Ultimate Gao Ranger: Chapter Eight prologue
1,000 years ago, Japan
The Heian Period
GaoBear and GaoPolar were injured. The two Wildzords laid themselves down in the tree-covered mountains in the midst of a refugee camp that was fleeing from the Org army.
Two 10-year-old boys brought large tubs filled with water to the Power Animals. The twin boys set the tubs down near the Wildzords massive heads. GaoBear and GaoPolar opened their mouths as the boys poured the tubs onto the animals' tongues.
The two Wildzords lightly growled with appreciation.
"They're like us," one of the twins said as he ran his hand along GaoPolar's armor.
"Alone," the other twin agreed. "Do you think they lost their parents too?"
"I don't know if they ever had parents."
Explosions suddenly ran in the distance as refugees ran and screamed in panic. The Org had found them.
Org grunts scattered across the refugee camp as fires raged across the woods. The soldiers clubbed down women and children who could not escape from the walls of flame.
The stank of death quickly drifted across the woods as the screams of frightened refugees lowered to the whimpering sounds of dying innocents. The camp had no warriors to protect them.
An Org giant stomped from a clearing and stepped on refugees that managed to flee from the fiery camp. The twin-horned monster appeared like a wooden-skinned demon covered in gas-soaked cloth. The Org spirit had possessed a torch.
The twins pushed against the injured Wildzords. "You have to fight! Please..."
The Power Animals tried to rise to their feet, but could not.
The Org giant stomped closer to the two Power Animals. The boys, smaller than ants when compared to the giant Org monster, stood in front of the Power Animals and extended their hands as if they could protect the beats.
GaoPolar and GaoBear roared to signal the boys away, but they would not listen.
The Org opened fire with a wave of flame that incinerated the landscape, killing the boys instantly.
The Power Animals roared with rage at the death of the two boys. Anger gave the zords a burst of strength as they rose to their feet. The Wildzords opened their massive jaws.
A stream of sub-zero energy shot forth from GaoPolar's mouth as GaoBear fired a stream of fiery energy. The subzero blast splashed against the Org monster, freezing part of its body. The fire stream shattered through the frozen part of the Org with a massive burst of spark.
The Org monster's body was torn apart by a massive explosion that liquefied its body into slime and ichor that covered the ground below.
Ultimate Gao Rangers: Chapter Eight
Silent Brothers
Ryan jogged along the city streets. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt and black sweatpants. Sweat dripped down his forehead as he ran faster, forcing his muscles to their limit. Simply jogging never suited him. It always took too long.
He heard a man scream at someone to stop up ahead. Ryan stopped running as two boys hopped off a nearby elevated part of the city block and landed on the sidewalk. The boys practically smashed against Ryan.
Skidding to a halt, Ryan tripped and crashed against the ground to avoid plowing over the boys. They were young twins, about 10 years old.
A man dressed in a suit ran after the boys. His face was read from running so hard, and he was badly out of breath.
Ryan stood between the man and the two boys while narrowing his eyes at the suited stranger. "Need something?"
The man scoffed and reached up to push Ryan out of the way. "Mind your own business, kid."
Ryan grabbed tightly onto the man's wrist and slightly twisted. The man winced and tried to pull his arm free, but could not. "You're a rather suspicious looking guy chasing after two scared kids in the middle of the city. I should beat you unconscious and leave you for the cops."
"You stupid punk," the man growled. "They were trying to break into my building. I already called the police. They're on their way now, so unless you want your ass thrown in jail on a charge of battery, you'll let me go."
It was a moot point. The two kids had already ran off and vanished from site. The twins brought up old memories for Ryan...
The man aimed his gun straight as Ryan's face. Ryan narrowed his eyes at the man, not sure what to see. He doubted the Middle Eastern man even spoke English. Ryan slowly lifted his hands in a non threatening manner.
The man slammed the end of his gun across Ryan's head, knocking him out.
Ryan's vision slowly blurred back into focus. He stared up at a cracked stone ceiling. His eyes slowly looked around. He was laying in a bare room with cracked and smashed walls.
A Middle Eastern woman sat next to him and placed a cold compress on his head. He instinctively reached out and grabbed her by the wrist.
"I will not hurt you," she said.
Ryan narrowed his eyes. "You speak English?"
She nodded and changed the subject. "My father has many questions for you."
"He wouldn't happen to be the guy that pistol whipped me, would he?" Ryan asked.
The woman tilted her head, not fully understanding. "Pistol whipped?"
Ryan shook his head. "Never mind."
The wooden door to the room slowly creaked open as two young boys peaked their heads in. They looked about the same age, about seven or eight.
The woman looked back at them as her eyes lit up with loving assurance. In her language, she told them it was alright and allowed them to enter the room. The boys stepped inside while looking at Ryan with a mixture of fear and curiosity.
"These are my brothers," the woman told Ryan.
"What about your father?" Ryan asked. He had to know what was going on. Was he some kind of prisoner? Hostage? How did they find him? Where was he? Were these people the enemy? Did her father plan an interrogation?
"Soon," she said. "Rest first. You will need it."
Saiya grabbed Timothy by the arm and flipped him off his feet. He crashed onto the grass behind her.
"For not wanting to learn how to fight in the first place, you sure are good at that," Timothy said as he crawled back to his feet.
The two rangers were sparring in a city park. Timothy had asked her to teach him a few moves he could apply in the fight against the Org.
"We can stop if you're tired of hitting the dirt," Saiya joked.
Timothy snapped back into a fighting stance. "It's on now, White."
Citizens screamed and ran in panic while clutching onto their ears. Some of them started to bleed through their ears and noses from the pressure before blacking out and collapsing to the ground.
Ryan was nearby and heard the screaming. He sprinted towards the scene and pulled out his morpher. The ranger skid to a halt at the edge of the plaza and narrowed his eyes at the monster.
"Org!" Ryan shouted. "I've had about enough of you freaks."
The Org turned and snarled its fang-filled jaw at the ranger. "Come closer, little yellow ranger...let me hear your voice clearly while you scream and die."
Ryan flipped open his morpher.
"Wild Access! Ha!" Golden energy shimmered as his armor wrapped around his body and his visor snapped shut. He morphed into his Ranger form and snapped into a bird-like fighting stance.
"Eagle Sword!" Gao Yellow shouted as he armed his blade and leapt through the air towards the villain.
The Yellow Ranger swung his blade downward, but Cell Org caught the sword and smashed his other arm against the Ranger's chest. Cell Org dug his arm against the Ranger's chest hard and flipped him backward, sending him flaying through the air.
Gao Yellow crashed against the pavement and rolled back into a crouched fighting stance.
Cell Org armed two antennae on its head and fired a massive sonic pulse that spread across the plaza area. The pulse exploded against Gao Yellow with a burst of spark and disrupted his morph. He collapsed to the ground as his armor powered down. His G-Phone fell to the pavement beside him.
The Org monster laughed and stalked forward. "My power disrupts all access lines, including your pretty little morpher."
Ryan spat blood from his mouth as he rose to the ground. Tightening his hands into fists, he pounced forward and snapped a roundkick towards the villain.
Cell Org grabbed Ryan by the leg and hurled him overhead before slamming him hard against the ground, the impact knocking the wind from the ranger.
A group of Org grunts suddenly appeared. The slime-covered soldiers stalked towards Ryan with their clubs in hand.
Ryan never retreated. However, tactically retreating seemed like a good idea. He sprinted off towards an alley to come up with a plan.
As soon as he ducked into the alley, of group of grunts slammed against him after leaping from the shadows.
Ryan slammed a grunt hard against the wall. A second soldier swung its club towards Ryan's head from behind, but the ranger ducked beneath the blow and slammed an uppercut against the soldier's chest.
Another soldier closed in from the side and bashed its club across Ryan's head. The blow whipped Ryan backward, dropping him to the ground as blood seeped from the wound.
Ryan's head wound kept him from putting up a good fight. His vision was blurred and he felt his pulse pounding against his temples. But he fought on, bashing his fists against the grunts.
The two twins from earlier watched the battle in silence. They stayed back, hidden from view near a fire escape. The boys looked at each other, their faces impossible to read, and nodded.
They joined hands and reached forward. A clear ripple of energy pulsed forward and blasted the Orgs away, ripping apart their rotting flesh and spraying black ichor and puss across the alley.
Ryan let himself collapse after the last of the grunts disappeared. His vision blurring out of focus, the last thing he saw was the two boys before losing consciousness.
The Middle Eastern man stood over Ryan's bed. Ryan sat up on the bed while leaning against the cold concrete wall.
"I saw your plane go down," the man said with a hint of suspicion in his eye. "Explain."
Ryan said nothing.
The Middle Eastern man leaned down and lifted Ryan by his collar. "Explain!"
Ryan narrowed his eyes. "I was trying to save you."
The man scoffed and tossed Ryan back to the bed. "It is a trick."
"No," Ryan said. "It's a mistake. We were after a military target."
The man scoffed again. "Does this look like a military target, foreign devil?"
"No," Ryan said. "Hence me throwing my plane in front of a friendly missile."
"Father," the girl said as she stepped into the doorway. "I believe him..."
"You are naive," he said to his daughter. He looked back to Ryan. "How many of you are here?"
He did not answer. He knew a group of ground soldiers were already on their way to the town since the air strike failed. His eyes drifted back to the doorway. He saw the innocence in the daughter's eyes. Her young brothers stayed behind her, their small hands clinging to her cloth robes.
Guilt welled inside of him. Could he let these people die?
The other four Rangers armored up and ran to the scene. They stopped nearby an alley as Gao Blue activated a limited sonar capability his powers granted him.
"He's around here somewhere," Gao Blue said of the Org monster. "But he keeps moving..."
"Just point the way," Gao Red said as the Rangers charged forward.
Suddenly, they crashed against an invisible energy barrier that caused lines of electric energy to dance across their armor with bursts of spark before throwing them backward. Their armor forcibly powered down as their morphers fell to their sides.
Cell Org stepped into the alley with Toxica and Jindrax at his side.
"See," Toxica said with an evil grin beneath her veil as she placed her hand on the Org monster's shoulder. "I told you they would be easy to lure into your trap."
Simon picked up his morpher as he rose to his feet. He pressed his morpher's activation panel, but the G-Phone whined in protest and did nothing. "That Org did something to our morphers."
Toxica lifted her head with pride. "This Org's powers disrupt all access lines..."
Simon narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. It looked like they were going to have to do things the hard way.
Ryan's vision slowly blurred into focus. He was in an abandoned, cement room adjacent to the alleyway. His shirt was off, and bandages were wrapped around his body and head from his wounds. The two twin boys stood over him.
The boys slowly placed their hands on Ryan's forehead.
Images suddenly flashed across Ryan's mind's eye. He saw a black void with a single cliff that looked down into a dark valley far below. Two single flowers rested at the bottom of that valley.
The boys wanted those flowers. Ryan was not sure why, but knew the flowers were important.
The images stopped as quickly as they began. Ryan slowly started to understand. He sat up, his head still pounding with pain he did his best to ignore. "That place...that's why you tried to break that building earlier. It can get you where you need to go."
The two boys nodded, slight smiles crossing their faces.
Blasts exploded around the rangers and whipped their bodies backward. They crashed against the ground hard, suffering injuries since they did not have their armor to protect them.
Cell Org charged forward to attack as the rangers slowly rose back to their feet.
"Guys..." Simon said. "Fall back. We can't fight him like this."
The teens scrambled to their feet and darted down an alley to regroup while Cell Org followed.
Ryan and the twins snuck into the high-rise building and started walking down its stairwell.
The twins suddenly stopped and turned to face Ryan.
Ryan narrowed his brow. "What is it?"
The twins reached out and placed their hands on Ryan. The three of them vanished with a flash of golden light.
Cell Org lost track of the Rangers within a network of interconnected alleyways. The villain hissed with frustration and snapped its claw, anxious to break the rangers.
The creature hear footsteps come from behind. The villain snapped around and saw Timothy step forward from behind an alley corner. The ranger waved Cell Org forward. "I'm tired of running...let's see what you've got."
Ryan and the twins materialized in a dark pocket dimension. Ryan took a step away from them, disoriented from the trip. The twins gently wrapped their slender hands around Ryan's arms and looked down from the top of the cliff.
Ryan saw the flowers far below. The cliff was steep, but climbable.
"What's so important about those flowers?" Ryan asked.
The twins said nothing. They simply stared up at the ranger.
Ryan sighed and looked back towards the long drop. He started climbing his way downward.
Cell Org charged towards Timothy. But a massive sheet from above dropped over the villain, cutting off his sight. Simon and Saiya had dropped the cloth from a fire escape from above.
Michael pounced forward and slammed the heels of his palms against the Org, pushing the monster backward.
Ryan was halfway down the steep rock face. He lost his grip on the rock face and started plummeting towards the valley far below.
Above, the twins opened their eyes wide with fear.
Saiya pounced forward and slammed a jump kick upside the Org monster's head, cracking its antenna. The broken antenna landed on the ground as the interference field around the city dissipated.
Ryan fell towards the dark ground below. He reached out while falling to try and grab the rock face, but he was too far away. He narrowed his brow and clenched his jaw to keep from screaming. He would not die like this.
His morpher suddenly beeped and came back online. Ryan immediately flipped the morpher open and pressed down on its activation panel. "Wild Access!"
Golden energy wrapped around his body as he morphed into his Ranger form meters away from the ground. He snapped open his wings and pulled himself upward, gliding while ripping the flowers from the valley.
Gao Yellow flew upward and flipped through the air before landing back in front of the twins.
The Yellow Ranger slowly extended the flowers to them. He still was not sure why he helped the kids, or why doing so made him feel...fulfilled somehow.
The twins smiled and took the flowers, but did not leave Gao yellow empty handed. The turned the Yellow Ranger's hand palm up and gave him two brown seeds.
Before he could ask about the scenes, Gao Yellow flashed with golden energy while being teleported out of the pocket dimension.
Simon and the other rangers flipped their morphers open. "Wild Access! Ha!"
Energy wrapped around them as they morphed into their Ranger forms and charged forward to attack the Org monster. The strength of their companion beats flooded through their veins, empowering every fiber of their being.
But the Rangers were taken by surprise from an attack above. Toxica and Jindrax stepped onto a ledge, and Toxica opened fire with jagged bursts of purple energy that sparked against the Rangers' armor and knocked them off their feet.
Cell Org pounced forward through the air. The villain slammed its fist across Gao Black and Gao Blue's chest, smashing the two Rangers backward. The Org pressed forward with flying sidekicks that bashed against Gao White and Gao Red, knocking them backward.
Gao Yellow appeared as if from nowhere and swooped down through the air with his wings stretched beneath his arms.
"Ha!" he shouted as he lifted the Org from the ground and swooped upward before smashing the villain against the side of a building.
Gao Yellow swooped back towards the opposite building wall and dragged the Org along. The Yellow Ranger smashed the villain against the wall, its concrete buckling on impact as dents cracked along the Org monster's armor.
Gao Yellow tossed Cell Org aside, and the villain crashed against the ground below, twisting its leg and cracking its rotted ankle bone in half. The Yellow Ranger landed back on the street below and regrouped with his teammates as the Org monster crawled back to his feet.
The Rangers snapped into their individual, animal-like fighting stances.
"Blazing Lion...Gao Red!"
"Iron Bison...Gao Black!"
"Surging Shark...Gao Blue!"
"Noble Eagle...Gao Yellow!"
"Belle Tiger...Gao White!"
Gao Red stepped forward. "Guardians of the Earth..." he shouted, "United we roar! Wild Task Force!"
"Gao Ranger!" they shouted in unison.
The Rangers immediately assembled their long Gao Blade by combining their weapons as Cell Org charged forward, despite the limp from its injured leg.
"Gao Blade!" they shouted as the blade energized with fiery golden power.
"See ya!" Gao Red shouted to the creature.
They chopped the energized blade downward. The golden blade extended while chopping through Cell Org, tearing its body apart, ripping through rotted flesh, armor and bone. The monster fell backward, its energy overloading and exploding, producing a shockwave that decimated the monster into nothing more than a boiling puddle of slime.
Stepping forward on the roof, Toxica extended the end of her staff downward as it slid open like an iris, shooting out a dozen black seeds. Toxica started to scream a chant as the seeds rooted in the ooze remains. "Oniah-sha-shee! Kua-ta-to!"
Thick vines shot up from the ooze, extending as high as a skyscraper. The vines started to mesh together while twisting and thrashing back and forth. The vines formed a giant-sized version of a reborn Cell Org.
The Rangers unsheathed their Gao Daggers and extended the blades into the sky. "Wildzords, descend!"
The blades emitted an enchanting melody. The tone reached up to the sky island Anamarium and caught the ears of the Power Animals. A bridge of multi-colored light extended down from the island and towards the Earth. The Power Animals roared as they charged down the bridge and into battle.
The Rangers stood in a circle and thrust their daggers towards the center. Gao Red looked up while making a claw with his left hand over the right side of his chest. "Wildzords! Assemble!"
The five Wildzords charged forward as fiery energy surrounded them. GaoBison morphed into a waist and set of legs. GaoTiger and GaoShark formed the arms and attached to GaoLion, which served as the chest. GaoEagle attached to the lion and allowed the zord to hover over the ground as it zoomed forward.
The Rangers leapt up towards the zord and melded with it. A cockpit formed in GaoLion's head armor, and five stations appeared for the Rangers to stand behind. Each station had two black, organic globes for controls. A slot was between each globe pair for the Gao daggers.
Gao Red laid his dagger onto the slot and placed his hands over the globe controls. "Rise up!"
The combined zord rose and back-flipped through the air as the formation completed. "MegaWildzord!" the Rangers shouted from their cockpit. "Gao King!"
Gao King leapt up and flipped backward, snapping into a fighting stance and charging with energy for the attack.
"Shark Surge!" Gao Blue shouted. The shark fist swung forward and slammed against the monster with an explosion.
"Tiger Fury!" Gao White shouted. The tiger fist charged forward and bashed against Cell Org.
Cell Org stumbled backward, cracks chipping from his armor as he placed his hand over the wound. Black ichor started to seep from the cracks. The Org monster kept his balance and extended several antennae from his body.
The antenna emitted a volley of sonic blasts that exploded against Gao King's armor with a massive burst of sparks. The sonic waves vibrated through the zord's cockpit with a large, ringing noise that shot through the Rangers' ears with pain like daggers.
The Rangers screamed with pain as they placed their hands over the sides of their helmets to try and muffle the sound.
Gao Yellow closed his eyes tightly as the pain flooded his head. Only his stubbornness kept him from blacking out.
On the streets below, the twins ran towards the two battling giants with fierce looks of determination in their eyes.
Gao Yellow looked down at the streets and noticed the twins running towards the battle. "No...what do those kids think they're doing?"
A golden light suddenly started shining from Gao Yellow's palm. The two seeds appeared, each pulsing with power.
Below, the two boys skid to a halt. They slowly extended their flowers towards each other. The pedals started to glow with deep, pulsing light. The light enveloped the boys and broke them free from their shells.
The boys glowed with blinding light and expanded, morphing into a pair of giant-armored bears: GaoPolar and GaoPolar.
Gao Yellow opened his eyes wide beneath his visor. "Huh."
The seeds in his palm pulsed and expanded, transforming into a pair of animal crystals.
The two armored bears charged towards Cell Orgs, their powerful legs thumping across the streets, propelling them forward with each stride.
Gao Bear opened its jaw and fired a stream of fiery power, as GaoPolar opened its jaw and fired a stream of sub-zero energy. The blasts splashed across Cell Org, blasting the villain backward as he screamed in pain. The villain's body was overcome with intense heat and intense cold as the bears continued to fire streams of energy at their opponent.
The bears leapt through the air towards Cell Org. they melded into a rolling energy wheel of fiery power that shot towards the monster and crashed against its armor with a massive burst of spark.
The villain stumbled backward as the bears landed back on the ground.
Gao Yellow extended his gems to his teammates. "White. Blue."
They grasped the gems from Gao Yellow and placed them into the hilts of their Gao Daggers.
"Detach! GaoShark!"
"Detach! GaoTiger!"
The tiger and shark arms separated from the Megazord as the bears rushed forward to take their place on Gao King.
"Attach!" the Rangers shouted. "Bear Knuckles!"
Energy streaked around the bears as they started to shift shape and form a pair of muscular arms. The arms locked into place on GaoLion, taking their places on the mighty Megazord.
"MegaWildzord!" the Rangers shouted. "Gao King, Double Knuckle!"
The Megazord charged forward and slammed its fists repeatedly against the Org monster. The villain's armor dented with each strike, cracking along the chest as ichor and black puss leaked from the wound.
The villain stumbled backward, and the Rangers readied for the final blow.
"Gao King!" they shouted. "Bear strike, fire!"
The bears' jaws opened and pointed towards the Org monster. The bears fired simultaneously, a beam of sub-zero energy and a second beam of fiery power. The blasts punctured through the villain with massive explosions that tore the monster's body apart. The creature let loose a final hiss of pain before his entire body erupted into fiery chunks of slime and flesh that vaporized from the double knuckle blast's power.
The Ranger shad no time to celebrate.
GaoLion roared with pain as the cockpit's lights flickered, and energy discharged exploded against the Rangers' armor.
Gao King broke apart, and the power animals crashed against the ground, discharging the Rangers back onto the streets.
Gao Red looked up to his wounded lion. The beast's own pain pierced through his chest. The Red Ranger collapsed to his knees and placed his hand over the lion symbol on his armor. "GaoLion..."
Ryan stood in the concrete room and looked out the window. The two young boys were laughing and playing outside with another group of kids from the town. Their eyes were lit bright with joy, oblivious to the mad world around them.
The daughter stepped inside and leaned against the doorway. "You're up..."
Ryan nodded, his eyes still fixed outside. "I don't like to sit still for long."
"Are you feeling better?" she asked.
Ryan shook his head. "No...I need to talk to your father. You're all in danger, and we need to leave. Now."
To be continued...Chapter Nine