Champions Saga: Chapter Four

The Fall of Angel Grove

Saya sat in the trees of the Ginga Forest at night.

Even though things were going extremely well in her life, both with life overall and her relationship with Hyuuga, something was still wrong in the air. She could sense it, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was. It’s especially strong tonight, she thought to herself.

Then she heard it. A sound she had not heard for a long while. The cry of the wild cat. She jumped down from her tree to track the Seijuu down.

Vanity had created a mystical gate in Alcorn's castle that would serve as a better focus of paranormal energy. Alcorn would use the gate as an easier way to call upon demon warriors, as well as awaken the Devils of Kimon.

It was only by their power that the city of Angel Grove would be able to fall under his control. It was necessary for him to harness the power of the city’s mystical ley lines to awaken his own master and bring upon the next Age of Darkness.

Vanity walked over to her master and bowed down to him. "All is ready, my Lord."

Alcorn nodded. He was very anxious to have the city and its power under his control. "Very well. Come with me."

Alcorn and Vanity walked to the main chambers of the castle, where the jaw-shaped gateway was.

"We still are need of a sacrifice of great power to offer the Devils of Kimon," Vanity said.

Alcorn looked to Vanity. "A sacrifice of power, hmm?" He grabbed the demon by her wings and threw her into the portal against her screaming protests. "There is your sacrifice."

Alcorn chanted the spell himself. The incantation was in a language known only within the fiery depths of Hell.

The castle began to rumble, and Alcorn smiled wickedly as the Eight Devils of Kimon stepped through the portal.

In the lead was Gemma. He was a muscular humanoid man that appeared as if he had stepped out of the pages of a Japanese comic book. Gemma possessed the power of regeneration. He could not be killed or destroyed and his body could take an unlimited amount of punishment.

From behind Gemma came Tessai. His body was composed entirely of a stone-like material, and he carried a broad double-bladed staff. He was the strongest of the Eight Devils.

The most skilled warrior of the Devils appeared to be nothing more than a blind man with a bandana wrapped around his eyes with long white hair and a white kimono. He carried a simple katana blade that also enhanced his meek appearance. However, this Devil was a master of his senses. His name was Mujuro, and he was the perfect ninja.

Benisato was one of the female Devils. Her body was almost completely naked and covered with tattoos of pythons. These pythons could come to life, and she could control them with the power of her mind.

The other female Devil was Sakuro. She wore a baggy kimono and was capable of producing kinetically charged "dust" particles that were highly explosive. She also carried a bladed fan-type weapon for close encounters.

Muchizo was the most odd out of all the Devils of Kimon. He appeared to be a hunch backed old deformed man carrying a small staff, but the hunch in his back was a living wasp hive. He could produce hundreds and thousands of wasp-like creatures and control them with the force of his mind.

Shijima was clad in a dark-purple ninja outfit with a light array of brown armor. He was the best armed of the Devils thanks to the claw he wore on is right hand and the chain whip attached to his left. He also possessed the abilities to hypnotize people, control dead bodies, and phase in and out of shadows.

The final Devil was Yurimaru. He also appeared to be a simple Japanese man in a white kimono, but he was extremely deadly. He possessed the ability of teleportation, and he could also channel electric currents through his body. He often used this ability by channeling electricity through a thin wire rope he was armed with.

Alcorn activated a screen of fire and showed the Devils an image of Angel Grove City. "Take over this population center at once. Spare no one."

The Prophet had found wonderful news. Soon, the quest of his insane master would be complete and life would return to normal.

He rushed to his unseen Master’s feet and humbly bowed. "Master, Lorian has located the last fragment of the Tablet of Chakra on the planet of Aquitar!"

Lorian was one of the most fearsome warriors in the galaxy. He had been working for the Red Star ever since he managed to retrieve a tablet fragment from Triforia.

The Leader was not as pleased as the Prophet thought he would be. "Curses! That planet is protected by those water-dwelling Aquition Rangers. It is bad enough I have the Astros on my tail."

"Shall I contact Darkheart, my Lord?" Darkheart’s army had become the backbone of the Red Star’s forces.

"Yes....order him to keep the Astros away from Aquitar. I will go there personally and see to it that those Rangers find an early, watery grave."

Under the cover of night, The Eight Devils of Kimon stood upon the highest skyscraper of Angel Grove. Gemma smiled at the vastness of the place. He would enjoy bringing destruction down upon it. He held up his hand and spoke to his fellow demons.

"Rain the fires of Hell down upon this city."

Sakuro spread her hands, and sheets of dust were spread throughout Angel Grove city. The dust found its way inside of buildings and cars. It crept beneath the very streets and inside of the shelters.

With a simple mental command, she smiled and released the kinetic energy held within the dust particles. Explosions rang throughout the entire city as streets were torn apart and buildings collapsed into one another. Hundreds died just from the Devils first strike alone.

The Eight Devils then leapt upon the streets and separated to spread their plague of death.

The hunchbacked Muchizo stood upon a smaller building and released thousands of wasp-like creatures upon the city. The wasps spread like wildfire and caused panic and disorder among the citizens of Angel Grove.

Yurimaru attached his wire to a nearby telephone pole and channeled a powerful surge of electrical current through it. All power throughout the city was lost in a matter of moments as the streets became pitch black, lit only by the fires that consumed it.

People drove frantically through the streets seeking escape. Others simply hid in dark corners. With the monster shelters destroyed, they had no haven to go to. No hope for survival. Cars were upturned as more concussion blasts rang throughout the streets.

Shijima awakened the dead and used them as zombie soldiers while using his psionic powers to turn some groups of citizens against each other with a mindless rage.

People ran desperately away from piles of rubble that were collapsing everywhere.

The military had been called in for the first time in years to begin evacuating the population. They met with little success as the rescue teams turned into victims themselves.

The dark cloudy skies became highlighted with a red light that spread throughout the city.

Alcorn's castle then appeared out of no where and landed in the center of the city.

Alcorn looked out upon the city from his balcony and smiled. "Angel Grove is mine."

Thousands of Hellions leapt from the castle and spread throughout the streets. There was no hope.

This time, the Astro Rangers were one step ahead of the Red Star Clan. They were already on their way to Aquitar at maximum hyper-rush velocity thanks to the Aquition Rangers. They had informed the Astros that an artifact of immense power had been discovered on the floor of the Nebian Sea. The Rangers knew that it could only be another fragment of the Chakra.

While the other Rangers were on the bridge, Sage was sitting alone in his quarters playing the events of his encounter with Tekno-Red over in his mind. Tekno-Red seemed to have known a lot about Sage, but unfortunately, the Isosian had a severe case of amnesia that blocked out the majority of his life.

The doors to his quarters hissed open, and Saoirse walked in. She, as well as some of the other Astros, was worried about their new friend. He isolated himself worse than Cy had when he met the Earth Rangers, and he was only seen when fighting the forces of Darkheart.

"Hey, Sage. You doing okay?"

He looked at her with the same blank expression he always carried on his face. "Yes."

Sage had chosen to reveal his memory loss problem with Cy only, as well as another one of his weaknesses. When transformed into Tekno-Man for over fifteen minutes, Sage’s body would be corrupted by the energies of his own powers and he would become evil. "I am fine."

Saoirse nodded. Yeah right. She took a seat next to her friend. "Ya know, Cy used to be a lot like you."

Sage made no reply. It was only because he made eye contact that Saoirse knew he was paying attention. "He was hurt because he had lost his sister in an attack on KO-35 and....."

"Sister?"

Sage abruptly fled from his quarters, leaving Saoirse alone with a very confused look on her face.

The Lightspeed Rangers, Gao Rangers, Ninja Rangers and Time Fire watched in horror from the command room of Bay Area-55 as the streets became over run with destruction and armies of Hellions. Billy himself couldn’t believe the disasters that were taking place. In his whole Ranger career, he had faced nothing this horrifying.

Kevin had placed his arm around Stephanie when he noticed that she was close to tears. He couldn’t blame her. The devastation was horrible.

DJ wrinkled his brow as more images were played across the viewscreen. He wasn’t about to let Alcorn get away with this.

Junior was concerned for Max. The Blue Ranger knew that his friend would undoubtingly find someway to blame himself for this whole mess.

Max was feeling extremely helpless as he watched the scenes unfold before his eyes.

Jason wrinkled his brow with anger. "What can we do, Billy?"

"You guys need to morph and help with the evacuation procedures. I’ll start trying to initiate mass teleportation of citizens out of Angel Grove to safety. It will wear the teleporters out though. Pretty badly."

The rangers nodded and rose to their feet. They spread out across the open floor of the room and armed their morphers.

"Shogun Transform!" Jason's team shouted as they held their morphers at the ready. "Ninja Power!" Energy whirled around them as they transformed into their armor.

Wes lifted his brace to his mouth. "Quantum Fire!" Fiery energy wrapped around him as he morphed into the Quantum Ranger known as Time Fire.

Max and his team thrust their hands forward and crossed their wrists, right over left. "Lightspeed!" They brought their arms back in and flipped open their morphers. "Rescue!" Energy wrapped around them and they morphed into their Ranger forms.

Simon and his team flipped their morphers open. "Wild Access!" they shouted, pressing their morphers' activation panels. "Ha!" Golden light flashed around them as they morphed into their Ranger forms.

Sage had been working on a program in the simu-deck to literally reconstruct his memories by using holographic images. The program he had running showed a large grassy field with Sage and a young woman smiling and talking while picking through the flowers.

"Freeze program." The holographic recreation froze as Sage knelt down and stared at the image of the young woman. She is my sister....

He couldn’t remember a name, or an age, or anything really, just that she was indeed his sister.

"Continue program." The dream sequence replayed before his eyes. A young man walked over to the Isosian and his sister and began yelling. Then, a fight ensued between Sage and the stranger. Sage wrinkled his eyebrows. Another block in his mind was somehow forced open. That man....that man is Tekno-Red.

The Go-Liner launched into the heart of Angel Grove Central, where the damage was worst.

"Rescuezords, mobilize!" Rescue Red commanded. Each zord rolled out of its liner.

Rescue Yellow piloted his Hazer Rescue to where a stream of cars had been cut off by a fallen building. The Yellow Ranger lowered his aft ramp and instructed the vehicles to drive inside of his zord's aft storage bays.

Seeing no other alternative, the people drove in, and Rescue Yellow shipped them out. "Son of a bitch..." he cursed to himself knowing there was no way to get everyone out in time.

Rescue Blue had his hands full in his Aqua Rescue. The fires were way out of control and pretty much every where. He launched fire retardant missiles and shot streams of chemicals specially designed to extinguish the flames. He would have given his left arm for about a hundred more zords. Maybe then they would have had a chance to contain the chaos spreading throughout the city.

Rescue Green used his Aero Rescue’s grappling hook to clear paths of rubble and fly cover for military rescue units. He also used his blasters to take out groups of Hellions on the ground. The damage seemed much worse from his bird's-eye view. Something he never thought could have been possible.

Rescue Red and his Pyro Rescue were trying to assist people out of burning buildings and other fiery death traps, while Rescue Pink accompanied him in her Meda Rescue to see to the wounded.

The Red Lightspeed Ranger sighed to himself. He knew he couldn’t save everyone, but he would die trying.

The Ninja Rangers and Gao Rangers were on ground control along with Time Fire and the Silver Guardians. Waves of Hellions stretched as far as their eyes could see. The soldiers pounced towards the Rangers and leapt towards them from buildings and piles of rubble.

Gao Red and Ninjared ran side-by-side through the thick of the Hellions' formation. The Red Gao Ranger was hunched over like a lion with a Lion Fang weapon over each hand.

"Ha!" he shouted repeatedly while he slashed the claws through the soldiers, each blow sparking on impact. The blood of the lion rushed through his veins, fueling every savage strike.

Ninjared moved more gracefully with his sword, parrying blow after blow while running his sword through the soldiers.

Time Fire and Gao Silver turned their attention to the Hellions leaping down from buildings.

"DV-Defender!" The Quantum Ranger triggered lances of crimson energy that pierced through the air towards the Hellions.

"Lunar Cue! Rifle Mode!" Gao Silver triggered lances of pale-blue energy.

The combined blasts exploded through Hellions in midair, tearing through their bodies with bursts of spark as they descended.

"Eagle Sword!" Gao Yellow shouted as his sword energized with golden power. "Nobel Slash!"

Gao Yellow swung his weapon downward in a tilted-x pattern. The blade streaked with golden energy as it slashed through several Hellions, sparking against their bodies on impact.

Nearby, Ninjayellow energized his own blade with golden energy.

"Hidden-style Triangle cut!" He swung his sword through streaks of yellow energy in a triangle pattern, hacking through a group of Hellions. 

"Shark Cutters!" Gao Blue shouted as his weapons pulsed with blue power. "Surging chopper!"

He swung his blades horizontally, each weapon streaking with blue energy while slashing through a group of grunts.

"Bison Axe!" Gao Black shouted. His axe throbbed with deep-purple energy. "Iron Breaker!"

Gao Black chopped his axe downward through a streak of purple energy that sliced a soldier in half.

Ninjablack and Ninjablue were on the defensive, standing back-to-back while twirling their sabers and hacking through demon soldiers.

"Tiger Baton!" Gao White shouted as her baton weapon pulsed with pink energy. "Cross Strike!"

Gao White swung her weapon down in a cross pattern that thrashed across several Wraiths.

Ninjawhite hovered in the air. "Ninpo shard attack!"

A cloud of energy shards materialized in front of her. The shards shot forward like a diamond storm, ripping through Hellions with bursts of spark, knocking the soldiers backward. 

The Astro Rangers landed their Megaship on one of the few small islands on the planet of Aquitar. They disembarked from their ship and met the Aquition Rangers.

The Aquitions had assisted some of the previous teams of Rangers on Earth, but Cy and his team had had only run across the Aquitions a few times. That didn’t put a damper on the hospitality however.

Delphine walked over to the Astros and extended her hand to Cy. The Red Astro Ranger was surprised by her knowledge of human culture. "Welcome to Aquitar, Rangers of KO-35."

Daithi smiled from behind Cy. "It’s great to be here," he said, even though the planet's high levels of humidity already had him sweating buckets. He looked to Bran and could see that his friend was also already tiring of drinking in the air.

Cestro brought over a small pouch to the Rangers and uncovered it. It was the final tablet fragment. "I believe you will find this to your interest."

Cy took the tablet as he and Zhane stared at it, similar thoughts running through their minds. They were finally a step ahead of the Red Star.

Their pleasant thoughts were interrupted when they looked to the sky and saw a swarm of Craboids flying through the atmosphere. The soldiers were led by a humanoid figure in blood-red armor, Tekno-Red.

Sage wrinkled his brow and pulled out the crystal that gave him his powers, as the rangers all readied their Digitizers.

"Tekno Power!"

"Install, Astro Ranger!"

A shell of energy wrapped around Sage and transformed him into Tekno-Man. Data energy flashed around the rangers and morphed them into their armor. 

Sage blasted off into the skies to intercept the Craboids, but before the Rangers could join him on their Cyber Sliders, a menacing figure appeared in the air above.

The man had solid crimson eyes and short blonde hair. He wore a red body suit covered by pieces of dark, golden armor. He smiled down at the Rangers, revealing a mouth full of fangs. "It’s good to see you again Rangers...."

Astro Red looked to his teammates and saw that none of them recognized this unfamiliar warrior. Evidently, the red-clad warrior caught on to this as well. "I’m shocked you do not recognize me. I am Warlock, the Leader of the Red Star Clan...but so much more as well."

He held out his hand to reveal a small amulet connected to his palm. The amulet discharged a massive energy pulse that exploded against the ground, creating a massive shockwave that sparked against the Rangers' armor and knocked them off their feet.

The tablet flew from Astro Red’s hand and landed in a bed of sand.

The Aquitions were also sent to the ground, but they quickly recovered.

The Aquitions readied their morphers. Each brace was engraved with the symbol of a mythological water-dwelling beast.

"Aqua Beast, rebirth!" they shouted while slapping their brace's activation panels. Energy flashed around their bodies as they morphed into their Ranger forms.