Prologue

Six humanoid figures emerged from the underground ravine in perfect formation. They arched high into the sky before landing in half crouched positions along the ravine. The six color-coded rangers stood in the middle of a canyon covered with eroded stone walls and a river. Without a moment to waste they formed a circle, each member covering another's blind spots.

The team of rangers stood absolutely silent and immobile in their power armor. A technologically advanced combat exoskeleton system designed to vastly improve the strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and durability of the rangers. It was of alien origin, with an organic aesthetic. At first glance, they had once commented that six looked like superheroes in the armor but they were far more effective and ruthless than the heroic stock characters. Besides the different shades of color, each member drew a weapon unique to them.

Mike, the blue ranger wield Manrikigusari with a single weighted head with four short spikes. Blue spun the chained weapon as he covered their ten and eleven o clock. Adande, the black ranger, held a large war hammer with a single-blade ax attached to it. Black tightened his grip as he watched their twelve and one o clock. Zoe, the yellow ranger had two razor-sharp blades that were integrated on both of her forearms. Yellow maintained a predator stance as she was responsible for both two and three.

lance, the red ranger had a pair of three-prong blades that resembled a pair of sais. Red kept his knees bent while providing overwatch for four and five o clock. Richard, the green ranger banished a double-bladed sword. Green stood firm as he took charge of six and seven o'clock. Lastly, Nicole, the pink ranger carried a compound bow. Her fingers held an arrow made of pure energy as she provided security for eight and nine o clock.

Before they utter a single word the suits motion sensors went off. The ground beneath their feet shook uncontrollably. Then several misshaped figured brushed from the limb stone. Within seconds their silhouettes encompassed the valley. What surrounded the colored heroes were the golems, Rita's foot soldiers. These creatures, which are significantly larger than humans, are created from surfaces such as concrete. Each individual golem inherits characteristics from these substances. When they are created from gold, concrete, or dirt, they take on the qualities of those materials.

The army of cannon fodder communicated with an odd combination of guttural grunts and growls. According to Alpha five, they were about as smart as dogs, but what they lacked in brainpower, they made up for in sheer tenacity. Their tactics boiled down to hurling themselves at their enemies until the ground was piled high with their corpses with their opponents remaining underneath. The golems were capable of shaping their hands into crude weapons, most commonly swords or clubs. Overall they were a force not to be taken likely.

Adande took an optical scan off the rock army.

Once it was complete he passed the tactical information along to his team over their private com channel.

"There's a total of one thousand and twenty-five," he whispered over the link.

" And six of us," Mike replied."Piss-poor odds for these guys, huh."

"Damn right, surrounding us only simplified things," Lance declared out loud. As he rolled his shoulders back.

"Nicole," the green ranger said, "I want you up high to rain hell on these guys. soften them up for us and take out any outside of our reach."

"Okie Dokie," she answered playfully.

"Zoe, disorient them if any get past us take them out."

"You bet," behind her helmet a sly grin appeared.

"Lance goes all out and Adande supports him. While Mike and I are on crowd control." he took a deep breath. "Understood?"

There were no questions or rebuttals. A moment he felt was odd but none the less he shook it off. Then

their signature color winked on his heads-up display as his team acknowledged their orders.

"On my mark." Richard crouched and readied himself. "go!"

The pink ranger leaped gracefully atop the ridge three meters straight up. There was no sound as the landed on the limestone. Nicole ran along the ridge with her bow ready. Then in quick succession, she fired three arrows. The arrows streaked into the Golems' formation and detonated.

The other rangers cut through the clouds of dust and rubble just in time to see the second arrow strike their targets. Two consecutive blossoms of flash, fire, and thunder decimated the front ranks of the Golems guards, and most importantly, turned a majority of them into smoldering piles of rocks.

With inhuman speed, the yellow ranger tore through a crowd of golems. She used a combination of gymnastics and quick strikes to confuse the rock warriors. By the time the golems got a good look at her, they were already a pile of minerals on the floor.

Zoe was like a ballerina of destruction and she loved it.

Adande was never an active kid, but with the power suit, he became a powerhouse. The black ranger swung his weapon clumsy around the battlefield. Although he destroyed a few of them it wasn't enough. He took a second and scanned the area. A gathering of stone soldiers was approaching him. Behind the assortment of golems was the edge of a cliff. The idea manifested in his head in a millisecond. Adande used his war hammer as aboard. with his strength, he pushed the group of golems off the edge. Then he kicked the last one over the cliff.

The blue ranger spun his chain around in a wild but control manner. The wide arcs prevented the stone warriors from closing in. Any who pushed their luck was swiftly destroyed. Mike spotted an unlucky opponent and quickly ensnared it, stopping the golem in its tracks. The blue ranger pulled the rock warrior towards him. Mike extends his arm out from the side of his body parallel to the ground. Once the golem came in contact with him it exploded in a chunk of rubble. He snagged another and swung it around, knocking into all the nearby stone monsters until there were none left.

The red ranger went on a relentless killing spree on Rita`s foot soldiers, slicing them to pieces left to right and center. After all, things she had put him through, the teen was inching for a little payback.

lance dug his blades into one stone creature before lifting it up and throwing it into three more. Then

snapped his elbow into an oncoming rock warrior. Just before he could perform the final blow a blue energy chain appeared and snagged on the golem's so-called neck. Then with a tug, the creature's head was separated from its body. lance looked and saw the blue ranger with his weapon in hand.

"That's one," he mocked.

The red ranger grunted. Then he threw on of his sais towards mike. the projectile flew passed him, Striking the stone monster that sneaked up behind blue. He looked back at the pile of rock then back to Lance. who just starred at him.

"Okay, we're even."

Green fought off an assemblage of golems. He sliced and diced within range. The sword-wielding ranger ran towards it and lobbed its arm off. the ore creature tried to punch him but Richard caught the limb. He pushed it back, causing it to stumble. The green ranger gripped his sword with two hands and swung. The golem was bisected, each half landed simultaneously. As one golem came up from behind him, a single arrow came out of nowhere, taking out the would-be attacker.

"Do worry, I got your back."

The six tore into the rock monsters, breaching their stone hides. Despite the golems numbers, each holding their own against the stone army. Finally, the Golems realized what was happening, They regrouped and charged en masse. An earthquake vibration coursed through the ground and shook the porous stone beneath the ranger's boots.

They rush into the tide of creatures as they surged forward. Line after line of them dropped but scores more just trampled over the remains of their fallen comrades.

Zoe turned quickly and struck a golem that tried to get the jump on her. Another swung its arm at the yellow ranger. Thanks to her reflexes she blocked with her arm blades and counters with a quick she took another breath several more appeared. The yellow ranger rolled her eyes and continued the fight.

Adande was tossed to the ground. He stood up and stumbled as a stone fist struck him in the chest. Another blow that sent him back on the floor. A squad of golems began approaching his downed form.

Lance bisected two more golems. He kicked another one away, grabbed another, tossing it aside. A golem hit him in the shoulder, this angered the ranger who turned around and saw over a dozen more.

"I'll take you all on," he bellowed. As he charged them. The red ranger fought valiantly but the onslaught forced him to his knees.

Nicole saw lance being overrun laid down covering fire, performing head shots on the stone horde. Before she could fire another volley of arrows more golems were encroaching on her position. The pink ranger used her bow to sweep a golem off its feet. Then she conjured an arrow and jammed into the monster's chest.

Richard turned to find his next opponent who struck him in the ribs, causing him to fall with a gasp of pain. Mike swooped in and held off the foot soldiers as the green ranger struggled back to his feet. Once he dispatched the rock warriors the blue ranger went over to where his leader was kneeling. Mike offered Richard his hand which he took gratefully. The green-clad warrior held his side as the blue one helped him to his feet. On his HUD it revealed that he sustained a few broken ribs.

"Things are getting serious out here," said Mike.

"You think," he chuckled.

"Heads up we got incoming," Nicole reported over the com-link. As more emerged from the treeline.

"Understood," said the green ranger. " Everyone falls back to the edge of the cliff!"

Their status lights winked once, acknowledging his order except for blue.

"I got an idea, keep them busy!" he called out and then jumped over the edge of the ravine.

"This isn't the time for one of your crazy antics," the yellow ranger replied. As she dodged a handful of golems and counters with strikes to the chest. Which caused them to explode into tiny pieces.

"Don't worry, I got this,"

The rangers sprinted up the half-kilometer sandstone slope in thirty-two seconds flat. The hill ended abruptly a sheer drop of two hundred meters straight off a cliff. The Golems looked like a living avalanche. They barked and howled, baying for the rangers' blood.

"Mike, where's your sorry ass at?" Lance demanded as the horde of foot soldiers approached them.

The blue ranger's voice crackled over the COM channel: "cool your jets, my guy I`m back."

Before anyone could utter a response, a massive creature emerged over the cliff edge. The hill exploded plumes of pulverized sandstone and fire and smoke hurtled skyward. A mix of gravel and cobblestones pinged off of the ranger's helmet.

An enormous metallic stegosaurus emerged from the dust cloud. Its blue hide caught everyone's attention as it arrived on the battlefield. Then

In a stunning display of skill, the metal monster performed a wild spin maneuver, taking out several dozen golems. With the zord at there back the five-colored warriors joined the fray. They picked off the remaining foot soldiers that were still alive and struggling to stand. The blue Stegosaurus picked off the remaining golems until all that was left was a cloud of survivors surfaced.

"And that's a wrap," said the blue ranger. "Good job everyone, take five."

"Fucking A," red ranger commented as his friend jumped down from the cockpit to the cheers of his teammates.

"Even a broken clock is right twice a day," the black ranger stated.

"What can I say, I'm the man," as he aimed his thumps towards himself. Then he heard a guttural bark from the metallic stegosaurus. "You too bubby

"It's hardly going to balance the scales," the yellow ranger muttered and kicked the sand. "Not like these things slaughtered countless lives on other planets. They should suffer just as much."

The green ranger had nothing to say to that. It wasn't his job to make things suffer, he was just here to stop Rita. Whatever it took.

" Alpha, it's done," Richard reported into the comm-link. "the golems were taken care of."

"Excellent news," the automaton replied. He sighed, and added, "But you're far from done."

"Good, I was getting warmed up over here," Lance remarked.

"Hey, guys," the pink ranger called out. She stood near the cliff edge and looking out towards the city. "You seeing this?"

The others joined her by the cliff-side and followed her gaze. In the distance impossible to miss, an elemental creature composed of metal, crystal, and rock. It ambled towards the city.

"Seeing still working on believing" Adande responded.

Lance watched for a minute and didn't move a muscle. He knew if this continued Angel groves' lakes and rivers would be vaporized. By tomorrow, the atmosphere would boil away, too. Fields and forests destroyed. Where there had once been a paradise, now the only hellish landscape remained.

"If she gets the crystal we are screwed, right?" Mike asked his fellow rangers.

"Most likely," Nicole answered.

"We're gonna put an end to this," Richard told his team. "Get to the zords were heading out."

The blue ranger stepped back from the ledge towards the Stegozord waiting on him. He watched as the others leaped over the edge of the gorge to get to their own zords in the grotto below.

Not a moment too soon four more behemoths emerged. First was an olive colored Tyrannosaurus. Followed by a crimson Triceratops. Next, an obsidian Apatosaurus who towered over the rest. Then a Velociraptor with golden stripes. They all landed on the cliff-side alongside the stegosaurus except for pink who hovered above them. Her rose-colored Pteranodon flapped its metallic wings in the air as it fluttered over the rest. Like they rehearsed the zords stood in side by side.

As the other rangers spoke to one another

the green ranger continued to watch the devastation, his face was grim. Richard knew this was going to be the Rangers' moment of truth. All their training has come down to this moment. If they failed here earth would be doomed. In one brief moment, he thought back to how they found themselves in this situation.