The streets of Ivory Glade were quiet for a late Friday afternoon. Usually the downtown area was filled with life, people going out to dinner after another long week at work or shopping at one of the little independent stores, like the bookstore Cecil frequented further downstreet. Monster attacks over the course of the last year had put a strain on much of the city's morale, but at the same time bolstered the economy as the townspeople began to enjoy life more and take the freedoms and luxuries the city offered less for granted.
Cecil noticed a winter breeze had begun to pick up as he and Rebecca crossed the street and walked along the sidewalk to a small Italian restaurant. "Not too cold, is it?" he asked her as she pulled her coat tighter around her to keep more of the warmth inside it.
"Nah," Becky answered with that cute little smile her seventeen years of life had allowed her to master. "I'm fine."
"After our last couple of battles, fighting in a huge storm, trapped under a mountain of ice, it almost seems too warm to me," he mused with a laugh. She joined in with him. "If you would rather go home..."
Becky punched him playfully on the shoulder and interrupted him with, "No. I need a night out as much as you. Jeremy is spending winter break with his grandparents in Florida and I've been bored stiff."
"Things are serious with you two?" wondered Cecil as he opened the door and held it as Becky walked through.
She sighed, shedding her coat in the warmth of the cozy little restaurant, and replied as Cecil led her to a table in the non-smoking section, "Not really. We've just been close friends all our lives, nothing more." He pulled one of the two chairs back from the table as Becky sat down and then settled into the other one himself. "Kind of like you and Craig were."
Dressed in a pink blouse and dark blue jeans, with an earring in each ear and a necklace around her neck, Rebecca was just as quietly beautiful and elegant as ever. For as long as he had known her, she possessed some kind of aura, blending a pure soul and a faithful heart. Most important to him, though, was that she shared his sense of humor and love of simple things in life.
"Kind of," Cecil agreed. A waiter glided by, welcoming them, presenting them with menus, and taking their drink orders before disappearing back into the kitchen. Six or seven other tables were occupied, about average for when Cecil usually dropped by. "While we are on depressing subjects, how is Brittany doing?"
"More of the same," Becky sighed. "She's avoiding home as much as she can, so when she's not over at my house, she's at Alpha Complex."
The waiter set a glass of water in front of her, and she hastily grabbed it and took a long drink, while Cecil said, "Thank you," as their server poured his cup of coffee. They sat in silence for a while, before Cecil remarked, "This has always been a nice place."
"Yeah, I wish I'd known about it soo..." Rebecca's sentence was interrupted by the sound of Cecil's wristwatch communicator beeping in alarm. "Uh oh," she breathed while he looked around to see if anyone besides them were paying attention. None were and, throwing two dollars on the table to cover the coffee, Cecil hurried Becky out of the restaurant and onto a side street before lifting the device to his mouth.
Pressing the response button, he allowed, "Go ahead."
"This is Oriquin," came the Omnian lord's voice accompanied by static. "Meet me on the other side of the western mountains where there's still some daylight. I have to show you something important."
Immediately, Cecil realized it was probably another coded message from Craig, like the one left at his home or the one in the hospital. "Rebecca is here with me right now. Is it alright if she comes, too?"
"That is fine," Oriquin answered. "Hurry." And with that, the signal disappeared and the communicator ceased functioning.
Becky frowned as Cecil lifted his left arm and the OmniTech Ability Band's invisibility cloak deactivated, appearing in its dull silver glory. "Strange," she thought out loud. "He usually uses Alpha System to talk directly in our ears."
"Maybe he wants Corout to intercept it, for some reason?" wondered Cecil.
"Could be," Becky agreed. "There's only one way to know for sure." She placed her hand on Cecil's Morpher and closed her eyes.
Cecil, keeping his eyes open, embraced the feeling of becoming a conduit of power, and exclaimed, "OmniTech Teleport!" He felt red-hot energy surround him, seize him, and tear him apart into billions of particles, or billions of drops of water being thrust violently into an ocean of fire, then being reunited on the other side.
It was pitch black.
No light at all was allowed inside the long tunnel where he insisted on the meeting. Although the place wasn't threatening in the least, it was strange for two people so powerful to take so many precautions to avoid detection from weaker beings.
Stepping careful, one at a time, to insure there were no traps awaiting him in the emptiness, Salodis called out, "Are you here?" and was answered only by his own loud echo. Cursing to himself, he drew his sword, the sharp ring of steel reverberating on the crumbling tunnel walls.
"Put your sword away," the messenger told him. Suddenly, a bright flare of liquefied black fire, darker than the pitch darkness itself, appeared before him, along with the outline of a human figure standing with arms at his side and looking straight ahead. Only an outline, though, any facial features or distinguishing characteristics were impossible to tell. "If I wanted you dead..."
"I would already be dead, right?" Salodis finished and laughed heavily. "Those old lines do not impress me any more than this silly light show."
The figure extended its hand, in which a small vial was clutched. "This will let you walk into Alpha Complex undetected. You are on your own afterward."
"Hmmmm," Salodis growled, taking the vial and twisting it back and forth in his fingers. "What is this stuff? Do I drink it?"
As quickly as it had come to life, the shadowy fire died away, and the messenger replied, "It is a DNA sample of Professor Abner Donaldson, altered to have a half-life of seven days. You have approximately one week to make your move; by then, it will be completely neutralized. Just hold it until you reach the mainframe."
"And all you want in return is..." Salodis began.
"Download Alpha Systems onto one disc, and bring it to me here," the messenger finished coldly. Salodis laughed wickedly as he turned around and began walking back to the exit and subsequently to the surface, leaving the messenger to his cold pitch blackness.
The sensation of teleportation ended like a wall slamming against them and was immediately replaced with a sensation of panic. Cecil grabbed Rebecca's hand and pulled her back, behind him, at the same time clenching his fist and holding it defensively before him with the Morpher at the ready. Illumination and shadow created eerie lighting effects on the open field they had landed in. But the backdrop faded into non-existence as surprise snatched their focus away.
"Thank you for hurrying, Rangers," Oriquin's voice told them. But the sound originated in the Pseudo Ranger's mouthpiece. Standing beside him, Corout laughed devilishly, his pointed nose tilted toward the sky and deep laughter cracking into higher pitches in delight.
Pseudo was every bit the terrible sight it was during its previous assault. Lifeless gray suit and shield mimicked the costume of the Red Omni Ranger, but instead of the diamond design on his chest was the setting sun symbol of Twilight Legion. It clutched a long weapon, the Pseudo Saber, that looked just like Brittany's. To the east, cold mountain air blew down and over them, creating goosebumps on Cecil's arms. To the west, dusk made it look like the world was on fire, and it might as well have been.
Becky cried, "Bane! What's going on?" from behind Cecil's protective shield.
"I am not Bane," the Pseudo Ranger assured her in its normal, too-familiar metallic tones. "But I have been reborn to avenge Arcanza and fulfill the future he envisions for all existence."
"I have found a new body for the Pseudo Ranger to inhabit," Corout explained with a defiant smile. "But that is not why we called you here. Tunsul!"
Behind the Pseudo Ranger and Corout arose a massive figure with a human shape, the size of three or four normal humans, equipped in armor painted almost every color of the rainbow, including black and white. Only his eyes were not protected, two holes were present to allow his empty pseudoine-altered stare to see out of. Tunsul grunted and, as the Pseudo and his companion teleported away, charged forward.
"It's morphin' time!" Cecil and Becky exclaimed together.
"Omni Pegasus!"
"Omni Titan!"
Tunsul fast approached, as Cecil shoved Rebecca away from the attacking mammoth and cried, "Force Barrier!" to throw up a defensive energy shield. The Rapture Holder struck the barrier and shattered it, sending energy flying in every direction. Cecil jumped away and summoned his, "Chaos Sword!" at the same time. When Tunsul turned to follow his target, Cecil swung the sword, catching a direct hit, but the attack did nothing to impede Tunsul.
From a distance he heard "Volt Cannon!" and saw a stream of electricity slam into the side of Tunsul's armor, but instead of knocking the beast down or paralyzing him, it simply dissipated. A second powerful shot repeated the fate of the first.
His thick hand grabbed Cecil's neck and lifted him. He kicked and fought back as the blood going to his head slowly got blocked and cut off. His thoughts fragmented and neurological control broke apart at the same time. Desperately he tried to draw enough strength for a Psychic Stream or Trance, but everything was beginning to fade.
"Magnet Wave!" came Becky's voice. Tunsul's hand released its death hold on Cecil as the Holder was knocked back a step or two. Landing on the ground hard, Cecil would have lost his breath if it were not already gone. Becky's hands under his arms helped him to his feet.
Snorting, Tunsul walked arrogantly to a distance away from them and turned. Still with blurred vision, Cecil struggled to make out the monster's outline as he lifted his hands and focused all of his energy into the ultimate desperation move. His mind felt like it burst aflame, drowning in the same fire igniting the world at sunset, as the raw force of OmniTech surged forward into his left arm. "Annihilation Surge!"
Normally, the Red Ranger's Surge power created a barrier around a target, a barrier that collapsed inward and condensed the target before instantly creating a small-scale big band and breaking the target into pieces so small they were unnoticeable. Complete annihilation. But as the barrier closed in around Tunsul, it fought to condense around him and crush him instantaneously, but failed again and again. Finally the Surge attack failed and the immense amount of energy it require sucked itself back into the Morpher and made Cecil cry out in shock and pain.
"The Surge..." Cecil gasped. "It did...nothing."
"In case you haven't realized," Tunsul gloated, "I'm invincible. Indestructible. I cannot be stopped by anything, including the legendary Omni Rangers. My armor makes me a walking immortal." He balled both hands into fists bigger than Cecil's head. "And if you still don't believe me, I'll prove it. Meet me back here tomorrow, at sunrise, with all six Rangers. After I have my fun, I'll kill each and every one of you." His thick body shook slowly, causing the ground to tremble and the air to reverberate with force, then suddenly attained an incredible speed. Tunsul vanished instantaneously.
The Red Ranger armor faded from around Cecil, being replaced by his street clothes, and he kneeled with his hands on the ground feeling ready to throw up. Becky de-morphed nearby and hurried over to him, placing one hand on Cecil's back and the other on his chest. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly.
"Fine," he answered in a gasp. "We have to get back to..." But his voice gave out to a coughing spell, and Becky silently teleported him and herself to Alpha Complex.
Cecil awoke to a gentle rubbing on his shoulder and opened his eyes to take in a blurry outline of a person. He gradually regain feeling and recognized he was lying in bed and, from the way it was sinking on one side, someone was sitting on it at the same time. Pulling himself up to a sitting position, he rubbed his eyes, enduring the sharp pain it created directly behind them. A cool breeze was blowing on him from someplace close. Someone was pressing a glass of water into his hand and sliding a pill into his mouth; he drank to swallow it.
"Better?" Becky asked in a whisper.
"Thank you," he replied, but it was an effort to concentrate through his headache. "What happened?"
Taking the empty glass from his hand, she explained, "We teleported to the other side of the mountains last night, where the Ps..."
"I know," groaned Cecil, laying back down and staring at the ceiling. "What about after Tunsul vanished?"
"We teleported here, and Oriquin did...something...to stop your seizures and fits. He thinks when your attack failed, it backlashed on you, and because the Morphers are so in sync with our bodies, you got hurt."
He sighed, trying but failing to shift his thoughts away from the pain still verberating behind his eyes. "Last night? Here? Are we in Alpha Complex?"
"And it's almost sunrise," Becky confirmed. "The others are here, too, and we're going to meet in Control Point in about twenty minutes. I figured I'd wake you know so you could collect yourself before then." She stood up and walked to the door as Cecil turned his head down to watch her, still wearing the same thing from last night.
"You stayed?" he asked, somewhat surprised.
She looked down at the floor with her back still turned to him. "Twenty minutes. Alpha Systems will announce the meeting." The door slid shut between them.
Control Point itself was lit up like a Christmas tree, with panels in the ceiling radiating bright white light, the holographic imaging device in the center of the chamber displaying a bright green topographical map of the area west of the mountains, red alarm notices displaying on some Alpha Systems screens and the rest containing the stoic prism-color state that signified their "stand-by" mode. Only one live image was being monitored, but the picture was faded and undistinguishable due to lack of light. Heat from somewhere was warming the room; even though global warming was making the winter days outside more temperate than usual, the Colorado nights were still chilly, below freezing, especially this close to the Rockies.
Brittany was the only person there, with her head propped up on an arm leaning on the empty space beside the console, staring at a monitor running a limited-detail analysis of Tunsul. Her focus was either so intense she did not notice Cecil enter the room, or she was still trapped in the depression following her mother's death and was just ignoring him. He preferred to think it was a combination of both. Quietly he sat down next to her, and smiled when she muttered, "Hey, Cecil."
"Hi Brittany," he replied. "Did you find anything out about this monster?"
"Not a lot," she sighed, sitting back and pulling some blond hair that had gotten free of her barrette. "If you analyze it one way, it appears to be one thing, like ruby, and by analyzing it another you get a completely different result, like pearl. I found at least six variations, the only thing in common is their intermolecular forces and crystal lattices are unearthly in their strength."
Cecil nodded, patting her on the back and complimenting, "Good job. I think it is a pretty safe assumption we need to get that armor off of him to destroy him, then when it belongs to us you can study it in more detail."
"I wouldn't be so confident," grumbled Alexander as he entered Control Point in a black t-shirt and green-dyed jeans. He wiped sleep from his eyes and kept muttering, "Stupid early morning monsters ought to know when they wake a Green Ranger up anytime before eight o'clock he gets pissed off."
As Becky and Amber entered Control Point, Cecil was still laughing, and Alex was contenting himself with studying the hologram map. Brittany kept reading the monitor, but she seemed more relaxed and eager to stop. "What's so funny?" Amber was asking, but Cecil just shook his head and cast Alex a knowing look.
The doors opened once more to admit Bane and, immediately behind him, Oriquin, who took a quick glance at the clock and announced, "It is time."
"The Starlight power allows you to teleport, right?" Amber asked Oriquin.
"If it did not, I would not be alive," he answered.
Cecil stepped forward and addressed them, "We have to formulate a plan on site. Brittany thinks Tunsul's invulnerability is due to molecular forces and is composed of a mixture of six or so gemstone materials. Somehow, we have to separate the monster and his armor, and from there improvise. If everyone is ready..." He glanced at each of them quickly and noted their somber expressions. So he smiled. "It's morphin' time!"
"Omni Dragon!" A fierce roar accompanied Alex's morph into the Green Ranger.
"Omni Pegasus!" The sonic boom of high-speed winds accompanied Rebecca's morph into the Pink Ranger.
"Omni Hydra!" An echoing hiss sounded at Bane's morph into the Blue Ranger.
"Omni Sphinx!" Ancient laughter whispered loudly in the air as Brittany morphed into the Yellow Ranger.
"Omni Titan!" Silence prevailed as Cecil morphed into the Red Ranger.
"Omni Cerberus!" Three consecutive growls accompanied Amber's morph into the Black Ranger.
Instantly, the six Rangers and their Omnian ally found themselves on the empty field Cecil and Becky had already seen. His headache was pulsing harder with the OmniTech energy coursing his veins, but the added power also made it easier to ball that pain into the back of his thoughts. Glancing over at Oriquin, who was wearing a leather jacket over a white shirt with brown slacks, Cecil saw white-hot energy literally burning in the alien's clenched fists. Bright white flame-shaped power encircled them and crackled with anticipation of an attack.
Amber moved, as if to wipe sweat off her forehead with her arm and not realizing she was wearing her Black Ranger armor, but it resulted in just some awkward motions. Becky was staying close to and slightly behind Cecil, and he knew without asking she was still worried about him. Alex sat down, crossed his legs, and relaxed, probably meditating the way Grandfather Revell had tried to teach Cecil.
Suddenly the air itself was trembling and roaring with warning as Tunsul materialized before them. Beside him, a column of light deposited Corout, eyes dark and deep as caves behind a pointed nose and wrinkled face. The evil Omnian examined them with a blank stare one by one, then reached Oriquin and twisted his lips into a wicked smile. "Greetings, Lord of Death," he sneered. "Arcanza sends his best wishes from hell and awaits you to join him soon."
Oriquin moved so fluidly, Cecil would have sworn the air had become water, but there was little time to appreciate it, because a thick bar of blinding white energy exploded from his hands and they joined, palms outward, before him. The intensity of the blast and his own reflexes made Cecil look away fast. When the large purple and green afterimage faded from his vision, he saw Corout still alive, standing behind Tunsul, whose armor had taken the full attack and rendered it harmless. Dropping to one knee, Oriquin panted heavily, trying to catch his breath and regain a bit of his lost strength.
"A shadow may cloud the eye, a saber may draw blood, a flame may burn away the soul," Corout chanted with an empty voice, "but not even Starlight can touch us now. Rapture Hold will end this war now."
And with the announcement, Tunsul was on the move. The Green Ranger leaped to his feet and cried, "Environment Surge!" to create a hole in the ground beneath the monster. Tunsul, however, leaped into the air, a feat that should have been impossible with the weight and design of his armor, landed behind Alex, and delivered a quick but effective strike. Alex hit the ground with a grunt.
"Psychic Bond!" Cecil quickly checked to make sure his friend was still alive. He could still feel Alexander's life force, so the attack had just knocked him unconscious.
Amber motioned for Bane to circle around and attack from the back while she assaulted him head-on. The Blue Ranger nodded and, the Storm Lance forming in his hands, made a short teleportation to the other side of Tunsul. The Rapture Holder must have anticipated the action, though, because as one Ranger came at him from the front and another from behind, he lifted his fist and punched the ground. Amber stumbled forward, and a straight kick from Tunsul knocked her back and out. Bane lost his footing, and a follow-up spinning kick from his opponent sent him to the ground.
"Stay back, Brittany!" Cecil cried to the Yellow Ranger, who was the closest conscious Ranger to the armored terror. She lifted the Shine Saber, though, and aimed it at Tunsul's eyes. The blade glowed yellow, then fired an energy beam directed at his only non-protected part. Tunsul lifted his hand to block the shot, then removed his gauntlet and flung it at Brittany so hard it struck her in the side of the head. He hurried to reclaim the piece of his invincibility, then turned to Cecil and Becky.
Back on both feet, Oriquin began charging the Starlight power in his hands for another attack. "Corout fled during the battle," he reported with disappointment.
"You mean the slaughter," Cecil corrected him. "Nothing we do even seems to move him, let alone break a part of his armor."
"I moved him," Becky declared. "During the first fight, I moved him with Magnet Wave."
Cecil and Oriquin turned to look at the Pink Ranger simultaneously, then suddenly one of them got a brainstorm through the agony of his headache. "I have an idea," Cecil explained. "We use Magnet Wave to pull Tunsul's armor off his completely. Then we just have to destroy him."
"I don't think I have that much power," Becky said in a concerned voice, but Cecil picked up on her worries before she was finished and was answering already, "Psychic Bond will let me give you a boost in strength." She turned to look at Tunsul, who kicked Brittany's unconscious body away into a pile of snow, then agreed, "Let's do it."
Standing between the Red Ranger and Oriquin, Rebecca lifted her arm and her OmniTech Ability Band and summoned the power of "Magnet Wave!" Cecil, beside her, used "Psychic Bond!"
They watched in anticipation as Tunsul turned toward them. His eyes went wide, surprised at something, and he screamed, "What are you trying to do?" Cecil's headache got unbearable and he tore his helmet off, ready to throw up, but stopped himself when he realized Becky was succeeding. Tunsul's armor cracked in half, then each half cracked into three pieces, exposing his body. Starlight exploded from Oriquin's hands.
Tunsul's body was vaporized. Cecil took Becky in his arms and sat them both down on the cold ground, to prevent himself from get nauseous and prevent her from falling down. The pieces of the dead Rapture Holder's armor unexpectedly began to glow, each with a different color, and condensed into small chunks of gemstone. Oriquin walked over to Cecil and Becky, put one hand on both of them, and channeled something into them that gave them enough strength to stand but not enough to maintain their Ranger powers. Then, walking over to Brittany, Amber, Bane, and Alexander, he repeated the procedure.
All six Rangers made their way to the gemstone pieces and picked up the one that corresponded to their color. "I think," Brittany explained, "we can use these to reinforce our own armor."
The sun was up high enough to peak over the mountains now, but suddenly something moved in front of it, causing an eclipse, except for a thin beam of light that illuminated the figure of the Pseudo Ranger, who appeared in the midst of the confusion.
"Congratulations on defeating Varron, Gan-Ust, Pito, Romises, Lanbow, Naelride, and Tunsul," Pseudo Ranger said to them in its mechanical and ambiguous voice. "One by one, and sometimes two by two, you defeat the most elite fighters the Trinity of Darkness commands. Of the twelve, you have killed seven, your damn Omnian allies have killed one, and one has gone rouge." Pseudo stepped backward slowly out of the light so the Rangers could see only his shadow. "That leaves three members of Rapture Hold, in addition to Corout who commands them and myself who commands the entire Twilight Legion. But believe this, Omni Rangers: the three that remain are by far the most powerful and most terrifying. Invincibility pales in comparison to the dynamic abilities they possess."
Bane lunged forward, even though attacking such a powerful energy with such a weak strength was statistically insane, so Cecil grabbed him and held him back. "Who are you?" he demanded in the dead silence.
"I am the Pseudo Ranger," it answered. And with that the eclipse ended, sunlight spilling over the field, as the Rangers's nemesis vanished in the blink of an eye.
At Control Point, Oriquin sat in a swivel chair facing the center, with Cecil, Rebecca, and Alexander seated to one side of him and Brittany, Amber, and Bane to the other. "During our battle with Tunsul, a top secret alloy was stolen from a restricted government research facility by a group of four men and one woman, none of whom took any precautions to mask or hide their identity. I have already cross-checked their data with Alpha System's and concluded they are Twilight Legionnaires."
"An alloy?" Amber asked. "What would they want with metal?"
"It is the same material that Galaxy Hunter was constructed of," explained Oriquin with a sad look sliding across his face and disappearing just as soon. "You are all aware the United States government worked closely with Professor Donaldson, but secrets were still kept on both ends. They were planning to build a ship capable of deep space exploration."
Cecil frowned and bit down hard on the toothpick in his mouth. "Twilight Legion wants to build a spaceship," he said around the wooden splinter.
"I want to do something as well," announced Bane, standing up and brushing away hair that had fallen in front of his eyes. "Tomorrow I wish to transfer the Blue Ranger powers to Patrick Manus. I believe he is ready to assume them, and I desire to go my own way and discover the truth about the Pseudo Ranger."
Leaning back in his chair, Cecil waited for Oriquin to answer him, but the Omnian lord instead remained silent and turned to him. Realizing the choice was his, he sighed and nodded. "Alright."
"That is all I have for you," Oriquin finished. "See you tomorrow for the ceremony."
Original Publication Date: 18 October 2001
