//------------------------------//
// Defeat and triumph (part 2) 
// Story: Prehistoric Thunder: a Power Rangers story 
// by TheHardie-Boy 
//------------------------------//

Trent was currently fighting Zeltrax in easily the hottest place he’d ever been. The fight wasn’t making it any better for him. No matter how hard he tried to attack, Zeltrax always struck back, and they were equally matched. Applejack was also fighting off her own group of Tyrannadrones. Not that she wasn’t doing good, there were just too many of them. She knew she couldn’t keep it up much longer; she was bound to get overwhelmed. 

Just beyond the fight, the beacon Trent and Applejack came to check out began to glow. This caught Zeltrax’s attention long enough for Trent to gain the upper hand. “You’re going down for good this time, Zeltrax!” Trent shouted. “That’s what you said last time,” Zeltrax retorted. Zeltrax saw the invisiportal he used to get here, and he took a chance and reached out for it. He and Trent both disappeared through it. Applejack saw this and was distracted long enough for the Tyrannadrones to grab hold of her and teleport away as well.


Meanwhile


In the Crystal Empire, Ethan was struggling to hold his own against the snake monster that had called itself ‘Viprex’. He wasn’t sure if the fangs on her arms were poisonous, and he didn’t want to find out the hard way. This left the strategy of getting under the monster and forcing her into the air. Luckily, Twilight was having better luck than he was. She was just too fast for the Tyrannadrones to keep up. Although it had taken her a while to find the right spell to hurt these creatures, she had indeed found it. And it probably helped that she was able to teleport. 

Ethan drew his blaster and used that to attack Viprex. The resulting shot hit, but it made the monster squirt out some yellow liquid that drenched Ethan and most of the Tyrannadrones. Ethan instantly felt his strength draining from his body, and he was becoming numb. “T-Twilight! Help! I got-I got hit with the monster’s p-poison!” he cried, hoping Twilight could do something to ease the pain. Twilight quickly saw Ethan and knew he was about to power down. Luckily, she recently learned a spell to help alleviate poison. She casted it at Ethan, and as a result, he instantly got back up and into the fight. 

“I’m not taking anymore chances with you,” Ethan said. “Bring it on!” the monster retaliated. “Super Dino Mode!” Ethan quickly entered his super mode as his spikes grew once again. Viprex tried to blast him with poison again, but the spikes were thick enough to block the poison. Ethan took the opportunity to get in close with the monster and slash away at it. The monster just wasn’t fast enough to successfully block everything. When there was once again a respectable distance between Ethan and the monster, Ethan drew his shield and threw it as hard as he could at the monster. The shield went directly through the monster and it fell down, defeated. 

After the chaos was over, Ethan and Twilight regrouped; but the device from before was nowhere to be found. “I have to help my friends. You get back to Ponyville and tell the others what we found. I’ll take my Tricerazord,” Ethan told Twilight. “Right. Be careful,” Twilight responded.


Meanwhile


In the Everfree forest, Kira was facing the tree monster that had previously called itself the Birge. The monster was decently strong, and Kira had a little trouble landing a hit. The Birge was also struggling to land a solid shot on Kira. If Kira was equally matched the speedy monster from a few days ago, she and this monster were on a whole other level of matches. Eventually, Kira got tired of trying to blast or slash the monster, so she went super mode on it. But the monster had another power level of its own. 

“Ugh, why is this taking so long?” Kira asked, sarcastically. “Well you’re the one who woke me up from my slumber,” the monster retaliated. “Wait, do you not work for Zeltrax?” “No, I’ve never heard of that being.” “Oh. Then in that case, sorry for waking you up. I was just looking for something in this part of the forest. I thought you were attacking me because Zeltrax told you to.” “Like I said, I don’t know who Zeltrax is. Now can I go back to sleep?” “Yeah sure. Go right ahead.” 

After that little conversation was over, the Birge fell to the ground and began to deform. Its vines and leaves sunk into the ground as the wood began to resemble a tiny tree. “Weird,” Kira said to herself. She turned to find the device she and Fluttershy (who by now was back in Ponyville) had found earlier was gone. She took off in her Pterazord to go help her friends.


Meanwhile


Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Connor and Rainbow Dash were struggling to bring down a rock monster. The monster was slow enough for them to land plenty of attacks, but it barely reacted. Not only that, but it actually hurt Connor and Rainbow. Connor tried everything: his blaster did absolutely nothing, his blade broke immediately, and his tyrannostaff was coming apart as well. He had no choice left but to go super. He tried to power up, but the monster grabbed hold of Rainbow by the neck and began to tighten its grip. Connor didn’t know why, but he felt a deep, intense rage he had only felt when Zeltrax held Trista hostage. “LET HER GO YOU CREEP!” Connor clenched his fists as hard as he could and took another charge at the monster. The monster threw a punch at Connor and that was enough to send him flying back. Another shot like that,cans he would be powered down. “C-Connor!” Rainbow choked out from the monster’s iron grip. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and a sob escape her throat. She was feeling something she never felt before she met Connor. In a strange way, she was enjoying this new feeling. The only thing that could make it better was if there wasn’t a monster strangling her.

Ethan and Kira arrived in their zords and saw what was happening. They went super and got a small jump on the monster. They were able to knock it down and let go of Rainbow Dash. They ran over to Connor and helped him to his feet. “Rainbow D-Dash. I-I she okay?” he asked them. “She’s a little beat up, but she’s out of the monster’s grip,” replied Kira. Ethan and Kira turned their attention to the monster again while Connor snuck around it to tend to Rainbow. “C-Connor. Are y-you okay?? she stuttered out. “I’m fine. But I need to get you somewhere safer,” Connor replied, as he picked up Rainbow Dash and hid her in a small cavern. She felt that feeling from earlier as he was laying her down, but this time it was stronger than before.

While Connor was tending to Rainbow, Ethan and Kira were both getting their butt’s kicked. The monster was much more active than before, and it didn’t give the rangers an inch. Connor rejoined them and they took a quick breather. “I don’t think we’ve ever faced anything this strong,” said Ethan. “We have, but we usually have Trent or Dr. O to help us. We’re on our own for this one though,” Kira responded. “I have an idea, but I’m not sure you’re gonna like it,” Connor said, pulling out the white shield Trant gave him. “Are you sure that’ll work? I mean, what if we give it our power, and it isn’t enough?” Ethan said. “I don’t have any other ideas,” Connor confessed. “I guess we’re out of options. Let’s do it,” Kira said. “Alright then. Let’s hope this works,” Ethan said. Connor held out the shield as Ethan and Kira began to give their energy to it. The shield began to glow as the two of the powered down. Connor stayed morphed, but his suit also changed. The white triangle pattern from before was now blue with a gold outline. His mask also got a few golden modifications. He was now in his Triassic Ranger Mode. 

“What;s this? More power to destroy?” the monster said as it prepared to charge. It did, but when it hit the shield, Connor stood his ground and thrust as hard as he could. The resulting contact made the monster stumble back as his armor began to crack. The rocks fell off of the monster to reveal a large, two-legged lizard. “Oh sure, now we can fight him,” said Kira, a little annoyed. Connor drew the sword from the back of the shield and charged at the monster again. This time, he was able to attack it without any trouble. The lizard tried to fight back, but it was getting a taste of its own medicine. Connor started to wave the blade around as energy started to flow through it. He unleashed that energy upon the monster, and it fell down and exploded.

“I am so glad that’s over. Thanks for the help guys,” Connor said to his fellow rangers. “We’re glad to help. But right now, we gotta go help Trent. He’s fighting Zeltrax alone,” said Ethan. “You’re not going anywhere!” shouted the monster as it started to grow and its rock armor returned. “Are your powers starting to come back?” Connor asked. “Enough to call the zords,” said Kira. 

The rangers called their Dino Zords, along with the Pefalazord just for good measure. The zords combined, and the rangers had at the monster. The monster was a bit taken back because of the Pefalazord, but it still stood its ground. It struck back with its tail. The Megazord took a huge shot and had trouble staying in one piece. “Let’s try the Dimetrozord,” said Ethan. The Dimetrozord approached with its saw and got the jump on the monster. The saw managed to leave a huge scrape in the monster’s armor, but the monster used its claws to strike it down. It then turned its attention to the rangers and struck it as hard as possible. As a result, the zords broke apart, and the rangers fell to the ground. 

“I think we’re gonna have to call in THAT zord, Connor,” Kira said. “Alright, if you say so,” Connor responded. Connor looked at his morphed and concentrated his energy on it. In the distance, the monster heard a loud roar. It turned to see where it came from, and it saw a red zord with a chariot behind it. “Bring it on!” the monster taunted. The zord and the monster both charged forward, but the zord has the upper hand. The monster went flying backward as its armor began to break again. “Alright, it worked. The Mezadon’s here!” Connor cheered as it jumped into the cockpit of the Mezadon.

The Mezadon began to fold up, and soon, it was in its own battle mode. The monster tried to escape, but Connor attacked with the Mezadon’s axes and slashed the monster down. Connor began swinging the axes as energy started to build up inside them. Connor unleashed the energy, and the monster was destroyed.

Connor jumped out of the cockpit to the ground. “Okay, now we should go help Trent,” said Ethan. “Right, but first I have to get Rainbow back to Ponyville,” Connor said. “Right, we’ll meet you at the Dragon Lands,” Kira said. With that, Ethanand Kira took off in their zords, leaving Connor to retrieve Rainbow Dash. “How you holding up?” he asked her. “I-I’ll be fine. Thank you..for saving me,” Rainbow said, blushing. “It’s no problem, really,” Connor replied as he picked up Rainbow and jumped back into the Mezadon. The two of them made their way to Ponyville.


Later


Connor and Rainbow arrived in Ponyville in the Mezadon. Connor jumped out of the cockpit with Rainbow in his arms. Twilight and the rest of Rainbow’s friends, except for Applejack, crowded around him. “What happened? Is she okay?” Starlight asked worriedly. “She’ll be fine. She just bit off more than she could chew,” Connor responded. “We should probably get her to the castle,” said Rarity. The seven of them made their way to the castle, where Spike was waiting for them. 

“Spike, get your medical supplies. Rainbow’s hurt badly,” Twilight instructed. Spike did so, and he ran a few standard procedures on the mare. “She’s gonna be okay. She just needs to take it easy,” Spike told them.

Connor drew his morpher and contacted Ethan. “What’s going on with Zeltrax, Ethan?” he said. “They’re not here,” Ethan replied. “What? What are you talking about?” Connor asked. “We got here, and Trent, Applejack, and Zeltrax aren’t here.” “Well then where are they?”

Before Ethan could respond again, a bright flash appeared outside. Starlight looked out and saw Trent and Apllejack fighting Zeltrax. Trent was in his super mode, but Zeltrax also had these red spikes on his body that weren’t there before. The two of them seemed to be equally matched. “They’re out here,” Starlight told the others. Connor looked out too and saw what was going on. “I forgot Zeltrax could do that,” he said as he and the others made their way outside.

Once there, Connor got into his own super mode and joined Trent in battle. “Good timing,” Trent said once he saw Connor. “Thanks. What happened?” “I’m still not sure. We were fighting at the dragon lands and suddenly, we appeared here.” 

While the two of them were talking, Zeltrax charged his sword with a lightning bolt and fired it at them. “Look out!” yelled Starlight as she fired a beam to counter it. “Thanks, Starlight,” Connor said, “oh and by the way, the Shield of Triumph is working again.” “Alright, nice. Try it out.”

Connor drew the shield again and turned into the Triassic Ranger. He and Zeltrax went at it again, and Connor was able to take Zeltrax without much trouble. But when Connor went to finish him off, his blast hit a canister that Zeltrax was holding. The canister shattered, and the stuff it was containing spilled out onto the ground. The items began to glow and form into something large. “You have no idea who you just unleashed, Red Ranger,” Zeltrax said. Not a second later, standing in the place the items were forming was the monster Connor and Trent hoped they’d never see again. It was none other than Mesagog, in all of his ugly glory.

“Well, I’m out of here,” said Zeltrax as he leapt into an invisiportal. Ethan and Kira arrived to see what was happening, and when they saw Mesagog, they were frozen in terror. “You rangers will fall beneath my feet. As will Zeltrax afterward,” Mesagog said. 


Meanwhile


That was the last straw. Zeltrax had to put his plan into action. The rest of the beacons were ready. He took the last one and emptied the dark matter onto himself. All he needed to do now was unleash it, and the rest of the beacons would correspond. Tomorrow. Tomorrow at daybreak would be the best time to do it. Mesagog and the rangers would soon be no more, along with the rest of Equestria.