As the crowds near the building continued to scatter and retreat, David and Jason, who were at the rear of the group, reached for their morphers, trying not to look at each other and stay focused on Marik. Taking the devices in their hands, they pulled them up and freed them from the clips on their belts, ready to morph if things got out of hand.
"Try and fight us, and we'll beat you back." Greg said, pointing at Marik. "We've done so before."
Marik snarled again. "
As opposed to the many times I stopped you myself, with or without with my personal vanguard. Don't fool yourselves, Rangers."
"We're not." Lynne said. "We will stop you, and Wrack, and anyone else, no matter what you throw at us." As she finished talking, she reached for her morpher, grabbing it and pulling it free of the clip.
Seeing the pink ranger grabbing her morpher, Marik reached out with his massive paw and snagged her arm, twisting it to make her drop the morpher and pushing her away from it, Nick catching her as she fell back. Her device bounced away from the group and into the street nearby as some of the others went on the attack in response. "
Fine. Fight me. Then, we'll see what happens when I reveal where your leader has gone." Marik thought.
Sweeping his tail next to his legs, one of the Rangers tumbled onto the pavement as another landed a punch to his face with a rock solid fist. Marik shrugged the blow off with a shake of his head and grabbed the shirt of the ranger who struck him, tossing the human behind him with little effort.
Cassidy went for her morpher next, summoning the essence of her spirit into her left palm before Marik could redirect his attention towards the rest of them. David and Jason followed suit, their palms ablaze and their morphers ready.
[HEADING=2][font color=blue]Creatures of[/font] [font color=black]yore, join[/font] [font color=teal]my side![/font][/HEADING]
Once again, the three were enveloped in the essences of their spirits, their suits revealed as they each solidified.
Hearing the summoning phrase, Marik quickly spoke up, after grabbing the two rangers he had stopped before. Them being so trigger happy and quick to morph in his presence was what he expected, but if this did turn into a full brawl, he would never get to see their anguish first hand. "
I was planning to inform you a little about your leader, if you choose to stand down for a minute."
"What?" David said aloud, along with Cassidy. The others were similarly taken aback by the statement, but Greg and Nick kept struggling against Marik's grip anyway, trying to free themselves. The massive demon kept a tight grip and pressure against their backs, though, refusing to budge himself. "Where is he?"
"
Stand down, and I'll inform you." Marik said again, eagerly awaiting their responses.
[hr]
East Houston City Limits -
As Marik was giving his demands to the rangers, far off on the edge of the city, someone else was keeping watch and listening in as the events came to a head. The person stroked his short, brown beard throughout the event, his long trench-coat barely waving as he spun around and leaned on the counter he was using.
The atmosphere of the closed bookstore reminded him of the old days of sitting in libraries, researching lore of years gone by. Although comforting, as soon as the ultimatum to stand down came, he breathed a deep sigh and felt worried.
"
This isn't good." The feminine voice came from another being nearby, a large ethereal phoenix that was listening to the event.
"If Philip's been caught, there's a lot they could demand to release him."
Floating over to her evoker, the pheonix continued. "
What about his morpher?"
The man shook his head. "Marik has it. I can tell from that tone in his voice."
"
Demons are sly liars when they wish to be, Vincent." said the pheonix.
"I know." Keeping his eyes on the ethereal sphere in his palm, the man hoped the rangers could get enough information for a rescue. A trade was out of the question, and from what he had heard before, he had a terrible worry that Wrack would try and harm more than just the rangers if he could do so.