At Kendall's apartment, Kendall, Shelby, Ivan and Erin were waiting for Chase to return with the pizza. Ivan and Erin had begun a game of chess, while Shelby and Kendall continued to sort through Shelby's books, looking to figure out which ones Kendall already owned and so Shelby didn't need at the apartment.
"Ivan's kind of a strange name for someone from England." She commented as he contemplated his move. He looked up a little, considering what she had said. "I mean...it sounds more Russian or something."
"Oh, I'm not from England. I'm from Zandar." He told her.
"Zandar?" She asked. "Like that prince that just arrived a few months back?"
"Yes, just like him." Ivan explained. "The etymology of my name is somewhat mixed. Zandar was created by immigrants from a number of European nations."
"Wow, that's really interesting." She said, playing with her glass of iced tea as she continued to observe him while he looked for his next move on the board. "So, are there a lot of Zandarians? You know...family? Wife? Girlfriend?"
"Your friend isn't very subtle is she?" Kendall asked Shelby. Shelby just rolled her eyes.
"She never has been." She remarked.
"No family to speak of, sadly my kin have long since departed." Ivan told her. "It has been quite some time since I courted a young lady."
"Courted?" Erin asked, grinning a little as he picked up his piece, a knight, and moved it into position.
"Check." He said as she completed his move with a smile. Erin looked to the board, before picking up her piece.
"I've got you right where I want you." She responded, making her move and removing his knight. "Queen takes knight. Checkmate!"
"That...that was...how did...?" Ivan stammered, checking the board from all angles, trying to figure out how he had missed her move, and hoping to find some way out of it. Kendall's Dino Comm bleeped. She remembered Erin was in the room and went into her room to take the call. Shelby made her way to the table.
"Erin, I've kept you long enough. I can't take up your whole weekend." Shelby said as she picked up Erin's jacket, offering it to her. "How about I give you a lift home?"
"No, it's alright, I don't mind staying, pizza sounds pretty good." Erin told her, watching as Ivan continued to try and figure out how he had been caught out. He had been taught by some of the best scholars in Zandar how to play, but he had not seen how Erin had managed to back him into a corner. "Besides, I haven't really had much of a chance to meet your other friends. I'd really like to!"
"I'm afraid that's going to have to wait." Kendall told her as she arrived. "That was...uh...the museum. There's an emergency there, we need to go."
"An emergency?" Erin asked. "What happened? Is there anything I can do to help?"
"I'm afraid it's really quite technical, I need the team." Kendall said apologetically, handing Erin some cash. "Here, get a cab. I heard there's something going on in the city. I'd hate for you to get caught up in it."
"Oh...OK." Erin responded as Shelby gave her the jacket and all but started throwing her out the door. "Well, I'll see you Monday Shelbster. I hope your emergency isn't too serious."
"Sorry about this Erin!" Shelby called after her. "See you Monday!"
Kendall opened up her computer, pulling up her tracking software.
"There are alien bio signs in the city." She confirmed. "Tyler and Chase are already out there."
"That must be why Chase is so late with the pizza." Ivan remarked as he finally gave up on figuring out how Erin had beaten him. He nudged the board, scattering the pieces. "Let us do real battle. I can sharpen my game another time."
Back at the site of the battle, Tyler and Chase were struggling to make headway against Singe. That was to say, it was virtually impossible for them to get close. Between the power of his blaster, and the fact he was incredibly trigger-happy meant they spent most of their time fleeing for their lives.
"Doesn't that thing ever run out of ammo?" Chase complained. "This guy's laying down more firepower than the A-Team!"
"Just as well he's as just as accurate." Tyler commented. Unfortunately, almost as soon as he'd said that, he saw an old lady, who must have gotten disorientated in her attempt to flee, running right into one of the explosions, before hitting the ground.
"I'm on it!" Chase told him, running off to check on the old woman. As he arrived, it looked more like she was just shaken up than injured, but Chase didn't want to take any chances. Despite meaning he'd have to leave Tyler, his first priority had to be to make sure she got out of the way. He heard a horn blaring, and a yellow truck came swinging past. A young, blonde guy climbed out the window, looking over the roof of the truck.
"Hey, Black Ranger! Over here!" He called out. "Put her in the back! We'll get her out of here!"
"Here, let me help you ma'am." Chase said, helping the old lady up, and taking her to the truck, opening the back door. He helped her inside, fastening her seatbelt.
"Thank you young man." The old lady commended him.
"Thank these two." Chase told her, looking to the guy, and the young woman in the seat next to him. "She doesn't seem hurt, but take her to the hospital to be on the safe side."
"Sure thing Black Ranger." The young lady responded, gunning the engines. "Let's go to Amber Beach you said, take in a museum tour, it'll be fun!"
"I thought the monsters were gone Hayley!" He protested. "We both watched that ship crash on the news."
"I swear to God Calvin, from now on I pick where we go on dates!" Hayley responded as she pulled away. "Maybe then we won't get into scrapes like this again!"
Chase returned to the battle, just as Tyler flew through the air and hit the ground. He pulled out another Dino Charger. Figuring that Singe was relying on firepower, he hoped that by escalating his own arsenal a little perhaps he'd find that Singe was more flash than substance.
"Dino Armour X Charger!" Chase called out, diving towards him. "Time to teach you a lesson! Spiral Attack!"
Chase unfortunately lost hope as Singe caught him in the air, halting the attack. He could feel the impact, he had caught Singe full in the chest, but it didn't seem to do much more than irritate him. As his grip stopped Chase spinning, he threw him into the air.
"My turn!" Singe called out, firing his blaster into Chase, knocking him out of his armoured mode. He just dusted off his chest like he didn't care at all about the attack and started to walk towards the downed Rangers. "No more heroes or hero headaches."
"Wrong!" Riley called out as he leapt into view. Having been out jogging in the city, he was a lot closer to the action than Kendall and the others. Hearing the explosions he'd started to make his way over. Phillipe wasn't far behind him, having come from the Embassy, which was only a few blocks away. "Lots more heroes!"
"And we pack a punch!" Phillipe called out, launching into his Royal Ranger Punch. Since though just seemed to bat it back, causing it to slam into the Graphite Ranger and knock him down.
"Tyler, Chase, are you guys alright?" Shelby asked as she and the others arrived.
"We'll be a lot better once this guy goes down." Tyler snarled. Ivan gripped his Ptera Sabre.
"Who is this walking candlestick?" He asked them. Singe just gripped the handle of what appeared to be a sword on his belt.
"Let me show you!" He announced, before drawing his sword. An energy wave flew out that hit the whole team, knocking all of them down. Singe admired his handiwork as Wrench finally felt confident enough, seeing him put his blaster away, to emerge from his hiding place. He gripped his forehead. "Oh, my headache is getting worse."
"You're complaining about a HEADACHE?" Wrench yelled at him. "You have them on the ropes! Finish them off!"
Singe just looked to him, keeping his calm demeanour in check, but his anger was flaring up. His kind were used to living deep within the mantle of their home world, which meant higher altitudes, even just ground level, were greatly uncomfortable for them. The reduced atmospheric pressure meant that the energies within him didn't receive the same resistance at ground level and started to expand as time went on. It was painful, but also draining, and potentially lethal if he didn't keep it in check. He barely noticed as the Rangers finally got back up.
"You'll have more than a headache when we're through with you!" Chase yelled as they charged for him.
"FLAME FLARE!" He called out, firing off a massive column of flame that destroyed everything in its path! The heat was so intense that the tarmac melted as it surged forward, and the Rangers were fortunate to throw themselves out of the way. The column of intense flame destroyed everything in its path for close to a mile beyond them. It was a powerful attack that also served to reduce some of the pressure from the energies within Singe, like hitting the release valve on a steam pipe, but at the same time it left him feeling significantly drained. He managed to feign strength and look confident, but he knew it would be a while before his energies would return to a level where he could face the whole team at once.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to finish you another day. My head is killing me!" Singe told them. "Until then, you might want to enjoy your remaining time on Earth. I guarantee it won't be long."
They all watched as he disappeared, leaving Wrench behind. Wrench saw the position he was in, and even with the weakened state of the Rangers decided better of it and ran. None of the team were in any fit state to follow.
"That was intense!" Chase said breathlessly as they all got together.
"Who was that guy?" Shelby asked.
"He called himself Singe." Chase relayed to the team. "Whoever he is, I think we can safely say he's not a normal monster. He's on a whole different tier to the others."
"The ringing in my ears confirms that much." Riley stated. "How do we fight something like that?"
"That...is a VERY good question." Kendall sighed. "Come on; let's get back to the base. We can try and think of something there."
Back on the ship, Heckyl was in the control room when Singe arrived. Hearing the door opening, he turned around in his chair, a goblet in his hand, holding a drink.
"Master Heckyl, I see you were watching." Singe stated, noting the monitors that had been tuned into the battle in the city. Heckyl looked to the monitors and then back at him.
"Well, Wrench does have SOME uses." He commented.
"Then I presume you're impressed." Singe said without any sense of irony in his voice. He had indeed made a statement in his first encounter with the Rangers. It had been clear that the Rangers were anything but prepared for someone of his power.
"Impressed? I don't know if I'd say that's the word I'd use." Heckyl responded as he gave him a somewhat quizzical expression. "Tell me; don't you think you're...missing something?"
"Missing something?" He asked in response.
"Where are the Energems that you promised me?" Heckyl asked him. Singe just smiled in response. Wrench stumbled in the door at that point, having finally caught up after being abandoned to his own devices when Singe had quit the battle.
"Patience is a virtue Master Heckyl. I have a plan that will make taking the Energems as easy as...what is that expression? Oh, that's it, as easy as taking Candy from a baby."
"I'm hearing a lot of talking, but I'm not seeing many results Singe." Heckyl answered. "When you had the Rangers down, why didn't you just deal with them then?"
"Why deal with them at all when I don't have to?" Singe asked him, rummaging in his belongings. Eventually, he pulled out what looked a lot like a flash drive out and showed it to him. "This contains a computer virus that will disrupt the Rangers' weapons systems. Imagine how much easier it will be to defeat them when they're left without any way of defending themselves."
"That's your plan? You should have finished the Rangers when you had the chance." Wrench scoffed in response. "You'll never get it onto their computer system."
"He has a point; I'd be interested to hear how you intend to put that virus onto their systems." Heckyl agreed as he looked on in interest. "I mean, it's not like you can waltz up to their computers and just plug it in without someone noticing."
"Oh, but I don't have to. I have, or rather, you have, the perfect monster for the job. Ninja." He said, snapping his fingers. The door to the command room opened up, and a black streak started to blur around the room, almost too quickly for anyone to see. Eventually, he stopped and knelt down before them. Ninja had been a contract assassin and saboteur on his home world. Renowned not only for his stealth, but also his unsurpassed speed, he commanded top dollar to cause disruption to any government or corporation he was paid to target until Sledge had received a contract on him.
"At your service." Ninja told them. Heckyl took the flash drive from Singe, and gazed at it for a moment, before Ninja stretched out a hand to him.
"No one is faster than me." He boasted. "I'll do it in a flash!"
"Speed isn't everything." Heckyl told him. "If you make it back alive, then we can discuss your price!"
Meanwhile, down in the Dino Lab, the team were gathered around. Allison came down, carrying a first aid kit and a large bag of frozen peas. She handed the peas to Chase, who held them up against his neck.
"Oh...oh yeah, that's the stuff." He commented. "I don't know where Gia learned that trick, but whoever taught her that is a genius."
"OK, am I the only one that's starting to miss Sledge?" Riley asked rhetorically as he started pacing. "I mean, first Heckyl and Snide, now this guy. Why didn't Sledge use these guys before?"
"Maybe he was worried he couldn't control them if he let them out." Shelby suggested. "I don't think Snide is the kind that plays well with others."
"The good news is that we'll all recover." Kendall sighed. "The bad news is, it's clear that this new monster is a lot stronger than anything we've faced up until now."
"He seems to be a graduate of the Imperial Stormtrooper School of Marksmanship." Chase commented. "I was hoping he was relying more on firepower than skill."
"I'm guessing that didn't work out too well for you." Allison answered, looking to him sympathetically.
"Ms Morgan, please say it." Chase begged her. "Please say what you always say..."
"I've been working on something that I think may help." She interrupted him. Chase punched the air, but winced in pain as he strained his neck.
"Yes, that's EXACTLY what we wanted to hear." Chase said excitedly. "So, what is it?"
"It's not quite finished yet, but it shouldn't take much longer." She explained. "If I stay here and work on this, I should hopefully have it ready for testing by tomorrow."
"That's great, that's just...great!" Tyler stated, heading over to another computer. "Do you mind if I use this? I have something I really want to check out!"
"Really? Anything I can help with...?"
"It's alright, I can handle this myself." Tyler interrupted Shelby.
"Tyler, I can help..."
"It's fine, really, I've got this." Tyler reiterated, brushing her off, before concentrating on the screen. Shelby knew that Tyler hadn't been happy with her for what she had said earlier, but she only wanted to help. She went out of the lab as everyone started to break off to do their own thing, hoping that Tyler would cool down and talk to her again eventually.
The Red Ranger sat by the computer and pulled up his E-mail, and started to type. Now that he had this lead, now that it seemed his dad had been on Gosei's island, he knew where to begin, and there was someone he knew who would be able to provide him with all the help he'd need.
"Troy, its Tyler here." He typed in. "I was wondering if you could do me a huge favour."