[GNR-PR7] PRAS-01: Get to the Point

[Devvy-boy]

Power Rangers Arrow Squad
Episode One: Get to the Point
Written by Lexington "Chip" Lonewolf
10/18/14

Starring:
Killian Queen, Compound Ranger Blue
Jameson Adams, Crossbow Ranger Yellow
Heather Swiftstep, Longbow Ranger Pink

Also Starring:

Allies:
"Ivory Archer" - mysterious sharpshooter
Sheriff Jason Carpenter - Chief of Police
Alana Robertson - Deputy Sheriff
Coach Tomin - Olympic Archery Coach
Anders Cornwall III - fourth generation competitive archer
Ms. Weatherby - valet to Anders Cornwall III

Faceless Armada:
Faceless Lord Altruista
Crane Wraiths - grunts
Faceless Dragoons - giant super-grunt composed of many Crane Wraiths
Toad Wraith

Chapter One -- At the Point of an Arrow

Colorado Springs, Colorado; Earth, Dreamtrail Sector; 2014

The world is full of creatures with faces. And with their determination and skill, a small fraction of the global population of these curious creatures have protected the world from evil forces for over two decades. A somewhat unsettling peace has come to the world, especially with the Atlanteans negotiating treaties with the Governments, with their human ambassador representing their royal family. If only things were that complicated, as a shadow looms over Colorado Springs.

Many papers flew over the skyline of the city within America's heartland, and they fold up to faceless warriors with paper crane helmets. They were attacking the fleeing citizens, chasing after them to steal their faces. However, arrows started to fly and destroy a few when they struck home. An archer in white and silver with a Ranger-like look, and wearing a hood over her helmet appeared to have eliminate ten of the paper minions in one shot of her self bow, the weapon being her specialty. She pressed a few buttons on the module strapped to her back without looking, Suddenly, the fletchings of five arrows appeared as if the module was a quiver, and she nocked them in her bow, drawing the string, and firing, sending more of the monsters to oblivion in one shot.

One of the minions knocked her to her knees, and that was when she was dangerous. The archer used cat-like precision to knock the grunt off his feet, and hit him in the gut with the end of her bow. Another grunt kicked her bow away from her.

That lady archer detached a few tiny arrows from holsters on her hips, and threw them at approaching grunts as if they were darts. After they were down, she continued punching and kicking the grunt that disarmed her. She jumped and give him a kick. She then pulled out a Compound Bow, and knocked him down with one of the blunt limbs.

She removed the Technological Quiver from her back, and placed it on her Compound Bow as if it was a mounted quiver. "Hunt Mode, Active!" said the lady archer in an altered voice. She then pressed all three buttons at once, summoning an arrow of silver and Ivory. Nocking the arrow onto the string of the compound bow, her silver visor shown a target over her right eye, showing how many she can strike with that special arrow. "Falcon bombardment, fire!" She fired it up in the air, the arrow exploding into mini falcons with arrowheads for beaks, and they nosedived onto the forces, destroying them in explosions of fire and ripped scraps of paper.

She looked at the force that was approaching further, and the emotionless helmet showed nothing of what the Arrow-flinging rogue is thinking. She sees the leader of the footsoldiers. "So you are the one that opposes my faceless forces! For ruining our chances in stealing your species" faces! GET HER!!"

Knowing she can't take them alone, she pressed the top of her belt buckle, causing the fletching of the arrow to appear from the end of the arrowhead buckle. She pulls it out, and nocks it, she raises the bow in the air and fires it! The arrow explodes in mid-air and a giant mechanical falcon with the head the shape of an arrowhead appeared in the air. "Another time, perhaps." She leaped into her mech, and flew off to parts unknown!

The leader of the Faceless footsoldiers covered her non-face when the wind from the giant bird-of-prey was kicked off. "BLAST IT! YOU LET THAT WOMAN ESCAPE! DESTROY HER BIRD, AND SEND HER TO ME SO I CAN STEAL HER FACE!"

A bunch of those crane-headed grunts unfolded themselves and combined in a folding effort to become an Asiatic Dragon form. Like the grunts, this dragon was without a face, and it flew towards the Arrow Falcon and tried to wrap itself around the mechanical hawk, trying to disable it.

From the cockpit of the Falcon, the Ivory Archer was controlled by a handle with fletching. She tilted it to one side, and said in her disguised voice, "You are not going to encroach the Falcon Arrow Zord that easily!"

The Falcon Arrow Zord flew out of the Faceless Dragoon's would-be grasp with a rolling spin, It then gained some distance between it and the Dragoon. Then it turned around. The Ivory Archer shouted out. "True Aim's Strike!" The tailfeathers of the Falcon and the wings were pulled back as if the falcon was a bow itself, and upon the release, an energy arrow of ivory and silver shot out and multiplied before hitting the Faceless Dragoon and destroying it.

As shreds of paper fell from the explosion in the sky, the leader of the Faceless Armada shrieked. "DAMN YOU ARCHER IN WHITE! I WILL INCREASE MY ARMY SO YOUR FACE CAN BECOME THAT OF ALTRUISTA!"

Piloting the Zord out of town, the Ivory Archer shrugged off that threat, and remarked to herself, "That'll be the day."

End of Chapter One.

[Devvy-boy]

Chapter Two – Start the Hunt

Decomissioned Military Bunker under the Garden of the Gods

The Ivory Archer is lowered through a service elevator. Though she kept her helmet on and the hood concealing her identity, the Archer has repurposed the old underground bunker she found with state-of-the-art technology. As the lights turned on after the power breaker’s switch was flipped, she walked over to her personal rack, and placed the two bows she used next to a Recurve Bow, a Longbow, and A crossbow.

“Did you enjoy your hunt, Ivory Archer?” said the vocal mainframe, sounding a lot less like a computer, and more like a butler, albeit an artificial one.

Ivory Archer deactivated her Voice Changer through her bracelet, changing her voice from a disguised deep forceful, to that of the strategizing voice of an adult female seasoned in the art of combat. “The adversary stopped sending scouts and brought out the advance force.” She then said, “It will be a matter of time, Mainframe, before they find the right amount of force to make me meet my demise.”

Mainframe said, “According to my estimates, the one of the next few battles might be your last, Ivory Archer. However, there is one venue that you have previous refused to adventure an attempt.”

“No, Mainframe,” growled the Ivory Archer, as she looked at the time on a phone like device with an arrowhead-like key inserted into it. It had a futuristic screen hovering above the arrowhead. The display shown not only the time, but the status of ‘Constant Transformation’ displayed in bold. She deactivated the readout screen, then closed the flip phone. “I will not ask other people to put their lives at risk. Especially when they had no experience with arrows, or fighting the faceless!

“Should you not adventure into this,” stated mainframe in an emotionless, yet humanized tone. “Then there is no chance to succeed. You found this abandoned bunker when looking for a decent place to legally practice archery, as the Olympics still doesn’t have an archery field in their sanction that can handle secret operations. If you insist that you don’t want to train new archers from the ground up to be a part of your fighting force, then you must recruit a team of experienced archers and marksmen to fight alongside you with the Archery gear that you requested my assistance in creation. The integration of the data on Dragon, Shark, and Kangaroo species are complete, and ready for the first three recruits. The Griffin data however, requires more time to download into the fourth gear.”

“Alright,” said the Ivory Archer in resignation. “But first, we must research the Olympic Database for candidates looking to be in the next Archery competitions as a breakout athlete. I will settle for nothing less than an Olympic Hopeful to be the leader of this team.”

Manframe said, “As I am an artificial intelligence abandoned by the armed forces, I can tap into any US database with relative ease. Now searching the US Olympic Database for a list of profiles regarding candidates in competitive Archery and respective profiles. Estimated time of results retrieval is two minutes and thirty seconds. “In the meantime, it is recommended that you cancel your transformation to allow for your powers to recharge. The prototype system wasn’t designed to be used for constant transformations longer than twelve hours.”

“Agreed.” said the Ivory Archer. “I’ll be in the Archery Range on Beta Level. Alert me when the search results are complete.

Through the reflection on the HUD of the main systems, it showed a flash of the power down protocol of the Ivory Archer’s powers being executed. Though the identity of the Archer could not be seen from the reflection, the Mainframe shown promising results in the forty-fourth candidate found so far, the name of the Olympic Archery candidate; Killian Queen.

Faceless Armada Cruiser in Orbit

On the other side of the moon, Altruista looked toward her folding forces, and screamed her disgust. “That Ivory Archer is acting as if she is the savior of her world! It is quite disgusting!”

Through a holographic transmission, she was talking to two shadows; one sharp as blades the other looks as if he was partially sculpted out of stone. The stone warrior said, “This still does nothing to satisfy our need to conquer Earth in the first place. The Lunaria sector is ready to be conquered again after the fall of the Draconis Elite Empire.”

The sharp person said, “The sources of faces are of rich abundance there. We shouldn’t count out the Earth of Dreamtrail Sector. What if someone else decides to conquer it? As long as we claim conquest rights, we won’t have to worry about other factions trying to take Earth from our campaign.”

The stone warrior then said, “But that doesn’t excuse one arrow slinger’s defiance. If I was a part of the advance, I would’ve had my Lithogrunts destroy her arrows without a problem!”

“Enough! Altruista will still have some leeway before we intervene,” said the sharp-looking monster. “However, your failures from here on out will be monitored, and one of us will arrive to intervene should you fail too much. You’ll hear from us again.” And the two shadowy holograms disappeared like smoke.

Altruista turned around in frustration. If she had a face, she would be seething in her vexation. He pulled out a page of black paper from within one of her paper-like sleeves, and she threw it in the air. “Crane Wraiths are not enough to take out that Vigilante. It’s time for Toad Wraith to show her the might of the Faceless Armada!” The paper grew big, then folded many times into a human-sized Origami Toad Monster, which bowed in reverence to the Faceless Lord. “Go forth to Colorado Springs, and beat that Ivory Archer to submission so I can steal her face personally!

End of Chapter Two.

[Devvy-boy]

Chapter Three -- I May Have Arrows, but I’m Not Green

Archery Range, Colorado Springs

A long bow, a self-bow and a recurve bow; Killian Queen could use them all, to various successes. He was a raven-haired male with an excellent precision and perfect form, as he tried to figure out the proper stance to use a compound bow. He was nocking an arrow into the loaner compound bow, seeing if he likes the feel of the weapon. He brandished the bow and checked the strength of the arms, and the tension of the cable string and gears that made up the style of the compound bow. He nocked an arrow into the bow, and pulled the string back, feeling the pulleys shift as well as the arms bend toward him as he pulled back the string.

He let go, and was surprised by the force of the bow sending the arrow into the target. What was also surprising is that the wooden arrow he used broke upon going through the target.

“Looks like the Green Arrow is shocked by the power of a Compound bow!” said one of the competitors for the open Olympic spots for Archery.

Another said, “Good ol’ Killy Queen doesn’t know not to use wooden arrows on a compound bow as powerful as a Kestrel!

“Just because my last name is ‘Queen,’ doesn’t mean you can call me the Green Arrow all the time,” remarked the holder of the blue compound bow. “I don’t even like the color green!”

“Okay, Killy…” said the second cirtic, who meant the tease in good humor.. “You might use at least a different type of arrow with that… like a metal or a glass composite that can withstand the stress.”

Killian humphed, and stood down. “Thanks for the advice.” At least she was being helpful to the Olympic Hopeful. The other competitor however, was more of a jerk.

“Then what do we call you Killy?” said the jerk. “Arsenal? Speedy? Hawkeye? Red Arrow? Or better yet, Cupid, Stupid?!”

Killian was about to nock another arrow from the built-in quiver on his bow and was about to pull it back when an advocate came in and said. “If you continue this, I will see to it that your sponsors and coordinators will know about you egging on a competitor into aggravated assault. Not only will that disqualify you, but it will also mean you will be barred from any official competition.”

As the bully left in a huff to retrieve more arrows for target practice, Killian pulled back the arrow, and twisted to aim it at a target, and fired. Of course it snapped on impact, but it didn’t splinter like the last one. “I wasn’t going to shoot him, Alana; you know that.”

Alana Robertson was a former archery hopeful, and got to know Killian for most of their lives. He considers her a rock for his bad days, and she considers him a go-to guy for whenever her dates go wrong. They were like siblings to each other. “I may not be in competition anymore, but I do know how angry you get when they call you by a superhero name.”

“Before I forget,” said Killian gently as he put the bow on its tripod struts, “congratulations on being promoted to Deputy Chief of Police.” She gave him a look, he then said. “Local Newspaper posted the announcement online yesterday.”

“They should be arrested for not being able to keep a surprise the moment for even the best friend,” she then looked down, and said in a hush-tone. If you see an archer with a white hooded outfit and her face fully concealed, she is a vigilante, and needs to be caught. Contact me, and I’ll come with a task force. We can’t have vigilantes around this town. This isn’t a coastal state, where the Power Rangers and Kamen Riders are allowed to roam free to do fight crime at the cost of the police. Chief Carpenter’s orders.”

“But from what you told me of the chief,” said Killian in the same hush-tone. “Wasn’t his younger brother a Power Ranger himself?”

“Yes, he’s a hyprocrite,” said Alana, “But he never seen eye-to-eye with his family on the west coast. He wants to make an example of Rangers, Riders, and other vigilantes for the good of the Police Forces of the states.” She then said, “And for once, I have to agree with him. In the last six years, the Power Rangers had made themselves a lot less conspicuous. Dragon Soul, Shark Squadron, Griffin Storm, Kamen Rider Photo… If any of them are seen fighting evil, they need to be arrested. We can’t have vigilantes in America’s Heartland.”

Killian said nothing, as he got ready to put away his tools of the Olympic trade in his case. “I need to be more versatile in case some baddies come this way, and it would make me look more appealing to the US Olympic committee and potential sponsors.” He yanked out the remains of broken arrows from the target, then looked to Alana. “Care to go to the archery store with me, and pick out appropriate arrows for a compound bow after I clean up?”

“Sure, Killian” said Alana with a smile. “And at the same time, you can treat me to coffee.”

“Yes, Deputy Chief Robertson.”

Unbeknownst to the two close friends, the Ivory Archer was observing them. I can see why the Deputy Chief was overlooked by Mainframe, thought the mysterious wild card. The Faceless will be on their way, and the last thing I want is police tracking me down like a hunter. I must be vigilant at finding the others… She pressed a button on her tablet to put Killian on the top of her list, and made herself scarce.

End of Chapter Three.

[Devvy-boy]

Chapter Four -- Recruiting the Others First...

Reservation in Wyoming

Though the days of old her tribe was relocated to Wyoming, Heather Quickstep was one of the trailblazers among the women of the Northern Cheyenne Tribes. She was masterful with a tribal longbow, which was different among the women of her tribe. But she was different among the women of her tribe; she has a passion to find justice for those women that were abused while the predators that were the abusers got off scot-free due to lack of evidence. And there was the fact that the predominantly male Reservation Police officers didn’t believe the victims. At least she was doing something different, and her unorthodox parents supported her, and helped her train in tribal martial arts as well as skills with a bow and a knife. Unlike the Authorities, they made sure their daughter was safe and able to fend for herself.

She was opening leftovers saved from the housewarming dinner the night before. At least the hunt was good during the hunting season that they were able to stock up on meat. She was using a knife to cut up some venison and make a nice stew out of it. She sensed something was off in the Kitchen, so she flipped the knife in her hand, and threw the kitchen implement.

The Ivory Archer caught it by the handle before the point of the kitchen knife could hit her visor. "You have skills with a knife, as well," she said in her digitally disguised voice, switching her grip to the blade and throwing it out the window. "But what I am interested in is your skill with a longbow."

Heather was quick to be aggressive, as she fought in her indigenous combat style to counter the martial arts style of the vigilante in white. The aggression between the two just basically came to blows, and ended in Heather giving her an armlock, and a half-nelson. "You think I'd let an armed invader attack me?" Heather growled.

The Ivory Archer used a free hand to grab one of her Arrow Darts; a special sleep dart. She stabbed it into Heather's thigh, and the hold on her started to slacken. Not that it matters, anyways; the Ranger suit she wore was much stronger and chokehold resistant than normal clothes.

"I apologize for doing this, Heather Quickstep, but your help is more needed without you attacking me." The Ivory Archer pulled out a grappling arrow with the magnet at the end, and shot it towards her Arrow Falcon Zord out the window as she picked up the sedated Heather. "Hopefully you will return someday to the reservation you love and want to protect. With time your training as a Power Ranger will help you succeed in your goal to become a Reservation police officer." She then activated the zip-line attachment that was a part of the grappling arrow. "You and two others are destined for a different path to your goals. Otherwise, the Faceless will win." She jumped out the window, and the zipline pulled her up to the helm of her zord.

Before the Falcon can take off a couple of the Faceless Dragoons slapped their tails across the Zord's back, trying to prevent the Ivory Archer from escaping. The Toad Wraith fired a ball of Dark Energy at the beak of the Arrow Falcon Zord! "You are what my Mistress wants! Surrender!"

The Ivory Archer growled at being knocked around, as she pushed zero, and the call button on her Archer Phone. "Mainframe! I need an Instant Zord recall!"

{The Instant Zord recall has not been tested on a zord with organic pilots,} stated Mainframe. {I cannot guarantee the safety of you or Ms. Quickstep if I have to transport you to the Hangar Level.}

"I have two Dragoons and a third Faceless attacking me, and I am unable to lift off the ground. Override!"

{Very well. Recalling Arrow Falcon Zord to the Hangar Deck.}

In a bright light the Falcon Arrow Zord was engulfed in energy, then teleported away Before the Dragoons and Toad Wraith could land another blow.


Back at the base, The Arrow Falcon Zord appeared in a flash within the hangar deck, and the Ivory Archer was about to take off her helmet and throw up. She was quite dizzy. "You can add one symptom of human travel; intense vertigo."

The escape access was opened, as she heard Mainframe's voice. "Symptom noted in the test log. I recommend not overriding my safety protocol again.

"Noted," said the mysterious Archery expert as she jumped down to the tarmac with Heather over her shoulder. "Now let's get Ms. Quickstep to the infirmary. Keep her under sedation until we get the other two."

"Will it be Mr. Adams or Mr. Queen?" Mainframe asked.

"Jameson Adams," said Ivory Archer as she walked into the corridor. "Mr. Queen seems enamored by the police deputy. It's too much of a risk to capture him in front of the deputy's eyes."

"I am still surprised you chose someone whom is good with guns," said Mainframe in an emotionless manner. "Mr. Adams will have a challenge learning how to use a bow."

Ivory Archer said while entering the infirmary. "That is why he will be using the crossbow arsenal. The best of both worlds, some would say."

"Very well."

End of Chapter Four.

[Devvy-boy]

Chapter Five -- Interlude in the Archery Field

A Rivalry Started

Sitting down next to the fifteen meter mark, Anders Cornwall III was holding a coil of warped wood. The dark-skinned Brit has practiced in facilities around the world, and this was the first time that he gets to show the others what he does with his own specialty bow. Unlike the others with take-down recurve bows, Anders had a far different expertise. He strung up one end of the limb, and gingerly pulled the other limb back into a stressed form of a shorter bow, and added the string. A reflex bow with greater stress, yet can shoot further and stronger than the recurve or longbows. The only thing that can rival that is a compound bow with adjustable tension and a very powerful pull.

It was the following morning after his date with the Deputy Chief. The Olympic coach had called Killian in early to see a new upstart aim his arrows. Killian crossed his arms. He is very skeptical. "You called for me, Coach Tomin?"

"This sharpshooter is going to try out for the US Team for the next Summer Games along with you and several others." Coach Tomin looked to Killian. "Anders Cornwall, fourth generation competitive archer. He's failed to qualify for the UK team the last two Summer Games. He's hoping to make hit a bullseye in the States. Don't worry... he won't be using the reflex bow. And your position in the qualifiers is safe. You are one of the best archers I've seen in years. You can easily put Priscilla Pemberton in a tough spot, wherever she went to.

What's worse than Killian having to compete against another archer, is to compete against a legend he has never met. His eyes sharpened into his targeting stare, as Anders got in his readied stance and nocked a wooden arrow appropriate for the arcane reflex bow. He was pulling back and Killian noticed something strange. "Is it illegal for him to..."

He was hushed, as Anders was holding another arrow by its neck with his string hand as he pulled back on the nocked arrow. He shot a bullseye, and brought the second arrow rapidly to nock and fire and split the previous arrow.

Killian's grip tightened over his takedown recurve bow; a competition standard. He was quite unnerved by not only the way their visitor can not only shoot an arrow in an unorthodox fashion by holding the arrows in his hand and not lose accuracy, but also split an arrow with such relative ease. Killian was half-tempted to shoot an arrow and see if it would split that arrow as well. But even he knew that it was a near-impossibility.

"Maybe these fledgelings would like to read up on their history," said Anders in a backhanded remark. "Ancient times archers didn't have the need for quivers. They held arrows in their hands as they ran and shot their bows at enemies. It goes far back as five millennia." He looked at Killian, and after making a British face that said he didn't like Killian Queen at first sight, he walked off. Killian already had his foot on the 20 meter mark.

Killian grabbed an arrow from his hip-mounted quiver, and readied an arrow, shooting the arrow and splitting the second arrow Anders shot. "Fledgelings don't rely on trick archery."

Coach Tomin waited until Killian lowered his bow before approaching him. He watched as some of Anders' lackeys (or were they servants, or fan boys and girls) remove the damaged arrows for disposal. The Coach said, "He will still be bound by the same rules as you and the rest of the hopefuls are. He'll have to use a quiver like everyone else in competition.

The long-time hopeful gripped his bow harder. "The showboating and the attitude is does not belong in a field of Archery." It was a half-truth. He was very angered by the snobbish asshole attitude of Anders Cornwall III. That kind of privileged toxicity was enough to motivate Killian to do better. He was going to have to read up on ancient archery styles if he was going to keep up with that snob.

"Here you go, Mr. Queen," said a lady; one of the followers of Anders. She was giving back the arrow. "Mr. Cornwall is going to be upset that more than one arrows of his were split, but that was impressive feat to split an arrow made that strong with one of your arrows."

Killian huffed as he took the arrow back. "Thank you, miss."

"He'll consider you a rival because of that feat," said the lady, her name Ms. Weatherby (as it said on her nametag). "Don't take Mr. Cornwall's attitude seriously. He's pressured by being a lega-"

"Ms. Weatherby!" growled Anders from afar. "My arrows, please."

Ms. Weatherby irked, and turned towards Anders, his other fans tending to him. She was more like his valet than fangirl. "Coming, sir!"

Killian gripped his arrow tightly. "You don't say." Fearing that his arrow might've been damaged, Killian walked away and take the time to examine it. Though fates have more in store for this Olympic hopeful, there were plans underway behind the scenes.

End of Chapter Five.

[Devvy-boy]

Chapter Six - Gunner With a Crossbow

Off the Coast of Maine

Several boats were being attacked by Crane Wraiths while being held in place by the Faceless Dragoons. It was utter bedlam in the northeastern most parts off the coast of New England. One in particular was a Lobster boat checking on traps near the continental slope. Normally it would be a good day for Jameson Adams - a West Australian expatriate - to have a bowl of clam chowder in the mess before he turns in to prepare for a night shift. However, how easily the fates can change.

One of the Crane Wraiths grabbed onto the Captain's face. The struggle was strong but as the struggle lessened, a monstrous face started to form on the faceless visage of Altruista's footsoldier. Jameson had a shotgun for deterring pirates in hand, and pumped the handle to load a cartridge. He was brought on the crew not only for his willingness to work hard in somewhat hazardous conditions on a stormy day; he was a excellent marksman as evidenced by his grey eyes. He fired a round into the Crane Wraith with the face forming, but the bullets went through it. "What in the world?" shouted Jameson, knowing that many shots would fell a man, even one hit in the most critical targets. He then got to see the visage of the face forming on the Faceless Footsoldier. It was a horrifying sight, especially watching the hand of the fiend pulse as the Captain was ending his struggle.

Suddenly an arrow stabbed through the head of the Crane Wraith and the transformation was reversed. Letting go of its victim as it fell, the Captain's face was released, there was a big bruise ring around the face, but he was still alive. The Ivory Archer nocked another arrow into her selfbow. "Bullets won't do anything to these monsters. Gotta use something with an arrow on it."

Jameson cursed at that. He knew that the ships were at a crushing defeat, especially with the serpentine draconic monstrosities destroying nearby fishing boats; the shark fin poaching boats were a good riddance as far as this marksman was concerned. He looked up, and remembered the Captain had an emergency crossbow rifle hidden away in case of emergencies. He heard stories of their captain being a former big fish hunter before settling on a lucrative commercial Lobster fishing. He showed where he hid the a special crossbow meant to fire harpoons to hook onto swordfish. Dunno about arrows, but what about harpoons out of crossbows, Jameson thought strategically. His eyes looking at the dragoon holding their ship. He then said, "I got an idea." He ran to the bridge of the lobster ship, and looked to the hidden floor panels for the harpoon crossbow.

"Then I'll hold off the Crane Wraiths," the Ivory Archer said quietly as she pulled back on the spread arrow she summoned. She fired it and managed to defeat five at once "Mainframe, set the Arrow Falcon Zord on auto-pilot and have it harass the Dragoons. We need to distract for this Mr. Adams to find the key." She then activated the summoning arrow from her buckle, and set it on her selfbow. She fired the summoning arrow high in the air. Beyond the Dragoons did the Arrow Falcon Zord take form, and started to harass the gigantic super-grunts with its beak and talons.

It was pure luck that Jameson was able to find the Scorpyd Crossbow made to accept a small harpoon instead of bolts in the riser. He had a struggle cocking the reverse-draw crossbow, but it wasn't like he had a choice; he had to learn this on the fly; he remembered only seeing a crossbow cocked once. He loaded the harpoon in there, and grabbed a couple spares with ropes attached. He then unfolded the butt and came out with it. and fired a harpoon at one of the Dragoons once his aim was good. He fired it at the neck, and in that instant the attached rope went flying out with it, it went through the neck. The new piercing made the dragoon roar out in pain before falling into the water!

"That's a Scorpyd reverse-draw, the fastest crossbow on the open market; modified to accept harpoons instead of bolts." She slung the FalconTalon Selfbow around her torso. "Boomer Crossbow!" appearing on her left wrist was a gauntlet made to summon various bolts and in her right appeared a pistol-like quick-draw crossbow akin to the Cobra self-cocking series of crossbows. It was already loaded with a crossbow bolt she aimed it at the last Crane Wraith and fired upon it. "8-ball, corner pocket!" And it went down once it got struck. As the Falcon was taunting the last two dragoons. "Mr. Adams," said the Ivory Archer in her disguised voice. "I have been informed that your expertise in guns is bar-none. Since they won't work on the Faceless monstrosities, I challenge you to try a new weapon. This crossbow is easy to learn. I only ask that you give it a chance, and join the crusade against this evil force that steals faces of their victims."

"As long as they are not as hard to load as my Captain's rifle, you got a deal!"

She demonstrated the easy style of cocking the Boomer Crossbow, and placed a grappling bolt attachment onto the riser before leaping down and handing it to Jameson. "Just aim for the Falcon with me and watch it take down the foes. She attached her grappling arrow to her personal bow and aimed for her Zord along with her new ally. "Crossbows are easier to learn on the fly, Mr. Adams... bolts can be just as effective as bullets once properly trained."

Once the marksman and Ivory Archer were aboard the Arrow Falcon Zord it did several aerial maneuvers, before shooting like an arrow right through the last two Dragoons, destroying them and heading back to Colorado Springs with the Toad Wraith watching from the trainwreck. He had taken the face of a survivor, and thus had a monstrous toad-like visage. "Soon enough, Ivory Archer... your face will be ripped from your skull by the Faceless Lord Altruista. Your plans with gathering hunters will fail!"

End of Chapter Six.