The Terran Rangers/Final Fantasy VII, Heather Ray [desktop ebook reader txt] 📗

energy, which flew at Kimberly in the form of a continuous beam. Kim immediately responded with a telekinetic stream of her own, colliding with Rito's energy midway between them. She focused her mind to increase the power of her own attack, intending to overwhelm Rito's attack. Yet before she could, she noticed Rito's head vanish from his neck, which strangely didn't hinder the energy stream from his hands.

"Uh oh..." she muttered, not daring to discontinue her energy fire. Yet a bolt of pain ripped through her body suddenly, forcing her to release her telekinetic assault. The very moment her energy fire dissipated, Rito's energy moved forward, crashing into her stomach with the force of a truck, and throwing the Gold Ranger through the wall of a nearby outlet store.

Kim groaned in pain, slowly rising into a sitting position and pushing chunks of concrete from on top of her. She rubbed the back of her neck, where she had felt the sudden pain earlier. She had no doubt that Rito's head managed to attack her from behind, by biting through her neck armor enough to distract her.

"Incredible," she muttered, shakily rising to her feet. "His ability to be two places at once is really confusing my telepathy, and that's just making it harder for me to focus enough to skillfully use telekinesis. This fight isn't going too well."
Chapter Nineteen

The Blue Terran Ranger flipped through the air, just managing to dodge a spiraling stream of black fire. The fire impacted with the grass where Katherine was standing, exploding on impact and causing the surrounding grass to catch aflame.

Kat breathed out slowly, steadying herself for Blaze's next assault. This time, the tall, pale Dreadkin held her hands about a foot apart, creating a whirling focus of black flame energy. Also, the air around the warrior sparked and darkened from the saturation of power.

"Now's my chance," Kat considered, her Ice Daggers forming in her hands. She held the points of the blades towards Blaze, creating streams of rapid-fire hailstones to streak at Blaze like a machine gun. However, the marble sized pellets of ice melted as soon as they came in contact with the intense heat field surrounding the creature.

"Nice try, Blue Ranger," Blaze taunted, raising her hands above her head. The swirling fireball were now the size of a watermelon, and continued to rotate on its own axis, creating a powerful wave of air to blow in the surrounding area, weaving through Blaze's crimson hair and causing the nearby lake to ripple. Kat braced herself, trying her best to prohibit the powerful building winds from knocking her off balance. She steeled herself when she saw her opponent hurl the flaming ball in her direction.

First, Katherine fired more hail at the ball, yet again they melted long before they came into contact with the sphere of heat. Then, sensing the futility of that measure, Kat concentrated, causing her daggers to fire streams of highly pressurized water from the silver metal tips. The water shot forth like a fire hose, with the intention of dowsing the powerful fireball. Yet, to Kat's infinite horror, the water all evaporated once it came near the intense heat of the sphere.

Kat gasped, and threw herself to the ground just before the ball struck her body. The fireball sailed above her, affording the Blue Ranger some time to rise to her feet. She turned around, preparing to dowse whatever fire the ball would start once it impacted the trees behind her, yet to her shock, the fireball had stopped moving, and hovered only a few yards behind her. Then, it suddenly turned around, and flew towards the Blue Ranger again.

"Don't you know anything about Black Flame?" Blaze chuckled, her fingers beckoning the fireball. "It's intensely hot...far hotter than any fire you're familiar with. Water can't dowse it! And, it is totally under my mental control!"

Kat glowered under her helmet, and turned swiftly to the fireball that streaked in her direction. At a loss for options, she quickly erected a wall of ice, at least two feet thick, blocking the path of the ball. Yet, it melted through the partition, and slammed into the Blue Ranger's chest, exploding on impact and sending her into the lake behind her. Blaze laughed triumphantly when she saw steam and bubbles surface.

Blaze's laugh caught in her throat as a column of water stretched from the center of the lake, and hovered in the air. Atop the water sat the Blue Ranger, her uniform singed and smoking.

"This isn't over yet, Blaze!" Katherine yelled, her usually gentle, melodic lightly accented voice harsh and determined.

Chapter Twenty

The Purple Ranger struggled to stay on her feet, her knees buckling beneath her body's weight. To her, it seemed as if the force of gravity had tripled from its normal intensity.

"This is pathetic," Shade muttered, her wispy cape and dark ponytail fluttering in the calm breeze. "Of all the Power Rangers, I get the runt of the team. You can barely stand on your own two feet!"

Alexis glared at her opponent under her helmet, but she chose not to respond to the insulting remarks. Instead, she focused every ounce of energy in her being into her hands. Her white gloves sparked with faint violet energy, which coalesced into a sphere of flashing purple light. She pulled her arms back, and extended them quickly, hurling the sphere into the air. Shade chuckled as the sphere passed through her body unhindered.

Damn her intangibility!

Alexis swore. There isn't a thing I can do to her! Good thing she can't hold it for very long...

Alexis attempted to concentrate her powers again, yet this time only faint flashes of energy appeared. She sighed inwardly, a scowl on her face.

"It looks like the Purple Power-less Ranger is out of steam," Shade commented, a gleam in her emerald eyes. "This should be easy."

That said, Shade bent her knees, and leaped into the air, hurtling her body towards the Purple Ranger at an astonishing speed. The wispy cape somehow managed to allow the Dreadkin to glide on the air currents, giving her unsurpassed control over her aerial assault. Alexis extended her hand, causing her sparking Laser Whip to materialize at her silent command, and cracked it menacingly in the air as Shade approached. Yet, when Shade was finally close enough for Alexis to strike, the whip passed harmlessly through Shade's body, and then Shade herself passed through Alexis, landing on the ground behind the startled Purple Ranger. Alexis turned around sharply, only moving right into a powerful roundhouse kick that struck her in the jaw, and caused her to fall clumsily to the green grass that accented the baseball field just behind Angel Grove High School.

"You're about as dangerous as a declawed kitten," Shade sighed, looming above Alexis threateningly, "if even."

Alexis felt fury building in the core of her being, rushing to her extremities a jolt of adrenaline that she desperately needed to get back on her feet. Unseen by the haughty Shade, Alexis grasped her Laser Whip tightly, and in one clean movement, she raised her right hand, and arched her wrist firmly. The purple colored whip wrapped around Shade's leg, and instantly sent a jolt of purple tinged energy. Shade shrieked in surprise and pain as the energy traveled along her entire body, flashing brightly as a web of energy that encased her tightly.

Alexis rose to one knee, tightening her grasp on her whip. She knew the energy would only continue to flow as long as she could maintain it, and her weakened state has left little energy to spare. Still, Alexis was determined to fell her opponent, virus or no virus. She felt the sweat streaking down her cheeks, and a throbbing pain echo her heartbeat in her mind. With a grunt of frustration, Alexis' focus weakened for a split second.

That was all the time Shade needed.

In one precise movement, Shade whirled her free leg around, smashing into the Purple Ranger's arms and forcing the whip out of her grip. Alexis sprawled weakly to the ground, gasping for breath and fighting the veils of unconsciousness from overpowering her. While Alexis was otherwise occupied, Shade yanked the purple leather strip off her leg, and tossed it out of her way. An infuriated scowl on her dark features, Shade grabbed the corner of her cape with one hand, and cast it over Alexis. A cold chill raced through the Purple Ranger's body as the sight of the baseball diamond was replaced by an infinite black void.

"AHH!"

she shrieked, waving her arms and legs frantically. She was floating aimlessly in a pit of nothingness, without even the dimmest source of light or the slightest sound besides her own terrified screams.

She didn't feel the presence of something beneath her, so she was certain she was somehow floating. All she could feel was a penetrating cold, that stabbed at every inch of her body like knives. Shivering fitfully, Alexis recoiled into a ball, hoping to keep herself alive with her own body heat.

Only seconds after her descent into darkness, Alexis felt herself fall. The fall didn't last long, and she suddenly crashed into the semi-soft ground of the baseball diamond. She collapsed flat onto the ground, still shivering with fear and cold. She didn't understand what had happened to her, yet from the wicked look in Shade's green eyes, she knew what caused it.

Unfortunately, she didn't think her body was capable of paying the villainess back.

Chapter Twenty-One