Chapter 44 – The First Wave
Dino Mansion Lab
None of the rangers had been able to get much sleep the previous night. The threat of an upcoming apocalypse would make anyone a little restless but this was especially true for the people tasked with stopping it. Thanks to the information supplied by Jodella, Kiera had been able to determine that the meteor was due to hit at around 2pm tomorrow. This gave them just over 24 hours to find a solution to the problem. To ease the burden on the purple ranger, she had assembled something she had nicknamed 'The Council of Geniuses'. "Alright so we've all had a few hours to think about the problem", Kiera began, "anyone got any suggestions?"
"Other than finding this Chaos guy and kicking his backside", Ethan James began, "I've got nothing".
"I see our tax dollars are being spent well over at SPD", Cam Watanabe, the Green Samuari Ranger for the Ninja Storm team replied.
"Not really helpful Cam", Kiera rubbed her temples, "how about you Dad?"
"Aquitar could send a fleet out to help divert the incoming meteor", Billy stated.
"I've already thought about that", Justin Stewart interjected. Long gone was his pudding bowl style hair cut, it was now short and spiky and he had thick stubble covering his chin, "I've used the NASADA systems to simulate that scenario and you would need a least a week to get any Aquitian ship here".
"Despite Ethan's blasé way of putting it, defeating the bad guy usually works in situations like this", Cam offered in a more serious tone.
Kiera shook her head, "According to our source, Chaos and Master Deboss have thought of that. The meteor isn't attached to their life force".
"Is this source realiable?" Rose Ortiz, the Pink Operation Overdrive ranger asked.
The purple ranger thought about this for a moment. The presence of Jodella in the Mansion last night had caused a bit of tension but Ivan had offered to vouch for her personally. "There's nothing to indicate she's lying, I mean even monsters have a survival instinct sometimes".
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the monster alarm, "Sorry guys, duty calls. I'll catch up with you later". She shut down the conference call and pulled up a map of the city, there were two powerful energy signatures moving through the downtown area.
"Can't they give us a moment's peace", Chase groaned as he and the other rangers appeared in the lab. All of them were looking curiously at the human Jodella standing closely to the gold ranger.
"Looks like trouble", Kiera said as she pulled up the traffic cameras to show Fury and Sorrow searching the city.
"What could they be looking for?" Riley asked the others.
Jodella sighed audibly, "Me" she stated.
"I knew you were more trouble than you were worth", Chloe snorted.
"Believe it or not, I do have some value to the Legion", Jodella replied, "the Master wouldn't want to see me destroyed in the meteor strike".
"This is just the opportunity we've been looking for", Tyler began, "maybe if we can defeat the two remaining Deboss Generals, it'll force Chaos out into the open".
"It's a risky strategy", Chase stated, "but right now I don't think we've got much to lose". The others nodded slowly in agreement with the black ranger.
"Alright so here's the plan, we'll split into two teams of five", Tyler said, "I'll lead a team consisting of the original rangers, myself, Chase, Koda, Riley and Shelby". He then turned to the gold ranger, "Ivan will lead Chloe, Matt, Kiera and Dad".
"We're going after Fury", Ivan replied, "I've got some scores to settle with him".
"So that leaves us with Sorrow", Tyler fetched the Maximum Energem from the rack and handed it to Ivan.
"Here take this", Kiera threw one of her gems to the black ranger, "call on the Plesio Zord if you need to. We're overflowing with Megazord's on this side", Chase nodded in appreciation at the purple ranger.
"Now Jodella you've got the most important job of the lot", Tyler said, much to the eagerness of the former villainess, "keep an eye on the monitors and don't break anything". Jodella pouted and reluctantly took her seat behind the computer. With assignments handed out, the rangers moved out towards their given targets.
Hunston Valley Stadium
General Fury smiled with joy as the humans scrambled to get away from him. Even though he knew that the planet was doomed, he still wanted to cause a bit of mayhem before the end came. Plus he couldn't stand the thought of the red or gold rangers being killed by lump of rock rather than his blade. There was something almost dishonourable about that. He didn't care which one he found first, hopefully they would save him the trouble of searching and both turn up together.
"Hold it right there Fury", Ivan called out as his team skidded to halt in front of the general.
"Ah Ivan my old friend", Fury began, "I see the B-Team have come with you".
"Hey watch who you're calling the B-Team", Matt shot back.
"Calm yourself Matthew", Bastian said with his calm, deep voice, "controlling your emotions in battle will make you a better warrior".
"Can we get on with this", Fury responded with an impatient tone, "I need to track down the red ranger after this battle and gut him with my blade". Bastian tightened his grip on his Dinovolver but chose not to respond.
"Careful what you wish for Fury", Ivan replied and loaded his morpher, "Ptera Brace, Dino Charge".
"Dino Spirits, Dino Charge", the others added and they all morphed in a flash of light. All of them pulled out a bladed weapon and prepared for the inevitable attack from Fury.
The general didn't keep them waiting long and fired off a strong pulse of lightning towards the gold ranger. In return, Ivan intercepted the energy blast and deflected it away from his team mates. Fury and the gold ranger then engaged in a brief but vicious duel. Every time their blades clashed together, a loud clap of thunder echoed throughout the deserted car park. Eventually Ivan got the upper hand and nicked Fury in the side with his blade, "Not bad gold ranger", he spat as he checked his hand for blood, "perhaps I should thin the numbers before facing you again".
Fury leapt over Ivan and turned his attention to the two youngest rangers amongst the group. Matt and Kiera raised their blades simultaneously to block Fury's sword but they were knocked back by the force of the blow. Kiera regained her feet first and jumped over Fury's swing, kicking him in the head for good measure. It was then the turn of the grey ranger to slice through the arm of Fury, drawing blood from the General, "Not so cocky now are you?" Matt said with a smile.
"It'll take more than that to defeat me", Fury roared and slammed his sword into the ground. A strong pulse of electricity travelled through the earth towards the grey and purple rangers.
"Not so fast sparky", Chloe called out with her Anklyo Hammer in hand. Bastian jumped in beside her and in unison they both hit the ground. Their blast blocked Fury's energy pulse and sent it back from whence it came. The general bellowed in pain from his own lightning attack as he was thrown in the air, colliding with a street light in the process.
"We've got him on the ropes", Bastian began, "maybe we should use the Maximum gem now".
Ivan began to retrieve the gem but he noticed that Fury was nowhere to seen. Before the rangers could react, they were sliced with a bladed weapon across their chests. They fell to the ground with smoke pouring from their suits, "And that is exactly why you can't beat me rangers", Fury chuckled, "now if you'll excuse me I'm off to find a more worthy opponent", he turned around and began to slowly walk away.
The gold ranger clenched his fist and smashed into the ground, "It's not over yet Fury", he shouted and slowly got to his feet. This was the cue for the rest of his team to do the same and moments later they leapt over Fury's shoulders and blocked his path.
"Impossible", Fury cried and charged up his blade with energy. Ivan quickly loaded his Thunder Blade with his Energems and the two energy blasts slammed into each other. The recoil from the attack struck Fury's blade and the golden weapon shattered into a thousand pieces. The general barely got a chance to bemoan this turn of fate as he was struck with an upward swing of Chloe's Anklyo Hammer. He sailed high into the air where Kiera's Plesio Rocket slammed into his chest.
"Wow he's gone a long way", Matt commented as Fury disappeared through the sky.
"We need to find him before he can craft a new sword", Ivan said to the others, "let's go". The group summoned a Dino Cycle each and set off in pursuit of the general.
Hunston Park
"Hey tin man", Tyler called out as he and the other rangers finally caught up to General Sorrow. The team had already morphed and were ready to fight.
"Leave me alone rangers", Sorrow groaned, "can't you see I'm in mourning".
"Mourning?" Shelby asked curiously, "what could you possibly have to mourn?"
"My lost love", Sorrow groaned, "she was perfect for me but she never even noticed I was alive". He sighed loudly, "Oh Jodella, you really are lost to me".
The rangers looked at each other, there had been no previous indication that Sorrow had any kind of affection for Jodella."I hope she's listening to this", Riley said quietly the rest of the team, "this is possibly the weirdest love triangle ever".
Unfortunately his voice wasn't quiet enough as Sorrow heard what he said, "You know where she is?" he asked and drew his battle axe, "tell me where she is or I'll cut you in two".
"Sorry we're going to have to decline that offer", Koda replied and fired off a quick blast from his Dinovolver. The metal man dodged out the way before charging towards the rangers, his first target was the blue ranger. Koda ducked his initial swing and elbowed Sorrow in the abdomen. Unfortunately this didn't cause much damage to his metal shell and the general kicked him away without much effort.
Riley came in next with his Dino Blade and he aimed for the lower body of the general. Despite his size, Sorrow was quick on his feet and he nimbly avoided the attack. He tried to slice through Riley's back but the green ranger sensed the attack and held up his blade to defend himself. Rolling to the ground, he cut into the legs of Sorrow which drew some oil from the metal man. The general was furious and swiftly swung his axe in the direction of the green ranger. The sharp blade sliced Riley across the chest and rolled across the ground in considerable pain.
"Maybe it's time to mix this up", Shelby said and loaded the Dino Inflate gem into her weapon. The beam hit the general and he slowly begun to inflate, his metal body groaning under the strain.
"Curse you pink ranger", Sorrow groaned as he struggled to hold his weapon. He decided to throw his axe towards the pink ranger before he lost the flexibility in his arm. The throw wasn't strong but his aim was true and it struck Shelby on the arms, causing her to drop her Dinovolver. With the effects of the gem broken, Sorrow slowly returned to his normal size.
Unfortunately he was now unarmed and exposed to the attacks from the red and black rangers. Using the edge of his Para Shot, Chase raked it down the body of Sorrow before blasting him from point blank range. The general tumbled across the ground, only to walk into the Tyranno Fang of the red ranger. Tyler smashed his weapon into the face of Sorrow, leaving a huge dent in his head.
"Don't you know it's not nice to hit a lady", Shelby called out and rammed her Tricera Drill into the upper body of Sorrow, puncturing his chest compartment.
Sorrow begun to frantically look around for his weapon but it was nowhere to be seen, "Looking for this", Koda called out and tossed the weapon between his hands. He threw it up into the air allowing Riley to slice through the weapon with his Raptor Claw. The battle axe shattered into tiny metal pieces.
"My precious axe", Sorrow cried and a few oily tears rolled down his battered face.
"Now perhaps we'll get some answers", Tyler stated as he pointed his Dinovolver at the metal man. Before Sorrow could say anything, a loud thud knocked the rangers off their feet. They looked over at the source of the crash and were surprised to see a bruised and beaten Fury clawing his way out of a small crater.
"Oh Fury, what have they done to you", Sorrow said as he moved towards his fellow General.
"They've broken my damn weapon that's what they've done", Fury roared, "it's our only way back to the Ice Palace. We need to use your weapon and get out of here quickly".
"Yeah about that", Sorrow said evasively.
The rangers swore that electric sparked from the eyes of General Fury, "You idiot", he bellowed, "how could you be so careless?"
"Hey don't get annoyed at me, your weapon's gone as well", Sorrow replied, earning him a smack around the head, "alright that wasn't the time to remind you of that".
"Never mind, at least I've managed to lose the other rangers", Fury tried to reassure himself.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that", Koda responded and pointed at the five Dino Cycles approaching him at speed. They circled the two villains before getting off their bikes and walked slowly towards them.
"Fancy meeting you here", Ivan stated to the other rangers. All ten rangers formed a circle around Sorrow and Fury, making sure there was no escape for the duo.
"Didn't Chaos warn us to keep all of them separate from each other?" Sorrow whispered to his fellow general. Fury growled in response as the rangers begun to close in on the pair, desperate to find a way to stop the incoming meteor from slamming into their planet.
TO BE CONTINED