Chapter 16

Bad Blood

"You understand correct?" a young male voice said

"Yes I understand" an old voice replied

It was middle of the night, and while everyone was fast asleep a certain individual was far from asleep. Right now he was having a conversation with Kin, Vault's magical expert, via a magical mirror.

"Good, because after the loss of Thorn Vault is not happy, this is our last shot, don't mess it up" Kin said

The mirror then shimmered as Kin vanished, leaving the man in his room. The man then walked to the balcony to look at the moon, slightly smiling for what is to come.

"Soon, so very soon…I'll have the heir I desire" a very lustful voice said

(~~~~)

Morning had broken over the horizon and most, if not all, of Ken was waking up from their long sleep and ready to start the day, some earlier than others. As is the case for Eric, who was already up and ready, starting the day with some morning martial arts training in the garden area of the castle unbeknownst to him he had a few onlookers or in this case, two. As he kicked and punched in the air, almost like he was fighting an invisible foe, he was being watched by none other than Olga and Celestine from the balcony of Celestine's room.

"I must admit, he is quite diligent" Celestine commented, observing the Rangers morning routine

"Indeed, half the city still asleep and yet here he is training away" Olga added

Although as she looked, Olga couldn't help but bite her bottom lip as she watched Eric, seeing his sweat glistened body sparkle in the morning sunlight. Even Celestine was a little hot under the collar too, as she saw Eric's muscular body but being the goddess as she is, she looked away as a blush spread on her face.

"Ah, what's the matter Cele, to sexy for you to handle" Olga said with a teasing grin

"Of course not! I'm just, um, looking away for privacy" Celestine replied making Olga chuckle

"Oh please, you and I both know that boy is something~~" Olga said in a husky tone making Celestine blush harder.

"Olga pleases enough!" she demanded as the dark elf laughed at her friend's reaction

Of course that blush faded as a sadden look appeared on her face.

"But still, I can feel that there is something inside of him that brings him so much sadness" she said, making Olga frown as well

"Yes, I feel it too" Olga added

Suddenly a knock could be heard at Celestine's door, surprising her as she wasn't expecting anyone or anything.

"Come in" Celestine said, making the door open

On the other side was one of her messengers, panting heavily as if he ran many miles to get here.

"Hello there, what seems to be the trouble?" Celestine asked as the messenger took a deep breath and spoke.

"An urgent message…from Claudia" he said.

(~~~)

Eric had just finished his morning workout and was having breakfast with his friends in the dining room, everyone was feeling good expect for a certain Ranger. Kelvin looked super drowse as his head lulled to side slightly or sometimes he hit the table and jolt awake.

"You okay man, you look way tired?" Alex asked jolting Kelvin from his sleep

"What…oh yeah, I was up late having "fun times" with Kaguya" Kelvin replied with a smirk

The others then looked at him in shock, making Kelvin scoff and roll his eyes at them.

"Oh please, we've all done it don't deny it" Kelvin retorted making everyone, minus from Eric, blush

"True" Michal added with a sigh

"Well…not everyone" Alex said as everyone turned to look at Eric

Eric can only sigh as he's friends stared at him without him looking.

"I know what you're going to say and the answer is no" Eric replied making everyone groan

"Dude, you are like the only one of us that has not and I quote "got laid"" Kelvin said, making quotation marks

"And that will remain until I say so" Eric said making everyone groan

Suddenly the door to the dining room burst open, startling the four Rangers and turned to it to see none other but Celestine and Olga looking frantic.

"Rangers! We need to go now!" Celestine said

Eric then stood up from his seat and walked over to the high elf then placed a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down your majesty, what's wrong?" Eric asked as Celestine looked at him with teary eyes

"It's Claudia…she needs our help!"

(~~~~)

Traveling down the road was Eric and Alex, along with them was a white carriage with golden flower designs on it. This was actually Celestine's carriage and in it was Celestine herself and Olga who were following the Rangers to Geofu, kingdom of Claudia. Celestine had decided to go with them since it was her friend who was in trouble. The others decided to stay behind, as to keep Ken safe and guarded while Celestine was away all the while Eric and Alex doubled as bodyguards to the two queens. Luckily it wasn't long before the Rangers and carriage pulled up to the gates of Geofu and was immediately let inside. Once they stopped, Celestine practically barreled out of the carriage with Olga right behind her.

"Your Majesty, wait for us!" Eric called out after the queen

Eric and Alex ran to catch up with the elf queens before they got too far. Luckily the four of them had stopped at the gates to the Claudia's castle, where Claudia stood by the front gates with a worried look on her face.

"Claudia!" Celestine shouted as she rushed toward her friend

"Celestine!" Claudia shouted back as she too run to her friend

The two women then came together with a hug as Claudia cried in her friends shoulder.

"Thank you, thank you so much for coming" Claudia said as she moved away from Celestine

"Of course, you are my friend after all" she said making the holy Templar smile

She then turned her head and saw Olga, at first she looked surprised but she soon simply bowed to the dark elf.

"Lady Olga, thank you also for coming" Claudia said as Olga nodded back

Claudia then looked over and saw both Alex and Eric, causing her to embrace both in her arms.

"Rangers! Thank you for coming!" she said as Eric and Alex hugged her back

"Happy to help Lady Claudia" Eric replied as said princess let them go

"On that note, what seems to be the problem?" Alex asked

Claudia then gained a look of despair as she clenched her hands together and trembled, causing tears to run down her face.

"It's my husband…I think…someone is trying to frame him" Claudia sobbed out shocking everyone.

(~~~~)

Everyone then made their way into the castle, where Claudia was leading to Klaus so that they can get the full story. Luckily according to Claudia the council of Geofu was only slight with their punishment, only locking him in his room under constant guard.

"And he's doing okay?" Eric asked as Claudia nodded

"Yes, but if we don't find any proof of his innocents the council might put him to death under the assumption of treason" Claudia said, almost about to break down again.

Though before she could cry however, Celestine calmed her down with a simply hug before the tears could flow again.

"Don't worry my friend, we'll help in any way we can" The high elf said relieving some stress from the Holy Templar

"She's right, after all Alex is one of the best investigators I know" Eric also said which made Claudia smile

Not long after they had made it to Klaus room and just like Claudia said there were two guards standing outside his room. Seeing the group, the guards then stepped aside to let everyone inside while opening the door for them. Once inside they found Klaus himself sitting on his bed, looking worse for wear and really drained, honestly it looked he was dead on the out and inside. Claudia then went over to her husband and gave him a gentle hug which seemed to bring some life to the man, if only slightly.

"Hello Klaus, we heard what happened are you alright" Alex asked the scholar causing him to frown.

"Physically yes I'm okay, but otherwise…" he said until trailing off

He didn't need to say anything else, everyone got the message, and the only question now is why.

"Klaus, if I may ask, what happened to warrant you're…punishment" Eric asked causing the man to heavily sigh

Klaus didn't reply, only point to a piece of paper that was resting on his nightstand. Since she was closer Celestine then grabbed it and started to read it over. As she did however her face then slowly turned to horror as she read it until dropping it with a look of disgust.

"Celestine! What's wrong?" Eric asked the scared queen as she held her hands together

She didn't reply as her eyes stung with tears and wept and of course seeing that Eric then grabbed the paper and scanned the context, but when Eric looked at it he couldn't believe what he saw…it was an order for slave delivery…to the Black Dogs!

"What the…this cannot be real!" Eric exclaimed, handing the paper over to Alex to look

"That's what I said to the council, but they almost didn't believe me, not with Klaus' signature on it" Claudia replied

Eric couldn't help but feel angry as well as confused about this whole thing, after all who would want to hurt Klaus. Eric meant the scholar once or twice and never once showed any signs of working with Vault, so why this sudden shipping order?

"Alex, what can make of this?" Eric asked as Alex expected the paper

"It's pretty legit, everything down to the signature" Alex said rolling up the sheet

"So…Klaus did do that?" Olga asked making Claudia tear up again

"No I never said that, just means were going to have to get our hands dirty if we're going to figure this out" Alex said which calmed everyone down

"So, what will you two do now?" Claudia asked

"We'll start with where this forum came from, luckily for us I did some research on slave traders here in Geofu so I know where we need to go" Alex said as Eric nodded to this

"Okay then, me and Alex will go and check this place out and hopefully find something" Eric said as everyone agreed to this plan

Once that was established Eric and Alex then walked out and were about to head out, that is until a certain man caught sight of them.

"Rangers!" the man said, getting the their attention

Seeing who it was they were surprised to see it was Grave, Klaus' father.

"Sir Grave? What brings you here?" Eric asked the warrior

"I came by to see my son of course, just want to make sure how he's doing okay" he replied making the two frown

"I thought you didn't like your son all that much?" Alex asked, making Grave slightly sweat

"I may not…approve of his standing, but he still my son" Grave replied as he marched past the two Rangers

As he went past them, Alex and Eric couldn't help feel a little off putted by Grave's strange reaction.

"We better keep an eye on him" Alex said as Eric nodded in agreement

As they left however Grave smirked and chuckled darkly to himself.

"That's right Rangers, go on your little goose chase, because by the time you figure it out, it'll be too late."

(~~~~)

It wasn't long before the two of them found themselves in front of an old barn of sorts that looked like its seen better days.

"You sure this is the place?" Eric asked, looking at the Barn with confusion

"Yep, all my sources say this is the place" Alex replied as Eric nodded

"Alright then, we go in fast and hard we don't have much time" Eric said

"Got it" Alex replied as he and Eric took out their morphers

"Tigerzord!"

"SPD, Emergancy!"

After a flash of light the two had turned into their Ranger Forms.

"On three…one…two…Three!" Eric shouted as he kicked down the barn's doors, causing them to topple over.

They then went into their fighting stances, ready for a fight but it never came. Looking into the barn they found it was empty. Seeing this they then relaxed and started to look inside.

"I thought you said this place was a Slave Traders HQ" Eric said as Alex shrugged

"It should be, that's what I've been told" Alex replied

Suddenly Eric's foot then touched something, causing him to look down and gasp at the sight.

"Alex…I think found them" Eric said

Alex then walked over to him and looked down at Eric's feet and gasped at the sight. There, lying on the ground was male corpse, looking no older than twenty at best.

"Guess we found the Traders" Eric said looking at the corpse

"He's not the only" Alex said looking at the rest of the barn

Inside the barn, there were more corpses that were scattered around and all of them were Slave Traders.

"Someone got here first and slaughtered them all, now we have no leads what's so ever" Eric said

"Not exactly" Alex then said, leaning down to inspect one of the bodies, "While they themselves can't tell us anything, but their bodies might" he said

Alex then brought up his morpher and pressed a button on it, causing a beam of light to be projected and scan the body. Once the beam hit the man's chest, Alex's morpher started to beep loudly causing Alex to shut it off.

"Got ya" Alex said as he checked the corpse's shirt

Taking a close look at the corpse he then noticed a red splotch on his shirt, it was blood.

"A blood spot? How it that going to help us?" Eric asked confused

"Because this blood doesn't belong to this man, it belongs to someone else" Alex replied, surprising Eric

"How do you do that?" Eric asked, impressed by the Omega Rangers work

"Deactivate training, comes in handy" Alex replied as he pointed his morpher at the blood spot.

Alex then pressed a button on his morpher causing it to flip open and started to inspect the piece of evidence. After about a minute the scan was complete and Alex looked at the results.

"So…who does it belong to?" Eric asked, Alex didn't answer

Alex then stood up from the ground and slowly turned to Eric with a grim expression behind his helmet, causing Eric to worry.

"Alex, what's wrong?" Eric asked

"…we need to get back…now."

(~~~~)

Back at the castle, Grave was trying to consult his son as well his wife all the while Celestine and Olga stood back from the three.

"I hope those two come back soon" Celestine said with a heavy sigh

Seeing this Olga then placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing said high elf to grab hold on her friends hand and squeeze it.

"Don't worry Celes, they'll find something, I know they will" Olga said, making her smile

But while Celestine and Olga were talking, Grave on the other hand was being anything but helpful to his son. For while Grave was trying to "cheer up" his son he had a dagger hidden away in his boot, ready to stab and end his son's life.

'That's right, cry you little failure for once the time comes, you will be gone and the heir I was denied will be mine' He thought, causing a small smirk to appear on his face

Suddenly the door to the room slammed right open, startling everyone in the room. In the doorway were Eric and Alex, both looking quite mad and staring daggers at Grave.

"Eric, Alex! Your back!" Celestine said

"So did you find anything?" Claudia asked the two

"Oh we found something alright…who really framed Klaus" Eric said making everyone go wide eyed at this

"Really…then who?" Olga asked

Eric then turned and nodded to Alex as the Omega Ranger stepped up to meet everyone's gaze. Alex then raised his hand slowly until abruptly pointing right at Grave with an accusing finger.

"It was him!" Alex shouted causing everyone else to gasp, expect for Grave

"But…that impossible, my father is loyal to the crown" Klaus said as Alex growled

"Not anymore he's not after what we found at the Slave Trader site" Alex said, confusing everyone

"When we got to the location, everyone was killed, so Alex did some investigating" Eric added as Alex nodded in agreement

"…and what I found were traces of Grave's blood all over the corpses" Alex said, making Claudia frown

"So, my step-father probably went to handle the criminals himself, like a true warrior should do" Claudia answered, making Alex sigh

"I thought you might say that, so to confirm this I took a detour…to Grave's study" Alex said as he pulled out the slave order, "and it turned out, the handwriting of this signature was the same as Grave's" Alex said tossing the paper to ground, right at Grave's feet.

Klaus and Claudia then started to back away from the now silenced old man with looks of horror and fear, while Olga and Celestine looked at with looks of angry.

"Father…why?" Klaus asked in a trembling voice

Slowly Grave then rose to his feet, his face shadowed by his hair.

"Why? It's simple really" Grave said

Suddenly he turned around quickly and drew his sword as glared hard at his son.

"To secure my bloodline!" he shouted and jumped at Klaus, sword raised

But before he could get close, Eric then jumped forward and tackled the old knight, causing them both to fall out of an open window down to the ground.

"Eric!" Celestine and Olga shouted as rushed to the window

Quickly, Eric then grabbed his morpher and thrusted it out.

"Tigerzord!"

Eric then quickly morphed into his Ranger form before hitting the ground, causing him to land on his feet safely. As for Grave, he fell on his back but his armor protected him making shrug off the fall easily. Grave then quickly scrambled to his feet and pointed his sword at Eric as said Ranger drew his blade Saba.

"How could you do this Grave, Klaus is your son, how could betray your family like this?!" Eric shouted at the man

"Because, my so called son is disgrace to my linage in more ways than one!" Grave shouted

"Why? Because he's not a knight like you?" Eric asked as Grave growled

"Not just that, it's fact he's infertile and can't bear me an heir to my bloodline" Grave answered confusing the ranger

"Infertile? Why would that warrant killing Klaus?" Eric asked in turn

"Because without him, I can step in and make my own heir" Grave answered, as Eric looked on in shock

"Claudia…you were planning to kill Klaus so you can…rape his wife" Eric said in disbelief

"Exactly, now out of my way Ranger, I have an heir to make" Grave said with furious look on his face

Eric then shock with angry as he gripped Saba tightly in his hand.

"I can't believe you think of our family like this…you're even worse than Vault!" Eric shouted as glared behind his visor, "Someone like you…doesn't deserve to live in this world!" Eric shouted holding Saba forward ready to fight.

"Fine, if that's the way you want it" Grave said

Then with loud shout, the two warriors charged at each other, swing their blades at one another, causing sparks to fly.

I'm back baby! Sorry for long wait you guys but now I'm back and ready to get this story rolling and going so like one certain Red Ranger once said…BACK TO ACTION!