As the team regrouped, Red and the others cautiously approached the space where Pink had been thrown off balance. The aftermath of the blast still lingered in the air, smoke curling in the shafts of light filtering through the mine's entrance. But what they saw next stopped them in their tracks. Before them, standing in the hazy aftermath, were four distinct figures—each resembling the Pink Ranger, but they were different. Larger. Masculine.
These decoys weren't like Pink's usual projections. They were tall, broad-shouldered, with pronounced muscle, each wearing a version of the unmistakable Pink Ranger armor—only this armor looked more aggressive, more dangerous. The contours of their suits were sharper, their visors glowing a menacing red. Every detail screamed power and violence.
"What the hell?" Black muttered under his breath, tightening his grip on his axe. "Since when does Pink have a muscle-bound fan club?"
"These aren't her decoys," Aegis confirmed in Red's HUD. "They're something else—advanced holos, but they're built for combat."
Prism's voice echoed in Pink's mind, purring with sinister amusement. "Look at them, darling. He's mocking you, copying your suit. Doesn't it just make your blood boil?"
Pink's face twisted in fury. "Why is he copying me?!" she spat, her voice laced with venom. "He's gonna pay for this."
But before Pink could react further, the decoys charged, their movements unnervingly fast and precise. The ground shook beneath their feet as they barreled toward the Rangers, their fists and weapons raised, ready to strike.
"Stay back!" Black growled, stepping forward to shield his team. "I'll handle this."
He squared his shoulders, preparing for the onslaught. The first decoy reached him with a powerful punch, and Black met it head-on with his axe. The impact reverberated through his arms, but instead of pain, he felt the familiar surge of energy as his suit began to absorb the kinetic force. The Grid Overcharge ability kicked in, and with each hit, his suit's systems gathered more power, channeling it through his body.
The second decoy swung a heavy blow toward Black's side, but he blocked it with a swift raise of his axe. The energy from the strike poured into his suit, adding to the already growing reservoir of power. His muscles tensed, the weight of the energy almost overwhelming, but he gritted his teeth and bore down.
The third and fourth decoys joined the fray, attacking in unison. One aimed for his legs, the other went high, their combined strength formidable. Black braced himself, blocking the blows with expert precision, each hit sending more energy crackling through his armor. He could feel the heat building inside him, his suit humming with raw power as it absorbed hit after hit. His muscles screamed in protest, but he knew this was his moment—he needed to bide his time, let the energy build to its peak.
"Hit me harder!" Black roared, his voice a guttural snarl as another punch connected with his chest. The suit glowed faintly, the energy swirling inside him, pressing against his skin like a storm waiting to break. The tension was palpable, each hit fueling the growing power within.
The decoys didn't let up, their attacks relentless, but Black stood firm, his axe flashing as he parried and absorbed each strike. His suit's systems were nearing their limit, the warning lights flashing in his HUD, but he ignored them. The energy was building, coiling tighter, ready to be unleashed. It buzzed through him, electric, intoxicating, the sheer magnitude of it almost too much to contain.
Bastion's voice echoed in his mind, urging him to hold out just a little longer. "Let them hit you, just a bit more… you've almost got enough."
Black grunted in response, focusing on each attack, each surge of power that flooded his suit. His muscles ached, his bones felt like they were vibrating with energy, but he held on. The decoys kept coming, their blows heavy, their movements sharp, but Black welcomed the pain. It only made him stronger.
"I'm ready," he thought, the pressure building to a breaking point. He could feel the energy pulsing inside him, begging for release. "Now!"
With a guttural roar, Black unleashed the Grid Overcharge.
His axe glowed with a blinding black energy, the pent-up force erupting in a massive horizontal slash. The air crackled as the wave of energy surged outward, tearing through the space in front of him. The decoys didn't stand a chance. The blast hit them with full force, their bodies disintegrating into flickers of light and fading into nothingness. The raw power of the attack reverberated through the mine, shaking the walls and sending loose rocks tumbling to the ground.
But as the dust settled, something else became clear.
In the center of the mine, standing where the decoys had been, was a single figure. Blue.
His body was cloaked in the familiar blue aura, but something was different. His armor pulsed with a familiar, dark energy—Black's energy. The very force he had unleashed had been absorbed by Blue, and now it was radiating from him, coiling around his form like a living shadow.
"No way…" Black breathed, his eyes widening in disbelief. "He absorbed it… all of it."
The realization hit him like a punch to the gut. Blue had taken everything—the energy, the force of his Overcharge—and was about to deal it back. But doubled in strength.
"Red!" Black shouted, panic edging into his voice. "Deploy your Grid Boundary! Now!"
Red's eyes darted toward Blue, her mind racing as she activated her abilities. The shimmering grid boundary spread out, enveloping Black in a protective field, boosting his defense. But there was no time to fully prepare.
Blue's gauntlets crackled with energy, and without warning, he fired.
The blast slammed into Black with the force of a freight train. The impact was like nothing he'd ever felt before—every muscle in his body screamed as the energy hit, sending shockwaves through his armor. His vision blurred, and for a moment, the world seemed to tilt on its axis. But he didn't fall. He wouldn't fall.
With a growl of defiance, Black planted his feet, digging into the ground as the blast pushed him back. His axe dropped from his hands, but he stayed standing, weathering the storm. His body ached, his suit systems flared with warning after warning, but he endured. He had to.
"I'm not going down," he growled through gritted teeth, his voice barely audible over the roar of energy. "Not… today."
The blast subsided, the energy dissipating into the air, leaving a crackling silence in its wake. Black's body trembled with exhaustion, his suit systems on the verge of shutting down, but he remained on his feet, refusing to yield.
As the dust settled, Blue was already moving. His overcharge spent, only his blue aura remained as he took his chance to escape. The Rangers watched in stunned silence as Blue slipped into the shadows of the mine, vanishing before they could react.
Black dropped to one knee, his chest heaving with ragged breaths. He could feel the tremor in his muscles, the lingering sting of the attack still coursing through his body. His suit systems were on the verge of shutting down, but the neuro link connecting the team told him everything he needed to know. Through the shared mental link, Black could feel the shock and disbelief coursing through Red, Yellow, and Pink just as intensely as he felt it himself.
Black dropped to one knee, his chest heaving with ragged breaths. His entire body ached from the energy he had absorbed and unleashed. The tremor in his muscles hadn't subsided, a reminder of the massive overcharge he had endured. His suit's internal systems were dangerously close to shutting down from the strain. Even Bastion, his ever-stalwart AI, remained unusually quiet as they recalibrated, letting the armor catch its breath, so to speak.
Through the neuro link, Black could feel the residual shock and disbelief rippling through the rest of the team. Red's steady, commanding presence still anchored them, but even she couldn't mask the undercurrent of tension. Yellow's usual calm was fractured by frustration, while Pink's boiling anger, now palpable, spiked erratically across the link.
The mine had fallen into an eerie silence. The sounds of their suit systems working to stabilize filled the space, but that was it. Whoever this mysterious operator was, he was gone—escaped into the shadows once again. It was infuriating, and Black's frustration radiated out into the link. He hated this. He hated feeling like the prey.
"Damn coward," Black growled through clenched teeth, slowly pushing himself up onto his feet. His fists flexed, and his frustration festered beneath the surface, kept in check only by the discipline of their training. "Hiding in the shadows, setting traps. Fight me like a man!" His eyes flickered with burning anger, scanning the area as if he could force the enemy to appear just through sheer willpower.
The words hung in the air, bitter with resentment, but they rang hollow. Black knew the truth—they were up against someone who wasn't playing by the same rules. This wasn't about strength or bravado. The operator was outsmarting them, using their very strengths against them.
"We're not pursuing yet," Red ordered, her tone authoritative and unwavering. She was the rock they needed right now, her words grounding them, pulling them back from the precipice of reckless action. "He's leading us into traps. We rush, and we're walking into another one. That's not happening again."
The frustration from Black's overzealousness earlier still rippled across the team, but Red's command settled them. Through the neuro link, they felt her resolve, her steel focus, and it became their anchor. She knew this wasn't just any opponent—this was something far more personal. It was an insult, a tactical nightmare, and Red wasn't going to let them fall into another trap.
The shared mental link conveyed emotions stronger than words. Even as the team adjusted to Red's orders, Black's simmering anger bled through, tinged with embarrassment for having fallen into the trap so easily. His pride stung, and that anger fueled his resolve. Red's focus sharpened as she tried to push past her own unease, keeping everyone level-headed, refusing to let emotions cloud their next moves.
Yellow stepped forward, her mind already spinning through the tactical errors they had made. Her analytical side took over as she pieced together everything the mysterious operator had done so far. "He's used a lot of tools already," she said, her voice measured and even, but the subtle edge of frustration was clear. "Stealth systems, friction dampeners, sonic dampeners… but he's pushing his suit too hard. It's overheating. He won't be able to keep up this level of stealth much longer."
Her words hung in the air, a glimmer of hope that the opponent's resources were dwindling. Black's overcharge hadn't just affected them—it had affected him, too.
Red glanced over at Yellow, a silent question in her eyes. "And what's your assessment?" she asked, her voice firm but carrying the trust she had in Yellow's judgment.
Yellow was already scanning, recalculating the events that had unfolded. "He's burning through his equipment," she continued. "The overcharge? It's left his gauntlets fried, at least for now. He's running low on resources. He'll need a resupply soon."
The neuro link pulsed with a renewed sense of purpose, the team beginning to feel the shift in momentum. They had been outmaneuvered—yes—but Yellow's analysis reminded them that no one could keep fighting forever. The tables could still be turned.
Black flexed his hands, the weight of the overcharge still lingering in his muscles. The surge of power had left him drained, but the anger bubbling up was refueling him. "He used my Overcharge against us," he grumbled, his voice low but dangerous. "Smart, but he's out of tricks now."
Yellow gave a small nod, already planning their next steps. "Exactly. His resources are limited, but we should assume that he can replicate more of our abilities. If he mimicked Pink's decoys and your Overcharge, there's no reason to think he can't copy Red's Grid Boundary or my daggers' effects."
A tense silence followed. The thought of the enemy being able to replicate their abilities—especially their more dangerous ones—sent a ripple of unease through the link. Even though Red had a strong grip on the team's mental cohesion, the idea that their opponent could replicate Red's boundary control or Yellow's paralytic daggers wasn't something they could ignore.
Red's eyes flickered with doubt for the briefest of moments, but she quickly smothered it. "Even if he can copy us, he's running on fumes. That's our advantage. We dictate the terms now."
The neuro link vibrated with shared agreement, their previous doubts falling to the wayside. The sting of being outplayed, of being reduced to prey, was slowly dissolving. Now, the predator in them was reawakening.
"We've faced worse," Black muttered under his breath, his fists tightening. "This guy's good, but we're better."
The cold, clinical voice of Yellow's AI, Echo, piped up through the neuro link. "He's deployed stealth systems, dampeners, and exhausted his gauntlets. His suit is reaching critical limits. His camouflage won't last much longer."
Pink had been quiet for a while, uncharacteristically so, as she processed the events. Now, her mind was filled with excitement once again. The momentary frustration was gone, replaced by a twisted sense of satisfaction. "Oh, baby," she purred through the link, her thoughts dripping with venomous pleasure. "We've got him right where we want him. He's playing hard to get, but I love it when they squirm."
The energy in the link shifted. Despite the frustrations, there was something electric about Pink's energy—her unhinged excitement fueling the team. She was a wildcard, but they needed her fire right now.
Red shot her a look through the link, cutting through the group's shared thoughts. "Focus, Pink. We're not playing games anymore."
"Oh, I'm focused alright," Pink replied, her tone saccharine and dangerous. "Focused on making him regret every second of this."
Yellow stepped back into the conversation, her tactical mind already churning out plans. "We know where he's heading. He needs to resupply, and fast. This is our moment to take back control of the battlefield. We've let him dictate too much already."
Red nodded, processing everything. The team was regrouping mentally, their resolve returning with each breath. "Good. We're not rushing in, not this time. We move systematically, corner him, and cut off every escape route."
The tension in the neuro link was replaced with the hard edge of determination. The initial shock had dissipated, and now the team was recalibrating, ready to strike back. They weren't going to fall for any more traps. They weren't going to be outmaneuvered again.
"We take control," Red commanded, her voice like steel. "We finish this. Together."
With that, the team pooled their collective strength, ready to strike. They had been caught off guard, but now they were ready to turn the tables.