded and Kevin shot another Swabot that came up behind him.
"This should do it," said the bomb squad member as he carefully removed something from the plastic explosives. "And… done!"
"What was it?" Hitomi asked.
"It wasn't your typical demolition," said the bomb squad member. "And it wasn't your typical demolition charges. This is C-4, enough to blow a crater in the road; they were going for total destruction."
"Wow," said Hitomi.
Mauler's Wolverine claws were difficult to handle. He had a tenacious attack, clawing at her left and right. Sean lay on the ground, victim of a massive swat from Mauler's left paw. Maria ducked, Mauler through his left paw. She bent backwards, then thrust her dagger in Mauler's face. Mauler caught her dagger with his claws. She thrust the other one in his face. She had the upper hand. Mauler was backing up, closer to the edge of the overpass.
Then Mauler took a big swipe with his Wolverine claws. No matter what your skill level is, when something like that happens, you're going to be caught off guard, and that's what happened to Maria. She lost her balance and fell down, now at Mauler's mercy. Mauler raised the claws up and despite the fact she was terrified, she didn't show under her helmet, a defiant look—
"GT STRRRIIIKE!" Mauler screamed as the energized GT Sword cut right through his mechanical arm. The arm fell off the over pass and Mauler fell to the side, revealing Sean in a post-attack stance. "Are you alright?" he asked out of true concern.
"I had him on the ropes," said Maria.
However, Mauler was not done. He still had a left arm, after all. "You colored bastards," he said. "I'LL KILL YOU!" He lunged at them, only to scream again.
"Don't even think about it!" Rob said, keeping his blaster raised. "Aaron!" Aaron wound up his axe and took a big cut.
"GAAH!" Mauler howled. He was about to go after Aaron, when he felt another blow.
"You mess with one of us," said Kevin, his rifle smoking.
"… You shall deal with all of us," Hitomi said, drawing her bow and firing.
"About time," said Sean. "Alright, let's finish this! Get your keys out!" They did so, and Rob look for a way to Supercharge his blaster. Eventually he found something on his phone to do the trick.
"You freaks," said Mauler. "WE'RE NOT DONE!"
"Don't listen to him," Sean said, twisting his AcceleKey. "Supercharge!" The GT Sword energized and he readied himself. The others did the same and awaited his command. "GT STRIKE!" He swung his sword, and the others struck, too. Mauler screamed, howled and fell to the ground and exploded.
"Ooh-Rah!" Rob shouted.
"Well, thank goodness that's over," Sean said, wiping the brow of his helmet.
"I know," said Kevin. "I was afraid I was going to run out of ammo."
"And Rob did well," said Aaron. "I won't say he was spectacular, though."
"Well, I guess Rob's getting used to this," said Sean. "Maybe in a few days he might—"
KA-BOOM!
The Rangers were knocked to the ground by the shockwave. It almost knocked one or two helmets off the stunned group. The rubble hit the pavement like rain. This could only be bad. Sean's ears were ringing and he picked himself up slowly. His HUD was going crazy. "Is everyone alright?" he asked.
"I think so," said Rob. "Ow."
"I think I love these suits," said Kevin, "One, two, three, all five."
"Stop counting fingers," Sean said, getting up and bracing himself on the barrier. "We need to find out—oh, no."
There was a massive hole in the west-bound lanes, like someone took a bite out of the overpass. Some of the rubble was cluttered on I-4, just barely missing the bomb squad guys, who looked very shaken. The "This is bad!" Sean bemoaned, "This bad, bad, bad! How could we miss that?"
"There must have been another bomb that we missed," said Rob.
"Hey! Why didn't you warn us?" Sean yelled to the bomb squad on the interstate.
"We tried!" said one. "We saw something on the barrier; you must not have heard us!"
"Damn!" said Sean. "Mauler must have planted a bomb there."
"You mean—" said Hitomi.
"We're fucked," Sean replied.
:-:-:-:PRGPX:-:-:-:
"I would like to thank you for coming," Marcus Schneider said as Daisuke sat down at the conference table. "I'm sorry you were so late. What happened?"
"There was a battle on the State Road 408 overpass over Interstate 4," said Daisuke. "I had to be redirected.'
"That is a shame," said Schneider. "I still take it you are willing to make a deal?"
"If we can reach one," said Daisuke. "Now you want to sell your products in our stores, is that correct?"
"Correct," said Schnieder. "How shall we go about this?"
"I wish to see the product you wish to sell," said Daisuke. "Will it fit with our stores' image? We have very specific guidelines."
"I have some right here," Schneider said as he took some products out. "I wonder what kind of battle could have occurred on the overpass," said Schneider.
"The area has been suffering alien attacks lately," said Daisuke, "Why are you so interested?"
"These Power Rangers," said Schneider. "I don't understand them. They're just thugs and they're so foolish."
"That's what Ben Dreck's been saying," said Daisuke. "And how did you know who was on the bridge?"
"It was a guess," said Schneider. "And you mentioned Dreck, we sponsor him. Yes, I see that he's been looking in to them."
It was subtle, but Daisuke could tell Schneider was up to no good. On top of that, he began to realize Schneider looked just, like… "Excuse me, I need to use the restroom," he said as he got up and left the room. Once out of earshot, he called up Hitomi. "Hitomi," he said. "I think Marcus Schneider is up to no good. I can't prove this, but… I suspect he may be Kalderon."
:-:-:-:Power Rangers GPX:-:-:-:
Hey guys, it's me. Sorry I haven't gotten anything in lately, I've been real busy, what with my internship at a radio station in Chicago, but I'm back! So please, tell me what you liked, I don't want any one-line or one-word reviews, and PLEASE REVIEW.