Chapter 10 – The Odd Couple (Part 2)

Previously - Andreas nodded, "I destroyed Virus, or at least I thought I did, unfortunately it cost me my life". He opened his robe slightly to reveal a horrible looking scar just above his heart, "The remains of my mortal injury I'm afraid".

"But if you destroyed Virus, how is he still alive and in control of your zord?" Chase replied.

"That I do not know", Andreas began, "but I'm going to need your help to release Anky from his curse. It's going to take all of us working in unison to kill Disciple Virus once and for all". Riley and Chase looked at each other, could they work well enough together for long enough?

Andreas spoke with the black and green rangers for a few more minutes before he had to return to the spirit world. Like Torin, he could only maintain his presence in the land of the living for a limited amount of time. This left the two rangers alone in the cave. They were still too weak to move and their communicators weren't reaching anyone at the Dino Mansion.

The pair had been sitting in silence for what felt like an eternity. Eventually Riley couldn't take the silence any longer, "Can I ask you a question?" Chase nodded, "Why do you hate me?"

Chase laughed, "I don't hate you kid".

Riley looked confused, "Then why do you treat me so terribly?"

The black ranger sighed, "Because you remind me of myself when I was sixteen". Chase stood up and continued, "When I was your age I was a quiet kid and I took everything extremely seriously. That continued even after I joined the army".

"So what changed?" Riley asked.

"I saw my best friend shot dead in front of me", Chase replied. He reached underneath his shirt and removed a set of dog tags. He passed them over to Riley, "That's all I have left of Jeremy. After it happened, it was like a light bulb went off in my head. You never know when it'll be your last day so why not enjoy yourself".

The green ranger carefully handed the tags back to Riley, "I still don't get what this has to do with me?"

Chase smiled, "I'm not teasing you because I hate you, I'm trying to get you to lighten up a little bit. Alright maybe I went the wrong way about it but it was the only way I knew how". He crouched down in front of the green ranger, "It took the death of my best friend to get me to relax and I don't want the same to happen to you".

Everything clicked into place for Riley and he understood the black ranger a little bit more. "Alright I'll give it a try but I want you to promise me two things. Firstly ease up on the sarcastic comments and secondly stop calling me Farm Boy".

"I think it's a good nickname", Chase smiled, "better than the one I earned in the army".

"What was that?"

The black ranger laughed, "You haven't earned that privilege yet. Tell you what when I think you've lightened up enough, I'll tell you", he extended his hand to the green ranger, "Deal?"

Riley smiled and shook his hand with a smile. Chase smiled back and stood up, hauling up the green ranger in the process. As they walked out of the cave, they saw that Andreas had returned, "Well you two seem to be getting along a little better", he said.

"We've reached an understanding haven't we F-", Chase paused and corrected himself, "Riley". The green ranger nodded in response and appreciation at the black ranger.

"Well that's good", Andreas smiled, "I've got some bad news though, Virus is attacking the city".

"We've got to stop him", Chase called out but before they could leave, the ground erupted again as the Anklyo Zord appeared in front of them. "Looks like Virus left his new pet behind". The trio rolled out of the way of a hammer attack as the Anklyo Zord went on the offensive.

As he turned his attention back to the zord, Riley noticed a small green patch on Anky's head. It flashed green just as the zord brought his hammer down once again, "I think I know how Virus is controlling Anky", he began, "Andreas has that patch always been on the side of the zord?"

The spirit looked at his zord and shook his head, "I've never seen it before".

"Just as I thought", Riley continued, "we need to destroy and I bet it'll release the zord from Virus' control". He turned to the black ranger, "Chase do you think you could shoot the patch on Anky's head?"

Chase's eyes went wide, "I'll give it a try", he replied nervously, "the last time I took a shot under pressure, it didn't end well".

Andreas clasped his hand to the black ranger's shoulder, "Don't worry, I trust you", Chase smiled and pulled out his Dinovolver. He waited for the right opportunity and took a couple of deep, calming breaths. He squeezed the trigger and fired a pulse of black energy at the zord. To everyone relief it slammed into the patch on the Anklyo Zord's head. The zord roared in pain before his eyes returned to a bright yellow colour.

Andreas nervously approached his zord, "Anky, do you remember me?" The zord roared and initially everyone thought he was going to attack again. They breathed a sigh of relief when the zord nodded in confirmation, "He's himself again", Andreas cheered and hugged the two rangers, "I don't know how to thank you".

"You could help us destroy Virus once and for all", Chase replied. As he spoke, they saw a glow coming from inside Andreas' robe. He reached inside and much to his amazement, his Energem was glowing.

"I don't understand", the spirit began, "this hasn't shone since the day I died".

"Obviously today's your lucky day", Chase smiled, "hey Anky, reckon you could give us a lift?" The zord roared in confirmation and the trio climbed aboard. The Anklyo Zord took a couple of paces before jumping into the ground and disappearing from sight.

Hunston Beach

Down by the coast Tyler, Koda and Shelby were having a rough time with Disciple Virus. Without the back up from their fellow rangers, nothing they tried seemed to work. Each of them had summoned their special weapons and tried to attack simultaneously but the attacks bounced harmlessly off Virus' hard skin. In response, the Disciple of Deboss swatted them away with his trident. The rangers skidded across the wet sand, coming to a halt when they slammed into a rock, "Man that stings", Tyler stated.

"I've got sand in places I didn't know existed", Koda groaned as he rubbed the back of his head. They were about to go on the attack again but they were stopped by a violent rumble from underneath their feet. Sand went everywhere as the Anklyo Zord reappeared, knocking Virus to the ground.

"Alright they did it", Shelby called out as Chase and Riley jumped down. She caught sight of Andreas, "Who's this?"

The aqua ranger walked over to Shelby and took hold of her hand, "My name is Andreas, the original partner of the Anklyo Zord", he lighted kissed her gloved knuckles, "I bet you're a pretty senorita under that helmet", Shelby blushed at the flirtatious behaviour of the man.

"Alright that's enough of that Grandpa", Chase laughed as he pulled Andreas into line.

"You could learn a thing or two from him though Chase", Riley nudged the black ranger.

Underneath his helmet Tyler smiled, "Well you two seem to be getting along better".

"I think we've reached an understanding", Chase replied and fist bumped the green ranger.

Disciple Virus meanwhile had gotten back to his feet, "You broke my control over the Anklyo Zord", he exclaimed, "but how?"

"By using a little bit of team work", Chase replied. The black and green ranger opened the barrel of their Dinovolvers and inserted their Energems, "Care to see a little bit more?", he added before spinning the chamber of his morpher, "Dino Spirits, Dino Charge".

Andreas in turn pushed the activation button on his Energem before thrusting it skywards, "Spirit Ranger, Dino Charge", he was engulfed in light and when it cleared, he was wearing a suit identical to the other. The only difference was his suit was light blue in colour and the helmet was in the design of an Anklyosaurus.

"But that's impossible", Virus called out, "you're dead".

"Then this won't hurt will it", Andreas called out. He summoned a hammer, similar in design to the tail of the Anklyo Zord. With a mighty swing, he slammed it into the chest of Virus, knocking the monster into a nearby cliff face.

"Save some for us won't you", Riley added. He had summoned his Raptor Blade and Chase had called upon his Para Shot. The green ranger charged up his weapon and left a trail of green energy hanging in the air. Chase fired his weapon and it collided with Riley's energy line. The black and green streak flew towards Virus and hit him in the chest. The monster fell to the ground but he wasn't quite defeated yet.

"Alright let's call on the Dino Lance", Tyler suggested but before the rangers could do that, several ice crystals slammed into the monster and he grew to giant size. "Huh, I thought they always waited until we blew them up to do that".

"Here take this", Andreas thrust his Energem into Riley's hand, "Anky will work with you to defeat Virus for good".

Riley nodded, "Thank you Andreas, lets see what he can do". He threw the Energem towards the Anklyo Zord as Tyler and Shelby summoned their zords. The Anklyo took the place of the Stego Zord in the usual Megazord formation. He folded over so his tail could be used as a weapon.

"Dino Crush Megazord, ready", the rangers called out as they were teleported into the cockpit.

Disciple Virus didn't want to go down without a fight. He raked his trident across the chest to the Megazord, rocking the rangers on their pedestals. Virus then jammed the weapon into the lower body of the Megazord and drove the rangers into the cliff face, "Guys I don't think we can take too many hits like that", Koda called out.

"Don't worry I've got this", Shelby groaned and directed the Tricera Zord towards Virus' staff. Using it's drill tail it snapped the trident in half, releasing the rangers from their hold.

"No my trident", Virus roared.

"Time to see what the Anklyo zord is made of", Tyler smiled. The Anklyo Zord was extremely flexible, almost like rubber. From a distance it slammed into the chest of Virus three times in a row. For the finishing blow, it fired Virus high into the air. As the monster came back down, the Megazord jumped into the air. Using the Tricera Zord again, it drilled a massive hole into the monster. The two pieces of Disciple Virus slammed into the ground and exploded.

On the beach, Andreas looked up at the Dino Crush Megazord and smiled, "Well done Anky, I knew you could still do it". He turned around and began to walk away. When he was half way down the beach, his body shimmered before he completely disappeared.

Dino Mansion

Back at the base, the rangers were in the lab as Chase and Riley were recalling their pursuit of the Anklyo Zord. They explained how it was under the control of Disciple Virus and how Chase has destroyed the control device. They then moved on to explain that Andreas was a Power Ranger back in medieval times, leading to several comments from the team about how Jason and the Mighty Morphin rangers weren't the first like they led everyone to believe.

"So maybe we weren't the first chronologically", Jason began, trying to silence the team, "but we were the first full team in modern times".

"Keep telling yourself that old man", Tyler heckled.

"I wish Andreas could've stuck around for a bit", Riley sighed, "we never got the chance to thank him".

"Your thanks is noted", they all heard Andreas call out from behind them. He was still morphed in his aqua ranger form, "I apologise for leaving earlier but I needed to return to the spirit world".

"No apology needed", Chase began, "so what's next for you, fancy making this a team of six?"

"Unfortunately I'm going have to decline, at least on a full time basis", Andrea replied. "My mission is to try and locate the other four missing zords but if you ever need my help, all you need to do is ask". He opened up his belt buckle and pulled out three Energems, "These will help you summon Anky if you need his help in the future. Please take good care of him".

"We will Andreas", Shelby said.

"I also need to caution you. Disciple Virus was one of the three Disciples of Deboss. Please take care if you come up against any of the others in the future". He gave the team a quick nod, "Until we meet again my friends", with that he disappeared back to the spirit world.

"Great so not only do we have Chaos and his crew to worry about, we've also got two more fanatics out there", Koda groaned.

"Well we've beaten one of them, how hard can the others be?" Tyler stated.

Everyone hung their heads, "Did you really have to say that?" Riley grumbled.

"Perhaps we shouldn't tempt fate Tyler", Jason smiled before addressing everyone, "I just wanted to say job well done, especially Chase and Riley for overcoming their differences".

"Just crossed wires that's all", Riley replied and placed a hand on Chase's shoulder. The black ranger glared so Riley quickly removed it.

"I said we're friends now, we're not in some weird Bromance", Chase smiled. He jumped off a workbench and walked towards the door, "I think we all deserve a drink", he began, "the kid's buying", he pointed his Dinovolver and the door and teleported away.

"Hey I thought you weren't going to call me that", Riley called out but not with the same malice as before.

Jason sighed, "Some things will never change", he led the other rangers along with Kiera leave before teleporting out of the lab himself.