Battle Heroes X Vetera: S01E06

The Field Trip is the sixth episode of the Battle Heroes X Vetera series. The episode is about the heroes embarking on an aerial journey to investigate void appearances around the globe.

The heroes embark on an aerial journey to investigate void appearances around the globe.

## The Episode

It was an average night for Frank. He was standing outside, leaning against one of the many excavators scattered around the snowy field. The stars were out in full force, making for a nice display. Not nice enough to stand around outside in below freezing weather for. His salary made up for that. Frank ran a gloved hand through his buzz cut and over his stubble, silently regretting the haircut he had gotten before accepting this position at the company.

"Hey, Frank!" He heard someone say. Turning around, Frank saw his colleague walking over, wearing a grey company issued jacket as heavy as his was. He had a blue beanie on and a short beard In his hands were two cups.

"Evening, Bill," Frank greeted him. The other man offered him a cup and he accepted it, raising it up in thanks. Blowing on it before taking a sip, he felt the familiar taste of black coffee roll through his mouth and warmth spread through his body. "Thanks, I needed that."

"No problem.” Bill looked up at the sky for a few seconds and before looking at Frank. "So, how's the family?"

"They're doing good. Frank Jr. had a pee wee soccer game last Saturday and Susie went shopping with Jenny for a Halloween costume."

Bill chuckled. "Oh, those kids! They grow up so fast, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah they do. How about you? What're Martha and Louie up to?"

"Martha finally convinced me to come home for a few weeks and Louie's getting settled into his Freshman year."

"She was on your case about coming home, too? Jenny wants me to, but I'm trying to stick around so I can get that Christmas bonus."

Bill put a hand on his shoulder. "Do it, Frank. You'll regret missing out on those milestones for your kids."

Frank mulled it over in his head. His old man had never been around for him when he was younger, he was too busy with work. Finally, he nodded. "You know what, I'm gonna take some time off. I owe it to the wife and kids."

"You won't regret it," Bill assured him. The men stood in silence now, occasionally sipping from their cups of coffee. "Say, when did they say that the next one would drop?"

Something gleamed in the sky and suddenly, Frank and Bill saw a lavender streak appear in sky. Somewhere off in the distance, a siren began to blare.

"Should be happening soon. Let's get suited up and ready to go," Frank said. Bill nodded in agreement and the two turning around and began walking towards a large grey cylindrical shelter.

...

Julius, Zack, and Popple were in the SPD base, training in a gymnasium sized room. The three heroes were working with their new weapons while Silas and the two scientists examined the shark in its tank. Zack was practicing his sword strikes, Popple was attacking a training dummy with her staff, and Julius held his whip in one hand and read a manual titled *The Delta Lasher* in the other*.* He aimed his whip at a metal water bottle on a table. He flicked it forward, but missed and tapped the table instead. Zack glanced over at him.

"Julius, what are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm trying..." He flicked again, this time managing to touch the water bottle. "To see if I can grab stuff with my whip, like Indiana Jones!"

"How about some practical training?"

"This *is* practical training! If I can grab stuff with my whip, I can pull off all kinds of moves!" He aimed and fired his whip at the water bottle, successfully wrapping it around. "Aha! See?" He began to read from the manual. "The Delta Lasher comes with a reel-in button that pulls the end towards you." He inspected his whip and saw a button on the handle. "Here goes nothing..." He pressed the button and the whip retracted, reeling in the end at a high speed. However, instead of landing in his open hand, the water bottle sailed forward and bonked him in the head. He fell down on the ground, grasping his temple. "OW! Ow ow ow ow ow!"

Everyone looked up from what they were doing. Popple dropped her staff and ran to his side. "Julius! Here, move your hand." He moved it and Popple examined where he was hit. "Don't worry, you're okay."

She offered her hand and Julius took it, getting back up. "Thanks."

The door of the room opened and Cloud stepped in. He was laughing as he walked.

"She said what?! No way!" He continued. Zack, Julius, and Popple stopped what they were doing and looked at Cloud, who immediately noticed.

"Hey, babe, I'm gonna have to call you back later, alright? Alright, okay. Love you, okay, bye!" He hanged up the phone. "Sorry I'm late, guys! Ronnie had to tell me this ridiculous story!"

"Heyo, it's the main man!" Silas said cheerfully, waking over to the four. "The guy who's dating the most popular girl in school! Give me some!" Cloud and Silas fist bumped.

"Yeah, which reminds me! I gotta go soon. Ronnie and I are gonna hang out at the mall with some other popular kids!"

Julius groaned. "Cloud, you're always hanging out with her! This was supposed to be training time!"

"Julius, you did the exact same thing to us with Popple." Zack chimed in. "You two left a training session early to hang out at the boardwalk."

Julius and Popple began to blush. The couple stumbled over their words trying to justify their disappearance. Finally, Popple managed to speak. "Well...we didn't have to deal with the void two months ago and Bane was locked up!"

Zack shook his head in mock disappointment. "What a shame. Ms. Responsible and our leader shirked on their training to hang out. It would be hypocritical of you to make Cloud stay, Julius." As Zack said this, he winked at Cloud.

"Hey...I..." Julius was at a loss for words again. The door of the room opened again and Space Commander Roy stepped in. "Afternoon, rangers."

"Space Commander Roy!" Julius stood to attention, silently relieved at his entrance.

"Is everything alright, sir?" Popple inquired.

"Not quite. I need you four to come with me. Silas, you too." Without another word, Roy turned around and departed.

Julius, Zack, Cloud, Popple, and Silas looked at each other before following after Roy.

"Where are we going?" Zack questioned.

"We need pay a visit to an old foe," Roy simply stated. The five heroes collectively gasped.

"Bane?" Julius said, nervousness in his voice. "We're gonna see Bane again?"

Zack laughed. "I've been wanting to pay him a visit, but you never let me."

"You wanted to visit him on the grounds of taunting him, which is completely unnecessary."

"He's been trying to enslave Earth for the past 2 years! He deserves a little rubbing in!"

Roy shook his head and led the team towards an elevator. Once inside, he pressed a button labeled 'Containment' and entered a combination of numbers onto a keypad that slid out of a panel on the wall. The elevator began to travel downwards. He turned and looked at the heroes. "Let's go over some guidelines. This visit is purely for getting answers out of Bane. That means no taunting or goading."

The elevator opened and the group stepped into a large blue room. In the middle of the room was a glass cube about the size of a bedroom. There were air holes at the top and a glass slit at the front, presumably to deliver food. Inside of the cube, furniture such as a table, a couch, a bookcase, and a shower could be seen. Sitting at the table with a book in his hands was none other than Bane. He wore a dark green jumpsuit and in his time imprisoned, had grown some stubble. As the six walked towards his glass container, he looked up, his face devoid of emotion at first. But soon, a smile began to form.

"I don't believe it," He set his book on the table and got up, walking to the edge of his container and pressing his hands on it. "Everybody's here! You've got Julius, Zack, Cloud, Popple *and* Silas?! The whole gang's together!"

The five teens were completely taken aback by Bane's positive demeanor. Cloud leaned towards Roy and whispered. "What kind of stuff do we have him on? He can't be sober!"

Popple looked at Roy next. "He has a point, sir. Bane looks pretty lax. What did you do to him?"

"Absolutely nothing. When he was first placed here, he was an absolute mess. Shouting, swearing, breaking stuff, et cetera. About a month ago, he suddenly became...docile. A model prisoner."

"I'll be the judge of that," Zack responded, clearing his throat and looking at Bane. "Damn, it's really awful outside. All this sunshine and freedom and fresh air is killing me! I wish I was in your shoes, locked up in a cage like a wild animal and forced to talk to the four people who blew up your space shuttle and everything in it!"

Bane simply chuckled and walked back to his table, dragging his chair to the edge and having a seat in front of everyone. "Oh, Zack, still have that sharp wit of yours I see. But enough banter, how can I help you?"

"About two month ago, a dark mass of energy now referred to as the void formed above the Earth. Since then, pieces of it have fallen to Earth, causing various forms of chaos. We want to know what your connection to it is."

Bane took no time to shake his head. "Sorry, wish I could help you, but I have no idea what that is."

"You'd better change your story, Bane. We *know* you have something to do with it," Zack said coolly.

Bane retained his amused expression. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"We found the M.Tea, Bane," Popple added.

The smile on his face diminished, but only slightly.

"And we found out what was really going on in the basement." Zack continued his explanation.

"The substance you kept underground had the exact same radiation signatures as the cloud in space. Along with there being traces of the void above Earth even before two months ago." Roy said.

Julius shook his head. "Plus, you programmed your 'employees' to give us disgusting tea! Not cool!"

Bane was no longer amused. He looked among each of the rangers for a few seconds before his positive mood returned in full force. "It seems that I've been underestimating you. Alright, I'll explain. I used the 'void' as fuel for everything I had. My ghostbots, my weapons, and especially my shuttle, before four of you destroyed it. No hard feelings by the way!"

"Well, that explains where the previously existing void traces came from," Silas observed.

Cloud began questioning Bane next. "There's something else that happened in the M.Tea. There was this monster guy who attacked the M.Tea and ended up destroying the entire underground lab. Is that some kind of super ghostbot that you had locked up?"

"Now that, I have no clue about."

"Bull," Silas responded quickly. "You lied about knowing about the void, why should we believe you?"

"Think about it, why would I destroy my own lab and safe house, containing the only substance that can power my creations?" He raised an eyebrow at Silas.

"The monster absorbed the void from the containers. For all we know, it could be relocating the void elsewhere."

"The M.Tea was my only safe house. You've obviously created technology that can detect the void. Scan as much as you want, you won't find anymore hidden on Earth." Bane took a deep breath. "Now, since I've accommodated your questions, would be so kind as to answer mine? Where are Chan and Hoji?"

"We've had them relocated. Two months after you three were imprisoned, your henchmen began to suffer from frequent migraines and became less aggressive. A MRI scan revealed that their brains were suffering from an unknown condition. Symptoms have pointed towards amnesia, but then another symptom arose. They no longer were able to speak or understand English. Since then, they've been continuing their sentence in a hospital while we figure out what's been going on."

"What do you care? All you did was yell at them, anyway," Zack asked.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Curiosity."

The elevator door opened up and one of the scientists ran in. "Sir, we need yours, the rangers, everyone's presence! We've just made a dangerous discovery that requires the utmost attention!"

"That doesn't sound very good," Bane commented.

Roy nodded. "We'll be right up, Dr. Haley." The scientist nodded in return and got back in the elevator. Roy turned back to the glass cube. "That's all the time we have for now. Rangers, let's move."

"Aw, what a shame. See you later! Oh, and tell the person who makes my food to add a little less salt to my meatloaf! I'm watching my diet!"

Once the elevator returned for them, everyone got in. The door closed and the elevator began to rise, taking them back to the main floor.

In the meeting room, everyone was seated as Dr. Haley began his presentation with the other scientist. The screen began on a map of Canada.

"Surveillance indicated that a piece of the void had fallen in Nova Scotia. However, there was zero news anywhere about the occurrence. Canadian authorities denied there being anything coming from the sky. Using our radiation scanners, we saw that there were absolutely zero signs or traces of the void anywhere. It was almost as if nothing had been there, save for a small crater in the ground. Which is odd, since the void has never created craters when it lands."

"Things became dangerous when we received pictures of the scene," Dr. Haley pointed at the screen and it shifted now to an image of a dark, snowy field. The picture had been taken very early in the morning and there was a crater in the ground.

"The first thing we observed, and caused us to call this meeting in the first place..." The screen zoomed closer into the field and everyone could make out tracks in the ground. "...Was this. Fresh tracks from an excavator. Someone had beaten us there, and they took the void with them.

"Aw crap," Cloud said. "Are we gonna have another Eugene situation again?"

"If any situation should arise from this, it would be much, much worse than what happened with Eugene. We're talking about someone not only having the void, but also the resources to do with it as they please. Why stop at just a void-fueled vehicle when you could make a void-powered super weapon?"

Dr. Haley continued to recall the events. "We followed the tracks, hoping to find some answers as to who's behind this, but all we found was the excavator itself. We need to find out who did this, and fast."

"So we have to travel to Canada and investigate?" Julius asked.

"I think this means we're going on a road trip!" Cloud said excitedly.

"Correct. Obviously, you'll be needing an aerial mode of transportation. Follow us to the hangar."

Later, in the hangar, everyone stood in front of a grey aircraft with two rotors. All four of the heroes stood, amazed.

Cloud grinned. "This isn't a road trip, it's better!"

"The V-22 Osprey is one of the fastest models we have here. It'll take you to Canada, where you can conduct an investigation and find out who's behind this," The other scientist explained.

Popple looked the vehicle over. "I'm guessing it runs on auto-pilot."

"Right."

"Man, when're we gonna get real vehicle training so we can ride these things ourselves?" Cloud asked, looking at Roy.

"In time, Cloud," Roy replied. "Good luck, rangers."

Julius, Zack, Cloud, and Popple climbed up the stairs and opened the V-22 Osprey's door, walking in. The inside was rather spacious and included four seats. There was the pilot's seat, the co-pilot's seat, a seat that had a good view of the outside through windows, and a seat next to a desk attached to the wall. The air was tense with energy. Who would take what seat? Julius took a slow and careful step forward and stood in front of everyone.

"Hold on, guys. Before we trample over each other trying to get the seat we want, let's figure out what seat each of us wants. If more than one person wants that seat, we can come to an agreement if needed. Alright?"

Everyone looked at each other and slowly nodded. "Alright, let's begin," Julius said. "Who wants the co-pilot seat?"

Cloud raised his hand and looked around. Nobody else raised their hand. He walked to the seat and sat down, turning around to see how the rest of the selection unfolded.

Julius continued. "Alright, okay. Now, who wants the window seat?"

Popple raised her hand and looked around. Nobody else raised their hand and she sat down, also turning around to see who took each of the last two seats.

Julius and Zack looked at the last seats. There was the pilot's seat, and the desk seat. They then looked at each other. "Alright, last one, Zack. Who wants the pilot seat?"

There was a moment of silence as they looked at each other. Like a horse at the races, Zack ran straight for the pilot's seat. Julius was right behind him and leapt forward, tackling him to the ground. He held the green ranger by the legs. "Come on, Zack! I thought we had an understanding!"

"You know damn well that we both want that seat, Julius! I'm not betting that on a game of rock paper scissors! Now LET GO!" Zack tried pushing Julius off using his legs, but he held on with an iron grip.

"I'm the team leader, that means I get the pilot's seat! The desk isn't so bad!"

"Are you kidding me?! The desk sucks! Plus, did you forget who saved the Earth?!"

"We all did, you bum! It was a team effort!" Julius said.

"Who actually kicked Bane in the face and got us the remote that blew up his ship?!"

"Whose back did you jump off of to kick Bane in the face?!"

Zack grabbed the bottom of the seat and began to drag himself closer. Managing to free a leg, he placed it on Julius' shoulder and pushed him off his legs. Finally at his destination, Zack got up and sat in the seat triumphantly. "Ha! Looks like the seat's mine!"

Julius mumbled under his breath and grudgingly sat in the desk seat. Cloud and Popple looked at their teammates, at a loss for words. Zack shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, let's get going. We've got a long trip ahead of us."

"You think they heard what just happened?" Cloud asked.

Zack glanced through the window. Outside, the scientists, Silas, and Roy were all just as shocked as Cloud and Popple were. He turned around to the others. "Yup, they heard everything."

He started the aircraft and everything else took care of itself. It began to slowly advance out of the hangar and picked up speed as it went out. Cloud felt his phone ringing and picked it up, answering the call. "Hello? Hey, babe, what's going on?" Zack, Julius and Popple groaned.

Soon, the aircraft was in the air and the ground was slowly shrinking into the distance before Popple's eyes. She gazed out the window wondrously.

"Today's a great day to go out flying, huh?" Popple asked.

"What day isn't?" Julius replied.

Cloud paused. "...What's that, Ronnie? I'm losing you, crap...I'll call you back later! Love you! No, I love *you* more! No, I--hello? Hello?" He looked at Zack. "Can we get lower for a sec?"

Popple rolled her eyes. "As much as I wanna hear you two lovebirds go back and forth about who loves the other more for the next hour, we have bigger problems to deal with. Like who exactly is behind the void theft?"

Julius stroked his chin and turned to face the others. "Let's start narrowing our options down. The first void attack happened when we were at the beach, so maybe it's someone from the city?"

"Not just one person, though," Popple followed up. "There was an excavator at the site."

"So what, you're saying there could be a whole company after the void?" Cloud inferred.

"Maybe." Popple answered.

"We'll find out soon enough, when we get to the site and investigate..." Julius put his head on the desk and began to fall asleep.

Some time later, the V-22 Osprey arrived in a forest clearing covered in snow. The aircraft slowed down and began to descent vertically. It soon landed and the door opened. Cloud got out first, shivering due to the temperature drop.

"Dang, it's really cold here!" He commented.

"Well, what did you expect?" Popple answered, coming out behind him and shivering just as much.

Zack and Julius got out last. All four heroes looked around, immediately recognizing the location as where the scientist's trail went cold.

"Alright, let's split up. The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the sooner we can leave. Geez, it's cold out here..." Julius said, activating his helmet. The others followed suit and fanned out. As he walked deeper and deeper into the snow covered forest, the red ranger looked around his surroundings carefully. He looked up in the sky, grateful for no snowfall. The sound of something rustling caused him to look forward once more. In the snowy foliage, Julius stood face to face with another person. They wore a red hoodie smeared with dirt, brown pants, and a pair of brown worker's boots. Although the hood was up, mostly cloaking their face, Julius could identify that the figure was wearing black sunglasses and had a patchy beard. Julius jumped back in surprise.

"Uh...hi," He began once he recomposed himself. "What're you doing out here?" He turned around. "Oh, you're probably wondering about the airship, huh? Well, it's a long story...we're nature experts conducting an experiment."

"I know... what you are," The man said in an older, gruff voice. "And I also know what you're after."

Julius paused. "Great, so you know where I can get some boysenberries?"

With the low temperature and the man's appearance, Julius didn't expect anything out of the ordinary. So it surprised him even more when the man stepped forward, grabbed Julius' shoulders, yanked him forward, then swept his left leg to hit the back of Julius' right leg and trip him down. The man got close to Julius' face.

"You don't *know* what you're dealing with!" He hissed.

Julius rolled onto his stomach and got up, quickly grabbing his morpher. "Guys, I found a possible suspect. Follow my trail."

The man turned around. "Don't worry, we'll meet again soon. Until then, you have a situation to deal with." He took flight and ran into the forest. Julius rushed after him. Once again, Julius was surprised at the man's agility. "Wait, come back here!" the chase led the two to the edge of a small cliff. The man stopped running and Julius summoned his blaster and aimed it. "Freeze!"

Silence, save for the roaring of a waterfall. Without a second thought, the man leapt off the cliff. Julius ran to the edge and searched the water below for any signs of the man. Nothing. Behind him, Zack, Cloud and Popple arrived.

"Where's the suspect?" Zack asked.

"He...he jumped off," Julius answered. "It was weird! I was looking around when I saw this guy just standing there."

Zack looked out into the distance. "Yet we have no evidence of this guy's existence. You sure you weren't just seeing things?"

"There's more. The guy walked up to me as said he knew what we were looking for, and that we don't know what we're dealing with."

The heroes' morphers went off. They answered the call and Dr. Haley's voice began talking. "Rangers, we have some more information regarding the situation. We did some digging around in regards to the area and found that digging rights on the land had been bought by a company called Revolutech."

The name caused the heroes to pause and look at each other. Together, they began walking back in the direction of the aircraft. "Revolutech, huh?" Zack asked.

"Correct."

"When did they get the rights?" Popple questioned.

"Bringing it up now..." Dr. Haley said. Everyone could hear typing. "They purchased it...four months ago?"

"Four months ago?" Julius asked, completely confused. "That sounds like a whole other conversation entirely."

"Can you find the Nova Scotia purchase?" Popple asked.

"Right here. Also four months ago?" Dr. Haley said in a perplexed tone.

"How about the purchase right after it?"

"That would be...Quebec."

"Looks like we found the next stop on our trip," Julius said as the team approached the V-22 Osprey.

...

The entire scene was like something out of a sci-fi movie. Four stadium lights surrounded the quarry in a square formation, illuminating it even during the night. At the center of all this was a large crater in the ground, black and purple smoke flowing from it. People in yellow hazmat suits scoured the area, observing tablets in their hands or reading radioactivity meters. Some other men patrolled the perimeter of the stadium lights, making sure no one got in or out without them knowing about. These guards wore black security guard gear and had gas masks on. To the right of the crater was a large cube shaped container made of grey metal. A tube was attached to it and had been placed inside of the crater. A hazmat clad person typed something into a keyboard attached to the machine and it hummed to life. Slowly, a purple substance began to drain out of the crater, through the tube, and into the machine. The heroes watched all of this from atop a hill in the distance. Each held a pair of binocular and looked on at the spectacle.

"I guess it's true, then." Julius said, zooming in onto the machine. "Someone's harvesting the void."

"How did they get technology like that? They're completely immune to the stuff!" Cloud commented.

"Must be the hazmat suits," Zack replied. "Only question is, what's the stuff made of?"

A man in a business suit stood next to the machine, watching the work being done. Although he wasn't wearing any protective gear, he wore gloves and a gas mask. Popple noticed him first and alerted the others.

"See the guy in the suit?" She noted.

"Yeah, looks like he's the head honcho of the operation," Cloud said. "Everyone knows that the guy in the suit runs the joint."

Now a helicopter was arriving on the scene, dropping down and landing next to the machine. Its doors opened and two more men in hazmat suits stepped out. Once they got out, a third person exited the helicopter and the heroes watched in awe. It was the monster who had attacked the M.Tea who got out of the helicopter.

"It's him! It's the monster that attacked the M.Tea!" Cloud exclaimed.

"Yup, I'm seeing it. This isn't good," Julius added, looking up from his binoculars and getting up from his prone position. "We need to get down there and get a closer look."

The others got up and together, the team walked to the base of the hill and circled around it until they were facing the crater again. Creeping through the dark landscape towards it, they found a boulder a good few meters away from one of the stadium lights. It was large enough to take cover behind and far enough away from anyone else as to not be easily detected. They glanced behind it carefully, continuing to watch the site. The man in the suit had just been notified of something by one of the hazmat people who had come via the helicopter. He turned around noticed the monster walking towards him.

"Ah, yes, you've arrived," The man said in a silky smooth voice. "I hope your trip up here wasn't too uncomfortable."

To the heroes' surprise, the monster was actually capable of full sentences, albeit in the same gravelly voice. "What did you want me here for?"

"First of all, I wanted a word with you about the explosion that came up in the news. This stuff is unstable enough to make car engines blow up like that?!"

"Eugene," Cloud simply said.

"A normal engine can't contain that type of power. Things like that tend to happen when you're interacting with powers that aren't of this world." The monster responded with zero emotion.

The man mulled this over before finally shrugging. "Alright, but my kid had a breakdown afterwards 'cause he got his car blown to bits. The second thing I wanted you here for is to clear up the details regarding the big drop. When the day comes, everything must happen in perfect sequence."

"It's landing in Belview City, soon. *Very* soon. The entire cloud will drop on the city, plunging it into darkness."

"Belview? That's our city!" Cloud whispered fiercely.

"And when the time comes, the city will need us in their darkest hour to get them out of trouble. And Revolutech will be back on top." The man said.

"Have you finished collecting all of what's here yet?"

"No, not quite. My men are working diligently, but it's still time consuming work."

The monster glanced at the bottom of the crater, then back at the machine. "If that's all you wanted to talk about, I'm going to go."

The man looked at his partner in crime. "Aren't you forgetting something?" A hazmat suit wearing man walked over to the monster, offering a suitcase to his employer. The man took it and entered a code, opening it up and revealing its contents to the monster. Neatly organized and rubber-banded were stacks of hundred dollar bills.

The monster took a second to look at its reward before looking back at the man. "I don't need your money."

"First time I heard that one," The man said, chuckling at his small joke. The monster continued to stare at him and he quickly became serious once more. "Nobody does anything for free. What are you getting out of this?"

"This suits my own purposes. When the time comes, I'll take what I am owed."

"Ooh, ominous. Alright, then," The man responded, closing the case and giving it back to his employee.

"We'll be meeting again soon," The monster said, walking again in the opposite direction of the helicopter.

"Don't you want a ride home?"

"Don't need it." Without another word, the monster entered the bushes and was gone. Meanwhile, behind the rock, the heroes were still digesting all the news they just heard. Finally, Julius shook himself back to reality and began to whisper to the others. "Alright, we need to report back to base. And hope the debriefing doesn't take all night..."

However, just as he peeped his head out from behind the rock to check if the coast was clear, a hazmat guard was looking in his direction. Julius dropped down immediately and hoped that the guard saw nothing.

"Did you see that?" He heard one of the guards say.

"See what?" Another one responded.

"I could have sworn I just saw something red come out from behind that rock. I'm gonna check it out."

"Probably just a fox or something."

"Never hurts to check." The heroes heard footsteps crunch beneath the snow, closer and closer towards the heroes.

*Great*, Julius thought to himself as the steps became louder and louder. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder and he jumped in fright, but relaxed when he saw it was Popple. She had deactivated her armor and was back in her yellow jacket and black skirt. She pointed furiously at her morpher. Julius, although unsure of what she was planning, got the idea and did likewise. Without a moment's hesitation, Popple tackled Julius onto the ground so she was on top of him, leaned down and began to kiss him passionately. At first hesitant and with wide eyes, he soon closed his and kissed back, putting his arm around her back.

The guard was just about to reach the rock and search it when he saw a boy and a girl tumble onto the ground. The girl was on top of the boy, and she appeared to be making out with him. What the...

"Hey! What're you two doing?!" He yelled out to get their attention. Popple and Julius broke their kiss to look up at the guard.

"Oh...hi?" Popple began. "W-what's going on? My boyfriend and I were just enjoying the...wilderness! Right, babycakes?" She looked to Julius, crossing her fingers mentally that he would catch on.

Julius could only sputter out a goofy chuckle. "Heh, babycakes..." He coughed and smiled innocently at the guard. "Yeah, we were just having some fun..."

The guard was buying into the teens' story, backing up and clearing his throat. "I'm sorry to inform you, but this is a private excavation site, I'm gonna have to ask you two lovebirds to leave immediately."

Popple pouted. "Aw, that's just great, baby! We had a special night planned and now we gotta go home..."

"Sorry, kids, that's just the way it is. Although I do understand what's going on with you two.” He took a deep breath and looked off into the distance, recalling a memory from his past. “Yup, I remember my first make out session. It was great. Even had the same face on your boyfriend here does. Shocked expression and everything. I was just surprised I was getting any action and rolled with it." The guard laughed.

Julius joined in on the laugh slowly, getting up. "Y-yeah, don't worry, sir we'll get going right now. Just my girlfriend and me!" He put his arm around Popple's shoulder and kissed her on the forehead.

The guard put his hand to his chest. "Melts my heart. You two run along now, alright?"

"Thanks for the warning!" Popple said as the two began to walk away. The two took a few steps and quickly glanced behind them, praying that the guard would turn around and return to his post. To their relief, he was indeed walking back towards the lights. The couple breathed out and continued walking away.

"Sorry about putting you on the spot, but I had to do something to get us out of there," Popple apologized.

"Don't even worry about it, thanks for getting us out of that mess!" Julius quickly replied.

"Hey, babycakes, you wanna give us a signal when the guards aren't looking?" Instantly, Julius' face heated up. He and Popple turned around to see Zack and Cloud behind the rock, trying their absolute hardest to not laugh uncontrollably.

Up ahead, the guard had just stopped in front of the stadium light and pulled out his walkie-talkie. "Yeah, this is Bucci, talk to me...oh really? You guys found an aircraft out there?"

All four of the heroes froze. They had found the V-22 Osprey. If they wanted to make their escape, they would have to run fast. Julius and Popple morphed back and Julius beckoned Zack and Cloud to come forward. The two ran out and reunited with the others and as a unit, the four raced away from the site. Meanwhile, Bucci and his fellow guard were talking about what had just happened.

"So lo and behold, the guys I spot behind the rock turned out to be two horny teens!" He turned around and pointed at the rock, but was surprised to see not two kids running away, but four.

His partner's jaw dropped. "What the..."

"God damn...you don't think..."

"Look, I don't wanna talk about this anymore, alright? Can we just get back to work?"

Julius, Zack, Cloud and Popple ran through the forest, jumping over rocks and fallen logs. They would have to circle around the hill to find the aircraft and even then, there was no telling what would have happened to it.

"Shut up shut up shut up!" Julius said in response to something.

"What, only Popple's allowed to call you that?" Cloud asked mischievously.

"Yeah, chill out, babycakes," Zack added. He and Cloud laughed and Julius groaned.

The four arrived at where they had landed the V-22 Osprey, at the beginning of the forest behind the hill. Just as they expected, there were security guards standing around the Osprey. They were seven in total, wielding batons in their hand. Fortunately, it seemed like they hadn't gotten into the aircraft. They stepped out of the bushes, preparing to meet the guards. The guards directed their attention to the heroes.

"Don't move any closer!" One said in a threatening tone.

Julius put his hands up. "Easy, boys. The ship belongs to us. All we want to do is take it and go home, okay?"

The guards remained unmoving, gripping their batons tightly. One of them took out their walkie-talkie and began speaking into it. "Griner here. We have for individuals claiming the aircraft is theirs, standing for further instructions, over."

Zack got into a fighting stance. "Enough talking, we need to get out of here. Last chance to let us walk out of here. Or you won't be walking for a week."

The guards got their batons ready and looked at Griner to give the word. He was still occupied with his walkie-talkie. But suddenly, a third party stepped out of the forest and got between the heroes and the guards. It was the monster. He turned to the guards and pointed behind them. "Leave. They're mine."

Griner took his walkie-talkie away from his ear momentarily. "Hey, we take orders from Mr. Burnell. And he's saying--"

"You have two choices," The monster said, moving on the guard. "Answer to Burrell, or answer to *me.* And I'm the one standing right in front of you."

Griner stepped back and turned to his men. "A-alright, he's all yours. Let's move men." The security detail retreated back to the digging site. Now alone, the monster stood between the heroes and their only form of escape.

"Didn't know you had such a way with words. Far as I knew, you had the vocabulary of a baby," Zack said, summoning his katana. The others summoned their weapons as well. The monster put his fists up, ready to fight.

"We don't have time to play whack-a-mole with his body parts here!" Julius observed. "Those guards are gonna be back, with reinforcements!"

Cloud looked at his tomahawk, then his surroundings. A plan was forming in his head. "I think I have an idea! Hold him off, alright? Thanks!" Cloud ran diagonally in the direction of the monster. Before he could attack the blue ranger, Julius made his move and flicked the Delta Lasher, wrapping it around the monster's forearm.

"See, Zack? I told you it was practical!" Julius announced victoriously. His victory was short-lived, however, as the monster yanked his arm forward and pulled the red ranger towards him, knocking him further into the air with an uppercut.

Zack and Popple made their moves and came in swinging with their weapons. Popple aimed high with her staff and Zack slashed for his midsection. The monster blocked Popple's staff strike and tanked Zack's slash, swinging their right arm to hit the green ranger. Anticipating this, Zack backstepped and avoided the swinging, going back in with another slash, hitting their arm. Popple twirled her staff to readjust her grip and swung low, hitting the monster in the knee. Falling onto said knee, Popple thrusted her staff forward and caught them on the side of their chin. Just as Zack raised his sword overhead, aiming for the monster's head, they unleashed another one of their abilities. Raising their slashed arm up in the air, a vacuum effect appeared in the palm of their hand. Instantly, the area around them began to freeze, as if snow was falling. Ice formed around Popple and Zack and they ceased their attacks, dropping their weapons and moving their arms over their bodies in an attempt to regain warmth. It was almost as if all of the heat in the surrounding area of the monster's palm was being sucked out.

"W-what the hell...is going on?!" Zack said in a shivering voice.

Seeing that the damage had been done, the monster readied a punch and stepped forward, hitting Zack square in the chest and knocking him away. He kicked Popple, knocking her away as well. The vacuum effect was still in the open palm of their hand.

Meanwhile, Cloud was still running away, looking around the forest furiously. Finally, he found what he was looking for, a tall boreal tree. Tomahawk in hand, Cloud brought to his side and swung at the base of the tree, giving it a good chop. Above him, Julius had been sent flying by the uppercut, but his flight was stopped by the same tree, whose branches he had been caught in. Cloud looked up in surprise.

"Julius?! How the heck did you get up there?!"

"L-long story!" Julius said, not wanting to get into the details of his failed attack. "What're you planning?"

"I'm chopping down the tree and dropping it on top of the monster! Let's see it regenerate its entire body back after getting crushed!"

"Hey, that's a good-- woah woah woah! Chopping it down?!" Julius began to struggle in an effort to free himself. "Lemme get out first!"

"I can't stop! Isn't there some way you can get out of there quickly?" Cloud asked, continuing to hack at the tree. Julius continued struggling, managing to break a branch under him. This sent him down a few pegs and he felt weightless as he fell in the air. His descent was interrupted by another set of branches. Looking down, he still wasn't close to the ground. "Crap..."

In the distance, Julius saw ice creeping out around where Zack and Popple were fighting the monster. That can't be good. "Come on, Julius, think!" He pounded his helmet with his hand, then paused and look at what was in his hand, the Delta Lasher. Looking ahead, he saw another tree. Julius knew what he had to do. Throwing his hand back, he flicked the whip forward and it wrapped around the tree. He looked at the button on the whip's handle and took a deep breath. Shutting his eyes tightly, he clicked the button and felt himself zip through the air, out of the branch's grasp. His heart lifted. He broke free! The sense of freedom was short-lived, however. As he shot past the tree had grappled to, his grip on his whip slipped and he continued to careen through the air. As he got closer and closer to the others, the air around him got colder and colder. In front of him, the monster was ambling towards Zack, who was downed. His armor was tinted blue and covered in frost. Julius' whip induced trip drew to an abrupt and extremely painful end as he collided with the monster shoulder-first. The void-powered creature was knocked to the ground and Julius landed in a heap on the ground. Thanks to his unintentional attack, the vacuum effect was interrupted and the area around the heroes began to regain warmth immediately.

Popple and Zack slowly got up, flexing their bodies to break off the frost and get some heat back.

"We're not doing that again, that's for sure," Zack said, sneezing. "Where did you come from, Julius?"

Julius took a deep breath responded with a loud and pain-filled scream. He tightly clutched his left shoulder. "MY SHOULDER!!"

Behind them, the monster had recovered from the impact and turned his attention on the returning combatant. Raising its hand up, the vacuum effect returned and the heat was sucked out again. Popple and Zack were brought to their knees. This time, when it reached the fallen Julius, it closed its hand into a fist and prepared to strike Julius with the infinitely frozen fist.

"TIMBER!!"

The monster turned in the direction of the scream and was met with the sight of a tree falling down on it. Zack, hearing the sound cue, used what little energy he had left to grab Julius' leg and drag him away from the monster, just as the tree fell right on top of them. From under the tree, their limbs twitched and slowly began to melt into darkness. Cloud ran back onto the scene, finding all of his teammates either nearly frozen solid or in severe pain. He heard rapid footsteps farther away.

"I heard the scream this way!" Someone said in the distance.

"C'mon, guys, we gotta go now!" He yelled urgently. Zack managed to get on his feet and helped Popple up. Julius struggled to his feet and slowly walked towards the aircraft, opening the door and getting in. Cloud, Zack and Popple went inside as well and Zack landed like a sack of potatoes in the pilot's seat, starting the Osprey. As it got off the ground and rose vertically, the heroes watched as a security guards ran to where the aircraft had taken off. They flowed from on top of the hill and from the left and right of it. Before the Osprey flew away horizontally, they could barely see the suit wearing leader watch them escape.

...

Much later on, the teens were recovering in the SPD lab. Zack and Popple had thermometers in their mouths, while Julius had a black arm sling on. Cloud was in conversation with Dr. Haley. His partner was helping Zack and Popple.

"...So yeah, we managed to take down the void guy and got out of there in one piece," Cloud concluded his recalling of the day's events.

"Y-yeah, that's the last we'll be seeing of that guy, I hope," Popple said, punctuating her sentence with a sneeze.

"Looks like we replaced one threat for another," Zack brought up. "Revolutech's looking to profit on the void."

Dr. Haley nodded. "Things have definitely taken a turn for the worse. Dr. Koss and I have a lot of preparation in regards to the void's arrival. One thing's for certain, however: you four are taking a break."

All of the teens' eyes were on Dr. Haley. "Wait, WHAT?!" Cloud exclaimed. "A break?! We're perfectly fine, nothing to worry about!"

"Speak for yourself, Cloud," Julius said, pointing at his brace. "My shoulder is dislocated, plus Zack and Popple have the freaking cold!" Popple nodded in agreement and even Zack kept quiet.

Dr. Koss took out Zack and Popple's thermometers. "No buts about it. We'll be organizing a transport to get you four home. We don't want to see you here for at least a week, got it?"

Julius, Zack and Popple nodded. Cloud finally agreed. "Yeah, got it."

Dr. Haley and Dr. Koss left the room, leaving the four teens alone. Cloud pointed at Julius' shoulder. "How did you get that, anyway?"

"Remember when I got caught in the tree? I used the Delta Lasher and--" Julius stopped midsentence. He raised his good arm up, but nothing happened. "Oh, crap. My whip!"

Back in the Canadian wilderness, the Revolutech forces were being picked up by a swarm of helicopters. The aircrafts were being occupied by personnel and equipment. Mr. Burnell watched the evacuation as he waited for his private helicopter to land. He couldn't wait to be out of this weather and back in Belview City. First thing he would do is have a nice hot bath. Finally, he saw the white chopper arrive and it began the process of dropping down and landing. Behind him, a security guard was running up to him. "Mr. Burnell!"

The businessman turned around at the calling of his name. His guard held something in his hand and held it up to him. "What's this?"

"We found it in a tree near where the intruders were," The guard answered.

He waved it away. "Have it sent to the lab. I'll deal with this when I get back." Burnell entered his chopper and closed the door. The helicopter ascended and flew away.