[TheFightingSpirit]

Incursion Seventeen: Earth Father

In the car, Catherine explained to the rangers her dual reasoning for letting them have a day off. She did her best to explain to them what Brother Gray had told her, adding her own theories in the process.

“So, what is this Order of the Trinity?” asked Ken.

“They say they formed around the time of the magi tribes as the devoted followers and guardians of the magi emperor and the knowledge he held.”

Maria crossed her arms. She was quite a bit more skeptical than the others. “And we can trust them, can we?”

“I can’t say for sure,” replied Catherine, “but yeah, I think we can. I felt their power, and for some reason I know we can trust them.”

They weren’t far from Fort Lowsdale now, and quickly coming upon the refugee camps lining the road into town.

“Alright. If you say so, Lieutenant.” Maria faced forward in her seat. “I’m going to reserve my judgement for later though.”

“If they still exist, then what about the emperor? Do they still protect him?”

Allison smiled at her friend’s unhindered reckoning. “I doubt it’s the same man, Rob.”

“Of course not, I know that. I mean these guys are basically all that remains the Trinity clan, right? So why bother keeping the knowledge like they do if there’s no emperor to protect?” He frowned.

Though it was easy to dismiss the Order, he did wonder why they chose now to reveal themselves. The Cross Rangers had been in the media for a while.

“Lock the books away somewhere and get back to the modern world. I am right?” Brad added.

Catherine found herself agreeing. “I suspect you’re not far wrong. So if there is an awakened modern emperor from the Trinity clan, then the Order must have decided the Earth is in enough danger to come out of hiding and fight alongside him.”

“As far as I care, this is all just a story,” said Ken.

As they passed the entrance to the camp, Allison shouted, “Stop the car.”

Catherine screeched on to the bank and Allison burst out of the car.

“What’s going on?” Ken called after her.

“Don’t know. Something’s wrong.”

A plume of smoke rose from behind the camp’s canteen tent.

They piled out of the car and took off at a run, following her through the twists and turns of the camp that she seemed to be able to navigate like the freckles on the back of her hand.

The tents gave away on either side to one of the main communal areas of the camp. Workers would often organise activities for this space, anything to keep moral up. That afternoon the space was deserted. At the centre of the clearing sat the smouldering wreck of the camp generator.

The wreckage shuddered, creaked and groaned. Black Water bubbled up within its cauldron-like husk.

Ken jabbed his sister in the arm. “Does that explain it for you?”

The rapidly expanding mass of black ichor grew arms and legs, the remains of the generator covered its back like a turtle’s shell. It gathered in more and more of the blast debris until it was encased in a makeshift armour.

“I’ll get the refugees to safety,” said Catherine. “You deal with that.”

The monster’s arm extended, stretching like a rubber putty, to ensnare Lieutenant Moses and throwing her into a tent pole. She crumpled to the floor.

Allison started. She broke from the group to kneel and check on Catherine’s unconscious body.

“I can’t let anything happen to the refugees, guys. We’ll have to split up.”

A warm flash of light burst into existence in the centre of the communal space. It died away just as quick as it had appeared, revealing the entire Order, hoods raised.

“Don’t worry, young magi,” said Brother Gray, “We’ll shoulder that burden.”

With speedy efficiency the Order spread out into the tent city of the refugee camp. Brother Gray hung back a second to ensure Catherine was well out of the line of fire, before joining his companions.

Robert and the others regrouped before the generator mutant and called for their morphers.

“Alright, let’s do it… Cross Form.”

As they crossed their arms over their chests, the gems set into their morphers shone with runic magi clan energy and condensed into their hyper flexible two-toned armour.

“Fire and Metal; Red Cross.”
“Water and Lightning; Blue Cross.”
“Air and Light; White Cross.”
“Earth and Water; Green Cross.”
“Sonic and Fire; Yellow Cross.”

“Magi Tribe Cross Ranger,” they shouted in unison.

If the mutant had proper eyes to roll it would have. Instead it charged for them. Each deadly swing of its arms were accompanied by the sting of sheared, white hot metal.

Yellow Cross buffeted away the attacks meant for her with hasty walls of vibration, and next to her the blue and green rangers did much the same with jets of high pressure water. Calling upon his metal clan ancestry, Red Cross turned his arms themselves into shields.

Not deterred by their attempts, the generator mutant let loose a huge gout of flame. The rangers dived out of the way.

Torn between aiding her friends and helping the Order evacuate the camp, White Cross hesitated a moment too long. The pillar of fire ripped through the tent behind her setting it ablaze. In no time at all it begun to spread. She swore she could almost hear the cries of the refugees as they scattered to safety, mixed with the few and far between orders of a strong male voice; Brother Gray no doubt.

Red Cross picked himself up off the ground. “Get your head in the game, Al.”

“Alright, damn it!” she roared.

With a magical wind at her back, White Cross sailed forward and punched the mutant in the gut. It caught her attack and twisted her arm. She spun out of the control, losing her touch with the wind that buoyed her along.

The Cross Rangers toppled like pins. The generator mutant cackled maniacally.

A ball of tri-coloured light streaked out of the sky and knocked the monster on its shell-like back. The light zipped over to the rangers and pulled them to their feet with little more than the power emanating from it.

“What’s that?” said Red Cross, “to state the obvious...”

The ball of light struck ground between the rangers and the mutant as though it were a comet.

In the crater left in its wake was a man of polynesian birth. Wearing a simple white and gold robe in the same style as the order, he knelt on one knee, hand braced against the ground. Strapped to that arm was an ornate, black, rune-covered box with a free spinning disk on top, not unlike a compass but more akin to a game show roulette wheel. It’s three colours; red, blue and white.

“It’s a shame to meet you all like this,” he said standing. “I’d hoped to introduce myself properly… no time now.”

He thrust his free hand at the ground, still smouldering from his entrance, and the other to the sky. He snapped his forearm around so the wrist device faced forward.

“Clan form roulette.” He brought his arms together in a wide arc, striking the wheel with a stamp of his foot.

The very same tri-coloured light condensed into a black suit of armour not disimilar to that worn by cross rangers, with thin and intricate tribal designs around the visor and chest. They seemed to lack all colour, existing in a space somewhere beyond even grayscale.

After a few seconds the wheel begun to spin slower and slower until finally it ticked audibly between it’s three colours. It was as though the morpher were taking it’s time in deciding.

The morpher clicked over to the white segment and locked in place. “Air… Perfect.”

The colourless tribal designs flared a brilliant white and a bladed gauntlet shimmered into being on his free arm.

“The ancestral head of the nine magi tribes.” He struck the posture of a martial artist or a kabuki practitioner. “Lord of the Order. Magi Emperor… CrossTrinity!”

The Magi Emperor leaped forward, a burst of air beneath his feet propelling him onward much like White Cross. He struck with such efficiency that each and every slash of his blade cleaved chunks of metallic debris from the mutant. In no time at all, all but the shell-husk remained.

He took advantage of its weakened state and spun the clan spinner once more. This time it landed on the segment reserved for the fire clan. The suit’s white lines turned red and gauntlet shifted into a short staff.

“Yes, that’ll do the trick.”

CrossTrinity spun the staff creating a wheel of flame. He twirled it over his head and threw the entire thing at the generator mutant. The flame staff stuck deep in its chest. The Black Water within the creature ignited and it burst apart.

He unlocked the spinner, armour dissolving, and turned to the awestruck Cross Rangers.

“You must be the emperor,” said Yellow Cross.

At least part of the story was true, but even though CrossTrinity had saved them from the Black Water this time, that didn’t make them allies. The Order could still have had tricks up their sleeves, and by playing the helpful stranger card might try to break the team apart from the inside. Time and proof of their goals were what the yellow ranger needed.

“There is nothing here for me to rule over, you don’t need to call me that” He smiled. “My name is Manuarii.”

o0o

With the help of Manuarii and the Order, the rangers got the majority of refugees to safety. The camp was a wreck long before the emergency services arrived, but the fire brigade made light work of getting the fires under control.

It took her a while but she eventually tracked down her boss to see if everyone had made it out in one piece.

“I’m sorry, Powel. The rangers were a little too late.” He shook his head gravely. “And where were you? Look, I’ve got a lot to sort out.”

“Is there nothing I can do?”

He seemed to turn frosty. “I don’t think so. See you around.”

It began to look like the most pertinent question was, where would they get the money to rebuild? Like all camps in the area, they were already at capacity. Where would everyone go? The camps near Steele City were far larger and better equipped to take the strain, yes, but even they had little space.

Allison wouldn’t have wanted to be the one to break the news.

After much arguing she managed to get an up-to-date camp roster. She knew there were casualties, but until she saw the names it didn’t hit her just how serious the attack had been.

The family she met on her first day... their little girl hadn’t made it out alive.