Destiny Chronicles 6: Nor the
battle to the strong.
By Mouse.
Phaedos, March 2000.
The three Ultra Zords were in orbit around Phaedos, their inhabitants having teleported down to the planet's surface. They silently monitored the galactic situation, gathering data, and analysing sensor readings, correlating facts into one startling conclusion. The forces of evil were winning.
After destroying Triforia, Dathan had launched numerous attacks against many worlds. But the Rangers just couldn't get there in time to do any good other than help the survivors. So they had decided to re-group and try and come up with a strategy.
Down on the planet's surface the surviving Rangers had gathered with Dulcea. At the moment she, Trini and Kim were helping Justin get comfortable in Dulcea's cave. He would be staying put on Phaedos while the others went on to continue to battle Dathan. Dulcea was hopeful that being close to the centre of the Great Power it would help him heal. But she didn't hold out too much hope, none of them did. He had numerous broken bones and some terrible scarring. As it was, the young teenager would never loose the scar that now marred the side of his face. But Justin had surprised them all with his acceptance of this. He was holding up well.
The Rangers had gathered around the fire in the middle of the temple. They were not really talking about anything but mainly trying to adjust to the circumstances they now found themselves in. It wasn't easy, but they were trying. The four Red Ranger leaders had been discussing what to do next. They had already warned Aquitar of Dathan's threat and were undecided about what to do next. Unbeknownst to them, the decision was being taken out of their hands.
* * *
Triforia.
Rubble and dirt crunched beneath his feet as Dathan walked around the ruins of what was once the capital city of Triforia. Everything was now destroyed. A blackened, charred remains of what was once a great and proud society. Dathan was pleased at how this had turned out. The Rangers had lost another friend, along with his ship. They had also lost a planet that was openly supporting them. They would be trying to come to terms with everything and come up with a plan to stop him, he realised. Better to do something now to continue to distract them and hopefully kill off a few more, before it became to late. His attacks against various planets had destroyed a considerable amount of people and materials and also support for the Rangers. He knew that they would only take so much before fighting back and fighting back hard. He took one last look around and then willed himself back to the deck of his ship, the Revenge. He knew the name of the ship was predictable, but what the hell, he could do whatever he liked. He liked the quietness of the ship, as it was run totally by his thoughts and will alone. Which is how he liked it. He pondered what to do to distract the Rangers while he gathered more energy to finally collapse the Great Barrier. The death of all those millions of Triforians had supplied him with an enormous reserve of energy, but he wanted to save as much as he could. And then he stumbled onto it. He would create some form of indestructible creature for the Rangers to fight. Yes, that would do it. He sent his essence on a quick tour of the galaxy, looking at all the various monsters and henchmen that were out there. He eventually gave up in disgust; one Ranger team or another had easily defeated them all. So he decided to create his own monsters, calling them Rocknies.
They were approximately six feet tall and had an outer layer of skin made of granite. Underneath the granite was solid tritainium, the hardest known metal in the universe. They were humanoid in look, with a high intelligence. They could adapt to whatever techniques of fighting that the Rangers threw at them. He also gave them a limited amount of sentience, just enough so that they could carry out his instructions to the letter, without mucking things up as their predecessors seemed to have done on a regular basis. He created twenty Rocknies, thinking that five, sent to four different locations, would spilt the Rangers up quite well, and allow him to kill more of them off more easily. With a laugh he sent them on their way; to KO-35, Earth Aquitar and Phaedos.
"Let's see how you cope with this Rangers."
* * *
Phaedos.
Everyone had gathered around the fire to discuss the plan that the four Red Rangers had finally decided on. Jason had just stood up to speak when the five Rocknies appeared. Dulcea looked at Bill, horror on her features. Never in the history of the Great Power had evil been able to send warriors to Phaedos. Now even that rule was being broken. All the Rangers leapt up and assumed a protective circle around Dulcea. They weren't going to let anything happen to her, even though she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.
"Okay guys, lets do it. It's Morphin Time!"
"The Falcon!"
"The Wolf!"
"The Wolf!"
"The Crane!"
"The Bear!"
"The Tiger!"
"The Frog!"
"The Ape!"
"The Cheetah!"
"The Lion!"
"The Eagle!"
"The Swan!"
"The Cougar!"
"The Chameleon!"
"The Nightingale!"
"The Gazelle!"
"The Hawk!"
"The Panther!"
"The Fox!"
"The Butterfly!"
"The Deer!"
"The Bull!"
"The Bengal Tiger!"
"The Condor!"
"The Dolphin!"
They were all immediately morphed into their armour. Jason had the feeling that they would need it. They prepared to fight the monsters, when every single communicator went off. Jason raised his, exchanging glances with everyone else. It wasn't good that they all went off at once.
"What's up, Alpha?" Alpha was stationed above Phaedos in the AstroMega Ship.
"Jason, those monsters you are fighting have also been sent to Earth, Aquitar and KO-35." Jason winced as he looked at the three other Red Ranger leaders. They all knew that these were part of an effort by Dathan to spilt them up to try and eliminate them all.
"Understood, Alpha. Set coordinates for all three destinations. I'll send teams up in a moment."
"Okay, Jason." Jason closed the channel and looked at his friends. "Okay. Andros, you take you team, and head back to your home planet, okay?"
"Okay, Jason. Take care. Come on guys." With a nod at Jason the space team was gone. Jason looked over at Leo.
"Leo, you guys will have to take the Earth. Watch yourselves, okay?"
"Sure thing, Jason. Let's go guys." The Galaxy team soon left as well. Jason turned to Tom.
"We'll take Aquitar, Jason. We're well acquainted with the Aquitian Rangers."
"Thanks, Tom. Take care of yourselves."
"Hey, always do. Lets go people." With a flash of light they were gone as well, leaving just five Rangers and one annoyed Master Warrior to deal with the Rocknies.
"Let's do it!" With those words they leapt into battle.
* * *
KO35.
The seven Space Rangers teleported down to the planet's surface to confront the Rocknies. They attacked with a vengeance, using all their fighting skills. For a few minutes they were holding there own, but then the monsters started learning from them, the tables turning. They were slowly, but surely, being beaten back.
* * *
Earth.
The six Galaxy Rangers landed smack dab, into the middle of chaos. The monsters were attacking anything that moved. They had decided to land in the middle of a greatly populated shopping mall. Taking a look at the situation, Leo nodded to Kendrix and Maya. The two girls immediately began coordinating the people to evacuate, while the four remaining Rangers tried to slow the Rocknies.
* * *
Aquitar.
The Aquitian Rangers had immediately leapt to their planet's defence. Unfortunately they were ill equipped to handle the Rocknies and were being soundly beaten when the Rangers arrived. Taking in the situation with a glance Tom got Kat and Tanya to help the Aquitian Rangers regroup themselves. The remaining five Rangers distracted the Rocknies, allowing time for the Aquitians to recover.
* * *
The Revenge.
Dathan watched the various battles going on. He could see each Ranger team struggling to fight off his creations. He smiled. It was good to see the Rangers off balance and confused. What else could he do to make their task harder? With a wicked laugh he waved his hand and abruptly, one Ranger from each team disappeared from the scene of the battles. He turned to see them standing behind him, held in place by invisible bonds of his will. They were demorphed, dressed only in their Ninjetti uniforms. Two male Black Rangers. One female Pink Ranger and one female Yellow Ranger. "Welcome to my parlour, said the spider to the fly." He laughed again; it's sound chilling their very souls.
* * *
Earth.
Leo looked around frantically but could see no sign of Damon. The monster's they were fighting were now getting the upper hand. He looked over at his older brother and could see that Mike had come to the same conclusion.
"We need to take these guys out, now!"
"Okay. Everyone, Power Blasters." The five remaining Rangers leapt back and got out their side arms. Quickly pushing them up to full power, they took aim.
"Fire!" They fired but it seemed to have little effect. Leo was starting to feel that maybe this was one of those unwinable battles that Dulcea had told them about. Kendrix looked at the monsters, seeming to suddenly understand something.
"Maybe if we combine our blasters and only take on one target at a time, that might work." Leo nodded. At this stage he was ready to try anything.
"Okay. Aim for the leader. Everyone ready?"
"Ready!"
"Fire!" They all fired at the lead monster, keeping up a continuous barrage. After about a minute the leader stumbled and fell. Ten seconds after that, he exploded in a huge fireball that took out two more of the monsters that had been closing in on the Rangers, trying to take advantage of their new tactic. Seeing what had happened, they immediately employed this new tactic against the other two.
"Maya, contact the other teams. Tell them how to beat these guys."
"Okay, Leo."
* * *
Aquitar.
"Where the hell is she? She was here a minute ago!" Tom looked around for Kat but there was no sign of her. The ten Rangers had successfully managed to defeat the monsters moments before, using the combined power of their weapons. Aisha put her hand on Tom's shoulder.
"Let's get back to the others. They may know what's going on."
"Okay. Let's head back to Phaedos."
* * *
KO-35.
"I've searched everywhere, Andros and there's no sign of Carlos anywhere. One moment he was here, the next he wasn't."
"Damn. We need to finish off these guys. Any idea's?" Ashley looked up from her communicator.
"Word has just come in from the Galaxy team. Combining our Power blasters will work to take these guys down, if we concentrate on one at a time."
"Okay, let's do that. And once these guys are toast, we'll head back to the others. See if anyone else is missing."
* * *
Phaedos.
With a grunt, Bill delivered a spin kick that sent one of the monsters flying off the mountain's edge. They had been holding their own when, all of a sudden, Trini disappeared. To say Jason was distracted by his wife's disappearance was an understatement. He had taken a bad blow, it knocking him senseless. Kim had dragged him away from the battle and into the cave where Justin was resting. She had re-joined the battle moments ago. She flipped her way over to the others. It was just Bill, T'Risa, Dulcea and her fighting now.
"Just heard from the Galaxy team. They discovered that by combining the power of their blasters that they can destroy these things one at a time."
"Okay, lets do it."
* * *
The Revenge.
The four captured Rangers watched the various battles with Dathan. Damon cheered when his friends discovered how to destroy the monsters. Kat let out a yell when she saw the last of the monsters destroyed by her team. They all cheered when they watched the monsters slowly be beaten. Dathan shrugged and turned to face them.
"They were of no importance. I had only intended them as a distraction to you, so I could get a few of you for my collection."
"What do you want with us?" He walked over and stood in front of Carlos.
"Want with you my dear Black Ranger? Why, I want to destroy all of you. One by one. Two of your fellows Rangers are already dead; one is maimed for the rest of his life. A planet that was openly supporting you has been destroyed, and you think you can stop me?" Damon looked stunned. He knew Dathan was evil, but he didn't know just how much. Until now, and that information would be costly.
"We will always stop evil." Dathan laughed and walked over to stand in front of Damon.
"You think so, Black Ranger? Well, let's give you a personal demonstration shall we?" He waved his hand and Damon disappeared. Trini looked at him, dawning horror on her features.
"What have you done to him?"
"Why nothing Yellow Ranger. Yet." He motioned for them to look at the screens. Damon reappeared on Earth in front of his friends. He quickly started running towards them, but unfortunately he had appeared in front of a building that had been heavily damaged. They could see the other Rangers starting to move towards him, waving and shouting something when suddenly Damon looked up. With horror, the captured Rangers realised what was happening. Trini tore her eyes from the screen.
"Dathan, please don't do this. I beg you!"
"Beg, Yellow Ranger? You'll do more than that when I'm finished with you." With a chopping motion of his hand the building that Damon was standing in front of suddenly, fell on top of him. The captured Rangers groaned in disappear and then stayed silent. They watched as the Galaxy team frantically searched the rubble for Damon. After twenty minutes Mike came upon his lifeless body. It was crushed, almost beyond recognition. It was only the fact that somehow in the last seconds of his life, he had managed to morph into his armour, that they managed to find his body and that it wasn't crushed totally beyond recognition. The Galaxy Rangers stood around the body of their fallen friend, heads bowed in grief, oblivious to the gathering crowd. Reacting to some unseen signal, Mike and Leo picked Damon's body up and teleported away. Dathan turned to the captured Rangers.
"I think he learned his lesson, don't you?" And then he laughed and laughed. The sound chilling their souls and destroying what little hope they had left.
They had been standing there for, God knew how long, when Dathan wandered back over to them. He looked at each one of them, as if examining their souls and stopping in front of Trini he finally spoke.
"You are a Healer, are you not?"
"That's right. I'm a Doctor." He nodded.
"I have always had the utmost respect for Healers. I apologise for my harsh remarks earlier. Therefore you may go free. Never let it be said that I brought harm to a Healer. The Universe needs them all to badly." He waved his hand and Trini stumbled a bit. The invisible bonds holding her had released without warning. She rubbed her wrists and studied him for a moment.
"What about my friends?"
"Yes. What to do about them? I'm afraid that I must keep one of them, but which one?" He studied them for a moment. He then looked at Trini and smiled. Trini suddenly became afraid. That smile was pure evil and there was no warmth in it what so ever like there had been only minutes before. "Yes. I think we'll do this." With another wave of his hand Carlos screamed in agony and collapsed to the floor, holding his leg. Trini rushed over and quickly examined him. She looked up at Kat, answering her unspoken question.
"It's broken in three places. I should be able to heal it with the proper facilities." She turned to Dathan. "Why did you do this? Carlos did nothing to you."
"To make a point my dear. You see, I will strike you down when ever and where ever I please. Remember that. You may go, now." He waved his hand and they both disappeared. Kat gazed at one of the screens and saw that the two of them were now on Phaedos. She watched as Kim rushed forward to help Trini. Looking up, she found Dathan watching her.
"Now, Pink Ranger. Shall we go about making you an evil Ranger?"
Kathryn Hillard had spent the last six years of her life trying to forget the whole evil Ranger bit that Rita put her through. After giving the power to Cassie she had gone to London for a year. She enjoyed her time there but decided that a career in dancing wasn't for her. Instead of returning to America she returned home to Sydney. She went to University and studied architecture. Upon graduation she got a job with one of the most prestigious firms in Sydney. She even worked on designs for the upcoming Olympics. She really enjoyed her job. She was also enjoying a long distance relationship with Rocky. It was hard but they were doing well. There was even talk of marriage later that year. So when Dathan mentioned turning her into an evil Ranger, the quiet and mild mannered Ranger quite literally blew her 'Australian' top. As she spoke, her strong and unique accent rang out over the quiet bridge. He was about to find out why no one in his or her right mind got an Australian, any Australian, angry.
"You are friggin' well bloody joking, right? What type of idiotic, stupid mongrel are you? You can bloody well bugger off if you think that the whole evil Ranger thing hasn't been done before. It's been done to death, you idiot! Man, don't they give you guy's brains or anything? Talk about being thick. Come off it. That's the first bloody thing they will look for when the others get back. Struth, you must think we are really dumb. Christ, you'd think you were an idiotic dickhead or something. Listen hear mate, you've proven what an evil bastard you are. You must think we were all born yesterday if we're gonna fall for that old piece of crap. Well, let me tell you mate, you wanna piss us off, fine. You've pissed us off. So I can tell you now, that was possibly the stupidest thing you could have done. A Ranger will fight for good, which is a given fact. But a Ranger fighting for their friends, well, lets just say that I hope you have good funeral arrangements made." Dathan looked startled by her outburst. It was the last thing he expected from any Pink Ranger, let alone this one. Pink Rangers were always mild mannered, sweet tempered and kind individuals. But this one defiantly had a temper. It was refreshing actually he decided. She certainly wasn't afraid of speaking her mind that's for sure. Kat was confused; she could see real merriment in his eyes. All of a sudden she found herself free. Dathan held up one hand, trying to regain his composure but he was having a battle, as he was laughing so hard.
"Please, my dear, don't worry. Oh my, I haven't laughed like that for a long time. Please, dear Pink Ranger, will you sit and talk with me? I haven't had the pleasure of decent conversation in such a long time. Please?" Kat was stunned. He had actually said 'please' and sounded like he really did just want to talk. Always one to give people the benefit of the doubt, she nodded. He waved his hand and a table, with a couple of comfortable looking armchairs, appeared.
"Please, dear lady, sit. Would you like some refreshment?"
"Umm, a cup of tea would be nice."
"Certainly. Tea it is." With that she sat down and watched in stunned silence as Dathan poured them both a cup of tea. He sat down with the cup in his hand and smiled at her. It was the first smile that wasn't menacing, so Kat returned it with a small one of her own.
"Tell me, what is your name, please?"
"Kathryn Hillard. But everyone just calls me Kat."
"Kathryn. I like that name. If it pleases you, may I call you Kathryn?"
"If you like." She sipped her tea, trying to get a control on how unreal this situation was feeling.
"Tell me Kathryn, you have a speak slightly differently than the other Rangers I had here, you have an unusual accent. Where about's on Earth are you from?"
"Australia. Do you know much about it?"
"I'm afraid not. I don't know much about Earth at all, except that it's there."
"That's a bit unusual for someone who's trying to conquer everything. Oh well. Would you like me to tell you all about it?" Eagerness seemed to light up his eyes, almost like a yearning for something. Kat couldn't tell what.
"Please? I would love to hear all about your home." Shrugging at the absurdity of her situation, Kat began speaking.
* * *
Phaedos.
After the defeat of the monsters all the Rangers had gathered back at Phaedos. There was more grief when the Galaxy Rangers returned with the body of Damon for burial. There was also concern for Carlos, it turned out that his leg was broken in three places and he was currently sharing the cavern with Justin and the still unconscious Jason. The remaining Rangers sat around the bonfire with Dulcea. There was still no sign of Kat and they were all worried. From the accounts given by both Trini and Carlos, hope for her safe return was fading fast. There was nothing they could do now, but wait.
End part six.
In part seven Kat discovers things about Dathan that could win the battle for the Rangers. Problem is that she's still a prisoner on his ship and the Rangers are fighting more monsters again. How will she be able to help them?
, ¤P