The Legend of Zeo: Chapter Seventeen
Coupe de ta
Queen Machina narrowed her eyes down upon the cursed Earth as she stood on the Moon base's balcony. She and her husband had survived near countless centuries of warfare against powerful empires, coalitions, and armies. They had conquered everything in their path. That was until they approached the backwater planet below. A planet whose champions managed to destroy her husband...
The slender and frail Machine known as Clank approached the Queen at the edge of the balcony.
"My Queen," Clank said. "The prototype warheads are ready for activation."
"Good," she said. "Wipe this cursed city of Angel Grove from my sites."
A rack of six heavy missiles raised from the surface of the Machine's base and locked onto Angel Grove.
The rockets blasted through space in streaks of flame as they headed towards the Earth's atmosphere.
Alarms in the Command Chamber were blaring as the five teens ran in, each wearing their leathers.
"What is it, Alpha?" Tommy asked.
Alpha waddled over to the rangers. "The Machines have launched a missile salvo towards Earth."
The five rangers turned to face the Viewing Globe and watched as the missiles super heated on their way through the atmosphere.
"Let's get to the zords," Tommy said.
Alpha activated a few controls on the console in front of him. "The MegaWarriorzord is ready to take off."
"Well," Ashley said. "What are we waiting for?"
The MegaWarriorzord was brought into position within the mecha holding bay and loaded into the launch cannon. The Rangers took their positions within the cockpit as the hanger bay doors opened and the Megazord blasted through the air.
The Megazord activated its thrusters and flew over the city as it zeroed in on the missile salvo.
"Ashley," Zeored said. "Bring the visor's beam cannon online."
"On it," Zeoyellow said. "...cannon is charged."
"Lock on, and fire!" Zeored commanded.
The emblem above the zord's visor fired pulse beams of yellow energy that exploded against the missiles as they detonated in midair, causing a massive shockwave.
The Machines cried out with frustration as the missiles were destroyed by the Rangers.
"I despise them..." Machina said as her son Sprocket clung to her leg.
Clank cautiously approached her. "I could have another barrage ready in-"
"What's the point," Machina said. "So they can destroy those too?"
A massive series of explosions suddenly erupted across the balcony as the Machines were thrown backwards into the main chamber.
A slender figure whose ripped robotic muscles were covered in blue and white armor stepped forward into the main room. His head was steel gray, and he had large gauntlets wrapped around his wrists.
"Blastaar?" Machina asked as she rose to her feet, recognizing the Machine as one of her late king's generals.
"You will address me as King, or Your Majesty now," Blastaar said as he stalked forward towards the Queen and Prince. "Now that the Machine King has been destroyed, I will command his forces as his rightful heir."
"Hey!" Sprocket shouted defensively while cowering behind his mother. "What do you think I was built for?"
"Hmph." Blastaar grabbed a hold of Sprocket's wrist and pulled him away from his mother. "That is a question I ask myself every day."
Blastaar threw the Prince backward like a rag doll, and Sprocket fell to the ground in front of a group of Cogs.
"Send him into space with the rest of the trash," Blastaar commanded.
Sprocket shouted in protest as the Cogs carried the kicking and screaming prince away. Machina tried to run after her son, but another group of Cogs held her back with their staffs.
Blastaar laughed as he turned to face the Queen. "Now that that's out of the way, we can get to work..."
The MegaWarriorzord continued to blast through the sky.
"There's one more left," Zeoblue said from his station.
"It's too close for the beam cannons," Zeoyellow said. "We'd blow ourselves up."
"We'll use the Warrior Blades," Zeored said as he activated the two weapons with a pulse of bright yellow energy.
The Megazord swung its blade through the rocket, slicing the weapon in half. The propulsion component of the missile exploded, but the actual warhead spun out of control towards the surface.
The warhead spun through the air as it crashed through several skyscrapers and lodged into the side of a nearby building on the streets of the city.
The rangers were in their leather uniforms as they ran forward to the fallen warhead.
"There it is," Chris said as he pointed to the warhead after spotting it through the corner of his eye.
The five rangers ran over to the warhead, and Ashley quickly glanced over it.
"This is not good," she said.
"What's wrong?" Kat asked.
"It's still active," Ashley said. "And strong enough to wipe out quite a few blocks..."
Tommy sighed. "Great...can we teleport it away?"
Ashley shook her head. "Moving it would be too risky. I'll have to disarm it."
A small series of explosions erupted around the rangers as they dove for cover. They rose to their feet and looked up to see Blastaar facing them with his arms crossed over his chest.
"The Machine Empire is under new management," he said.
The rangers readied their Zeonizers.
"Ultra Transform!" they shouted as they morphed into their armor.
"Ultra Task Force, Zeo Rangers!" they shouted together as they assumed their fighting stances.
Blastaar retracted his fist and fired a missile from that gauntlet that streaked towards the Rangers.
"Break!" Zeored shouted as they leapt clear, and the missile exploded against the street, raining debris and fire in every direction.
The Rangers rose to their feet as the ground started to shake around them. They looked up to see a giant Machine stomping towards them. It resembled an elephant with massive tusks of steel.
Blastaar laughed as he faced the Rangers. "I don't play games, Terrans." He looked to his Machine monster. "Finish them..."
The monster fired an energy pulse that exploded against the ground as the Rangers were blasted backwards.
"Tommy..." Zeoyellow said as she placed her hand on her leader's shoulder. "That warhead."
"Do you think you can disarm it?" Zeored asked.
"I can try," she said.
"Good enough," Zeored answered. "We'll take care of that Machine monster."
Zeoyellow ran over to the warhead as the other four Rangers activated their communicators. "Warriorzords, mobilize!"
The Red, Blue, Green, and Pink Warriorzords landed on the streets as the Rangers leapt into their respective cockpit in streaks of multi-colored light.
"Kat," Zeored said over the comm system. "Make sure Ashley has some cover."
"Got it," Zeopink said as she maneuvered her zord to stand near Zeoyellow and the damaged warhead.
Zeoyellow unscrewed the side panel of the missile and began inspecting the circuitry inside.
"Okay..." she said to herself quietly to help concentrate. "That looks like the trigger...that would be the backup trigger..."
Above, the zords were thrashed back one by one by the sting of the Machine monster's broad blades. The creature fired a powerful energy burst that exploded against Pink Warriorzord's armor.
The ground started to shake as debris fell near Zeoyellow.
"That's not helping," she mumbled to herself as she tried to disarm the warhead's detonation mechanism, set to explode in less than five minutes.
The Red Warriorzord slammed its fists against the Machine as the Green and Blue zords moved in to attack next. The monster swung his blade in an 'x' pattern, slashing across the three zords. The Machine monster kicked the Green Warriorzord to the ground and swung the end of his saber across the Blue Warriorzord's head before moving towards Pink Warriorzord.
Zeored threw his zord in the way, but the monster quickly ran his sabers across the Red Warriorzord's armor.
The monster kicked the red-trimmed zord away and turned its attention back towards the Pink Warriorzord. The creature launched a tusk spike that crashed against the zord's armor and caused a series of explosions that tossed Zeopink around within her cockpit as small explosions sparked from her control panels.
The shockwave knocked Zeoyellow to her feet as the warhead was jarred, and its detonation timer sped up. She refrained from using the dozens of curse words flying through her head so she could focus.
The Pink Warriorzord fell backward and collapsed onto a nearby building, causing a storm of debris to spread from the shockwave.
The warhead was jarred loose from the building as smoke covered the streets, and its activation sequence began.
The monster continued to fire energy blasts as explosions erupted around Zeoyellow. She was thrown through a wall and fell to the ground as her armor was forcibly powered down.
The activation trigger neared its mark. Components slid into formation as the warhead's contents energized. Ashley crawled over to the warhead just as the trigger was about to activate. She reached over and pulled out a single red wire. The connection was broken and the warhead remained stable.
Above, the Machine monster slammed its tusks against Green Warriorzord and tossed the mech aside like a bundle of hay as it crashed against Blue Warriorzord and sent both stumbling to the ground.
Ashley activated her communicator. "It's done..."
"Good work," Zeored said. "Suit up. We can use the Megazord right about now."
"Right," Ashley said as she rose to her feet and readied her Zeonizers. "Ultra transform!"
She connected the two braces as energy covered her body and she morphed into her Ranger form. Zeoyellow activated her communicator. "Warriorzord, mobilize!"
The Yellow Warriorzord shot across the sky as she leapt into her cockpit within a stream of yellow energy.
"Alright guys," Zeored said. "It's time to take care of business...Warrior fusion!"
The five zords shot into the sky as they reassembled and stacked on top of one another, forming the MegaWarriorzord.
"MegaWarriorzord, online!" they shouted from their cockpit.
"Warrior Blades," Zeored commanded as the two sabers appeared in flashes of crackling yellow energy.
The Machine monster charged towards the Megazord. The zord swung its sabers to cut off the tusks from the Machine, then energized its blades and swung in an 'x' formation. Explosions danced across the Machine's armor as it was thrown backwards.
"Warrior Blades, energize!" the Rangers shouted as the Megazord placed the sabers together, forming one long energy blade of yellow power that extended three times in length.
The MegaWarriorzord brought the saber down vertically through the Machine monster as its systems overloaded and exploded.
In the Machine Base, Blastaar swung a hook punch across Clank's face, sending the frail robot crashing onto the ground.
"These Machines of yours are pathetic!" Blastaar shouted. "Send every last one of them to the scrap heap, and use their parts to create warriors of my design."
Clank cowered backwards as he nodded. "Yes...right away..."
Blastaar turned and glared at the Earth below as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. This was going to be harder than he thought.
To be continued...Chapter 18