Disclaimer: This is the second fic in my latest three fic arc of Earth Crystals. Power Rangers and all related indicia belong to Saban Enterprises. The characters that I invented belong to me. Nancy belongs to the good people who produced the movie "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer." I would issue a non-canon Ranger alert, but if you've read this far in Earth Crystals, then non-canon Rangers probably don't bug you too much. Thanks to Ken Hillis for helping me remember the names of those old 2nd season monsters. Veiled reference to Zyurangers within. Also, thanks to Julia for invaluable help with the Green Thunder/Divatox subplot. Lastly, Murray speaks with ASL. I am aware that American Sign Language doesn't translate smoothly into English, but for the sake of smooth reading, I've provided "normal English" translations. (Thanks to Ellen for
remin.)
By Jeremy Ray Logsdon
"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not without enchantment, then where is it to be found?" – J. B. Priestly
"How's the spell coming, Rita?" Divatox asked anxiously.
"Slowly," she answered cautiously, deeply engrossed in her work.
"What does it do?" Astronema asked as she walked into the First Class Lounge where the others had set up their temporary headquarters.
"Makes the ground cold," Divatox answered. She peered through her magical periscope at the snow falling in Angel Grove. "It's still too warm, and it'll take too long to get cold. As soon as the ground is cold, then we can have some REAL damage and destruction going on."
"Done!" Rita called. She looked up and said, "Send some Putties to go see if it worked."
"We don't have Putties anymore," Divatox reminded her. "And we haven't come up with any replacement fighters yet."
"I'll go check," Zedd offered. "Somebody send me."
"What would we do without you, Zedd?" Rita asked, teleporting him off of the ship.
"Probably have Rito do all your dirty work," Sydney answered.
As soon as Zedd's metal-covered feet touched the pavement on Simmons Avenue, he knew the spell had been successful. The cold seemed to radiate upward through his feet. A few feet away was a fire hydrant. He walked over to it and used his inhuman strength to turn the water on. Zedd nodded in approval. Rita's spell had worked VERY well. It was so cold the water froze on contact, covering the street with a thick layer of ice. Coupled with the snow that was starting to fall quite heavily, Angel Grove would soon be a frozen city.
He looked up, hoping that someone was watching for him to bring him back to the 'Lusitania.' Zedd glanced around, seeing several of Duran's Gold Scorpions in the distance. Policemen and other city workers were evacuating the buildings, escorting panicked citizens to the monster shelters. And then, Zedd saw him. Duran was standing at the peak of a skyscraper some distance away, orchestrating the chaos.
Zedd hated him. He hated him more than he had hated anything. He was powerless, unable to do anything truly important, and this newcomer from a different dimension looked to be the one to finally destroy Angel Grove. Zedd would have done anything to have inflicted serious bodily harm on Duran. But Duran had magic, and Zedd didn't, and all he could do was continue to watch as he waited for Rita to teleport him home.
Dulcea turned her back as she poured some of the magical dust into her hands. She then walked back to the fire, smiling warmly at the four Rangers-to-be. The fire was dancing with red, green, pink, and yellow flames. She took a deep breath and blew into the dust, sending it across the fire.
The Morphing Grid opened up to the four humans on the other side of the fire, exposing them to the Turbo section of the Grid. They were instantly filled with the power of Ninja in the appearance of Turbo, and the knowledge of their totem was made known to their bodies.
The Phaedosian Warrior allowed a small smile. She had strongly suspected Hallie would be Pink, but all three men would have done well in any of the colors presented them. As such, she genuinely didn't know who would end up under what color.
"Hallie," she greeted, standing before the Pink Ninjetti. "Your totem is the Spider, creative, graceful, and respectful to all life."
Her boyfriend, Murray, was clad in Green. He smiled as Dulcea stepped up to him, and he was startled that she was signing to him as well. "Murray, Green Ninjetti, you are the Bobcat. Silence isn't your curse. It's your strength."
Guy smiled as best he could. He wasn't overly pleased in having a "Girl color." "Guy, Yellow Ninjetti, you are the Deer, gently strong in mind and body and powerful in the face of danger. And don't worry. Yellow has no gender connotation.
"And Martin, Red Ninjetti. You are the Cobra, imbued with the magic of the snake. You are intensely strong; remember, your mind is your best weapon."
Dulcea stepped back and then looked up at the sky. "Your NinjaZords are waiting for you to call on them," she said. "The Earth needs you know. The knowledge is within you. Morph and teleport to Earth to help your teammates."
Martin nodded. He felt the responsibility was his. "It's morphin time!" he shouted. Energy crackled around them, and the emblems on their chests glowed brightly.
"Pink Turbo Power!" Hallie cried.
Murray obviously said nothing, but his armor appeared on his body nonetheless.
"Yellow Turbo Power!" Guy shouted.
"Red Turbo Power!" Martin finished. In four streaks of colored light, the four Rangers teleported off of Phaedos and into the darkness of space.
Duran turned his gaze toward downtown Angel Grove. Though the fall of snow was already too thick for a mortal to see more than about a hundred feet, he could see as far as he needed to. And he could see the completely still Youth Center. Better yet, he knew that Jenga was in the basement with mortals.
"Go!" Duran ordered, pointing at his largest scorpion. It promptly abandoned the skyscraper it was slowly scaling and scurried down the frozen street. Duran smiled to himself. Perhaps this world could still be his, yet.
"It's so cold," Brooke said, shivering, her arms wrapped tightly around body.
"Ernie, do you have anything for her?" Adelle asked, looking around the boxes in the basement. It had gotten suddenly cold, and she was starting to worry about Brooke. The young girl was wearing a thin shirt and coveralls. It had been fine earlier in the day, but it was far too insubstantial now.
"There should be something," Ernie answered, getting up to look.
"Here, you can have mine," Jenga offered, pulling a just-produced denim jacket off.
"I didn't even realize you had it," Brooke said, her teeth chattering. "Are you sure?"
"Very," Jenga answered, smiling warmly. She wrapped it around Brooke's shoulders, who eagerly put her arms through. "I-" She paused, as her sensitive hearing picked up the distinct sound of golden claws clicking on frozen pavement.
(Duran…) She quickly hid her scowl as she realized what was about to happen. He had thought he could sneak up on her, but she wasn't going down without a fight. Unfortunately, she had several mortals with her… (Oh, for evil's sake, Jenga, just let them get killed!) she angrily thought to herself.
"Thank you very much, Jennifer," Brooke said again, gratefully.
Jenga smiled wanly. "Hey, did you guys hear something?" She quickly put a concerned expression on her face as she made a sewer system appear on the other side of the basement wall and filled it with a trio of shadow warriors.
Everyone turned to the wall, startled at the strange echoes coming from it. Then, in an mini-explosion of mortar and dust, her warriors burst free. They were completely black and only two-dimensional, as thin as a piece of paper.
"Get out of the way!" Nancy shouted, pulling a small .22 from her black, leather vest. She pointed it at the dark creatures and fired all six shots in rapid succession. Her aim was true, and all of the warriors fell, becoming nothing more than pools of liquid black.
"You had a gun!" Adelle cried. "You don't bring guns into the Youth Center!"
"What?!" Nancy protested. "That's the first time I've ever used it!"
"Good thing you had it," Jenga commented. "Let's-" She was interrupted as a giant, scorpion tail plunged into the center of the basement.
"Go!" Ernie shouted, ushering the others into the open sewer.
"In the sewer?" Brooke asked.
"This place is gonna come down on top of us," Jenga said, pulling Brooke to her feet and hurrying with her into the tunnel.
"And we're back online!" Justin shouted triumphantly. With a slow, steadily-increasing hum, the Power Station returned to life. Dimitria's tube flickered and slowly lit. Just as the entire facility returned to full-functioning capacity, a silver rain of sparkles produced Dulcea, still wearing her Policeman's uniform. The four new Turbo Rangers were behind her.
"Welcome to the team, Rangers," Dimitria said calmly. "As soon as this crisis is over, I promise to take the time to introduce you to the world of the Power Rangers."
"Emily, we've got teammates!" Justin cried over the radio system.
"I'm going to go help the police," Dulcea told Dimitria as she teleported out again.
"Send 'em out here!" Emily shouted back. "I'm with the Space team, and we're getting whomped!"
"Justin, you go, too," Dimitria told him. "Now that Alpha is back, your assistance would be better used on the battlefield."
"Wait," Hallie interrupted. "I just realized something. Murray is deaf and mute. How can we talk with him if he can't read our lips?"
"Murray, you wait behind," Alpha told him, speaking it aloud and signing it out with his hands at the same time. "We'll devise a method of communication that will be effective during battle. The rest of you need to teleport to Exodus Drive."
"Hang on tight, guys," Justin told his new teammates as he punched in the teleportation controls. In a bright, rainbow-colored teleportation streak, they disappeared from the Power Station.
'How can I hear what the others have to say to me?' Murray signed.
"We'll just have to figure something out," Alpha signed back, "and quickly."
"Systems back online," DECA said to herself. She, too, had been affected by the pulse flash bomb, but her back-up system had quickly restored her. "Thunder Rangers?"
"We're… sort-of everywhere, DECA," Marge answered. "David, Molly and I are helping with the monster shelters, and I'm not sure where the others are."
"Maggie and I are fighting the scorpions near KBKO," Heather said next.
"Since it's gotten colder, they're a LOT tougher to beat!" Maggie cried. "They- ACK!"
"Maggie!" Heather cried.
DECA quickly turned her scanners toward the Green and Pink Thunder Rangers. She watched, unsettled, as a large, golden scorpion tail struck Maggie and knocked her into the mirrored lobby of the KBKO building. Before anyone could ask if she was okay, she came running back out of the hole she had created, firing her Thunder Blaster at the scorpion.
"DECA, contact the other Rangers," Heather suggested. "See if they know how to defeat these things!"
"I'll let you know as soon as I learn anything," DECA told her Rangers.
"Lt. Stone!" Dulcea cried, hurrying into the police station. Chaos was reigning. Lanterns and candles provided the only illumination, and everyone was bundled up. The phones may not have been working, but there was still a lot of upset citizens making the policemen's' job harder. Add to that the fact the police station was also a monster shelter, and little to nothing was getting accomplished.
"Dulcea!" he shouted back from somewhere in the room. She looked around until he stood up on his desk, waving a candle in the air to attract her attention. She pushed her way through the room, meeting up with him.
"It's nuts out there," she said, "but I think it's worse in here. What can we do?"
"We have our usual officers working at the various Monster Shelters, and we have some foot-runners trying to evacuate the apartment buildings nearest the fight zones," he told her. "Unfortunately, the fight zones are pretty much everywhere tonight."
"I need to get out there," she murmured, mostly to herself. "Okay, I'll be-"
"Wait," he interrupted, a pensive look on his face. "I… Come with me." He grabbed a lantern from someone's desk, and the two hurried into a back room.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked.
"The basement," he said. "I've had my suspicions for a while, and… well…"
"Lt. Stone?" she asked again as they descended the darkened stairs into the even darker basement.
"About three months ago, there was a pretty ineffective hold-up at the 7-11 at the intersection of Fletcher and Devroe. It was ineffective because two, uhm… Robocop-looking creations stopped it," he said. He pointed his lantern toward the back of the room. Completely silent and now covered with dust, a male Blue Senturion and a female Purple Senturion leaned against one wall.
"Senturion units!" Dulcea cried, hurrying over to them. "Why are they down here?"
"So I was right," he said slowly. "You are with the Power Rangers."
Dulcea paused in mid-examination of the Blue Senturion. She looked back at him, and then said, "Yes." Turning back to the Senturion unit, she began to look at it to determine what had caused it to be deactivated. "Why are they deactivated?"
"When Detective Park tried to reason with them, they just shut down," he explained. "We've tried EVERYTHING to get them working, but… nothing."
"It's for protection reasons," she said. "On some planets, the Senturion units work actively with the Rangers. Should they be captured, they shut down. That's probably what they thought you were doing, capturing them. That way, you couldn't get any information from them.
"Blue Senturion, Earth Unit One, this is Dulcea, Master Warrior of Phaedos," she said. "You are no longer in enemy hands."
"If these guys are mechanical," Lt. Stone started.
"Blue Senturion, reporting for duty," he said suddenly. The black visor where one eyes would rest was lit up with a blue backlight. Aside from the dust covering him, he was a beautiful creation. "I cannot seem to move."
"Your mind is connected directly to the Morphing Grid," Dulcea said. "That's why you're coherent, but your body is mechanical, so until we can get you working again, you'll be paralyzed." She then turned to Purple Senturion and began to reactivate her.
"Can we get these guys fixed tonight?" Lt. Stone asked.
"We can't," Dulcea said, "but a friend of mine can. Alpha, can you teleport these two Senturion units to the Station and get them operational?" In a muted flash of blue and purple, the two robots disappeared.
She was still kneeling as she turned to look up at Lt. Stone. "You know you have to keep all of this quiet, right?"
Blue, pink, red, and yellow light flickered on the icy streets and the swiftly falling snow as most of the Turbo Rangers appeared in downtown Angel Grove. Golden scorpions of all sizes were everywhere. Some were no larger than small dogs, while others would have been better matched with Zords than Rangers.
Hallie's vision darted across the fight. Red and Silver Space Rangers currently had their weapons out, fighting with a scorpion that towered a good twenty feet over them. "Hallie, you can't take time to gawk!" Emily cried. Before Hallie could wonder what she meant by that, a heavy scorpion tail slammed into her, knocking her off of the street.
Disoriented, she was already standing before she realized that it was the Yellow Space Ranger who had helped her to her feet. "Just let the power tell you what to do," Yellow Space suggested, "and you'll do fine."
"Right," Hallie agreed. "Thanks." She darted back out into the street, sliding past a dangerous, spiked tail. She summoned her weapon, Wind Fire, and was a bit startled that she knew exactly what to do. Pulling back on the string, she fired a steady stream of pink energy at the closest scorpion.
Martin was using his Lightning Sword to block the jabs and stings that a trio of scorpions were trying to deliver. He felt completely and totally energized, and he realized, with a bit of surprise, that he was genuinely enjoying himself.
Yellow streams of energy shot from Guy's direction as he turned his AutoBlaster to its highest setting. Each intense beam of energy gouged into a scorpion's body. For a brief instant, the gold composing it seemed to be liquid. However, as it splashed up, it froze again and then fell to the pavement in tiny, tinkling clusters of hard gold. Then, the gold rearranged and formed several tiny scorpions, all of which began to scamper in various directions.
"Star Charges!" Guy called, putting his AutoBlaster back in his holster and producing his hand-held weapons. He pressed them against the ground and fired, sending a small ripple of electricity outward. The three closest mini-scorpions fizzled and melted, only to refreeze and reform.
Hallie screamed as several of the smaller beasts began to climb up her armored legs. She was frantically beating at herself with Wind Fire, trying to knock them off. The Ranger closest to her, the Silver Space Ranger, hurried to her aid, and with his Super Silverizer, he was carefully knocking them off of her. If the scorpion landed near a Ranger, it began to attack as a minor nuisance again. If it landed closer to one of the larger beasts, it merged with it, effectively disappearing.
"Is that all of them?" Zhane asked as he flicked what he thought was the final scorpion off of her.
Suddenly, a pair of metallic fingertips touched her shoulder. Hallie and Zhane both turned as they saw Lord Zedd standing by her, holding a scorpion in the claws at the end of two fingers. He dropped the tiny creature to the ground and planted his metal heel on it, crushing it into the pavement. Hallie was suddenly shocked out of her stupor and screamed, jumping backwards. Zhane, however, stepped closer.
"What do you want, Zedd?!" he shouted defensively.
"I want my idiot wife to teleport me home!" he shouted angrily into the winter sky. "But if not that, then I want you to defeat Duran."
"How stupid do we look?" Zhane asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"You really don't want me to answer that," Zedd answered smugly. He glanced up at the sky and saw a red streak of light heading for him. Rita had heard him, after all. And he suddenly had an incredible idea. Thankful that he had kept his staff, if just for appearance's sake, he lashed out and hooked Zhane's Super Silverizer with the Z at the end.
Zhane looked down at their joined weapons and then up at Zedd. But before he could do anything, the red teleportation beam struck Zedd. The red energy overwhelmed Zedd's body and traveled down his staff, which then moved up Zhane's weapon and covered his entire body. The two were whisked away in the same teleportation signal before Zhane truly even understood what was going on.
"A Power Ranger!" Divatox cried.
Astronema, her feet far apart, thrust her staff forward, and, grunting, unleashed a torrent of purple energy at the Silver Ranger. Zhane cried out as the energy entered his back. The beam was wide and convulsive, lashing about as though just barely contained. He lifted himself up on the balls of his feet, arms to the side and the purple electricity crackling all over his shiny armor. Finally, Astronema pushed her Wrath Staff away, and the flow of energy stopped. Zhane remained static for a moment, a purple afterglow surrounding his entire body. And then, he fell to his knees, his arms hanging lifelessly at his sides. Zedd pushed him over with the tip of his Z staff, and the Silver Ranger lay in a comatose heap on the floor.
"What'd you do that for?" Sydney asked in a slightly amused tone.
"Well, he was a Ranger, I'm evil… it just seemed like the right thing to do," Astronema answered. "Help me take him down to one of the 2nd class rooms."
"A Power Ranger," Divatox said again, a smile touching her eyes and lips. "Wait!" Sydney and Astronema paused. "This could come in handy."
Alpha looked to the roof of the Power Station was Murray teleported away in a flash of green light. He had solved Murray's communication problem through the simplest method he could think of. It seemed cruel to give Murray the ability to hear as a Ranger and leave him deaf when unmorphed. Instead, Alpha had jury-rigged a mechanism similar to closed captioning on a television. Now, he could help Dulcea get the Blue and Purple Senturions working.
Dimitria, meanwhile, was continually scanning Angel Grove, as well as news transmissions from neighboring cities. The surrounding area was in a state of emergency, both from the weather and the ongoing battle. While it was only snowing in Angel Grove, extremely cold air was extending to Stone Canyon and Silver Falls. At least they did have electricity.
"Dimitria, can you please contact Aquitar?" Billy asked over the radio systems. "We are having a LOT of trouble getting the Zords back online."
"I will attempt to contact Cestro," she assured him.
In the Zord Bays, the Morphin team was hard at work, just trying to get two of the Zords back online. Billy had accurately predicted that the four new Turbo Rangers would have Zords waiting to arrive from Phaedos. As such, his main priority was getting Justin's SeahorseZord and Emily's BatZord online so that they could have at least one MegaZord in working order.
"Attention Citizens of Angel Grove!" a booming, female voice called.
Slowly, all six Morphin Rangers turned from where they were working on the Zords. Hovering in the air was a large hologram screen. Smiling wickedly was the lady pirate Divatox.
"What the hell is that?" Nancy asked.
Her fellow sewer-travelers stopped at her comment. She pointed to a screen similar to the one that the Power Rangers were presented with.
"Divatox," Jenga said under her breath.
"I am speaking on behalf of the UAE," Divatox said. Brooke shook nervously. It was surprising to her how startling it was to just see one of the most evil women in the universe.
Every dead television in Angel Grove sparked to temporary life, just for Divatox's special announcement. In the Hammond household, Ruby and Samuel, along with their children that were lucky enough to be home and not trapped in monster shelters (at least as far as Ruby and Samuel knew), were in the living room, huddled under numerous blankets and quilts, trying to conserve body heat and stay warm. For a moment, they thought that perhaps it was over. The electricity was back. But then, they realized what was happening.
"I have a demand to make," Divatox continued.
In the Monster Shelters, barrels had been set up and small, controlled fires were raging in them. Cold and frightened people were trying their best to warm. Only the hologram screens that appeared in mid-air was enough to draw their attention away.
"If this demand is not met-," Divatox threatened.
Dulcea, Alpha, Dimitria, and both Senturions watched as Divatox gave her demands. Her message was even piped in through the main Viewing Screen.
"-then you all will be very, very sorry," she warned.
Viewing screens also appeared on the streets where each and every Ranger was fighting. The fight halted, temporarily, for the message. "I want the Green Thunder Ranger to reveal her identity to the public," Divatox said. "Tonight."
Heather looked at Maggie, and then down at herself. "No," Heather said simply.
Sydney sat with Lord Zedd on the 'UAE Lusitania,' watching Divatox give her demand. "This is so exciting," Sydney whispered to the powerless dark lord. "Why isn't everyone evil? I haven't had this much fun in my life." Zedd nodded in agreement.
"If the Green Thunder Ranger has not revealed her identity within the next hour," Divatox said, "we will kill the Silver Space Ranger."
"Ooh," Sydney shivered happily. "Goosebumps."
"Zhane!" Andros cried as Astronema, with the unconcious Silver Ranger hanging on her, appeared on the screen.
"How did they get him?!" Ashley shouted.
"And we WILL kill him," Divatox said, "slowly and painfully. Green Thunder Ranger, Angel Grove, you have been warned."
"I'll be back," Andros said just before he teleported.
But then, before they could dwell on the dire message just given them, the scorpions attacked again.
"I thought you were wearing a back brace," Astronema commented to Sydney as they began to get the bed ready for its first sleeper in decades.
"Eh, I just zapped the scoliosis away," Sydney said dismissively. "I just have to wear the stupid thing for appearance's sake now, and I don't bother when I'm here. Plus, there are these two atheist jerks at school who make fun of me because of it. They're total losers. They have that weird grunge thing going on, and one of them has all the scars on his arms because he's into pain and suffering. Freaks."
"I don't believe in atheists," Astronema said thoughtfully.
"Me neither," Sydney agreed. "But they are there, and… oy, I'd like to kill them."
"Just have them eliminated," Astronema suggested.
"I can't," Sydney sighed, fluffing the pillows up. "They haven't actually said anything TO me, and I don't want to call attention to the fact that I'm an agent of evil…"
"Typical teenage saga," Astronema said.
"Exactly," Sydney agreed. Then, she pointed her finger at the bed. A beam of pink light shot out of the tip of her finger, and Zhane, unmorphed and unconscious, appeared beneath the covers, still wearing the denim shorts and cheerleading jersey he had been wearing earlier that day. "So, wanna take his clothes off?"
"Turbo Ram, online!" Martin cried as their five weapons reformed into one cannon. Emily stood in the background, her axe ready in her hands.
"Fire!" the Turbo Rangers shouted in unison. A gargantuan ball of energy shot out of the weapon, striking the largest scorpion. It was literally blown into fragments of gold, completely obliterating it. However, before they could enjoy their victory, the gold reassembled.
But this time, it didn't form a scorpion. The gold formed an inanimate, shapeless blob. "What's it doing?" Hallie asked.
"I don't know," Emily answered.
From surrounding streets, scorpions came running. They leapt at the blob, disappearing into it as they added to its mass. In a few mere seconds, it towered far above them and the buildings around them. "God almighty," Martin mumbled under his breath.
"It's huge!" Justin cried. He quickly scanned it with his helmet capabilities, quickly placing its weight at thousands of tons, its width at eighty feet, and its height at well over two hundred. It was absolutely gargantuan.
"If this thing forms a scorpion, we're screwed," Guy commented.
Instead, it formed a wyvern, a creature with a body shaped like a teardrop, covered with dragon scales, with two powerful, feather-and-fur wings on its back, and a sharp parrot beak. It grew even taller, shooting much higher than the nearby twenty and thirty story buildings. Then, it flew straight up into the air, hovering high above the city. As they were trying to figure out what it could be doing, purple lasers were fired from its eyes, striking the city at random spots.
'What now?' Murray signed.
"You four have Zords," Emily realized. "Call your new NinjaZords and chase that thing out of here."
"You aren't coming with us?" Hallie asked nervously.
"Every Ranger has to start somewhere," Guy commented.
"Our Zords aren't online," Justin said. Before he could finish his next thought, his communicator beeped.
"Justin, Emily," Billy interrupted, "we've finally got the Bat and Seahorse online, too."
"Thanks Billy," Emily said hurriedly into her wrist.
"We need NinjaZord Power, now!" Martin cried. As energy crackled around them, he shouted, "NinjaCobraZord!"
Guy was next, shouting, "NinjaDeerZord!"
Murray said nothing, but his hands moved smoothly as he signed, 'NinjaBobcatZord.'
Hallie, last of the new Rangers, cried, "NinjaSpiderZord!"
"NinjaSeahorseZord!" Justin shouted, brimming with excitement. This was his first time taking his NinjaZord into battle.
Emily felt likewise, as she yelled, "NinjaBatZord!"
For a moment, they couldn't see anything, but then, their Zords burst through the clouds high over the city and came into view through the falling snow. "I love it when they come out of the sky like that," Justin said happily.
"NinjaZords, power up!" the Rangers shouted. They thrust their fist toward the sky, and the power overwhelmed their physical bodies, lifting them off of the ground and physically carrying them up into their cockpits.
"All right," Justin said as his seat slid neatly before his controls. The door behind him slid shut with a hiss, and he did a quick inventory of his cockpit. Controls were everywhere, but this wasn't that much different than Mountain Blaster. The main difference was the control lever and flight controls as opposed to the simple steering wheel of his TurboZord. Fortunately, as it always does, the power took over and gave him the necessary knowledge.
"Anybody got this guy on their scanners?" Emily asked.
"There's no way Murray can communicate with us now!" Hallie suddenly realized.
Before anyone else could voice their concerns, one of the screens in the cockpits lit up with a simple line of green text.
'I can read you all. Alpha took care of this problem. What you say appears in my helmet, and I can think responses to you like this.'
"I think I've found this thing!" Guy shouted. DeerZord was still flying high over the city, as were the others. Even though they were designed to only fight on land, they all had limited flight capabilities. "I'm not sure, but I've got a large, wyvern-shaped object with the molecular density of gold heading west over the Pacific."
"Odds aren't very good that there would be more than one of those things," Martin said.
"I'll take lead," Emily volunteered, moving the sleek, silver and black BatZord away from the city and out over the ocean. "Take flanking positions, and let's move out!"
"If I know Angel Grove," Ernie said, looking up, "and I think I do, then we're directly underneath Campbell Lane." They were still in the sewers, and they were all painfully cold.
"A nice, safe monster shelter?" Brooke asked hopefully.
"I think we've come in a circle," Adelle commented. Jenga mentally nodded in agreement, but she was just along for the ride, anyhow, so she kept her thoughts to herself.
"How are we supposed to get up there?" Brooke asked. "The ladder is like six feet off the ground."
"I'll go up," Nancy started, "but I don't want to go up alone."
"I'll go with you," Jenga volunteered. She was just about to jump up to the ladder but remembered in time she was posing as a mortal.
"I'll give you a boost," Nancy said. Placing her hands in a stirrup-form, she boosted Jenga up to the ladder. She quickly scaled it, and upon reaching the top, pushed the manhole cover off.
"We lucked out," Jenga called down. "There's an emergency ladder here." She maneuvered to the side and unbolted the extra ladder, sending it rumbling down to the bottom of the sewer. Then, she climbed out on the street, burning her bare hands on the snow and icy pavement.
Nancy was close behind her. "Well, it ain't Campbell Lane or the Monster Shelter," Nancy said.
"Where are we?" Ernie shouted up, holding the ladder steady for Brooke.
"Not where we want to be," Jenga answered. They had come up in the street one lot over from the Youth Center. However, where the Youth Center had been standing was now a lot covered with destruction. Nothing had been saved.
"Bogey sighted, nine o'clock!" Justin cried.
"Bogey?" Emily and Hallie asked in unison.
"I've always wanted to say that," Justin chuckled. He glanced down at his console, quickly noting the position of his fellow Rangers. "I'm closest in range, and I'm firing. Launching rockets!"
A small compartment in the chest of SeahorseZord opened, and three blue rockets shot forth, streaming toward the flying wyvern. The golden beast turned and roared as the first rocket struck it. Hovering in midair, one wing went up protectively, shielding the body from the worst of the damage as the rockets struck it. The wyvern opened his beak and belched out a cloud of fire. Justin cried out as his blue Zord entered the fire cloud. Sensors went off, and Justin dropped straight down. "I'm pulling out 'til I'm repaired," he told his teammates.
"Wyvern's not moving," Guy announced.
"I'm next," Emily decided, leveling BatZord's wings and flying straight for wyvern. As soon as he caught sight of her, he fired two purple lasers at her. She jerked the control lever to the right, hard, and avoided the shot. In the process, she lost the wyvern from her sights, and he flew off.
"Let's keep after him," Martin suggested. "He's bound to be up to something."
"Emily, you stay with them," Justin said. "I'm going to go around the globe and see if I can get in a surprise."
'Around the GLOBE?' Murray asked via his special-made communications system.
"You've obviously never flown a Zord before," Emily commented. She glanced out the side window as Justin and his Zord shot off in a streak of blue. "All right, team, let's go!"
Zhane opened his eyes and groaned. He was suddenly sore, not unbearably, but definitely uncomfortable. "Wh-?"
"Good evening, Zhane," a sweet, almost sultry voice said. The room was very dark. Only a bed-side lamp with a very dim bulb provided any illumination.
He squinted and sat up. He was slowly becoming more aware of his surroundings. As the blanket fell away from his chest, he realized he was nude from the waist up. Lifting the heavy, warm covers a bit, he saw that he had been completely stripped. Frowning in incomprehension, he lowered the covers and leaned back into his pillow. "Hi," he said warily.
She came around to the side of the bed and knelt down next to him. She was very beautiful, but he couldn't place her. Her hair was shoulder-length and blonde, and she was wearing a silk, dark blue gown that looked almost like a kimono. "You don't know me, do you?"
"I don't think I do," he said. "Where am I? And what am I doing in this bed?"
The woman stood up and put her arms across her chest. In a purple flash, the robe transformed into her black leather outfit. Just as quickly, it turned back into the robe.
"Astronema," he realized.
"You DO know me," she grinned.
Zhane swallowed hard, looking about the room for his clothing. He didn't see them anywhere. "Where am I?"
"Our headquarters," she told him. "And before you ask, we aren't going to hurt you. You'll be quite fine, so long as you cooperate. I promise."
"I believe you," he said. "I don't know why, but I do."
"I'm very trustworthy," she said with a smile. She sat down beside him on the bed. "I rather like the fact that you're so cocky you haven't even bothered to cover up your chest." As he started to shift, she stopped him with a hand in the center of his chest. "I said I liked it. You have a nice body; be proud of it."
"So do you," he told her.
Astronema curled her legs up, pulling one leg close to her body and showing a daring amount of leg. She wrapped her arms around herself and rested one cheek on her knee. Her robe gaped open across her chest; it would have taken Zhane little effort to look at as much of her as he liked, and knowing this excited Astronema. "You like my body?" she asked.
"Very much so," he answered boldly.
"Good," she purred.
Justin let loose with a long yell as he flew Seahorse straight as an arrow at the wyvern, firing with his full arsenal. The golden dragon-creature screamed and turned partially in his direction. Several long, purple lasers were fired at him, but in the deluge of his own arsenal, they were lost. At each impact point on the wyvern's body, a golden burst of light exploded out.
"FIRE!" Emily cried, slamming her open fist down on a large, black button on her weapons console. The other four Turbo Rangers did likewise, and a torrent of electricity, lasers, rockets, and missiles were fired at the solitary wyvern. For a brief moment, the wyvern was almost lost to visual detection in the maelstrom. However, he quickly turned the tables as he simply dropped out of the sky.
"Friendly fire, friendly fire!" Martin shouted. He pushed forward, hard, on his control lever, sending CobraZord rocketing toward the ocean before leveling off. The other Rangers darted away just as fast, narrowly avoiding the weapons from their fellow Zords that were no longer being absorbed by the wyvern.
"It's changing!" Hallie gasped. As the wyvern literally plummeted to the ocean, he was shifting form. At the last moment, he finished his transformation and became a shark, plunging into the cold waters of the North Pacific.
"He just went underwater," Guy said, stating the obvious.
'Couldn't we just let him stay underwater?' Murray asked.
"I'm following him," Justin stated, decreasing in altitude. "My Zord is made for the ocean."
"I'll go with you," Martin offered. He pushed his red Zord back toward the ocean. It shook once as he penetrated the surface. The main screen on his console flashed red, trying to assimilate the new information it had just been bombarded with. As soon as the Zord realized it was underwater, the systems calmed down and changes were made in the instruments before him.
Justin quickly instructed the computers to project a night vision-esque replacement on his front and side windows. It was far too dark underwater to simply look through the glass like he would on land or in the air. However, as everything took on a green tint, he was able to visually spot the gargantuan shark swimming to the west. "Martin, you got a visual of this thing?"
"Yeah, I've got it," he said. "Going west?"
"That's it. You stay to my left, I'll stay to your right, and we'll just chase this thing and see where it goes for now."
"Works by me," the Red Ranger agreed, pushing his control lever forward. The Blue and Red NinjaZords swam through the water, leaving a just barely observable trail of white water on the surface.
The other four Turbo Rangers were still flying above the ocean, tracking the shark and their two teammates with their scanners. "Hey, wait a minute," Emily said, breaking the silence. "To my right… I'm seeing lights."
'Maybe it's land,' Murray suggested.
"It looks like a ship," Guy said.
"I'm closest; I'll check it out," Hallie offered. She turned SpiderZord toward the source of lights, moving much closer in the matter of a few moments. "It IS a ship. And it looks… cruise ship, maybe?"
"We need to warn them," Emily said. "It's protocol." She tried to open a communications channel with the ship, but after just a few seconds, she knew she was going to have zero luck. "All right. I'm gonna go onboard and warn the captain myself. I need someone to come with me."
"I'll do it," said Hallie. The two female Turbo Rangers quickly put their Zords on autopilot. Two streaks of light, one onyx and one pink, shot from their hovering Zords and darted toward the ship.
Emily and Hallie reformed at the same time, standing on the upper promenade deck of the 'UAE Lusitania.' Of course, neither Ranger realized where they were. "This is weird," Hallie commented. "Shouldn't there be people around?"
"Hello?!" Emily cried, running into the closest lounge. "We're the Rangers! We're here to deliver a warning!"
"There's a monster in this area," Hallie added in a normal voice. "Em-"
"Black Ranger," Emily corrected quickly.
"Black Ranger, this does not look right," Hallie said. "This ship looks old… but brand new. Vintage."
"Isn't there supposed to be the ghost of a German U-Boat somewhere out here?" Emily asked.
"This isn't a U-Boat."
"Yeah, but if there's a U-Boat, couldn't there be a Cruise Ship, too?"
"Let's try the Bridge," Hallie suggested. "There will surely be people there."
"Oh evil," Sydney sighed, ducking into the hallway and pressing her back firmly against the wall. Her mouth was gaped open and her eyes were wide. She didn't know who the Pink Ranger was, but she and Emily had Folklore together. There was no possible way Sydney could explain her presence.
The footsteps came dangerously close to her corner. She was fully prepared to teleport away before they saw her. It would only call attention, but she would do that before she'd let them see her. Fortunately for her, the footsteps moved toward the bridge. Rita and Zedd were on the bridge…
Sydney tore off running down the hallway, slamming into a corner due to her momentum but continuing her trek. In her blind run, she ran directly into Goldar. His armor skinned her, but his powerful arms kept her from falling.
"Sydney, what's your hurry?" Goldar growled.
"Rangers, on the ship," she panted. "They're going to the bridge! They'll find Rita and Zedd! Rita's pregnant and Zedd is useless! They can't defend themselves!"
"Rangers won't attack unprovoked," Goldar assured her. "Trust me… I know."
"How long do you think it's going to take Rita to pick up her wand and try to blast them off the ship?" Sydney asked. Goldar growled low in his throat and disappeared in a flash of gold fire. "Good," she said under her breath. Goldar would take care of things.
She stood in the hallway for a moment before deciding to go check on Zhane. The Green Thunder Ranger had about forty minutes left before she had to reveal herself. Sydney was actually hoping she wouldn't. She knew she could talk Divatox into changing her mind about killing him, because frankly, what good is a floating palace if you don't have at least a little bit of a male harem to spice up the evenings? "Maybe we can collect the entire set of male Space Rangers," she mused to herself as she strolled down the hall.
"I've never been good at subtlety, Zhane," Astronema said. "May I call you Zhane?"
"Sure," he answered. "And neither am I."
"In that case," she said, standing up beside the bed, "let me skip the pleasantries. Not all the pleasantries, mind you, just the Q and A pleasantries." So saying, she let the robe slip off of her shoulders, sliding down her body before piling up on the floor. She cocked her hips and assumed the most seductive stance she could muster. "Well?"
"Circle around, Martin!" Justin cried. He shouted in the silence of his mind as he fired a missile at the shark.
"Are you guys ready on top?" Martin asked, sliding through the water in CobraZord with the greatest of ease. He physically blocked the shark with his Zord, turning to fire a rocket at the golden creature.
"We're ready," Guy said. "Well, two of us are, anyhow."
'Weapons loaded and waiting,' Murray responded.
Bubbles of air whooshed past Justin's Zord as he plunged deeper into the ocean. Not even taking the time to stabilize his cockpit, he turned a sharp ninety degrees and swam directly upwards, beneath the shark. "He's coming up!" Justin cried.
"On my mark!" Martin shouted.
"It's too creepy in here," Emily groaned. The two Rangers were still slowly milling about the top deck of the ship, searching for some sign of human life.
"Yeah," Hallie agreed, "it-" She interrupted herself with a scream. "Emily!"
Emily barely had time to spin around before Goldar's serrated sword was slashed in her direction. She grunted and jumped back, shouting, "Phantom Axe!" Her heavy, black weapon appeared in her hands, and she swung it wildly, making contact with his sword.
"Who is that?!" Hallie cried.
The Black Ranger dropped into a split in an effort to duck Goldar's sword. "Teleport to your Zord!" Emily ordered. She put her axe above her head, and using the handle, blocked his powerful downstrike. The force behind it would have cleaved a mortal in two.
Still panicked, Hallie hit the morpher on her belt. There was a brief sparkle of pink energy, but it quickly dissipated, leaving her standing on the ship. "It didn't work!"
Emily rolled onto her back and spun her legs wildly, catching Goldar with her feet. He fell to the ground, and she quickly discarded her weapon in a flash of black light. "Go to the deck!" Emily shouted. Hallie's feet were reluctant to move, and it wasn't until Emily physically pushed her out of the room that she started to run.
The two girls ran through the lavishly decorated ship, hearing only phantom echoes of their breath and the hard pounding of their feet. It was a moment that Hallie knew would show up in her nightmares. She realized that she had never experienced fear in her life until that point; she literally could not think of anything scarier than running through a foreign atmosphere with an actual monster chasing her.
"We should be able to teleport from the deck," Emily said. (I hope,) she added as a silent afterthought.
As they burst out of the first class lounge and onto the well-lighted open-air deck, Hallie hit her morpher. The same faint sparkles occurred, but the protective bubble around the entire ship had them trapped. "Emily!" she cried.
"Then we're jumping," Emily told her, still running for the deck.
"Works by me," Hallie agreed. In eerie synchronicity, the two Turbo Rangers put one foot on the middle rung of the railing and pushed off, sailing off of the beautiful ship and plummeting several stories to the cold, dark waters below.
Hallie screamed out in shock as she hit the ocean. Intense pain flowed through her, but before it became unbearable, it disappeared, replaced only with the knowledge that she was in a cold environment. She beat her arms and kicked her legs, breaking the surface that was disturbed only by themselves and the mammoth ship nearby. "You okay?" Emily asked.
"Didn't the 'Lusitania' sink?" Hallie asked in reply, noting the name on the side of the ship.
"Try and teleport now," Emily said. They touched their morphers, and this time, free from the imprisoning force field, they melted into double streams of black and pink and darted across the ocean to their Zords.
"FIRE!" Martin bellowed. The four guys simultaneously fired their missiles and rockets. The shark leapt from the ocean, only to be blasted by double hits from Murray and Guy. His mouth opened in a silent scream as he fell back to the water, just in time to be hit by two red and two blue missiles.
An explosion of gold and white water rose up from the ocean, raining around for hundreds of yards. "We got him!" Guy shouted triumphantly.
"It'll at least take 'im a while to regather," Martin agreed.
"Did you just say you got him?" Hallie asked.
"Where have you two been?" Justin asked.
"We'll explain later," Emily answered. "Let's get back to Angel Grove and see if we can be of any help th- Wait a minute… Is anybody else picking up this thing's signal again?"
"No way!" Justin cried. "We just blew that thing to pieces!"
Emily looked out her side window just as the head of Justin's SeahorseZord poked out of the ocean. Just a few mere seconds ago, shiny streaks of gold were everywhere. Now, the ocean was bare.
Martin interrupted the silence as they looked for their golden beast by saying in an eerily calm voice, "I've got a visual."
"Where is it?" Justin asked. He suddenly shouted, crying out, "It's coming up beneath me!"
The four above the ocean watched as Justin rose up out of the ocean. After just a few moments, they saw that he was sitting in the center of a circle of golden spikes.
"It's Neptune," Martin answered, "God of the Ocean. Or King, or something."
A golden man wearing a golden crown and sporting a golden beard rose up from the ocean. Three spires to his right broke the surface, quickly revealing itself as a golden trident. Justin lifted his Zord off of the giant man's head, flying up into the air.
"Oh wow," Guy muttered. "This is unbelievable."
Neptune screamed loudly before leaping straight up into the air. As his body cleared the ocean, they saw that he was nude from the waist up and fish from the waist down. He sailed high over the Zords and then plunged back into the ocean. Neptune quickly swam east, his tail flipping out of the water occasionally.
"Let's follow him," Martin said simply, moving CobraZord out of the ocean and into the air. Hanging back a safe distance, the six Turbo Rangers followed Neptune, waiting for him to make the first move. It soon became apparent what he was doing.
He was headed for Angel Grove.
Astronema rested her cheek on Zhane's chest and traced circles there with her fingertips. "That was nice," she murmured.
Zhane didn't say anything, but he sighed happily and nodded. "I can hear your heart beating," she said. She pressed her palm against the center of his bare chest. "I can feel it, too."
"I-" Zhane paused, trying to gather his thoughts. "I had never done anything like th-"
"I know," she said. "You're from Daria, planet of the sexually repressed. But I'm glad."
"Well, I was going to say, since I've never done that, and… I was wondering, if you could tell me, if-"
"My answer is this," Astronema answered. "I am going to stay in very close contact with you from now on."
"That's a good answer," he grinned. He sighed again and sank deeper into the warm bed.
There was a knock at the door. Zhane started to bolt upright, but Astronema merely said, "Who is it?" Since Astronema was calm, Zhane calmed as well, releasing his tense muscles and sagging back down into the bed.
"It's me," the voice answered. Zhane perked slightly; the voice was very familiar to him. "Zedd just had you paged. You're wanted above."
Astronema groaned. She looked up at Zhane and pressed her lips against his quickly in a brief, friendly kiss. "Keep an eye out for me," she whispered. "And thanks."
Zhane watched as she rolled out of bed and brazenly walked to the door, nude. Before she stepped out into the well-lit hallway, her black leather outfit appeared on her body in a purple sparkle, and then, she was gone.
The Silver Ranger then sat up, still trying to absorb everything that had just happened. He began to glance about for his clothes when the door opened. He expected it to be Astronema, but who he saw was a leap and bound away from anyone he had expected. A Ranger, another villain, even a total stranger wouldn't have been a shock. But he was absolutely floored to see the outspoken sixteen year old Sydney Kwan, the girl who sat on the other side of the room in Folklore, standing in the doorway.
"Expecting someone else?" she asked wryly. "Dude, it smells in here. You been eatin' fish or something? Or maybe it was her, I dunno. Try apples, though. Fruit makes your bodily fluids taste and smell bet-"
"What are YOU doing here?!" Zhane shouted in disbelief.
"I could ask you the same question," Sydney said, "but I know the answer myself. Looking for your clothes?"
"But- well, yes," he stammered.
"I put them in the closet," she said. "In case you're wondering, I did help undress you." Zhane looked over at the closet door before turning back to Sydney. His face held the same look of utter shock. "Want me to answer your question?"
Zhane only nodded, his eyes still wide. She walked into the room and sat down beside him on the bed. Sydney pressed her back against the headboard and stretched out. Her white and pink Keds were a stark contrast to the tent of material around Zhane's bare feet. He moved up a bit as well, keeping the blankets tucked securely around his waist. Of course, if she really had helped undress him, it didn't really matter. But just the same, he felt safer covered up.
"Okay, it works like this," Sydney said. She paused, seemingly mulling over what she was going to say. "All right. I'm evil, I have magical powers, and I decided to come work for Jenga. I do have a double identity as an ordinary teen in Angel Grove, because, except for the parts about being evil, having magical powers, and working for Jenga, I am an ordinary teen in Angel Grove. Until you, no one except those aboard this ship know about my double life."
"You know I'm going to tell," Zhane said bravely. "I'm going straight to-"
"Who? Justin?" Sydney asked. She chuckled and continued, "He's a cute kid, and someday, he'll be a hunk, but… he IS a kid." She suddenly became deadly serious. "Besides, you aren't telling anybody."
"Who's going to stop me?" he asked, just as serious. "You?"
"I'm blackmailing you, Zhane," she said. "You just had sex with Astronema. You're a Ranger, and you're fraternizing with the enemy. Tsk, tsk. What will Dimitria have to say about that? Or Andros?"
"You can't-" Zhane stammered nervously, exasperated.
"Oh, I can, baby," she continued. "In case you really are as dense as you are cute, I'll spell it out for you real simple. I OWN you now." She got off of the bed with a bounce in her step and an innocent smile on her face. "Clothes really are in the closet. Feel free to get dressed and come join us in the first class lounge. If you're being kept by Astronema, we'll probably get to be seeing a lot more of you, and frankly, we'd all like to get to know you better." And with that, she left, leaving Zhane alone.
The waters off Angel Grove practically parted as Neptune leapt from the water. He sailed high into the air, and as he did so, his fish tail transformed into a pair of human legs. Golden armor formed around his body before his feet even touched the ground. As soon as they did, he continued running, jumping across the countryside and moving toward the metropolis of Angel Grove.
"Let's bring 'em together," Justin said.
In unison, they shouted, "We need NinjaTurboMegaZord power, now!"
Hallie's pink SpiderZord lifted into the air, turning upside down. The four legs on each side merged and shifted, forming two larger legs and the lower torso. Guy's yellow DeerZord was next, the head and legs pulling into the body, which reshaped to finish the body of the MegaZord. Justin's SeahorseZord shifted as well, attaching to the right shoulder and forming the right arm. Martin's red CobraZord followed suit, becoming the left arm. Murray's green BobcatZord quickly formed the head of the MegaZord, the bulk of his Zord disappearing into the chest cavity of the MegaZord. Lastly, Emily's BatZord's wings folded in and attached to the back, giving the MegaZord optional flight capabilities.
In unison, all six Rangers' chairs were pulled out of their cockpits, whisked down dimly lit passageways, and reappeared in the cockpit of the MegaZord. Martin sat top-center, with Murray to his right and Guy to his left. Emily sat bottom-center, with Hallie to her right and Justin to her left. "MegaZord, online!" Martin shouted as the lights in the cockpit came to life.
"Awesome," Hallie sighed, looking around the impressive cockpit.
Neptune turned around, spinning his trident in his giant hands. A quick flicker of light ran across his body, but it dissipated, just as fast. And then, he ran at the MegaZord.
Duran watched in minor amusement as the Turbo Rangers brought their NinjaZords together. He paid close attention, hoping to get an inner glimpse of the workings of the MegaZord. Nothing.
But then, an intense wave of fatigue washed through him. He dropped to one knee, both hands going to his head. The fatigue passed, but a stronger sense of dread set in. He immediately realized what had happened. Blood of a virgin, indeed.
Still kneeling, he watched over the side of the building as Neptune and the MegaZord fought earnestly. Though Neptune wasn't winning, the Turbo Rangers weren't either. Perhaps all wasn't lost yet, after all. Besides, he still had his own energy, and that was enough to make anyone flinch.
Zedd would have been smiling if he could have. He slowly raised up from the RepulsaScope, chuckling low in his throat. "The blood we used in the offering," he said hurriedly, "did it belong to the Silver Ranger?"
"Uhm, Silver or White, I don't remember," Divatox said.
"Send me to Duran!" Zedd shouted
"What?" Rita asked, looking at her husband in confusion.
"NOW!" he bellowed. Unflinching, Rita picked up her staff and fired a yellow ball of energy at him. It struck his body, and he disappeared.
Zedd materialized atop the skyscraper, about twenty feet away from Duran. He held his staff at waist level, the sharp Z pointed toward Duran. He walked across the building with hard steps, the metal on his toes and ankle clicking loudly. Zedd was oblivious to the cold and the snow. "DURAN!" he shouted, a deep growl in his throat.
Duran spun around, looking at Zedd in surprise. The muscular humanoid walked even closer to Duran, standing just a few feet away. "What do you want, Zedd?" Duran asked in a condescending tone. "I'm busy."
Zedd looked at him thoughtfully. "Just this," Zedd said in a quiet voice. Then, he thrust out with his staff, impaling Duran on the Z. Duran cried out, his body going limp. He clutched pitifully at the silver rod, trying to support himself. His legs dangled uselessly. Try as he might, he couldn't stand up. And then, just when he thought the pain he felt couldn't get any worse, the mortal transfer started.
Golden energy flowed down Zedd's staff, entering his hands and streaming up his forearms. Zedd threw his head back and laughed triumphantly, an evil, wicked laugh that echoed all across the silent, snowed-in city. Duran's mouth worked frantically to try and form words, or even just to scream, but nothing came out. His muscles collapsed, and his skin became thinner and drier.
The silver of Zedd's staff was lost in the golden electricity flowing down it. Duran became more and more decimated, transforming from a healthy man into a living skeleton. He would have been looking at Zedd, but his eyes were clouding over. Had he been able to see Zedd, he would have noticed a frightening, awesome transformation. The blue liquid that flowed through tubing running across Zedd's body turned jet black. His muscles grew even larger than they had been, his shoulders became even wider, and he began to slowly increase in height. Zedd's silver exoskeleton became a shiny, unblemished gold. His red muscles became a dark maroon, lined with numerous black striations in the musculature. The red energy behind his visor darkened until it was the blackest of blacks, reflecting no light. His exoskeleton continued changing, becoming sharper, more deadly, and more