//------------------------------// // Episode 4: Your Own Shade Of Red // Story: Power Rangers: Element Fury // by Equestrian Defender //------------------------------// -Friday, April 3rd, 2019- -Sentry Household- After a grueling all-nighter at the precinct, Storm Sentry had went to bed that night utterly exhausted. She honestly wasn't expecting the morning to be anything exciting. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!" Clearly, she underestimated her sons. When she woke up that morning she came out to the kitchen to see Flash putting the finishing touches on a plate of blueberry pancakes (her favorite), placing down three strips of bacon that were right in the sweet spot between juicy and extra crispy, just how she liked it. First Base was there too, finishing up mixing her coffee (though with the amount of creamer and sugar she liked in it, it may as well have been milk.) And all this because, as she just now realized, today was in fact her 36th birthday (a fact that she was too embarrassed to admit she forgot.) So instead, she pulled both of her boys into a bear-hug and said "Thanks boys. This is just what I need after the night I had." First Base smiled and replied "Well, you always go out of your way to make our birthdays feel special. So we wanted to return the favor." "Plus this is one of the few days you're actually here before we leave for school," Flash added, setting up plates for First Base and himself. "And we kinda miss getting to have breakfast with you. You want one or two pancakes, little bro?" "Two please." As she sat down she couldn't help but smile. "What did I ever do to get such amazing and thoughtful sons?" Hearing that, First Base gave his mother arguably the most devious grin imaginable. "What did you do to get us? Well Mom, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much they-" "BASE," Storm exclaimed, her face red as a tomato while First Base was laughing hysterically. Flash simply rolled his eyes as he filled his own plate. "Of all the things you had to inherit from Dad, why did it have to be his sense of humor?" "Hey, one of us had to get it." -The Dark Dimension- -The Castle of Shadows: Pawn Creation Chambers- In the deepest levels of the Castle of Shadows was a large chamber, roughly the size of a football field. Within it were what appeared to be several statues that looked like the Pawns but without armor, roughly one hundred of them in a ten by ten formation and seemingly sculpted out of jet black stone. Standing in the back of the room by a small mountain of the same black stone was a monster. It was roughly eight feet tall and seemed to be made purely out of stone. It's body was a patchwork of different brown and grey rocks, with large spines on its shoulders and back in a burnt orange color. Its head was also burn brown and shaped like a prism, ending in a sharp point at the top. But the slightly disturbing part was that the monster had no face; on all four sides of its head there were no eyes, mouth, not even a nose. It was all just smooth stone, save for seven glowing dots on its face shaped like an 'H.'[1] "Ah, Golem!" The monster, now known as Golem, looked to see Blast Radius walking into the chambers. He smiled and said "You've been busy." Golem responded with a serious of noises that sound like rocks clicking and scraping together, which to anyone else would probably sound like some form of Morse Code. Apparently Blast Radius knew it by heart though, since he replied "And the King appreciates your time and effort." Golem sent another series of clicks and scrapes his way, to which Blast Radius rolled his eyes. "Stop complaining. You don't even need sleep." Golem didn't reply, simply turning back to his latest statue and chipping away a few extra bits on its face. Once it was finished to his standards, he lifted up the statue before placing it down with the nearest group. Nevermore walked into the room, the left half of his face still covered by bandages. "Blast Radius," he said, looking at the mad wizard. "I have new orders from the King." Blast Radius looked surprised at that. "Huh. I figured he'd want you to get your eye and your face fixed first." Nevermore sighed. "He does. That's why he wants you to go for this one." His eyes widened at that. "Me? I'm not exactly a combat specialist." "He's aware of that. That's why you'll be taking a monster with you. And..." He growled in anger before continuing "She will be accompanying you." If it were possible, his eyes widened even further. "Please tell me we're not talking about who I think we're talking about." "We are, unfortunately." "Not to question the King (seeing as how I dearly value my continued existence) but he is aware that she-" "-is one of the most treacherous, untrustworthy, conniving, backstabbing monsters in the entirety of the Dark Dimension? The same monster who would sooner cut the tendons in your legs and muscles and leave you to die so that she could save herself," Nevermore finished, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure he's aware of it." Golem let loose a series of clicks and beeps, getting both Nevermore and Blast Radius's attention. "I'm not sure you going would be a good idea," Nevermore replied, understanding Golem's language. "Don't get me wrong, you are strong enough to go toe-to-toe with those meddling kids. It's just that if they destroy you, we'll have nobody to make the Pawns." "Actually, that won't be a problem," Blast Radius quickly said, a smile on his face. "And besides, having my own personal bodyguard would definitely be a good thing." -Canterlot High School- -Lunch Time- "Jeez, Thorax, your blog's blowing up like crazy," Soarin noted, looking at his phone while his other hand held half a sandwich. Thorax nodded, swallowing a bite of his salad. "Yeah. Ever since the Element Fury Power Rangers showed up, I've been getting all sorts of attention. Cell phone and camera footage, theories on who they are and where they came from, and a whole bunch of comments concerning us and our Zords." Looking at her phone, Tempest raised an eyebrow. "Some lady on here just commented that my suit's weird. Said that it's a darker shade of pink than all of the past Pink Rangers." As they looked through some of the pictures on the blog, they realized that was true. Most of the Pink Rangers of past teams were a mostly consistent shade of pink that wasn't too light, but wasn't too dark. The Element Fury Pink Ranger's outfit, the one Tempest wore, was a darker shade compared to them that bordered on a solid shade of magenta. Soarin shrugged. "I think it looks cool." "Definitely helps you stand out from the ones who came before," Thorax added encouragingly. Tempest smirked. "I like it. Fits me a lot better than the bubblegum pink that's worn by almost every other Pink Ranger." As they talked about that, Flash was actually scrolling through the blog and looking through some of the posts. Almost all of the comments were comparing him to the other Red Rangers from previous Ranger teams. And many of them were not flattering AT ALL. What a rookie. Kid looks like a total noob. Carter Grayson would've had this monster taken down in ten seconds flat. He's no Wes Collins, that's for sure. Kid should just give up. He'll never be as good as the other Red Rangers. Flash sighed. I've only been a Ranger for two weeks and morphed twice. Give me a break. Seeing the look on his face, Twilight asked "Something wrong, Flash?" "Nothing," Flash said quickly, putting away his phone. The look on her face clearly said she didn't believe him, but she didn't say anything. -The Dark Dimension- -Castle of Shadows: Throne Room- Nevermore sighed as he leaned against the wall of the throne room, listening to the King address Blast Radius, Golem, and the new monster in the room. The new monster was roughly a head taller than most of the Rangers, not quite as tall as Nevermore but not as short as Blast Radius. Surprisingly out of all the monster she looked closest to a human. The only things really setting her apart from a human were her blood red skin, her glowing green eyes with black sclera, and her knee-length jet black hair that was tied back in a ponytail and seemed to defy gravity, floating behind her like a tail. Hanging from around her neck was a metal mask shaped like a snake, right down to having two large fangs around the mouth part. She wore a black bodysuit that covered everything except for her hands and feet. She had red armor over her chest, arms, and her legs; all divided into sections that wouldn't hamper her mobility. And strapped to her forearms, around her midriff, and her thighs were knives. Lots and lots of knives, ranging from simple throwing knives to much larger combat knives. And those were only the ones she let everyone see. Her name was Serpentra; not only because of her mask, but also because she tended to be as treacherous as an actual snake. Nobody in the entirety of the Castle trusted her, not even the King. The only real reason she was even in the King's employ was because her skills were very useful and she knew better than to try and betray the King. "So, are all of you clear on your mission," the King asked. Serpentra nodded. "Yes, your Majesty," she replied. "It will be done." "Your will shall be done, my Lord," Blast Radius added. Golem bowed his head, sending him a series of clicks and scrapes that gave the affirmative. "Good. Oh, and Serpentra?" "Yes?" "While losing our monster won't be much of a loss, I want to be perfectly clear. If you sabotage Blast Radius and Golem, or leave them to die at the hands of the Rangers, you will be signing your own death warrant." He spoke in the same cold and even tone he always spoke in, but Serpentra wasn't stupid. She could practically see the malice and rage in his words, the promise of a slow and painful death if she did violate that rule. "I promise you, betraying them is the furthest thing from my mind. And I would have to be the biggest idiot in the Dark Dimension to even think about trying to betray you." It was hard to read the King Of Shadows, seeing as how he didn't have a face. Or any distinguishing features save for the red eyes within the tube. However, it seemed her answer was satisfactory, because he replied "Good answer. However, you still aren't exactly what we'd call trustworthy. And I'd be a fool to send you out there with one of my lieutenants without taking some precautions. So... Nevermore, if you would?" Before Serpentra could ask what was going on, Nevermore (who had been slowly walking up behind her while they were talking) grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her towards the King's tube. "What the hell are you-?" The words died in her mouth the moment Nevermore forced her to hold her palm against the tube. She felt the energy, HIS dark energy against her palm, felt every bit of rage, malice, and hatred that made up his body that was barely contained within the tube. She watched transfixed as something phased through the surface of the tube, what appeared to be a snake made out of purple and black energy. With surprising speed it coiled itself around her forearm and sunk its fangs into her wrist, causing her to scream out as searing pain coursed through her body. The energy snake in the meantime began to work its way into the skin of her arm, eventually taking the form of a purple snake tattoo. Finding her voice through the pain, she panted "What... the hell...was that?!" "An insurance policy. That mark I just gave you binds you to my will. If you try to betray me or do something I don't approve of, THIS happens." Before Serpentra could blink the snake tattoo began to glow, and suddenly black lightning coursed through her body, bringing her to her knees and forcing horrendous screams of pain from her mouth. Nevermore smirked while Blast Radius winced, glad it wasn't him going through that. It only lasted for a few seconds, but eventually it stopped. Gasping for breath, Serpentra glared at the King and asked between gasps "What... the hell... was that?" "That, my dear, was a little thing I call an Agony Matrix. With a single thought, I activate all of the pain receptors in your body. And that mind-numbing pain you just felt? That was on the lowest setting. If I were to unleash it on its highest setting?" He let the threat hang in the air, but Serpentra knew what he was implying. If she stepped out of line, if she sabotaged the King's plans, the Agony Matrix would more than likely cause her mind to shatter beyond any hope of repair. Or possibly make her head explode. She couldn't choose which one was worse. "I... I understand, your Majesty." "Wonderful. Now all of you, go. And do not fail me." -Clover's Cave: Main Room- -After School That Day- Twilight stared intently at the softball-sized sphere of water she had summoned, floating roughly an inch above the palm of his hand. The goal of today's training was control, so she had raised the ball of water from a small bowl Clover had gave her and had kept it in place, doing her best to keep it together while not letting it lose it's shape. She'd been holding it for roughly five minutes so far. Seeing this, Clover said "Nice job, Twilight. Remember, stay focused and keep your emotions steady." "You realize you're talking to a teenager, right," she snarked, never taking her eyes off of the water-ball. Clover giggled. "And they say I'M the snarky one." A few feet away, Soarin was doing a similar exercise but with a miniature tornado in the palm of his hand. Unlike Twilight's ball of water, however, Soarin's was wild and erratic, doing its best to escape from his hand. "Focus on the wind, Soarin," Clover said. "Ignore all of outside distractions." "Trying my best here, Clover," he replied through gritted teeth, reasserting his control over the tornado. "But my stomach's constantly telling me I need a cheeseburger." "Didn't you have lunch today?" "I can eat a quintuple burger with extra fries and drink two chocolate milkshakes, and still have enough room for an ice cream sundae." At that, Clover actually smirked. "I'm not surprised. Your predecessor had a big appetite too. Seems to be a thing with Wind mages." Thorax was levitating a handful of marble-sized rocks over the palm of his hand, having them move around and occasionally group together into bigger shapes; sometimes it was a sphere, sometimes a cylinder, a pyramid, et cetera. His control was actually pretty good, she noted. "Not bad, Thorax. Keep up the good work." "Thank you." Tempest was holding her hands out in front of her, her fingers bent and each fingertip roughly a foot away from each other. Strands of pink lightning would shoot out from between them; first it was between her thumbs, then her forefingers, middle, ring, pinkies, back to her thumbs, then skip to her middle, and she kept it going for a while before the lightning started moving between the wrong fingertips, making her take a break. "Jeez. This stuff's harder to control than I thought it would be," she muttered, flexing her fingers. Clover nodded. "It's easy enough to shoot it out from your hands in a big stream or a shockwave. But with better control and refinement, you'll be able to use it a lot more efficiently and a lot more creatively." Tempest smirked. "Awesome." Looking around Clover asked "Hey, where's Flash?" "He said he'd be a little late," Soarin replied, finally seeming to get the hang of the cyclone in his hand. Puzzled, Thorax asked "How come?" "He said he's grabbing a birthday present for his mom." Tempest rolled her eyes. "Bet you ten bucks we get a call from him saying he's either getting attacked by monsters or he finds a group of them doing something evil." Soarin smirked. "I'll take those odds." Twilight sighed before looking at Splash, who was standing with the rest of their Zords except Leo on the nearby table. "What do you think the odds are, Splash?" Splash shrugged. "Well, the King seems to send a monster out at least once a week. And we haven't fought one since Monday of last week. So logically speaking, we'd either be fighting them today or tomorrow." "Good point." Putting the water back in the bowl, she pulled out her Hydro Slicer and said "Guess I better get some practice in with this." Flash exited the store, his mom's birthday present paid for and tucked away in his jacket pocket. "There we go. Hopefully she'll love this." There was a slight unzipping sound from his backpack, just enough for Leo to poke his head out (fortunately still hidden by the hood of Flash's jacket) and he said "You humans really love to give gifts to each other." "Well, it helps show we care about each other," Flash replied. "Besides, despite how busy she was with her police work, both here and back at Cloudsdale, she still did everything she could to be part of me and Base's lives. Even after Dad passed away, she still made sure to be there for every one of the gigs my band did, and every one of Base's baseball games." "Wow." "Yeah. She's may not be from Krypton or wear a cape, but she's definitely a Super-Mom." "I can't really comment on that seeing as how I and the Zords are machines, ergo, we have no biological parents." Flash paused for a moment, before saying "You guys are a lot more than just machines. Besides, someone had to build and create you guys. Wouldn't they technically count?" Leo seemed to ponder that for a moment before he replied "Honestly, we- Flash, I'm picking up dark magic!" Surprised, he asked "You guys can do that?" "Yes, we can if it's close by. And there's a big surge of it up ahead." Flash took off running, taking note of the buildings that were up ahead. "We got a Burger King, an office building, and the Canterlot Museum of Natural History. Which one, bud?" "Whichever one's straight ahead!" Seeing the familiar twin horse statues out front, he said "Museum it is." As he raced up to the building, he tapped the blue button on his morpher. "Guys, Leo picked up dark magic at the-" Whatever he was about to say was cut off as several loud, ear-piercing screams were heard. He quickly pulled up the hood of his jacket as he rushed in, weaving around a few people who were running away. And as he got into the main atrium, he saw the reason for the screams. A monster was terrorizing a bunch of children, presumably part of an elementary school group on a field trip, in the Paleontology exhibit. The monster itself stood at around eight foot tall and was made out of purple rocks with pink lava flowing between the gaps of the rocks. It's body was water drop shaped, being round at the bottom and a pointed cone at the top. It had large round rocks for shoulders and a head that was round with spikes coming out the top that gave it a mohawk appearance. It mouth was hidden behind a metal mouth-mask and its eyes were bright pink. Its left arm was a normal looking arm, though it too was covered in purple rocks and pink lava, but its right arm was very different. Before the elbow it looked normal but after it, the arm became a large round tube with three short claw like nubs. [2] The creature raised his right arm, revealing a metal sphere flew out and hovered a few inches above the end. The tube began to spin, creating a buzzing sound as pink energy flew out of the tube and surrounded it. "Okay, kiddies! Time for Magma Sphera[2] to teach you kids how to HAVE A BALL," it said, before launching it at the screaming children. "FIRE FURY, ENGAGE!" There was a flash of red light as Flash morphed, the Pyro Saber in hand and blocking the orb. Gritting his teeth as he pushed against it, he turned his head to the children and their teacher and yelled "GET SOMEWHERE SAFE! GO!" As they took off running, Magma Sphera groaned "Come on! I was gathering a whole bunch of fear from those kids!" Taking note of that in the back of his head, Flash replied "Sorry to disappoint. But on the plus side..." He ducked under the orb, letting it slam into the wall behind him before throwing his free hand out at him. "I've got something with a little more heat!" He focused and formed a fireball, but before he could launch it Magma Sphera pulled his right arm back and the orb shot out of the wall and clocked Flash on the back of the head, breaking his concentration and causing the fireball to fizzle out. Blinking the stars out of his eyes, he turned back to the monster and saw him focusing more pink energy into the orb, causing its glow to intensify. "Let's see you try this on for size. BLAST ORB!" With a BANG! similar to a cannon blast, the orb shot forward at remarkable speed. Flash brought up the Pyro Saber to block, but that proved to be a mistake as the moment the orb touch the sword it unleashed a shockwave of pink energy that sent Flash flying down the hall. He flew far, past the exhibits showing skeletons of a Mastodon, a Pterodactyl, a Triceratops, a Saber-Toothed Tiger, before finally landing and skidding to a stop beneath a Tyrannosaurus Rex.[3] His suit glowed red for a moment before disappearing, the monster's attack forcing him to de-morph. Groaning, he lifted himself up as he heard Twilight's voice coming from his morpher. "Flash, what's going on? You said Leo had sensed Dark Magic and then-" "We got a monster attack at the Canterlot Museum of Natural History. The monster in question hit me hard enough to de-morph me," Flash replied. Seeing the monster walking towards him, he added "Could really use the cavalry right now." Clover's voice came on next. "Your friends are on their way, Flash. And your morpher's gonna need a few minutes to reboot and reestablish the link to the Morphin Grid before you can morph again." "Wonderful," Flash replied sarcastically, getting to his feet and seeing Magma Sphera charging up its orb again. "Uh, question: how long is a few minutes?" "Not sure. On the plus side, your friends will be there right about... now!" There were four flashes of green light behind Magma Sphera, and suddenly he was blasted by several green lasers. This was followed up by several streaks of pink lightning, a water blade, and finally getting sent flying by a blow from the Quake Ax, revealing the other Rangers morphed and ready to fight. "Stay away from our friend, ugly," Tempest growled. Having regained its bearings, Magma Sphera growled "Great. Like one Ranger wasn't bad enough." "Hey, we're a package deal," Soarin replied. "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us." With that the four Rangers charged into battle, while Flash quickly ducked into a side hallway so as not to get caught in the crossfire. "Well, this day just keeps getting worse and worse. Charge headfirst into a battle, get de-morphed, and now I can't help my friends fight a monster." He would've probably sunk deeper into self-loathing, if he hadn't noticed a group of Pawns heading down the side hall to another exhibit. "Huh. I wonder what they're up to?" -Meanwhile, in the Ancient Cultures Exhibit- Serpentra smiled, looking at a large diamond sitting in a glass display case. "Well, hello there. Aren't you just magnificent?" "Yeah," Blast Radius said, snapping her out of her reverie. "Magnificent, but definitely not what we came here for." The two of them and Golem had teleported into an an ancient cultures exhibit, specifically looking through the artifacts for specific items that the King of Shadows wanted. Fortunately, Blast Radius's staff also doubled as a magic detector, so they wouldn't have too much trouble telling the difference between an artifact with actual magic and just a very expensive yet completely useless hunk of gold and/or diamond. Serpentra rolled her eyes. "I know that. And I know what the King wants." Turning back to the display case she added "But that doesn't mean I can't take a little something for myself." "How about you wait until after we get everything the King wants? The Rangers are busy fighting Magma down the hall, so we need to make this quick." "Fine, fine. Have you found what he's looking for yet?" Following the light from his staff he answered "I believe I have. This way." Serpentra followed him towards a table full of weapons, armor, and jewelry from Medieval Europe. Blast Radius waved his staff and a single item was coated in orange magic before rising up from the table and hovering in the air. The item in question was a necklace with four large stones dangling from a solid gold chain: one stark white, one a dark and bloody crimson, one a jet black, and the last one a sickly pale green color. "Hmm..." Seprentra said as she gingerly took the necklace in her hand. "Have to admit, the King has good taste. I can feel the magic held within the jewels. " Blast Radius nodded, taking the necklace in his hand. "Indeed. This was one of his most powerful artifacts; the Necklace of Destruction." "Oooh. Sounds sinister." "No it doesn't." Both of them whirled around to see Flash standing a few feet away, leaning against a pillar in the room, with a bored expression on his face. "Actually it sounds really generic," he added with a smirk. Serpentra rolled her eyes before looking at Blast Radius. "Blast Radius, who is this kid?" "That kid, Serpentra, is the Element Fury Red Ranger," he replied. "Though I'm a bit surprised he's not morphed." "Huh. Magma Sphera's attack must've done something to his morpher." Flash gritted his teeth, knowing that they were right and that sadly his morpher still needed about two more minutes to reboot. But all the same he replied "Yeah. But..." In a flash of red light the Pyro Saber appeared in his hands before he settled into a combat stance. "I don't need to be able to morph to fight. Just ask the Pawns I took care of outside." The two monsters looked behind him to see that indeed, the bodies of roughly ten Pawns were fading away into dust, a few of the more intact ones showing melted armor and burning gray flesh. Serpentra almost seemed impressed by that, before making a motion with her arms and a set of knives slid down from under the armor over her forearms. She held up her hands and the set of knives folded out like a fan. With a smile she said "Well then, Red Boy. Let's see if you can survive THIS!!!" She flung her arms forward with lightning fast reflexes, launching the knives at him. Flash managed to deflect a good chunk of them, but sadly a few of them managed to slip through his guard. None of them stabbed him or seriously injured him, though it dead leave some tears on the sleeves and sides of his jacket. The last one actually missed his face by about a millimetre; any further to the left and he might've lost his right eye. Serpentra smirked. "Not bad. Good reflexes, though they could use some work." Flash growled. "This was my favorite jacket. You're going to pay for this, snake lady!" At that, Serpentra smiled. "Snake lady? How appropriate." She grabbed her snake mask and placed it upon her face, the mask and her body beginning to give off a sinister green glow. "Let me ssshow you jusssst how SSSSSNAKE-LIKE I CAN BE!!!!" She began to change, and Flash's eyes widened in fear. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" -Back with the other Rangers- To say the battle between the Rangers and Magma Sphera was not going in the Rangers' favor would be an understatement. Twilight dodged another strike from Magma Sphera's orb, which immediately zoomed away and slammed into Tempest, who was attempting to strike the monster from behind. Soarin tried to blast it with his Cyclone Crossbow, but the lasers harmlessly bounced off his skin. "Seriously," Soarin grumbled. "What the hell's this guy made out of?" "Pure evil," Thorax guessed, using his Quake Ax to deflect Magma Sphera's orb again. "But what's really annoying is that heat-seeking beach ball of his!" "It's not a ball, it's an orb," Magma Sphera yelled, pulling the orb back to his right arm and charging it with energy before aiming it at Soarin. "BLAST ORB!" The orb shot out with the familiar cannon blast, but rather than try to block it Soarin focused some of his wind magic to his feet and leaped into the air, the height of his jump taking him less than a foot away from the ceiling. The blast barely missed him, though he could feel the energy wave just tickling the bottom of his feet. Magma Sphera immediately pulled his orb back, coating it in energy. Seeing an opening, Soarin aimed and fired a Tornado Grenade at the monster's head, hitting home. But to their shock, Magma Sphera tanked the attack head on without taking so much as a scratch. "Oh, come on!" Tempest started charging her Storm Spear. "Let's see if he can tank this. THUNDER STRIKE!" The lightning bolt came down on Magma Sphera, but again his skin deflected it and sent it towards Twilight. She dodged it and fired a few shots from her Hydro Slicer, but they still didn't do anything. Thorax threw his Quake Ax, but this time Magma Sphera pulled his orb back and knocked the ax away. Recalling it to his hand Thorax asked "Clover, is Flash's morpher ready yet?" "About 30 seconds," she replied. "Do you guys have eyes on him?" Ducking under another strike from the orb, Twilight answered "He said he saw some Pawns heading down the hall. He figured this guy might've just been a distraction." "AND UNFORTUNATELY I WAS RIGHT!" All four Rangers turned to see Flash running into the exhibit, a look of abject terror on his face. They saw the reason for his terror a second later, when the largest snake any of them had ever seen slithered in pursuit of Flash. It was easily as thick around as a fire truck, and scales as red as blood. It locked its emerald green eyes on Flash before flicking out its forked tongue, almost looking like it was licking its lips. "HOLY- That is one big snake," Soarin commented. Before any of them could say anything else, the snake flicked its tongue out and wrapped it around Flash's ankle. With one swift motion, it lifted Flash up, throwing him up in the air and opening its mouth wide. "Oh no," Twilight muttered in horror, realizing what was about to happen. Just before Flash fell into the snake's maw, he heard his morpher beep and say "Morphin Grid Link Reestablished." Slamming his finger onto the red button he yelled "FIRE FURY-!" The rest of his Morphing Call was drowned out by the snake snapping its jaws shut, before swallowing him with a loud GULP! All of the Rangers were in shock at this, seeing their friend get swallowed whole like a mouse. Magma Sphera actually laughed and said "Wow! Didn't think you'd go that route, Serpentra." She laughed and said "Me neither. He ssssure wassss a sssspicy one." She then looked at the other Rangers and added "And it lookssss like there'ssss- URP!" She winced in pain, before looking down at the small bulge in her stomach where Flash was, noticing that it was starting to glow a brighter red than her scales. She coughed, smoke coming out of her mouth and through her nostrils as she did. She gagged once, twice, then three times before finally she retched and a fully morphed Flash (whose hands were covered in red flames) was thrown up onto the floor, covered in a foul smelling green liquid. As he got up to his feet Serpentra's body glowed as she reverted back to her previous form, a little smoke still coming out of her mouth as she removed her mask and coughed. Soarin looked at Flash and said "Guess you were a little too spicy for-" Flash stopped him with a raised finger. "Not. Another. WORD!" "You okay, Flash," Tempest asked. "I just got swallowed whole and then puked up by a monster snake-lady that turned into a giant snake. I'm just peachy," he replied sarcastically. At that moment Blast Radius walked into the room, Golem carrying a large wooden crate on one shoulder. "Serpentra! Magma! I got what we're after. Let's go!" "Oh, no you don't," Flash yelled, launching a Blazing Slash at him. However, Golem simply stepped in front of the attack and tanked it, the fire barely leaving a scorch mark across Golem's pure stone body. Seeing this, Blast Radius smirked. "Well, Fire-Types always were weak against Rock-Types."[4] Before any of the Rangers could move, he aimed his staff at them and uttered "Tsalb!" fired off a sphere of red energy. It struck down in front of the rangers and exploded in a violent fireball that sent everyone flying backwards. Flash and Twilight landed on their backs, Thorax and Tempest ended up landing on their fronts, Soarin ended up unluckily crashing against a wall and falling headfirst into an open trashcan. Each of their suits flashed their respective colors before they all de-morphed, all of them groaning in pain. Serpentra laughed, but then coughed up some more black smoke. "D-(cough) damn it! (cough, cough) That S.O.B. seared my (cough, cough, cough) throat," she rasped out between coughs. "I'll whip something up for you when we get back," Blast Radius promised, pointing his staff and opening up a portal. "Now let's go!" Once they passed through the portal, the Rangers all heard police sirens outside the building. Flash sighed, before hitting the comm button on his morpher. "Hey Clover. Think you could do us a favor and teleport us back to base before the cops come in?" "Done. Standby for teleport." "Thank you." As the green light surrounded them, Flash sighed. Some Red Ranger I am. -The Dark Dimension- -Castle of Darkness: Throne Room- If it were possible, the King sounded pleased. "Excellent work." They were going through the artifacts that they'd stolen from the museum, sorting them out for various projects that Blast Radius was working on. "The Necklace of Destruction," Blast Radius said, holding the item in question up for the tube to see. "As you ordered, my lord." "Fantastic. And it still has all the stones." Serpentra just rolled her eyes, grabbing a jug of water and downing it in one go, breathing out a cloud of steam and wincing in pain. "I swear, the next time I see that red ba- (COUGH!) I'm going to snake up, wrap my coils around his scrawny neck, and-" Whatever she was going to say next was lost as she devolved into a coughing fit, before grabbing another jug and downing the water in that. Once she was done she glared at Blast Radius, pointed at her throat and asked "I thought you said you'd fix this?" "Patience, my venomous friend. Once we're done sorting the loot to where it needs to go, I'll make you a nice potion that will soothe your throat and heal the damage," he calmly replied. Behind her, Nevermore smirked and handed her something. "In the meantime, try these." Serpentra looked at what Nevermore put in her hand, which turned out to be a small packet of cherry flavored Cough Drops. She glared at him and muttered "I hate you. SO. MUCH." "I bask in your hate, and laugh at your pain." "If the two of you are done acting like children," the King said, sounding annoyed. "Nevermore, send Magma Sphera back out there to gather more fear. He managed to get a good amount from those children, but we're going to need a lot more for future plans." Nevermore nodded and bowed. "At once, my Lord." "Blast Radius, once you take care of Serpentra's throat problem, get to work on the Pawn conversions." "As you wish. I know the perfect potion to fix that." He looked at Serpentra and said "Give me about ten minutes." Once he left, the King said "As for you, Serpentra, I have a special assignment for you." "It's not (Cough!) gonna involve dealing with teenagers again, is it," she asked. "Cause I've (Cough! Cough!) had enough of those Rangers for a while." "Yes and no. You will be having to deal with teenagers again, but assuming you don't screw up you shouldn't have to be fighting the Rangers again for quite a while." "Why do I have a bad feeling about where this is (Cough!) going?" -Clover's Cave- Soarin winced as he moved the bag of ice to a different spot on his head. "Well... that sucked." Tempest nodded her head in agreement, having ditched her jacket and placed an ice pack on her right shoulder. "Understatement. That monster pretty much bulldozed us." "That monster was a lot more difficult than the last two," Thorax stated, handing Twilight an ice pack while he himself was holding one on his chest. "Aside from the fact that he had that annoying beach ball of his, his hide was tough enough to No-Sell multiple attacks from the Hydro Slicer and Cyclone Crossbow." "I was there, dude," Soarin replied. "I noticed. That Tornado Grenade should've at least knocked him back some, but he tanked it like it was nothing." Twilight was furiously tapping away on her laptop, looking through both security cam footage and the footage from the Rangers' own helmets to try to figure out what the monster's weakness was. "His orb moves too fast for us to really be able to strike it, and if we try to attack him he just has the orb attack us. He seems to somehow be able to see or sense around him, since every time one of us tries to attack him from behind or from an angle out of his field of view he sics his orb on us..." Sunset and Clover were looking at Twilight as she was doing that, before Sunset looked at Clover and asked "Were you like that when you were the Blue Ranger?" Clover giggled. "Yeah. But back then we didn't have computers. Had to do everything with a feather quill, an ink well, and parchment. A LOT of parchment." Looking around at the Rangers she asked "I take it Flash is still in the shower?" Everyone nodded. "Still trying to get the stench of that Snake Lady's stomach acid out of his hair," Soarin replied. "And probably mourning the loss of his favorite jacket." "Torn up by Serpentra's knife collection and then half melted away by her stomach acid," Tempest said sadly, looking at her own jacket. "What a way to go." "And considering that jacket was the last gift from his dearly departed father," Soarin added. "Yeah, that snake lady better hope she never runs into Flash again, cause he's liable to incinerate her." Twilight looked up from her computer and asked "Has anyone noticed that Flash has been kind of... off?" Seeing everyone's puzzled look she continued "It just seems like there's something on his mind, something that's been bothering him." Soarin nodded. "Yeah, I did notice actually. He's been quiet ever since lunch. Not even a chuckle at any of my jokes." Rolling her eyes Tempest said "While that second part isn't that surprising since your terrible puns barely count as comedy-" "HEY!" "-I will admit he has been unusually quiet." "I think I might know why," Thorax said, looking at something on his phone that he immediately showed to everyone. Everyone's reactions were varying shades of disappointment. "Okay, seriously," Tempest asked. "Thorax, I thought you moderated the comments?" "I made sure to enforce the rules that commentators can't harass other commentators, post any sort of death threats or put NSFW content on my blog. But unfortunately, beyond that I can't really control what they say about the Rangers. Believe me, if that were the case, NOBODY would be allowed to say ANYTHING about the Operation Overdrive Rangers."[5] "Fair point." "Still, I can see why it would bother him," Thorax said. "While all of the Rangers are important regardless of their color, with a few exceptions the Red Rangers are generally considered some of the greatest of all time. That kind of legacy would be hard to live up to." Soarin nodded. "And considering he got one-shot by a monster, got his jacket torn up by a snake lady who then proceeded to swallow him whole, and the get one shot AGAIN by that explosion-slinging wizard monster, I think it's safe to assume he's probably not feeling that great right now." "Ain't that the truth?" Everyone turned to see Flash standing there, dressed in a red t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. "Thanks for the clothes, Clover," he said. "You're welcome," she replied. "I'll try and see if I can do something with your jacket." "You mean what's left of it," he muttered. Everyone else looked at each other questioningly before Twilight finally asked "So... how are you doing?" Flash sat down and sighed. "I spent most of today getting my ass kicked and being humiliated. My jacket's totally ruined, and I doubt any magic Clover has will be able to fix it. Frankly the only good thing to happen today is that my mom's gift wasn't damaged. Gonna need a new box for it, though." "Don't forget that you also saved a bunch of kids from getting knocked around by that monster's heat-seeking beach ball," Thorax added. "I'd definitely call that a good thing." "I'm not denying that. Trust me, I'd be a terrible excuse of a Power Ranger if I ever considered saving people to not be important." He looked down at his morpher and said "It's just... I figured being a Power Ranger wouldn't be as easy as they make it look on TV. Something I'm sure we can all attest to." They all nodded at that. "Well, it's even harder for me. Like Thorax said, all of the Rangers are important, but the Red Rangers tend to be the MVPs. They're the ones who tend to leave the biggest impact from each team, for better or worse. And honestly... I'm just not sure I'm cut out for the job. I'm not like any of the previous Red Rangers. And frankly, I don't know if I can ever be as good a Red Ranger as any of them were." There was a few minutes of silence before Twilight looked up from her laptop and said "You're right. You're not like any of the previous Red Rangers." She then smiled and continued "But I'd say that's a good thing." "As awesome as Carter Grayson, Wes Collins, and those other Red Rangers were," Soarin said "they're not you. They're not Flash Sentry." "Clover told us that our Gems all chose us for a reason," Thorax added. "Clearly it deemed you worthy of being the Red Ranger of this team." Tempest put a hand on his shoulder and said "You don't need to be as good as the past Red Rangers. You just need to be the best Red Ranger that YOU, Flash Sentry, can be." Leo hopped up onto Flash's lap. "So stop beating yourself up. Everyone make's mistakes, especially when they're just starting out. Heck, your predecessor, the first Element Fury Red Ranger, screwed up plenty of times when HE first started out. You know what he did when that happened?" "What did he do," Flash asked. "He got back up, promised his team he'd get better, and kept moving forward. And when people gave him flack for his failures or because they didn't like him, he didn't care. The only opinions he cared about were his own and those of his team members. The words of all the naysayers were nothing more than background noise to him." Flash looked at Leo, then back at everyone else. Finally he asked "You guys really want me to lead this team?" Everyone nodded. "You're the Element Fury Red Ranger. That means you are our Red Ranger," Twilight replied. "We wouldn't want anyone else for the job." "And keep in mind, you're not the only rookie here," Soarin added, motioning to everyone. "We're all rookies at this, pal. You're not alone in that department." He was quiet for a moment, before he smiled. "Thanks guys. After the day I've had, I needed that." "Anytime, pal," Thorax replied. "And trust me, I'm going to be better. Starting with coming up with a plan to take out this monster." Looking over at Twilight, he asked "Any idea on how to do that?" Twilight made the "so-so" gesture with her hand. "Sort of. I did find a glaring weakness in Magma Sphera's attack strategy." "Good. What is it?" "Well, depending on how he attacks, his orb can only attack so many times before he has to pull it back to recharge it. With his regular attacks he can strike 3 times before he has to pull back and recharge. With his Blast Orb, he can only fire that one time." Flash grinned. "So, we have a window that we can exploit." "Technically, yes." "Technically?" "See, the recharge time for his orb never seems to be longer than five seconds max. The orb also moves fast enough to keep up with all of us, and it seems to act like a third eye that has 360 degrees of vision, since while it was above his head he was able to see us anytime we tried to sneak up on him from behind. And sadly none of our weapons are strong enough to blast or cut through his orb, or himself for that matter." "And sadly, five seconds won't be enough for us to put together the Fury Cannon, charge it, and blast the guy to smithereens," Flash figured. "Well, we could try combining our elemental attacks together. When you and I combined our fire and water elements, we actually managed to stun Nevermore. Granted it didn't actually hurt him, but it did still stun him and buy us a few seconds. Plus when we're morphed we have a lot more power than when we're not." Twilight drummed her fingers on her laptop in thought. "That... could work. But part of me thinks that we need something with a bit more, oomph." At that moment the monster alarms started going off, and Clover said "Looks like Magma Sphera's back for Round 2. And this time he's got some Pawns with him." Seeing the screen, Flash noted "Looks like they're near Canterlot Mall." "The place is bound to have a whole bunch of kids who just got out of school for the day," Thorax stated. Flash nodded. "Then let's not waste any time. Let's move!" As they got on the teleport platform, Soarin looked to Flash and asked "You ready for this?" Flash smirked. "You know it. IT'S MORPHIN TIME! FIRE FURY!" "WATER FURY!" "WIND FURY!" "EARTH FURY!" "LIGHTNING FURY!" "ENGAGE!" -Outside Canterlot Mall- "Onward Pawns," Magma Sphera ordered as they advanced on the mall, the people outside rushing inside and many of them calling the police. Just as one of the Pawns were about to grab the door handled there were five flashes of green light, and suddenly the Pawn found itself being sent flying away via a kick to the face, courtesy of the Element Fury Red Ranger. All of the Rangers looked at Magma Sphera and his Pawns, summoning their weapons. Flash leveled the Pyro Saber at them and said "Mall's closed, jerk. You want those people, you gotta go through us." "Or to be more accurate," Tempest said, her Storm Spear crackling with pink lightning "WE go through YOU!" As one, they all cried "Elemental Might! RANGERS UNITE!" Magma Sphera growled. "CHARGE!!!!" The group dispersed to deal with the Pawns, but before they really got into the fight Flash said "Thorax! Put up a barrier in front of the doors. Better safe than sorry!" "On it," Thorax replied, slamming both palms on the ground. Said ground raised a solid wall in front of the doors, several feet thick and several feet high. Summoning the Quake Ax back, Thorax said "That should do it. Now then..." He turned to the Pawns around him. "Who dies first?" Soarin dodged and weaved around a few of the Pawns before ending up next to Thorax. "Think maybe you can get these guys airborne," he asked. Thorax nodded, charging his Earth Magic into his right fist. As he slammed his fist down he yelled "Pawns going up!" The magic he unleashed created a shockwave that functioned like a miniature earthquake, one that sent all the Pawns around the two Rangers airborne. Soarin himself wasn't hit because he jumped into the air a moment before Thorax's fist hit the ground. As the Pawns were all knocked into the air, Soarin moved quickly, aiming his Cyclone Crossbow and yelling "Pawns going down!" before taking his shots, nailing twelve of them. The thirteenth and final one began to fall back to the ground, and was bisected in midair by Thorax's Quake Ax. Floating gently to the ground, Soarin smirked and held out his fist to Thorax. "Nice job, dude." Thorax smiled, fist-bumping him. "You too, man." Tempest weaved in and out of the group of Pawns she was fighting; nimbly dodging their own attacks while striking at them with her Storm Spear as it crackled with pink lightning, stunning any Pawn unfortunate enough to be touched by it. Once she got most of them stunned she raised her Storm Spear skyward, before bringing it down in a spinning fashion. As she spun she unleashed a stream of lightning from her spear, essentially turning herself into an electricity spewing sprinkler that decimated the Pawns around her. "That should be all the Pawns," she said, looking around and seeing no more of the unliving soldiers. "Flash, Twilight, you guys got the monster?" "Sort of," Twilight replied. Flash and Twilight had been fighting Magma Sphera for the past few minutes, doing their best to avoid his orb and try and deal some sort of damage to him when he was recharging. Sadly, that was easier said than done. Even with that window of opportunity his recharge gave them, none of their attacks seemed to do anything except annoy the monster, who was quickly losing his composure and firing his Blast Orb as often as he could. "Come on! There has to be some way to hurt this guy," Flash grumbled. Twilight fired a Water Blade at his back, but just like the last few times it didn't leave a scratch. "Think we should try that plan of ours," she asked. "Plan all you want, it won't change a thing," Magma Sphera yelled, shooting his orb out. "BLAST ORB!" The two Rangers both leapt out of the way, narrowly avoiding the energy shockwave. They then charged up their weapons with their specials, their weapons glowing red and blue. They waited until he was recharging his orb before unleashing their attacks, both of them yelling out "ELEMENT COMBO! BOILING SLICE WAVE!" The attacks combined into a massive wave of boiling water that shot forward and slammed into Magma Sphera, unleashing a massive cloud of steam and causing the monster to scream out in pain. "Ouch," Flash said. "I almost feel bad for him." He looked at Twilight and added "I don't, though." "Let's just hope that actually did some damage to him," Twilight replied, looking at the disappearing steam cloud warily. Soarin, Thorax and Tempest ran up, all of their weapons ready. "We heard someone screaming," Soarin said. "Take it that was the monster?" Flash nodded as the steam cloud finally cleared up, revealing Magma Sphera, seemingly not taking any damage. "We poured everything we have into that attack," Twilight exclaimed in disbelief! "How is he not hurt?!" He was about to answer when he noticed something. Among the rocks and lava that made up his chest, there was a patch that was a different color, the lava and rocks being much darker shades compared to the rest. As he looked on the ground he noticed a bunch of pink rocks and some rapidly cooling pink lava, roughly the size of the hole on Magma Sphera's chest. "I think it-" He was cut off by Magma Sphera letting out a roar that was filled with rage and pain. He pointed at the Rangers and screamed "THAT'S IT! I'M THROUGH PLAYING AROUND!" He raised his right arm and the orb up into the air, the orb getting filled with so much pink energy that the whole area was bathed in a pink glow. "I'M GOING THE BLOW ALL OF YOU PUNKS TO KINGDOM C-"[6] Before he could finish that sentence Flash had shot forward, fire surrounding his Pyro Saber as he charged forward. "BURNING STRIKE!" He slashed his fiery sword across the exposed spot, and couldn't help but smile when he heard Magma Sphera scream in pain and the pink glow suddenly died down. Flash smirked and said "Aw. Did that hurt?" "I AM GONNA MURDER YOU!" He attempted to knock him away with his arm, but Flash jumped back out of the way. He looked to the Rangers and said "He does have a weakspot. The steam wave knocked off part of his armor. Aim for the patch on his chest!" Seeing the patch, Twilight said "We could probably nail that with the Fury Cannon, but we still need to do something about the orb." Flash smirked. "Call me crazy, but I have an idea. Twilight, Thorax, you're with me! Guys, keep him occupied!" Taking his cue, Soarin started unleashing a barrage of lasers from his Cyclone Crossbow. Tempest followed suit, fired lightning bolt after lightning bolt towards his weak spot, which made him try and attack them with his orb. His attention focused on them, he never noticed the other three Rangers sneaking up on his right side. "Care to clue us in on the plan," Thorax asked. Flash nodded. "His right arm is what charges his orb. So if we take that out or immobilize it, he can't recharge it." "And, how do we do that?" "Well Thorax, what happens when you superheat rock?" Both Thorax and Twilight understood what he was implying. Thorax nodded and placed his palm on the ground. "Can't get a boulder, but I got a nice amount of decent sized stones that should do the job." "That actually works better. Easier to melt a whole bunch of smaller rocks than to melt a giant boulder," Flash noted. "Twilight, once we get this stuff on his arm, dump as much water as you can on it." "Got it. Give me the signal when you're ready." "Then let's do it!" Thorax focused his magic, pulling a large amount of rocks out of the ground. Keeping his focus, he shot them forward and had them cover Magma Sphera's right arm, making sure some of them covered the opening where his hand was. Confused, Magma asked "What the-? Hey, get this stuff off of me!" "All you, Flash!" Focusing the fire on his saber until it glowed white hot, Flash said "To quote one of my favorite video game characters, BURN, BABY!" He aimed his sword and unleashed a stream of white hot fire onto the rocks, keeping them there until the rocks began to melt into lava. Once they started that, he cut off the flames and yelled "Twilight!" Water shot out from her open palm like a fire hose, soaking the lava covering Magma Sphera's arm and creating a lot of steam. "You're all washed up, pal," she muttered. Once she cut off the stream and the steam cleared, they saw his arm was completely covered in cooling rock. The orb, now out of energy and unable to be recharged, fell to the ground as a useless paperweight. "NO," he cried. "YOU JERKS! NOW I CAN'T RECHARGE MY ORB!" "That's the least of your problems, pal," Soarin said. "You got that right," Flash replied. "Let's end this guys. Form the Fury Cannon!" Once their weapons were combined, they aimed it right at the weak spot. Realizing what was about to happen the monster said "Oh, this is gonna suck!" "FIRE FURY BLAST, ENGAGE!" The blast from the Cannon shot right into the weak spot, burning him from the inside out and creating an explosion. Once it died down, Magma weakly growled "You Rangers always have to win, don't you?" before falling down and exploding into black energy. Blast Radius winced as he saw Magma Sphera explode. "Sheesh, deep fried from the inside out. What a way to go." "At the very least his two excursions into the Human World managed to get us a decent amount of fear," the King said. Readying his staff, Radius asked "Shall I keep that going?" "Make it so." "SHADOW RESURRECTION!" "YOU RANGERS ARE GOING TO GET IT NOW," a resurrected and giant-sized Magma Sphera roared. "So are you, pal," Flash said. "Let's do it, guys!" "ZORDS! ENGAGE BATTLE MODE! ACTIVATE ELEMENT FURY MEGAZORD!!" The moment the Megazord was formed they got hit in the head by Magma Sphera's orb, knocking them back and knocking the Rangers around in the cockpit. "Oh, come on," Tempest groaned. "Why did that have to get giant sized with him?" "Because sadly, our jobs can never be THAT easy," Soarin replied. Flash growled, slamming the red button down on his console. "LION FIRE!" The Lion Zord opened its mouth and fired a stream of fire at Magma Sphera, but before it could reach him he shot a Blast Orb forward. The orb smashed through the flamethrower and struck the Megazord full on and exploding, sending it falling backwards and jostling the Rangers even more. "I am really, really starting to hate this guy," Thorax grumbled. "I think we all do at this point," Twilight said. Looking over at Flash she continued "We can't get close enough to hit him, and I don't think the Elemental Stampede's going to-" Whatever she was going to say was cut off by the Monster coming forward and repeatedly stomping his foot down on the Megazord, hard. "YOU RANGERS ARE PATHETIC! YOU'RE JUST A BUNCH OF CHILDREN THINKING YOU CAN TAKE ON THE WORLD!" Ignoring that, Flash said "I've got an idea. Soarin, Tempest, when I say go, grab his foot!" "Got it," they both yelled. "YOU SHOULD'VE JUST GIVEN UP WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE," Magma SPhera said, raising his foot and bringing it down. "NOW!" The Megazord's arms shot up, grabbing his foot and holding it in place. "HUH?! HEY, LET GO OF MY FOOT!" "Can do," Flash replied. "Guys, give this guy a push!" They did so, pushing him back and throwing him off balance, eventually falling backwards on the street. "OW!" Once they got the Megazord back on its feet, Flash said "Hate to break it to you, Magma, but we're Power Rangers. Giving up is never an option!" The moment he said that, a lion's roar was heard and his console began glowing red. "Whoa, what's going on with your console," Soarin asked. "I have no idea," Flash replied. "Leo, what's up?" "Something spectacular," Leo replied. A panel opened up on the console, revealing a slot that needed something inserted in it. Looking at it, Twilight said "It looks like your E-Raiser could fit in there." Pulling out his E-Raiser, Flash replied "Let's find out." He plugged the E-Raiser into the slot and turned it counter-clockwise, and the whole Lion Zord began to glow red. "Leo, please tell me this is going somewhere good." "It is. I just need the command. Activate Blazefire Saber!" "ACTIVATE BLAZEFIRE SABER!" Outside, the red energy turned into a fireball that hovered in front of the Megazord. It then slammed both fists into it, before separating and revealing the sword. The sword itself was shaped like a cutlass, roughly as long as the Megazord's arm with a gold hilt and hand guard. The blade itself was bright red, with gold flames decorating the sides. Seeing this, Magma growled and said "A SWORD. REALLY?" "Let's hope this gives us the edge we need to take this guy down," Soarin said, half-joking and half-serious. "You just had to ruin it, didn't you," Tempest groaned. "Can the chatter, you two," Flash said. "We've got a monster to destroy." Magma Sphera growled as the Megazord approached, charging up his orb. "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT KIND OF TOYS YOU HAVE! I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL THE SAME!" Seeing him charging up a Blast Orb, Flash had an idea. "Soarin, bring the sword down on the orb when it's close enough." "You sure," he asked. "Do you trust me?" Soarin grinned behind the helmet. "Always." "BLAST ORB," Magma Sphere yelled, shooting it at them like a bullet. Once it was close enough, Soarin raised the Blazefire Saber and brought it down, striking the orb- -and to the surprise of everyone, it cut the orb in half like a knife through butter. Even Flash was surprised. "I wasn't even sure that was going to work," he said. "But I'm glad it did." Magma Sphera looked at it in horror. "OH NO." Readying the sword, Flash said "Let's see what else this thing can do." The monster tried to back away, but the Megazord was already on him. They slashed him across the chest, chunks of his rocky armor flying off as they did. They nailed him with three more strikes, knocking out chunks of his armor until most of his chest was laid bare. "NO! PLEASE! HAVE MERCY!" "You tried to attack a bunch of defenseless kids, and you're asking US for mercy," Flash asked. "You guys think he deserves mercy?" "Nope," Twilight replied. Soarin shook his head. "Nuh-uh." "Heck no," Thorax added. "Let's finish this guy," Tempest said. "Then we have a unanimous decision," Flash stated. "Let's end this." The Megazord raised the Blazefire Saber skyward as it began to glow, red flames surrounding it as the temperature rose exponentially. Seeing this, Magma Sphera's eyes widened. "UH OH." "BLAZEFIRE SABER! INFERNO SLASH!!!!" The Megazord brought down the Blazefire Saber down on the monster, unleashing a massive wave of fire that decimated Magma Sphera. He started sparking and screamed "IT BURNS! IT BURNSSSS!!!!" before falling forward and exploding. Flash smirked as the Megazord raised the sword up to the sky in a salute. "Elements Together, Rangers Forever!" -Clover's Cave- "So, what exactly was that sword," Flash asked. "Remember when I said that as time goes on you guys will start unlocking things like new attacks, new weapon forms, et cetera," she asked. Once they nodded she continued "That also extends to the Zords and the Megazord. Each of your Zords has a weapon or ability that can be accessed with your E-Raiser once your Zord deems you ready for it." Looking at Leo perched on Flash's shoulder, Soarin asked "So you thought he was ready for that?" Leo nodded. "When Flash realized that he was worthy of being the Red Ranger for this team, he gained the Blazefire Saber. You guys helped him with that, so technically you all deserve praise for this one." "Yeah, thanks guys," Flash said. "What're friends for," Twilight replied, smiling. Soarin looked at Aquila and asked "So, what's your weapon gonna be?" "Just like with the E-Raisers and the combined weapon, it's different for each Ranger," Aquila replied. "When his predecessor awakened Leo's weapon, it was actually a shield. Your predecessor got a giant paper fan for the Megazord. So for all we know, it could be anything." "Guess we'll just have to wait and see," Thorax stated. "Good luck with that. Patience has never been Soarin's strong suit," Flash quipped. Tempest smirked. "Never could've imagined that." "Ha, ha. Very funny," Soarin sarcastically replied. Looking at his watch, Flash said "I gotta get going. Mom actually managed to get home tonight and I want to give her her present." "Oh, before you go," Clover said, handing Flash a box. "Got a little gift for you." Puzzled, Flash opened it up to reveal- "My jacket! You fixed it?" Clover smirked. "And improved it a bit. Take a look." He unfolded the jacket to get a good look at it, and was surprised by what he found. The sleeves and back had been the ones to suffer the most damage from the stomach acid, but Clover had managed to fix it up good as new. No evidence of acid burn, no material missing, and not even a scratch. But what really surprised him was that on the back of it was a new design, a red lion that was surrounded by stylized flame. "How did you do all of this? This thing was pretty much rags when I brought it too you." "I can use magic to teleport across the country and freeze Nevermore in place for a few seconds, and yet me repairing your jacket is hard for you to believe?" "Good point," he replied. "Thank you so much." "No problem. You gonna put it on, or did I just put all that effort into it for nothing?" Flash obliged, sliding the jacket on, noting that it fit just as well as it did before. Looking to his friends he asked "How do I look?" "Like the Element Fury Red Ranger," Twilight replied, the others echoing her sentiments. Flash smiled. "No other Red Ranger I'd rather be. Now, where's my mom's present?" Soarin handed him the box. "Out of curiosity, what'd you get her?" "Well, my dad always got her these glass figurines my mom liked to collect for her birthday. So, I figured I'd keep the tradition going." Looking at his watch he said "Gotta go. See you guys tomorrow!" Once he teleported out of there, Twilight asked "Hey Clover, did you figure out what they stole from the museum?" "Flash mentioned the Necklace of Destruction, but I'm trying to find out what else is missing." Clover sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm not that great a hacker." Tempest and Thorax snorted while Soarin laughed. Twilight herself smiled and walked over to Clover's computers. "Give me five minutes." -The Castle Of Shadows: Pawn Creation Chambers- Blast Radius looked at the Pawns who were moving a bunch of machines around three large chunks of black stone. Golem himself was carefully pulling artifacts out of the crate, eventually finding three large crystals: one light yellow, one dark blue, and one dark red. He clicked and beeped over at Blast Radius, who smiled. "Good. Once the machines are ready, we can begin the conversion process. The Rangers won't know what hit them!" "Let's hope so, Radius." Nevermore walked into the room, the burnt half of his face now cover in a mask made of smooth black metal. Except for his new eye, which was now a glowing red ruby. "Thanks for the new eye," Nevermore stated. "No problem, my friend. You like the new feature?" He smirked, before looking over at the far wall and focusing. And a bright red laser shot out of his artificial eye, cutting through the stone like it was butter. He cut off the laser and smirked "I like it a lot." "Good. How's Serpentra liking her new job?" Nevermore's smirk turned into a full on grin. "I'm fairly certain that if it weren't for the Agony Matrix, she'd more than likely try and kill him. Not that she could." -Crystal Prep Academy- "Now class, we have a new student joining us today." A girl around 16 years old walked into the room, drawing the attention of most of the class. She was wearing the girls uniform for Crystal Prep, and had jet black hair tied in a ponytail that reached her waist, and vibrant green eyes with pupils that were eerily similar to a snake's. "Would you like to tell the class your name," the teacher asked. She smiled and said "It's nice to meet everyone. My name is Viper Scales." She took her seat beside some girl (something like Lemon Zest, not that she cared) and began to take notes on the lesson. Internally however, she was furious. That King better hope I never get this Agony Matrix removed, otherwise I'm going to find the biggest sledgehammer I can find and smash his tube with it! -Sentry Household- His mother had loved the figurine, though she did the whole "You didn't have to get me this" thing that parents did. He told her that she deserved it and she put it on the shelf with her other figurines. The glass lion looked pretty good sitting on that shelf. That night, he was finishing up with his homework when he noticed Leo looking out the window. "Something on your mind, pal?" Leo looked at him and shrugged. "Kinda. It's just, when you asked me about who created me and the other Zords, it just got me wondering." "You don't know who built you guys?" He shook his head. "The earliest thing we all remember was a voice telling us that our duty were to protect our world alongside whoever wielded our gems. The second earliest thing we remember was meeting Clover and the original Element Fury Power Rangers. Other than that, it's a total blank." He looked back out at the night sky and said "It does have me wondering who exactly built us. And why." Flash looked up at the night sky with him for a few moments, before saying "Tell you what. Once we find the other Gems and get the other Rangers together, and deal with the King of Shadows once and for all, the other Rangers and I help you guys find the answer to those questions." Leo looked at him in surprise. "You'd really do that for us?" "You guys are just as important to this team as any of us are," Flash replied, gently petting him on the head. "Plus, everyone deserves to know where you came from. Even you guys." He seemed touched by that, and replied "Thanks, Flash." "No problem, pal."