Play "Falling" by Cryoshell

Instrumental

The screen starts off black. One by one, spotlights come on, revealing the three Rangers looking at the ground. They then lift their heads as the title Power Rangers: Paleo Force shatters through the remaining darkness above them.

Lights out.

Duncan, Brody, and Cooper stand together at the generic quarry, looking at their Zords and smiling.

No one's here.

Kenny is working on a circuit board with a robotic hand sitting on his desk. He grins as he taps the circuit board with a stylus, making the hand twitch.

Hear the silence.

Jane and Brody are together at the hospital, Jane bandaging Brody's leg.

Scent of fear.

All the heroic characters look up to the sky.

You start running.

The view moves up into space, where we see our main villains in their spaceship, followed by a close-up of each of them.

With mistrusting and skeptical eyes.

We get a shot of Cooper, Duncan, and Brody staring down an army of Shadows.

Are you haunted?

The three look at each other before nodding.

I call out.

One by one, they take fighting stances as they ready their morphers.

I'm counting on you.

The screen cuts to black.

Falling.

All three Rangers charge in slow motion as an explosion goes off in the background.

Is this the end of the line, and can we make it in time?

In a rotating shot, Brody slashes Shadows with his Carnage Sword, Cooper shoots them with his cannon, and Duncan blasts enemies with his Switch-Gun.

Falling.

CJ extends her arm, directing her Zords to charge forward.

My world is spinning around. I'm crashing into the ground.

Calios descends from space like a comet and, after landing, steps forward, slowly drawing his sword.

Falling.

Moses folds his arms as three silhouetted figures gather on either side of him.

Now I need you to see it's up to you and me.

The Paleo Force Megazord shifts into sword-and-shield mode. It slashes a monster, then uses its Cryo Slash on it, making it explode.

I'm counting on you.

Consecutive shots of Cooper doing a Ranger Punch, Duncan doing a Ranger Slash, and Brody doing a Ranger Kick at the screen.

Cut to the end of the song as the music fades out.

The Rangers stand confidently in front of their respective Zords, who roar behind them as the screen fades to black again.

Chapter 39

Duncan and Brody sat in their living room with their Cryolophosaurs, watching Jackass. After an hour, Duncan checked his phone, causing his mood to shift.

"Something up with you?" Brody asked. "You've been frowning for a little while. You get some bad news?"

Rather than say anything, Duncan just held up his phone, showing a chain of texts.

Brody quickly noticed two things: 1. Bailey was the other person texting, and 2.- "'I think it's time?'" he read. "What's that mean?"

"It means we're gonna finish things," Bailey said, her back to Moses.

"So, what, you're gonna face that red-haired human in some kind of duel of honor?" the Mosasaur asked, crossing his arms.

Bailey shrugged, "Something like that."

As she walked to the launch tubes, Moses pointed out the obvious, "Why bother? You could bring one of our monsters with you-"

"-or at least bring your Cryo," Brody finished as his brother walked to the door.

"I could, but when you hate someone a certain way," the whale and human turned back to their respective teammates, "You have to kill them yourself."

At high noon, Duncan walked up to the entrance of the hiking trail where he and Brody met their Zords, with Bailey crash landing in front of him seconds later.

Looking around, she asked, "What made you decide to get started here?"

"This place is kinda special," he said as he pulled out some earplugs, "Seemed like as good a place as any to kill the girl I hate most."

Bailey put her hands on her hips, "Uh huh, great. For the record, I'm gonna eat you after I kill you."

"If you can kill me." Duncan morphed, drew his Switch-Gun, and fired, only for Bailey to duck under the shot and tackle him.

The Basilosaurus clamped her jaws around Duncan's neck, but Duncan returned the favor by pressing his gun against her neck and firing, distracting her long enough for him to get out from under her.

Once Bailey recovered and got to her feet, she found that Duncan was gone. Suspecting he was still nearby, she looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. A shot of ice struck her in the back of the head. She spun around, growling, still not seeing any sign of the White Ranger.

As the monster whale scanned the woods for him, Duncan tiptoed from tree to tree, taking care to avoid the cliché of stepping on any branches and giving away his position. He aimed his Switch-Gun and fired again, hitting Bailey in the back.

"Alright, that's it!" Bailey snarled, "You can't hide from me!" Taking a deep breath, she unleashed her super scream. The soundwaves from her scream carried so much force that they began leveling the trees all around.

Once she felt she'd done enough damage; she shut her mouth and began walking around to see if Duncan had been crushed by any falling trees. Suddenly, she remembered something important and knelt down, putting her head to the ground. She quickly rolled to the side.

Duncan, in his Ground-Type form, burst out of the ground, his punch just missing Bailey's head.

Bailey spun and slapped him in the face with her tail. She inhaled for another sonic attack but right as screamed, Duncan slammed his palms into the ground, raising a slab of solid crystal as a makeshift barrier between him and the sound. Unfortunately, the slab was shattered, and the force of the sound sent him flying.

After flying through at least several walls, the Brown Ranger came skidding to a stop. "I don't know what's hurting worse, my ears or the rest of me," Duncan commented as he dragged himself to his feet. He took a quick look around, "I'm on Big Boi Boulevard? Shit, I got knocked a long way."

Knowing the fight was far from over, Duncan spotted Bailey approaching from the direction he'd been flung from. He addressed the various civilians around him, "Everyone, run! Things are gonna get messy around here!"

That got the people running. Seeing that Bailey was getting close, Duncan leapt forward and spun, attacking with Drill Run.

In response, Bailey let out another scream, making Duncan stop short of hitting her. After a brief stalemate, Duncan was blown away by the scream again.

"Oh, come on!" the teen yelled as he slammed into a wall. Landing on the ground, he drew his Switch-Gun and charged up a shot, "Meteor Beam!"

Bailey tried countering the attack with her scream, but a beam of energy couldn't be stopped as easily as solid matter, and she ended up taking a direct hit to her gut.

Duncan grinned under his helmet as Bailey staggered back. He concentrated his powers and gained a white outline on his body. "Accelerock!" Charging forward at high speed, he punched the whale girl right in the spot he'd shot her. As he reared back for his next punch, he channeled earth energy through it and aimed for her neck.

While Bailey was injured, she still had enough focus to sidestep Duncan's punch and bite his upper arm. When Duncan tried using his left arm, she just grabbed his wrist, immobilizing both his arms.

Duncan screamed as Bailey's teeth sank into biceps. He shook and squirmed, but she wouldn't let go. Looking around for something, anything that could help him, he spotted a public fountain and got an idea. He ran over to it and leaned over, dunking her head in the water.

"Whoa, looks like you've got her now."

Recognizing the voice, Duncan turned his head and saw not just Calios, but the rest of his top henchmen too. "The fuck? What are you guys doing here?"

Calios shrugged, "What do you think we're doing here? We're here to watch the fight."

"Us too!"

In seconds, G2, Brody, and the rest of Duncan's friends approached from around the corner. Amusingly, not only did the Cryo gang show up as well, but the white Cryo had a little flag in its mouth with Duncan's helmet on it.

"Oookay, I guess everybody's here," Duncan noted. Remembering the squirming in his arms, he saw that Bailey had yet to drown. "Oh, come on, she's still alive!?"

"She's a whale, you idiot! She can hold her breath a long time!" Moses pointed out.

"Oh, right." Figuring that Bailey would likely get free well before she drowned, Duncan pulled her out of the water and headbutted her, making her finally let go of his arm. The two of them threw a right punch, hitting each other in the face at the same time.

Duncan tunneled into the ground, prompting Bailey to put her head to the ground again to listen for him. To her surprise, she heard him moving away from her. She stood up, keeping her eyes and ears peeled in case of a sneak attack.

"thoooouuusAAAAANNND!"

Everyone looked up to see Duncan falling toward them rapidly, likely from having made a massive leap. "WAVES!"

He punched the ground, making it ripple and rise up like a wave that spread out in all directions.

Bailey leapt over the wave and saw that Duncan had leapt up too, intending to hit her with a Ranger Punch. She was slightly curious about the hand he held one hand behind his back but ignored it and blew him away with a sonic scream. As the Brown Ranger fell, he flicked his other hand, throwing a rock.

"Really?" Bailey chuckled as she caught the rock, "That was your backup plan?" As Duncan tried to recover, she threw the rock at his head and, after he was stunned grabbed him by the arms and started swinging him around. After building enough momentum, she let go, sending him flying off into the distance.

The anthro Basilosaurus grinned as she began walking after him.

"Bailey." Hearing Moses' voice, Bailey turned to her friend, seeing him and all the other spectators picking themselves up. "When you find him, just finish him off."

"Got it," Bailey nodded as she left.

Calios shook his head. "Hahaha! Alright! Let's do that again!"

"You've got issues," Jane commented.

"I sure do!"

"Yeah, okay, whatever," Brody dismissed. He morphed and started after Bailey, "Let's go, guys. We'll need to clear people out of whatever streets they fight on."

Bailey walked down the street, looking around for her prey when, suddenly, Duncan got her in a headlock from behind. "You've already strangled me a lot in the bedroom, remember?" she pointed out. "I'm used to this kind of thing."

"Oh, right." Duncan let her go and put his kickboxing skills to use. He threw a one-two punch to her gut before hitting her in the face with a left hook. Bailey responded with a haymaker, but he ducked under it and hit her with a right hook. He then pushed her back with a snap kick and then followed it up with a roundhouse kick.

Having had enough, Bailey unleashed another scream, sending Duncan flying into an office building. She paused to take a breath before letting out another, more powerful scream, causing the entire building to start crumbling.

In less than a minute, the building collapsed altogether. Bailey smiled at her handiwork. She quickly lost her smile when Duncan tunneled out of the ground ten feet to her left. "I guess I should've seen that coming. Well, let'-"

"Hold on a sec," Duncan held up a hand. He looked back into the hole he'd come out of, "Alright, everyone, single file."

One by one, about 20 people crawled out of the hole, most of them thanking Duncan as they ran for safety.

"Look at you, all heroic," Bailey snarked, putting her hands on her hips.

"You know, when you say it like that, you sound like you actually care," Duncan shot back.

"Shut up." The whale girl screamed again while Duncan punched his fist into the ground, anchoring himself in place. A dozen more punches and he hauled himself over to Bailey, tackling her.

"All you do is scream. It's really getting old," the Brown Ranger droned as he grabbed Bailey by the tail and started swinging her around. "I should've brought a harpoon!" he shouted as he let go.

Bailey crashed through the window of a nearby Starbucks, smashing through the counter as she came to a stop.

"Heh, you know, wouldn't it be funny if they had a food fight in there?" Calios joked as civilians poured out of the shop. He peered into the shop. "Holy shit, they actually are."

"No way," Kenny crossed his arms.

Calios snapped his fingers, "Lensia?"

The faceless witch waved her hands, creating a screen for the group to watch. The screen showed Duncan and Bailey grabbing cups of coffee and splashing each other in the face with them.

"I stand corrected," Kenny shrugged.

Duncan took another cup of coffee to the face. Seeing Bailey about to scream again, he moved in and grabbed her snout, forcing it shut.

"Lgmmph!"

"What? Sorry, I didn't get that. I'm kinda holding your big mouth shut," Duncan snarked.

Bailey growled and grabbed Duncan's wrists and walked backwards towards one of the walls. Once she was close enough, she fell backwards, throwing Duncan headfirst into the wall.

The impact made Duncan let go of Bailey and clutch his head as he rolled off her, allowing Bailey to start pummeling him from her spot on the ground. To get away, he tunneled into the ground again.

"Great, now where'd he-" before Bailey could finish her question, a brown beam of energy pierced through the wall and moved sideways. Panicking, the Basilosaurus ran from the beam and punched her way through the wall.

Duncan didn't give her a chance to catch her breath and punched his fist into the ground.

Thinking that another earth construct would form in front of her, Bailey let loose with another scream, only to be caught off-guard when glowing stone spikes stabbed at her from behind. This made her stumble forward, allowing Duncan to move in and nail her with a supercharged uppercut.

The attack sent Bailey flying in the direction of the town square, so Duncan followed after her.

"I feel like they're making this a bit more dramatic than it needs to be," Jane commented as the Brown Ranger left.

"Agreed," Factoraze nodded.

"Sometimes a man has to deal with a woman personally," Cooper shook his head, putting his hands on his hips, "For example, one time, this girl I dated stole all me money, so I tracked her down, tied her up and-"

"Beat her?" "Burned her?" "Raped her?" Kenny, G2, and Brody guessed in succession.

Jane looked appalled, "The fuck is wrong with you guys?"

Cooper continued on as if Jane had said nothing, "Worse…I shaved her head."

"I would've done something worse, but, eh, whatever works for you," Calios shrugged.

"That must've felt reeaal satisfying," Moses droned.

"Oh, it was," Cooper grinned, "It was so satisfyin' that I didn't even mind that I got arrested the next day for kidnappin' and assault."

Once Duncan got to the square, he kept his eyes peeled, not seeing Bailey anywhere. He flicked his gun into its sword mode.

"Maybe you could make spikes appear all over?" Kelly suggested.

"Nah, that'd destroy the whole block. I don't wanna do that," Duncan declined. "Don't worry, I've seen plenty of movies, so I know-" he punched the ground, making a crystal wall rise up behind him, blocking Bailey's punch. "-the unseen enemy always strikes from behind."

Bailey shook her hand in pain and screamed, shattering the wall and charging in. Duncan slashed at her, but she bit his wrist and tore the blade from his grasp. She slashed him across the chest twice, but when she aimed for his shoulder, the Brown Ranger managed to catch the blade with his good hand right as it made contact with him, giving him the chance to kick her away.

Clutching his right wrist, Duncan stared down Bailey for a second as the sun began to set. "I'm ending this now."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Bailey responded

Then he made his move. He stomped on the ground, forming another crystal wall in front of Bailey, then dashed forward. When Bailey shattered the wall with her scream, he grabbed two sharp pieces out of the air. He blocked Bailey's slash with one of them while thrusting the other forward…straight into her throat.

The two stood frozen in place. Bailey dropped her stolen sword and weakly grabbed Duncan's arm.

In response, Duncan slashed with the shard, dealing even more damage to Bailey's throat.

The anthro Basilosaurus grasped at her throat before collapsing, with Duncan catching her. Knowing she was done for, Bailey choked out her last words, "You know, for as much as I h-hated you, yo-grlt!" she paused and coughed up some blood before continuing, "-you were pretty good in bed."

Feeling her go completely limp, Duncan let go of her, causing her to fall to the ground face first. "You too," he panted, his adrenaline rush wearing off. He felt a shadow cast over him and looked to his left, seeing Moses approaching him from the direction of the sun. "She's all yours."

Moses said nothing and simply picked Bailey's corpse up bridal style before walking away.

Calios clapped, "Good fight. That was fun to watch." He looked back at his henchman, "Lensia, let's go."

As the villains all teleported away, Duncan's friends gathered around him.

"You okay?" Jane asked.

"Yeah, just a bit bruised up," Duncan answered as he demorphed. Once he did, the team saw the extent of his injuries. His forehead was bruised, there were bite marks on his neck and right wrist, and when he took his earplugs out, blood started leaking from his ears.

Cooper cringed, "Yikes. Jane? You wanna start patchin' him up?"

Jane nodded and started guiding the group back to her house. As they walked, Brody asked, "You sure you're gonna be okay? I know you had a thing going on with-"

"Hehehe, dude, we we're hate-fucking, remember?" Duncan chuckled, "She wouldn't miss me and I don't miss her."

Cooper pat him on the shoulder while everyone else shared glances, shrugging awkwardly.