PokéRangers: New World

Breaking Point

"TYRANNOX!" Zekks yelled as he open his eyes, finding himself on the couch.

"He's gone" Macho sighed as he held up the note. "And so is Vinnie."

As Zekks clenched his teeth in anger, small traces of electricity began to crackle around him. "I swear... if it's the last-" Though before he could finish, he quickly clutched his chest as a sharp pain ran down the side of his body.

"Are you okay?" the Bewear Ranger asked

Zekks took a moment to compose himself and slow his breathing, the electricity around him dying down as well. "I've been better", he uttered in as calmly a tone as he could muster. "When did you all get back?"

"A few minutes ago".

Zekks looked towards the shattered pieces of rock that lined the floor. "There was two of him... How was there two of him?"

"It's one of his abilities" the Greninja Ranger began. "Apparently he can make lifelike copies of himself from inorganic matter."

"Well that's annoying", he noted before the revelation actually sunk it. "Wait... how do you know that? And where have you all been?"

"Well you see..." Macho began nervously.

"We went to go train with Dawn", the Infernape Ranger blurted out to everyone's surprise.

"You what?" Zekks replied in a stern voice. "And you didn't tell me?"

The Rangers were mostly at a loss for words.

"Nevermind", Zekks continued, "We have more pressing things to deal with right now. So give me the short version."

"Learned some new tricks, Xanatar - one of the remaining doppelgängers - agreed to help us and Dawn has a digital map of almost the entire continent" the Mandibuzz Ranger summed up.

"Well you've all been busy. And where are Dawn and Xanatar now?"

"Making final preparations for what was supposed to be our big surprise attack" the Houndoom Ranger replied. "Though not sure how much good it'll do now."

"It can still work" the Infernape Ranger muttered as his head hung low. "Didn't she give you some way to contact her directly?" he asked the Bewear Ranger.

"I suppose an extra set of hands wouldn't hurt in this situation." Zekks sighed reluctantly as he rubbed his brow. "And if you say Xanatar can be trusted, then I believe you."

"Just one problem with that" the Bewear Ranger admitted. "The drive is heavily encrypted. So without Vinnie..."

"It's basically useless to us..." Macho finished in a disheartened tone.

"Looks like we need a new play" the Greninja Ranger sighed.

"Not at all" the Infernape Ranger began as he ripped the map out of Macho's hand. "Same play as always – we do this ourselves. After all, it's still 6 against 1."

"Yeah. Until you remember that '1' can make an army of himself!"

"Zekks said he only got jumped by two" he reasoned. "So maybe he can only hold one additional version of himself at a time."

"That's a pretty risky assumption" Zekks added.

"He's right" the Houndoom Ranger concurred. "We can't just rush into this blind."

"But we're not blind" the Infernape Ranger pressed. "General idea or not, Xanatar still told us what Tyrannox's powers are. So we have an edge!"

"Yeah" the Mandibuzz Ranger scolded. "And Tyrannox has a hostage!"