Chapter 25- Omnia revelantur, part ii.
Billy's lab was filled with the loud hum and the bright light of teleportation. And with a flash, Jason landed, finally, gratefully on the cold, hard ground of Billy's lab. His legs giving way, his body and his mind exhausted from the last few intense minutes.
"Jason!"
The red ranger looked up and watched Kimberly run over to him. Her speed seemed superhuman and it wasn't long before she joined him on the ground, placing her arms gently around his neck.
"Baby, are you ok?" She asked him as the rest of the rangers, their families, Alpha and Ninjor rapidly gathered around the couple on the floor.
"Yeah, that was a close call." Jason replied, removing his helmet and taking a big, deep breath.
It felt like he hadn't breathed in hours. The air was clean, crisp and it filled up his lungs with some desperately needed oxygen.
"My baby! My baby!" Jean Scott joined Kimberly with kneeling on the floor and checking her sons face for any signs of damage.
"What happened?" Zack asked Jason, looking flustered, inspecting Jason's face and body for any injuries.
"Oh Jason." Trini whimpered, clinging on to her husband's arm.
"Things looked dire Jason. How did you get away?" Billy asked.
They had obviously been keeping watch, they had seen what had transpired.
Jason looked around at the many faces gathered around him. Worried faces, frightened faces, and Jason felt overwhelmed. He didn't really want to talk to anyone except perhaps Kimberly, and maybe his parents. He noticed that his dad was sat against the wall opposite to him, staring at Jason's face, no real expression on it. Jason found it strange, rarely ever, did his father appear so detached.
"It was Scorpina." Jason told them, looking around at their worried faces, knowing he had to stay calm, stay strong and help everyone relax a little. "I chose her over Lokar to execute me, and she stalled, right in the middle of it, she just froze. It gave me a chance to get away from them. I had a feeling she wouldn't go through with it."
"That's crazy." Rocky said, his hands behind his head.
"Who's Scorpina?" Mr. Taylor asked.
"Oh, get with it Clive! It's that golden monster woman." Mrs. Taylor revealed to her husband who understood by nodding his head.
"What made you think that she wouldn't do it?" Zack quizzed his best friend.
"Well, just a few hours ago, she was with us wasn't she. I dunno, I think she bonded with us a bit... I think she feels remorse for..." Jason glanced up at Rocky and the rangers understood that Jason was talking about Aisha. There was no need to bring up her name and bring more pain to everyone, especially Rocky. Losing Aisha had taken a heavy toll on the power rangers, but now was not the time to bring that to the surface.
"Yeah, plus, I think that she likes you." Kimberly said with a wry smile, wiping away the sweat on Jason's forehead and planting a kiss on his cheek.
"She doesn't like me." Jason replied with a smile of his own, it felt weird to be smiling again. "She just likes what we stand for, she likes our human nature, I genuinely believe that to be true. But forget all of that." Jason was helped to his feet by Kimberly and Zack. "Lokar is going to be super pissed! We need to get ready for an attack."
The rangers knew that Jason was right and nodded in agreement.
With the extra guests in Billy's lab, it suddenly became evident that there was simply not enough room for them all. The lab was rather large, but still. There were 18 humans in this former garage along with a robot and Ninjor who wasn't exactly a small creature.
But everyone knew, that this was the safest place for the ranger's families until the evil monsters were defeated.
"What do you know of Lokar?" Billy asked Alpha, but it was Ninjor who came up with the reply.
"Lokar is one of the most evil, most powerful and one of the most feared entities in all of the galaxies."
"But if that's true, how was Rita able to gain control over him and make him fight us?" Zack questioned the creator of the power coins.
"Oh come on my dear mastodon. Do you really think Rita could do that?" He asked Zack, who looked rather indifferent. "He did it because he wanted to! He was simply too far away to come here in his true form, so he helped Rita from afar. Though, he did owe Rita a favour."
"What favour?" Jason asked.
"Well. As you are aware, Master Vile was Rita's father. A few thousand years ago, he helped Lokar conquer the Andromeda galaxy, you know, the galaxy that's nearest to earth's milky way. And well, Lokar was more than happy to help Vile's daughter." Ninjor walked around the little space he was afforded around the control panels and stroked his blue chin, before looking each ranger in their eyes.
"I warn you now rangers, it will not be easy to defeat him now that he is here on earth. Not only is he a formidable warrior, but he is exceedingly cunning and he is the greatest magician the galaxies have ever seen. Nobody has been able to defeat him. Not even the combined efforts of King Lexian and Zordon before he was entombed inside that blasted energy tube. You see, we all thought that Master Vile was aided greatly by Lokar to conquer the Andromeda galaxy. It wasn't until years later that Lokar was revealed as the true conqueror of the galaxy, he was however, aided by master Vile and so, the small debt to Rita was born."
"So Zordon couldn't defeat him, even when he had his body and full powers?" Jason asked, his face full of surprise.
"Well, it was a little bit more complicated than that." Alpha said, seemingly annoyed slightly by Ninjor's response. "My creator, my father, King Lexian was a highly intuitive man. He still is mind you, but he had a feeling that the galaxy which Edenoi inhabited was going to come under attack and he asked Zordon for help. Zordon had recently just managed to save another galaxy and lost most of his teammates during that war. So, you see, Zordon was all alone to deal with Lokar, master Vile and their army of evil warriors."
The eight power rangers and their families were listening very carefully to Alpha telling his story. The parents of the rangers were in absolute awe hearing about galaxies and planets and aliens. A day ago, they were living peaceful, normal lives, and now, their world was turned upside down.
"Zordon managed to keep Edenoi relatively safe but he was unable to prevent master Vile and Lokar from capturing the Andromeda galaxy." Alpha paused for a short while, before continuing his tale. "King Lexian didn't blame Zordon one bit even though Zordon blamed himself for the failure. And well, after the war, King Lexian stopped Edenoi from participating in any further wars and Edenoi became a peaceful, independent planet. But that failure always haunted Zordon. It stayed with him...until...the end."
"But why is Lokar back now? Why does he want to take over Earth?" Kimberly asked.
"It's simple my dear." Ninjor answered, turning to face the pink ranger. "Lokar the terrible is a conqueror. He wants to now conquer earth and its galaxy."
"And to also avenge the demise of master Vile and Rita of course. I suspect he never really got over not being able to defeat Zordon either. And you rangers are closest thing to Zordon now that he is, gone." Alpha added, sniffling at the end of his sentence. His mechanics threatening to spark and fizz.
"Man, that's heavy stuff!" Rocky said, shaking his head.
"Do we have a chance?" Jason asked.
"Of course we have a chance red ranger, but we will have to be resolute, impeccable, perfect. He also has Archerina and Gasket by his side. They should not be underestimated." Ninjor answered.
"Not to forget Scorpina and Silverback." Zack said.
"Leave Silverback to me! I owe him a beating." Rocky said in almost a shout, making a few people jump.
"We must work as a team Rocky. It's our only hope." Ninjor told the red zeo ranger.
"But whatever happens, he dies by my hand. Okay?" He told Ninjor and the rest of the rangers, an almost maniacal expression on his face.
"Okay Rock. You got it bro." Jason said calmly. He totally understood Rocky's desire for revenge. If that was Kimberly instead of Aisha, he would want to rip off the gorilla's head too. The fact that Goldar's brother took one of their own, every ranger wanted a taste of the monster's blood. But no one as much as Rocky.
"Are we forgetting something guys?" Adam spoke up, looking around at the team. "Those clone ranger may still be out there! We're outnumbered, and these aren't putties or cogs were dealing with."
Adam was right, unfortunately. And the rangers knew it. They couldn't fight all the bad guys one on one, never mind be outnumbered.
"Alpha, try Tommy and Kat again please. We need all the help we can get." Jason told the automaton, knowing that things would be getting rough out there.
"Yes Jason."
However, Kimberly was Jason's first priority. She was carrying his child, he knew they needed her but he needed her even more so, so did their unborn child.
"Kimberly, you have to stay behind this time okay." He told her, their parents did not know about her pregnancy yet, but Kimberly knew what he meant.
"I know Jase, but look at the odds stacked against us. We need every ranger we can get."
Jason knew that Kimberly was right. But this wasn't worth the risk. The ranger suits were a shield, it protected their bodies from a LOT of harm, but that wasn't really the only problem here. The stress of the situation is what would be most dangerous.
"I understand that Kim. But-"
"Are you sick Kimberly?" Mr. Hart interrupted Jason and slowly walked over to his daughter, stopping just behind the control panels.
The rangers were all aware that nobody but they knew about Kimberly's pregnancy. She had planned on telling her father soon, but this was not the time.
"A little bit dad, but I'll be fine." Kimberly answered.
"Are you sure? I mean, you do look a bit pale."
David Hart was right, but Kimberly had an answer. "That's because I thought I lost Jason, dad. I'll be okay. I promise."
What could Jason say now, without giving away anything. But once again, the resourceful pink ranger had an answer.
"Okay, how about this." She said turning to face her fiancé. "If things get a little hairy out there, I'll teleport back here. How's that?"
"Okay, but if I tell you to retreat and come back here, you have to do it. No discussions, no arguments. Deal?"
Kimberly nodded her head.
"Cool. Guys, be ready, trouble could start at any mom-"
But before Jason could finish his sentence, the alarms started ringing, causing most of the parents to cover their ears.
"What's going on Alpha?" Jason shouted above the noise.
"Ai yi yi yi yaaii!" The robot screamed. "Look at the viewing globe rangers."
Alpha had activated their new viewing globe, the screen popping out from a wall and what everyone saw on it, doubled their heart rates.
It was Lokar, stood with the five clone rangers in downtown Angel Grove.
"Come out, come out wherever you are. Come out and play, power rangers!" Lokar shouted like a maniac.
"What are we going to do about our families?" Trini asked Alpha and Ninjor.
"They are safest right here. I have added extra magical protection around this entire building. No evil shall be able to penetrate these walls." Ninjor answered.
"And I will keep a close watch on them for you rangers, I promise." Alpha added.
The power rangers watched on in horror as Lokar set the clone rangers loose and they all began to destroy the empty buildings around them. Shooting at them with copycat power blasters, using their weapons to break windows and furniture. Thank God there were no civilians around.
Jason was spent. He was emotionally and physically exhausted. But as he looked around him at the beaten up Zeo Rangers and the equally tired Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, he suddenly received a boost.
"I know we're tired rangers, and I know we've all been through a lot recently, but Angel Grove needs us. Let's kick some alien asses!" The red ranger declared loudly, gaining roars of approval from the rest of the team.
The families quickly hugged the rangers and wished them luck, it was a totally new experience for the power rangers. They felt even more pressure to win now that their parents knew who they were. It was extra weird for Billy because his partner Daniel knew now too.
"Stay safe out there Jason." Jason's father had stood up and placed his son in a tentative hug. "I'm sorry I couldn't be more help back there. If anything happened to you...I-"
"Dad, it's okay. These are alien monsters we're dealing with. You did more than enough. I've been in the situations before. Don't worry." Jason replied, patting his dad's shoulder, who seemed to have accepted Jason's words.
"Alpha, keep trying Tommy and Kat. We'll need em." Jason told the robot before shouting some very familiar words.
" It's morphing time!"
"Mastodon"
"Pterodactyl"
"Triceratops"
"Sabre toothed tiger"
"Tyrannosaurus!"
"Zeo ranger 2, Yellow"
"Zeo ranger 3, Blue"
"Zeo ranger 4, Green"
The power felt a boost of energy as soon as their power ranger suits encased their bodies, and in a matter of seconds, they landed right in the heart of downtown Angel Grove.
"Aaah. I see you've made it power rangers." Lokar growled from the top of the building on which he stood. "Welcome to your doom. Get them my evil rangers!"
The clone rangers immediately stopped attacking the buildings and raced out of them within seconds, facing the real power rangers.
"I think we should each face our own counterparts. Nobody knows our own skills more than us." Jason said, not taking his eyes off the evil clone rangers in front of him. "Rocky and Adam, you two take the green one. Ninjor and Tanya, help out whoever needs help, and let's take 'em out quickly. Before any other assholes get here."
It didn't take long after Jason's words for the evil clone rangers to come charging at the real power rangers, who decided to match their intensity and charge back at them, it was like a deadly stampede.
Jason thought he was looking in a mirror when he went for a sweep kick, only for the clone to easily jump out of the way. Every move that Jason tried to execute, the clone countered it or dodged it. Rocky wasn't wrong, Jason felt like he was fighting himself. How was this even possible?
They continued dodging each others strikes for what felt like ages, until finally, Jason landed a blow to the clone's leg, it didn't however have any impact as the clone responded with a roundhouse Kick to Jason's head, sending him tumbling down to the hard ground.
This gave Jason the opportunity to look around and watch as the rest of his teammates were having the same troubles with their counterparts. Thank God for Tanya and Ninjor who ran to help Kimberly and Billy who were having a lot of trouble.
Jason leapt back to his feet as he saw a red boot come for his head and miss by mere inches. What could he do to gain an advantage on the red clone ranger.
But Jason suddenly had an idea. These clone rangers had fighting styles exactly the same as the real rangers... All they needed to do, was change it up. Jason's style was Shotokan karate and taekwando. But Jason had been learning a couple of new styles in these last few of years. Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu. Muay Thai was very aggressive and a potent weapon, whereas Jiu Jitsu was great for defence and to finish a fight without over exerting.
So, Jason dodged a classic karate combination attack from the clone ranger, and countered with some powerful left and right Muay Thai kicks to the clone's abdomen. It worked! The combination was successful and it allowed Jason to get close to the clone as he doubled over in pain.
The original red ranger tied up the clone in a Muay Thai clinch. Wrapping his hands and arms behind the clone's neck, and putting his own elbows closer together, rendering the clone totally useless. The clone struggled and struggled but could not escape the clinch. Jason quickly attacked, knees to the abdomen, knees to the chest and head too. Jason hit the clone so many times that the clone's helmet cracked at the visor and he fell to the floor, appearing to be unconscious.
"Rangers!" Jason looked around after knocking down the evil red clone. He saw his teammates still struggling. But he had found a way to defeat them. "Rangers! These clones know our fighting styles. Change it up! Use different techniques! All of you, forget your normal karate." Jason shouted at his teammates, turning to face them, keeping one eye on the evil red clone. "Trini, use Vietnamese wing chun, Zack use the capoeira you learnt, Billy, try the alien techniques you learnt on Aquitar and Kim, remember when I taught you a few moves in Jiu Jitsu and judo? Use them! Rocky, Adam, don't try to fight him like you would normally spar with Tommy. Use BJJ and switch the karate style to Kyokushin." Jason didn't have much time to watch his friends put his words into action though, as the evil red ranger got back to his feet and landed a solid blow to Jason's abdomen, forcing him to fall down to one knee.
The evil red clone immediately pounced onto Jason, who then utilised the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that he had been learning recently. He allowed his evil twin to come to the ground with him, and Jason wrapped his legs tightly around the clones back, forcing him closer, almost face to face.
The red clone ranger's body was tied up, but his arms were free. So they began trading punches. Jason realised just how hard the ranger helmets were as each punch he connected with the helmet, stung a little. The ranger suits generally protected their bodies from most damage. But this couldn't go on. As soon as Jason saw a small crack in his own visor, he threw an upwards elbow to the clone's helmet, which completely shattered the visor.
He couldn't believe what he saw when the shards of the visor fell onto his chest. He was looking into eyes that were exactly like his own! The only difference was, the skin around the eyes was a bluey grey, just like Lokar's!
The two red rangers hesitated for a moment, Jason just staring in absolute shock and before the clone could attack again, Jason trapped the clone's arms with his legs, which freed up Jason's hands, he used this opportunity to take off the clone's helmet, revealing his entire head.
It was just so surreal, watching a bluey grey version of himself struggling in his Jiu Jitsu grip. He had to end this.
The real red ranger swung the clone's right arm across his grey neck and threw up his legs to apply a triangle choke hold, which he dug in deep, and with full strength. Slowly watching the life drain from the clone's evil, grey eyes. The choke hold did its trick, the clone was choked unconscious, finally. Jason shook off the clone and stood up, looking around at the others.
Trini was countering every strike that the clone yellow ranger was throwing at her, with ease.
Zack was using the capoeira to great effect, confusing the evil black ranger and landing heavy blows to all parts of it's body.
Jason didn't even know what was going on with Billy. He was utilising some weird moments and strikes that he had never seen before. It was almost like Billy was underwater with the slow speed surprising the evil blue clone, but the movements completely throwing him off, allowing Billy to land some heavy blows.
He desperately sought out Kimberly who had apparently won her battle. She was on the ground and had applied an armbar on the evil pink clone, it appeared as though Kimberly had broken her counterpart's arm as she was writhing on the ground in an awful lot of pain.
The evil green ranger was strong, very strong. It was taking Rocky, Adam, Tanya and Ninjor to subdue him, but it was working! The green ranger was now flat on his back, the Zeo rangers and Ninjor locking in submissions and locks to his limbs, apparently trying to rip him apart. That's it, the battle was going their way. Or so he thought.
"You did not think it was going to be that easy did you, red ranger!"
Jason heard a growl, a few milliseconds before he was kicked in his chest, sending him flying backwards against the wall of AG bakery behind him.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Jason saw a brilliant flash of silver and gold, followed by the manifestation of Silverback and Scorpina.
"Did you really believe that you would defeat me? I have not even entered this battle as of yet. I assure you, you have never come across someone as magnificently terrible as myself!" Lokar snarled at the red ranger, then looking back at the other rangers a few hundred feet away, who were adding insult to injury and continuing to attack the clones, evidently not having noticed Lokar and his cronies. "Scorpina, Silverback, go help out our rangers will you, I will join you once I have finished off this pesky red brat!"
"Yes master." They both said, but then out of nowhere, surprising everyone, Scorpina threw two of her smaller, yet still dangerous and razor-sharp daggers at Jason's chest, they sliced at him, showering him with sparks of damage from his suit, before elegantly flying back into the golden warrior's outstretched hands.
"I hope my master leaves me a few pieces of you so that I can crush them into dust and shower your bride to be with your ashes. You filthy piece of red scum!" Scorpina bellowed and spat on Jason, surprising even Lokar and Silverback.
"I will Scorpina." Lokar surveyed his soldier will great interest. "You just carry out my orders and make sure his friends are begging for their lives by the time this red scum draws his final breath. I have given you a chance to redeem yourself. Now go, quickly!" Lokar growled at his two soldiers.
Jason managed to drag himself up with the help of the wall behind him, just in time to watch Scorpina and Silverback attack the other rangers. Trini and Billy were trying their best to keep Kimberly out of harm's way. That was the most important thing for him. He needed to alert Alpha and get him to teleport Kimberly back to the lab. This would definitely class as a hairy situation but he knew Kim would not back out this easily.
However, Jason simply didn't get the chance, because Lokar was onto him like an extremely ugly rash. He was using the spikes on his head and his body as weapons, slashing as Jason who's suit emitted so many sparks, he looked like a Catherine wheel.
The red ranger found himself back on the floor in a matter of seconds, Lokar's evil cackle ringing in his ears. He was so tired, he hadn't slept in what felt like days. But he just had to fight back. He couldn't lay down like this. The team needed him, Kimberly needed him.
Jason summoned his power sword and used it get back to his feet.
"I give you credit red ranger. You have more courage than most." Lokar scowled, drawing out his own sword which was slightly longer than Jason's power sword. "A classic sword fight to the end then."
Jason steadied himself and waited for Lokar to attack, the monster lunged at Jason with his mighty sword pointing at the red ranger's chest. Jason shifted to his right and dodged out of the way just in time. There was another lunge, and another. Jason continued circling to his right and out of the way until Lokar spun on the spot and drove his sword to Jason's midriff. It connected with the power sword! The red ranger deflected the sword and countered with his own vicious slash, right into Lokar's lightly armoured chest.
Lokar hissed as his armour made an extremely nauseating clank when it connected with the power sword, making the monster stumble a touch.
But unfortunately for Jason, this only angered Lokar, for he unleashed a most terrible attack on the red ranger who could not do a single thing about it. Lokar was fast, very fast. The velocity of his strikes just did not make sense if you saw just how big Lokar actually was. There must have been at least twenty slashes of the sword in half the number of seconds. His sword must be powerful because Jason's suit began to tear at some of the points which connected with it. This couldn't last much longer. The longer it went on, the less protection of the suit Jason had.
But he didn't have much time to think, because Lokar picked him up from the neck and proceeded to hit him with punches, right onto the front of the helmet. Yes, the helmet offered Jason protection, but the punches still rocked him, sending him into a daze, halting his struggle and fight that he was showing.
Jason couldn't even count the number of times he had been struck by Lokar's huge fist. All he knew, was that he noticed a small crack on his visor and knew he didn't have long left. This was going to end badly, he just had to fight back, but he was vastly outmatched. Lokar was just too powerful.
Just when Jason was about to lose hope, along came his saviour.
"You will not defeat the power rangers, as long as I am around. You ugly mutt!"
Jason saw a flash of blue encircle him and felt the grip around his neck cease, and he crumpled to the ground.
"Take that! And that. Aaaaaand THAT!"
Jason shook his head clear, just in time to witness Ninjor using his large katana to slice and carve at various points of Lokar's body. Jason thought that Ninjor was pretty awesome when he was pissed off.
Jason turned his head to his left and watched in relief at the rest of the rangers who were holding off Scorpina and Silverback, at least for the time being, since the clone rangers were getting back to their feet. The momentum was swinging back in their favour. Finally.
"Are you okay Jason?"
Alpha's voice almost made Jason jump. "Yes Alpha, I think so." He replied into his communicator.
"I am reading that your suit is fairly damaged Jason. It is currently performing at 68 percent. Be careful red ranger!"
"Okay Alpha. Thanks." Jason replied, looking over at Kimberly who was not really doing much. The rest of the rangers were taking care of Silverback and Scorpina. He had the chance now to ask Alpha to teleport Kimberly back to Billy's lab... But things were looking okay. She would be majorly pissed with him if he sent her back now.
Jason shook off any cobwebs, and decided now was the not the time. He took a big inhale of fresh air and readied himself to help Ninjor defeat Lokar. But the evil conqueror had other ideas.
"Now!" Lokar growled, and out of nowhere, a pink arrow struck Jason on the side of his helmet, forcing him to stumble.
He looked up and saw Princess Archerina and Prince Gasket descend from the sky like a couple of very ugly, large mechanical birds. Archerina joined Lokar in fighting Ninjor and Gasket charged towards Jason.
But Jason was ready.
Gasket stabbed at Jason with his huge green sword. But Jason deflected it with his power sword and used the energy he recouped thanks to Ninjor, and slashed hard at gasket's torso, sending him crashing to the floor. But Ninjor was in trouble. Lokar and Archerina were too strong for him.
But as soon as Jason attempted to help the ranger's blue ally, Gasket had already risen to his feet, and was now joined by the helmet-less, red clone ranger. Now Jason was outnumbered too. And the red clone ranger was looking for retribution.
Whenever it felt like the tide was swinging their way, the monsters managed to get one over on them, they seemed to be a step ahead all the time.
To be continued...