Chapter 20: Nick Jaden VS. Xandread Octomush
A small child with strict but loving teachers, days filled with praise and expectations. These were what Arjet dreamed of as she layed in bed.
The dreams slowly take a turn as her teachers begin to rot In Front of her. There forms twisting and morphing into the six monsters that took their lives.
Arjet tries to run but the creatures grab her, pulling her closer as each one's figure splits open to show the disfigured faces of the Morphin Masters.
"Oh arjet, how we regret taking you in"
With a sharp pain in her chest, Arjet wakes up, Zolda standing Above her while she gasps for air.
"Wake up, shits going down"
…
"You knew they were going alone and didn't tell us earlier?"
The six are sitting outside the entrance of root core, Arjet whisper yelling as to not be heard by any passerbys.
"No, I didn't tell most of you. I told Kyle and dialect, cause they can keep their mouths shut"
Toxala and Arjet are insulated by this. Thruster was about to speak in disagreement, but a deadpan look from Zolda causes him to consider what he says, "just because you're right, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."
Zolda sighs, "look I would have told all of you, but those two give me a 'we'll be fine on our own' type of vibe, and don't think any of us could stop them from keeping us here if they wanted to"
Dialect takes Zolda's side saying "so we'll just follow them in secret"
A worried look fills Arjets features, "we can't scheme against veteran rangers"
"We can and already did" Zolda says as he walks off.
"Wait, Zolda" Arjet whispers just a bit louder, as Zolda keeps on walking, she is forced to get Infront of him and ask "is now a good time to get your sword"
Zolda stops, and thinks about it…
"Naw, if I can't save whoever I want with it, then it's useless"
…
On the back of fireheart two red rangers stand on the dragon's back.
Fireheart flaps its wings slowly, staying stationary in the air over a decayed part of the forest.
Both Jaden and Nick are unmorphed, the former wearing a belt of different spin disks. They both stand on the side of the now stationary beast, almost falling off.
Below them is the decayed area of the Forest, in the center in a single cave, a sick miasma flowing out.
"Like we planned" Nick asks as he leans off the dragon.
"All out, right from the start" Jaden answers as he does the same.
Both men fall off the dragon, morphing as they do.
Jaden places a black device on the guard of his sword. "SUPER SAMURAI MODE!!"
Nick falls slack,summoning a long staff with a lion head at the top. A dial surrounding its main. He takes a deep breath then yells "LEGENDARY SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!" while inputting the code 1-2-0 into the staff dial.
The two men fall from the sky in balls of fire, destroying more of the decayed area when they fall.
Both Rangers don't say a thing, they immediately run for the cave. Their feet should sink into the wet ground, but the mud around them dries with each step they take.
As they enter the cave, they are met by the sight of various creatures strung up on the walls, each one trapped by flesh colored vines that lead deeper into the cave.
Jaden tries to free the creatures, but when he gets close to the vines, they protrude spikes that puncture the captives flesh.
"Don't do that, Ranger"
The red samurai ranger immediately takes a defensive stance. The voice of the nighlok almost made him yell in surprise.
That's not the only surprise, as the voice of octomush the master soon joins in.
"This is an on the fly, one of a kind spell made by using Xandread and i cells. They turn more jagged if you get near them, and they slowly drain their life force and add it to our own."
"A Spell that can't be dispersed so long as we follow the condition that it's connected to our life force" Xandread adds as the a light shines deep within the cave
"We are in the heart of the cave, come to us, chosen one"
The two rangers stare at the crimson light ahead and discuss amongst themselves.
"It's a trap right?"
"Without question, yes"
"We still going in?"
"I am"
Nick waves the lion staff, and white sparkles fly out, sticking to the walls and easing the pain the captives are in.
Jaden pulls a disk of his belt and places it inside the black device on his blade. In an instant the blade turns into the head of a shark, stretching out wards and going to the depths of the cave before then.
As the now elongated blade is prepared to take the brunt of any traps waiting for them, the two Rangers talk some more.
"Did Octomush call you a chosen one?" Jaden asks, earning a sigh from Jaden
"Yeah, familial stuff that got me on the front lines against the morlocks"
"Yeah…yeah" is Jaden's only response until the shark sword stops their movements.
A spark of red lighting knocks the shark head back. The spin disk falls out of the black box and begins smoking, causing the blade to return to normal.
Neither ranger attempts to pick the damaged spin disk up, they both rush forwards.
Nick once more slams the staff down, sending a wave of magic that should dispel any further traps.
Once they reach the end, they see two giant crystals in the center of the cave clearing.
Inside the crystals are the rulers of the nighloks and morlocks, both completely stationary as they take in the drained life force of the captives.
"This spell is connected to their life force, but we can't get to them without interacting with the spell." Jaden scratches his head
Nick adds in "And that would hurt the creatures in the cave, guess we should do something risky"
The red mystic Force ranger slams the staff down, and separate barriers surround the captives. Then Jaden summons the bullzooka, and Nick his dragon morpher.
Fireheart flies down from sky directly onto the cave, and The complete outside of the cave explodes.
From the rubble stands the shattered crystals, the pairs of villains and rangers, and the hostages, a bit shaken but no worse for wear.
Jaden now dawns the red Shogun armor, a staff in his hand and Small versions of the samurai zords surrounding him.
Nick is in his own dragonic samurai-esce armor. Blue and red in color, with two large wings behind him.
He wastes no time, blasting Xandread with everything, getting close as he does.
Just as he reaches the Demonic samurai, Jaden attaches the bullzooka to the tip of his staff, swinging it at Xandread.
As Xandread swings his sword, Jaden blocks with the Shogun staff. Octomush eye beams almost hit Jaden, but Nick blocks it and flies away with the morlock.
…
The nighlok was frustrated, every hit Xandread is about to land is blocked by one of the zords surrounding the red Shogun ranger, and each time a strike is blocked, Jaden takes the time to fire the bullzooka. This either hits Xandread, or is close enough to his head to disorient him.
Xandread just manages to scratch Jadens armor, but just after he does, the samurai light zord flies Infront of Xandread and shines bright, blinding him.
The leader of the nighlok swigs his blade wildly screaming "FIGHT ME ALONE, JADEN!"
"We both know I'd have to be very stupid to do that" Jaden retorts while placing a spin disk in his blade"
Spinning the disk he calls out "double" and the blade turns into a second Shogun staff, topped off with another bullzooka.
Jaden picks the two staffs up by their upper parts, charging at the still blind Xandread and aiming one bullzooka point blank at his shoulders.
With a BOOM , Xandread flies back. His flesh-like shoulder armor completely falls off, leaving exposed black tissue.
Jaden doesn't stop, he pulls out his morpher, using the symbol power to make chains pop out of the ground and hold the Nighlok in place.
Once more two cannons are aimed point blank, but this time at his face.
Another BOOM, and Xandread is sent careening into the decayed trees around him.
Jaden doesn't notice the flesh-like vines coming towards him.
..
The Morlock was furious, just how far had the mystic Force ranger come?
The dog fight that Octomush and Nick were in was going completely in the laters favor.
He was faster, stronger, and more durable than Octomush. A complete turn from their last encounter.
Every attack octomush delivers is like deflects of Nick, any barrier he puts up to stop is broken through.
It's not even a contest, Octomush is going to die.
The fallen angel flies down to get help from Xandread, but Nick lands on his back. Showing more ferocity as he rips the tentacle-like wings off him.
The Morlock ruler screams in agony as Nick grabs his arms and holds Octomush in place, fully prepared to let him take the fall.
Just as they were about to hit the ground, the vines grab Jaden and pull him directly where Octomush is about to make impact.
Nick has no choice but to fly up, and the momentary distraction lets Octomush get free, and for the vines to grab Nick as well.
What happens next only takes about half a second.
Xandread uses all his remaining strength to lunge at Jaden, grabbing him as the vines wrap around Xandread as well.
Octomush pulls the same desperate maneuver, just barely able to grab Nick's leg as he pulls him down. As the vines wrap around the Morlock, something happens.
The screech of fireheart can be heard, and the decayed forest is engulfed in fire.
…
Jaden wasn't sure how long he was out, he was still morphed, but he couldn't see anything through the smoke.
As he gets up and walks about the burning forest, he wonders if what just happened was failed suicide attack.
He calls out for Nick, who he can hear but not see. What he can see is the light of Nick's morpher.
it waves in the air and clouds from in the sky, a heavy downpour stopping their fire, but adding to the smoke.
When they finally meet up, both Jaden and Nick notice that they are in their base forms. The black box and dragon morpher missing.
"Oh chosen one, thank you for not changing"
Both rangers turn to the direction octomush voice comes from, but are met with blasts that knock them into almost crumbling trees.
Xandread speaks up next, "I really thought this plan would fail, I told Octo "there's no way they'd come here alone""
As the smoke finally clears up a bit, what stands before the two rangers is a horrifying sight.
Xandread has changed his appearance. It's more slender and his armor has taken on a brighter red while his shoulder armor has reformed. The difference being that each shoulder is adorned with white cloth that stretches to the wet ground. In the center of his chest is the black box.
Octomush's wings have regrown with a dragonic appearance, his black and red color scheme changing to red and blue. In his left hand is a larger, crimson version of Nick's lion staff, while In the center of his chest is Nick's dragon morpher.
"If you had brought the others, I knew this would fail. Thankfully I've been in your head, I know you'll do everything alone, despite your change in reasoning."
Nick tries to launch a fireball, but Octomush grabs his wrist before he can. Jaden tries to slash the Morlock, but his nemesis gets him in a bear hug, chumming in.
"I not telepathic, so I didn't know if you'd come alone, we just got lucky I guess"
Xandread squeezes tight, crushing Jaden as he tries in vain to escape.
Octomush lifts Nick into the air with newly acquired tendrils, and the head of fireheart pops out of the Morlock's chest. A great fireball charges up, Nick can do nothing to free himself.
Just as all seems lost, a flash of purple and green, knock Xandread and Octomush away.
Both monsters recover and ready themselves, the ball of green and purple bounces off trees and shakes the air.
Both rangers and monsters can only wonder what they are.
The ball suddenly stops when it hits rock, and what the monsters see isn't what they were expecting.
Arjet has Zolda pinned to the floor, punching him repeatedly, neither seems to have noticed Xandread or Octomush.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Arjet screams as her fist slams into Zolda once more.