Chapter 45 – The Fall Of The Generals
Hunston Park
Fury frantically looked around for an escape route but the rangers had done a pretty good job of boxing him in. Even without his weapon, Fury still considered himself a strong opponent but going against ten rangers would be difficult. With General Sorrow proving himself to be more than useless, Fury considered throwing him to the wolves as a distraction. But he knew that Master Chaos would be displeased with him if he did that. He needed to stall the rangers, perhaps he could catch them offguard, "Alright you've got us right where you wanted", Fury began, "now what, are you going to execute us".
The general was pleased to see the hesitation amongst the group, none of them wanted to kill an unarmed enemy, not even two of Chaos' strongest generals. "We need some information from you first", Tyler replied, "if we think you're telling the truth, we'll let you go?"
"You will?" Fury asked sceptically.
"Really?" Chase asked his leader in a hushed whisper.
"It's a human trait called mercy, perhaps the Deboss should experience it for once", Tyler said.
Fury snorted with laughter, "So we can show it to you puny planet, forget it red ranger".
"We've got the advantage here Fury", Ivan continued, "either you tell us what we want to know or you both die. It's up to you".
From his position on the floor, Sorrow grabbed Fury's pants, "Maybe we should listen to them".
"Quiet moron", Fury shoved his fellow general way. He stood in silence for a few moments before continuing, "What's in it for us?"
"You get to live", Shelby called out, "something your boss clearly didn't want you to do".
The general roared and started to move towards the pink ranger but the sound of several weapons charging up stopped him in his tracks. "Use your brain for once Fury", Chase began, "Chaos kicked you out the only safe place on the planet to find a traitor. Do you think he really wants to share the power with you?"
Fury didn't want to admit it but the black ranger had a point. Maybe this had been one big double cross by Chaos all along. Fury and Sorrow had done most of the hard work over the last few months. Chaos hid behind his books and his close link with the Master whilst Jodella pranced around like the giant air head she was. Fury though was a warrior and if he was going to die, he was going down like a warrior.
He kept his hands raised as he approached the red ranger before suddenly kicking his Dinovolver out of his hand. Fury dropped down low out to prevent the other rangers from attacking. As they were positioned in a circle, any attack would've hit one of their own. From his crouched position, Fury kicked the black ranger in the legs, knocking him to the ground. He then grabbed the grey ranger around the waist and dragged him to the ground, "You could help me you know", Fury bellow to his fellow general.
"You seem to have the situation under control", Sorrow snivelled from behind him.
The pink and purple rangers moved in front of Fury and kicked him in the stomach with a simultaneous kick. The general rubbed his stomach before charging towards his opponents. Shelby blocked a couple of punches but Fury soon caught her around the head with his elbow and she stumbled away. Kiera flipped to one side out of Fury's reach and fired her Dinovolver. The shots only skimmed Fury and he was able to continue his charge towards the purple ranger. He kicked her firming in the chest and sent the teen tumbling to the ground.
Fury now had a clear path back to the Ice Palace but before he could run, he was shot in the back by multiple blasters. He fell to the ground and saw the silver, aqua and blue rangers standing over him with their weapons drawn, "Perhaps we'll try this again Fury", Koda said with a cold edge to his voice.
The general looked around, Sorrow obviously wasn't going to help him and the rangers he had attacked were slowly recovering. He put his hand behind his back and slowly pulled out a golden coloured dagger, being careful to keep it hidden, "Alright I'll talk", he said as he got back to his feet. He spied his target rubbing the back of his head and with his back to him.
General Fury suddenly lunged for Tyler and pulled his arm over his head. Before he could strike, he felt a searing pain going through his stomach and he dropped the dagger. He looked into the visor of the gold ranger and then down to his abdomen. Ivan's Thunder Blade was firmly imbedded in his stomach, "They don't call me Ivan the Bloody for nothing Fury", Ivan stated and quickly pulled out his sword. Fury staggered back and collapsed to his knees.
"At least you got nothing out of me", Fury spluttered before he flopped into the dirt face first. His body slowly crumbled into dust, the wind blowing the ashes to the four corners of the park.
There was silence for a moment before General Sorrow suddenly felt everyone eyes were on him, "P-Please don't kill me", he stammered.
"Tell us what we want to know and we won't have to", Bastian replied.
"Alright, you need to deactivate the summoning device from inside the Ice Palace", Sorrow replied, "only that will stop the meteor".
"Can't we just blow it up?" Koda asked.
Sorrow shook his head, "I don't know, magic like this is incredibly unstable, far beyond my level of expertise".
"Alright I'm convinced", Tyler replied and lowered his weapon, "go, before we change our minds".
The general backed away slowly, convinced that it must be some kind of trap. When none of the rangers showed the slightest interest in shoot, he broke into a run, "Are you sure that's wise", Chase asked his leader, "letting him run loose in the world".
"We'll worry about that another time", the red ranger replied, "we don't want to waste our energy in an unnecessary battle".
"You've changed man", Riley stated, "a few months ago you would've charged off after the guy".
"Remember the first time we fought the Vivix outside the Diner?" Kiera added.
Tyler remembered that day well. He recklessly searched the city for more Vivix to fight, "I guess we've all changed, hopefully for the better", the others slowly nodded in agreement.
"Alright this is getting to mushy for my taste", Chase began, "lets get down to the beach".
Koda sighed, "Some things will never change though", he chuckled as the rangers departed for the beach.
Hunston beach
The formerly pristine sands of Hunston Beach had been stained black by the presence of the Ice Palace. The green crystalline structure had buried itself into the sand with the tops of the palace reaching up towards the sky like towers. Emanating from the ground around the palace were black patches and a large quantity of ice. Periodically the highest peak of the palace pulsed with a faint amber glow. The rangers looked down at the palace from the top of a nearby cliff, "Maybe no one's home?" Chloe said to the others.
"He's in there alright", Bastian replied, "I can sense the evil resonating from the place".
"I reckon the source of the tractor beam it up there", Chase pointed to the pulsing Amber light.
"Question is, how do we get up there?" Matt replied, "that must be at least 300 feet in the air".
Tyler thought about this problem for a moment, "Why don't we use the Titano Zord? In warrior mode it's lance could easily knock it off".
"Yeah but remember what Sorrow said", Kiera began, "we don't know what could happen if we destroy it. We might not be able to stop the meteor if we do that".
The rangers were so busy discussing their plan that they failed to noticed a pulse of green lightning heading towards them. It struck the cliff below them and caused the rock to crumble, sending the rangers plummeting to the ground below. Fortunately the quick actions of Koda to use the Dino Float Energem on them stopped them from slamming into the ground and they gently floated down to earth.
When everyone was back on their feet, they tried to find the source of the lightning. They soon got their answer as a green skinned creature walked slowly towards them. His arms, legs and torso were tinged with a magenta colour and his large shoulders were a shade of orange. The creatures face looked like a snarling dinosaur, complete with a orange fin on top of its head. In its hand was a massive sword, "Greetings rangers, I've been expecting you".
"Chaos?" Ivan asked, "I think I liked your previous look".
"Well green isn't really my colour but it was a small price to pay", Chaos replied. "You did a good job of injuring Master Deboss rangers, so good in fact that he struggled to regain his body. That's when I hit upon an idea, he should merge his essence with one of his most faithful followers".
"Lemme guess, you volunteered yourself", Riley deadpanned.
"Who else was worthy enough", Chaos chuckled, "that simpering rust bucket Sorrow, the idiotic Jodella or that poster boy for anger management Fury? Don't make me laugh". He paused for a moment, "Since none of them are here, I take it they're gone".
"More or less", Tyler shrugged, not wanting to give too much away.
"Pity, I could use some cannon fodder", Chaos raised his sword, "you just can't get the staff these days". A pulse of green lightning shot towards the rangers and they scattered in all directions. Chaos turned his attention to the blue, aqua and green rangers first, swinging his mighty sword in their direction. Koda barely had enough time to summon his shield before the blow struck. The blue ranger's knees buckled and he was thrown to the sand. Chloe kicked Chaos in the leg but he didn't even flinch before throwing the aqua ranger across the beach like a rag doll. Riley tried to use his Dino Blade but the creature blocked the attack effortlessly. Chaos knocked the blade out of Riley's hand and punched him in the chest. The green ranger tumbled through the air and crashed back to earth with a thud.
"Leave my little brother alone", Matt bellowed and unleashed a barrage from his Dinovolver. The blasts struck Chaos and he recoiled in pain. Ivan joined in the attack with a powerful blast of lightning from his Thunder Blade. There was a large explosion and dust and sand was thrown up into the air.
"That can't be it", Kiera whispered to the other rangers. Suddenly through the dust cloud came several pulses of green lightning. They struck Matt, Ivan, Kiera and Bastian in the chest and the quartet were thrown across the beach, slamming into the nearby cliff face. Their bodies pulsed with energy before they demorphed.
"Come on rangers I expected a tougher challenge than this", Chaos laughed as he finally emerged from the dust. Tyler looked around and saw that his team had been decimated, only himself, Chase and Shelby were uninjured. Koda, Chloe and Riley were struggling to their feet but the others weren't going to be much use for a few minutes. "Come one red ranger strike me down, I'll even make it easy for you", Chaos arrogantly threw his sword to the ground.
The red ranger paused, desperately wanting to attack. But that was the old him, the hot-headed Tyler. The new Tyler needed to come to fore right now, "Shel how long until the meteor hits", he asked the pink ranger.
"Hard to tell since the suits don't come with a watch", she replied sarcastically, "but I would say that we have at least 19 hours".
Tyler nodded in acknowledgement, "Alright everyone fall back", he called out loudly before turning to the black ranger, "Help anyone who can't mov to the nearest teleportation point".
"You're the boss", Chase nodded.
"Running away already rangers", Chaos laughed, "you're planet is a good as doomed". The taunt fell on deaf ears as the rangers slowly stumbled away from the beach.
Dino Mansion
The mood in the lab was gloom to say the least. With the countdown now at 18 hours, they were quickly running out of time to stop Chaos. Fortunately none of the rangers had been seriously injured by Chaos' attacks but they needed to rest up before going back into battle. All ten of them along with Jason had squeezed into the lab to discuss their options, "Do we actually need to beat Chaos?" Chloe asked, "I mean if we just stopped the meteor couldn't we worry about the scaly freak another time?"
"Potentially yes", Kiera replied, "but there would be nothing stopping him summoning anyone meteor straight away".
"So we'd be back to square one", Matt sighed.
Silence descended again before Koda spoke up, "So what do we do now, sit here and wait for the next attack?"
"No", Tyler replied, "we rest up because tomorrow morning we're taking that palace and stopping that meteor". He took a deep breath before continuing, "Tonight though I'm going to spend it with the one I love", he looked over to Shelby, "and I suggest you do the same".
The other rangers nodded and slowly began to file out of the lab, all except for Jason and Bastian, "That was a good speech son", his Dad stated, "I couldn't be more proud of you".
Tyler smiled, "Thanks Dad".
"I'll admit I had my reservations about you", Jason began, "but you've turned out to be a fine red ranger". He held out his hand, "Welcome to the red club Tyler", he smiled.
"Thanks", Tyler responsed, "Jason", he grasped his mentors hand before pulling him into a one armed hug. He then turned to his Dad and gave his a firm hug as well, "I love you Dad".
"I love you too Tyler", Bastian replied, "now don't keep that girl of yours waiting", the red ranger let go of his father and slowly walked towards the door. He was going to make the most of tonight because tomorrow could be the day that everything changed, or possibly came to an end.
A/N - Bit of a rest in the next chapter before the true final battle begins, can't believe that I've nearly finished this story and Dino Charge still isn't back from hiatus...