The Dragon's Rise: Chapter Twenty-five

The Son of Evil

Tommy and Kimberly walked hand-in-hand along a bridge at Greenwood Park in Angel Grove Central. The bridge spanned over an artificial creek that ran through the city, connecting various acres of parkland. Elementary kids were walking home from school nearby.

The day was mostly peaceful. Bandora had not made a single attack for an entire week. It was a new record for the witch. Tommy knew she was up to something. He could feel it in the air.

He tried to hide his fears to keep Kimberly from worrying. "So, are you excited about your gymnastics meet?"

Kimberly shrugged. "I haven't had a lot of time to practice this month..."

"Yeah..." Tommy said. So much for getting the subject off of Bandora. He placed an arm around Kimberly and squeezed her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Tommy sighed and shook his head. He could not lie to her. "I don't know."

Tommy felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He was sure Kimberly felt it too, because they both stopped in their tracks at the same time. Small objects started falling from the sky. Tommy and Kimberly moved to the end of the bridge and saw the objects for what they were. Dead birds. Dead birds were dropping from the air.

"Sick..." Kimberly said. The kids nearby made sounds of disgust as well. Flowers started to whither and die all around them. The petals blackened and fell from their stems.

"This can't be a good sign..." Tommy said as he looked at the surrounding area, waiting to see what threat awaited them. He noticed a slight cloud of fog moving in from the trees to the north. "This way..."

Tommy and Kimberly entered the fog while keeping their senses alert. Whatever Bandora was planning, the two rangers were determined to stop it. The teens had no way of knowing the curious children nearby decided to follow.

 

Tommy and Kimberly walked slowly through the fog. The woods were abnormally quiet. Tommy rolled his hands into fists and raised his arms into a low defensive stance. A child-like laughter cut through the quiet. The laughter mocked them.

Invisible strands of energy lifted the elementary-school children who had followed the rangers. The children screamed as they were thrown back and forth, slammed against each other, and knocked into trees.

"What the hell?" Tommy said as he and Kimberly turned to see the kids flailing about.

The laughter came from above them. The rangers snapped around to see a preteen boy standing on a branch above them. He wore white slacks and a white shirt. His short hair was silver. Red veins matching the color of his crimson eyes stretched across his pale-white face.

 

He smiled down at the two teens. "Power Rangers..."

The boy lifted his hand and fired an invisible telekinetic pulse that slammed Tommy and Kimberly backward. The rangers went stumbling across the ground before rising to their knees. The red-eyed boy teleported from the branch to the ground in the blink of an eye.

 

He extended his hands. Invisible strands of mental energy wrapped around Tommy and Kimberly, pulling them to their feet. The boy moved his arms back and forth, causing the rangers to tumble across the dirt and crash into trees. The boy laughed as he tossed the rangers around like puppets.

 

The boy lowered his hands and released his invisible grasp on the rangers. He tilted his head and laughed at them.

 

"That's it," Tommy said with frustration as he and Kimberly readied their morphers. "Dino Buckler!" Energy shimmered around them as they morphed into their armor.

 

The two Rangers leapt to attack. Ptera Ranger armed her Blade Blaster in short-sword mode while Dragon Ranger unsheathed his Dragon Dagger. The boy lifted his hands and used his power to grab the Rangers in midair. He swung his hands down hard, and the Rangers slammed against the ground.

The child laughed and used his mental power to force the Rangers back onto their feet. The Rangers struggled but could not fight against the mental force pressing against them. The boy turned the two Rangers at each other. He made them dash forward and slice each other across the chest with a cloud of sparks. The child spun them around and made them strike each other again.

"Ha!" the boy thrust his hand forward, and explosions sparked across the Rangers' armor, knocking them backward. They splintered through tree trunks and tumbled out of control as the boy released his grasp.

The boy turned to the small group of elementary-school students. Only five remained, the others having run off. The child lifted the school children with a telekinetic web. The child and his captives shimmered away.

 

"No!" Dragon Ranger and Ptera Ranger shouted. Then the Earth started to shake.


The Command Chamber shook as the lighting flickered. "Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi!" Alpha shouted. "What's going on, Zordon?"

Jason, Zack, Billy, and Trini were in the Command Chamber along with Simon and Maya. They steadied themselves against control consoles to keep from falling.

The shaking stopped as quickly as it started. Lighting and power levels throughout the chamber returned to normal. Jason looked up to Zordon. "What was that?"

"A large wave of incoming energy focused towards Earth," Zordon explained.

"Caused by what?" Billy asked, already hard at work on the control console to try and find his own answers.

 

"I fear it can only be one thing," Zordon explained. "DaiSatan is returning to your world. I thought I had banished him for good...I was wrong."


A sphere of energy shot through space towards Earth. The sphere was made of pale light and radiated with crimson energy. The energy lashed out across space, causing disruptions in every system it passed.


Bandora's palace on the moon started to shake. Artificial crimson lightning struck the palace structure. Bandora walked towards her balcony, using her staff for balance. Where was this attack coming from? Bandora wondered. It could not be Zordon or the Rangers.

 

A bolt of lightning struck her balcony railing and materialized into a child. The boy stood on the railing. He was dressed in all white. His eyes were blood-red. Veins covered his pale-white face. It was the same silver-haired boy who had attacked Tommy and Kimberly in the park.

"Who dares?" Bandora hackled. She extended her staff and fired a bolt of purple-tinted energy. The boy shot up from the railing as the blast passed underneath him. He twisted through the air and landed behind Bandora.

She turned to face him and raised her staff.

"Mother," the boy said.

Bandora's face grew pale. Her eyes opened wide. "Kai?"

He nodded.

Bandora dropped her staff. She shrieked with joy. "Kai!You're alive?" She moved forward to hug him, but he floated up, slipped through her arms, and flipped to land behind her. Bandora turned and looked at him with confusion. "Kai..."

Kai crossed his arms over his chest. "I am not the same, mother...I have been resurrected by DaiSatan. I have been sent as his harbinger. Soon the Rangers will be destroyed, along with the Earth."


Tommy sat on a bio-bed in the Command Chamber. His eyes opened wide at what Zordon had told him. "DaiSatan? This is not good..."

Billy and Alpha walked over to Tommy and finished their scans on the ranger. Billy closed his portable scanner. "This is the last boost, Tommy. After your powers fail next time..."

Tommy sighed and hung his head low.

The Command Chamber suddenly started to shake as its power systems fluctuated. The rangers gathered in front of Zordon, steadying themselves against each other and the control consoles.

 

The shaking stopped. Trini looked up to Zordon. "Is it him?"

"No," Zordon said. "Observe the Viewing Globe."

The rangers turned to the Viewing Globe. An image appeared of the skies above Angel Grove Central. A temple of black spires descended from the clouds. Cars screeched to a halt and crashed against each other, and citizens either ran in panic or stood frozen with fear while looking up.

 

Bandora's palace settled against the Earth with a deafening boom that shook the city, shattering nearby skyscraper windows.

"Oh no," Kimberly whispered.

Tommy narrowed his eyes. "Bandora's palace."

"Tommy," Jason said. "Maybe you should wait here while we-"

"No," Tommy said. "You guys will need me."

"Tommy," Zordon said. "Jason is right. You must not waste your powers. Wait here until your friends need you."

"But..." Tommy sighed and shook his head. He lost the argument every time. "Okay."


The streets were in chaos. The five teens moved through a crowd of people running in panic until they reached the base of Bandora's temple. Crashed and overturned cars were strewn about the streets. Buildings were heavily damaged.

 

Bandora hovered down from her balcony, casting a wicked smile at the teens. "I've waited a long time for this, Rangers."

The teens armed their morphers. "Dino Buckler!" Energy shimmered around them as they morphed into their Ranger forms.

 

"Rangers," another voice came from behind them. They turned to see Kai hovering in the air. He lifted his hand to his face, and five flashes of light appeared on top of a nearby building. The five children Kai had kidnapped materialized. They were not moving, and their eyes were solid white.

"The kids!" Ptera Ranger shouted.

Kai extended his hand outward towards the city as Bandora extended her staff. The ground started to shake as the skies above turned gray. Red lightning slammed against the ground, creating a shockwave that nearly knocked the Rangers off their feet.

 

The ground tore open, and a white-armored warrior zord arose. The zord was covered with bulky white armor. It had a single eye, and a horn extended from its head. Kai and the other children teleported in streaks of dark light into the war zord's cockpit.

 

"Behold the power of Cyclopsis!" Bandora shouted.

The Rangers extended their hands towards the air. "Dinozords, arise!" The armored beasts ran across the dark streets towards their latest opponent. The Rangers leapt into their cockpits. "Dinozord fusion!"

 

The five armored zords shifted shape and merged into one. The Megadinozord took shape and landed on the streets while snapping into a fighting stance.

The Megazord stomped forward and slammed the back of its right fist against Cyclopsis. Megadinozord stepped forward and slammed a left punch against the zord, sparking against its armor on impact. The evil zord was barely dented.

Cyclopsis struck back hard. The evil zord opened two chambers of golden missiles concealed within its chest chambers. The missiles fired and exploded against the Megazord's chest armor with massive bursts of spark. Megadinozord stumbled backward and collapsed onto a building.

Cyclopsis fired its fist gauntlets, anchored to its arms by chains. The hands latched onto the Megazord and channeled electric energy through the chains. The energy exploded against the Megazord with a shower of sparks and explosions that lit the night sky.

"Megadinozord Saber!" Tyranno Ranger shouted. The sword appeared with a lance of light that cut the chains from the Megazord. The saber speared into the ground. The Megazord rose to its feet and pulled the saber free.

 

"Megadinozord Saber!" The Rangers shouted. "Battle Crash!"

The sword energized with crimson power and swung towards Cyclopsis. The war zord blocked the blow with his forearm. The energy feedback ignited with an explosion  that slammed the Megazord backward.

 

Cyclopsis leaned down and fired a vertical bolt of crimson lightning from its horn. The lightning blast tore across the streets and exploded against the Megadinozord.


Tommy turned to his mentor when he saw the Megazord go down. "Zordon."

"Go," Zordon said. "And may The Power protect you all."


Tommy ran to the edge of a roof, looking out to see Cyclopsis smash its fists against the Megazord again.

"Guys!" Tommy shouted. He armed his morpher. "Dino Buckler!" Energy shimmered around him as he morphed into his Green Ranger armor.

Dragon Ranger unsheathed his dagger and played the battle tune that summoned his zord from the sea. The zord emerged from the ocean with a mighty roar that echoed across the rooftops of Angel Grove.

Dragonzord stomped through the streets and unloaded a missile payload that exploded against the war zord. Cyclopsis was forced a few steps back, and Dragon Ranger continued his zord's advance. He used his flute to make the Dragonzord lash out with its tail drill. The drill slammed against Cyclopsis and knocked the evil zord backward.

"Dragonzord fusion!" Tyranno Ranger commanded. The Megadinozord disassembled into its five components. The Mammoth, Tiger and Pterodactyl combined with the Dragonzord to form the MegaDragonzord.

The Ptera zord swooped down from the air and fired curved beams of energy that exploded against the war zord while the MegaDragonzord moved in.

 

MegaDragonzord armed its spear and thrust the weapon at the war zord. Cyclopsis swatted the spear aside and slammed a punch against the zord's armor. MegaDragonzord was forced a few steps back. The Megazord energized its head blade and shot the weapon forward. Cyclopsis caught the blade and hurled it back towards the Megazord. MegaDragonzord's own weapon exploded violently against its armor. MegaDragonzord went collapsing on top of a building that crumbled beneath its weight.

 

Tyrannosaurus fired a power wave from its jaws, but Cyclopsis held up its hands and reversed the wave back towards the zord, causing the blast to explode and crash the zord to the ground.

Cyclopsis stomped forward and stepped on the fallen MegaDragonzord. The war zord pressed its foot down, slowly crushing the MegaDragonzord beneath its feet.

"No!" Dragon Ranger yelled.

"There's nothing you can do, Dragon Ranger," Bandora said from behind him. "Your world is about to fall."

To be continued...Chapter 26



 

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