Rise Of The Black Ranger

It was morning and Dillon and Axel were covering their ears to try and drown out Ziggy's groans of pain.

“It's gonna end soon Ziggy, I know it hurts”, Dillon groaned out as Axel grit his teeth trying to recover from the headache he got from Ziggy waking them both up.

“Why does it hurt so much!” Ziggy yelled holding his mouth in pain as blood was seen dripping down his chin, as claws began forming on his hands and feet which could be seen since he had taken his shoes off.

“Don’t worry Ziggy the worst part will be over soon”, Axel stated before standing up and walking out the cave wanting to get some semblance of silence.

Ziggy’s whimpers of pain continued for multiple minutes until his teeth fell out of his mouth and were replaced with much sharper ones.

Everything went silent for a moment, Dillon noticing this looked towards Ziggy who kept his mouth closed as he then saw Ziggy's old teeth on the ground.

“See told you the worst part will be over soon” Dillon chuckled nervously as he picked the teeth up and placed them in a nearby corner as he noticed Ziggy was still quiet.

“Does your mouth still hurt buddy?” Dillon asked, Ziggy slowly nodding in response as he opened his mouth showing Dillon his teeth which were covered in fresh blood as he slowly spoke, “Each time I speak my fangs dig into my tongue”.

Dillon nodded before suggesting “try to stay talking like that for a bit you’ll get used to it in a little while”

Ziggy nodded in response, before standing himself up before noticing his newly formed claws on his hands and feet as he slowly asked, “This is gonna take a bit to get used to isn’t it?” getting a nod in response from Dillon.

Ziggy attempted to step forward only to trip over himself and get caught by Dillon who said “Let me help you out of here” Ziggy only nodded in agreement in response as they slowly walked out of the cave.

When they exit they see the three wolves from before walking into the forest most likely going to scavenge for food again for the pack Dillon clearly looking away to look for where Axel was, before seeing he was sitting on the other side of the lake the two waving over to him as he walked to where they were.

“Are you feeling better, Ziggy?” Axel asked.

“Y-yeah it's hard to speak normally so I have to talk slower so I don’t bite the inside of my mouth” Ziggy replied.

As Ziggy said this Axel noticed two bumps forming on the top of Ziggy's head as he slowly inched his hand towards one of the lumps and poked it making Ziggy flinch and lurch back, the claws on his feet digging into the ground and making him fall to the ground.

“Ow…” Ziggy groaned out as he grasped the top of his head “Why did you do that Axel” Ziggy said towards Axel who just smiled apologetically as he apologised “Sorry Ziggy”

Axel then commented “Looks like he’s growing the ears next he has two bumps on the top his head”

“Is that why I got a headache all of a sudden?” Ziggy asked

“Yep,” Dillon responded to him before pulling back to his feet, “this and the tail aren’t as bad as the teeth so you won’t be in that much pain as before”.

Ziggy just stayed silent before slowly standing himself up as he started to feel the lumps on his head get bigger before the three heard a pop as Dillon and Axel looked to see Ziggy sporting some newly sprouted ears on top of his head.

“Well, you don’t have a headache anymore” Dillon commented making Axel chuckle in response.

“I guess” Ziggy replied before feeling what was supposed to be his tail start to move around against his jeans.

Dillon, noticing this, asked, “Is your tail bothering you?” Ziggy did not respond before Axel and Dillon saw him grab the back of his jeans and use his claws to punch a hole into them and when he let them go it showed the lump before the actual tail protruded out from it.

Ziggy lets out a sigh of relief as he isn’t in pure discomfort anymore before flopping to the ground, “Finally it's over!” as Ryka came out of the cave to see Ziggy no longer in the state he was before looking towards Dillon who notices her looking towards them before he nodded to her in confirmation.

Not long after she walked back into the cave as the pups ran out to drink the water from the lake while Dillon brought Ziggy to his feet again saying “Alright now that the transformation is done with now it's time to help you acclimate to how your body is now”.

Ziggy looked at him in confusion before asking “What do you mean by acclimate?”.

“Me and Axel are gonna teach you how to actually move and run around without tripping over yourself and hitting against a tree because you lose your footing”.

“Ok....how are we doing this then?” Ziggy asked.

“Run around the lake as fast you can without tripping and launching yourself into a tree”

“So are we-” Ziggy went to ask only to be interrupted immediately by Dillon “Yes we're starting now go”.

Ziggy immediately scrambled forward as he began to run around the lake and as time went on he slowly went into a slow jog before going into a full-on sprint.

He didn’t seem to be faltering but he wasn’t paying attention and tripped over a protruding root on the ground and fell into a roll getting caught by Axel in the process the impact causing Axel to slide back a few feet.

Axel then placed Ziggy back on his feet, the boy having a dazed look on his face as his head was bobbing from side to side.

Axel lightly shook the boy, snapping the boy out of it, “huh what happened?”

“You tripped over a root buddy”.

“Oh did I do good at least?” Ziggy asked, Dillon and Axel nodding before Dillon commented, “Maybe we should have you learn how to walk from scratch”

“What do you mean?”Ziggy questioned the boy not getting an answer until he realized what he had meant, “Oh come on man I don’t wanna do that”

“Are we gonna have a baby around the place now, do you need a diaper or some milk?” Axel joked as Ziggy frowned, “Screw you Axel!”.

Dillon just covered his mouth keeping himself from laughing Ziggy in response stumbled away in annoyance, Dillon and Axel holding in their laughs.

Dillon then walked to where Ziggy was and put his hand on his shoulder stating “Me and Axel are just joking around with you man at least try to practice with this okay?”

Ziggy stayed silent in response before letting out a sigh, “Fine…”.

“I mean if you want you could have Axel teach you” Dillon suggested as Ziggy looked to Axel who waved towards them in response.

“I’ll have him train me” Ziggy replied as Dillon called Axel to them, “Yo Axel come here for a sec!”.

“Yes?” Axel walked up to the two as Dillon asked “Do you think you can be Ziggy's teacher?”

“I mean i'm not opposed to doing that if it helps him learn how to walk normally again” Axel responded.

The two look at Ziggy who sighed in response, “What do I do first?”

Axel looked towards Ziggy with a smirk, Ziggy noticing this let swallowed down spit out of being nervous to what he was planning.

“Get on the ground!” Axel yelled as Ziggy yelped in response, complying immediately as he heard Axel speak once more.

“What are you gonna be learning in my class?”

“How to run sir?” Ziggy responded quickly.

“Affirmative but before you learn to run, you must learn to crawl, and then you learn to walk and then you learn to run, But before you learn to walk, you must learn to crawl, I WANT YOU TO CRAWL” Axel shouted.

“Sir yes sir!” Ziggy responded as Axel shouted once again, “Now get out there!”

“Sir yes sir” Ziggy shouted again as he did what he was told Dillon looked on in surprise, “Damn Axel didn’t know you were capable of that”

“What was that maggot?”.

“Nothing sir!” Dillon quickly responded as he ran back into the cave, the boy hearing Axel yells at Ziggy during the training the whole time they were out there.

“He's really putting Ziggy through the wringer isn’t he?” The Omega commented as Dillon and her watched the training between Axel and Ziggy.

“You're telling me, I've never seen him act like that and it scares me..” Dillon responded as the two continued to silently watch the two.

Over the two weeks that had passed multiple packs had tried to attack the lake but due to each of them losing their pack grew in number allowing a much easier defence of their home than before, each new addition to the pack made living in the lake a lot more lively and more like home to a degree to the boys especially the Omega as she was happy that it wasn’t just her and the pups anymore.

Ziggy did progress very well at the first half of the first week he was stuck with crawling but he quickly progressed into walking, albeit it was very slow walking but walking the nonetheless this had also progressed to the point that Dillon join in on the training to improve his own movement

But right now Ziggy and Dillon were just sitting around in the cave just staring at each other intensely while Axel was outside practising with his broadsword, the two staying in silence before Ziggy suddenly blinked.

“Ugh dang it!”Ziggy groaned as he rubbed his eyes while jumping to his feet, puffing out his chest as he announced his victory.

“Did Ziggy lose again!” they hear Axel shout from outside the cave

"Yep, I’m up one!" before Ziggy turned to Dillon saying "Where'd you learn to count, we're even!" Dillon scoffed as he smirked in response, "What, are you a sore loser?" The sentence made Ziggy's brow twitch as he growled jumping on top of Dillon.

"W-what the heck are you doing, get off of me!" Dillon shouts trying to shake off Ziggy latched himself onto Dillon's head rubbing his knuckles into his scalp as Dillon tried to shake him off.

While this happened Axel came into the cave grabbing the two by the scruff of their neck, “Alright you two break it up”

“He started it…” Dillon mumbled in response as Ziggy growled towards him, Dillon doing the same as they glared towards each other.

“Okay knock it off!” Axel said before putting them both in one arm and digging his knuckle into their heads.

“Ow, Ow, Okay I’m sorry I’ll stop!” Dillon yelped out, while Ziggy did the same “I’ll stop too, just stop with the noogie!”.

Not even a moment after this happened the ground violently shook making Axel drop both Dillon and Ziggy to the ground the quake shaking everything in the cave to its core as the three run out of the cave to see the trees shaking around

"Uh, Dillon what's happening!?" Ziggy asked to which Dillon Responded "I wish I knew" as he looked up seeing a train flying through the sky.

“What the?” Axel muttered

" Axel, Ziggy" the two look toward Dillon "Yeah?" Ziggy responds as Dillon pointed up.

"I-is that a train up there or am I just crazy?" Dillon asked as Ziggy had a look of shock while Axel had a look confusion on his face before he stated, “Nope you're not crazy we see it too”, while Ziggy looked on his silence before his eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground fainting as Dillon and Axel just stood there, Dillons left eye twitching, while Axel was still silent before hearing Dillon yell as the wolves in the pack ran from the forest and into the cave.

"What the hell is going on!?" He yelled before calming down as he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose then having his attention turned to Ziggy as Axel poked him in the side with his foot before Dillon decided to kick him, waking him up.

"Ow, what happened?" Ziggy asked as Axel replied from behind Dillon "you fainted Ziggy" the ground continued to shake, “Hey Axel!”

“Yeah?” Axel answered as Dillon pointed up to a nearby tree,” Throw me up there I want to survey the area to see what's going on”.

Axel nodded as he picked the boy up and launched him up Dillon landing up on one of the top branches.

He looked to the distance trying to get a good idea of what was happening, Dillons eyes widening as he saw a large robot in the distance.

"Is that...a Zord?" Dillon whispered to himself before yelling down to Ziggy "Ziggy, Axel there's a Zord That north of us I think!".

"What!?" The two shouted as Ziggy jumped onto the side of the tree and began to shimmy up it while Axel jumped up onto the nearby branches until the two were next to Dillon.

Ziggy’s eyes wide as dinner plates and Axel just looked shocked as the three of them jumped off the tree landing back on the ground.

"So what are we gonna do?," Ziggy asked, "Honestly man I don't know because we both know when there's a Zord there's a big monster".

“Yep most likely” Axel commented subconsciously bringing his broadsword out.

A shadow then came over the three as they looked to see what looked like a large monster fly into the air making Ziggy yelp as he fell on his butt, Dillon looked on in silence completely frozen in place before falling to the ground, Axel not making a move as he only held onto his broadsword tighter as Dillon muttered, “This is gonna get bad soon..”.
Ziggy looks toward Dillon, fear evident on his face as he stands up, his legs shaking slightly as he breathes in and out calming himself down.

"S-should we check this out, Dillon?"Ziggy asked in a nervous tone.

"Maybe"

“How about you Axel?” Ziggy asked the older boy who nodded in response “We probably should in all honesty”.

It was then what looked to be multiple large black circular objects were launched at the monster being followed soon after by a large beam of crimson light that looked to piece through the monster as something wrapped around it, seeming to drag it towards the Zord as a shockwave was felt through the forest around them, before knocking them back a few feet, the force blowing leaves and branches towards the group.

summoning their weapons as they slash through them, cutting the objects out their way, while Axel held his broadsword in front of himself using it to block his way.

“Okay, this is getting out of hand!” Ziggy commented.

“Agreed!” Axel agreed as grabbed both of them jumping behind a nearby rock for cover.

After a moment of them being in cover, they see the branches and leaves stop blowing past the rock as they poke their heads over the rock to see that it stopped, “Oh great it's stopped” Dillon stated.

“We need to get a closer look” Dillon stated as the other two both silently nod in agreement, as the three of them run into the woods in the direction of a robot.

A couple of seconds after they had entered the forest they heard what sounded like a high pitched scream echoing in the distance in the direction of where they were heading.

By reflex Ziggy took out his axe, his hands slightly shaking while Axel and Dillon continued to run, Ziggy slightly lagging behind as a result while shouting “Oh come on guys wait up!”The boy slowly starting to catch up with the two.

After a couple of seconds, they heard what sounded to be a train's horn, ahead of them before the same train that they saw above them earlier was seen seeming to fly on levitating rails heading towards the Everfree Castle.

“It's that train again…” Dillon muttered as the three continued running towards the Everfree castle the three jumping into the trees and jumping from one and into another to increase their speed, Ziggy slightly struggling in doing the same as Axel and Dillon, “Don’t trip, don’t trip” Ziggy muttered from behind the two.

Not so long afterwards they exit out of the trees and land in front of the Everfree castle, the three standing themselves up as they look around the area.

They all walk forward while looking around and immediately stop when Axel holds his hand out, Dillon and Ziggy looking forward to see that they're in front of a wall.

“Was this always here?” Ziggy asked, Dillon responding,”I don’t remember it’s been a bit…”.

“What would happen if I climbed it?” Ziggy muttered to himself before walking up to the wall and preparing to jump onto it, bearing out his claws.

“You sure you want to do that, Ziggy?” Axel asked as Dillon continued to look around Axel doing the same before seeing an open gate.

“Hey you two there's a gate!” Axel shouted towards the two as they stopped what they were doing and followed behind him.

Not long after they're in front of the gate and Axel immediately walks through as Ziggy looks back to Dillon who walks in as well, Ziggy letting out a sigh then walks through the gate as well, his posture still showing some caution.

As soon as they got inside they saw that many of the buildings around the gate looked to have collapsed with others looking in similar states of disrepair. Many of them had smashed windows and missing walls while others looked like they could collapse at any second.

Standing outside many of the collapsed buildings was a mix of ponies, strange robotic figures and figures many of whom looked to be digging through the damaged buildings.

“Well this is definitely new” Dillon commented in response to seeing this transpire, Axel not saying anything while Ziggy just looked on in curiosity as well as caution.

After a moment of complete silence from the three Dillon walked forward towards the group ahead of them, Axel following his lead while Ziggy stayed behind the two.

The three then stop in front of one of the figures helping with digging through the buildings, Dillon then asking, “What happened here?”.

One of the figures looks back from the building at the group, revealing themselves to be covered head to toe in back and red around that looked to have multiple crimson shaped gemstones along it, with some of the stone having an eye shaped icon engraved into them. “In simple terms we were attacked by some not so friendly monsters and a few Riders.”

“Yeesh” Dillon mutters before commenting, “At least the place isn’t completely destroyed” Dillon paused for a moment before asking, “Wait did you say Rider’s?”.

“Yes, I said Riders. Kamen Riders to be specific,” the figure responded, “I’m actually in the process of assisting one of them in repairs to the town. I took a bit of damage from the attack.”

“Reminds me of when I had to repair myself when protecting this pipsqueak” Axel commented Dillon looking back at him with a glare.

“Who are you calling a pipsqueak!?” Dillon growled out.

“You” Axel responded before grabbing the boy and putting him in a restraining position against his arm.

“Ah I remember you now, were you not the creature that got beat into submission by Lord Shade before he fixed and broke you over and over again?” the figure asked with a smirk.

Axel’s brow twitched slightly before responding, “Rather not be reminded about that but yes I am that creature”.

“Wasn’t that the guy you told me about before Dillon?” Ziggy asked.

Dillon broke out of Axel’s hold answering Ziggy’s question “Yeah it is” before asking “Also Shade’s here?” Dillon asked.

“Well not here exactly but he’s in the town… most likely the castle considering he just got back from dealing with a rather… ‘big’ monster.” the figure admits, “he’s probably going to be dealing with a lot of complaints regarding this damage.”

“So that's why we saw that Zord…” Dillon muttered before asking “Can you point us to where he is specifically, I wanna see how he’s doing since it’s been a bit”.

“As I said, the castle,” the figure responded, pointing towards the back of the town where Dillon saw what used to be the old crumbling castle, now seeming to be both pristine with virtually no signs of wear on the facade. “You can either go and see if you get lucky to visit him, or assist me with my rounds and go later either way you may not end up seeing him today.”

“I have nothing better to do, I’ll help” Dillon replied, while Axel just nodded in response.

Ziggy then asked, “if we are helping you, what do we need to do?”.

“Right now, looking at the damage on each building to find where resources are needed most to repair everything. That and looking for anyone trapped inside the buildings that are collapsed.” the figure responds.

“Alright guess we're starting now then” Dillon responded.

“The sooner this is done the sooner we can get the damage reported to Lord Shade and deal with everything,” the figure added pointing to the collapsed row of houses behind them, “you can start with the houses there.”

“Got it!’ Dillon replied as he and the other two went towards the buildings and began to do what they were tasked to do, the three carefully searching through each building to check if they was anyone that were trapped as well as checking how bad the damage was caused to each of the buildings interior and exterior.

After they finished searching through their respective buildings they exited them and began reporting back to the figure from before, “Alright the interior for the first two building are still intact most of the damage that was sustained was towards the outside of them” Dillon stated before continuing “But from what Ziggy told me the third is basically collapsed on the inside but good thing is we didn’t find anyone trapped in them”

“Not surprising considering most of the creatures here are monsters who could lift there way out, but thankfully we have no pony casualties to worry about,” the figure responded, looking back from the last building on the row, as a pony was resting against a wall, their body covered in bandages.

Dillon looked to where the figure was staring at before asking ”Do we report now or do we continue searching through the buildings?”.

“Well this is the area I was asked to handle, so we can report back now,” the figure responds, “still we may end up waiting a bit to get in.”

“I can wait” Dillon replied

“As can I” Axel stated while Ziggy just stayed silent only giving a nod in response.

“Well then follow me,” the figure responds as he begins to walk towards the castle. The three followed closely behind him as they walked past more of the building until they reached the castle itself, finding a queue leading out the door and down the road. “This is what I was warning you about.”

Dillon just looked with wide eye’s before stating “Can’t say im surprised but yikes…”

“Yeah..” Axel muttered out while Ziggy was just standing beside them with wide eyes.

Dillon just sighed before leaning against a nearby building as they began to wait, “Alright time to wait then” Dillon muttered out as Axel and Ziggy did the same.

“You three can come with me, you know?” the figure added as he began to step beside the crowd, “you’ll still need to wait, but there were some privileges that can be taken because of the help you gave me.”

“Oh ok” Dillon replied as he and the other two followed him.

“Does the little one need a lift… looks like he’s struggling to keep up?” the figure asked as he led them down the side of the castle towards a second larger building.

Dillon and Axel glance at Ziggy who seemed a little out of it since he was lagging behind them, “Axel can you grab him?” Dillon asked, Axel nodding immediately picked him up and put him on his back, Ziggy not even a second later fell asleep.

“Alright he was definitely tired” Axel muttered as they continued to follow behind the figure.

“We’ll wake him up later” Dillon stated, before asking, “By the way who are you didn’t really get your name and I don’t want to classify you as unnamed figure in my brain”.

“You can call me Valkyrie, you could say I’m one of the royal guards here,” the figure now known as Valkyrie responded as they reached a large door which Valkyrie opened gesturing for the group to come inside.

They walk through the door as Dillon mutters out “I know its been like two weeks but this whole looks completely different it’s jarring”.

“What's this area called anyway?,” Dillon asked Valkyrie who walked through the door.

“Essentially, the barracks, but theirs a side path to the main castle for when we are on patrol to take a rest,” Valkyrie responds as they walk into a large break room with what looked to be a small kitchen and seats around the room. “You ca1n rest here and get something to drink until we can see Shade.”

“Thanks,” Dillon and Axel say as they sit themselves down, Axel placing Ziggy down to lay on his lap.

Dillon glancing towards the small kitchen stood up and walked towards the sink and twisted the knob allowing water to flow as he then looked for a cup, finding a small one he held it below the flow of water filling it up.

Axel meanwhile was just sitting around while Ziggy was asleep on his lap, his hand on his chin, holding a bored expression on his face.

After a moment the silence was broken by Axel who asked Valkyrie, “So how long did it take to rebuild this place because last time I was here it was run down and abandoned”.

“It took barely two days, the everfree just seemed to… want this place built and creates new homes when we need them, of course they aren’t furnished but they are homes.”

“Oh” Axel commented as Dillon came back from the small kitchen holding a cup of water in his hand.

“What are we talking about?” Dillon then asked as he took a sip from the cup.

“Well your friend here asked how long it took to fix this place,” Valkyrie responds.

“How long did it actually take?” Dillon asked.

“From what Valkyrie told me two days” Axel responded

“Excuse me what?” Dillon responded in disbelief before turning attention to Valkyrie as he asked “You're joking right?”

“I wish I was, but the actual forest seemed to build homes and do repairs themselves when needed,” Valkyrie repeats, “The forest itself seems to want Lord Shade to thrive here.”

“I knew the everfree wasn’t normal but jeez” Dillon replied before taking a sip from his water.

“You can say that again” Axel replied in agreement.

They then see Ziggy sit as he stretches out his arms.

“Had a nice nap?” Axel asked as Ziggy stood himself and continued to stretch before realizing they were in a room.

“When did we get in here?” Ziggy asked.

“You fell asleep before we came in here,” Dillon replied.

“Oh,” Ziggy realized, “Sorry about that guys” he apologized before sitting himself down as they continued.

“No worries” Dillon and Axel reply as they continue to converse with each other, the boys showing you plenty of interest in the conversation while they wait.

After a little while they saw Valkyrie stand up, “Is it time to go already?” Dillon asked,

“I can’t be positive but he should have cleared out most of the creatures that came to see him,” Valkyrie admits, “we may still need to wait, but I doubt he’ll be more than a few minutes now.”

“Alright then” Dillon replies before nudging Axel and Ziggy who looked like they were nodding off.

Axel immediately flinched as he stood up, Ziggy not so long after did the same before the two stretched.

“Lead the way then Valkyrie” Dillon stated, while Ziggy and Axel were behind.

“Of course,” Valkyrie replied with a smirk as he walks towards the door again leaving the break room behind to head towards the Castle’s throne room.