Chapter 35 – Grey Skies Overhead
Griffin Farm
Mr Griffin's hospitalisation had hit the rangers hard. Riley was always very protective of his family life and he didn't share a huge amount. They did know that Mr Griffin wasn't that old, only in his mid forties. They also knew that most of the responsibilities around the family farm fell either to Riley's Dad or his older brother Matt. One thing the green ranger hadn't told them was that the family business, like a lot of other farms in the area, was close to failing. Modern farming techniques were slowly eroding the more traditional farms, like the Griffins, causing them to take more business away from the smaller farms. As the smaller business now had a reduced turnover, they couldn't spend the money require to modernise their own businesses.
The green ranger hadn't been around much for the last few days and the rangers understood. Fortunately Kiera and Chloe were able to fill in for the missing green ranger when required and the set up of the Dino Charge Megazord meant that they wouldn't need his Energem. The downside was that they couldn't use the Dino Lance so they had to come up with more inventive ways of wearing the monsters down.
Tyler, Chase, Shelby and Ivan decided that today would be a good day to drop in on the Griffins. The others wanted to come but Koda and Chloe had to keep their store open. Jason's ex-wife was following through with her threat of opening a new hardware store in the area so they couldn't afford to lose business. The original red ranger also couldn't get a day off work and this mean that Kiera had to stay in the lab and watch out for any trouble in the city.
"Seems quiet", Chase said as he got out of Tyler's truck. There were no obvious signs of activity and there were no other vehicles in the driveway, "Are you sure we should just drop in like this?" he added.
"Don't tell me the legendary Chase Randall is having second thoughts about something", Shelby teased, "I'm sure Riley will appreciate the gesture".
"Yeah he was really upset when he got the news", Ivan added, "the least we can do is help out for a little bit".
Tyler led the others up to the door and gave it a gentle knock. After about a minute no one had answered so the red ranger knocked again, this time a little harder, "Perhaps no one's home", he said to the others.
The rangers heard the sound of a woman call out from the other side of the door. After a few moments the door the door opened and a middle aged woman greeted them. She had chin length blonde hair and looked extremely tired. The group were slightly surprised to see that the woman was in a wheelchair, "Can I help you?" she asked.
"Are you Riley's Mom?" Tyler asked and the woman nodded, "we've friends of his and we heard what happened to his Dad".
"We wanted to see if he was alright and if there was anything we could do to help", Chase added.
"That's very sweet of you", she smiled, "I'm afraid Riley's still at the hospital with his brother but they should be back soon. Can I offer you all a drink?" The rangers nodded and trooped inside the farmhouse. Mrs Griffin proceeded to pour four glasses of freshly squeezed orange drink and gestured for them to sit down around the table.
"Now I recognise you from Valley high School", Mrs Griffin said to the pink ranger, "it's Shelby isn't it, you graduated earlier this year".
"That's me Mrs Griffin", Shelby replied.
"Please call me Claire", she said before continuing, "so I guessing that Riley knows you from school but he's never said how he met the rest of you".
"Well Riley's a regular customer at the Dino Cafe", Tyler answered, "I work there and so does Shelby so I know him from there".
"And we share a house with Tyler", Chase added and pointed at Ivan, "we've met him a few times".
Claire Griffin nodded before yawning, "Sorry you'll have to forgive me, it's been a long few days".
"How is your husband doing?" Ivan asked.
"Not great", Claire sighed, "he's not in any immediate danger but he's not getting any better either. They might have to do a bypass operation but I'm not sure if we can afford it. Michael's medical insurance isn't up to date and the business isn't doing so well. I'm afraid for the time being everything is going to fall on Matt's shoulders to try and keep us afloat".
"Were you in an accident at some point?" Chase blurted out, earning him a smack on the arm from the pink ranger.
Claire though just laughed, "It's fine really, I admire someone who wants to talk about my disability. Quite a lot of people pretend that it doesn't exist and are scared to ask".
"Chase has a habit of speaking without thinking", Shelby replied, "so slapping him is a habit I've gotten into".
"One you enjoy far too much", Chase grumbled.
"Think nothing of it", Claire began, "I wasn't in an accident but I do have MS. It's a condition that can make me extremely tired and also affects my movement. It's something that comes and goes, some days I can feel fine but other times", she pointed down to her chair, "the stress of my husband's illness has triggered a flare up".
"We're sorry to hear that", Tyler began, "if we can help out around the farm anyway we can just say the word".
"Thank you but it's not as easy as it looks", Claire replied, "do any of you have experience of farming".
"Actually I do", Ivan began, "it was a long time ago though". The rangers smiled at Ivan's unintentional joke, "We've got a couple more friends that own a repair business that could help and another friend that's really good with technology if that helps".
Claire though about this for a moment, "Well I'll speak with Matt when he gets back, I'm not really sure what needs doing". She paused as a truck pulled up outside, "Sounds like he's back".
The door slammed opened as Riley and Matt stomped inside, they were in the middle of a furious argument, "I'm sorry Riley but I can't take you", Matt shouted, "in case you've forgotten our Dad's in hospital".
"Stop making it sound like I don't care about Dad", Riley spat back, "but this is an important tournament and I'll lose the deposit if I pull out".
"I've got more important things to worry about" Matt said. There was the sound of keys impacted against the wooden floor, "You've got a license now, drive yourself". They didn't hear anything further from the green ranger except the sound of the door slamming again. The next thing they knew, Matt had entered the kitchen, "Sorry I didn't realise we had guests", he said.
"We're friends of Riley", Shelby began, "what was that all about?" she asked after a brief pause
Matt sighed, "Riley's got a fencing tournament and I promised to drive him but that was before Dad got taken to hospital". He paused for a moment, "I was a little hard on him wasn't I".
"A little", Chase replied honestly.
"Guess the stress of everything is getting to me", Matt stated, "I'll give him a call before the matches start and apologise".
"Riley's friends offered to help around the farm", Claire began, "is there anything they could do?"
Matt removed the Stetson from his head and wiped some sweat away, "I'm not sure, I need to check the grounds because I've seen some weird animal tracks out there. Tell you what, come back tomorrow and we'll see what you help with". The rangers smiled and thanked the Griffin's for their hospitality. They got up and began to leave, perhaps they could catch up with Riley if they were quick.
Road to Hunston
Riley was in a foul mood as he sped down the road into the city. The argument with his brother had been a little petty but his brother did promise him. It wasn't the use of the car that was the problem, it was the fact that no one would be there to support him, that was the source of his anger and frustration. He was worried because his Dad was in hospital and his Mom had suffered a flare up of her own illness. He was worried for both of them and he had taken it out on his brother.
He stopped the car to calm himself down, it wouldn't do his family any good if he got into a car accident because he was upset. He leaned on the guardrail and looked down on the city in the distance. When he was growing up, his Dad had been the rock of the family. His Mom had been diagnosed with MS eight years ago but his Dad wouldn't allow the family to collapse because of that. His Dad has also supported his fencing and would always turn up to support him at a tournament. This would be the first one that he missed since Riley took up the sport.
The green ranger knew that his family business was struggling but he didn't know what he could do to help. He thought about asking his fellow rangers for help but none of them were especially well off themselves. Jason and Kiera had spent a lot of money setting up the equipment for the Dino Charge rangers, Koda and his sister were struggling themselves and Shelby had been cut off by her Dad. The other two didn't really have a lot of money either, until recently Ivan had been subsidised by the others and Chase only had his Army payout to live on. Riley sighed, with his Dad out of action there was a very real chance that they could go bankrupt.
Suddenly Riley saw something in the field below the road. It looked like a Deboss monster themed after various different sports. Its body was shaped like a football helmet and it had a basketball hoop, complete with backboard, for a head. Various other rackets and sticks adorned its body, "Perhaps a good fight it what I need to blow off some steam", Riley said to himself as he pulled out his Dinovolver. He morphed and jumped down off the guardrail, landing on the ground below, "Hey stop right there", he called out to the monster.
"All by yourself green ranger", the monster replied.
"Look I've had a bad few days so why don't you give up before I get really annoyed", Riley summoned his Dino Blade and dropped into a battle stance.
"Rakattak doesn't surrender for anyone", the monster bellowed and threw a hockey stick at the green ranger. Riley dodged out the way of the stick and it crashed into the rock behind him, exploding on contact.
Several loose rocks fell down and almost crushed the green ranger, "Just when I'd thought I'd seen it all", Riley said before charging towards the monster. He swung his Dino Blade but Rakattak blocked it with a fencing saber of his own. Riley tried a couple more attacks but it appeared that the monster wasn't just sports themed, he was also good at various different sports as well. Riley jumped over another swing of Rakattak's blade, unleashing a kick in the process. The blow knocked the saber out of the monsters hand and pushed him away from the green ranger.
The pair continued to circle each other, "Not bad green ranger", Rakattak began, "but how good are you at soccer". Rakattak summoned four soccer balls and they dropped to the ground in front of him. The monster then kicked the balls in the direction of the green ranger. Riley again dodged three of them and like the hockey stick, they too exploded on contact with something solid.
As the fourth one came towards him, Riley held his blade like a baseball bat. He took a might swing and deflected the attack back on the monster, sending him crashing into a tree, "Sorry I'm more of a baseball fan", Riley called out. He then pulled out his communicator, "Guys this is Riley here, I've found a monster but I'm all by myself". He then paused to have a good look around, "I also have no idea where I am".
"Alright I think you've just earned some time in the sin bin", Rakattak bellowed and summoned a hockey puck into his hand. The item slammed into Riley's chest and sent him crashing into the cliff face. He dropped his blade and began to cough violently. A shadow loomed overhead as Rakattak approached him with an oversized baseball bat in hand, "I'm going to enjoy this", he taunted.
Suddenly a shrieked echoed throughout the hills. Riley initially thought it was his own Raptor Zord but then he looked up to the road where his car was parked. Looking over the battlefield was another zord, at first glance it was themed after the Pachycephalosaurus. It had a very dark grey colouring with a few yellow patches around its arms and legs. On top of its head was an oversized spiked ball that appeared to be attached to its tail. The zord gave another bellow and someone jumped down to the same level as Riley and the monster.
"Alright, show yourself", Rakattak called out, the green ranger now completely forgotten, "I knew the Pachy Zord was around here somewhere and now I claim it for the Legion of Deboss". The Pachy Zord cried out again, almost like it was telling the monster exactly what he thought about that.
The undergrowth behind to rustle and something slammed straight into Ratattak, sending the monster tumbling down another small hill. Riley looked up and saw the unmistakable silhouette of a ranger but this wasn't a ranger he was familiar with. The suit was the same style as his but the parts of his suit that were green were coloured grey on this mysterious new arrival. The helmet was also themed like his zord, a row of spikes around the top giving the appearance of a crown.
"That was a false start", Rakattak wheezed as he climbed back up to the rangers, "I wasn't ready". The new ranger wasn't giving him any time to recover either as he charged towards the monster, lowering his head in the process. Using the top of his head as a weapon, the new ranger propelled Ratattak further into the undergrowth. The grey ranger was announcing his arrival with an emphatic boom.
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N - Rather than use the "Graphite Ranger" name that's been rumoured, I'm sticking with "Grey Ranger". I do like the Graphite Ranger name but I stuck with naming the team after colours. Also look out for a past ranger cameo in the next chapter.