The Dragon's Rise: Chapter Twelve

Corrupting the Soul

Tommy was surrounded by darkness. The blackness chilled his skin and penetrated to his core. A chill crept down his spine. It burnt. "Where am I!" he shouted. "Show yourself!"

"Tommy..." Bandora appeared in front of him with her staff in hand. Tommy shouted a war cry and charged towards her. She held up her hand and stopped Tommy in midair. Electricity coursed through his body as he screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

Tommy slowly rose to his feet, looking up to find himself alone. "Get back here you witch!"

"Now, Tommy..." Bandora's voice said in a mocking tone from the shadows. "...it's not really me you're angry with, is it?"

"It's your fault Shannon's dead!" Tommy shouted, choking back his tears.

"Have you forgotten everything I've taught you? Pity...I spent so much time molding you into what you are today."

"I'm not one of your pawns..."

"Oh but you are."

Tommy's mind flashed back...

Tommy and his girlfriend Shannon walked across Central Plaza, a shopping district in Angel Grove Central. They were laughing together, hand in hand. The skies above them suddenly turned black.

A flash of fiery light appeared in the center of the plaza. Goldar and an army of rock soldiers materialized. The villains started tearing through the streets and slashing at anything that moved.

"Run!" Tommy yelled.

Goldar used his sword to fire blasts of fiery energy. One of the energy blasts streaked straight towards Shannon.

"No!" Tommy shouted and pushed her out of the way. The blast struck a nearby building, sending rubble tumbling to the ground. The shockwave tossed Tommy and Shannon backward, as the rubble collapsed onto Shannon's body, battering her onto the ground and crushing her body.

"Shannon?" Tommy pleaded as he crawled over to her body. She wasn't moving. She wasn't breathing. "Oh God no...get up...please get up...don't you die on me..."

"Run for your lives, humans!" Goldar shouted with blood-thirsty delight.

Tommy glared at Goldar and rolled his hands into fists. The teen shouted at the top of his lungs and charged towards the villain.

Goldar snarled his teeth at the human, more out of humor than anger. "You dare to resist me, human?"

Tommy jumped forward to attack.

"She died that day..." Bandora said.

"And it's...your fault..." Tommy dropped to his knees. He struggled to fight back the tears.

"It's the Rangers fault," she said. "Jason, Zack, Billy, Trini, Kimberly...they didn't save her. They let her die."

"No!" Tommy shouted. "You're not going to do this to me again..."

"Your sword," Bandora said as the sword appeared in front of him. "Your sword will be your weapon of vengeance. You want revenge, don't you Tommy?"

"...yes."

"Then take your sword. Avenge her death."

"I..." he screamed as electricity coursed through his veins. He grabbed his sword on impulse. Energy crackled around him as he morphed into his armor. Then there was silence.

Dragon Ranger stared at his sword. Slowly, he started to chuckle. His chuckle turned into mad laughter that echoed throughout the darkness.


The five rangers, Maya, and Simon gathered in front of Zordon. Their confusion over Dragon Ranger's identity was palpable.

"So what can we do, Zordon?" Jason asked. "Is Tommy really one of them?"

"I'm telling you he's not," Maya said. "He seemed scared...confused."

"Maya is right, rangers," Zordon said. "I believe Bandora is using some sort of spell to control Tommy's mind."

"How can we break it?" Kimberly asked.

"The spell seemed to lose its effect when he was knocked out of his armor," Billy said. "Maybe the spell is tied to his powers."

"I believe you are on the right track, Billy," Zordon said. "In particular, I think that the spell is being focused through the Dragon Ranger's Sword of Darkness."

"So to break the spell we break his sword," Jason said. He sighed. "Easier said than done."


Dragon Ranger appeared on the towering city rooftops. He held his Dragon Dagger tightly and raised the blade to his mouthpiece. He played a powerful melody that summoned his zord from the ocean.

 

The Dragonzord stomped through the streets, kicking up cars and slamming its drill tail through buildings. Explosions tore through the streets as the Dragonzord roared.

"Destroy it all!" Dragon Ranger shouted. The zord let loose with a volley of missiles that exploded through an office building.

 


"Rangers," Zordon said. "Observe the Viewing Globe."

The team turned to the globe. Through its images, they saw the Dragonzord stomp through the city while leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

"Looks like Tommy's back," Zack said.

Jason pulled out his transformation devise, his eyes fixed on the Viewing Globe. "Let's get to work."

The rangers thrust their bucklers forward and flipped the devices open while shouting: "Dino Buckler!"


The Rangers dashed into an alley near the city's coast. The alley was walled off by towering buildings that ran alongside the docks and shore-side factory warehouses. Each warehouse was staffed with hundreds of innocent people.

"Alright, guys," Tyranno Ranger said as he and the other Rangers looked up to the Dragonzord. "You know what to do."

Goldar and Scorpina suddenly shimmered in behind the Rangers. Goldar snarled and extended his sword forward as a group of rock soldiers appeared behind him. The soldiers spread out in an attack formation behind Goldar. "Not so fast, Rangers!"

"Goldar!" Tyranno Ranger shouted as he turned and armed his sword.

Goldar and his mate charged forward to attack with the rock soldiers backing them up. The simian speared his blade towards Tyranno Ranger. Tyranno Ranger slapped the sword aside and slashed his blade across Goldar's chest.

Goldar spun with the blow and slashed his blade across Tyranno Ranger's armor. "This is the end, Rangers!"

"I don't think so, Goldar," Tyranno Ranger swung his sword upward in a diagonal blow that sparked against the villain's armor.

The Dragonzord continued to stomp through the city streets above. A volley of missiles destroyed a nearby building as rubble fell to the ground and the streets shook.

Tiger Ranger jump kicked a rock soldier and slashed the grunt across the chest with her Blade Blaster. She was nearly knocked off her feet by the approaching stomps of the Dragonzord. "We have to stop him!"

Tyranno Ranger kicked Goldar away and raised his hand towards the sky. "Dinozord arise!"

The Tyrannosaurus Dinozord stomped through the city streets and charged towards the Dragonzord. Tyranno Ranger leapt into his zord's cockpit. "I'm taking him out!"

The Tyrannosaurus spun forward and slammed it's tail against the Dragonzord's armor. Explosions sparked against the green-armored zord upon impact. Tyranno growled and charged forward to slash its claws across Dragonzord.

Dragonzord spun and slammed its tail across Tyranno's armor. The drill tail activated and started to grind against the Tyrannosaurus zord's armor. Tyranno grabbed the drill tail and tried to toss it away.

The drill tail snapped back and forth and pulled away from the zord while slashing across Tyranno's head.

Tyranno moved forward and clamped its jaws against the Dragonzord's body. Explosions sparked across Dragonzord as Tyranno bit down harder.

The battle between Goldar, Scorpina, and the Rangers continued to rage below. Goldar used his wings to shoot forward and slash his blade across Mammoth Ranger's chest armor.

The simian landed in time to block a blow from Tricera Ranger's Blade Blaster. Goldar knocked the small blade away and brought his sword back around to cut across the Blue Ranger's armor.

Ptera Ranger held her bow high to block a strike from Scorpina. The Pink Ranger knocked the blade away and swung a knifehand strike towards the villain's neck. Scorpina blocked the blow and swung a round kick against the Ranger's side.

Tiger Ranger moved in behind Scorpina and swung her daggers towards the villain's midsection. Scorpina spun away from the blow and chopped her blade against the Ranger's back. Explosions sparked against the Yellow Ranger's armor as she fell to the ground.

Mammoth Ranger armed his Blade Blaster and swung downward towards Goldar's head. Goldar blocked the blow, but Mammoth Ranger pulled his blade away and slammed a spinning heel kick against the Titan warrior's head. Mammoth Ranger hopped forward for another strike, but Goldar shimmered away.

Scorpina teleported out too.

"Why'd they back off?" Mammoth Ranger said as he looked up and down the alley, expecting a surprise attack.

"No time for that now," Tiger Ranger said. "We have to help Jason."

The four Rangers raised their hands towards the sky. "Dinozords arise!"

The zords stomped through the city streets towards the Dragonzord. The Rangers leapt off the ground and into their cockpits.

The Dinozords attacked one by one. The Triceratops fired a pair of horn missiles that detonated against Dragonzord with a fiery explosion. The Pterodactyl fired streams of energy that wrapped around Dragonzord as explosions danced across its armor. The Sabertooth Tiger armed its tail blaster and fired a pulse of energy that exploded against the Dragonzord.

Dragon Ranger played a battle tune on his Dagger, commanding the Dragonzord to arm its missiles. The Dragonzord extended its hands and fired a flurry of missiles that exploded against the five Dinozords with a shower of sparks.

"Dinozord fusion!" Tyranno Ranger shouted.

The five Dinozords charged forward and merged into one colossal warrior: the Megadinozord. Megadinozord landed in front of the Dragonzord and snapped into a fighting stance.

Dragonzord roared and charged forward to attack. Megadinozord slammed a right fist against the zord's face and followed with a pair of backfist blows against the zord's chest. The Megazord stepped forward and slammed its fist against the Dragonzord's body.

"Megadinozord Saber!" Tyranno Ranger commanded. Megadinozord armed its double-edged saber, and the blade started to crackle with crimson energy. "Battle Crash!"

Megadinozord swung its energized saber towards Dragonzord, but a pair of blades extended out of nowhere and blocked the blow. The blades belonged to Goldar and Scorpina, who had grown to their giant forms. Scorpina's giant form was a monstrous scorpion. 

The feedback from the block exploded against Megadinozord, pushing the Megazord backward as explosions sparked across its armor.

Goldar pinned the Megadinozord saber at bay while Scorpina started slashing against the zord with her blade. Each strike cut across armor with a flash of sparks and explosions as the Rangers were rocked in their cockpit.

Dragon Ranger played another tune on his Dagger, commanding his zord to arm another missile salvo. The Dragonzord fired a volley of missiles that exploded against Megadinozord.

Megadinozord swung its blade free and slashed its saber across Goldar's chest, flipping the simian backward.

Scorpina moved forward and wrapped her scorpion tail around the zord's head. She sent electric energy burst traveling along the tail. The blasts exploded against Megadinozord's head and sent a cluster of explosions sparking across the Megazord's armor.

Megadinozord swung its saber horizontally, cutting across the tail. The blade sparked against the tail on impact, and Scorpina wound the whip-like limb back towards her body.

Before Megadinozord could counter attack, Dragonzord's tail whip slammed against the Megazord's chest armor. Goldar and Scorpina placed their blades against each other and aimed forward. A fiery-golden stream of energy poured from the blades and exploded against Megadinozord.

Megadinozord went crashing down to the streets below. Webbed cracks rippled across the streets upon impact as explosions thrashed across the Megazord.

The Rangers were tossed from their cockpits and thrown to the war-torn streets below. Tyranno Ranger slammed against the top of a parked car, which crushed under his weight. Tricera Ranger slammed through a parking meter. Ptera Ranger landed through a car's windshield. Tiger Ranger crushed down on a mail box. Mammoth Ranger landed against a curb.

Their armor powered down.

Jason slumped down from the broken car and collapsed to his knees as he looked up at the Megazord, explosions still ripping across its armor. "Our zords!"

The teens collapsed, their bodies battered and broken. Dragon Ranger laughed at them from the rooftops.

To be continued...Chapter 13



 

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