The Terran Rangers/Final Fantasy VII by Heather Ray (summer beach reads txt) 📕

azure eyes, "I just hope we're not too late..."

Her eyes wide with surprise and confusion, Tifa followed with her tawny gaze as Cloud stood on the platform, and descended into the laboratory below. She blinked several times, faint anger on her face.

"What was that all about?" Zack wanted to know.

"One never knows with Cloud Strife," Tifa grumbled. "We'd better hurry, before he leaves without us."
Chapter Twenty-Five

With a daring mid-air somersault, the Blue Ranger narrowly missed a stream of blazing energy spouting from Rito's mouth. Rito pounded on his chest, belching.

"Woo," he gasped, shaking his head, "where are my manners? You'll have to excuse me...burping in front of a lady --"

Rito's snide remark was cut short by a monstrous sneeze, pushing the villain back several yards, and causing the breeze nearby to pick up.

Katherine had landed a good twenty yards from Rito's position, and spun around just in time to witness Rito's heavy sneeze.

He's clearly ill,

she deduced, extending her arms at her sides. Perhaps I can wear him down a bit more...

Kat clenched her gloved hands into fists, building an aura of aqua-blue energy. She then pulled her arms inward, bending her elbows, until her elbows brushed at her waist. She then tensed, and thrust both fists outwards, opening her hands towards her opponent.

From her palms streaked a clear blue energy, which Rito deflected expertly with his sword. The energy built around the weapon, encasing the sharp blade in a thick bed of solid ice.

"No fair!" Rito groaned, staring at the frozen blade, "I'm gonna....Ah..ah...Ahh --CHOOO

!!"

The force of this sneeze knocked the villain clear off his feet, sending him sprawling to the manicured grass just outside an outlet store.

"Bless you," Katherine said, a smile on her lips. "If I didn't know better, I'd say...that Space Virus infected you a whole lot more effectively than it did me."

Rito frowned, scratching his head. "We'll see about that."

Without warning, Rito's head vanished from his body. Katherine warily watched his body as it rose to its feet, clenching its fists.

"Ice Daggers," she commanded, holding her hands out. Twin daggers with silver blades formed at her hands, and she held them at a 180 degree angle, one dagger pointed at Rito's body.

"Gotcha!" Rito suddenly exclaimed, his head materializing behind Kat. Swiftly, Katherine poised one dagger at the skull, mustering a frozen stream of energy from both at once.

At once, both Rito's head and body were encased in solid ice.

"No," she said, spinning her dagger at the hilt, "I got you."

To her surprise, both of Rito's halves vanished, still encased in their frozen prison.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The bright silver saber, glowing with a rippling flame along its sharp edge, chopped through the air mightily, collided with the golden long sword for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Perhaps it was.

Yet this time, something almost impossible happened.

The golden sword was knocked from the not-so-firm grip of its master.

Stunned, the Red Ranger kept his blade at Goldar's throat, his eyes, masked by the crimson helmet, moving from the feral beast he battled to the sword that flew clear off the cliff.

"What's with you today?" Tommy asked, his sword not even quivering. "Since when have I been able to break your grip?"

Goldar snarled, his entire body trembling. From Tommy's perspective, it almost looked like the mighty warrior was...afraid

.

What Tommy didn't know was the chronic itch that plagued the villain. It had begun as a slight irritation, but over the drawn out battle, it continued to steadily increase in intensity, until it was nearly a blinding sensation. It was all Goldar could do not to pull his hands to his snout, despite Tommy's threatening position, and scratch the burning skin beneath the azure fur.

Goldar was almost blind with raging fury. He was so close! He had the chance to destroy the Power Rangers, but it slipped through is itching fingers.

He knew, without a doubt, that he wasn't going to triumph over the Red Ranger that day. Whereas the pair were just about evenly matched at their peaks, his debilitation due to the Space Virus was markedly greater than Tommy's. The Red Ranger seemed almost completely unaffected by the powerful illness.

"This isn't over, Power Ranger," Goldar growled, his body vanishing from existence in a bright gold flame.

Tommy stared at the spot Goldar had stood upon moments before, lowering his saber. His thoughts instantly turning from the creature to his allies, Tommy lifted his wrist to his mouth.

"Rocky? Are you there?"

^I read you, Tommy. Good job against Goldar.^

Tommy all but ignored the compliment. "Today wasn't his best day. Frankly, one of my students probably could've beaten him in this condition. Anyway, how are the others?"

^Jason and Kim are holding their own against Blaze and Nirvana, and Alexis...^

Tommy frowned, discerning from Rocky's tone the urgency of the matter. "How is Alexis?"

^Not good. You'd better get over there. I'll send Katherine to meet up with you. She's at the school, in the baseball field.^

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Alexis crumbled to the dirt ground, gasping for air as her senses once again adjusted to reality.

She decided then how much she hated Shade, and her infernal dimension-shifting cape. The maddening black void was empty and cold, and each time the Dreadkin knight sucked the helpless Purple Ranger inside, she grew weaker by leaps and bounds.

At this point, Alexis couldn't even bring herself to stand up. Instead, she lay motionless on the dusty baseball diamond, silently berating herself for proving to be so unworthy of the Power.

"Weak," Shade growled, lifting Alexis by the collar of her golden shield. She brought the limp Purple Ranger to eye level, piercing her with evergreen eyes. "You're hardly worth the energy it'll take to kill you."

Alexis thought of a witty reply, but she couldn't muster the strength to utter it. Instead, her body shivering with effort, she thrust her gloved hands forward, enclosing her weak fingers around Shade's neck. Instantly, sparks of purple energy wove through Alexis' body, channeling into Shade.

Her green eyes widened with disbelief as the purple energy coursed faintly through her body.

Alexis collapsed to the ground, to weak to even sit at this point. Through blurry, half-closed eyes, she watched Shade tremble slightly at the very weak, yet still mildly painful, energy bolt. After a matter of seconds, the effect wore off completely, and Shade shook off the disorientation.

"For that," Shade muttered deeply, "I'll make your end slow and painful..."

The last thing Shade had expected was for an arch of flame energy to smash into the small of her back, tossing the warrior clear over the fallen Purple Ranger, and crashing head-first into the cage behind the home base. But that's what happened.

"You mess with a Power Ranger, you mess with all the Power Rangers!" the Red Ranger bellowed, racing onto the diamond. Shade pulled herself out of the chain fence, ignoring the tears in her skin caused by the sharp links scratching her when she went through.

"You'll regret that," Shade growled, her body vanishing. Tommy blinked, turning around warily, only to receive a powerful kick to the side of his helmet. Tommy's neck whipped back painfully, letting the Red Ranger fall dazedly to the ground.

Tommy blinked in astonishment as Shade rematerialized, towering above him. Anger building, Tommy swung his legs along the ground, intending to sweep Shade to the grass. To his surprise, his legs passed harmlessly through hers.

Her smile widened. "Oh dear," she mocked, "what will the little man do now?"

Her answer came as an aura of blue energy surrounded her body. She turned around in surprise, and her eyes narrowed as she saw the Blue Ranger standing beside the Purple Ranger, holding up the limp girl with one hand, while firing the blue aura with the other.

Katherine gasped as the blue energy had no effect on the Dreadkin.

"That beam was supposed to freeze her," she muttered, stepping back in surprise. "Why didn't it work!"

"She's...intangible when she wants to be," Alexis replied weakly. "And invisible. But she can't do both at once."

Katherine startled when Shade once again disappeared from the scene. Tommy slowly rose to his feet, keeping a careful eye on the entire field for any movement.

"Alexis," he said, cautiously moving toward the girls, "teleport to the CAC pronto. Kat and I will take care of this monster."

Alexis was about to protest, but the words caught in her throat. She knew she could barely stand up, much less prove useful in the fight.

Grudgingly, Alexis obeyed the order, disappearing in a faint purple flash.