Chapter 49 – The Eternal Dinosaurs
Hunston Beach
Even though their leaders were gone, the Vivix weren't going down without a fight. Matt and Kiera dropped down low to the ground and fired their Dinovolvers, eliminating a few of their opponents permanently. The purple ranger swept the legs out from underneath another creature and fired her blaster in the chest of the monster. Meanwhile Matt lowered his head and headbutted one of the footsoldiers in to submission. He hiptossed another one on to the sand and blasted it in the head with his weapon, shattering the creature's skull.
With their side of the beach cleared, they looked up to the sky and could see the Ice Palace and the Ptera Zord flying off into the distance. From their angle it looked like the pair were looping back around towards the city, "They'll be fine", Matt tried to reassure the purple ranger.
"Yeah", Kiera sighed, "come on let's go and help out the two geriatrics", she joked and ran off to help the silver and aqua ranger.
In the shadow of the Ultrazord, Bastian moved with speed that defied his age. Quickly dodging a punch, he kicked a Vivix in the stomach before snapping its neck. Another couple of creature closed in on his and were able to land a couple of blow. He quickly countered by wrenching the blade out of the hands of one of the soldiers. He turned the weapon on its owner and stabbed it in the gut before pulling the blade out and slicing through the upper body of its friend. He paused for a moment as the Ptera Zord had returned and began thinning out the Vivix with a burst of golden lightning.
There were only a handful of Vivix left now and they were all closing in on the aqua ranger. Chloe backed up towards a nearby rock and kicked it towards the two soldiers who were closest to her. The rock crushed the chests of her target and they fell to the floor. With just two creatures remaining, she fired off a burst from her Dinovolver. The Vivix nearest to her was soon riddled with laser burn marks and collapsed into the soft sand. The aqua ranger tackled the last one to the ground just as the other three rangers approached her. With a click of their blasters they all fired into the body of the fallen footsoldier, terminating it and the remnants Legion of Deboss.
The four rangers demorphed and took in the state of the beach. It was covered in craters from the various explosions that had taken place there in the last 24 hours. The sand was still stained in parts from where the Ice Palace had planted itself in the ground and there were hundreds of fallen Vivix littering the beach. "The environmentalists aren't going to be pleased with us", Chloe commented to her team mates.
"Some say that the worst casualty of war is nature herself", Bastian replied.
"Do you write fortune cookies in your spare time?" Matt asked the silver ranger jokingly.
Suddenly they looked up to the sky as the Ice Palace shot overhead. They crouched down low to protect themselves against the debris falling from the rocky structure. Several large chunks slammed into the beach, tossing up more sand and dust into the atmosphere. "They're going to crash into the city", Chloe exclaimed.
"Plesio, Ptera", Kiera called out, "do what you can to help them". The two zords cried in acknowledgement and shot off in pursuit. Several agonising seconds later, they heard a massive crash and saw a large plume of smoke and dust thrown up into the air. Moments later the two zords returned and the Plesio screeched loudly, "The palace has crashed in the park", the purple ranger began, "it was heading into the center of the city but they were able to divert it away".
"What about the others?" Bastian asked the two zords. There was a non committal cry from the two airborne zords and they glided over towards the rest of the zords.
"Come on they might need our help", Chloe said and led the group up the path towards the top of the cliff. Without the obstruction of the rocky cliff face, they could see the damage the out of control ball of rock and crystal had caused. A radio communication tower was dangling dangerously off the edge of a building and was threatening to come down on a group of trapped civilians below.
"What's on the other side of that building?" Bastian asked as they approached the damaged radio tower.
"An old railway line", Matt replied, "other than that nothing".
"Good", the silver ranger slammed the Dino Float gem into his Dinovolver and used it to levitate the steel structure away from the people before letting it fall off the other side of the building.
"What part of secret identity don't you get?" Kiera hissed.
"Some things are more important", Bastian shrugged as he locked eyes with some of the trapped people. He used his Dinovolver again to move the largest pieces of debris so the civilians could escape. There was a large cheer of appreciation that the rangers responded to with a nervous wave.
Moving deeper into the city, they could see a damaged skyscraper that had been clipped by the palace. There were several people digging into the rubble to try and free potentially trapped civilians. Recognising a face in the crowd, Kiera ran over to the group, "Summer, what happened?"
"Something crashed into this building", Summer Landsdown replied, "we think no one was inside but several people were nearby".
"Any survivors?" Chloe asked.
The Landsdown heiress sighed, "I don't know but all of us are going to find out". She indicated to her boyfriend, Finchey the diner manager and Tyrelle Watkins before carrying on digging.
"Is my daughter not with you?" Tyrelle asked the purple ranger, recognising her from Summer's birthday party a few months previously.
"No", Kiera replied, "she was trying to stop the thing that hit this building", she paused for a moment, "we think it's crashed in the park".
Tyrelle nodded slowly, "Please help her", he said with a remorseful tone before returning to the pile of rubble.
"Come on, we need to find the others", Matt stated to the others.
The four rangers moved into the city square where the largest congregation of Vivix remains were. Unfortunately there were several civilian bodies as well, some of them battered beyond recognition, "I'm sorry, I forgot your parents were here", Chloe said to the grey ranger, grasping his hand for support.
"They're not amongst the dead", Matt replied, "at least I can't see them here", he could see a couple of bodies that looked like member's of Riley's fencing team but he was slightly relieved to see that Marissa wasn't there.
At the entrance of the park, a large crowd had formed trying to catch a glimpse of the wreckage. Matt then breathed a huge sigh of relief, "Mom, Dad, Marissa, you're alright". He ran up to the trio and wrapped them in a tight hug.
"We're tougher than we look son", his Dad replied.
After a few moments Marissa looked behind Matt but could only see three other rangers, "Where's Riley?"
Matt released the group and nodded in the direction of the damaged ice palace, "They tried to stop it from hitting the city", he began, "I guess they failed".
"No", his Mom cried, "not my baby".
"We don't know yet Claire", Kiera began, "we need to get over there".
"The police have sealed the area off", Michael began, holding on to his wife for support, "but they couldn't stop that pink hearted monster from getting to the wreckage".
"Jo", Chloe whispered.
The rangers quickly left the Griffins and Marissa behind as they pushed their way through the crowd, "I'm sorry guys but no one can enter the park", the officer in charge said.
"But you don't understand", Chloe began, "our families are over there".
"So are a lot of people's families ma'am", the officer replied, "now if you'll kindly step away from the tape".
"No you don't understand", Kiera began and pulled out her Dinovolver and Energem, "our families are in that wreckage". The others produced their morphers to an audible gasp from the gathered crowd, "My boyfriend was in that craft and so was their little brother's", she pointed to Matt and Chloe, "and his son", she pointed at Bastian. "Now please, we just want to see if they're alright". The officer was hesitant at first but the jeering from the crowd in support of the rangers soon persuaded him to lift the tape and let them through.
When they entered the park, they could see the huge scar in the grass where the Ice Palace had crashed into the ground. Several trees had been uprooted and lay splintered on the ground. They followed the scar until they saw the broken remains of the Ice Palace sitting in a huge crater. There was smoke and steam pouring out of the remains but no signs of the others.
They did though see someone standing at the edge of the crater. Jodella was in her human form, her heart shaped axe looking ridiculously big compared to her human body, "Jo", Matt called out, "any sign of them".
"No", she turned around, "and worst of all my eyes are leaking".
"That's because you're crying", Kiera gave her a small smile.
"Oh", Jodella dried her face with the back of her hand, "I'm not used to this kind of emotion", she sighed, "I don't like it at all".
"Neither do we", Bastian replied and looked down into the crater, "come on son, please be alright".
"What about Chaos?" Jodella asked the rangers.
"Gone", Chloe replied, "we vaporised him with the Ultrazord and stopped the meteor but he then turned the palace into a flying wrecking ball".
"The flight controls?" the former Deboss general gasped, "they've been inactive for so long I completely forgot they even existed". She paused for a moment, "So that's what Chaos was up to last week, I'm sorry if I had known I would've told you".
"It's not your fault", Matt began, "I doubt we could've done anything to prevent it from happening anyway". The smoke from the destroyed Ice Palace was beginning to subside, making things a little clearer to see, "Maybe we should think about a rescue plan", the grey ranger said to Bastian.
Suddenly they heard movement from the crater and they took a couple of paces back, fearful that someone from the Legion had survived. A human hand appeared over the end of the crater and hauled himself over the top. His clothes were burned and his face blackened with soot but there was no mistaking who is was, "Koda!" Chloe cried and threw her arms around him.
"Ow ow ow", Koda hissed, "watch the body, it's a little tender".
"The others?" Bastian asked.
"That's my Dad", Tyler voice called out as he clambered over the top, "straight to the point as always". He reached down and helped Shelby out and the pink ranger let out a horrible sounding cough as her lungs took on some fresh air. Bastian immediately enveloped the red and pink rangers in a bone crushing hug.
A large blue sword dug into the edge of the crater as Ivan hauled himself over the top, rolling on to his back, "Ivan", Jodella threw her arms around his neck, "I was so worried my eyes began to leak".
"Erm, thanks", the gold ranger replied rather nervously.
Matt looked down into the crater and saw his younger brother struggling to climb the rocky crater so he reached down and pulled him to the surface, "Thanks bro", Riley choked and wiped the dirt from his face.
"Don't mention it", the grey ranger replied, "aren't we missing someone".
"Chase", Kiera called out, "come on don't do your stupid dramatic late entrance thing". There was silence and no sign of the black ranger, "Chase if you die on me I won't be happy", she sunk to her knees and a couple of tears rolled down her face.
"Geez what's all the yelling about", Chase said from the behind the other rangers, "I don't know why you didn't follow my lead, the climb was much easier on that side".
"You utter bastard", Kiera cried and punched him in the stomach, "that's for making us think you were dead", she reached up and kissed him, "and that's for being alive".
"Don't mention it", Chase smiled as he stumbled over to the others and sat down on the ground. Like the others he wasn't quite sure how he managed to survive.
"I guess we really did have some guardian spirits watching out for us", Tyler said, drawing a huge laugh from the others.
"Urgh I feel like I could sleep for a week", Koda groaned.
"Come on, let's get you checked out", Bastian said and help Tyler and Shelby to their feet. As the group limped towards the entrance of the park, a great cheer could be heard from the gathered crowd. A huge chant of 'Power Rangers' could be heard as they got closer to the police cordon.
"Chase stop waving like an idiot at them", Shelby whispered to the black ranger.
"Come on we've got to milk this whilst we can", the black ranger replied. The others grudgingly agreed with him and soon they too were waving to their supporters.
"I feel like we're on stage at a theatre", Koda said to the others.
"Just as long as they don't want an encore", Tyler began, "I think we've all had enough excitement for one lifetime". The rangers chuckled, they couldn't agree more with the red ranger. With the Legion of Deboss finally defeated, the question asked themselves what were they going to do now?
A/N - So that's almost it, the fighting's done and the ranger's saved the world. I remember joking with someone that this story would probably be finished before Dino Charge came back form hiatus and it looks like I was right. There will be a short epilogue coming on Sunday which will wrap everything up so see you all then.