Chapter 5
"Ranger Kick!" When Brody's attack hit its mark, he backflipped and landed beside his brother.
"When did you learn how to do a backflip?" Duncan said, impressed.
"I always could," explained Brody. "I just never had much reason to do it."
Matt Stone collapsed, unmoving.
Duncan looked confused. "Shouldn't he be exploding or something?"
The younger brother tilted his head. "I don't know. I'm sure I finished him off."
"Oh, no you didn't."
That made the two Rangers freeze. Their enemy slowly rose from the ground, the rocky surface of his body crumbling like a dry sandcastle.
"This feels like something out of a video game," the White Ranger whimpered.
Matt Stone's body fell apart piece by piece, revealing veins filled with lava. He grew a forked tail and his face split open, becoming nothing more than a large mouth.
Duncan's nervousness suddenly dissipated as he deadpanned, "Actually, this is exactly like a video game. He just turned into Obsidius."
The newly formed Obsidius beat its chest and charged the boys. Duncan brought up his Chasmo-shields to block, but one punch from the monster sent him tumbling back a dozen feet.
Brody pulled out his Switch-Gun and fired a few shots. Obsidius ignored the attack completely, grabbing the Blue Ranger by the neck and headbutting him repeatedly.
The White Ranger came up from behind and put the monster in a headlock. Obsidius didn't even bother squirming. It simply heated its body up, burning Duncan with its lava veins. With a shout of pain, Duncan quickly let go and, following Brody's example, threw a Ranger Punch of his own.
This got their enemy's attention, causing it to let go of Brody. It backhanded Duncan across the face and opened its mouth, letting out a stream of lava. Duncan did his best to dodge, but his right hand got caught in the stream. "Shit! Fuck!"
Before Obsidius could do anything else, Brody attacked. Wielding his Carnage Sword in one hand and his Switch-Gun in the other, he went in for the kill.
"Ranger Slash!" he called out as he set his Switch-Gun to blade mode and hacked into his enemy. He thrust his Carnage Sword through the monster's chest, though the stab ended up being shallower than he would've liked.
Still, Obsidius fell to its knees, and Brody withdrew his sword, panting. Both boys had breathed a sigh of relief when suddenly, the monster rose again, grabbed Brody by the shoulders, and breathed lava all over him, making him scream in pain. "AAAAHHH!"
Thankfully, this didn't last long, as Duncan tackled the creature off him and began hammering it with punch after punch. Without giving the monster a chance to counterattack, he grabbed Brody and had his Cryolophosaur carry them away in a hasty retreat.
They heard Obsidius's ear-splitting roar growing softer behind them as they rode away.
"Why are we running?" Brody asked weakly.
"Because we were getting our asses kicked, that's why," Duncan answered. He steered them into an empty alley where they both de-morphed. Slinging his brother's arm over his shoulder, he said, "Now, let's get home."
Once at their house, Duncan got out a first-aid kit. "Okay, ointment and bandages, just like Jane said." Treating his burnt hand, he commented, "I think I know how you felt at the end of your fight with the hippo monster."
When he received no response, he turned and saw Brody out cold on the sofa. "Oh, right. You did kinda get it worse than me."
"Will Mother be okay?" Carl asked in concern.
The older brother rifled through his pockets, pulled out a pre-rolled joint and lit it. "Of course he will. A bit of R&R and he'll be good as new." To prove his point, he took off Brody's shirt to check the damage to his torso. "Shit, that actually looks serious," he commented. The ginger proceeded to gingerly carry his brother to the car and drove to the hospital. As the doctors looked Brody over, Jane spoke with Duncan about the situation.
"Two visits in one day? What the hell happened this time?" she asked. "I mean, it was like Brody got sunburned and then scalded with hot water. He's lucky those burns aren't second degree."
"I don't know. I wasn't watching him," Duncan answered. When Jane raised an eyebrow, he continued. "What? It's not like we spend every minute together. Who knows what he was doing?"
Jane just shrugged and walked away, saying, "I'll keep asking, you know?"
"You guys will probably need a new plan," Chazz said, seeing as how they now had a bit of privacy. "That guy's got lava attacks in his arsenal now."
Duncan looked uncertain. "I don't know. I'm not really an idea guy." Then he paused. "Wait a minute. You guys have ice powers, which aren't that useful against lava. What if you went underground and brought back a Zord with a better type advantage? You can do that, right?"
"Now that you mention it, I think I might have someone in mind," Carl said. "Chazz, we could get—"
"Let's not and say we did," the Chasmosaurus cut him off.
Duncan raised an eyebrow. "Any reason you're against this?"
"The individual I had in mind is Chazz's cousin, whom he is embarrassed by," Carl explained.
"Why?"
Chazz sighed. "Because she's really. Really. Stupid."
As Chazz said this, Duncan decided to check on Brody, who began stirring. "What's happening?"
"Please do not move too much, Mother," Carl warned him. "Your injuries are still healing."
Suddenly, Duncan launched into an unexpected tangent. "Hey, we should come up with a second part to our Power Rangers name."
"Why do you care about that?" Brody groaned as he sat up.
"I don't know. I think it might be because my weed's kicking in. I'm thinking Power Rangers: Paleo Force. How about you?" Duncan responded.
Brody tilted his head. "Why would we need a second name? We're the only group of Power Rangers around."
"Aw, come on, your little Kamen Riders do that naming thing all the time," Duncan countered.
Brody shrugged. "Alright, alright, we'll use that name. So, what were you guys talking about while I was out?"
"Well, Obsidius is a Fire and Rock type, so I was thinking we find a Ground-type Zord to give us an advantage," his brother explained.
"I suggested we recruit Chazz's cousin, but Chazz refused," Carl continued.
"Because she's really. Really. Stupid," Duncan finished, quoting Chazz.
The younger Branson sighed. "Chazz, I'm sure you feel embarrassed by this cousin of yours, but is that really a reason to shoot her down?"
The Chasmozord paused for a moment. "You know what? Fine. Carl and I will go get her just to show you how annoying she is."
"Please be reasonable, Chazz. You know the kind of power she can bring to a battle," Carl said.
Ignoring him, Chazz continued, "Just so you guys know, it'll take us a while to get her. She lives kinda far away."
"That's fine," said Brody. "While you guys are looking for her, I'll give Duncan some lessons in how to use our powers."
Duncan grinned. "And how to do a backflip!"
"Okay, I like that he sent the Rangers running, but I still would've preferred he finish them off," the knight commented as Obsidius began another rampage.
"Why did he lose intelligence upon transforming?" Lensia asked.
Factoraze addressed the witch's question, "It's a trade-off. What he lost in tactical thinking he makes up for in sheer aggression."
"Well, as long as it works," the knight said.
"All you've gotta do is focus your energy in one of your limbs," Brody explained. He'd had Duncan bring them to the generic quarry. It was a good place to train since nobody ever wen there.
His brother stared at him for a minute before responding, "Yeah, I kinda lucked into that earlier. Sooo, I clap my hands and believe?"
The Blue Ranger sighed and facepalmed. "I really should've waited for your weed to wear off," he muttered to himself.
"Kiai!"
Brody looked up to see that his brother had done as he'd instructed after all, punching a hole clean through a tree in the process.
"Huh. Well, okay then. Next, let's work on our Ranger Shoots."
As soon as he said it, Duncan pulled out his Switch-Gun. The tip of the barrel glowed and when he fired, the blast was a single continuous stream.
"Wow. You're a quick learner for a high guy," Brody commented. "Well, let's see if you can use those skills in a sparring match."
Duncan nodded and walked up to him. "You ready for a spanking?"
"Please don't say it like that." Brody cringed.
The White Ranger threw a right punch. Brody blocked it with his forearm and threw one back in kind. Duncan powered through the strike and tackled his brother to the ground. With that, the spar devolved into a childish wrestling match.
"Alright, alright, that's enough," Brody said. "Let's get back to weapons training."
After another half an hour, they decided to stop for the time being. Knowing the monster was still on the loose, they checked the news and learned its location before heading off to the scene on their mounts.
When they got to the scene, they saw Obsidius melting a bridge with its lava breath. The boys pulled out their guns and fired at the melted spots, cooling the lava just fast enough that it held the damaged bridge in place. Unfortunately, while they spent time doing this, the monster spit out a ton of lava onto the side of a small building, causing it to start to topple.
"Chazz, Carl, can you catch—" Brody started before remembering their Zords weren't present. "Damn, I forgot they were going to get us some backup."
"Hey, I see Mr. Cooper over there!" Duncan pointed.
Having little choice, the brothers dashed forward and grabbed Cooper, plus any other people they could get their hands on.
"Everyone, get out of here!" Duncan shouted.
Cooper kept his gaze on them for a moment before fleeing the scene.
The two Rangers looked back at the collapsed building, where a single bloody arm stuck out from the rubble. They stared at it for a moment before Brody spoke, "We gotta stop this thing."
Summoning their respective weapons, Duncan fired while Brody charged the monster. The shots did nothing, but Brody's one-two slash made it roar in pain.
Obsidius attacked with a haymaker, which Brody easily ducked under. The Blue Ranger landed another slash followed by a snap kick. The creature was forced back a step and before it could recover, it received a slash to the back of its knee, courtesy of Duncan.
Obsidius swiveled, lava breath spewing around him like a deadly sprinkler. The White Ranger merged his arm shields, countering the attack.
With the monster's attention on Duncan, Brody took the chance to throw a Ranger Slash at the back of its head. Obsidius roared in pain and turned back to Brody only for Duncan to kick it from behind. Brody grinned under his helmet as they continued with their combo. The process repeated several times with the damage building up before Obsidius collapsed.
"Last time he went down without exploding, he just came back stronger," Brody said as the two regrouped. "I say we do a Twin Ranger Shoot. Make sure it sticks this time."
Duncan nodded. "Works for me."
The Blue Ranger folded his Switch-Gun back into blaster mode and both took aim. They charged up their guns, but just as they fired, Obsidius bolted up again and spit out a steady stream of lava, meeting their beams head-on. After a brief beam-o-war between the two attacks, the collision point burst, sending both sides flying.
Duncan was the first to recover. Switching his gun into its sword mode, he went in and slashed the monster while it was down.
Obsidius responded by wrapping its tail around the boy's leg, tripping him. Fortunately, before the monster could attack him, Brody came in for another slash. Turning its head to the sky, Obsidius fired a stream of lava straight into the air. In a moment, it came raining back down onto the Rangers.
The brothers scattered to find cover, taking refuge in a warehouse next to the building Obsidius had knocked down earlier.
"Alright, this should keep us safe," Duncan said, relieved. Suddenly, a drop of lava fell in between them. Looking up, they saw that the ceiling was melting. "Until that happens," he finished.
And just like that, they ran outside the warehouse where Obsidius was waiting for them.
The rock-lava monster decided to go for Brody first and nailed him in the face with a punch. Duncan quickly grabbed his brother and pulled back to regroup. Bringing them around the corner of another building, he said, "I've got a plan."
"That's a first," Brody snarked despite everything.
"Ha ha. Anyway, there's this kickass fight combo I saw in Killzone 2. I think it could help us here," he said before launching into an explanation.
When Obsidius rounded the corner, it found Brody's Cryolophosaurus waiting for it. The dino took a slash at the rock monster, who retaliated with several wild punches.
"Hey, ugly!"
Obsidius looked over to see the two Rangers charging at it. Brody went in for a leg sweep while Duncan attacked with a flying kick. The monster was forced back a bit but was otherwise unhurt. Continuing, Brody threw a snap kick as Duncan leaped forward and brought his elbow down on their enemy's head. After this, both boys attacked with roundhouse kicks from either side.
Refusing to take this sitting down, Obsidius roared and charged, clotheslining both teens.
Getting back up, the boys rushed at the monster to resume their combo attack. The Blue Ranger threw a left roundhouse, which Obsidius blocked. However, this left it open to a side thrust kick from Duncan. "Fuck yeah!" The kick hit the monster in the gut, making it double over in pain.
Brody followed up with a right roundhouse to the creature's head. The hit dazed Obsidius long enough for the White Ranger to grab it by the shoulders and slam his knee into its chest.
"Ranger Kick!" Brody finally finished the combo with an ice-empowered drop kick, knocking Obsidius back a dozen feet. Unfortunately, the monster was only down, not out.
"Ugh, I thought that last kick would kill him," Duncan complained. Before the Rangers could attempt another finisher, the monster fired its breath weapon upward again, creating more lava rain—but it seemed to have a little more difficulty this time. Clutching its chest in pain, Obsidius went on the attack, backhanding Brody and tail-whipping Duncan.
As they hit the ground, Duncan said under his breath, "Villainous counterattack. I was hoping that part of the movie wouldn't play out."
"Well, the movie's about to hit its climax," a voice said.
That took the White Ranger by surprise. "Chazz?"
"Look to your left." The boys turned their heads. "Your other left."
The two Rangers felt tons of relief to see that their Zords had returned.
"We're back!" Carl declared.
"OMG!" said a new voice.
That made Chazz sigh. "And we brought reinforcements. Guys, this is my cousin, Kelly. She's a Kosmoceratops."
The Blue and White Zords stepped aside to reveal a third one. She was a ceratopsian like Chazz, but unlike him, she was brown with purple markings on her back and tail and purple horns that splayed outward. Her frill was shaped like Chazz's, except that the sides were studded while the top curved downward slightly, complemented by a row of downward facing spikes.
"So these are your little friends, cousin? They're, like, soooo cute!" the Zord said in a Valley girl accent.
"Yeah, yeah, they're cute. Can you help them out like I asked, Kelly?" Chazz groaned.
The Brown Zord nodded. "Alrighty," she said before looking at the boys. "So, which one of you should I hook up with?"
"Say what?" both Rangers deadpanned.
"She means that she'll add some of her energy to one of the gems in your bracelets, giving you a power-up," Carl explained.
Duncan raised his hand. "I call dibs."
That was all the new Zord needed to hear. Beams of brown energy shot from her eyes, hitting Duncan's morpher. As soon as it made contact, the mold changed to resemble Kelly's head instead of Chazz's.
There was a blinding flash of light. When it faded, Brody saw that his brother's suit had changed from white to brown and instead of solid lines, his sleeves were now studded with twin rows of small, circular purple jewels.
"Like, sock it to 'em, big boy!" Kelly cheered.
"Well, alright then," the now-Brown Ranger said. With his best battle cry, he rushed at Obsidius, who had been distracted by the Zords' arrival. Duncan punched the monster with everything he had, driving a large crack into its chest.
Brody was stunned. "He did that with a regular punch? How much power did he gain?"
Obsidius managed to get in a hit of its own, but Duncan didn't even flinch when its fist connected with his cheek. Pushing the beast away with a snap kick, he tapped his belt buckle.
In a flash, weapons appeared on hands: a pair of cestuses resembling the Kosmoceratops's head. Grinning under his helmet, the Brown Ranger started stomping the ground as hard as he could. Tremors rocked the earth, throwing Obsidius off balance. Duncan charged in and began throwing punches.
"Duncan used Earthquake. It! Is! Super! Effective!" he punctuated each punch.
Knocked back once more, Obsidius finally thought to use its lava breath. Duncan simply stuck his arms out and leaped forward, meeting the attack head-on. As he did so, he began spinning his body rapidly, dispersing the lava. It was only seconds before his spin attack connected with his foe.
"Duncan used Drill Run! It is also super effectiiiiiiive!"
Obsidius roared as the Brown Ranger bored a hole through its chest. As Duncan walked back over to Brody, he made sure not to look over his shoulder at the monster as it exploded behind him.
Brody folded his arms, grinning. "NOW who's the fanboy?"
"Still you," Duncan replied.
"You more than him," Chazz followed up.
That made Brody slump over.
"Ouch. Burn," Kelly added.
Carl quickly pointed out the obvious, "We shouldn't let our guard down. That monster could grow bigger at any moment."
"Factoraze," the knight quietly growled. "I was under the impression that this monster would get the job done."
Everyone in the room shuddered, especially the robot in question.
"My lord, I—"
He was cut off as the knight put a hand on his shoulder. "Lensia, make our monster grow. I'm going to remind my little friend why I had him built with pain receptors."
The witch's lack of a face was the only thing stopping her from showing fear. As the knight departed, she waved her hands, sending a beam to the Earth. It was easier to concentrate on what was happening down there.
Carl's prediction came true as Obsidius resurrected at giant height.
"Time for the Megazord, guys," Brody declared.
One transformation sequence later, the mecha was formed once again.
"Paleo Force Megazord, ready for action!" the Blue Ranger announced. Before his brother could make any snarks, he continued, "Hey, Paleo Force was your idea. I'm just running with it."
"That's all well and good, Mother, but we should focus on the fight," Carl said, having the Megazord use its frost breath.
Obsidius countered with lava breath, a cloud of steam billowing from the point where the two attacks met. Unlike the last time, Obsidius won the beam-o-war, scalding the mecha.
Duncan quickly righted them. "Guess it's not just his height that grew. Let's use our drill attack and get this over with. Cryo Drill Breaker!"
The Megazord lunged as its drill arm glowed blue with energy. To the shock of humans and Zords alike, Obsidius caught the drill in its bare hands, stopping not only its thrust but its rotation as well.
"Oh, boy," they all chorused.
Obsidius counterattacked with more lava breath, followed by a sloppy but powerful barrage of punches.
"Hey, Kelly! Mind giving us another hand?!" Duncan asked.
"Like, okie dokie!"
The Kosmozord leaped up, her limbs folding as the Megazord's drill arm detached, allowing her to take its place.
Brody came up with a name for the upgrade right away: "Paleo Force Megazord: Knockout Mode!"
"Aw, thanks, sweetie," Kelly gushed.
"That's not what he meant," Duncan told the Zord before speaking to Brody. "And dude, can you save the naming stuff for when we're not in battle? It's time to break in this new arm!" With that, he had the Megazord throw a left punch.
The rock-lava monster responded with a right punch. The punches collided, creating a shockwave. Obsidius pulled back, shaking its hand in pain.
"Time to return the favor!" Chazz said enthusiastically. The team threw several more punches, damaging the monster more and more with each hit.
Obsidius leaped back to gain distance before using its lava breath.
"I'll handle this, guys!" Kelly said, using her control of the Megazord to punch the ground. A brief barfing sound was heard, followed by a slab of red and blue-tinted earth rising from the ground, stopping the lava in its tracks.
"What was that noise and what's with the color of that wall?" Brody asked.
"Ask later, fight now!" Duncan instructed. Both boys focused their energy into directing the Megazord, having it punch the wall, launching it into Obsidius.
"This is our chance. Let's finish it off!" Carl said.
The Megazord's arms glowed blue and brown. Obsidius had recovered by this point and was smart enough to remember that going for a punch parry was a bad idea. It ducked under the first punch. However, Brody had planned for this and simply had them kick the monster as it ducked down, putting it back in range of their second punch. After their second strike landed, they launched their finishing move, punching with both fists at once.
Brody, of course, couldn't stop himself from naming the attack. "Duality Punch!"
Their finisher hit Obsidius dead-on, making it collapse and explode.
After taking some time to calm down and collect himself, the knight pointed at the screen with Factoraze's disembodied arm.
"Okay, enough is enough. Lensia, send out several dozen fighters to take care of the Megazord. Moses, deploy around two thousand Shadows to the ground. That should divide their focus."
Fearing their lord's wrath, the witch and Mosasaur set about carrying out their respective tasks. "Yes, Lord Calios."
The Branson brothers fist-bumped, satisfied with their victory. Unfortunately, Carl had some news that killed the mood.
"Um, Mother? Uncle? You may want to look up."
The Rangers followed their gaze to the sky, where they saw a small swarm of starfighters descending on their location like a meteor shower. They resembled black pieces of a ball of whacks.
"They're not just in the sky," Chazz added.
A quick glance downward saw a couple thousand Shadow minions materializing on the ground beneath their feet, flooding from every dark corner, filling every inch of the asphalt with darkness.
"Awww, we're gonna die," Duncan whined.
Author's Note: Obsidius, being from a Godzilla game, belongs to Toho. A little trivia for how I picked the team name. I was originally going to call them Power Rangers: Blizzard Force, but I realized that name wouldn't quite fit once I started using dinos with other elements.