Chapter Eleven:
The Battle over Tokyo
Out in the skies above Tokyo, a battle raged. The Tempest blasted its lasers at its winged golden foe, as more EAGLE forces fought around it. Here and there, five colorful figures zipped around, doing everything they could to help. The Storm's Eye floated above it all, Katie Young aboard feeding information to the rest of the forces.
"Measly pests," Ikros growled, raising the Shine and blasting a bolt of energy that vaporized two tanks and several dozen soldiers around it, nearly grazing Kenny Austin in the process.
"Whoa, that was close," the green ranger shouted.
"Don't let that beam hit you, guys," Joshua Cage reminded his team.
"Yeah, no kidding," Kenny said, shaking his head.
Though the rangers and EAGLE forces had done their best to move the fight away from the city, the Vader Clan ship still beamed soldier after soldier down into the streets, forcing Peggy and Dayton to spend most of their time there, doing crowd control. Meanwhile, Joshua and Sean took the alien monster head on.
In the distance, the Sky Ace appeared, racing toward the city. Gordon and Commander Roberts stood together in the cockpit, Gordon in full armor.
"There it is," Roberts said. "Looks like the fun has already started."
Gordon nodded. "I'm heading out," he said. "Give the Tempest some air support."
"Will do."
The hatch at the back of the ship opened, and Gordon jumped out, dropping a hundred feet and landing hard on the ground below. He set his sights on Ikros, and raced as fast as he could toward him, blazing through the battlefield and up to a skyscraper, scaling it in seconds and landing on the roof.
"Hey, Ikros!" he shouted, his voice magnified.
The golden monster glared down at him with its big green eyes. "The new red ranger," he said. "I take it by your presence that Bofala has failed."
"I'm here to stop you, Ikros," he shouted.
Ikros chuckled. "You may try," he said. "I will personally enjoy enacting vengeance for Bofala's death."
He raised the Shine and aimed it at the ranger. Gordon drew his bow in a split second and fired an arrow right into the monster's eye, detonating it on impact with a full atomic blast. Ikros roared out in pain as Gordon launched himself from the rooftop, punching the alien right across his golden face. Ikros reeled back, catching Gordon with his claw and sending him careening back toward the ground.
Just before he hit, Gordon felt himself caught by two strong arms. He looked up to see his friend and fellow Red Ranger above him.
"About time you showed up, Gordon," Joshua Cage said, his face popping up on Gordon's visor.
Gordon grinned at him. "Hey, Josh," he said. "How's married life treating you?"
Joshua blushed a little. "It's great," he said. "Really great. Kinda want to get back to it."
"Then I guess we should wrap this up quickly then."
The two red rangers flew together, weaving through the battlefield back toward Ikros just as he righted himself. Gordon drew his bow and was about to fire when a laser blast from the alien ship above struck them both and sent them spinning.
Back aboard the Sky Ace, Commander Roberts watched as the beam struck the two rangers. He looked up at the alien vessel, watching as it beamed more and more soldiers into the city and fired lasers from above, generally making everything more complicated for the rangers trying to fight off the big guy. He clenched his teeth, knowing he had to do something.
He switched on the comm system. "This is the Sky Ace calling the Tempest. Over."
A familiar voice came over the line. "This is the Tempest," Roberts' old superior, General Kenpachi said. "Over."
"This is Commander Roberts, sir," he said. "I think we'd be of better help to the rangers by targeting that alien ship right now, sir."
"I was just thinking the same thing, Commander," Kenpachi said. "All air units," he ordered. "Direct your fire to the alien ship. Keep their fire off of our rangers and see if we can't stem the tide of their soldiers."
Commander Roberts watched as the Tempest veered upwards. He pulled back on his own controls and followed it up.
Back on the ground, Gordon regrouped with Joshua and the blue and green rangers of his team.
"This guy's tough," the green ranger said.
"Tougher than Soto was even in his giant form," the blue ranger added.
"He's being powered up by that glowing thing in his hand," Gordon said, pointing out the Shine. "If we can get that out of his grasp, he should be much easier to beat."
Joshua focused on the device. "Understood. Kenny, you take Gordon and keep the alien distracted. Sean and I will handle the orb."
"Yes, captain."
"Let's go."
The three old rangers took off. That was one thing Gordon still missed was not having birdies of his own. He felt Kenny slip his arms under him and pick him up, carrying high into the air.
"Ikros, over here!" he shouted, drawing his bow and pelting him with exploding arrows over and over and over again.
Ikros growled, his eyes following them. He raised the arm carrying the Shine as if to blast them only to find it being restrained by Joshua's whip. Joshua held the arm back with all of his might, shouting, "Do it now!"
"Yes, sir."
The blue ranger raced in, drawing his bow and firing straight at the small orb. Ikros saw it coming, clenching his fist around the device and turning his wrist so that the arrow just bounced harmlessly off the back of his armored hand.
"You'll have to do better than that, rangers," he said. He swiped with all of his might, pulling Joshua along with his whip and flinging him right into the path of the other rangers, blasting the Shine at them once again. The rangers just managed to avoid the attack.
High above, another battle raged as the Sky Ace and the Tempest pelted the alien vessel with everything they had. "It's no good," Commander Roberts shouted. "Nothing's getting through. Their hull is too thick."
"Katie, can you detect any weak points?" General Kenpachi asked.
The Storm's Eye hovered high above the battle, scanning the ships below. "That large dome on its back seems to contain the ship's energy source," its pilot reported.
"The hull on that is still pretty thick too," Roberts said. "And we have all those turrets around it."
General Kenpachi was silent for a moment. "If I can get in there," he said, "We have the Ranger bombs on board. I think one of those should get through, and then hopefully taking that out will result in the entire ship combusting."
Roberts nodded, studying the turrets. "Understood. I'll cover you and draw their fire."
The two ships sped upwards. Commander Roberts shot straight for the ring of turrets around the dome. "Come on, you bastards," he said. "Show me what you've got."
He swept in a wide circle around the turrets, firing upon each one in succession. The turrets fired back, shaking his hull and making the ship start to smoke after enough hits. "Come on, come on, come on," he said through clenched teeth, none of his shots getting through. Up above, he could see the Tempest coming in for its run, with far too many turrets turning its direction. There was only one thing Commander Roberts could think to do.
He veered the ship sharply, smashing through the turrets with the ship itself, doing probably incomparable damage to the hull. It was just enough that when the Tempest flew overhead, only a few shots came its way.
"Dropping the bomb now," General Kenpachi shouted. "Pull away."
Roberts veered upwards, but the ship was too slow and sluggish to get very far. "Come on," he said, pushing the controls forward with all his might. Behind him, the bomb struck the dome and lit up in a fiery blast.
The explosion blew a hole right through the alien ship's hull, igniting a second, far larger explosion of neon green. Roberts flew faster and faster to get away from it as more and more smaller explosions lit up beneath him. He had just cleared the ship when the entire thing blew apart, the explosion catching the backside of the Sky Ace and sending it spinning.
Far below, the combatants all looked up to see the alien spaceship go up in a fiery explosion. The beams delivering ground troops to the surface disappearing, leaving only a hundred or so left for Peggy and Dayton to finish off.
"No!" Ikros shouted. His eyes fell on the Sky Ace careening to the ground below, aimed the Shine at it, and blew it to smithereens.
"No!" Gordon cried.
Inside the cockpit, which had managed to remain intact, Commander Roberts slumped against the controls, his body covered in severe burns. A blue streak leapt inside the wreckage from the ground as it plummeted, landing beside him.
"Hey, commander. You're not giving up already, are you? I just got here."
Roberts opened his eyes, looking up to see the Jack of Diamonds armor standing above him, speaking in a familiar voice. "Higueras?" he asked.
"It's me," Rio said with a grin. "Sorry I had to borrow the suit for a bit. I'll make sure it's dry cleaned."
He grabbed the commander and wrapped him around his back, jumping back out into the open air and landing gently on the ground as the cockpit smashed down nearby. "Take care of him," Rio instructed, handing him off to a team of medics that rushes over to them.
As the commander was carted away, the Ace of Spades landed nearby. Gordon's face popped up in one corner of Rio's visor. "Hey, Rio," he said. "You made it."
"Well, you know," Rio shrugged. "If things like this are my only chance to do some boxing now, I can't very well miss out, can I?"
He looked up at Ikros flying high above. "Now, care to do some tag team with me?"