633Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who does own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)
Feedback: Please; I'd really like to know that somebody's reading this
AN: More collaboration here as the fight scenes start to divide; check out the latest chapter of 'Power Rangers Patronus Force' for some of the more uniquely Patronus-Force-based contributions to this fight
Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians
As they reappeared on the field where they had previously fought Lockmaster only a matter of hours ago, Harry wasn't entirely surprised to see the monster in question on a random rampage of destruction; his team might not have the experience in fighting monsters that some of the other Rangers here had, but what they'd seen so far was enough for him to know that random destruction was the norm for monsters, rather than the more strategic destruction that Voldemort and the Death Eaters had done in the past.
"This is just so much fun!" Lockmaster yelled, as he launched a burst of destructive power at a nearby merry-go-round, the innocents around it only just managing to get out of harm's way. "And the fact that those wimpy Power Rangers can't do anything to stop me-!"
Alan interrupted that statement by charging towards the monster, knocking him off-balance with a powerful kick before he leapt back to join his teammates, his Patronus Blade out in front of him.
"That's what you think," the local Red Ranger said, staring grimly at the monster as Lockmaster got back to his feet and turned to face the attacking Rangers.
"You attacked a bunch of innocent kids?" Nathan said, the Black Patronus Force Ranger glaring disdainfully at Lockmaster. "Not even Zedd went that low!"
"Too bad Zedd's not in charge any more!" Lockmaster countered, chuckling mockingly at them. "And, with cute little White Ranger destroyed -"
"Wrong again!" Amanda said, stepping forward to glare at Lockmaster; even without knowing either side of this conflict that well, Harry had to admit that he enjoyed the sight of Lockmaster's obvious shock as he took in the presence of the new addition to the team.
"The White Ranger?" Lockmaster screamed in shock, taking a step backwards at the sight of the figure that he obviously assumed was the same White Ranger he'd attacked earlier. "But... but how...?"
"Didn't your boss tell you?" Sean asked, nonchalantly crossing his arms. "This job is simply full of surprises."
"Which, in case you haven't noticed, includes a lot more than the addition of just one more new Ranger," Ginny added, obviously grinning under her helmet as she indicated the rest of the new Rangers standing around them.
"Well... it doesn't matter!" Lockmaster roared, aiming his weapon at the assembled teams before him. "I'll take all of you out of the picture!"
As he launched a wave of energy at the Rangers, the various teams only just managed to dive out of the path of the attack while Nimrod re-emerged from the keyhole in Lockmaster's chest, the Scarlet Sentinel quickly summoning AC and DC back into existence.
"Nimrod," Lockmaster ordered the female monster, "attack another section of the park!"
"Tom- uh, Doctor Oliver," Alan said, glancing over at the Black Dino Thunder Ranger as the teams regrouped while Nimrod and her followers began to head off in another direction, "you were the one who defeated Nimrod last time; could you... uh...?"
"Handle it again?" Tommy replied, smiling slightly at the other Ranger. "Don't worry about it; I've picked up a few tricks since then, and I'm fairly sure Connor and the others can pull out enough surprises to keep her on her toes as well."
"Meanwhile, I assume you want the rest of us to help you handle Lockmaster?" Hermione asked Alan.
"Hey, we're Rangers; there's no 'I' in team the last time I checked," Connor said, looking over at his fellow Red Rangers. "We've got our targets, so let's go!"
As their teammates charged after Nimrod, Harry was already moving into action to attack Lockmaster alongside Alan, the two Red Rangers drawing their weapons and lunging towards the lock monster, sending him staggering with the force of their simultaneous attacks before they leapt aside.
With Harry and Alan out of the way, the Black Rangers took up the attack, Sylvia launching a barrage of laser blasts at Lockmaster's face and chest before Nathan flipped over her to hit Lockmaster with his Patronus Axe, driving the monster onto one knee. Exploiting this new vulnerability, Ron and Elizabeth rolled into action, getting in close enough to their adversary for Ron to strike him in the exposed knee while Elizabeth's Patronus Daggers delivered a rapid series of slashes and stabs to the monster's chest. Before they could back away again, Lockmaster sent Ron sliding back along the grass before spinning around to strike Elizabeth in the chest with his key-shaped sword.
The odds against them could be better, but Harry knew that they could still win this; the only question was if they could last long enough to do so...
Even knowing that Nimrod was his responsibility, Connor couldn't help but initially feel like he was running out on his friends as he glanced back to watch his new associates struggling against Lockmaster, but that issue was forgotten and his priority quickly became Nimrod as the Dino Thunder Rangers finally reached the monster that had been Doctor O.'s first adversary as the White Ranger.
The thing about being a team and facing multiple opponents was that you couldn't choose who you ended up fighting against; sometimes, all you could do was take a target and trust in the rest of the team to hold their own without you.
"So, after all that, I only rate five newbies?" Nimrod asked, looking almost insulted as she turned to glare sceptically at her current opponents.
"Trust me; they're more than enough for you," Tommy said, his grip tightening on the Brachio Staff before he looked back at his particular Ranger protégé. "Conner, Nimrod's yours; everyone else, choose a partner and take one of the other two."
Nodding back at his mentor as he prepared his own Tyranno Staff, Connor quickly began to trade blows with Nimrod, leaving Kira and Ethan to battle AC while Trent and Doctor O. confronted DC, Kira's Ptera Grips and Doctor O.'s Brachio Staff neatly countering the monsters' swords while the other two Rangers each did what they could for their teammates. As Nimrod lunged and thrust with her weapon, Connor quickly found himself forced on the defensive, desperately using his staff to deflect the blows without any opportunity to launch his own attack.
"You're not bad, but you're definitely not up to the last Red Ranger's standard!" Nimrod said, glaring mockingly at Conner as they continued their improvised duel. "I'll finish you and-!"
Her words were cut short when her next thrust with her staff resulted in Connor twisting to the side and using his weapon to leap over hers, following the attack up as he landed by swinging around to strike Nimrod in the head with the staff before she could turn her own weapon against him.
"Word of advice," Conner said, smirking slightly as he drew his Thundermax sabre in gun mode and aimed it at Nimrod. "If you're going to fight someone," he began firing the gun as he spoke, "don't just talk all the time!"
Roaring in rage, Nimrod used her staff to deflect some of Conner's blast before she charged at him again, only for Conner to easily parry the increasingly-enraged monster's attacks with his staff before he shifted his sabre back into blade mode and launched into a virtual whirlwind of motion, both weapons serving to counter his opponent's attempt to strike back while giving him greater opportunities to strike her.
Taking a brief glance over at his teammates, Conner noted with some satisfaction that Kira had just managed to land a particularly painful-looking blow on AC's chest with both of her Ptera Grips, while Doctor O. was doing a pretty good job against DC using a strategy similar to his own, but Trent appeared to be having some trouble even if Ethan was holding his own by deflecting the attacks with his Tricera Shield; Trent was up too close to DC to use his energy arrows, and the Drago Dagger was too short to effectively block anything that DC might hit him with physically-
A kick to the face from Nimrod forced Conner's attention back to his own adversary, lashing out with the Tyranno Staff to strike her in the mid-section, following it up with a powerful retaliatory kick to her face that knocked Nimrod off-balance long enough for Conner to put her on the defensive once again.
She was tough, but he'd survived against the worst that Mesogog had to throw at them for almost a year; with that kind of background, he could definitely handle this thing...
With Ron and Elizabeth knocked aside, it fell to Jake and Hermione to take up the fight for their teams, Hermione quickly launching a barrage of spells at Lockmaster as Jake drew his own Patronus Lance, launching himself into a series of spins that sent Lockmaster to the ground once again.
"You ready to take care of business?" Sean asked his Guardian counterpart as he drew his wands.
"Time to show this thing why you don't mess with Rangers," Ginny said, readying her Guardian Blade. "Ready to make him pay for Luna?"
"I'm with you," Sean said, as he turned to face their foe. "Patronus Battle Tusks!"
As his wands turned into a pair of tusk-shaped battle clubs, Sean charged towards Lockmaster, the weapons gathering energy before striking their target with such force that Lockmaster was sent flying back, screaming in pain and rage. As Sean stepped back, he threw his arms out to allow Ginny to use his body as a springboard, the female Green Ranger throwing herself into the air before throwing herself towards Lockmaster, only to be forced to change direction mid-leap to avoid before skewered by Lockmaster's sword as he regained his balance.
"Heads up, ugly!" Jason yelled, charging forward to slash as Lockmaster with Saba before hurrying backwards once again, leaving Lockmaster open for Amanda to launch a flurry of magical arrows from the Patronus Bow that sent Lockmaster staggering.
"You did good, rookie," Jason said, giving the new White Ranger a congratulatory pat on the back.
"Like he said, you're doing great, sis," Alan said, the Red Ranger of this world nodding at his sister before he turned his attention back to the now-rising Lockmaster.
"Oh, come on!" Ron groaned in frustration. "Doesn't this guy take a break?"
"I think it's time to hit him hard," Alan said, looking over at his teammates. "Form the Patronus Blaster!"
Looking over at the new Rangers, Jason smiled slightly at the sight of the group of Rangers tossing their weapons together to form the Power Blaster formation that he'd grown so used to putting together when he was in his prime as Earth's first Red Ranger; the only real difference was that this team included the Green Ranger's 'Battle Tusks' on the tips of the Patronus Bow segments of the blaster. Following their counterparts' cue, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione took up position alongside each other and aimed their wands at Lockmaster, leaving Jason and Sylvia to draw their own long-range weapons and focus on their target.
"EXPULSO!" the magical Guardians yelled.
"Patronus Blaster- FIRE!" the Patronus Force added.
The combined force of all the blasts of power being aimed towards him virtually engulfed Lockmaster in a burst of multicoloured light, culminating in an explosion that engulfed the monster's body and obscured him from view.
"That got him!" Ron loudly cheered as the explosion died away.
"Uh... apparently not," Jake said, his voice cutting off the celebration as the team turned to face his direction and saw Lockmaster stumbling out of the dust and smoke stirred up by their last attack, dented and moving slower than before but clearly still alive, its eye narrowed with anger as it glared at the two Ranger teams before him.
"Did you think you could get rid of me that easily?" the monster demanded, its weakened voice demonstrating that they'd made more of an impact on Lockmaster than the thing before them cared to acknowledge. "I'm far too powerful for you!"
Before any of them could respond to that statement, Lockmaster raised his sword in the air, bolts of lightning-like energy bursting from the blade to envelop the monster's body, leaving the Rangers with nothing else to do but watch as the creature grew in size to tower over the buildings surrounding the park.
"And the fun continues..." Nathan snarled in frustration.
"And we don't even have our zords!" Ginny yelled.
"But we have Jason and Sylvia's," Alan said, before he activated his communicator. "Billy, we've got big trouble here; do you have the Zord interfaces up yet?"
"I've reactivated the interfaces of the Guardian Zords in our possession," Billy replied grimly, "but Ivan's surrounded the Zord hangars with an even tougher version of the barrier he used on the park; I've got the command centre's systems working on how to penetrate it, but until I do, the Patronus Zords and Guardian Zords are unavailable."
"WHAT?" Ron yelled, looking incredulously at the Red Patronus Ranger before they had to dive out of the way of the creature's foot. "You mean we're-!"
"Down to our secret weapon," Amanda interrupted, briefly glaring at Ron before she smiled over at Alan. "Alan, you have to call the Werewolf Battlezord using the Battle Gauntlet; the command is 'Werewolf Battlezord- Power Up'!"
"Understood!" Alan called back.
"Hey, Billy!" Jason yelled as he activated his own communicator (Harry assumed that Jason had already ensured that he could reach this command centre on the frequencies he was using). "How are Tommy and the Dinos holding up?"
"So far Nimrod and her goons haven't grown yet and Tommy's team is really giving it to them," Billy replied. "I'll let you know if that changes, but it's unlikely."
"Right," Alan said, raising his communicator to his face. "Time to call-"
"The only thing that you be calling out are your screams for mercy, Red Ranger!" a shockingly familiar voice yelled; spinning around, Harry wasn't entirely surprised to see this world's version of Goldar standing alongside a skeleton-like creature that he thought might be Rito from some of Jason's stories, as well as a large group of purple things.
"Alan," Jason said, looking over at the other Red Ranger, "you take care of Lockmaster; we'll handle these goons!"
As he charged into battle alongside his teammates- resisting the temptation to glance back as he heard a howl that could only be Alan's new zord; this wasn't the time to admire what the new guys were piloting-, a part of him had to admit that he was almost looking forward to this; with the confusion about how the Goldar of their world had come back to life after the Countdown still bothering him, it was slightly refreshing to be facing a Goldar who was just there rather than one whose presence was a complete anomaly. While Jason confronted Goldar, Hermione and Nathan found themselves facing Rito, leaving the rest of the team to worry about the attacking Ooze-Men.
"You picked a really bad time to show up, Goldar!" Jason said, shifting into his familiar combat stance as he glared at his rival, only to be unnerved when Goldar smiled as he took in his current opponent.
"It has been a long time, Jason, but do not assume that a change in costume can fool me about who you are!" Goldar said, grinning in his usual unnerving manner as he drew his sword. "I have been looking forward to the chance to face you again!"
"I'm not the person I was last time we fought, Goldar," Jason said, drawing Saba and glaring at his enemy. "If you want a fight, you've got one!"
Lunging towards Goldar, Jason started off with a quick kick before shifting his focus to slash at the golden-armoured titan with Tommy's old sword, Goldar only just managing to parry the blow with his own weapon. For a moment, Goldar's eyes widened in surprise as he registered the nature of the sword in Jason's hands, but surprise was forgotten as the fight continued, sword blows alternating with kicks and punches; Jason was particularly satisfied when Goldar's attempt to catch his punch, unlike when Goldar had attempted that stunt against Jason while unmorphed, only resulted in Goldar being knocked off-balance by the force of Jason's counter-attack.
Leaping back from Goldar's latest attack, Jason took a quick glance at his surroundings, and was pleased to note that his teammates seemed to be coping; the Patronus Force and the Hogwarts Guardians were handling the Ooze-Men fairly well, Blasting hexes flying through the air alongside shots from Sylvia's pistol, while Rito found himself faced with a rapidly-shifting range of opponents, two Rangers confronting him at once before withdrawing to allow another two to battle him, preventing him from adapting to their strategies while also keeping him guessing.
"So, Jason," Goldar said, smirking in satisfaction as the two strained against the other's blades, "what brings you back into the game in Tommy's new colours?"
"They called and I answered; all you need to know, Goldar," Jason countered, staring firmly at his enemy before he swung his sword in a circular manoeuvre, sending Goldar's blade off to the side and leaving him exposed to a powerful kick to the chest.
Even the sound of the battle between Alan's new zord and the giant Lockmaster above them couldn't distract Jason from his current objective; he was fighting Goldar, and he was going to finish this.
Looking over at the location where his fellow Rangers in their temporarily-expanded team were fighting Lockmaster, Conner was only slightly surprised to see Lockmaster had grown larger and was currently fighting with a large red and silver zord that looked a bit like a humanoid-esque wolf; the zord didn't match anything that they'd dug up in their research on these new guys, but that could just mean that they were bringing out something new.
Focusing his attention back on the battle with Nimrod- he'd seen and read enough about the Patronus Force to be sure that they could handle this problem-, Conner continued his duel with Nimrod, deflecting her latest attempt to strike him in the head, only to be cut short when Nimrod suddenly let out a scream of agony before he could even touch her. Noting another scream coming from behind him, Conner turned around just in time to see the massive form of Lockmaster being attacked by the new zord, its jaws digging into Lockmaster's arm and some kind of energy spreading from its teeth into Lockmaster's body.
"These things are connected to Lockmaster?" Kira said, looking in surprise at their now-writhing opponents and the equally-agonised monster.
"Looks like it," Doctor O. said, sounding like he was smiling under his helmet. "I'll bet Ooze didn't see this coming..."
Even as they watched the struggle before them, the monster and the zord parted as the zord shifted into a Megazord formation- its legs shifting as it transformed into a humanoid form in a manner that reminded Conner of video footage he'd seen of the Tigerzord that Doctor O. had originally used as the White Ranger-, subsequently lunging forward with its sword, the resulting blast destroying Lockmaster in a blaze of fire, followed almost immediately by a scream of agony from Nimrod as AC and DC vanished, Nimrod herself briefly reverting back to the statue that she had been created from before returning to her original location.
"Whoa..." Ethan said, smiling over at his teammates. "At least that's over with."
"You can say that again," Doctor O. said, nodding in approval at his team. "Come on; let's go and see how the others are holding up."
Looking back, Harry and the others would always consider it the most abrupt end to a fight that they'd ever experienced. While the Ooze-Men were down to their last few members, Rito and Goldar had still been putting up a fair fight, and even the remaining Ooze-Men had apparently 'learned' enough to avoid the worst of the Rangers' attacks, but suddenly the sound of Lockmaster exploding drew the other Rangers' attentions momentarily away from their immediate opponents to observe Alan's victory, only for them to turn back and find that the Ooze-Men and Rito had vanished, leaving only Goldar to grin resolutely at Jason.
"Your skills have improved, but you are still no match for my new master, Jason!" the villain said, a sense of satisfaction about his stance as he glared at his opponent. "I shall enjoy the chance to finish you again!"
With that, he held one hand to his chest and vanished in a blaze of fire, leaving the other Rangers to look at each other in confusion before Tommy's team hurried up to join them.
"Everyone all right?" Tommy asked, looking between his colleagues.
"Took a bit of effort, but nothing we couldn't handle," Sylvia said, smiling over at her colour-predecessor. "I take it Nimrod's gone?"
"Blew up at the same time that Lockmaster went down," Ethan said with a shrug.
"Talking of which," Ron said, looking slightly incredulously over at Amanda, "are you seriously telling us that you built that thing?"
"I had a little help putting the Battlewolf Megazord together, but basically, yeah," Amanda said, shrugging as she looked up at the large zord standing over them.
"I'm just glad that it worked; I wasn't exactly expecting that I'd have to test it under fire when it was the only option available."
"You never do," Tommy said with a slight shrug. "I had a similar experience back in my world; this new monster, Main Drain, had just trashed our current Megazord, and the only option was this new zord called the Red Battlezord which relied heavily on me retaining a personal clarity and focus that I wasn't sure I possessed at the time..."
"Well, whatever its origin, it took care of Lockmaster; that's the main thing," Harry said, smiling over at his friends as they all powered down, grinning at each other as Alan walked over to join them.
"I take it you all had fun?" he asked with a casual grin.
"As much as ever; you know how it is," Nathan said nonchalantly.
"Good job with Lockmaster, by the way," Ethan added with a grin. "Looks like she and Lockmaster were linked; you took that guy out, and you took out Nimrod at the same time."
"Too bad that doesn't solve all our problems..." Jason said, shaking his head as he looked sombrely at the rest of the teams. "We won this round, but that Ivan Ooze is going to let us off that easily; I have a feeling that, whatever he has planned, it's going to make today look tame."
"Jase, you're ruining my good mood!" Nathan groaned.
"And you Rangers have already ruined mine!" another voice said, prompting the team to leap to their feet and turn to face the source of the voice, none of them being surprised to find themselves facing the distinctive purple form of Ivan Ooze, the teams shifting into a combat stance as they glared at him.
"You sure have a lot of balls coming here!" Alan practically hissed at the morphological being. "What do you want, Ooze?"
"Naughty, naughty, Red Ranger," Ivan said, waving an index finger mockingly at the resident Red Ranger of this reality. "Such language from one your age... that's the problem with teenagers other than their odious stench; they have absolutely no manners whatsoever!"
"Trust us; our manners are going to be the least of your worries once we're through with you!" Conner practically growled at the powerful creature before them.
"Ah yes, the typically hot-headed response of the Red Ranger," Ivan said, smirking briefly at Conner before his eyes narrowed as he glared at the group. "But, to answer your original question..."
Before any of the Rangers could make a move, Ooze made a complicated hand gesture and Jason was yanked off his feet, the White Guardian Ranger barely having time to yell in surprise before he landed on the ground in front of Ivan.
"Jason!" Harry and Tommy yelled, the Rangers almost instinctively moving to morph before another gesture from Ivan suddenly rendered them all immobile, unable to do anything more than watch as Ivan grabbed Jason by the throat and forced his new prisoner to his feet.
"You know," Ivan said, shrugging as though he was discussing nothing more important than the weather, "I could very easily kill all of you while you're looking like statues in an art gallery; but that would ruin all of my fun! For the moment, all you need to know is that, if you want Lizard-Boy here back, you should ensure that your predecessors are back in Angel Grove before three days are up, otherwise..."
He shrugged nonchalantly before his gaze focused on Alan. "Oh, and just so you know, Red Ranger, I'll also be ensuring your cooperation with the assistance of a certain... pretty... someone..."
With that, Ivan and Jason vanished in a burst of purple, leaving the now-once-again mobile Rangers to simply stare in shock at the location where their friend, mentor and teammate had been only moments ago.
Crap, Harry thought to himself.
And he'd thought that Voldemort was bad; at least the guy actually tried tokill you when the chance was available, rather than let you live just because he implied that he had something worse planned...