By: Quintin J. Scott
As he struggled to get to his feet, the energy beam slammed into him again. He was thrown again against a tree, this time the snap was louder and more of them.
"Damn!" he cried out, but the two approaching would not help him, but would try to hurt him more...even kill him.
Scorpina shook her finger at him. "Potty mouth! I'll have to clean it with soap!"
"Clean this!" and with that he reached into a side compartment on his armor and threw several shuriken at them. The shuriken spread out, forming a shield of sorts, intending on keeping the enemies at bay. However, the expert fighting skills of Scorpina along with Goldar gave them the added advantage. They expertly dodged the blades.
"Nice try, Gold Ranger, but not good enough!" Goldar sneered. "Pray to whatever gods you believe in for your day of death is nigh!"
Sean began to back away, formulating a plan to stop these monsters. He was almost out of options.
Suddenly, a glimmer of gold caught the corner of his eye. He turned to see his morpher lying on the ground in the middle of the clearing. His eyes darted back and forth, watching the monsters and waiting for his chance to...
He stopped and looked again. Why was his morpher the only one lying in a clearing, in plain sight, right near the place where they were battling?
The Thunderforce Gold Ranger was no fool. He knew they were setting him up. Probably wanted to get his hammer. It always seemed to be the goal of Zedd's monsters. Still, even if it was a trap, he knew what had to be done.
Goldar and Scorpina's faces said it all.
Taking a running headstart, hurt ribs and all, he lunged for the device. As his hands wrapped around it, he could feel the power.
"Gold Rhino Power!" and he instantaneously morphed into his normal uniform, sunlight brightly beaming off his helmet and auric armor. He removed the Hammer of Hykrania from its holster, charging it with energy. "Bring it on!"
Before he knew it, Scorpina and Goldar fired energy beams at him, focusing on his ribs that were healed but sore and his hammer. Sean tried to focus, subconsciously distributing the force of the energy throughout his body. He peered through the energy to see the duo moving towards him.
"Computer, engage glare shield," he commanded. The helmputer, as he called it, slipped the smoky lens over his regular visor, blocking out the light of the onslaught. He stared at them again, moving closer and closer. He pushed on his hammer, blocking out the pain - struggling to get free of them. Sean engaged the Belt of Strength, feeling the power surge through his body. Knowing he had only one chance, he began to plead with them. "All right! You win! Turn off your beams! I surrender!"
"What?" Scorpina asked, incredulously.
"I said...uhn...I surrender," he croaked, weakly. "Please, turn off your beams."
Goldar eyed him suspiciously. "How do we know that you're not trying to lure us into a trap?"
Sean did what he never thought he would ever do. He threw the Hammer of Hykrania at their feet. "There! Are you...uhn...happy now?"
The female warrior stopped firing her beams, eyeing the hammer. She bent over to pick it up, warily, but finally grabbing hold of the black/gold handle of the massive weapon of power. Her mouth agape, she held it in her hands, admiring the craftsmanship of whoever created it. Scorpina could feel the power radiating from it.
"It's...magnificent!" she whispered loudly. "And it's mine!"
Goldar stopped his assault on Sean and turned to her sharply. "What did you say?!"
"I said the Hammer of Hykrania is mine!"
"It is ours, Scorpina," Goldar reminded her, "lest we forget why we got it in the first place." "I care for nothing else now, Goldar," she said, eyes and heart growing colder. "I possess the most powerful weapon in the universe, and there isn't anything you or Zedd can do about it."
Goldar removed his sword from his sheath, brandishing it menacingly. "Filthy witch! You will pay for your treachery!"
"And you will pay for your foolish words!"
They began to circle each other, neither noticing Sean picking up a broken branch of oak that felt solid in his left hand. He waited. They circled again until Goldar's back was to Sean and Scorpina directly in front of Goldar.
NOW!
"Return!" he shouted. The command of the Gold Ranger awoke the power of the hammer. Pulling Scorpina with it, it flew towards Goldar, smashing into the creature's face. Scorpina tried to stop it, but it was moving too fast for her strength to catch up. Before she knew it, she saw the visage of the Gold Ranger standing confidently in her path. She could imagine him smiling that damn frustrating smile of his.
"Batter up!" he said, swinging hard with his makeshift club of oak. The branch slammed into her face, cracking her jaw and sending her crashing into the ground. The hammer flipped upright before coming to rest in the palm of its master's hand.
Quickly holstering the hammer, he searched until he found the yellow bag containing the others' morphers. Taking one last look at the two monsters, he raced back into the woods, locking on to the other Rangers' coordinates and preparing to face the other monster.
"That was unpleasant," he commented, "but at least it took out Trin-."
The ground exploded beneath him as a grenade from Trinitus-1 rolled out of its chest compartment and stopped near him. Launching him several feet into the air, Tommy thudded to the earth, rolling slightly to lessen the impact but not enough. Tingly sensations filled his fingers and toes. He tried to get up to his feet, but a sharp boot to his ribs from Trinitus-1 stopped that.
"A nice try, Ranger," the monster spoke, "but not good enough. Take a look at the sun, Tommy, for it will be your last time!"
He lifted his staff and brought it down, intent on crushing Tommy's skull.
A flash of gold...
...And the Sword of Power blocked the stroke. Trinitus-1 looked up into the visage of the Gold Ranger, expertly holding the sword and moving his staff away from Tommy.
"Naughty, naughty!" Sean said, twisting around to deliver a kick to the sternum of the monster. Spinning again, a heel kick caught Trinitus-1 on the jaw. Sean reached down on the hilt of the sword and brought it to the end of the blade, igniting it with energy. The energy lanced out, engulfing the monster in a shower of sparks and auric blasts.
Trinitus-1 was flung into a cluster of bushes and did not move. Sean placed the sword back into its hidden scabbard and went to attend to Tommy. Aisha and Kimberly soon joined him.
"He'll be all right," Sean announced after scanning him with his helmet. "Just a bit of a jolt."
Kimberly knelt beside him and helped him to his feet. Tommy, still clearing the cobwebs, clasped Sean on the shoulder. "Thanks, man."
"No problem," the Gold Ranger said.
"Actually..." a familiar voice resounded from near them. Trinitus-1 stepped up and folded his arms together. He began to vibrate wildly, glowing brightly as his armor heated up from the friction of the air. The Rangers turned to see the crumpled heaps of metal that were Trinitus-2 and Trinitus-3 fly towards Trinitus-1. The metal began to reconfigure Trinitus - adding to his already massive form. In a bright explosion of energy, Trinitus Mecha stood before them with three heads, six arms, and various weapon ports. "...you have a bigger problem," Trinitus Mecha finished.
"Whoa!" the humans echoed, stepping back slightly.
"Here," Sean said, handing them the bag with the morphers. "You're going to need these!"
Pulling out there respective devices, Tommy shouted, "It's morphin' time! White Ranger Power!"
"Pink Ranger Power!"
"Yellow Ranger Power!"
Standing before the monster, the Rangers pulled out their power weapons.
"Let's take 'em down!" Tommy commanded.
Kimberly fired energy arrow after energy arrow into Trinitus while Aisha blasted it with rays from the Dino Daggers. Tommy and Sean combined the powers of their swords, Saba and the Sword of Power, to slow down Trinitus. The monster ripped open a blast of power towards them all, flinging them in various directions. Trinitus Mecha moved towards Kimberly, grabbing her by the neck and slamming her face first into the ground. Sean, quickly, launched his body into the air, bringing his legs around Trinitus' neck and flipped forward into an huracanrana. Tommy flipped and brought a drill kick to its abdomen. The monster would not be kept down.
Charging up a ball of energy, it launched it at Tommy. Dodging the energy ball was easy, but it was merely a distraction as Trinitus grabbed him by the right leg and twisted, snapping the ligaments in his leg and popping his kneecap. Tommy released a scream that echoed through the mountains. Aisha did a bicycle kick on Trinitus, forcing him to release the White Ranger. She superkicked him until he stumbled and fell. Kimberly, making her way to her feet, fired a laseron arrow at him, exploding on contact and scorching the very earth around him. She went over to help Tommy to his feet just a Trinitus made his way to his.
It opened up two parallel rows of panels with white tipped missiles in them. Twelve columns of white smoke accompanied their launch as they flew towards the Rangers.
"Behind me!" Sean ordered and the Rangers did as they were told. Holding the Hammer of Hykrania in front of him, he ignited the weapon, rays of cosmic energy coalescing into a protective barrier. The missiles slammed against them but did not penetrate.
Trinitus Mecha fired purplish rays from all three of its heads, trying to break the shield, but the hammer's power was too great to overcome.
"One way or another, Power Punks," Trinitus Mecha said, "I will destroy you!"
"Not likely, purple-puss," Tommy retorted in pain. "Sean?"
The Gold Ranger pressed against the rays from the monster, finally reflecting them back at Trinitus. The monster belched in pain, stumbling backwards slightly.
Sean stood before him, sunlight gleaming on his auric armor. Flecks of energy played across it finally charging up the Hammer of Hykrania, which he placed in front of him. "STORM OF HAMMERS!"
He chucked his hammer at the monster full force. The weapon raced towards Trinitus, picking up speed along the way. When it finally slammed into him, it didn't stop slamming into him. The Rangers watched as the hammer continued to beat down upon Trinitus from every direction. Plumes of smoke and showers of sparks flew everywhere. The blows were coming so rapidly that all the Rangers really could see was a golden blur.
When it finally stopped, it flipped on its axis and returned to Sean's hand. As the smoke cleared, Trinitus' eyes were rolled in back of its head and it fell to its knees. Sean lifted his hand to his chest and chanted, "You have caused much destruction and despair! I send you back into the eternal darkness from whence you came!"
Trinitus Mecha fell forward onto its face, exploding into a bright display of purples and oranges.
"Wow!" Kimberly breathed.
Aisha smacked Sean on the shoulder playfully. "You go, boy!"
"Man, I've never seen anything like that before!" Tommy exclaimed.
Sean raised an eyebrow behind the mask of the Gold Ranger. "Impressive. Let's get back to the cabin and report to Zordon."
"Wait, where's Scorpina and Goldar?" Aisha asked.
Sean activated his scanner and probed the area. "No sign of them. I guess they're going to have to explain themselves to Zedd again."
Tommy shook his head. "I have a feeling he won't be happy."
"Is he ever?" Kimberly said.
"Come on. Let's go."
With the sun setting on the mountains, the Rangers powered down and returned to the cabin.
"That fool, Goldar, will pay," she said under her breath. "For costing me my prize, he will pay!"
"No, Scorpina," a familiar voice answered back, "it is you who will pay!"
She turned in time to see a golden glove slam into her still swollen jaw.
FIN