> Power Rangers: Guardians Unleashed > by goldenrise365 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The First Strike > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bolts of black energy rained down from the sky. People ran for cover towards the beaches as a fearsome battle was fought. Giants figures battled against a being made of pure darkness. At the front of the battle was a being in gold armor that was radiating light. He brought his sword down on the creature and left a huge burn mark on its head, but that was the only damage he did. "Becoming weak at your old age Divine?" mocked the creature. "How did... you become so powerful?" asked Divine with weakened breath. "I thought Shadewing locked away all your sources of dark energy. The creature lifted his head back and roared with laughter. "You should know that not all mortals appreciate the Guardians." The creature lurched forward and began covering Divine in a tar like substance. "Say goodbye to the light." Divine's power began to dwindle and he could no longer burn the creature. The creature kept laughing as Divine struggled. His laughter stopped when a scythe sliced through the creature's head. "No one messes with my brother," said the figure wielding the weapon. The figure had silver armor with bat wings on his helmet and back. He used his scythe to pull Divine from the creatures hold. Divine coughed up some of the black tar, but was otherwise fine. "Sorry I'm late. I was helping Quake get the people to safety." "Better late then never," said Divine with a smile. He pushed himself up. "Just glad that I'm fighting along side my brothers. Divine turned to see the creature reforming. "He's gonna be mad when he gets back up." "Which is why we should get going. Neptune and his brothers are already moving people away from the island." The two flew off. "So they were able to get to find land beyond this place?" "That's what they said." The two landed by the ocean and shrunk to the size of normal people. Three more figures were busy getting people on ships. All three had armor made from shells, one had sea foam green armor, another had dark blue armor, and the last one had red armor. Neptune had the sea foam green armor, and he held a trident. The other two had a shield and a spear. Neptune met up with Shade and Divine. "That's everyone." "Good," said Divine. "Let's get these ships sailing. That creature won't stay down for long." Neptune gave a nod. "Wave, Coral! Send them out!" The other two nodded and pushed the ship's out into the water. Once the last ship was gone, the group grew into there guardian forms. The ground began to rumble. "I guess Quake is handling that creature," said Coral raising his spear. "Then let's give him a hand." The group ran towards the source of the rumbling. A being with rock armor drove its fist into the creature. Spikes of bronze crystal grew from both fists as he kept hitting the creature. "Time to send you back to where you came from." "Enough of this." The creature pushed the titan off of him and snarled at the group. "The Guardians should have never existed! You poisoned this world!" "We gave these humans safety above ground, while you only drove them further into darkness!" yelled Divine. "The darkness keeps the mortals safe! The light only hurts! I ruled long before you!" "And you failed as a ruler!" exclaimed Shade. "We do not rule, we help!" boomed Quake. "Enough of this!" The creature let out a howl that covered the group in a purple mist. "He's to powerful!" said Neptune. "Then we need to seal him away," said Divine. The group stood tall as the torrent of dark mist surrounded them. A rope of energy surrounded the group. It began to spin around as different colored energies snaked around it. The eyes of the Guardians started to glow, and a column of light pierced the mist. The column continued to glow and started to grow. Soon the column covered the entire island. The column stopped moving, then it imploded and destroyed the island with it. A guy with gold-ish skin and yellow hair laid face down on his bed. The sound of swords clashing made him jump up and get into a fighting stance. He looked over to the side table and found his phone ringing. "I really got to change that ringtone," he grumbled. He grabbed it and hit answer. "Hello?" "Where are you Gold?!?" asked a female voice on the other side. "You said you would be here by twelve." "And I will be, it's only..." Gold turned to his alarm clock. "12:30!!!" Before the person on the other side could answer Gold quickly changed into his gold jacket, white shirt, red pants, and yellow sneakers, ran out of the house, and towards the center of town, where a big group of people were gathered. Once he reached the edge of the crowd, he doubled over and closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths. He opened his eyes, and saw a pair of black boots standing in front of him. "I know... I'm late." He looked up to see a pissed off Sunset, aka his girlfriend. "And I know that face." "Where we're you?" she asked. "I overslept. I'm sorry," he said. He spread out his arms for a hug. Sunset chuckled and accepted the hug. "Your lucky I like you. Now come on." Sunset grabbed Gold's hand and led him into the crowd. The duo stopped at another pair, a guy with silver hair and dark blue skin, and a girl with purple hair and skin. The guy wore a black shirt, grey pants, dark blue shoes and glasses. The girl wore a purple sweater vest, glasses, a purple skirt and black dress shoes. This duo was Nightfall and Twilight. "Glad to see your personal alarm worked," said Night, gesturing to Sunset. "Yeah. Overslept, alarm didn't work... blah blah blah..." "Just glad you didn't miss Canterlot's 200th Anniversary Parade," said Twilight. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." "I wouldn't miss it for the world," said Gold's reflection. A ghostly hand floated over the bowl of water and expanded the image to show the incoming parade. A figure in a black cloak looked over the scene. Three figures knelt down behind the main figure. "Is our distraction set?" said a deep voice that shook the room slightly. "Yes Grand Master," said the middle figure. "Excellent. These humans will finally bow before a true ruler and god!" The voice boomed through the room. -------------------- The parade was already half over when the Gold and the others got to a good vantage point. "Where's the girls float?" "Its up next," said Twilight. Gold turned to Sunset. "Why aren't you and Twilight on the float?" "The girls waned us to keep watch just in case there is any rouge magic around." Before Gold could ask anything else, the girls' float got into position, but none of them were on the float. "Where are they?" The speakers started producing a low humming sound. Then three female voices started singing to the beat. Gold turned to see Sunset's shocked expression. He knew that the girls were in danger. "Hey Night, did you get a map of the parade route?" "Yeah I did." He pulled out a tri-folded map from his pocket, and gave it to Gold. Gold opened it up and scanned the route. "There." He pointed to a warehouse at the beginning of the route. "The girls probably got jumped back at the start, and 'they' took control." Gold folded up the map, and turned to Night. "Ready for a run." "Let's go." Night turned to Twilight. "Can you two stay here and keep an eye on them?" Twilight gave a sharp nod. Night and Gold ran off to find the warehouse. -------------------------- "Perfect," said the dark figure. He turned to his underlings. "Why don't you give these people a warm welcome?" "As you wish sire," said the middle figure. The three figures disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. ---------------------- Gold and Night finally made it to the warehouse. Night was practically out of breath. "Next time... we take... my car." "Agreed." While Night was still recovering, Gold took to searching around for the girls. Gold walked around and and listened for anything. Then he heard a bit of rustling to his left. He turned to see a set of doors not to far away, with a zip-tie around the handles. He walked up to the doors and knocked. "Hey you girls in there?" No answer. "Well that's problematic." Night walked up to Gold. "They must have some tools around here." The two walked around searching for tools. Gold climbed up a ladder to the catwalk above. The catwalk was made so only one person could walk along it at a time. Gold searched around for a tool box or a pair of bolt cutters. "There has got to be something to cut that zip-tie." Gold was almost to the first turn when the catwalk suddenly gave way. "Woah!" He jumped forward and landed on his side on the next section. Night was below the catwalk, and barely jumped out of the way. "What happened?" He called up to Gold. "I don't know. The catwalk just fell out from under me." Night got up and looked at the fallen piece. He took a look at the support wires. "The wires were just cut." "How could you tell?" "There is a clear line on the wires, and none of them are frayed." "Weird." Gold looked above him, but saw nothing. "There's nothing that could possibly make a cut like that." He looked back down. "I'll have to use the ladder on the other side." "Or there's another way down." "What did you just say?" "I didn't say anything," said Night. Before Gold could say anything, he was pushed off the ledge and had to grab on quickly. He looked up to see a person he never seen before. This guy had green skin, with foam white hair. He wore a white shirt, a sleeveless green jacket, green pants and black boots. On his wrist was a green band. "I will enjoy seeing you fall." The figure lifted his foot and was about to smash Gold's fingers. Gold used his free hand to grab the guy's foot and push him away. He then pulled himself up. "I don't take kindly to threats." He got into a fighting stance. "I was itching for a good fight," said the unknown figure. He was the first to react. He jumped onto the rail of the catwalk and delivered a strong punch to Gold's chest. Gold staggered back, but he was ready to retaliate. He charged forward and tackled the guy into the back rail. He then delivered a quick kick to his gut. The guy fell to his knees. "Stay down." "Never." The guy jumped up and tackled Gold. The two rolled around the catwalk. Gold got control and started to punch the guy in the face. The guy got his feet under Gold and kicked him away. Gold landed with a loud thud. The catwalk lurched downward. The figure staggered over to Gold. Gold took a chance and kicked the guys knee out from under him. He landed hard and the catwalk fell another foot. "That was a cheap shot," said the figure through gritted teeth. "Sometimes cheap is part of the strategy." The figure simple smiled and swept out Gold's legs. Gold landed hard once again, and the catwalk had enough. The wires broke and the two fell along with it. It only took seconds for the the catwalk to hit the ground. Night ran over to Gold. "You ok, Gold?" Gold pushed himself up. "Surprisingly, yes." Night helped Gold up. The two looked around, but didn't see the figure. "By the way, I found a pair of bolt cutters." Night handed Gold the bolt cutters. Gold walked over and cut the zip-tie. "Now that that escapade is over." "Not quite." The two were tackled into the room. Night crashed into a shelf full of decorations, and Gold hit the back wall. The two looked up to see their pissed off enemy. "You can't get rid of me that easily." Gold pushed himself up, and Night followed suit. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's two against one," said Gold pointing to Night and himself. The figure looked between the two. "Really. You think this nerd is the same as us," said the figure as he pointed to Night. "What did you just say?" said Night. He removed his glasses as his eyes became slitted. The top canine teeth extended downward, and leathery bat wings sprouted from his back. "You should never anger me." He super sped forward and grabbed the figure by the neck. Night turned to Gold. "Go find the girls, I'll take care to this guy." "Yeah, but remember what we agreed on." "Oh, I promise." Gold ran off to find the girls. Night turned his attention to the figure. "You won't have a chance to turn." He threw the figure into the wall. He walked forward and delivered a punch to the guy's gut. "Take this as a lesson. If you mess with my friends, you get messed up." The figure simply chuckled. "What's so funny?" "I've been trained to deal with the supernatural." The figure reached into his jacket and pulled out a pair of silver knuckles. He punched Night in the jaw. "Burn." He left the knuckle on Night's jaw, intending for him to get burned. Night only chuckled. "I'm no vampire." Blue magic surrounded the knuckles, and sent them flying. "Now." Night grabbed the figure by the throat. "Where we're we?" "You have been gifted with powerful shadow magic. Why waste it fighting for people who don't appreciate it?" "Stop talking." "I get you Night. You keep your true power hidden so that others would like you." "Shut up." Night's voice started to shake. "All I'm speaking is the truth. My master has seen your true form." "That thing was never me." "Why fight what you know is right? Join us, and you will have everything you ever want." Night began to think about the stranger's words. Was he really wasting his time? Did no one appreciate him? "No, your wrong. My friends have always stuck by my side." Night got right in his face. "And you can never get me to question there friendship." Night threw the figure into the same shelf he crashed into. "Your punishment will come in time." "And so will yours." Before Night could speak, he was knocked outside into the open warehouse. "Burn." The roof started opening, and the sun started burning Night. "Ah." He tried crawling over to the door, but was too weak. "Got to get my glasses." He kept crawling until he was a few feet away from his glasses. The figure had fully gotten up, and was right by them. "So you need these to turn back." He lifted his foot and crushed the glasses. "Oops." The figure started laughing, but got shot through the door. He landed by the destroyed catwalk. Gold came running out, with Night's emergency glasses. "Thankfully you always have a back up." Night put on the glasses and turned back. "Thanks." Gold helped Night up. "Did you find them?" "You could say that." The two turned to the three figures in the door way. "The Dazzlings?" "Hi," said Sonata with a guilty expression. "Ok." Night turned to Gold. "What's going on?" "I'm still trying to figure that out as well." The two heard a grunt and looked to the figure. "How can you keep getting up?" The figure only lifted up the arm the band was on and touched it. A green light enveloped the area. When the light died down, the figure was fully geared. He had green armor with a skull pattern on the helmet. "Prepare to die." > The First Strike, Part 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Time to die!" The figure summoned a giant trident. He placed the tip on the floor and dragged it towards them. "That's something I never got," said Night. "Why do villains drag their weapons on the ground when they can easily..." "Not now," said Gold. The figure stopped in front of the group and raised his weapon. "Scatter." The group ran in opposite directions as the weapon hit the ground. Gold ran forward and encased his fist in white magic. When he threw the punch, it did nothing. The figure grabbed Gold's arm and flung him into the wall, leaving an imprint in it. The figure turned to the girls and walked towards them. "That's enough." Another figure jumped down from the roof. It looked exactly like the first, except this one had no wrist band. "I hate it when the clones go rouge." The figure summoned its own trident and drove it through the armor. The armor turned to dust within seconds. "I will have to make sure we test the next batch. Now then." Gold and Night were dragged towards the figure. "Now to complete the objective." The figure brought out a small device. "This will drain your magic permanently." Before he could do anything else, Adagio ran forward and grabbed his hand. "No. Please stop this, Rift." The figure saw Adagio's concerned look and only smiled. "Glad to see your on the right side Dagi." Rift dropped the device and crushed it with his shoe. "I've been wanting to do that for a while. He slowly released Gold and Night. "Sorry about that fellas, but the magic went rouge." "Yeah. We both have experience with that," said Gold. He used his magic to scan Rift. "Ok. You are on our side. Good. The names Golden Rise and this is Nightfall Silver." "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Guitar Rift, Prince of the Seaponies." "Seaponies?" Gold and Night looked at each other. "Lots to explain, but no time to explain it." Rift walked over to the main doors. "We got a town to save." "Wait, I got questions," said Gold. "What did I just say. I'll explain later. We have to get going." Rift ran out, and the others followed. Rift's trident started to glow as he pointed it towards down town. A green line of energy shot from the second point. "Gotcha. Dark magic straight ahead." Rift took off, and the others were forced to follow. They were getting close to the parade grounds, but it wasn't much of a parade. Multiple floats were flipped over, and people were running from the scene. "This is a lot of chaos in a little amount of time," said Night. "Well that's what he wants," said Rift. Gold and Night looked around with worried expressions. "We have to find Sunset and Twilight," said Gold. "You two search for your ladies," said Rift. "I'll handle whatever is causing this." "And what should we do?" asked Adagio. "You girls go with Gold and Night. You won't be in danger that way." The group split up. Gold and Night ran along the cleared sidewalk to where the girls should've been. The Rainbooms' float was flipped onto the sidewalk. Night looked at one of the stores, and saw Sunset and Twilight inside. There were two others inside as well. One was a girl with pale yellow skin and aqua hair in two pigtails. She wore a black skirt, a blue shirt, and a dark purple jacket, and dark purple shoes. The other one was a guy with dark brown hair and bronze-ish skin. He wore a dark brown shirt with the sleeves ripped off, black pants and brown boots. "Bronze Leaf and Juniper are in there," said Gold. He went up and knocked on the glass. Bronze got in a fighting stance, but relaxed when he saw the guys. He walked up and opened the door for everybody. "Good to see you guys. Juniper and I got here as soon as the chaos started." Sunset ran up to Gold and hugged him. Twilight did the same with Night. "We were so worried," said Sunset, almost in tears. Twilight was the same way. "Yeah. We ran into trouble at the warehouse," said Night. Twilight lifted her head up, and saw the burns on Night's arm. "Night, did you..." "I had to." Night looked to Gold. "We would be dead if I didn't." "And he was in control the whole time," added Gold. "Ok." Twilight wiped her eyes. "Just be careful next time." "I will." "So how did you guys actually escape?" asked Juniper. "We got help from a new face in town," said Gold. Sunset looked up and finally saw the Dazzelings. "What are you three doing here?" She said with annoyance in her voice. "We can explain," said Adagio. "We were tricked." "We are going to need more explanation," said Night. "And a quick one at that," added Gold. "Ok," said Sonata. "Afterthebattleofthebandswewerereallyangryandsomeonecameuptouswithapromiseforrevengeandwetookit,whichafterweregretedbecausewewerechangedandbecamedarkerwithtotallynocontrolandthenweweregoingtotakeouttheRainboomsbuttheystoolouramuletsandbecametheevilones." The group was completely silent. "What, you asked for it quickly," said Sonata with a smile. The group looked to Aria. "Revenge, under control, changed, forced to serve, on your side now." "Ok that works," said Bronze. There was an explosion that shook the building. "What was that?" "Probably the new guy." Gold, Night, and Bronze ran outside, and saw smoke coming from a nearby area. "That's our queue." The three ran to the area. When they arrived they saw a giant crater with Rift at the bottom. He looked up to the three. "I was wondering when you guys were going to show up." He pushed himself up. "Me and my friends are just having a small dispute." A fire ball hit Rift. The group looked up to see two figures floating. The first guy had black hair and dark red skin. He had the same cloths a Rift, except in a red scale. The other guys had aqua blue hair, and dark blue skin. His cloths were the same except blue. "Just give up Rift," said the red one. "You can't defeat us," said the blue one. "Not alone." Rift jumped up to the top of the crater, and landed by the guys. "Are you guys with me?" "We literally met five minutes ago," said Gold. "Ok, let me put it like this. Help me or this entire city will be put into the ground." "Well I'm convinced," said Bronze. The group got into a fighting stance. "You mortals will die instantly." The red one charged up a fire shot, but got hit by a giant boulder from Bronze. "Don't these guys know to never charge an attack." Bronze picked up two more boulders while the others flew up. Gold punched the blue guy in the face as Night kicked him in the back. Blue flipped in the air, but got back to his senses. "You two are gonna pay for that." He summoned a bunch of clouds and surrounded Gold and Night. "Is he trying to blind us," said Night. He felt a sharp pain on his cheek, followed by another one. "It's an ice storm," said Gold. More shards of ice hit the two. Meanwhile, Bronze was chucking boulders at Red. But Red simply punched through them with a fire fist. "Can you do better than that?" "Don't have to," said Bronze. Rift came out of nowhere and sent Red flying into the crater. "One down." "None down." Red exploded upwards and grabbed Rift. He spun him around and hit Bronze with him. "That hurt," said Rift. "How can we beat them?" said Bronze. Rift thought for a moment and had an idea. "We get them to hit themselves." He flew up into the air and created a cyclone around Red. After a few seconds of spinning, Red ignited. "Perfect." He sent Red flying into Blue's cloud. The two hit each other and a giant mist cloud erupted. Gold and Night moved away and landed. The two other fell into the crater, both knocked out. "We did it," said Rift. "Yeah," said Gold. He walked up to Rift and socked him in the jaw. "That's for the mess you brought with you, now you owe us a full explanation."