Chapter 13 – Ray of Light
Dino Mansion
The following morning after the gold ranger's attack, the Dino Mansion was eerily quiet. Under orders from Jason, the rangers were restricted to light exercise and plenty of bed rest. Tyler though wasn't one for sitting around and doing nothing. He had already been kicked out of the lab twice yesterday and ordered back to bed but he couldn't help but feel useless lying around all the time. Opening his door and quietly creeping across the landing, he made his way towards the lab. When he reached the door, he held up his Dinovolver and was instantly teleported inside.
Looking around he noticed that the computers were still running a search for the gold ranger's Ptera Zord. The last time he had been removed from the lab, the computers hadn't found anything. Seeing that the search was still ongoing didn't fill the red ranger with much confidence. He shuffled towards the main work station to try and run his own search, however, he had to take a step back when he saw someone in the chair. Looking a little closer he saw Kiera slumped over a keyboard. She had obviously fallen asleep at the computer as she was dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. Tyler smiled as her hair was sticking out in weird positions and a pair of red framed glasses were sitting on her face at an odd angle.
Tyler cleared his throat and the teen bolted upright. She adjusted her glasses and looked around in confusion. She relaxed when she saw the red ranger in front of her, "Tyler you scared the hell out of me".
"Sorry, couldn't sleep", he replied, "nice glasses".
"Yeah it was a long night", Kiera began, "my contacts were uncomfortable". She felt her hair and blushed a bright shade of red when she felt the state it was in, "Shouldn't you be in bed", she added as she tried to smooth her wild hair.
The red ranger held his hands up, "I promise to behave myself this time, please don't kick me out". He sighed before continuing, "I need to know how the search is going".
Kiera smiled at his answer, "Spoken like a true red ranger". She tapped a couple of buttons on the computer to retrieve the search results, "Looks like we've got nothing I'm afraid".
Tyler clenched his fists in frustration, "That does it, I can't sit around any longer. I'm going to find him".
He turned around but he was surprised to see the rest of his team standing in front of the door. He could see several cuts and bruises on the exposed parts of their bodies. Chase had a huge bandage covering his left wrist and lower arm. Koda had a bandage wrapped around his head and his hair was matted together with dried blood. Riley took a step forward and his right leg nealyr gave out on him. Finally Shelby had a black eye and a plaster covering her left cheek, "You're not going anywhere without us", the pink ranger said.
"You all need to stay here and rest", Tyler replied firmly.
"And you don't", Koda stated and stepped forward. He poked Tyler in the ribs and the red ranger recoiled in pain, "Yeah just as I thought".
"Tyler we're a team, we have to stick together if we're going to defeat this golden bastard", Chase added.
"I must be sick", Tyler smiled, "Chase is talking about being part of a team".
"It's the painkillers talking", he grunted in response. Suddenly the alarms in the lab started blaring and the rangers had to cover their ears. They moved as quickly as they could towards the central console.
"Have you found the Ptera Zord?" Riley asked.
"Erm kinda", Kiera replied. On screen a giant golden Pteranodon was flying high above the city. Periodically it would fire off bolts of golden lightning, taking huge chunks out of the buildings below. Deciding he had seen enough, Tyler turned around and marched towards the door, closely followed by the other rangers, "Wait, what am I going to tell Uncle Jason?" Kiera called out.
"Whatever the hell you want", Tyler growled as he and the others teleported away.
Hunston Valley Financial District
Amongst the skyscrapers, General Fury and the gold ranger were watching the destruction that the Ptera Zord was causing to the city. The lion face general smiled as the humans ran screaming through the streets as they tried to avoid falling rubble. He saw a mother and a small child on a nearby street corner look up as a large chunk of concrete fell directly towards them. A shot of black energy hit the rubble and it shattered into millions of smaller pieces. The black ranger ran over to the pair, "Are you two alright?" he asked.
"Yes, thank you", the woman responded.
"Quickly get out of here", Chase replied and ran after the other rangers. The team stood in the deserted street and faced off against General Fury and the gold ranger. Neither made a move as they sized each other up.
"Back for more rangers", Fury laughed, "I thought you had learnt your lesson last time".
"Guess we're a little slow", Koda replied. His shoulders fell when he realised what he had said.
"Leave the quick come backs to us in future", Shelby whispered.
"You rangers are just in time to witness the final destruction of your precious city", Fury snarled. He pushed the gold ranger forward, "You know what to do".
The gold ranger opened his belt buckled and retrieved one of his Energems. He clicked the button on the side and threw it in the direction of the hovering Ptera Zord. The flying machine caught it in its mouth and slowly it began to transform. It's main body rotated at ninety degrees to its wings, meaning that its feet were now flat on the floor. It's head moved down over it's chest, revealing a humanoid face underneath. The latter half of its wings folded down so they covered its arms, turning them into giant blades. Finally a long black cape fluttered down from its wings until it was nearly touching the floor. The gold ranger jumped into the air and landed in the cockpit of his Megazord.
"Ok that doesn't look good", Riley cried out. Tyler, Koda and Shelby quickly pulled out their own Energems and the rangers formed the Dino Charge Megazord. The first thing they noticed about the Ptera Megazord was that it was much quicker than their machine. The Ptera Megazord used its bladed arms to attack the Megazord but they were intercepted by the Stego Zord. Shelby fired up the Tricera Zord and aimed an attack at the gold ranger's Zord but he quickly manoeuvred his machine out of the way. The Ptera Megazord placed its hands together and fired a bolt of lightning at the rangers. The Dino Charge Megazord was rocked by the blast and the rangers stumbled on their podiums.
"We need more firepower", Tyler said and pulled out the Anklyo Energem. The Anklyo Zord took the place of the Stego Zord and the rangers immediately put it to good use. The aqua coloured hammer slammed into the chest of the Ptera Megazord, rocking the golden machine. The gold ranger wasn't beaten yet though. Using his superior speed, the gold ranger instructed his Megazord into the air. It rotated and used it's bladed arms to slash the Dino Crush Megazord.
"This isn't working", Koda called out as he and the others tried to keep the Megazord under control.
"Maybe we should call on the big guns", Riley turned his head to the black ranger. Catching onto his train of thought, Chase summoned the Para Zord and Riley called on the Raptor Zord. With the Dino Artillery Megazord now formed, this was their best chance to keep the gold ranger grounded. The Raptor Zord using its tail blade and slashed at the chest of the Ptera Megazord. Chase followed suit and instructed the Para Zord to fire on the rival Megazord. Streams of black energy hit the Ptera Megazord and it finally fell to the ground. It didn't move for a few moments and the rangers sensed victory.
"Is that it?" Shelby asked the others as they cautiously moved towards the fallen Megazord. Suddenly the Ptrea Megazord sprang back into life and kicked at the legs of the Artillery Megazord. Once again it used its spinning bladed attack to pin the rangers back before charging up another blast of golden lightning. The blast hit the Artillery Megazord and it spasmed violently before crashing to the ground. Smoke poured out of the rangers Megazord as the Ptera Megazord loomed menacingly overhead.
"Our zords aren't responding", Chase called out, "looks like this is it".
"It's not over until it's over", Tyler replied but even the optimistic red ranger couldn't see a way out of this. All the rangers could do was prepare for the final blow but strangely it never came. They looked out of the cockpit and saw that the Ptera Megazord was convulsing wildly. Inside his cockpit, the gold ranger had sunk to his knees and clutched the side of his helmet. He recovered enough to instruct his Megazord back into dinosaur mode and it took to the skys. The Dino Megazord slowly righted itself and could only look in confusion at the retreating Ptera Zord.
"What the hell was that all about?" Koda asked.
"No idea", Tyler replied, "but let's head back home and assess the damage". The damaged Megazord lumbered away from the scene and broke apart into its individual dinosaurs. The rangers called on their Dino Cycles and rode back home
Dino Mansion
It was a weary group that stumbled through the front door of the Dino Mansion. The battle with the gold ranger hadn't helped their existing injuries. Chase was holding his wrist painfully and the head wound on Koda's head was bleeding again. Blood seeped through the white bandage and stained it a dark shade of red. Turning into the front room, they saw a worried looking Jason sitting on a sofa. They were expecting a lecture from the original red ranger but then they noticed Torin standing behind Jason. "Erm hi", Tyler stated.
"Welcome back", Jason began, "I would call you all crazy for confronting the gold ranger whilst still injured but I think you already know that". He sighed, "Plus I'm sure I did that on many occasions when I was a ranger so I can't really have a go at you for that".
"Thanks old man", Tyler replied before turning to Torin, "Hey Torin, what brings you to the land of the living".
"I sensed that the Ptera Zord was active again", the eagle creature replied, "I had to come and see if was true".
Just then Kiera bounced down the stairs, "Hey I've got the damage report on the zords", she then saw Torin, "but I see we have company it can wait". She turned to leave but Torin stopped her.
"No stay young one", he began, "this concerns you and well". Everyone made themselves comfortable as Torin began his story, "Three hundred years ago, the Ptera Zord found his partner, a young Russian warrior by the name of Ivan Prushanov".
"Wait I've heard that name before", Riley began, "we studied that period of Russian history in school last semester. They spoke of a fearsome soldier by the name of Ivan the Bloody, he was the chief enforcer of the Tsar".
Torin laughed, "That's mostly correct but history has a way of skewing the facts. Ivan trained for many years in various different techniques. It's rumoured he even travelled to Japan to learn the ways of the Samurai and Ninja. Bear in mind that this wasn't a simple matter as it is now, Japan was largely isolated from the rest of the world at this time".
"So if he was around three hundred years ago, does that mean he's a spirit like Andreas?" Shelby asked, "Is it even the same person, I mean someone else could've picked up his powers".
"I believe it's the same person Shelby", Torin replied. "During his last battle as a ranger, Ivan was facing General Fury when they both fell into a portal. I believed that Ivan was gone for good but when his Energem didn't return to the Earth, I knew that he was still alive".
"What do you mean by returned to the Earth?" Kiera interrupted.
"Oh my apologies, when the owner of a Energem passes away, the spirit in his or her gem will rest on Earth until it finds someone else worthy", Torin replied. "Even though Andreas still has a bond with his Energem and the Anklyo Zord, the spirit of the Anklyosaurus rested on Earth until it was found again. The Pteranodon spirit did not return which meant that Ivan was still out there somewhere".
"But if he was on our side before, why is he now fighting us?" Jason asked.
Torin sighed, "I'm not one hundred percent sure but I believe the portal may have placed Ivan and Fury in suspended animation together. Their close proximity to each other could've led to the powerful will of Fury exerting control over the gold ranger. The use of the Pteranodon Energem though will have partially countered the effects, it now up to Ivan to throw off Fury's control now".
"Then we need to help him do that", Tyler stated as he stood up from his chair. He grabbed his Dinovolver and started to head towards the door.
"Tyler where are you going", Shelby called out.
"Guys there's a fellow ranger out there who needs our help", he began, "when the Deboss realise that he's fighting their mind control, what do you think they'll do to him?"
"But Torin said he wasn't certain that's what had happened", Chase replied.
"He sounded certain enough to me, now who's with me?" the red ranger countered. The others were a little hesitant but one by one they got up and followed their leader out of the Mansion.
"That's one passionate leader you have Jason", Torin smiled.
"That's one word for it", Jason sighed, "how certain are you that Ivan has been brainwashed?"
Torin shrugged, "Call it an educated guess coupled with a little bit of hope. The Ivan I knew three hundred years ago would never join up with the Legion of Deboss". He sighed before adding, "I just hope I'm not wrong".
"So do I", Jason responded. After serving under Zordon for several years, he knew that the educated guesses of a powerful being were normally correct but he didn't know Torin well enough to place him in the same category as his former mentor. Jason could only hope that Tyler wasn't leading his team into a trap.
TO BE CONTINUED