Egypt:

The full moon shone down on the cold desert sands, a far cry from the soaring temperatures of before as two figures -Teal blue costumes glinting in the moonlight, with Lightning’s prosthetic wing shining brightly- rocketed over the dunes, the decorative eyes on their helmets functioning as headlights, if you will. Four beams of light, two red and two yellow jutted from these eyes.

In the distance, a camp could be seen, a collection of tents with a few canvas-covered trucks parked nearby. Under her visor, Lightning’s eyes narrowed. That’s where her sister was.

“Looks like a lot of guards on patrol…” Daring surveyed the camp as she and Lightning advanced on it. There were some torches that lit the way, slightly enlightening the soldiers stepping in and out of their light. They wore traditional native attire, meaning they weren’t Caballeron’s usual band and just hired mercenaries instead. “You wanna do this quietly, or go full on assault?”

“Normally, I’d settle for going in full guns blazing, but I’d really not set off any alarms really. ...Or get shot full of holes,” Lightning remarked. “So, Assassin’s Creed style it is. Probably should ditch the uniforms, just to be safe.” she said, demorphing in a blue flash with Daring soon to follow.

The both of them landed nimbly on the dunes and slowly crept forward under the cover of darkness, trying to make as little noise as possible as they moved in on the camp. As they came close to the walls, they started to walk around them, trying to find a little crack or a hole that they could take advantage of and take the soldiers by surprise. Trouble was, the walls were so well-crafted that the only solution they could find would be digging the sand beneath them, but if they did that the guards would take notice almost immediately. Not to mention the time that would take. By the time the two would get under the walls, Vapor and Caballeron could be long gone from here.

Two guards stepped outside the encampment’s sandstone walls and started to light cigars in the dark. As they were about to take a puff, Lightning and Daring crept up behind them and performed synchronized takedowns as they knocked the guards unconscious with twin blows to the head.

“Remember boys, smoking kills,” Lightning smirked as she dragged one of the guards away by the arms and rested him behind a palm tree, making him look as if he just fell asleep on the job.

“Was that pun really necessary?” Daring asked in a deadpan tone as she carried the other guard away from the camp.

“Hey. Just trying to lighten the mood here,” Lightning shrugged softly. “Raiding a base like this is pretty tense, y’know. Plus, you make jokes all the time in your books. And we’re superheroes, quips and one-liners are kinda our thing,”

“Fair’s fair…” Daring admitted as one of the guards—not quite unconscious yet—groaned and she pistol-whipped him with her Dino Morpher.

Daring and Lightning slowly crept into the camp, staying as close to the darkness as they could. Stepping into the light at this point would be a liability for both of them, as the guards would catch them on the spot.

“Hmm…” Daring mused as she looked at the guards and more accurately, their attire. “I wonder. You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Oh yeah…” Lightning smirked. Pretty soon, they were clad in the attire of the two guards they just knocked into the dreamworld.

Slinking through and behind whatever was tucked away from the torches and lights, they made their way towards a large tent at the back. Daring lifted up a small flap and crawled through it, with Lightning following after her.

The interior of the tent looked quite cosy, with how the little candles inside illuminated the walls, both inside and out. It was as if it had been given a huge breath of life amidst the shadows of the moonlit dusk. The walls were lined with tapestries as well, expertly weaved depicting ancient designs. A small bookcase accompanied them, with an array of books that were on the deserts of Egypt, the cultures of the civilizations, and a few mythology books on the gods and goddesses of the land. Daring chuckled softly to herself, seemed some parts of her old friend never changed. He always did love to learn about lands whenever he visited them. There was that old archaeologist peeking through.

She then sighed sadly to herself at what she saw next. On the shelf underneath that very same bookcase, were a few maps, which had been marked for certain treasures all around the region and crossed out if they had already looted the artifacts and trinkets.

“Oh, Caballeron…” Daring sighed softly, before her eyes caught wind of something. “Huh?” She quickly took some of the maps and studied the contents carefully. “Lightning, come check this out,”

Daring gestured for Lightning to come closer, and her fellow Ranger did so. “So, what’ve you got?”

“It looks like Caballeron’s been looking for something pretty big. All these maps seem to be on some kind of pattern…” Daring handed the maps to Lightning. “Try connecting the Xs together. Do you see what shape those marked locations make?”

“Yeah… sorry, I never was one for cartography,” Lightning admitted, and Daring stared at her. “...Okay, I admit Silver’s been teaching me a few new words. Fairly smart for a little filly. Guess being rich comes with it’s perks,” she admitted with a shrug. Daring sighed to herself.

“Look closely,” Daring commented, before she then put all the maps together and took out a pen, putting the Xs together. Eventually, it made something that was very familiar to the both of them, but was just missing a few lines. “That’s the Dino Morpher sigil. They’re making a pattern out that’s the exact same shape. I just know it!”

She raised her weapon/Morpher, and sure enough, the shapes were the exact same.

On the map, was the words—Quickly scribbled in black charcoal rubbing—“Titanus?” Daring looked at Lightning. “Mean anything to you?” she asked, confused.

“Not me… Doesn’t ring a bell.” Lightning replied. She looked back at the maps again, and saw a giant head resembling a Titanosaurus drawn out in charcoal rubbing.

“You think… No. It can’t be…” Daring tried filling in the rest of the pattern. “Is Caballeron… looking for his own Dino Morpher?” Her eyes began to widen as the facts sunk into her head. The morpher symbol, the charcoal name, the dinosaur rubbing on the maps. “This isn’t good. We’d better warn the other rangers once we get Vapor back. For now, we need to get moving!”

“Yeah. Let’s get to work.” Lightning nodded, before right then and there, two members of Caballeron’s hired help burst in.

“Hey, you two aren’t supposed to be in here. What’s going on?” one of the mercs asked.

“Quickly now Daring… Think up an excuse!” the Aqua Ranger thought to herself, quickly hiding her Dino Morpher and kicking it under the table.

“We were just making sure that the master’s office was safe and secure.” Daring stood up straight. “Nhan la nurid aya min huala' rinajriz almazeajat kasr fi alan, hal nahn? Hsna?”

The guards just looked Daring and Lightning in the eyes blankly, before nodding and heading off. “Carry on,” one of them said.

Lightning let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Yeesh… That was close. Surprised neither of them commented on my prosthetic wing. I mean, how many ponies do you know with a giant freakin’ metal wing sticking out of them?”

“Rule 2 with henchmen, they’re never that intelligent or observant. Really, considering you’ve been reading my books, you should know that by now…” Daring replied with a small smirk.

“Right… Forgot about that,” Lightning commented. She then pulled a wooden crate out from under the table and found inside it, Vapor’s morpher and her Deer, Polar Bear, Stingray, and Leviathan animal crystals. Lightning’s fists clenched. “He’s going to pay for this…”

Now that they had an idea of what Caballeron wanted, Daring and Lightning started to make their way towards one of the other tents, listening closely for Vapor or Caballeron’s voices as they returned to the darkness of night. The patrols were much widely spread out than they first saw them, and not very many soldiers were put outside the actual tents. In fact, there was only one tent in particular that had men guarding it, and even then, it didn’t look all that big.

Daring, after retrieving her Dino Morpher once Caballeron’s mercenaries had left, clutched it tightly in her hand. The other hand went to her Energem.

“Okay, if Caballeron wants to become a Ranger, I’m guessing he needs one of these as well. Mystic Mother above, hope he hasn’t found and bonded with one of these “Energems” yet, otherwise we’re in really deep shit.” she thought to herself.

“Hey, Daring? Can I ask you a question?” Lightning whispered as they snuck through the encampment.

“Not exactly the time I would have chosen to be answering questions of yours, but sure… fire away,” Daring replied. “Just make it quick though, time’s running thin,”

“Are there any evil Rangers? Like, the rangers that are so heartless, soulless, and mean, that they’re rogues or work against the team?” Lightning asked. “Because if not, Caballeron might just be the first,”

“Do I look like a Ranger history expert to you?” Daring asked in irritation. “I’m just an archaeologist, nothing more. Go ask that human fuck-buddy of yours. He’s the Ranger history nut.”

“I… We’re… We’re not doing that!” Lightning sputtered out. “Not if he was the last intelligent being—Which is a phrase I use very loosely with him—on Earth. Besides, my tastes swing in the other direction…”

“Right,” Daring smirked impishly, making Lightning feel rather foolish with herself knowing she’d been played. “Forgot you’re in that “Friends With Benefits” or whatever the Tartarus you call your relationship with that fangirl of mine…”

“Look. We’re just gonna waste time if we argue like this,.” Lightning pushed her hand in front of her head as she looked away. “Vapor… She’s suffering as we speak, and Caballeron could be squeezing the other dig sites out of her as we argue. We gotta save her!”

Daring quickly pulled Lightning behind some water barrels and pointed to the mercenaries guarding Caballeron’s tent. In their hands, they each held AK-47s. Seemed some guns never went out of style.

“...Right, and I thought you wanted to avoid, and I quote: “Being shot full of holes”. That’s what’ll happen if we just bust in there. The guards are stupid yes, but they’re not that stupid if you just go all Leeroy Jenkins on them.”

“I know, I know…” Lightning cursed herself for her always jumping the gun instead of taking things at a logistical angle. She took a closer look at the guards, to see if there was any way of getting past them or knocking them out without drawing too much attention.

“Hey, just a thought…” Lightning mused to herself, placing a hand on her chin in thought. “How long do you think it’s been since these guys… got some, if you know what I mean?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows to emphasize the point. Daring gave her a deadpan stare.

“No… Just no. We’re so not doing that…” she grumbled.

“Don’t see you offering any better ideas…” Lightning trailed off with a smirk. “Besides, who knows, might loosen you up…”

“Hmm…” Daring shuffled around the back of the tent, trying to see if there was another flap she could go through and rescue Vapor. Her search turned out to be fruitless, however, and all that she could find was the guards as she re-appeared on the other side of the tent.

“So?” Lightning asked. Daring hung her head comically.

“...I’m so not going to feel clean ever again after this…” she muttered.

Inside Caballeron’s tent:

Vapor, despite looking in peak physical condition, had begun to feel her spirit shatter. After a couple of days being interrogated by her captor, she felt that there wouldn’t be any hope for a rescue. The only thing that was absent from her was her Growl Phone and Animal Crystal, which Caballeron had taken from her upon capture. She was rapidly beginning to find out, going on an actual adventure with Daring, was oh so much different than reading about it in a book.

“Vapor. Why do you look so sad?” Caballeron waltzed up, a devilish smirk crossing his face. “I’m treating you so nicely. Which, coming from me, is quite an honor.”

“Funny, you and me must have different definitions of “Nice”...” Vapor retorted.

“Well, that’s what ponies like to believe, anyway,” Caballeron muttered and turned his back to her. “But, once I get my hands on that treasure I’ve been seeking, I’ll gladly let you go back to your friends. And if that rat Daring Do tries her way with me, I can just use you as a bargaining chip,” he continued, before popping open a cork of wine and placing a plate of dates in front of Vapor. “But let it never be said, I’m not humane. Eat, desert’s a harsh place for the weak and I honestly don’t want you dying on me really… I really hate to see that happen to ponies.”

“Cut the act, Caballeron,” Vapor’s eyes quickly tore away from the food and drink. “What are you after? And why do you need me of all ponies to get it?”

“All in due time, my little dear,” He chuckled slyly. “Let’s just say that, after today, you’ll have one more in your little… friend circle. But enough of that, let’s just savor the wine, eh? Quite vintage really, wouldn’t want to waste it all on myself.”

“Daring, Lightning, anyone? If you’re out there, please come and save me…” Vapor silently pleaded, as she started to eat the food, quite reluctantly as well. Even though she knew it was a hostage situation, she had been starting to get hungry after all of her time with Caballeron. Wasn’t the first time he’d offered food and drink, but she’d refused the offers every time.

“Honestly, not like I’m going to harm anyone once I get what I desire,” Caballeron commented. “Plus, it means I can finally prove to Daring Do that I’m the better treasure hunter. If I may…? Power. The weak... are simply prey for the strong! That's why we need power! The power to stand up to any foe, no matter how strong! You were witness to Solar Flare’s power, what if she comes back? What then? Us normal ponies… we’re simply insects to a god like her,” Caballeron whispered, appearing genuinely afraid.

“But Solar Flare was destroyed! I saw it personally… Tartarus, I was one of the ones who personally delivered the final blow!” Vapor argued back.

“Seeing and believing are two different things entirely,” Caballeron commented. “Celestia may have said Solar Flare, once they were separated, was destroyed, but is that really the full truth? They were together for thousands of years, really think they can be separated that easily?” he asked.

Vapor began to sweat. “What if… What if he’s right?” she thought to herself. “They were one entity for over 3,000 years! Who’s to say that we did destroy Solar Flare completely? She was an incredibly good liar, had Equestria fooled for centuries until Robert came along and the whole lie began to unravel…” she continued to think, beginning to panic before mentally slapping herself and taking several deep breaths. “No, stop it Vapor! Caballeron… He’s just trying to get to you, get under your skin! You know as well as he does Solar Flare’s dead and buried!”

“Sorry, am I scaring you?” Caballeron asked, a note of remorse in his tone. “Apologies for that, I’m just trying to be realistic here. The strong… they oppress the weak, and I… I honestly want to find a way to balance things out.”

“Caballeron…” Vapor said kindly. “Your worldviews… While I admit there’s always been a bit of truth to that throughout history, it’s not all that black and white. I mean, look at Princess Luna. She’s strong, but does she oppress those weaker than her? No, she goes out of her way to help them!”

“Two words Ms. Trail,” Caballeron replied, in a rather pitying yet polite tone of voice. “Nightmare Moon. Remember her?”

“Yes. She was a very tough piece of work to deal with from what I heard…” Vapor coiled some of her mane around a finger. “Even with the Elements of Harmony, I heard the Mane Six just barely defeated her…”

“You miss my point though,” Caballeron commented. “Luna… she still oppressed the weak, even if it wasn’t via her own free will. We were lucky the Elements were still around. I don’t just want to rely on pure luck to save us every time some monster shows up. Is that why you and those friends carry those little toys?” Caballeron looked towards Vapor’s Growl Phone. “So that you can just swoop in and save the day when the Elements can’t do it for you?”

“No…” Vapor whispered. “We do it because we have to, there are ponies out there who can’t defend themselves from Thrax and his forces. You think I wanted this?” Vapor asked, thinking back.

"Let her go, you filth." Grape snarled, all pretenses of joking around replaced by pure seriousness.

"You'd better be keeping an eye on yourself, not on her!" Plug Org laughed, and before he could figure out what he meant, Grape was stabbed through the chest by his own Crystal Saber thanks to Turbine Org and soundly demorphed, blood gushing from his wound. Plug Org laughed and let Vapor go before both Orgs ran off laughing to themselves while Vapor ran over to Grape.

"I... I shouldn't have gotten involved, b-but I-I did and now look what's happened!" Vapor sobbed, but Grape wiped away her tears and handed her his Growl Phone and Animal Crystal, it glowing purple when handed to its new owner.

"Don't blame yourself, if Ah was in your position, Ah would have done the exact same. Take my powers, use them to carry on the work Ah can't anymore..." Grape said before he pressed down on his pendent and let the sounds of the black waters carry him away as Vapor sobbed. It was all her fault, and now she couldn't do anything about it.

"Actually, there's one thing." She thought as she picked herself off the ground and even as tears still streamed down her face, she shouted to the heavens "Do you hear me Turbine Org, you'll pay for this! I swear on it!" as she pointed the bloodied Crystal Saber to the sky and without even calling out her morphing call, morphed into the new Leviathan Ranger. It was her destiny now...

“I assumed you did, seeing as how you’re always so invested in it…” Caballeron twisted his wrist. “You’re saying that you… reject your role as a Ranger?”

“I would have, in the past, but I’ve got a job to do now… A promise to keep.”

“Really? And what is that promise, might I ask?” Caballeron lifted one of his eyebrows.

“A friend of mine… Well, maybe he was more than a friend, I don’t know really, he died in battle and asked me to carry on his work. He was the first Purple Leviathan Ranger, not me as everypony seems to think...” Vapor replied, sniffling a little in memoriam.

“Ah. So you want to carry on the lineage of this Purple Leviathan Ranger? Well, I won’t stop you from doing that,” Caballeron said kindly. He took another drink of the wine. “But at the moment, I still need you to get my hands on one little trinket. Then, I’ll send you back to the other rangers. All in one piece, too. I can promise you that much.”

Knowing Caballeron and his promises, Vapor could immediately see the lie staring her in the face. She still ate away at the food she had been given, but she felt more and more unsettled as his charm put her off-guard.

“Relax, not going to harm you,” Caballeron replied. “Unlike my men, who I admit are more brawn than brain, I actually enjoy a good stimulating conversation with a fellow pony.”

“Yeah, thing is, you can only say something so many times before it starts to sound like an excuse…” Vapor muttered back in response.

“Fair’s fair…” Caballeron admitted as he ate a grape. “And I also admit, treasure-hunting, or stealing as I know that’s what you’re going to say, is starting to grow wearisome. I’m not as young as I used to be. Maybe it is time I hang up my hat, as it were, and let the younger generation take the helm so to speak.”

“You mean like Daring?” Vapor asked in surprise, shocked how Caballeron seemed to be genuinely remorseful -or at least tired- of his ways.

“I suppose you could put it like that… She was always meant to be my successor,” Caballeron admitted as Vapor’s eyes widened in abject shock. “Taught her everything she knows, and she turned out to be quite the worthy adversary…”

Back outside, Daring was attempting to flirt with the guards. Key word, attempting. Most of her moves, despite being quite alluring, didn’t really catch the attention of the men. To be honest, they actually left most of them confused.

“What in Celestia’s name are you doing, Daring?” Lightning whispered. “Seriously, try some flirtatious words and phrases!” she hissed towards her fellow Ranger. “A pick-up line, a compliment, just… anything!”

Of course, ask and you shall receive… Though in Daring’s case, the flirtatious lines were rather embarrassing really.

“Y’know, these deserts might be hot as Tartarus, but you’re even hotter,” She gave a small chuckle. “Any chance you boys wanna shift like a dune and let me through? Master Caballeron’s gonna be awfully upset if he doesn’t get a progress update.”

“Sorry, the boss said to let no-one though. He’s busy.” the guard said gruffly.

“Oh, dear Mystic Mother…” Lightning muttered with a facepalm, still hiding behind the water barrels. “Those lines are cornier than Robert’s, and that’s saying something!”

“Busy or not, I’ve gotta give him an update,” Daring folded her arms. “He’s not gonna get any closer to that ‘ultimate treasure’ of his if his troops aren’t reporting in every now and again.”

Surprisingly, despite the terrible flirtation, Daring was stumbling across information.

“That’s the thing, the boss is talking like he knows the location of this “Treasure” of his already… Which leads one to wonder, when the Tartarus are we going to get paid?” the guard asked.

“We might not even get paid at all after this, knowing how that greedy piece of shit works.” The other guard lifted a finger. “Still, we can’t know for sure until he gets his hands on it.”

“Hey, if I just see one coin out of this, it’s good enough for me…” the first put in. “Tartarus, a glimpse at this ultimate treasure of his would be nice as well, seeing if all this time, effort and low pay that’s sure to come is worth it…”

“Then, why in the Inferno are you working for him if he’s underpaying you? I bet there’s tons of other high-paying jobs out there that are sure to net ya a better life,” Daring knew that these guards, much like all of the others she had seen in her life, had one big Achilles’ heel: Bigger and better pay. She now had the chance to slip by them and get to Caballeron if she played this just right. “You don’t have to work for him if he’s not gonna pay you enough; especially when you don’t even get thanks from him after all of that.”

“Hmm…” The guards thought it over between themselves and took what Daring said into account. After all of their raids, their expeditions, and travels with him, had they even been paid what they were promised?

Of course, right then and there when things were looking up, Caballeron decided to take that moment and emerge from the tent. His eyes widened when he met Daring’s, recognizing those rose colored orbs of hers anywhere.

“What the… Daring?” Caballeron exclaimed as the guards went for their weapons.

“Shit!” Lightning swore. “Well, there goes the sneaking about portion of this rescue mission…”

“...Er, surprise?” Daring waved awkwardly before she and Lightning threw off their costumes revealing their regular attire underneath.

“I don’t know why you’re here, Daring Do, but I do know that your time here is just about up!” Caballeron made claws out of his hands. “Get her! And whatever friends she has with her!”

“Well, that’s… new.” Daring admitted as she saw her mentor’s new appendages as the guards all began to swarm around her. She pulled out her Dino Saber and Caballeron pulled out a rapier sword and they began to circle each other like vultures as Lightning held off the guards. She morphed, and almost at once activated the Lights of Orion and raised her Crystal Sword skywards, bringing down bolts of sheer scorching lightning to knock out the guards.

“Ever the coward, Daring Do. Hiding behind that Ranger toy of yours,” Caballeron thrust his sword and performed a series of quick swings and slashes that Daring either dodged or countered. “Why don’t you fight like a real mare for once?”

Daring rolled to the left to avoid a swing from Caballeron’s claws. “Where the Tartarus did he get those anyways?” she asked herself before she realized. “Of course, the Curse!”

Caballeron and Daring were locked in a very even fight, with neither side able to get a clean hit in each other. Thrusts, parries, lunges, but neither side would give an inch in their fight. In all of the commotion, they failed to notice Lightning Dust sneaking into the tent to rescue Vapor Trail. But then again, how could they? Their own mortal enemy was standing right there in front of them.

“I got you, Vaps!” Lightning said to her sister as she tossed her Growl Phone and Animal Crystals. “See, I always said I’d have your back!”

“Knew you wouldn’t let me down sis…” Vapor smiled as they ran back out into the fray.

As the two of them tried to escape the tent, more guards just stormed into it. Vapor quickly morphed and felt the familiar form of the Deer Clutcher appearing in her right hand. Smiling, Vapor got an idea. Pulling the trigger, a silver, three-pronged claw-like hook shot out of the weapon and knocked the guards down like a set of dominoes. Once it took them out, the chain retracted it back into the weapon.

“Oh, so you want some more eh?” Vapor asked, as some more guards ran towards them. Aiming as best as she could, Vapor shot the claw again, taking out another wave of guards, before hitting the rest on the rebound. A sniper shot rang out, and Vapor’s ears trained themselves to the source of the shot, before she fired her Deer Clutcher once more and brought the shooter down towards her knocking him out via a punch to the face.

Daring and Caballeron were still trying their hardest to outdo each other, but now, it seemed like Daring was beginning to run out of steam. Her attacks very nearly met with his and it seemed like she was slowing down in trying to keep up with him. Eventually, she failed to guard a swing from his sword and he took the chance to not only strike her, but kick her away as well.

“In the end, you’re just the same little girl I raised, Daring.” Caballeron stepped forward. “Lost and confused, playing explorer and treasure hunter. You can’t possibly keep up with a true man like myself.”

“Do you know ever when to shut up?” Daring asked, and socked him across the jaw.

“Nngh. That punch only hurts because you’re a Ranger. That strength’s not your own, is it?” He wiped the blood away from his mouth and got back into his combat stance. “Once my expedition comes to an end, you’ll barely be able to touch me, let alone hit me like that.”

Daring opted for the only viable response, taking a cue once again out of Galaxy’s playbook and head-butting him.

Caballeron, instead of flinching, just grabbed Daring by her neck and threw her away with his free claw. Next, he shot her in the arm, just grazing her, and grabbed Vapor Trail and threw her with a surprising amount of strength into the back of a canvas covered truck.

“We’re leaving, now!” he barked out. “This is just a fraction of the power I’ll soon have, Daring Do!” He howled. “Once that treasure is mine, you and your Ranger friends are finished!”

“Yeah, I don’t think so…” Daring muttered as she and Lightning shared a nod. Daring summoned her Deinonychus themed Dino Cycle, while Lightning, her Thunderbird based Savage Cycle. They gave the handlebars a twist, and dust and sand kicked up in the air as they drove on after the truck.

The cycles roared through the sands, tearing them up beneath their treads as they charged after Caballeron’s truck. With how fast they were going, it was a miracle they weren’t sinking into the desert.

Lightning, in one of her classic rash choices, pulled out her favored Thunderbird Whips and lashed onto the truck’s back bumper and pulled. She leaped forwards, wings fully extended and glinting in the moonlight.

One of the guards just popped out of the back of the truck and opened fire on Daring, trying to shake her off of the roads. He was soundly met by a buck to the face from Lightning, causing him to tumble out of the back of the truck and roll down a sandy hill.

The roar of another engine was heard, and an old army jeep was on approach, machine gun emplacement in the back.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me…” Vapor muttered as she and Lightning ducked just in time to avoid the shots as they riddled the back of the truck. One nearly pieced the back of Caballeron’s skull.

“Shoot at them, not me you fools! That’s what I pay you for!” He snarled, and gripped the steering wheel and swerved to the left in an attempt to throw Lightning and Vapor out the back of it.

In the chaos, Daring slowly started to creep up on Caballeron, using the small weapons poking out of the side of her Dino Cycle to gun down some of the other vehicles accompanying him. She then had to duck and turn out of the way to avoid the explosions and debris that followed.

“Holy... En serio, ¿por qué siempre hay explosiones cerca con nosotros Rangers ...?” Daring thought as she gunned the engine. “You are NOT getting your own Dino Morpher, you piece of shit!” She swore to herself. Daring revved the bike up with the handles and started to catch up with him, coming inches between her bike and his truck.

“Hey, Daring, how’s the arm?” Caballeron laughed as he pulled out his pistol again. Then, he heard a loud screech and looked in his rear-view mirror to see the very distinctive form of the Eagle Zord. Evidently, he’d missed one Crystal while searching Vapor.

The Eagle Zord flapped her wings, and fired off golden energy ball after golden energy ball at Caballeron’s truck, while it’s driver swerved back and forth to avoid the shots. Daring smirked and got up out ahead of him, leaped off her cycle, and flipped backwards. In midair, she generated a giant cyan hammer of energy and brought it down on the truck, sending it flying end over end. Lightning and Vapor took that as their cue to leave and flew out the back.

Daring pulled up to the burning wreckage, as her friends landed nearby to see a very lucky Caballeron clawing his way out of the wreckage before lapsing into unconsciousness. The bird claws retracted into regular hands. Then, a misty dark blue form flew out of his body and grew to a massive size, with the end result resembling a monstrous Tenga warrior on steroids.

“Okay… This just got… Well, I don’t even know what kind of description to give this…” Daring muttered as the Corvus Monster towered above them.

“Well, I can give you one word for it. Ugly,” Lightning commented before she went for her Growl Phone. “Uh, Princess, we might have a problem…”

From the Animarium, Shayla watched the Corvus Monster emerge from the Fountain.

“Yes, that is a problem. I’ll be sending something that can help you,” she replied, and to Lightning’s surprise, she suddenly found herself holding the Falcon Summoner and the respective Animal Crystal for it.

“But I thought…” Lightning trailed off, before Shayla finished for her.

“That the Falcon Summoner can only summon the Falcon Zord? Then what are those other holes for Crystals for?”

Lightning let out a huh, when she saw the four small holes in the Falcon Summoner’s “Wings” that looked to be just about the right size for Animals Crystals. Placing the Boar, Deer, Swallow and Bison Crystals in them (Vapor had suddenly found herself in possession of the latter two) she fired the Summoner skywards…

A loud screech was heard, as a shadow darted across the face of the moon and the massive crimson and silver form of the Falcon Zord swooped down from the sky.

“Okay, so what do we have here?” he commented as he observed the Corvus Monster. “Well, a fellow warrior of the sky it seems… Or someone attempting to be one. Time to find out.”

Energy blasts were fired from the Corvus Monster’s beak and the Falcon Zord was forced to do barrel rolls in order to avoid them. He then flew back down, and struck at the giant crow spirit with his talons.

Then, the black Bison Zord burst out from a dune and blew smoke from his nostrils as he charged into the Corvus Monster, rammed him, and lifted him up with his horns sending it flying right into the Falcon’s grasp. The talons of the Zord gripped the Corvus monster tightly before they let go and tossed it into a dune.

The Corvus monster was quick to recover and lunged at the Falcon Zord, who was forced to fly away to avoid the monster’s claws ripping into him. During all this, the powerful wing flaps of both the monster and the Zord had begun to stir up sand and soon, whirling winds had tossed and turned the grains into one of the desert’s most feared creations, a Haboob.

A pure wall of dust towering high into the sky enveloped the battlefield, blasting everyone around with wind currents of up to 22 miles per hour. As Daring and company (With Caballeron) took shelter in a nearby temple, they could see a bright blue blur slashing and darting inside the whirling clouds. Evidently, the Swallow Zord wasn’t bothered by one of the most feared weather phenomena ever to grace this part of the world.

The cry of the Deer Zord was heard, and he gripped the Corvus Monster with his antlers before tossing it. A powerful energy blast fired into the Corvus Monster, making slam into the ground with a powerful thud.

If anyone had been able to see through the towering wall of dust and sand, they would have seen a giant brown metallic boar Zord carrying a cart, with a giant twin barreled laser cannon and a drill on the back.

“Lightning…” The Falcon Zord’s gruff voice said to her. “If we’re ever going to finish this guy off, you need to combine us, now!”

“R-Right…” Lightning muttered before she and Vapor shouted: “Wild Zords, combine!”

The Bison, Swallow, Falcon and Deer Zords underwent their usual combination sequence from before, and the Boar Zord detached himself from his cart and combined the Megazord and took his place as the right arm. As Vapor and Lightning teleported inside and locked their Crystal Sabers into their consoles, the drill and cannon that the Boar Zord transported locked themselves into place. The drill grafted itself to the Boar’s forehead, and the cannon attached to the Megazord’s right shoulder.

“Isis Megazord: Drill Mode, armed and ready for battle!” Lightning shouted, but because of the sheer dust and sand clouding her vision from inside the cockpit, she couldn’t see the Corvus Monster firing off another energy blast. She didn’t even have time to throw up the Falcon Shield before it hit. The Megazord was pushed back into a small pyramid, utterly smashing the ancient structure into ruins.

“Alright… Now I’m mad…” Lightning growled as the Isis Megazord raised it’s right arm and fired it’s shoulder cannons, locking onto target via pure magic and doing some devastating damage to the Corvus Monster. As it stumbled backwards, Lightning called out: “Isis Stare!”

The “eyes” on the Falcon’s wings, just as the Corvus Monster leaped forwards once more, turned into yellow cat-like slits and somehow froze him in place. The Isis Megazord then lunged forwards, drill spinning up, glowing yellow and creating a horrible buzzing sound and impaled the monster through the chest. The crow spirit then fell backwards -As the Haboob finally subsided- and exploded, with a fine mist dispersing into the atmosphere.

“Finally…” Daring thought as she supported her mentor. “The curse, it’s gone…”

Somnambula:

Later that next morning, Daring watched as ponies set to work on repairing the town’s famous statue, before she turned to both Vapor and Lightning. Both now sported henna tattoos. Lightning, the Eye of Horus over her left eye while Vapor had some simple designs painted around her Cutie Mark on her right shoulder.

“You know, I’ve come to realize something… Can’t work alone anymore. You gals really helped me out here today, thanks. If you hadn’t come when you did…” Daring trailed off.

“Say nothing of it, just helping a friend,” Lightning replied and Daring nodded before continuing.

“Aside from that… I’ve got to pay and own up for certain things,” Daring said as she took a look back towards the ruined statue. “Caballeron was right, I did cause that statue’s destruction, didn’t think about certain consequences. Pulling some money out of my own funds to pay for the damages I caused, in this or any other town. Set me back a bit I know, but it’s worth it. There are some things bigger than myself and adventuring,” she remarked. “Fact is, storm’s brewing on the horizon and you’ll need all the help you can get. If you ever need me…” she trailed off, holding out her Dino Comm.

“Yeah, we’ll give you a call,” Vapor smiled. “You know, this could really make some good material for a new book…” she trailed off eagerly.

“Yeah, I’ll think on that. Probably some parts I should leave out though, eh?” Daring laughed, and both Vapor and Lightning chuckled. “Fans deserve an origin story, you know what I mean…?” she asked, her voice turning sad as she watched Caballeron being led into a police truck. Vapor and Lightning shared a nod.

“We’ll… we’ll leave you two alone.” Lightning said before she and Vapor walked off.

“So…” Daring sighed as she sat on a nearby rock.

“Yeah, you don’t need to say it. I’ve earned this,” Caballeron replied sadly. “I’d thank you for what you did, but sadly… not all of that curse drove me to greed or any of the other things I did over the years. And don’t bother denying it, as you know it’s true…”

Daring looked away, and sniffled. Caballeron smiled sadly, and brushed some of Daring's mane out of his former student’s face. “High time I owned up for my own crimes.”

“I’ll… I’ll put in a good word with Celestia, maybe she can-” Daring started, but Caballeron shook his head.

“No, I’ll serve my time. But… If you ever need me, for anything… Just don’t hesitate to call okay? Even if things won’t be like the old days, doesn’t mean I can’t lend a hand or two yeah? And find that treasure I was after will you? Just for me. Who knows, might come in handy one day.”

“Yeah…” Daring smiled before she hugged him. “Be safe, okay?”

“You know I will,” Caballeron said with that classic smirk and a wink. “Keep your friends close, you’ll need them.”

Daring smiled, and gave her mentor one last salute as the truck’s doors closed.

“Goodbye for now, Caballeron…” she thought before whispering: “No, that’s not right. Goodbye for now, Dad.”

Author's Notes:

Okay, so we've reached the end of this little story arc. Huge thanks to Shadowmane once again for being my co-writer on this chapter. Honestly, not much to say on this chapter really except for the Boar Zord. Once again, as seen below, it comes from the realm of concept art.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/9/9b/Gao_Mole.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131221122811 https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/9/93/GaoBoar.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131221113704

As always, comments, thoughts, and critique are appreciated.