//------------------------------// // Myths and Legends // Story: Power Rangers Shadow Force // by Layton13 //------------------------------// It had been a few days since the encounter with the Shadow Line and the Rail Rider Rangers. Things had mostly returned to the usual normal, or as normal as you could get in this city. It, however, still let a shiver run down her spine when she thought what was out there. This time, they had managed to avert a disaster, but what next time? Cadance shook her head, trying to banish the thoughts from her mind again. Worrying really wouldn’t bring her any further. And if last time was any indicator, the girls would be able to handle it. Like they had handled it every time now. Right? She was snapped out of her thoughts as the big grandfather clock in her private office rang eleven PM. She looked in disbelieve at the clock. Had it really been this long already? And she was still only halfway through with her work. With an exasperated sigh, she looked back down at all the unfinished paperwork that was staring back at her. At least half of which was due tomorrow. “Sometimes, I hate my job,” she grumbled and returned to her work. Or at least, tried to. She only managed tow rite down several words before her phone rang. Who in their right mind would call her at a time like this? Even if she was still awake, this was just inhumane. With a low grumble, she pulled out her phone and looked at the caller number. She secretly hoped it was no one important and just let it go to voicemail or something. Turned out, it was a saved number, and one she really didn’t expect to hear from right now. Finders Keepers, her cousin. For a moment, she was tempted to still sent him to voice mail, but her curiosity won out in the end. “Hello? Cadance here. How are you, Finders?” She spoke into the phone, leaning back into her chair, using the brief reprieve from work to its fullest. “Mia! It’s been far too long, hasn’t it?” It came from the other end, Finder sounding surprisingly excited for so late in the night. “Yeah, been a while. When was that? The last family gathering at your dad's place? That must have been at least four months now, right? Work’s been keeping me really busy,” she sighed back, a smile on her lips. “Yeah, figures. Taking care of a school must be a real hassle. Especially when this was sprung on you pretty much out of nowhere,” he returned. “Kids can be hard to deal with.” “Oh, it’s not the kids that are the problem. There are a few that give me grief, sure. No, the real problem are the adults. Their kid must take priority. They pay a lot for their children to go to this school. Threats of cutting funding for Crystal Prep and then the drama when two of them start getting into an argument. At this point, I can kinda see why Principle Cinch was how she was. Having to deal with all these expectations from all these parents really can drive you nuts. Doesn’t change the fact that she was… Let’s say it out loud, a bitch,” she finished with a sigh. “I… I see. Yeah. You hear about these helicopter and entitled parents a lot, but havening to deal with them regularly? Yeah, I do not envy you at all. Especially with your… Other responsibilities on top of that as well,” Finder awkwardly added. “Yeah… It does eat into my time quite a bit. But it’s a good counterbalance for all of my work in the school. The girls are… Loud, overconfident, manage to get themselves into so much trouble and all in all, well, teenagers. But in the end, they manage to pull through. Even if I don’t like sending them out there. They are good kids. I get why the Coins chose them, I think,” she said, a smile on her lips. “Hmh, seems the Coins really got a knack for picking their users. I’ll believe you, even though I think a group of trained warriors would have been a better fit for Rangers. But I’m not an ancient, magical artifact, so what do I know? Right?” “We can only trust them, right?” “Yeah… You’re right. And they seem to manage until now. You think we can finally end this conflict? It’s been so long after all...” he quietly asked. “It’s… It’s hard to say, really. On the one hand, the Changelings have been alive for centuries. It’s hard to believe they could ever be entirely beaten. But I trust these girls. I don’t know why, but I think they can do it. That’s sadly the only thing I can do… Wait and hope for them to fix this mess we found ourselves in. But enough of that, why are you calling me so late at night? It wasn’t just to catch up with your cousin, wasn’t it?” She finally said, crossing her legs as she did so. “Yeah… As much as I’d love that to be it, it’s mostly business. I’ve also been very busy with my own work. Mainly regarding your Shadow Force Rangers. I think I found something… At a recent dig side, not too far from here, I found some sort of ancient tablet. I’ve yet to fully translate it, but it seems to be a dialect of Changeling. And, it mentions… Mentions something… I didn’t think I’d find it. Not in a thousand years! I think I found a clue to the location of the Crystal Hearth! Can you believe that!?” He finished, now almost shouting into the phone. “The… The Crystal Hearth? I thought it was used up when our ancestors created the Shadow Coins? That can’t be right?” Cadance jumped up, her eyes wide open now. “Apparently it can. I haven’t translated the entire thing just yet, but I managed to translated ‘The resting place of the Crystal Hearth.’ That is huge! Almost as huge as you finding the Shadow Coins. I’ll probably manage to translate the whole thing tomorrow evening!” He continued, his voice caught in his own excitement. “I see… That means… Are you sure you can translate it till then? One-hundred percent?” “Yeah, mostly. I think. The hardest part is understanding the dialect. Everything beyond that should be more or less straightforward. But why do you ask?” He returned, she definitely heard the slight confusion through her phone. “I don’t like the chance of our enemies somehow hearing about your find, in any shape, way, or form. If they find out about this, they’ll try to get their hands on it. And they’ll stop at nothing to do that. I know you aren’t gonna like this, but… I’d like to come by your lab tomorrow, with the Rangers and… Well, take the tablet with us for safekeeping,” she finished, already expecting the shitstorm she undoubtedly was gonna get. “Take… The tablet? Are… Are you sure? I get it… Even if I don’t like it,” he grumbled, before continuing. “But… While we are financing this operation, it’s gonna be tough to give a priceless archeological artifact to a principal and a few high schoolers. That… It would take a week to get through… At least… And then… Oh, my goodness. What are you asking of me here, Mia? This is…” He stopped waiting for an answer, but the line stayed quiet. “Fine! I’ll figure something out. But I can’t promise anything. Maybe… Ok, how about this? You come to me. I give you a rundown of everything I found out until then, and if I haven’t made any progress, which I highly doubt, by the way, then you come in Ranger suits. Maybe they will be more lenient for some superheroes…” He sighed. “Thank you, Finders. I know this gonna be hard, but I’m glad you are working with me here. It’s good to know someone got your back. See you tomorrow then, and good luck.” “Yeah, I’ll need it. I think I need to make a few more calls. There goes my sleep tonight. You owe me, though, ok?” He grumbled back. “Sure thing. I’ll figure out a way to repay you. See you tomorrow. Your lab is still outside of Griffonstone?” She asked, receiving an approving grunt from the other line. “Good. See you!” “See you as well,” he simply stated before hanging up the phone. It took her a good minute before she could put down the phone. Her heart was beating in her chest. This could be huge, she knew that! Even worse, she still had work to do, and she really couldn’t focus on it at all! With a terrified look down at her desk, she ultimately sighed and returned to work once more. >--------------< The next day came in the blink of an eye. Candace had gotten almost no sleep. The work had kept her up till one AM, and the stayed awake a bit longer to figure out the best train connection to Griffonstone. The city wasn’t too far away, but it still was not an easy task to get from one to the other. School had come and gone, but only with lots and lots of coffee. Each cup made her feel less shit, but none made her genuinely awake. And worst of all, she knew, there was still so much more to do this day. Her work kept her busy, just as much as usual, but she thankfully avoided any greater problems. Everything was only low key stressful. And around four PM, she sat inside the train cart, driving off towards Griffonstone. She let out a small chuckle when she thought back at the events a few days ago. The other five girls had joined her or at least tried to. Sunny, Lemon, and Sugar managed to get the three seats around her, in the alcove, while Sour and Indigo occupying the two seats behind them. “Soooo, what got you so excited?” Lemon asked, after not even a minute on the train. “And why are we taking a trip to Griffonstone? Anything interesting there? Oh! Oh! Some Changelings?” She continued before Sugar managed to clamp her hand over her mouth. “Oh? Why did you stop her? I think she wasn’t loud enough already!” Sour grumbled from behind Lemon’s seat. “Would you please keep it down, Lemon? People can hear you,” Sugar added, waiting for a nod from Lemon before letting go of her mouth. “Thanks… So? Changeling?” She quickly said. “Hopefully, not. That’d be really bad,” she sighed. “No, we are going to visit my cousin, Finders Keepers. He’s an archeologist for the Griffonstone Institue for Archeology. And it seems they’ve stumbled over something unexpected.” “Oh? What’s it? New Coins? Because if yes, I call dibs!” “Of course you would, greedy as always,” Sunny chuckled, shaking her head at Lemon’s excitement. “No… It seems they might have found a hint towards the location of the Crystal Hearth. The magical stone used to creat all of your Shadow Coins. He called me last night to inform me about this. This might potentially be something big. Who knows, maybe it might even be something that can help us against them, but we don’t know. Information on the Crystal Hearth has been very scars. We don’t really know what it can do,” she finished. “Uhhh? Maybe it’s not just new Coins, it could be a new Zord? What do you think? Or an upgrade for us? I’d so love to form change like Riders do!” Lemon continued, as energetic as ever. “We just don’t know. The tablet only spoke about the resting place of it. And that’s all. But whatever it is, we can’t let it fall into the hands of the Changelings. If that were to happen, I get the feeling things would take a turn for the worse. And to prevent that, we are going to Griffonstone,” she finished with a stoic expression. “So… What are we doing at that institute?” Sunny asked this time, all while Lemon was lost in her own imagination about what could possibly await them. “That… is a bit more complicated. I asked Finders to possibly give us the tablet, but he already told me that it would be a challenging thing to accomplish. He did say he’ll try everything he could do, but he didn’t promise anything. We might to potentially let you girls suit up and try to convince the head of the operation yourself. And if all of this doesn’t work… We might have to… Pursue less legal action,” she added quietly. “Wait! You mean…” Lemon burst out, before quieting down a lot before whispering: “Stealing it?” “Yes… If it means not letting it fall into the Changeling’s hands. We can give it back once we got whatever it’s leading to, but…” Wrinkles were forming atop Cadance’s forehead as she spoke. “I… I don’t like that…” Lemon interrupted her. “We’re heroes, right? Heroes don’t still!” “I… Agree. This sounds… Bad,” Sunny added, followed by an affirmative grunt from both Sour and Indigo. “It does sound extreme,” Sugar was the last one to say. “I… I know girls. It’s just… The consequences are by far worse than doing nothing. If the Changelings get their hands on the Crystal Hearth, who knows what they would be able to do. Even if it is no longer there, we can’t take the chance, just like I couldn’t take the chance of the Changelings acquiring the Shadow Coins back in Mount Aris. Even if it was dangerous, I couldn’t just let them win,” she finished with a somber tone. “Yeah! We can’t just let them win! A hero has to do things they don’t wanna do at times, right?” Lemmon added, her hand balled into a fist. “I… See your point,” Sour joined in as well. “But only as a last resort!” “Yeah… I’d do anything to protect my friends! So why should that stop when I’m fighting monsters?” Indigo said as well, her unsure expression being washed away with a far more determined one. “I’m not letting some bugs destroy the world when I can do something against it!” Sunny encountered. “And if it means I got to get my hands dirty, so be it!” “I agree,” Sugar was the last to finish. Cadance looked at the five girls and nodded, still, she couldn’t shake the feeling of her throat tightening with every second that passed. Inside her mind, her teacher side was screaming at her forever, teaching children something like this. Meanwhile, another voice encountered that they weren’t just children. They were more than that! They had a responsibility to uphold! But at the same time, could she treat them differently because of that. And over the one hour train ride, the two sides of her mind kept raising argument over argument, but none ever managed to outweigh its opponent. And as the train came to a stop again, the fight inside her mind was still raging on. With a frustrated sigh, she pushed it away. She had something more important to do! >--------------< Griffonstone, as a city, looked very similar to Canterlot on the first view. Buildings appeared modern and lived in. Groups of tourists streamed out of the very modern train station and were catered off to wherever their busses lead them. Griffonstone had become known for its high density for old ruins in the last few decades, even adapting it into the slogan to reflect that: ‘Griffonstone, A nice place to visit!’ was written over an enormous billboard right across the station. The six, however, walked past all shiny, up to date busses that were waiting right at the entrance of the large parking lot and moved to one parked far in the back. It was a far older model. Quickly reaching its second decade of use, and it definitely looked the part. Next to no tourists had boarded the vehicle when it finally started to move. They quickly drove past all of the fancy, inner core of the city and onto a broad street, build like a bridge over the rest of the city. The modern exteriours rapidly being replaced by far older, brick, and concrete buildings that looked like that had seen a lot in their lifetime. Trash filled the sidewalks, and everyone had a frown on their faces. It was bizarre as if the city had two faces. One it showed to people visiting, keeping them above the other one, one that looked run down, old and tired. “Why is it that the buildings down there look so different?” Lemon wondered out loud. “Griffonstone’s primary industry is the tourist industry. Every other form has mostly broken down over the last fifty years,” Sugar answered without a second thought. “Besides one Company, Change Industries,” Cadance added, her arms crossed as she looked out a window, straight into the hearth of the run-down part of town. In it, one could immediately make out a larger building, roughly half the size of Canterlot’s Change Indurtsires building, surrounded by several large production halls. “They moved here about fifteen years ago. No one knows why. Most people assume they got mayor tax breaks from the city or something of the sort. But our family knows better. They are here because of the ruins. They know something is here. That’s why they have been financially supporting the Equila Archeological Center for all this time. My family has ever since tried to do the same to the Griffonstone Archeological Institute, a rival organization. The two institutes have been trying to outpace each other when it comes to archeology, but neither of our efforts has yielded results, until now.” “So… What are they doing in the city? I mean production-wise?” Sunny asked, looking back at the strange complex. “Mostly, construction work on tech. Like washing machines, ovens, and the like. They would be cheaper off if they were to outsource the production to another country, but until now, they have refused to. Most likely trying to gain a positive standing in the city,” she muttered. “Or they… They could try to help out the people here as well? They keep saying they want to help the world,” Lemon countered quietly. “Don’t be tricked by them. They are known for their trickery. They’ll use it whenever they can,” Cadance bluntly returned. Lemon, meanwhile, just stared back at the building and its production halls. For as towering and imposing as it looked, the fact that closer suburbs looked significantly better gave it a certain… Warmth, for the lack of a better word. >--------------< Once the bus had reached its last stop, they finally exited. They had been driven to one of the more outskirts parts of town. Things didn’t look as bad here; still, there was a rather… Depressing atmosphere about the place. In front of them stood an old building, made out of bricks. It looked like it was over two-hundred years old. A sign identified it as the Griffonstone Archeological Institute. On its steps, a man in his thirties awaited them. He wore a white shirt under a red waistcoat, as well as a blue tie. His brown hair was disheveled and bushy, while he had a similar skin tone to Cadance. “Mia! It’s good to see you! And that must be your students,” he chuckled and gave her a little wink, before giving her a tight hug. “It’s good to see you as well, Finders Keepers. Girs, this is my cousin Finders Keepers, he works here. And these five are Lemon Zest, Sugarcoat, Sour Sweet, Indigo Zap, and Sunny Flare,” she returned, each girl waving at him in order. “It’s an honor to have you here. I never would have guessed that you would be found in my lifetime. But Cadance here really managed to do it. I was kinda envious, if I’m honest, that you did that. So, I had no other choice in the matter. I threw myself back into my work as well, and it seems it might have paid off. No! I’m sure it paid off!” He returned, a bright smile on his lips. “That’s good to hear. So, I assume you managed to finish your translation then?” Cadance asked again. “Oh, yes! I did. It proved a bit more complicated than anticipated, but cross-referencing it with some old family records proved fruitfully. I managed to translate it all. It was a very localized dialect, deligated to a group centered around Griffonstone. They eventually were wiped out in the conflict with the Hive, but it seems they managed to hide what was left from the Crystal Hearth. They-“ He was about to continue when he was interrupted by a loud scream. “Hey! Hey, Professor Finder! Profesor Relic wants to speak with you over something. He said it was urgent!” A blue boy, around the same age as they, in a dark blue jacket with a pale yellow shirt underneath, as well as light blue hair with yellow hair tips, shouted at him. “I’m sorry… This is our intern,” he pointed at the boy. “His name is Gallus. He’s… Mostly a fine guy, just a bit… Rough around the edges,” he awkwardly continued. “I gotta take that. It’s probably connected to our family connections, finally getting somewhere. We only gotta hope it’s something good,” he muttered before turning back to the boy. “Hey, Gallus!” “Yeah, Prof? What is it?” He returned, hands pushed into his pockets. “Can you guide my cousin and her students to my lab? I’m gonna visit Professor Relic. Show them the Institute a bit, if you will,” he said, with a nervous smile. Gallus simply shrugged and returned: “Sure, Prof, I’ll do that. You do whatever you archeology guys talk about.” Finders just sighed before shaking his head and saying: “Thank you. And I’ll be back as soon as I can, Mia! Promise!” And within seconds, he had rushed back into the building, leaving the six of them behind with the intern. “Mia?” Sunny was the first to ask, with a barely suppressed snicker. “Yes, that’s the nickname he gave me. Is there anything wrong with it,” Cadance encountered, with a smile. “N-Not at all,” Sunny chuckled back awkwardly. “It’s a nice nickname.” “Thank you. Now, Gallus, was it?” He nodded in return. “If you’d be so nice.” “Sure,” he muttered back and lead them into the building as well. Merely flashing a small ID-Card and saying they were Professor Finders’s guest was enough to get them inside. People were rushing past them, excited chatter around them everywhere. It felt truly alive in her, which strangely contrasted with illustrations of fossils, cases with old vases, and other similar artifacts all around the building. “So…” Lemon eventually said, walking up to Gallus. “What brings you here? Interested in archeology?” Gallus looked back at her, his expression looking extremely bored and return. “Kinda. But not the egghead kind of archeology. I’m more the fan of the fun kind of archeology, you know what I mean?” “Fun kind of archeology?” She asked, looking quite confused. “You know, the kind Daring Do does. Adventure, traps, monsters, the whole shebang! Not this boring as digging and being careful stuff. I’m sure it’s fun for eggheads, but I want the real deal! Seems I was wrong about that,” he muttered in annoyance. “I… I don’t think that’s how it works… Isn’t Daring Do a fictional character anyway?” She said, her confusion growing by the second. “Of course she is. I’m not stupid, after all. But I’m sure there has to be some basis in reality. There have to be trailblazers who really find the stuff before the eggheads begin their excavations. And really, with superheroes becoming real, like the Kamen Riders, or the Power Rangers, why not Daring Do as well, or someone in her image? Maybe I’ll even find something magical that lets me turn into another superhero! Could you believe that? I’d be so awesome! And then I could really become a real-life adventurer, but I ain’t getting this here in this boring ass city. We never even had a monster attack here. I’d be so cool to see some of them in action once, you know? But for now, I gotta sit through this boring egghead internship,” he continued. “Trust us, living with them for a prolonged period is… A challenge,” Cadance joined in. “Enjoy the piece the Riders and rangers keep. And I’d highly advise against trying to look at becoming a hero. That is a lot of responsibility for a teenager. A responsibility that no one should have to bear, especially not someone as young as you,” she continued, a somber undertone in her voice. “What do you know about being a hero? You’re just some normal adult. Even if you are the cousin of the Prof, doesn’t change that. As if you would know anything about what a hero feels like. And you definitely don’t know anything about me. Least of, if I’d really want to become a hero. I’d love to! I’d be so awesome!” Gallus scoffed. Cadance was about to say something in return, but the words simply refused to leave her mouth. No, that wasn’t it… She just didn’t know how to respond to that… Instead, she lowered her head and fell back again. “I mean… It’s probably not easy. I’m sure they think it’s cool to save people, but it can’t be that easy, right? A lot of people rely on you, and when you manage to screw it up, they’ll be judging you harshly for it. Can’t be easy, right? But I’m sure they love helping others. Don’t you agree?” Lemon said with a smile on her lips. “I guess… Still, I really wanna become one! A hero straight out of the movies! I’d be so sick! Kick butt, helping others! That’s totally the life for me!” He returned, swinging his fist into the air with a determined smile on his lips. “You get me?” “I get you. But don’t go dissing history,” Lemon encountered with a chuckle. She was just about to add something else, as a loud explosion ran through the building, several of the nearby glass cabinets rattling foreboding and some of the fossils hanging on the wall, threatening to fall down. “What was that?” Sunny was the first to ask. “Are they doing some strange explosive research here, or what?” She looked over to gallus, who was just as stunned. “N… No, not really! Especially not close to the valuable stuff around. If they’d so something like that, they’d do it out in the field. But not in here. I think it came from over there!” He pointed towards a small balcony, overlooking the central atrium. And before any of the girls could say anything, he had already bolted towards it. It didn’t take long for them to follow and look down at what was happening below. Professors and other personal were running frantically away from a smoking hole in the wall, desperately trying to vacate the atrium, even when they knocked some things over. Whatever it was that had spoked them, it was more important than their research. And the answer to that mystery didn’t wait long till it stormed through the newly created hole, Changeling Drones! The black bugs quickly ran through the halls of the building, attacking everyone not fast enough. And just mere moments after, three Changelings walked inside, one of them, Pharynx. Another one, clad in purple chitin, a long and slick body and two strangely long antennas hanging down to his chest level. Next to him was a Changeling with green chitin plating over a black body; two, wings hanging from his back like a cape; extremely muscular legs, clad in the same chitin, and a face reminiscent of a grasshopper, complete with antennas and two piercing red eyes. “Where is the lab?” Pharynx muttered as the group walked forward. “As far as my informant is concerned, it’s on the second floor. He said room three-hundred-and-twenty-five,” the Grasshopper Changeling returned. “I hope for you that he is right,” it came back. Meanwhile, Gallus was staring down at the three Changelings in shock. His face had become pale, all that boastful energy havening left him in an instant. “M-Monsters!” He finally managed to stammer out, while the girls were looking at each other knowingly. Just as Cadance arrived, to see what the commotion had been around, a group of seven of the Drones jumped upwards and straight onto their balcony. Gallus managed to stumble backward and directly onto his ass as that happened, while the girls all took on a fighting stance. Lemon was the first to react, throwing her backpack directly into one of the Changelings faces, and when he managed to claw it away from his face, Lemon had already jumped at him and slammed him straight into his face. Tumbling backward, she crouched down with a sidekick and swept away his leg, knocking him to the ground. And before he could do anything more, she had already stood back up and slammed her foot down hard on his head. Sunny and Sour meanwhile had been pressed back to back, dodging the attacks, switching opponents as they did so, and delivering two devastating gut-punches. Both Changelings stumbled backward at that before both girls turned around on the spot and rushed towards their friend, once more passing each other and just straight up drop-kicking their original opponent, knocking them out cold. Indigo, in the meantime, was simply avoiding the attacks of her Drone but was slowly pushed towards a wall. It wouldn’t take long till she was pressing up against it when she suddenly turned around and ran straight towards it. The Changeling, at first visibly confused, quickly ran after her. She didn’t slow down one bit as the wall came ever closer, not even when she was just a meter away from it; instead, she simply continued to run up it. With a mighty push, she jumped over the monster, who had stopped just before he himself would have run into the wall. The moment she landed, she pushed to kick her opponent into the wall, letting him slide down its unconscious. Sugar had dealt with her opponent in a far more straightforward manner, dodging every attack he threw at her with relative ease, and punishing for every mistake he made. Through this, she was able to push him back further and further, until… With a loud screech, the Drone tumbled down the stairs, ending up as a motionless, twisted lump at their feet. While all of this had been happening, Gallus was sitting on the ground, mouth slack-jawed as he couldn’t fathom how well these seemingly random girls were holding up against these monsters. As the Drones started to turn to smoke, he was so consumed by the spectacle that, when one of the remaining ones lunged up to him, he didn’t even notice. Only the loud screech from behind knocked him out of his focus. Spinning around, he could barely see how the Changeling was tackled into the wall and thrown off the balcony with a swift kick to the head by Cadance. The last one quickly stormed up to them as well and pulled up his fist for a swing. Cadance, however, blocked the attack by pulling up her elbow towards her face. She hissed as it hit her like the best boxer on the planet, but she remained steady. She napped her hands forward and, without any prior warning, slapped them together over the teetered ears of the Drone. With a loud screech, it tumbled backward, and soon after, Cadance heaved it over the railing to join its friend down below. Immediately after that, she turned around and reached out her hand to him. Without even thinking about it, he grabbed for it, and within moments she had pulled him back to his feet and was now dragging him down the hallway. “Wow! What the fuck!? You were amazing! How did you do that?” He finally managed to stammer out after they were already around the next corner. “Training,” she returned. “Wait… What about the girls?” He quickly added, the realization suddenly having dawned on him. “You saw what they can do. They’ll be fine, but for now, we need to get out of here!” She almost barked back, telling him without any other words that he should probably be quiet. If Cadance couldn’t help them fight personally, she could at least make the way free for them, she thought. Still, she couldn’t shake off that awful, awful feeling. >--------------< Back on the balcony, the girls looked after Cadance and Gallus before exchanging a look. With a simple nod, all activated their Morphers and inserted their respective Shadow Coins. “Light up!” [Re-Re-Red!] [Bl-Bl-Blue!] [Ye-Ye-Yellow!] [Pi-Pi-Pink!] [Gre-Gre-Green!] [Shine Bright! Red!] [Shine Honest! Blue!] [Shine Wild! Yellow!] [Shine Glamourous! Pink!] [Shine Courageous! Green!] Once the darkness had subsided once more, the five Rangers were about to run off when they heard heavy footsteps. From the stairs, Sugar had just thrown her Drone down; the three Changelings emerged, only to immediately stop when they had reached their floor. “You!” Pharynx growled, a vicious glare in his eyes! “You damn pests! Always getting in my way! Seems the reached traitor managed to inform you before us. Should have expected that” he growled, tightening his grip around his weapon. “So these are the Rangers that have provided us with so much stress until now? Not very impressive,” the Grasshopper-Changeling muttered, eyeing them up and down. “That’s what you say now, but until this point, every Worker that was sent against them has failed. They might be weak, but not so weak to be underestimated,” Pharynx hissed back. “Understood. Still, they haven’t faced my loyal bodyguard yet. If you’d be so kind, and take care of them for us? It’d be one Tartarus of a present if we presented her with an artifact of the traitors, as well as the Shadow Coins, don’t you agree, my Lord?” The green one chuckled. “Understood, my master,” the third, until now quiet, Changeling answered, bowed, and stepped towards the Rangers, while the other two started to continue forward. “Hey! Where in Tartarus, do you think you are going!?” Lemon shouted out but didn’t get a response; instead, the two just continued. “Hey! You two stay here!” She shouted and raced after them, only to quickly be stopped dead in her tracks as the celling slammed down in front of her. “I’m sorry, but no! These two have far more important things to do than deal with you five,” the Longhorn-Beetle-Changeling smugly returned. “That’s why they left me to deal with you.” “And who made you the boss? You ain’t telling us what to do!” Lemon shouted back before adding: “Green! Pink! You chase after them.” Sharing a quick look, the two Rangers quickly ran pat Lemon and towards the next corner, as one of the antennas on the Changelings head started to glow. Moments later, a door flew around the corner and only missed the two because they ducked under it. “I said, I’m dealing with you. If you really want to attempt to fight my master, you first got to beat me,” he stated, crossing his arms behind his back. “Fine! Then we do that!” The Red Ranger screamed back, racing straight at him while slipping in a second Coin. [Sw-Sw-Sword!] “Wait!” Sugar shouted out, but it was already too late. Lemon had already jumped upward and tried to bring her weapon down on him, but in mid-air, the sword suddenly stopped moving, leaving Lemon awkwardly hanging on its hilt. One antenna on the Changeling glowed, quickly followed by the second one as out of nowhere, a shelf slammed into the Red Ranger’s side, knocking her to the ground. All while her own sword levitated in front of the monster and was pointed at her friends. “It seems he is capable of telekinesis,” Sugar stated. “Yeah… Noticed,” Lemon groaned, rubbing her side. “So, any plans?” “I have an idea. Red, stay ready. Yellow, summon your sword. Green, Pink, and I will use our guns,” she finished. Everyone looked at her for a moment before springing into action. [Sw-Sw-Sword!] [G-G-Gun!] [G-G-Gun!] [G-G-Gun!] Indigo was the first to storm forward, slashing her sword against Lemon’s, which was trying to block her advance, as if guided by invisible hands. Try as she might, she just couldn’t break through its defensive. Out of nowhere, Sugar dashed forward, jumped onto Indigo's shoulders, and above the levitating blade. She took aim, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger. But once more, the second antenna flared up, and a door flew right into her path and blocked her shots. Still, in the air, she screamed out: “ Green! Pink! Now!” Without any further explanations, both girls slid past Indigo, one on each side, and fired. The Changeling was to occupied if his shield would withstand the attack; he only noticed far too late. Two volleys of energy projectiles hit him square in the face. In his pained screams, he let the door fall down. What he couldn’t see was Indigo, having grabbed Lemon’s sword, jumping on the falling object, and bringing down the two blades in an x-motion. With another loud scream, sparks erupted from the Changeling, it stumbling back against the wall. “Green! Pink! Red! Dropkick!” The Blue Ranger shouted out. All three Rangers made a mad dash forward, passing Sugar as they did so before doing a simultaneous somersault over Indigo. All three of their feet hit him at once, and with a loud crash, the Changeling was pushed through the wall and landed down below in the courtyard. He was just standing back up when the Rangers jumped down as well, Indigo throwing Lemon her sword, all inserting their respective Coins into their weapons. [Fi-Fi-Final! Red!] [Fi-Fi-Final! Blue!] [Fi-Fi-Final! Yellow!] [Fi-Fi-Final! Pink!] [Fi-Fi-Final! Green!] The darkness began to form around the Longhorn-Bettle-Changeling, making any sort of sight impossible for him. As he turned around frantically, both sword wielders dashed forward, simultaneously, slashing across his chest once more in an x-pattern. Meanwhile, the three other Rangers were aiming directly at him before releasing three beams of colorful light and let him go up in an explosion. As usual, the Changeling quickly grew in size, the Rangers already in the process of summoning their Zords. [He-He-Hellhound!] [Le-Le-Leviathan!] [Ro-Ro-Roc!] [Wy-Wy-Wyvern!] [Ma-Ma-Manticore!] “Shadow Star Megazord!” The citizens of Griffonstone stared up in a mixture of confusion, terror, and awe at the dark night image of her city appearing above them in the sky. And even more so when a giant monster, as well as a giant robot, appeared in the separate dimension as well. The Rangers, meanwhile, had seen this a few times already and jumped straight into the fight, stomping towards the Changeling. The giant monster, however, began to rip skyscrapers from the ground and hurdle them at the Megazord. The first two, they were able to slice apart with their twin blades, but with each new one, time got more and more scares, and eventually, one was fast enough to knock one of the swords out of their hands, with the second one following quickly thereafter. Each hit had shaken the cockpit of the Megazord hard, and as the next one was about to hit them, Indigo reacted just in time. [Sh-Sh-Shield!] The Coin appeared in front of them, managing to block the first building before it slotted into the Zord, generating a see-through bubble shield around them. Building after building kept crashing into them, with each the shield flickering more and more. “We need to do something!” Lemon shouted out, clutching to her controls. “Oh, and what?” Sour snapped back, holding just as tight. “I know,” Sugar returned calmly and slotted one of her Coins in. Once more, a giant Coin appeared and replaced the other one, and almost instantly, the shield disappeared. This, however, didn’t seem to phase Sugar all that much as she pushed her controls forward, the others quickly following. They barely managed to roll past the incoming buildings, grabbing both of the swords in the process. Now, once again armed, the wind began to move faster and faster around them in a circle. It didn’t take long till the heavy Zord was pulled up into the air, the buildings thrown at them levitating round them. Soon, the Zord began to spin, pulling in more and more buildings, not even thrown by the Changeling. “Let’s finish this!” Sugar stated, her friends quickly nodded before pushing the controls forward again. Straightening their Zord’s arms, they began moving forward, now a giant tornado of metal, blades, and bildings. The Changeling took a few steps backward, desperately throwing building after building at them. But each one just became part of their attack. As they almost reached him, he tried to run, but far, far too late. He was caught in the pull of the whirlwind and sucked in. Buildings crashed into him, followed by cut after cut, slicing through his armor. With one last cut, they stopped, the derby landing all around them. But the Changeling, he landed somewhere special. Right on top of the dimensions, the Change Industries building and exploded. In the meantime, people were staring upward, cheering for the Rangers, and taking photos. One of which was Gallus. “So those are the Power Rangers? Wow,” he muttered quietly. >--------------< While the city was celebrating the heroes, Finders Keepers was thrown against a cabinet, several books landing on top of him. “Out of the way! We are here to reclaim the stolen property of the Changelings. Our informant told us it was here in this room,” the Grasshopper said, glaring down at the man as he pushed himself out of his book grave. “Your property?” He hissed out, glaring back up at him. “What bullshit! This was never yours, and it will never be yours! You monsters won’t ever stand against the Power Rangers! Nor our family! You’ll always lose!” He grinned, as a bit of blood ran down his cheek. “I won’t tell you anything!” “So you are one of the traitors? Worthless then,” Pharynx growled before his eyes caught the tablet inside a glass case. “Should I punish him, my Lord? He is part of the traitor's blood it seems,” the Changeling asked raising his foot slightly, ready to strike. “Don’t bother. He is worthless. My orders are to retrieve the traitor artifact and nothing more,” Pharynx brushed him off, before shattering the glass case and grabbing the artifact. “Here, we have it. Let’s return back to the office. We’ll have one of our scholars to translate it. After that, we’ll see further,” he growled, just in time for the Rangers to run around the corner. “Hey! Drop that!” Lemon shouted across the hallway, but he simply looked for a moment, hissed in frustration, and disappeared with his companion in the green flames. Once the Rangers fully arrived, he was already gone. “You’re ok, Finders?” “Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine…” He muttered, dusting himself off a bit and wiping away the bit of blood. “But they got the tablet…”