Chapter 16 – Harsh Lessons
Dino Mansion
The sound of an alarm echoed through the quiet hallways of the Dino Mansion, however, it wasn't the usual monster alarm. Jason sprinted downstairs from his bedroom and was greeted with a face full of smoke. A sheepish looking Tyler was trying to waft the thick black smoke away and silence the smoke alarm. Jason put his hands on his hips and glared at the red ranger, "What the hell are you up to?" he grumbled.
"Sorry old man", Tyler began, "we were trying to teach Ivan how to cook using modern appliances, unfortunately it didn't go very well".
"I can see that", Jason replied and moved into the kitchen. The smoke was much thicker and Chase was standing over one of the counters with a fire extinguisher in hand. There was a charred lump of plastic on the counter top, "Do I want to know what that was?"
"That was your waffle iron", Chase placed the extinguisher back on the counter.
Jason shook his head, "It's lucky for you three that Kiera stayed with Shelby overnight".
"Yeah she's mean before she has her morning coffee", Chase shuddered.
"So where is our resident chef", Jason asked. The black ranger pointed to the yard, "This is coming out of your deposit", Jason added before stepping outside. He found the gold ranger on the patio, he had made a small fire and was rotating some kind of meat over the flame.
"Good morning Jason", Ivan began, "sorry about the mess". He waved a hand over his barbeque, "I've decided to stick with what I know, at least for now".
"Yeah I really don't want a repeat of the laptop incident", Jason rolled his eyes, "so what do we have for breakfast?"
"Spit roasted squirrel", Ivan proudly declared, "or at least it will be once the fire's warm enough". The former red ranger shook his head, it was too early for him to deal with the madness that was now his home. Leaving the gold ranger to his fire, he decided to go back to bed for a while.
An hour and a half later, he returned to the kitchen and was pleasantly surprised to see that the others had cleaned up their mess. There was still a horrible burn mark on the counter, he would have to ask Koda to fix that when he next saw the blue ranger. Stepping back out into the yard, he found Tyler, Chase and Ivan sitting on plastic chairs, eating what must have been the squirrel that Ivan was about to cook, "Hey Jase", Chase greeted casually, "come try some of this". The black handed him a spit with some meat on it. Jason gave it a sniff before taking a bite, to his shock it was actually quite good.
"I developed a love of oriental spices when studied in Japan", Ivan began, "I was surprised to see that your cupboard had a lot of those spices as well".
"I'm not an uneducated redneck", Jason smiled, "one of my oldest friends, her family was originally from Vietnam and she introduced me to oriental cuisine. She was the first yellow ranger you know, which reminds me I must introduce you to Governor Kwan soon".
Tyler choked on his food, "The state Governor was a Power Ranger?"
"One of the finest I've ever worked with. It's probably why so many pro-Ranger bills have passed in the last few years". Jason reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter that he had picked up from the front door, "This came in the mail for you Tyler".
The red ranger looked at the envelope curiously, he hadn't told anyone where he was living now. He opened the envelope and read the contents of the letter, "It's from my Dad", he began, "according to this he's found an unusual gem". He jumped up from his chair, "He's coming to the city today", he dropped the letter and ran inside to grab his jacket.
The others quickly followed behind him, "Hey Tyler wait up, we'll come with you", Chase called out.
"My Dad's a very suspicious person", Tyler replied, "if he sees people that he doesn't recognise then he won't reveal himself".
"Don't you think this is a coincidence", Jason began, by now Tyler had opened the front door, "and how did he know where you lived".
"That's my Dad for you", Tyler smiled and shut the door behind him.
"Something's not right", Ivan said, "I can't put my finger on it".
Chase sighed, "Tyler's got a bit of blind spot when it comes to his Dad. Probably thinks he can walk on water".
"Ivan right, something stinks", Jason began, "and I'm not talking about the odour of melted plastic and caramel". He turned to the gold ranger, "Can you follow him, make sure he doesn't get into any trouble", Ivan nodded and grabbed his jacket. Jason then turned to Chase, "Call the others, tell them to be ready for action". Chase grabbed his communicator and followed Ivan out of the Mansion.
Hunston Beach
Tyler had been walking up and down the sand for an hour but still there was no sign of his Dad. The letter stated that he would be on the beach from around 11am, however, they were well past that time. The letter had been pretty vague about what sort of gem he had found but Tyler was wondering if it was another Energem. There were still three out there somewhere and if anyone could find one, it would be his Dad.
Tyler had only received five letters from his Dad in the previous nine years. Most of them were pretty vague and generic but they still kept the red ranger's spirits up. Even though he moved around quite a lot since leaving Tuvalu, his Dad's letters always found him. That's why he wasn't too surprised to see the letter arrive this morning.
Suddenly a glint caught Tyler's eye, it was coming from a nearby cave. As he approached the cave, he saw his Dad standing in the entrance. "Dad", Tyler called out and waived his arms. His Dad turned and walked inside, "Hey come back", Tyler scrambled up some rocks and into the cave. He looked around but there was no one in sight. The cave was fairly small, just enough room for Tyler to move about. It was also only illuminated by a single torch, "Dad where did you go", he touched the walls but there were no obvious cracks in the surface.
He was about to leave when the sound of laughter echoed through the tight confines of the cave, "I'd know that laugh anywhere", he muttered. The sunlight coming into the cave was blocked by the familiar shape of General Fury. Unfortunately for the red ranger, he hadn't come alone. Standing either side of him was General Sorrow and Lady Jodella.
"This was an excellent plan Fury", Jodella cheered, "firstly we steal his happiness from receiving a letter from his Dad. Next we harvest his sorrow that his Dad isn't here and finally his anger from getting tricked so easily".
"Where's my father?" Tyler's voice boomed.
"Don't you get it red ranger", Fury chuckled, "he isn't here and he never was".
"This has all been one big trap to lure you away from the other rangers", Sorrow continued, "doesn't that make you sad". Tyler tried to keep his emotions under control but he looked down and saw his hand glow pink, then blue and finally red.
"Emotions from a Power Ranger", Fury began, "our master well be pleased with the strength boost". He stepped into the cave and approached Tyler menacingly. The red ranger reached for his Dinovolver but Fury grabbed it out of his hand, "You won't be needing this", he threw it out of the cave and grabbed Tyler but the neck, "now to finish you off".
The General paused as he heard the sound of blade impacting skin outside the cave. He twisted his head and saw the gold ranger standing at the entrance, "Your senses aren't as good as they used to be Fury", Ivan smiled.
"On the contrary gold ranger", Fury began, "I've got the red ranger right where I want him". Ivan wanted to argue but Fury was right, the space was too narrow for him to swing a sword and any kind of energy blast would likely hit Tyler at the same time.
Seeing that Fury was distracted, Tyler managed to shuffle them closer to the wall. He pushed off the nearest cliff face with his feet and broke free of Fury's strong grasp. He rolled out of the cave just as Ivan unleashed a blast from his Ptera Brace. It triggered a cave in and General Fury was trapped behind a wall of rock, "That won't hold him forever", Ivan commented. He extended a hand and pulled Tyler to his feet, "I think you lost this", he handed over Tyler's Dinovolver.
"Thanks", Tyler sighed, "I can't believe I fell right into their trap".
"Surprised us too", they heard Riley's voice call out, "you talk big about team work but then you run off without back up".
"But it was my Dad", Tyler protested, "at least I thought it was".
"And if you stopped to think for five seconds, you would've realised it was a trap", Koda scolded.
"Perhaps we should talk about this later", Ivan said to the other, "we've still got company". Sorrow and Jodella had stirred and were standing directly in front of the cave entrance.
"Hi, I think you forgot about us", Jodella called out cheerfully.
"Oh how could I forget about you", Shelby rolled her eyes, "you're hardly inconspicuous". Jodella huffed and pulled out a giant heart shaped axe, "Ok that looks sharp".
Tyler stood in front of his team as they all prepared their Dinovolvers, "Dino Spirits, Dino Charge", he called.
"Ptera Brace, Dino Charge", Ivan added. Once they had finished morphing, they split into two groups and took on the two Generals. Despite her looks and cheerful demeanour, Jodella was a mean fighter. This was the first time the rangers had faced her in combat and they hoped it would be the last. Everything Koda, Riley and Shelby threw at her, she just chuckled and shook it off. With a swing of her axe, she swiped all three of the rangers across the chest, sending them tumbling down the rocks and onto the beach.
"Guys this isn't working", Riley groaned.
"I've got an idea, remember when Chase combined his and Tyler's weapons", Shelby began, "maybe we can do the same".
"It's worth a try", Riley replied. The rangers armoured up and they called on the Dino Lance gem. Their three weapons locked together like a smaller version of the lance. Koda grabbed the weapon and twirled it over his head. As Jodella brought her axe down, he used the shield on the weapon to deflect the blow. He then raked the sharp edges across her body before jamming the end of the halberd into her ribs. Jodella cried out in pain before collapsing to the ground, alive but defeated.
Over with the others, Sorrow slashed Tyler and Chase across the stomach, sending them into the nearby cliff. Chase was back on his feet but Tyler was slow to get up, it was like his fighting spirit had gone. Ivan was taking on Sorrow by himself but the iron plated General was relentless. Deciding he needed to take a chance, Chase armoured up before summoning Energem number 12, "Always wanted to try this out". He inserted the gem into his Dinovolver and pulled the trigger. A bronze coloured armour appeared on his left arm and a pair of bronze blades covered his hands. When they were placed together, they gave the appearance of the mouth of a Deinosuchus.
Chase jumped into the air and burrowed into the dirt. He tunnelled under the surface before emerging right underneath General Sorrow. The iron man was catapulted into the air, giving Ivan a moment to charge up his sword. Swinging it like a baseball bat, he caught Sorrow as he fell back down. The General was thrown across the beach and out into the sea, "That'll cool him off for a while", Ivan chuckled.
With the immediately danger over, the rangers powered down and turned towards Tyler, "What the hell was that about", Chase roared, "things go a little wrong and you give up".
"I'm sorry", Tyler replied, "I was still thinking about my Dad".
"Tyler you need to grow up and face facts", Chase replied, "your Dad abandoned you and he's never coming back". The black ranger turned away and left the others behind.
"I don't like agreeing with him but Chase is right", Koda sighed.
"You need to curb your impulsiveness", Ivan added, "if we hadn't been at the house then you'd probably be dead right now", the gold ranger shook his head and left the clearing. Riley looked like he had been betrayed and frowned at the red ranger. He too turned around and walked away.
This left Tyler and Shelby, "I suppose you agree with them as well?" Tyler asked.
Shelby sighed, "They could've been nicer about it", she took a step closer, "I know he's your hero but he's not infallible. Maybe it's time to look at things from a different perceptive". She gave him a small smile before following after the others. Tyler looked at the fake letter and screwed it up into a little ball. He walked in the opposite direction from the rangers, he needed some time to himself.
Unknown location
The sun was blazing down on the desert as a lone figure drudged through the sand. He was dressed in a long tan coloured duster and had a scarf covered his head and face. The man approached an obelisk in the sand a crouched down to inspect it closer. Rubbing his hand over the inscriptions he muttered to himself, "The guardian stones will lead you to the titan". His voice was croaky from lack of use and thirst. He took a swig of water from his cantina and found a small shady patch the other side of the obelisk.
When he was in the shade he pulled out a battered photograph of himself when he was younger with a small child in his arm. He rubbed the picture sadly and sighed, "Soon son, we'll meet again soon", he muttered. He placed his scarf back over his face and continued the slow walk across the desert. He knew that he would see his son again soon, it was the only thing that kept Bastian Navarro going on days like today.