The Dragon's Rise: Chapter Twenty-six
The Coming of DaiSatan
Cyclopsis was crushing MegaDragonzord beneath its feet. Small explosions ripped across the zord's armor, which was buckling under the pressure. Cyclopsis launched two bolts from its shoulders.
The bolts, connected to the war zord by wires, attached to the fallen MegaDragonzord. Strands of energy traveled across the wires and exploded against MegaDragonzord. The Rangers were tossed around in their cockpit as showers of sparks exploded all around them.
Dragon Ranger felt helpless. He narrowed his eyes beneath his visor while glaring at Cyclopsis. "Dragon's Fang!"
Dragon Ranger fired a volley of crackling energy spheres that splashed harmlessly across the war zord's armor. He unsheathed his dagger for a Dragon's Claw attack. But he collapsed to his knees before he could strike. "No..." he said, clenching his jaw. He stabilized his powers by using his own force of will. "No..."
He rose to his feet. "Dragon's Claw!" he swung his blade, which produced a green energy wave that cut the wires free from the MegaDragonzord.
Titanus charged through the streets to aid the zords. The armored beast opened its jaw and spat fiery blasts of energy that exploded against Cyclopsis, knocking the war zord off the MegaDragonzord.
Cyclopsis stumbled backward as MegaDragonzord rose back to its feet.
"Alright," Tyranno Ranger said. He tightened his grip on his controls. "Ultrazord fusion!"
The MegaDragonzord separated. The five main zords reconfigured and formed the Megadinozord. Dragonzord spread out and wrapped around the top of the Megazord like armor. The combined zord landed in Titanus, forming the tank-like Ultradinozord.
"Ultradinozord...Grand Fire!" The Rangers shouted from within their cockpit. A torrent of energy blasts shot from the Ultrazord like a wave of lances and spears. The energy blast ripped through Cyclopsis, causing the war zord to explode.
The body of the zord was decimated, but its head flew off and crashed against the streets below like a piece of scrap metal. The five children were freed from Cyclopsis in five streaks of light.
Bandora wrinkled her brow at Titanus as the zords separated. "You'll pay!"
She extended her staff and fired a jagged pulse of dark-purple energy that circled the ground around Titanus. The streets caved in like quicksand and started pulling Titanus down. The Megazord tried to grab onto the carrier zord's neck, but it was too late. Titanus was sucked beneath the surface of the earth.
"No!" the five Rangers shouted. Bandora laughed with delight as she shimmered away.
The six Rangers leapt to the ground and landed around the five children. The kids were unconscious, but still breathing.
"They're alive," Dragon Ranger said.
"Let's get them to a hospital," Tyranno Ranger said.
"So who's the silver-haired kid?" Zack asked Zordon. The six teens had regrouped within the Command Chamber. Maya and Simon were there too. They wanted to know what was happening and help anyway they could. They also felt a lot safer within the fortress.
"And what was that pile of junk he rode in?" Kimberly asked.
"The boy's name is Kai," Zordon said. "He is Bandora's son."
"Son?" Maya asked.
"During the age of the dinosaurs, Kai disturbed the nest of a Tyrannosaurus," Zordon explained. "The mother found the nest and chased Kai to the edge of a cliff. Kai fell off the cliff and died. This event led Bandora to selling her soul to DaiSatan for the power to wipe out the dinosaurs. She summoned the asteroid that caused the dinosaur's extinction.
"Now," Zordon continued. "Kai has been resurrected by the power of DaiSatan."
Zack shook his head. They were in trouble. "Man..."
"What happened to Titanus?" Tommy asked.
"I am uncertain," Zordon said. "I do know he is still alive and in the hands of Bandora."
The teens sighed and gave each other worried glances. Things were bad. Very bad. Bandora was hard enough to handle, but now with DaiSatan coming, things were going to get worse.
Alarms blared in the Command Chamber. The teens turned to see a giant pillar extending from the city streets in Angel Grove Central. Taller than a skyscraper, the pillar had a cobra-like hood wrapped around what looked like a featureless head with two slits for eyes.
"What's that?" Kimberly asked.
"With that pillar," Zordon said, "Bandora plans to summon DaiSatan."
"Let's go," Jason said.
The six rangers arrived at the base of the pillar and looked up. Dark clouds still covered the skies. Bandora shimmered onto a low rooftop behind the rangers. "You're too late!"
The rangers turned and snapped into fighting stances. "Bandora!" Tommy shouted.
"Ah, Dragon Ranger...it's a shame you couldn't be at my side in this moment of glory," she said mockingly.
"Spare me," Tommy said.
"No," she said. She turned her gaze towards the clouds and started shouting an ancient incantation. The earth trembled beneath the rangers' feet. Black lightning scorched the skies and blasted against the pillar. Crackling strands of energy wrapped around the pillar as it vibrated with crimson energy.
The eye slits fired optic blasts that speared through the atmosphere and into space. The clouds turned blood red as a massive barrage of lightning scattered across the streets.
Then he came. The ghostly image of DaiSatan's head stretched across the skies. The villain's pale-blue face was covered in war paint. His eyes were blood red. Blades of crystal extended from his head in seemingly infinite directions. The evil spirit's mouth displayed rows of fangs.
The villain opened his mouth wide and breathed black smoke over the city. The smoke started to spread away from the battle area. Citizens across the city inhaled the gas, and immediately started coughing, hacking up black ichor. Residents across Angel Grove started to collapse as black boils dotted their skin.
"What's happening?" Kimberly shouted over the artificial wind.
DaiSatan lashed out with a volley of crimson lightning that struck the ground. The lightning started to take shape. Cyclopsis was reborn. Kai laughed sadistically as he leapt into the war zord's cockpit.
The rangers armed their morphers. "Dino Buckler!" Energy flashed around them as they morphed into their Ranger forms. They raised their hands towards the skies. "Dinozords, arise!"
The armored beasts stomped through the streets as the Rangers leapt into their cockpits.
"Dinozord fusion!" Tyranno Ranger commanded. The five zords reassembled and pulsed with energy as they combined to form the Megadinozord.
Long blades grew from the war zord's wrists. Cyclopsis swung outward in an x-shaped pattern that slashed across the Megazord's chest armor with a burst of spark. Cyclopsis slammed a kick that sparked against the zord's side, and the war zord slashed both blades across the Megazord's midsection.
Before the Rangers could arm their Megazord's saber, the war zord's horn fired a jagged burst of blue-and-gold energy that wrapped around Megadinozord and caused a series of explosions that nearly consumed the Megazord's armor.
The Megazord fell backward and crashed against a pile of rubble.
Dragon Ranger raised his dagger to his faceplate. He could barely stand but had to summon enough power to bring his zord into battle. He played the war melody that summoned the Dragonzord from sea.
Dragonzord launched a flurry of missiles that exploded against the war zord's armor. Cyclopsis ignored the Dragonzord's attack.
The war zord amplified Kai's telekinetic power. Cyclopsis used invisible strands of energy to lift the Megazord and flip it upside down in mid-air. Cyclopsis swung the zord back and forth so it smashed through buildings and skid across the streets below, tearing up pavement.
"No! Dragonzord, come on!" The Green Ranger played his dagger.
Dragonzord moved in and whipped its tail drill against Cyclopsis. Cyclopsis let go of its hold on the Megazord and turned to Dragonzord. Cyclopsis used its arm blades to sever the tail from the Dragonzord. Dragonzord roared in pain. Cyclopsis opened its chest missile chambers and fired a volley of torpedoes that exploded against Dragonzord, knocking the green-armored zord to the ground.
The Megazord charged towards Cyclopsis. The war zord slashed its blades downward, chopping through the Megazord's left arm joint and tearing the limb from the zord. Explosions ripped apart the left side of Megadinozord as it fell backward.
Cyclopsis moved to step on the fallen Megazord and crush the Rangers inside. But the Megazord raised its remaining arm and fired energy blasts from its wrist that exploded against Cyclopsis.
The war zord leaned down and fired a jagged energy blast of blue and gold power that thrashed against the Megazord, buckling armor and ripping at the very core of the beasts within the armor.
The Rangers fell from their cockpit and slammed against the city streets below. Their armor forcibly powered down after the impact. Tommy joined them, helping Jason and Kimberly to their feet. "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah..." Jason said, ignoring the pain coursing through his body.
The six rangers looked up to see Bandora extending her staff towards the zords. She fired a purple-tinted energy pulse that slammed against the zords and started to envelop them.
"No!" the rangers shouted as they ran towards their zords. Piece by piece, the zords vanished from sight, as if consumed by Bandora's evil power.
DaiSatan's black smog continued to spread through Angel Grove like a blanket of disease. Citizens keeled over in pain. Cars crashed against each other. Chaos was everywhere. DaiSatan laughed at the sight of it, the evil spirit's voice causing the Earth to literally shudder.
To be continued...Chapter 27