<topstuff>
Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers.
Author's Note: In the original version of this story I had intended to use Emily from Power Rangers Zeo as the Purple Turbo Ranger. It made sense to use someone who was involved in their lives but not a major character. When I worked on the extended version I decided to use Ashley instead.
The Dark Racers Part 3 - The Silver Comet
When Cassie Chan failed to return home after school one day, her absence was noted by her parents. They noticed when she failed to show up the next morning and observed that her bed had not been slept in. Her mother was well aware that their daughter had not left a note nor had she taken any additional clothing. Her father had observed that the few chores she was expected to perform around the home had not been done. To most parents it would have been a worrying situation; it would be another week before they bothered to phone the police and reported her missing.
Both Mr and Mrs Chan considered themselves to be loving and devoted modern parents. They believed that their daughter did not need to be smothered by overbearing authority figures demanding that she follow their rules and that given freedom and trust she would develop into a balanced individual. In all likelihood any responsible parent who saw Cassie's home life would consider reporting them for neglect and child endangerment.
The truth of the matter was that Cassie had been abducted from Angel Grove by Divatox's forces after she had stepped off a bus. The poor girl had never stood a chance and had been carried off to one of the rooms in Porto's work area where she had remained ever since. And finally after days of being left alone except for the few times somebody remembered to feed her, Cassie was finally informed why she had been taken.
"Are you mad?" she asked. Cassie had a bit of a bad attitude which could have been corrected had her parents paid attention enough to notice. "You want me to be a Ranger?"
"No not just any Ranger," Porto answered, gesturing as if to emphasise the importance of his vision. "You will be the White Turbo Ranger; my second evil Ranger and a loyal servant of Queen Divatox."
As he walked toward her with a pair of tweezers in his hand and picked up a small creature from a nearby tray, Cassie could only find that she agreed with her first opinion: he was insane.
It was Sunday, a day when the Turbo Rangers didn't need to worry about school. Normally Sundays were a time to relax, but with the Purple Racer still on the loose the Turbo Rangers were on edge. Zordon had guessed how Earth's youngest team of Rangers would be feeling and had called in some of their older friends to help.
"I know it's tough to see the bright side right now," Adam said, "but keep in mind that no matter how powerful she is and whatever Divatox makes her do, to be an evil Power Ranger she first needed to have all the traits and qualities that would make her a great Ranger; if she didn't have those qualities then she would have fallen the first time she faced you because she wouldn't have been able to use her powers fully. Divatox can use whatever mind control or spells she likes, but sooner or later they will fail and then that evil Power Ranger will just be a Ranger."
Franklin sighed. He knew his brother was right but it didn't make it any easier. Purple Racer had fought them twice and in all honesty had won both encounters. She wasn't stronger than the other Turbo Rangers; she wasn't faster and didn't have any technological advantage. The problem was that while the Rangers were reluctant to fight her - even knowing that she was protected by the Power of Turbo and could take just about anything they could dish out - she had no reservations about hurting them. Purple Racer hadn't pulled any punches and because of that the Turbo Rangers had suffered.
"We don't even know how Divatox is controlling her," Franklin admitted.
If it was a spell there was a chance they could break it. If she was using blackmail they could find a way to help. Not knowing made it not only difficult to help, but dangerous to try in case they caused more harm than good.
"Divatox is not much of a witch," Adam pointed out. "Zordon once told us she knows some magic, but nowhere near Rita's level. She's more into using fear and technology."
"Alpha scanned her when we were fighting," Frank replied. "There was no technology detected."
Adam chuckled as he imagined the Turbo Rangers trying to describe what a mind control device would look like. Then he sobered. They were young and still had some innocence; it reminded him of how much they had sacrificed - how much he had sacrificed - to save the world.
"Just remember what Tommy told you about his time as Green Ranger," Adam advised. "Jason and the others had to bring him to his knees before they could break the spell Rita had cast. The five of you might need to defeat the Purple Racer before you can really help her."
Franklin nodded and took a sip of his drink. It wasn't what he wanted to hear, but perhaps it was what he needed to know.
Red Turbo ducked the overpowered punch from Red Morphin and then jumped over the kick from Red Zeo. The two older Rangers had taken Fred aside for a chat and after realising that it would be a difficult conversation, they had teleported him to the Power Chamber's training room, ordered him to morph and then spent the next half an hour pummelling him mercilessly.
"Play to your strengths," Red Zeo urged as Red Morphin grabbed the Turbo Ranger by the shoulder and threw him across the room.
Red Turbo landed and in a blur raced back to deliver a hard punch to the Morphin Ranger.
"Good," Red Morphin told him, rubbing the side of his helmet.
Red Turbo was a whirlwind of red light, crackling with the Power of Turbo as he unleashed a volley of super fast punches and kicks.
"That's it, hit and move Fred," Red Zeo encouraged. "Turbo Rangers are not supposed to rely on brute force. You have the speed, use it!"
Red Zeo pulled out his Zeo Pistol and opened fire, causing Red Turbo to break off his attack on Red Morphin so that he could dodge.
"Your senses are enhanced by the Power of Turbo," Red Morphin reminded him as Red Turbo ducked a blow from the Morphin Ranger's Blade Blaster. "Use them!"
The Power of Turbo enhanced all of the Turbo Rangers' senses, giving them a split second extra to react to threats that combined with their incredible speed it more than made up for their comparative lack of strength and their smaller size.
"Auto Blaster!" Red Turbo called. He drew his side arm and opened fire, causing the older Rangers to dodge. He had his Turbo Blade at the ready to strike.
As much as he hated to admit it, the impromptu training session was exactly what Fred needed to focus. The Purple Racer's appearance had shaken his confidence. Not only had talking with Jason and Tommy helped him, fighting them had forced him to work to his strengths.
Of course when the two Red Rangers decided to work together, Fred started to wish that there would be a monster attack just so he could get away.
In another part of Power Mountain, Yellow Turbo was doing her own brand of training. A heavily reinforced punching bag - for it was known that Rocky enjoyed the opportunity to practice his kicks while morphed - had been suspended from the ceiling, allowing the Yellow Turbo Ranger to throw a combination of punches.
She was alone. Trini had offered to work with her but had withdrawn the offer after their first sparring session. It wasn't that Tasha fought dirty; she just didn't have the same sense of fair play that the other Yellow Rangers cherished. It was a trait the other Turbo Rangers shared.
"Turbo Star Chargers!" she called.
She renewed her assault on the punching bag using the energised knuckles. Her speeding body crackled with the Power of Turbo as she threw punch after punch and added the odd kick for good measure. The next time she met the Purple Racer she was going to break that Nova Cane with her fists.
Since training Tasha had proven to be a bad idea from Trini perspective, she had joined Billy and Justin in the Power Chamber as they tried to find a way to force the Purple Racer to power down. It was not easy as the powers had been designed to counter many of the methods they could use. Extreme pain had been ruled out; it was just not something the Turbo Rangers would be able to bring themselves to do.
Billy was currently explaining a theory that the Turbo Rangers could use their powers to disrupt a part of the Purple Racer's armour. It could only work because Porto had designed his Ranger to use solid armour instead of the flexible material the Turbo Rangers preferred. It was a downside of extra protection such armour normally provided.
"This would only work in small areas," Trini said as she studied the plan.
"Affirmative," Billy agreed. "Maybe it could cause sufficient disruption to uncover her Turbo Morpher."
"Or her face," Justin mused.
Learning the identity of Purple Racer seemed an important step toward releasing her from Divatox's control. Although exposing any part of the human inside the suit would be enough to stop her as long as the Turbo Rangers were careful.
Trini knew how easy it could be to make a mistake in such a situation. Despite what many believed Tommy was not Rita's original Green Ranger. That role had fallen to another young man. However during a battle Trini had managed to break through his guard and had inflicted a wound that later killed him. It was an event that still haunted the Yellow Ranger even though she knew that if she hadn't done so, two innocents would have died.
"This might be our best option," Justin agreed. He just hoped that when the time came they would be lucky enough to pull it off.
There was so much about the Power of Turbo they had yet to understand. So many ways to use their abilities they still needed to master. Theoretically the Turbo Rangers could use their powers to accelerate and decelerate molecules, but they had not practiced such techniques. Justin promised himself that he would make the time to study his powers more closely.
While the other Turbo Rangers were worrying about Purple Racer, Rosa DeSantos had spent the morning at church with her family. It was a good way to put the events of the last few days out of her mind and to show a little gratitude that nobody had been seriously injured. Her older brother Rocky had turned up in time for the service and the two had agreed to talk later. For now she just enjoyed being surrounded by her loving family.
Purple Racer was finally complete as far as Porto was concerned. There had been difficulties and a lot of things he had failed to take into account when building her powers. The Nova Cane had been added as her personal weapon, but it had been an afterthought and would have been even more powerful had he included it on her template. The lack of a Zord had been addressed, but despite the praise Divatox had given him, Porto had not been satisfied with the solution. Had had since corrected his oversight and built her a second Zord that was much more worthy of an evil Ranger; having access to the Dianthe's fleet of giant vehicles made building Turbo Zords so much easier.
The second evil Turbo Ranger had also been completed. The Silver Racer powers had incorporated everything he had learned while perfecting the Purple Racer powers. There had been an unexpected problem when he had tried to create the template for her armour. He had promised Divatox the second evil Ranger would be white, but for some reason he could not produce that colour. In the end he had settled for silver with lighting effects that would appear white when viewed from the correct angle.
The creation of the second set of powers had been faster, mostly because Porto had been able to automate most of the process. He had only needed to intervene when the time came to connect the morpher to its energy source. That had taken him a while due to the precise nature of the tuning. He had used the uniform of the Pink Turbo Ranger as a template, believing that since Ashley's uniform was a purple version of Yellow Turbo's suit, it was only fair that Cassie wore a silver version of the Pink Turbo Ranger's armour.
"I think you will be called the Silver Comet Smasher Turbo Ranger," he said as he slotted the back of the transformation device closed and strapped it to Cassie's left arm. "Divatox will be most pleased with the improvements I've made."
He hoped it would work as he had limited his options to modify the powers after their initial activation. Unlike Purple Racer's powers that had been a work in progress, Silver Racer's powers had been finalised. Her personal weapon the Comet Blade had been forged, the Comet Smasher Zord was complete and he had given her a silver version of Purple Racer's quad as a vehicle. If everything went as planned she would be ready to start serving the Dianthe immediately.
The new week started with a series of monster attacks. First Mondo had sent a battalion of Cogs, and then Rita and Zedd had launched an attack. The Turbo Rangers had responded each time but Divatox had not sent her evil Ranger to confront them. After four attacks in the space of a morning, the School Board had cancelled classes for the day, leaving the Turbo Rangers free for the two attacks that came during the afternoon.
It was during the final attack of the day that the Purple Racer finally made an appearance. Rito and Goldar were causing problems and the Turbo Rangers had been sent to stop them. The abundance of foot-soldiers had made it a challenge, but the young team had held their own.
A blur of Purple had heralded the arrival of Purple Racer. She had forced her way through the flock of Tengas to strike at Goldar directly. The silver figure behind her had done the same to Rito. Confused as to why there was suddenly a Silver Ranger when they had only been warned about Purple Racer, Goldar and Rito chose to escape.
"Good work girls." Divatox's head appeared in the sky, projected by one of Porto's inventions. She pointed to the Turbo Rangers. "Now, get them!"
The two evil Turbo Rangers launched into action, striking out at anything in their path. They made short work of the poor Tengas that Rito and Goldar had abandoned, and Rita's Putty Patrollers had soon fallen to pieces.
The Turbo Rangers found themselves off balance as the speeding duo raced around them. That was when Red Turbo what he had learned during his impromptu training session: the Turbo Rangers' powers were best suited to fight using speed.
"Come on guys, we can take them," he urged. "Full speed ahead!"
The others followed his lead, using their full speed against the evil duo. It didn't grant them an easy win, but for the first time the Turbo Rangers were fighting their opponents using their speed as a weapon and for the first time they found they were able to hold their own against Purple Racer. Their enhanced senses warned them where a blow would strike and they avoided it. Obviously Purple Racer's enhanced abilities meant that she was just as quick to try again or dodge their blows.
Silver Racer was new and shiny, but she lacked even Purple Racer's limited experience. On close inspection, which was eagerly provided when she attacked Green and Pink Turbo, it became evident that her sword was a large chunk of crystal edged steel. It had been stylised to resemble an icicle, but there was no question how sharp its blade could be or how cold the cuts were. As the two Rangers sparked following her first charge, she followed up by hitting them with throwing blades cut to resemble snowflakes. Before either Ranger managed to recover, her armour flared with white light, blinding them as she pressed her assault.
Unfortunately she had been so quick to use her ability that Silver Racer had failed to consider her comrade. Purple Racer had been partially blinded by the attack, as had Red Turbo. Blue Turbo however had been shielded from the effects because he had his back to Silver Racer at the time. Yellow Turbo had managed to tint her visor to counter the effects and had already gone to assist Green and Pink Turbo.
With diminished vision, Purple Racer was not able to fight effectively against Blue and Red Turbo. The two teens pummelled their opponent, well aware that their blows were having only limited effect. Seeing an opportunity, Blue Turbo grabbed the evil Ranger's left forearm, using his suit's ability to alter the speed of nearby molecules to break down the structure of her armour. She knocked him away quickly but a small hole had appeared in her defences, which Red Turbo used to his advantage; a low powered shot from his Auto Blaster caused her morpher strap to break. As the morpher fell from her arm she demorphed.
Meanwhile as Yellow Turbo assaulted Silver Racer, Green Turbo used his Turbo Navigator to overcome the temporary blindness - for it seemed the blinding effect had damaged his suit's visor and not his eyes. It allowed him to work out where she would be and unleash a volley of fire that stopped her for a moment.
Unfortunately that moment was the time it took her to change direction and attack him directly, forgetting about the other Rangers and allowing Yellow Turbo to step in with a punch that stopped Silver Racer cold. There was a pause and then the evil Ranger seemed to explode in a column of silver sparks as she teleported away. Purple Racer followed an instant later, granting the Rangers their first victory.
Ashley was in agony. When she had powered down there had been a surge of energy that had damaged the larva inside her head. The larva had responded to what it perceived as a threat by releasing chemicals to subdue the host. The enzymes released caused the nerve endings to misfire. As Porto secured her Turbo Morpher to her arm and reactivated her powers, he was unaware that this was the moment he had come to fear when his control over the Purple Racer would be broken. Ashley's body was now aware that something was wrong and even as the pain diminished, her powers were working to locate and fix whatever had caused the pain. But there was nothing he could do and he knew his best chance of avoiding the blame was to plead ignorance.
With the Purple Racer settled, Porto needed to stop Divatox from killing Silver Racer. Unfortunately the space pirate had forgotten why she was angry and had instead decided to inflict the continuous pain just for the sake of it.
"Please my Queen; we cannot use her to destroy the Power Rangers if you destroy her."
On the ground Cassie Chan was grateful for the reprieve. The larva in her head should have made her accept her punishment without question, but something had changed. When she had returned from her first mission and powered down, she had been shocked by the state of the Purple Racer, a girl she recognised from school. Then Divatox had arrived and had made her anger clear when she had used a pain stick to teach Silver Racer a lesson.
A part of her wished that she was strong enough to challenge the pirate, but the larva was already working to quell her rebelliousness. She was not that strong. She would never be that strong. Which was why she should remain on her knees as Divatox berated her performance. Moments later all thoughts of fighting back were gone as Cassie apologised for her failure and awaited instructions.
A series of images continued to flash across the computer terminal as Justin and Fred studied the student files of Angel Grove High School. Justin's helmet feed had captured the face of the Purple Racer. Now with the aid of the Power Chamber's resources they hoped to discover her identity and perhaps get some answers.
"There!" Justin said. He pressed pause to stop the images. "Ashley Hammond."
Then it had been a case of tracking down the Hammond family, learning that Ashley had been missing for days and nobody had been in a position to call authorities - Divatox had arranged for the girl's family to be stranded out of town and her aunt had been placed in an enchanted sleep. They had made doubly sure of the location of Ashley's sisters in case they had been turned into the new Silver Racer. Fortunately both girls were with the parents.
"Hey I have an idea," Tasha said as she slid in beside Justin and started typing.
Tasha was an accomplished hacker. Justin was good; she was better as demonstrated as she found her way passed the fire wall and into the attendance records. She quickly searched the records for female students that had not been to school since the appearance of the Purple Racer. She handed the list to Franklin.
"Now we see if your dad can find out if they are missing or just ill."
Detective Park was an officer on Angel Grove's Homicide Division. Due to the low number of murders in the city, the department spent most of their time handling monster attacks. For a long time Detective Park had been outspoken in his views that the Power Rangers were trouble makers. Then he had discovered that his oldest son had been a Ranger since they had moved to Angel Grove High School. Franklin nodded and teleported away to see his father.
Now they needed to hope that Detective Park could help them.
Several hours later Detective Park had provided the Rangers with a name and was considering whether or not to file a report for child neglect. He knew that he had not always been an ideal father to his children. His relationship with Adam had at one point been so bad that if they hadn't of fixed it, it was likely Adam would have left for college and never returned.
But at least he could comfort himself that he had cared. He had tried to give his children love and structure, and discipline even if he had been a little too harsh when trying to protect them. He had never physically harmed either son and he had never neglected their needs. He liked to think that if his sons had been missing he would have called in help to find them after only an hour or two. He certainly would not have waited days under some belief that they wanted independence.
Angel Grove was a dangerous city. Not everybody survived a monster attack. Sometimes people were found without identification and the police relied on relatives coming forward to help identify the bodies. That Cassie Chan could have been lying injured or worse somewhere and her parents hadn't cared enough to call her friends... somehow he doubted they even knew if she had friends.
He put the pen down. If Cassie was involved in the latest monster attacks as his son suspected then she had other things to think about right now. When the Rangers had freed her from whatever Divatox had done - for he had no doubt whatsoever that they would free her - there would be time to talk about her home life and what she wanted to do about it.
After a great deal of whining Sprocket had finally received the opportunity to send another monster to Earth. King Mondo had not been impressed by the earlier attempts and had ordered Klank and Orbus to stop helping the young prince. However with Mondo and Machina concentrating on bigger plans they ordered their servants to build Sprocket a monster to get him out of the way.
Sprocket had come up with a monster he called the Slot Machine. Its main body resembled a fruit machine with three spinning reels and a short lever on the left side of its torso. Its right arm housed a matter transforming ray and its left arm was designed to fire projectiles.
"When all three reels land on the same image it can use its change ray to transform anything it hits," Sprocket boasted.
He had given Klank a selection of random images to appear on the monster's drums.
"A fine effort Sprocket," King Mondo said. "Send it to Earth and we'll see how it does against those Rangers."
"Yes Daddy," Sprocket replied. "Klank!"
Slot Machine appeared on the far side of Angel Grove, close to Barney's Second Hand Showroom. He immediately pulled the lever on the left side of his chest, causing the shapes in the centre of his chest to spin. When they landed on three identical items, he lifted his right arm and fired his change ray.
Mary and Brian Cox had been arguing with the owner of the car lot about the vehicle they had bought the previous day. Despite his insistence it was a bargain, they were demanding a refund.
"Madam, I assure you every car we sell here is a bargain," Barney told them. "We do not sell lemons."
At that moment the beam from the change ray hit the cars behind him, transforming them into lemons.
Mary screamed as a second ray hit her husband, turning him into a handful of cherries.
Power Chamber
The Rangers had been summoned. It was Tasha who summed up their opinion of the newest threat.
"That has to be the most ridiculous looking monster I've seen."
Indeed the ability to change anything it hit was a powerful weapon, but the design left a lot to be desired. There was also the question of why the monster didn't just use a single image so that it always landed on a win.
"Do not take this monster lightly based on its appearance," Zordon warned.
"Don't worry, we can handle this," Fred assured him. "Shift into Turbo!"
Divatox had not been pleased to see that Mondo had still not gotten the message that the Earth belonged to her. Purple Racer was still recovering from her last fight against the Rangers, so Silver Racer had been dispatched on her own to make send Mondo another message.
Unfortunately it seemed Silver Racer had failed to understand how dangerous her foe could be. As she mocked the machine by running circles around him, she didn't notice that he had activated his powers again.
Clink - clink - clink.
This time he did not land on three of a kind, but it didn't appear to matter as a spout of flame erupted from his arm cannon, catching the Turbo Ranger off guard. She fell to the ground, her suit sparking. He used a second spin, landing on three dogs, turning Silver Racer into a Labrador.
"Can't she do anything right?" Divatox raged. "Porto, where did you find her anyway?"
Porto wisely remained silent and finished checking that Purple Racer was ready for action. The Red Turbo Ranger had exposed a weakness he had been unable to fix; Purple Racer would need to be wary in future.
"He turned her into a dog!" Divatox growled before she noticed Ashley. "Don't just stand there, go and help her."
Ashley bowed her head and teleported away.
Blue Turbo and Green Turbo opened fire, drawing Slot Machine's attention. Pink Turbo used the opportunity to grab those who had been transformed by the machine's weapon and move them to safety; Silver Racer had been turned into a dog, Mary and her husband had been transformed into fruit.
Yellow Turbo grabbed Slot Machine's left arm to stop him from using his ability. Red Turbo took the opportunity strike at the right arm with his Turbo Lightning Sword. Slot machine responded by shooting golden coins at the attacking Ranger from his left arm. He then threw Yellow Turbo aside and aimed his change ray at Red Turbo.
"Star Chargers!"
Yellow Turbo hit the monster at full speed, her energised fist connecting with his chest. As the glass panel exploded, the effects of his transformation ray were reversed. Silver Racer was on the attack immediately, her Comet Blade slicing through his left arm as Red Turbo's Lightning Sword removed the right arm.
A blur of purple tore through Green and Blue Turbo. Purple Racer was not holding back after her previous defeat. The Nova Cane struck them across their chests as she used the gun mode to open fire, downing both Rangers. Then she sped onwards to join Silver Racer in her attack, chastising the other Ranger for her incompetence.
"Ashley, Cassie, you don't want to do this," Red Turbo reasoned as Silver Racer sliced through Slot Machine's legs, ending the battle and the two evil Rangers turned their attention to Red Turbo, Yellow Turbo and Pink Turbo. "You can fight this, we can help you."
"We serve Queen Divatox," Silver Racer answered. She was not the best servant but she was loyal.
Red Turbo lifted his Turbo Lightning Sword, but Yellow Turbo stopped him.
"Why don't you guys deal with the machine and let us girls sort this out?" she asked.
Pink Turbo nodded her agreement; Silver Racer and Purple Racer did not seem to object. At some unspoken signal the four female Rangers took off down the street leaving Red Turbo, Blue Turbo and Green Turbo the job of deciding how to finish off a monster that was clearly no in any condition to fight back. The problem was resolved moment later when Slot Machine exploded.
"Daddy those Rangers destroyed my monster!" Sprocket complained.
"Not now son, Daddy and I are busy," Queen Machina replied. "And no more pestering Klank, he has work to do."
It looked like this was one battle that would not turn into a clash of the giants.
Pink Turbo and Yellow Turbo had split up, Pink Turbo leading Silver Racer on a chase through the city streets while Yellow Turbo and Purple Racer fought up close and personal. Surprisingly given the ferocity of the battle, there was very little damage to the streets of Angel Grove. The Turbo Rangers were moving at such speed that most citizens felt only a slight breeze as they passed.
Yellow Turbo and Purple Racer fought with Turbo Blades and Auto Blasters, using buildings for cover as they moved street to street. Sometimes their fighting would take them to the roof tops where they jumped from building to building, using the lifts intended for window cleaners to swing from.
Pink Turbo and Silver Racer had eventually slowed to a stop in the middle of Angel Grove Park. There the two of them clashed at a slower pace than their comrades, Silver Racer's Comet Blade proving itself superior to Pink Turbo's Turbo Blade. However up close Pink Turbo had the superior fighting skills and used her fists and feet to her advantage.
"Come on, hit her. Hit her!" Divatox cheered as she watched the battle progress. One-on-one her Rangers were holding their own. "Yeah take that you goodie goodie Ranger!"
Purple Racer had proven to be an excellent evil Ranger, ruthless and aggressive enough to match Yellow Turbo in an increasingly dirty fight. Silver Racer was not adept with a sword, but the sharp edge of the Comet Blade made up for her lack of skill. She would have the girl train with Rygog and Elgar when she returned; one way or another Silver Racer would improve.
"Porto, send the Zords," she ordered. It was time to see what the Comet Smasher could do.
Despite appearances to the contrary, Yellow Turbo and Pink Turbo had the advantage. Both knew they could take their opponent at any time, but had held back, trying to break through whatever control Divatox had used on them. But when Sonic Nova appeared it was clear that the battle was about to escalate.
"We need Turbo Zord power, now!" Red Turbo called.
"Comet Smasher Turbo Zord, deploy!" Silver Racer cried.
"Nova Crusher Turbo Zord, deploy!" Purple Racer called.
When Porto had created Sonic Nova he had not expected it to survive its first battle. But it had had survived and so he had made it a permanent part of the Purple Racer's arsenal. But there was no way Divatox would be satisfied with such a simple machine for long, so he had built her a second machine known as Nova Crusher. Her Zord was smaller than Sonic Nova, which had been oversized to allow a Megazord to ride it. Shaped after a SUV, the Zord had a toughened front section that made it perfect for ramming other Zords.
In this case Purple had chosen Dune Star as a target, figuring that without a left leg the Megazord would be at a disadvantage. With perfect timing she smashed into the side of the vehicle just as it was at its most vulnerable. Then on a whim, Purple Racer pulled a lever in her own cockpit and forced her Zord to take the place of Dune Star in the Megazord formation.
"Oh my, I never expected her to do that," Porto commented as he watched Nova Crusher lock up with Desert Thunder. "I didn't know it could do that."
Comet Smasher was based upon a high end super car. Sleek, fast and nice to look at, it borrowed a number of hidden weapons from some of the Dianthe's racing vehicles. As Purple Racer managed to take out Dune Star, Silver Racer set her sights on Wind Chaser, plotting to leave the Megazord armless.
However she mistimed the collision as the Pink Turbo Ranger's Zord split in half and ended up taking out only the left arm. It was enough though to put the Turbo Rangers at a disadvantage and with Nova Crusher forming what was effectively a dead leg, the Megazord was a sitting duck.
Purple Racer had ejected from Nova Crusher as soon as the Megazord was complete. Since her Zord would only respond to her commands there was no way the Turbo Rangers would be able to move the Megazord's left leg. She was joined by Silver Racer and together they grew to Megazord size and started to attack the giant machine with their weapons.
"Sonic Cannons!" Purple Racer called.
Sonic Nova responded by bombarding the Megazord as Silver Racer and Purple Racer used their enlarged Turbo Blades. With only one arm, one working leg and under attack from multiple foes, it was a miracle the Megazord stood firm.
"Emergency separation!" Red Turbo called, deactivating the Megazord.
The large robot split into its component parts, ejecting Nova Crunch as it did so. The two halves of Wind Chaser joined together, reactivating the damaged Zord. Mountain Blaster drove into Dune Star, tipping the large machine back on its wheels again.
"All right let's try this again," Red Turbo said. "Red Lightning!"
The red sports car sped forward, heading toward Comet Smasher. Bolts of red energy shot from its front lights.
"Mountain Blaster!" Blue Turbo called, shifting gear and using his Zords weapons to keep Nova Crusher from speeding to Comet Smasher's rescue.
"Time for a rematch," Yellow Turbo agreed. "Let's see who wins when you don't sneak around. Dune Star!"
With Mountain Blaster preventing Comet Smasher from changing course, Dune Star rammed it head on.
"Desert Thunder!" Green Turbo cried. He activated the Thunder Cannons on top of his Zord, clipping Nova Crusher's rear tyre.
Silver Racer saw her comrade's predicament and turned her Zord ready to help. But before she could speed up, something crashed into the left side of her Zord and latched onto the machine. Seconds later something did the same on the other side.
"Wind Chaser!" Pink Turbo cried triumphantly as she applied the brakes and brought both halves of her Zord to a complete stop, trapping Comet Smasher in the process. "Now Fred!"
Red Lightning accelerated and used a bump in the road to propel his Zord into the air. Using the Power of Turbo to direct his vehicle in ways that would have been impossible on a normal car, Red Turbo flipped his Zord so that it leapt over Comet Smasher. As it did so the front of the Zord pointed down so that its front mounted weapons could strafe the silver Zord's bodywork.
"Turbo Megazord, now!"
"They must retreat," Porto urged.
The Turbo Megazord was more than capable of destroying Comet Smasher and Nova Crusher. And if they were smart enough to attack the large Zord first, there was a chance they could either damage or worse steal Sonic Nova.
Divatox reluctantly agreed. There was too much running away for her liking, but her evil Turbo Rangers had proven themselves a match for Zordon's students. Next time she would accept only victory.
The Turbo Rangers had won a small battle, but it was enough to bolster their confidence. Despite everything else they now knew that Silver Racer and Purple Racer were human and capable of making mistakes. It was just a matter of exploiting those mistakes and breaking Divatox's control. Hopefully they would be able to do so before the pirate could come up with any new surprises.
Sometimes it wasn't the big things that mattered, such as who had the bigger gun. Sometimes it was the little things that affected the outcome.
Deep inside the mind of Ashley Hammond something had changed. The Power had healed her recent injuries, restoring her body to as close to full health as it could manage. But it had done more than just healed a few wounds; it had altered her body so she could maximise her use of the Power of Turbo. And when it had come across a parasite clouding her mind and keeping her from peak performance, the Power had attacked it.
The larva that Porto had placed in her ear had been prevented from growing larger and embedding itself into her brain. And as the creature struggled to survive in a now hostile environment, its control over her actions started to slip.
And for Cassie Chan who had not been under the influence of the larva as long as Ashley, and had been punished harshly by Divatox for her failure, the little creature's control was almost gone.
Soon they would be free and Divatox would pay.
End of Part
<post_date>2016-05-06 12:00:01</post_date><post_modified>2022-11-15 14:09:36</post_modified>
