On one side, a tormented fighter who had spent the last seventeen of his twenty-two years immersed in darkness and evil. He stood with pride, what little he may have kept after the recent surprises in his life. Failing his one mission in life, being accepted into the ranks of the enemy, helping them to destroy his father and contain the memory. What was he doing here now? Dressed in blue and black velvet, clothes of his past, demonstrating a forgotten hand and foot fighting style to an Earthling. Long light blue hair tied back into a single braid tucked into his uniform, eyes shining with a crystalline reflection of his paternity, rough features outlining a face with a permanent frown. He still felt dizzy, just one of many side effects that pseudoine brainwashing can have on a living being, but never allowed it to show.
On the other side, an unassuming young man who had spent the last seventeen of his seventeen years being an ordinary child in an ordinary Colorado town. Curly dark blond hair trickling sweat down past a set of blue eyes before he could wipe it away with his sore forearm. He never wanted to see people suffer and die, but he had, and he never wanted to get caught up in a cosmic war between good and evil, but he had again. Stripped from the waist up, and clothed in loose sweat pants from the waist down, he could feel every effect the heat was having on him. Growing up, he and his sister had often marveled at an alien race possibly existing, but this was not what he expected and, even thought he was living it now, being trained by one of that race still seemed ridiculous.
"Concentrate," Bane instructed. "You learn quickly, so you know what to do, but to understand how you must concentrate. Only then can you apply."
"I think I understand," Patrick answered. "Learn, understand, apply."
"Will you follow my lead or are you confident enough to engage a battle?"
"Battle."
Bane smiled. Bowing, he allowed Patrick another few seconds to brace himself, and then the New Omnian was on the attack. He threw a high kick, easily blocked by Patrick's crossed arms, then immediately swept his other leg, but his opponent saw the move before it happened and fell back. Now on the defensive, Bane easily blocked a strong series of punches and, when the finishing side kick came, grabbed the teenager's leg and pulled him forward. Patrick's fist lashed out, striking the side of Bane's face, and stroking the fire of competition deep within his alien enemy. "Daosh dend eiashar!" Bane cried, the alien words echoing from the walls, his fury escaping with them and, now totally calm, he proceeded directly into a throw-slide-lift-throw-kick combination that took Patrick to the floor hard. Staggering to his feet, the Earth youth responded with a charging kick that was supposed to return the favor, but instead Bane sidestepped and countered with a punch to his assailant's side. Realizing he was going down for good, Patrick grabbed both of Bane's ankles as he hit the floor and pulled hard, taking the remaining standing fighter to the mat as well.
Panting, Patrick extended his hand and gasped, "Nice job."
Breathing normally, Bane shifted his eyes and leapt to his feet, wiping his hands on his shirt.
"Way to go!" Rachel cheered from the entrance, her smile spreading to her brother instantly. They looked alike in many ways, and shared personalities as well, despite her being more than an entire year younger. But whereas Bane could remain cool and collected around Patrick, being around this other Manus sibling was an entire different matter. "Hi, Bane," she cooed.
Hurriedly he turned away and migrated to the corner where he had deserted the disguise he wore when traveling between Alpha Complex and Ivory Glade. Just glasses, a hat, and Earth clothes, but they hid his features well enough for the time it took to make the trip. As he changed, he listened to Rachel compliment her brother on how much he was improving every day, rolling his eyes in disbelief. No one had ever complimented him on how well his training progressed, and he could master a new technique in minutes. Well, he used to, when the pseudoine boosted his physiology and mentality.
Gliding up to him, still smiling in an almost flirtatious way, Rachel put took his cold, hard hand in her soft, warm one and whispered, "You were great, too. Even better." And suddenly her warmth was gone; she and her brother were leaving and waving good-bye in that funny way Earthlings did.
Bane clenched the hand she had held tightly and rubbed it with his other one. Ashamed that he liked the feeling so much, he hung his head and whispered, "Daosh dend eiashar." Love the battle fire.
Teleportation could have taken him instantly to Alpha Complex, but the thrill and peacefulness of a walk always beckoned him. Walking along the sidewalks of the small city, his thoughts eventually cleared as fresh air allowed him to breathe easier. Not for the first time, he considered it fortunate that his attempt to destroy Ivory Glade had failed. The damage he had wrought upon the city itself was repairable; the damage he caused the people was not. His sleep was still troubled by the accusations of those he was responsible for killing and, so deep his shame ran, he could not face his own mother when she was so very close. Soiled soul, tainted mind, condemned heart.
"There you are!"
Startled, Bane thoughtlessly spun to face the call. Rachel was running up to him and, when she stopped, put a hand on his shoulder to lean and catch her breath. His immediate response was to pull away but he fought the feeling and won. "What..." Bane began and the words caught in a dry throat. Clearing it, and swallowing, he tried again. "Why are you following me?"
Her smile was suspicious. Or maybe he simply perceived it that way. "I just wanted to ask you...y'know..."
"For a favor?" he asked roughly. "Sorry. I owe no one; no one owes me."
"Not a favor, silly," Rachel laughed. Sticking her hands in her blue jean pants, she shifted her feet and looked down at them to hide a blush. "Lunch. You do eat, don't you? Lunch, I mean. Or at all." The laughter turned nervous.
A rejection at the tip of his tongue, Bane bit it back sharply, realizing the effort it was taking her to reach out to him. Was this a setup? Perhaps of Patrick's doing, for some reason or another. Maybe she herself wanted something. "I eat children," he answered suddenly.
Rachel's eyes widened as her head shot up and her reflexes forced her to draw back away from him. Covering her mouth with both hands, she began, "That's disgust...." and finished with, "Oh! You're joking!"
"I would like very much to have lun..." Bane started to say, a smile turning the edges of his lips upward, when the communicator around his wrist beeped its familiar alarm. Both pairs of eyes moved uncomfortably to the watch-like device. At a loss for words, and feeling he owed no apology, he told her, "I have to go."
"Sure," agreed Rachel, her own grin fading fast. "Maybe some other time."
Without a response, Bane laid his right hand on the Omni Morpher and teleported, blue light deluging him and breaking him into millions of fibers, reassembling him inside Control Point at Alpha Complex. Cecil Mercuric stood motionless in front of the wall of monitors, arms crossed, biting on a toothpick, watching the display of two creatures that were unquestionably the reason for the summons. Seconds later, the rest of the team, one by one, teleported in. Brittany Elliott got close to Bane and asked, "What's happening?"
"Mercuric pulled me away from making my first date," Bane informed her drably. "Ask him what the situation is."
"Really?" Rebecca Spencer exclaimed excitedly. "Bane, you hunk of an alien stud, you. Whose the lucky lady?"
Whistling with his fingers, Cecil's dark gaze quieted them down in a heartbeat and gave him the silence he needed to brief them on their mission. Pointing to the screens, he explained, "Two more Rapture Holders. The thin one with horns is Ramises, capable of super-speed movement. The large one with the tail is Pito, with strength I never thought was possible. Together they compliment one another's fighting style."
"So we lure them apart," Bane growled.
"Destroy them separately," added Amber, nodding.
Cecil removed the toothpick from his mouth and broke it in half. "It is still the same toothpick, only it has four edges now instead of two," he reflected. "Plus, if we separate them, we only have half our power to fight them with. Considering what we went through with Gan-Ust and Varron, fighting Rapture Hold with less than full strength is suicidal."
Rebecca sighed, "Then what do we do? Besides waste time listening to your lame philosophy lessons."
"In the Zord Bay is a subchamber filled with technology Rade and the other Omnians were developing that was never tested," he replied, ignoring the looks of disdain he was receiving. "New weapons to add strength and new vehicles to add speed. With them, our chances of divide-and-conquer are increased."
"And the catch?" wondered Brittany.
Shrugging, Cecil exhaled through his nose and prepared himself for reactions before answering, "The subchamber is accessible for only five minutes. In that time, I have to enter, destroy the robot guardian, grab the weapons, and get out. Simple."
Becky covered her mouth and shook just enough to tell she was laughing. Brittany, grinning, begged the question, "Simple for you? In your dreams."
"Becca would know," teased Amber, "since she is in most of them."
Smiling, Cecil made a sharp gesture to quiet everyone, while Rebecca turned bright red and turned away so no one else would notice. Straightening up and folding his arms, their leader demanded, "Then what do you suggest?"
"I will fight the guardian," proposed Bane, fists clenched at his side. Portions of his earlier training session still flashed through the back of his mind, all of them making him wonder if his battle competency had fallen so low that an Earthling could match it. "Five minutes. No sweat."
"Are you sure?" Cecil was asking, but the other Rangers were already wishing him, "Good luck, Bane," as if his idea had been their own all along. Alex bowed respectfully and suggested, "We'll keep the monsters busy until you join up."
Lifting her ShadowTech Morpher, with the others behind her lifting their OmniTech, Amber exclaimed, "It's morphin' time!"
"Omni Dragon!" Alex transformed into the Green Ranger and teleported out in a blinding beam of light.
"Omni Pegasus!" Rebecca morphed into the Pink Ranger and followed.
"Omni Sphinx!" Brittany changed into the Yellow Ranger, close behind the others.
"Omni Cerberus!" The Black Ranger uniform materialized around Amber and, before she vanished in a teleportation beam of her own, she waved to Cecil and Bane.
Sighing to himself as he watched his teammates depart one at a time, Cecil glided over to the Alpha System Mainframe and punched in a code that opened a secret underground passage tunnel to the Zord Holding Bay, a garage hidden inside a hollowed out mountain to the northwest. "Well, Bane, let us hurry," he beckoned.
Together they ran through the tunnel, following a tube embedded in the floor that radiated with soft blue light, their only source of light after the entrance closed behind them. Cecil was having difficult keeping pace with him, so Bane slowed down and tried to match his companion's speed. "I have a question," the New Omnian said after a short while of running. "Why do you speak different from the other Earthlings?"
"Speak...different?" panted the teenager.
"The others use contractions and simple words," Bane elaborated. "You use full, complicated words. I want to know the reason."
Cecil breathed heavily to build up his strength and, when he could, answered, "Just a way of distinguishing myself from everyone else. Craig was always the outgoing one between us. Brittany is so smart, Becca so pretty, Alex so strong. I have nothing; I got dealt a crappy hand, everyone else got flushes and full houses. 'You gotta know when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em'."
Frowning, Bane wondered, "What does that mean?"
With a breathless laugh, Cecil told him, "Nevermind." Seconds later he spoke again, "Your turn. Why are you still on Earth?"
Skidding to a halt, the New Omnian glowered at his leader and demanded angrily, "What the hell type of question is that?"
"I have a theory," Cecil called from further up the cavern. Hurrying to catch up to him, Bane began running again until the exit was visible in the distance. "You think you owe us," his ally explained. "You think you need to atone for your father's actions."
"Do not tell me what I think, Mercuric," he warned.
Placing his hand over the TGP panel, the entrance to the Bay slowly swung inward and allowed them in. The four remaining CrusaderZords, in vehicle mode, rested in the center, while the six OmniZords were positioned directly behind the large steel door that led outside. "The subchamber is over here," he explained, walking Bane over to a bench and pulling it away from the stone wall of the hollowed out mountain they were underneath. He pushed his palm against another TGP panel and spoke, "Requesting access to subchamber. Access code 7-9-8-1-1-0, verbal code tempest."
"ACCESS CODE CONFIRMED. VERBAL CODE CONFIRMED. TGP MATCHES DATA IN ALPHA SYSTEM DIRECTORY. FIVE MINUTE ACCESS TO SUBCHAMBER ALLOWED."
"Five minutes," the teenager emphasized. "Good luck, Bane."
Not responding, Bane hurried through the secret entry and found himself moving down stairs, further and further, until he found solid floor again. There was no light, so he drew power from his Omni Morpher and used, "Temperature Reading!" The surface of the walls was cold, while the air was warm, and that difference allowed him to "see" his way through the winding corridor until he reached a small room that was undoubtedly the so-called subchamber. Suspended in air, in a magnetic field, were six coins, and Bane carefully snatched them in one hand, pocketed them, and turned to go.
"ARSENAL SUMMON COINS HAVE BEEN REMOVED. GUARDIAN ROBOT FORTIFIER ACTIVATED."
Suddenly a strong blow struck Bane from behind and sent him to the ground, his quick reflexes ensured only his hands actually touched the floor and he kicked backward powerfully, hitting something hard behind him. Lights sprang to life as he scrambled back on his feet, seeing the metallic Fortifier charging toward him. "Storm Lance!" the Ranger exclaimed as the weapon appeared in his hands and became a whirling instrument of protection. Bane thrust it forward, sparks flailing as the weapon barely made a scratch.
Fortifier pummeled him with metal punches, each one more powerful than the last, that Bane just barely managed to dodge or block. There was no way he could counter-attack, so he resolved to reach a better position to strike. To buy time, he made the Storm Lance disappear and created an, "Arctic Wave!" A cold front exploded from his hands and knocked Fortifier back a step or two. Instantly, Bane was on the offensive, screaming, "Daosh dend eiashar!" and loving every second of this battle fire. Each blow was either blocked or ineffective, but it mattered little, because the New Omnian had gotten close enough and given the chance to use, "Blizzard Surge!" He could feel his ultimate attack unlock, and the power that cascaded from the OmniTech to his body was immense.
Ice crystals began to form in Fortifier's joints, steadily multiplying in number and size until, from the inside out, the robot exploded and showered the subchamber in nuts, bolts, and lancets of frozen water.
"Bane, it's Cecil," he heard faintly. The halls and staircase must have been lighted now, too, if the communication system was working this far below the earth. "You have fifty-five seconds. Move!"
Taking the coins out of his pocket to make sure all six were still there, the Blue Omni Ranger turned and ran along the corridors, cold air bombarding him at every step forward, yet another trial in this terrible place. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he calculated only about thirty seconds remaining and knew he could never make it up in time. Desperately he charged upward, ideas of how to get the coins to Cecil flooding his mind, determined that even if he did not get out he would be successful.
"Damn it, first I cannot tell him what to think and now I cannot tell him when," came a voice from high above. "Psychic Bond!"
Abruptly Bane felt himself erupt with strength and speed and, without sparing a second thought, ran all the way to the top of the stairs and dived through just fractions of a second before the door slammed shut and sealed away the mysterious subchamber forever. Panting, his blurred vision saw Cecil, morphed, clenching his fists and concentrating deeply, red energy encircling both him and Bane with tendrils connecting the two of them. "You gave me energy," the breathless alien said.
The glow vanished and instantly Bane got lightheaded and collapsed, sitting on the ground and looking up at his teammate.
"Do not rest too long," the Red Ranger instructed him. "As soon as you get your second wind, we have to help Amber and the others."
"I need but a minute." Bane stood and removed his helmet, struggling to find a breathing rhythm that would restore a little of his stamina. He extended his hand to Cecil. "These will give us several more."
Grabbing the coins and examining each one, Cecil returned one to Bane and slipped another into his OmniTech Ability Band. "Omnians must not trust anyone."
"Trust is stronger when it is earned," the other replied, fitting the helmet back over his head. "I am ready." And in the split of a second both Rangers were teleporting to the battlefield to deliver the winning punch.
A thick, red rock-skinned monster with a long spiked tail and a thin, blue smooth-skinned elegant creature with two sleek horns on its head were dominating the battlefield as Bane and Cecil arrived. The Green and Black Rangers were on the ground, regathering their courage, while together the Yellow and Pink Rangers were firing their cannons to try and keep the Rapture Hold soldiers at a distance. "So," the larger one, Pito, roared, "da udders fine'ly show up. Crushin' six Rangers is gonna be more fun den crushin' four."
Romises grinned, showing rotted teeth and a glint of excitement in otherwise empty eyes. "Remember, you only get to crusssh half. I get to ssshred the ressst."
"Dat's right," replied Pito as he charged forward directly at the Red Ranger.
Suddenly Cecil was in motion, exclaiming, "Chaos Sword!" A curved-bladed saber appeared in his hand, upside down, and as the Holder neared he swung upward diagonally. The blade struck and must have sent a soundless shockwave through the gigantic ogre because Pito flew backward further than he had run forward.
"Our lord did not tell usss you had sssuch powerful weaponsss," Romises mused. "But it doesss not matter. Prepare yourssselvesss." Instantly he was running circles around them, pelting them with sharp projectiles that, although doing no devastating damage, still stung when they hit.
Bane motioned and called, "Hydra Cycle!" Materializing directly under him, so he was in its seat in a flash, was a blue and black motorcycle complete with the Hydra insignia on the front and engine on the back. Kicking it into action, the Blue Ranger was moving just as fast as Romises in a matter of a few seconds in the opposite direction. Summoning the Storm Lance, the next time Bane passed the creature he swung with so much force of speed behind it that Romises was knocked out cold.
Returning to the others, Bane dismounted and watched as Rebecca, Brittany, Alexander, and Amber inserted their new coins into their Morphers. "Soleron told me that the Chaos Sword, Shadow Blades, Light Whip, Electric Hammer, Nature Axe, and Water Claws are more powerful than our old weapons. The Dragon, Hydra, and Titan Cycles, and the Star, Sun, and Moon Gliders, can all combine to create the Omni Tank, our most powerful ground weapon to date. Is everyone ready?"
"I can't wait to see this," Alex remarked.
One by one the Rangers summoned their new weapons and vehicles and initiated the process to merge them all into one creation. Unexpectedly, the Fortifier robot that Bane had trashed earlier teleported itself and molded itself into the base of the artillery. Gold-plated and imposing, the Omni Tank was soon ready to claim its first two victims.
Romises was regaining consciousness and Pito was making his way to rejoin his companion in terror. Still holding the handle of the Chaos Sword, converted into a remote control for the Tank, Cecil handed it to Bane and said, "This is your privilege."
"Right," Bane answered, taking the device. He pushed the button down hard and suddenly the Tank's cannon locked onto the two Rapture Hold monsters and discharged a beam of energy that rocketed toward Pito and Romises.
The resulting explosion brought cheers from the other Omni Rangers, who were still sore from fighting along all this time, and a little surprised that they were beaten so easily. "Nice job, Bane," Alex told him, and the others were not far behind.
Nodding and shrugging off their compliments, Bane asked Cecil, "Is this mission complete? I have something that needs my attention."
"You are free to go," Cecil answered. He was about to say something else, too, but the New Omnian was already de-morphed and in the process of teleporting away.
Standing in the spot where he had left Rachel, Bane sighed, not surprised that she was no longer here but upset at himself and his own feelings. The damn girl was six years younger than him and barely mature enough to operate those infernal machines humans called automobiles. Maybe it was just the fact that, for the first time in a harsh life, he had been recognized as a person. Arcanza used him to be his heir and fight. Cecil used him to be the Blue Ranger and fight. Maybe he felt this way because, for the first time in a harsh, unfair life, he held the chance to be his own person and not be used.
A voice from behind exclaimed, "Bane!" and he turned, slowly, to see Rachel waving at him across the street. "It's awfully late for lunch. You want to go somewhere for dinner? We have plenty of time to disguise you as a regular person..."
"A regular person?" he repeated. "Yes, I suppose that is possible now."
Original Publication Date: 18 October 2001
