Chapter 14 – All That Glitters Is Gold
Hunston Beach
The sounds of hurried footsteps echoed across the empty beach as five people sprinted near the edge of the sea. At the head of the human convoy was Tyler, closely followed the rest of the rangers. Waiting patiently further down the beach for them was General Fury and the gold ranger. They were accompanied by two blue creatures that they hadn't seen before. Their arms and legs were muscular and lined with purple accents. Across their shoulders was a snake motif that gave the appearance of shoulder pads. Their heads were bulbous with a couple of spikes coming out from the top. In their hands were large swords with a snake skin like pattern.
The rangers skidded to a halt, kicking up large clumps of sand in the process. Tyler's face was a mask of conviction as he stepped towards the villainous group, "We want our ranger back", he spat towards General Fury.
The lion faced monster laughed, "I have no idea what you're talking about red ranger".
"I think you do", Tyler replied, "we know who the gold ranger really is". Tyler turned his head slightly towards the gold ranger, "He is Ivan Prushanov, a legendary warrior whose name was feared throughout the land. But he was more than that, he was the Dino Charge Gold Ranger and he fought against everything the Legion of Deboss stands for". Tyler paused as the gold ranger hung his head slightly, "He can still be that person again, all he has to do is fight".
"Oh he'll fight", Fury snarled, "gold ranger, attack them". The rangers flinched as it looked like the gold ranger was going to charge them but he hesitated. His head tilted from side to side, almost like he was trying to understand what was happening. "I said fight them", Fury roared and blasted the gold ranger in the back with lightning. The ranger cried out in pain before collapsing to his knees.
"Oh no you don't", Tyler cried and pulled out his Dinovolver. He blasted the general with a round of laser fire that rocked the lion creature. Fury was about to strike against Tyler but the other rangers stepped forward and fired off their own Dinovolvers. They stood side by side with their leader as the strange blue creatures moved in front of Fury.
"See this is what loyal servants should do", Fury spat at the gold ranger. He then turned his vitriol towards the other rangers, "These are my Cobra's, they're much stronger than the Vivix's you've faced up until now".
The Cobra's stepped forward and bared their fangs. They spat a sickly looking yellow liquid towards the rangers. Fortunately they were able to roll out the way as the liquid hit the beach where they had been standing. The sand sizzled and slowly began to dissolve, leaving behind a significant crater in the beach, "I think it's time to suit up", Tyler said to the others. The Cobra's though had other ideas and charged towards the rangers.
One of them jumped towards Koda and Shelby just as the blue ranger had loaded his Energem. He spun the barrel and fired off a stream of morphing energy at the Cobra. The creature flew backwards but it was able to land on its feet. The distraction was enough for the blue and pink rangers to morph and they immediately armoured up. The Cobra spat more yellow liquid at the pair but once again Koda reacted quickly. He blocked the acid with his Stego Shield, the surface sizzled when the liquid made contact, "Man that stings", Koda said as he shook the excess acid off his shield.
"Better not let it hit me then", Shelby smiled under her helmet. He cartwheeled towards the Cobra slashed it across the face with her Tricera Drill. The monster roared in pain and brought it sword down on the pink ranger. She parried the blow away with her drill and kicked it in the chest. Koda jumped over the shoulders of the pink ranger and they both attacked it simultaneously, their shield and drill cutting across its upper body. The creature fell to the ground but soon it was getting back to its feet, "Geez that thing it tough", Shelby commented before going on the attack again.
Over with the black and green rangers, they were also having difficulties with their own Cobra. The creature was moving almost too quickly for Chase to get an accurate shot away. Occasionally the shot from his Dinovolver clipped the snake creature but it didn't cause enough damage to slow it down. "Riley go for the legs", Chase called out, "we need to slow it down".
"I'm on it", the green ranger replied. Sliding into the sand, Riley was able to avoid the Cobra's mighty sword but his low position didn't give him much leverage. The Cobra was too quick to even cut through its legs. Riley then had an idea, he opened his belt buckle and pulled out an Energem, a dull grey one with the number 21 on it. Quickly inserted it into his Dinovolver, he fired it at the ground near the Cobra. The snake creature immediately crumpled to the ground but so did Chase and the green ranger.
"Riley what the hell did you just do?" the black ranger called out.
"I used the Dino Gravity gem", Riley replied, "it creates a localised field of high gravity. I thought it would slow the Cobra down".
"Yeah but it's also slowed us down", Chase shouted. Deciding to see if the high gravity field would have an impact on his Dinovolver, he struggled to lift the weapon into the air. He fired and much to his surprise the blast slammed straight into the Corba, keeping it pinning down. Chase rolled the barrel of his weapon and immediately armoured up, the extra weight on his arm caused it to sink into the sand, "Quickly Riley, get ready to cancel the gravity field", he said to the green ranger. He then shouted over to the red ranger, who was battling Fury, "Tyler can I borrow your Tyranno Fang?"
Tyler ducked underneath the sword of Fury, "Why?" he asked the black ranger.
"Just trust me", Chase replied. As Tyler threw his weapon towards the black ranger, Riley cancelled the gravity field. Chase caught the Tyranno Fang and connected it to onto the back of his Para Shot, "Tyranno Blaster", he called out and fired a mixture of red and black energy at the Cobra. The blasts knocked the snake creature flat onto it back.
"Nicely done", Riley said as he met up with the black ranger, "how did you know the weapons could do that?"
"Well it was simple", Chase began but he was interrupted when the Cobra began to get back it feet, "oh you have got to be kidding".
Without his weapon, Tyler had resorted to his Dino Blade to defend himself against General Fury. He held the blade across his body to defend himself against another vicious blow. He could feel himself sliding backwards in the soft sand with each attack from General Fury. Tyler looked over and saw that the gold ranger was still on his knees, "Ivan this is your chance", he called out. The gold ranger looked up but still remained unmoving.
General Fury used this distraction to slash Tyler across the chest with his multi-bladed sword. The pain caused Tyler to drop his sword, leaving him open to another powerful attack from the general. This one knocked Tyler flat on his back with smoke pouring off his suit. General Fury stood over the fallen red ranger just as the gold ranger stood at his shoulder. "I see you've come to your senses", Fury said to the gold ranger.
"Yes my eyes have been opened", a deep voice replied with just the hint of a British accent. Tyler realised that it was the first words Ivan had spoken.
"Then perhaps you should finish him off", Fury smirked.
Ivan opened the blade of his sword and calmly inserted two Energems into the weapon, "It would be my pleasure", he replied, snapped his blade closed.
"Please Ivan, you don't have to do this", Tyler pleaded.
"I'll do what's necessary red ranger", Ivan replied. He charged up his sword and swung it over his shoulder. Tyler waited for the blow but to his surprise, Ivan's sword connected with General Fury instead. The lion creature flew into the air and crashed into the sand. He was quickly on his feet but Ivan was immediately in his face. Their swords clashed repeated and General Fury soon found himself on the back foot.
"It's not possible", Fury cried, "how did you shake off the programming?" The gold ranger didn't respond and instead let his blade do the talking. He sliced diagonally across the chest of Fury, drawing blood from the creature. He attacked again but this time the general defended himself with his blade. The blow knocked a few of the smaller blades off the main sword, "My sword", Fury bellowed, "you will pay for this gold ranger", with that he teleported away.
"So is he on our side now?" Shelby asked, dodging a blow from a Cobra.
"Looks like it", Chase replied, blasting the other Cobra at close range with his Para Shot, "perhaps it's time for the Dino Lance".
Tyler nodded and was about to retrieve the Energem when Ivan stepped in front of him. He loaded a third gem into his sword and fully charged up the weapon. "Thunder Blade, full power", he called out. A stream of golden energy flew out of his sword and slammed into one of the Cobra's. It didn't even get the chance to fall down as it was instantly disintegrated by the blast.
"Wow I knew he was strong but that's insane", Riley gasped in awe. The familiar rush of ice crystals flew overhead and slammed into the still alive Cobra. In a flurry of freezing mist, the creature towered above the rangers.
Once again Ivan was quicker than the other rangers, "Ptera Zord, arise", he called as he threw an Energem into the air. The Ptera Zord screeched overhead as the gold ranger teleported into the cockpit. It converted itself into warrior mode, however, its appearance was slightly different. The black cape was gone and its human face was slightly softer in expression than before.
Its vicious attacks hadn't changed though. The dinosaur head on its chest fired off a blast of golden lightning that ripped into the monster. The creature roared in pain but it didn't slow him down. Pulling out a giant version of its sword it charged towards the Ptera Megazord. It swung the mighty blade at the zord, knocking it into a nearby rocky cliff face. The Ptera Megazord shook off the blow and flew low through the air, catching the Cobra in the legs with its bladed arms.
"Now that it's not attacking us, I can appreciate what an amazing machine it is", Koda commented.
Underneath his helmet Tyler smiled, "He'll be a great addition to the team and can I just say, I told you so", the other rangers groaned.
Deciding it was time to end the fight, the gold ranger called out, "Lightning Bladed Final Strike". The arms of the Megazord crackled with golden energy before spinning in a circle. In a flash it tore through the Cobra, the giant snake monster stumbled before falling to the ground and exploding.
Down on the beach the rangers cheered as the Megazord turned back into dinosaur mode. The Ptera Zord cried out in triumph before flying away. The gold ranger landed gracefully a few feet away from the other rangers. "Man you were awesome", Tyler cheered as they began to approach the gold ranger. To their surprise he slowly began to back away from them.
"Hey it's alright, you can trust us", Shelby tried to soothe the gold ranger. As a show of good faith, she ejected her Energem from the barrel of her Dinovolver and demorphed. The others followed suit and stood opposite the gold ranger in their civilian clothes.
After a few moments, the gold ranger hesitantly pushed the dinosaur head on the brace on his arm. He ejected the Energem and in a flash of golden light, he too demorphed. First appearances suggested that he was in his late twenties. He had thick stubble on his face and his dark blonde hair was held back with a blue bandana. His clothing was a mishmash of various different styles. He had navy coloured boots with padded shin protectors. His sandy coloured pants were tucked into his boots. He was wearing a golden coloured kimono style top that tied around his waist and was tight around his arms. Underneath the top was a thin white shirt that was split open half way down his torso. He wasn't heavily muscled but the rangers could see that he was in impressive shape. His Thunder Blade was still in his hand, ready to be used if necessary.
"Good to finally see you", Tyler smiled, "I'm Tyler Navarro, Dino Charge Red Ranger". He stepped forward cautiously toward Ivan.
"You're clothes look strange", Ivan said, looking over the other rangers.
"Speak for yourself", Chase scoffed, earning him a dig in the ribs from Koda. "Sorry I didn't mean to mock you", Chase apologised, "this is how everyone dresses in 2015".
"2015", Ivan muttered, "I'm in the future".
"Look they'll be plenty of time for explanations", Tyler continued, "but I wanted to extend an invitation to join our team". He extended his hand towards the gold ranger, "Will you join us".
Ivan thought about this for a moment before responding, "No", he replied.
Tyler continued to smile for a couple of moments, not realising what Ivan had said. His face dropped when it finally dawned on him, "I'm sorry did you say no?"
"That's right", Ivan extended himself to his full height and looked down on the rangers, "I've seen nothing to suggest that you are worthy of my talents".
"Hey steady on buddy", Shelby stomped towards the gold ranger, "we're a great team".
Ivan scoffed, "I bested you all myself twice in combat and beat those Cobra's singlehandedly. You'll have to forgive me for not being impressed". He raised his sword and the rangers thought he was going to attack. Instead he placed the blade in a scabbard on his back and turned away. He walked away from the rangers, leaving everyone on the beach stunned.
"Well how you like that", Koda sighed.
"And I thought Chase here had a massive ego", Riley laughed, only to get a nudge from the black ranger.
"Do I smell?" Tyler sniffed under his arms, "why does no one want to join this team?"
"Must be your charm and personality", Shelby smiled and placed an arm around the red ranger, "at least he's not fighting us anymore".
Tyler sighed, "You're right, let's head back to the Mansion, I think we could all do with a rest". The others nodded and walked across the beach in the opposite direction to the gold rangers. Unbeknown to them, Ivan was hiding in some tall grass at the edge of the beach. He hung his head as he watched them retreat.
"Why did you say that to them you stupid bloody wanker", he sighed. He kicked the grass in frustration before continuing to walk through away from the others.
A/N - I've read a brief summary of the upcoming gold ranger and he will have a British accent. If you imagine him speaking like Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, that's how he sounds in my head.