Phantom Authority, Chapter Five

It would have been an understatement to say that Darren and Lenny were focused on bringing down the final bounty hunter. Darren had just brought down the previous two and after Lenny’s run-ins with the group, it was clear that he wanted some kind of retribution. The two of them drove up to the beach area they saw in the video call from Oracon and saw that it was strangely deserted, even more so than usual. Lenny steered the vehicle onto the sand and asked, “Do you see anything? Bounty hunter? Massive Zord?”

“Neither.” Darren shook his head. “But he’s around here somewhere.”

It would seem like the bounty hunter was closer than they thought. Landing right on the hood of the cop car was Oracon, who performed a graceful backflip in the air, landing several feet away from them. Oracon motioned with his hand for Darren to come forth.

“Stay in the car, Lenny,” Darren told him.

“But it might be a trap-“ Lenny began.

“I said, stay in the car,” Darren repeated, his tone much firmer. Lenny knew better than to argue with his partner when he was in this kind of mood. With that out of the way, Darren exited the vehicle and stepped forward. “So, here I am,” He told Oracon.

“Yes, here you are,” Oracon confirmed. “I was starting to wonder if you would show.”

Ignoring that last comment, Darren replied, “I see you here…” He looked around before finishing, “I don’t see any Carrierzord.”

“Patience,” Oracon told him. Soon, Darren’s Phantom Morpher on his wrist started to glow red, as if it had activated something. Darren’s eyes narrowed at this strange phenomenon but things would become even more surreal as the nearby ocean started to tremble. As if they had been transported into a fantasy world, a massive structure emerged from the water, almost as big as several skylines. It was a series of three different cars linked together, almost like it was designed more for storage than combat. Nonetheless, it was imposing. It was Artillatron.

“Amazing,” Darren breathed as Lenny watched on from the car, believing that he had just seen everything.

“And it will be mine,” Oracon switched out his trusty gun for something a bit closer range: a curved sword. “As will your Power Ruby. I thank you for activating Artillatron for me. My boss might get the Power Ruby, but this Zord will make the perfect consolation prize…. Once you’re gone, of course.”

Darren turned his attention back to Oracon, assuming a battle stance. Before Darren had the opportunity to morph, Oracon moved toward him like a blur, immediately taking him by the throat and backhanding him, sending him down to the sand. Darren rolled backwards to avoid a downward stab and kicked Oracon’s sword back to give himself some room. He then started to kick at Oracon, who blocked the attacks with quickness. Once again, a smack from the bounty hunter had Darren eating sand.

“Is this all the successor to Eltar’s hero can muster?” Oracon taunted.

Darren rose to one knee, spitting some of the sand that got into his mouth. There was no denying the fact that Oracon was a far greater challenge than either Anion or Feldon. Darren wasn’t about to surrender, though. He jumped back up to his feet and ran forward, attempting a spin kick, which was easily evaded. The next attack, a thrust kick, was able to send Oracon back a few steps.

“You didn’t think you’d get the Power Ruby so easily, did you?” Now was Darren’s turn to taunt.

Oracon straightened himself up, adjusting his composure. “I won’t take you lightly again,” He threatened. He ran forward and started to slash at Darren, the young officer moving quickly to avoid each strike. One slash caught Darren’s shirt, though, tearing a diagonal hole. Oracon followed up with a spin kick of his own, sending the Phantom Ranger down to one knee.

“I’ve had enough,” Darren stood once more, bringing his Phantom Morpher up to his lips, “Phantom Po-“

“Oh no you don’t,” Oracon swung his sword up, catching the wristband of the Phantom Ranger, before sending it to the distance. Without his morphing device, Darren was caught off-guard with several more kicks, which was followed up by an uppercut. Darren soon found himself lying on the sand but before he could make another move, Oracon pressed his foot against the fallen Ranger’s chest, keeping him in place.

“What a predicament you find yourself in,” Oracon applied more pressure on his foot, causing Darren to cry out in pain. “A Ranger without the ability to morph…”

Lenny watched this scene with worry etched along his facial features and concern inside of him. Oracon’s sword swung from side to side, as if to taunt Darren.

“You’re not going to win,” Darren remained courageous, despite his inability to free himself.

“But I will.” Oracon shook his head. “Once you’re gone, the Power Ruby will belong to my boss and I’ll have more wealth than I’ll know what to do with. It’s just a shame that you won’t be alive to witness anything further,” He held up his sword, the blade positioned downward. “Rest well, Phantom Ranger.”

Before Oracon could deal the finishing blow, he was stunned by a heavy force landing on his back. Darren opened his eyes and saw Lenny on Oracon’s back, keeping him from landing the aforementioned blow.

“You’re not hurting my partner!” Lenny exclaimed.

“Get off of me!” Oracon exclaimed. He finally threw Lenny off of his back, the two of them now engaged in a battle of tug-of-war with the sword. In the blink of an eye, Lenny felt a sense of cold steel enter his abdomen, a sudden gasp of pain escaping him. He looked down and saw Oracon’s sword, which the bounty hunter held firmly in place. Slowly, Oracon removed the blade from Lenny’s abdomen, kicking him back to lie motionless in the sand. “You never should have left your vehicle.”

“Lenny!” Darren exclaimed, tears stinging his eyes as he watched this. Adrenaline kicked in and the officer raced forward, taking Oracon by the arms to tackle him onto the sand. The battle resumed, this time with a more ferocious officer targeting the callous bounty hunter.

Meanwhile, a helmeted figure rode onto the scene on an AGPD motorcycle. Removing her helmet was Sarah, who raced onto the scene just in time to see Darren and Oracon fight, not to mention a severely wounded Lenny lying on the beach. She looked down and saw the Phantom Morpher lying on the sand. Acting quickly, she ran toward the device, tossing it into the distance, “Darren, catch!”

Darren kicked Oracon backwards and jumped up, catching the Phantom Morpher in his hand. He nodded in thanks to Sarah before securing the device back on his wrist. “Phantom Power!” He exclaimed, bright technological energy enveloping his body. Now fully morphed, Darren fired his Phantom Laser at Oracon’s hand, causing him to drop his sword.

“You should thank your lucky stars your friend came to save you.” Oracon shook his wrist a bit to regain feeling in it. “But I still have Artillatron.”

With that said, Oracon ran toward Artillatron, using the entrance ramp in order to get inside. Darren aimed but failed to get a clear shot at the bounty hunter. This would be only one problem, though, as he turned his head to see Sarah examining the fallen Lenny. Darren holstered his Phantom Laser and moved to his partner’s side. The Phantom Ranger knelt down and removed his helmet, setting it down on the sand beside him.

“Len.” Darren tried to support his partner, whose skin had become scarily pale. His eyes averted downward to see a prominent shade of red form under Lenny’s shirt, which caused the Phantom Ranger’s stomach to turn. He then looked into Lenny’s eyes, seeing him stare right back at him.

“Guess I paid off my tab, didn’t I?” Lenny joked, finding it a struggle to laugh at his own remark.

“Listen to me, pal. You’re going to be just fine,” Darren wrapped an arm around Lenny. “We’re going to patch you up and you’ll be okay. I need my partner, right?” He weakly smiled but he couldn’t sustain it as he watched the life slowly fade from Lenny’s eyes. “You can’t leave me like this, Len, come on…”

“Just… Do me a favor,” Lenny squeezed Darren’s hand. “Go inside of that Zord and take him down.”

Darren wanted nothing more than to stay with Lenny in this state. However, he knew that the true activation of Artillatron was just a few moments away if he let Oracon have his way. He looked up at Sarah, who gave him a reassuring nod.

“Go,” Sarah insisted. “I’ll stay with him.”

Darren nodded in return and smiled down at Lenny. “I’ll give him one for you,” He promised. He placed his Phantom Ranger helmet back on his head and ran toward Artillatron, entering the massive Zord through the same ramp that Oracon used.

Once he was inside, Darren was in awe at what he saw. Even though Artillatron was very much a machine, the space in which the user had to maneuver was nothing short of ample. There were several gears in motion and electrical circuits that continually pumped power through the Zord. He didn’t have much time to admire the inner workings of Artillatron, though, as he had a bigger task on his plate.

Darren continued forward, but just narrowly avoided a laser bullet directed toward him. He looked to the side and saw Oracon, who quickly ducked around a corner.

“Get back here!” Darren barked, chasing down the bounty hunter that wounded his partner. He turned the corner, only to find himself in another room. “Where are you? Show yourself, you coward!”

He wouldn’t have to wait long, though, as Oracon seemingly appeared out of nowhere, kicking the Phantom Ranger into a moving gear. Darren fell to the floor while Oracon stood proudly, despite what he had just committed moments earlier.

“You should have known that was coming.” Oracon shook his head. “You destroyed two of my trusted comrades. It was only right you felt my pain.”

“You’re monsters…” Darren rose to one knee. “All you care about is yourselves. What do you know about pain?”

“Well, I do know that there’s nothing quite like sensing steel meet flesh,” Oracon drew forth another blade, this one slightly shorter than the other he had used. “I’ll be more than happy to let you join your partner before I take that precious Power Ruby from you.”

“Not a chance,” With his Phantom Laser in hand, Darren clashed weapons with Oracon, using his strength to force the bounty hunter against the wall. He then kneed Oracon several times in the abdomen, taking him by the throat before throwing him down. “Lenny was innocent in all of this… How could you?!”

Oracon grunted as he rose to his feet, almost enjoying the rage coming from the Phantom Ranger.

“He was my friend!” Darren fired his Phantom Laser at Oracon, who used his superior speed to evade each blast sent his way. The chase was on once again, with Darren following Oracon out of the room. Soon, he was met in an intersection, with four different hallways to enter. He didn’t have much time to decide on which hallway to enter, though, as Oracon attacked from overhead. The force was so severe that the two of them fell through the floor below, landing in an entirely different room.

With a central generator in the location, it was apparent that Darren and Oracon arrived – to put it mildly – in Artillatron’s generator room. This was where the source of the Carrierzord’s power was located. Darren was the first to stand up and quickly mounted Oracon, proceeding to wail on him with a series of punches to the face.

“This is for Lenny,” Darren repeated. “This is for him, you monster!” Anger had completely overtaken the Phantom Ranger, who resorted to brute force in order to keep Oracon down. Every punch was fueled with every negative emotion Darren felt, and the bounty hunter experienced every ounce of it. In fact, the strikes were so powerful that they had actually cracked the mask he wore, revealing a humanoid face behind it. As Darren continued to punch, though, his rage became less intense. It was like he had little energy left.

Darren soon stood up, watching as the impaired Oracon crawled toward the generator, chuckling lowly all the while. “What are you laughing at?” The Phantom Ranger hissed.

“Fool,” Oracon spat, leaning against the generator, “Don’t you get it? You put all your heart into those punches… And I’m still standing. I’m beyond anything you could comprehend. You, on the other hand, are human. You have human strength. You have human senses. You have human limits… That’s why even with the Power Ruby, you’ll always be weak.”

“I’m not weak.” Darren shook his head. “I’m more than just the Phantom Ranger. I’m Darren Garver, officer of the Angel Grove Police Department. And I speak on behalf of all of AGPD when I say that life in prison is too good for you.”

“So what will you do? Do you think that you can destroy me with that?” Oracon looked down at the Phantom Laser in Darren’s hand. “I’m too powerful for your little toy.”

“Maybe.” Darren drew up his firearm and aimed. “But not enough for this,” He fired just to the side of Oracon, striking the generator. The impact of the laser caused the generator to surge, Oracon’s body convulsing out of control. Darren watched this in amazement, wondering just how of this a single being could withstand. The generator soon ran out, fading to black as Oracon slumped back against it.

“I suppose,” Oracon spoke lowly, the strength gone from his voice. “You wanted the Power Ruby more. Farewell, Phantom Ranger,” He then dropped to his knees before falling flat on his front, his body disintegrating into noting. Darren’s heart was racing a mile a minute at this point as he slumped down to the floor, trying to regain himself as best as he could. As he did, though, the generator kicked back online, power once again running through Artillatron.

“I guess this thing has reserves,” Darren reasoned, knowing that there was more of this Carrierzord to see. Once he climbed out of the generator room, he made his way up to the cockpit of Artillatron, where power was restored as well. Darren was met with a room with three wide windows in front of him and various controls to be seen as well. He removed his helmet and sat down at the controls, placing his helmet down on the floor next to him. Darren reached forward and pressed a few buttons, as if operating Artillatron was second nature to him. Perhaps this was a side effect of the Phantom Ranger powers, he thought to himself.

After a few more button combinations, Darren was successful in powering down Artillatron, allowing the Carrierzord to remain dormant once more. With the threat of the bounty hunters gone, there was no need for Artillatron. Despite this, it wasn’t an entirely happy ending for the Phantom Ranger.

*~*~*

After stepping outside of Artillatron, the Carrierzord lowered back into the water, remaining at the bottom of the ocean until it was meant to be used once more. Darren looked to the side to see Sarah on the sand, staring sadly down at the fallen Lenny. Darren raced forward, his Phantom Ranger helmet under his arm all the while.

“You made it,” Sarah remarked, her tone sadder than she would have liked. “And that hunter…”

“He’s gone,” Darren reassured her. He looked at Lenny, eyes closed and unresponsive. “No…” He whispered, the tragic realization coming over him. “Len…”

“Darren, I’m so sorry.” Sarah tried to fight back her tears. She wasn’t used to losing officers, regardless of the circumstances.

“This can’t be happening,” Darren leaned down to cradle Lenny’s body in his arms, sensing just how cold he felt. Try as he might have, he couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down his face, “Lenny, please…” He cried as he held his partner close. Sarah moved to Darren’s side and moved an arm around his shoulders, allowing him to weep for his departed friend.

Angel Grove was free from a massive threat, but not without losing a courageous officer.