#Ggarok is a bitch

[blitzendoggo]

Monster of the Week

The Rangers of Power are sent to stop a monster rampaging the streets, but “its” face is too familiar for the beloved Blue Ranger.

Ranger!Glib/Skog (3,795 words)

~~

“Hey, lover boy!” Charlie coos as Glib walks through the door to their dorm. “How was your date?”

“With your totally real boyfriend,” Phlash teases from his usual spot on the couch.

Glib levels a glare at the Goliath before saying, “My date was great. We went to a restaurant on the north side of town.”

Specks is sitting in the middle of the living room with a myriad of scrolls around him, clearly in the middle of studying, but he looks up, readjusting his glasses. “Did you ask if we can meet him yet?”

Glib snickers as he nods. His friends have been hounding him for months to meet his boyfriend. The only information that they had gotten about him is that he is a full-blooded orc who is quite a bit older than Glib and has a lot of money. “Yeah, he finally agreed.” Glib shrugs off his jacket, throwing it on the coat rack.

It was less that he finally agreed and more than Glib thought it was safe enough to bring him around. While his friends had been ecstatic to learn that Glib had found someone, Ggarok had thought it was a trap that Glib was foolish enough to fall for. Rangers aren’t supposed to keep in close contact with loved ones, let alone make new loved ones.

From somewhere behind him he hears the tell-tale sound of B.B. prepping a spell blast on his latest gun. “Good, I finally get to give the tall bastard the shovel talk,” the dwarf-gnome says with manic glee.

“As if, B.B. He’ll break that damn gun of yours like a toothpick,” Glib shoots back. “And then offer to cover the costs because he’s nice like that.”

“He can’t break Baby…” B.B. grumbles as he unracks his shot.

“Yes, he can and he will, I watched him bend a damn crowbar in half because he didn’t like it,” Glib says as he joins the others in the living room.

“Baby is stronger than a crowbar!” B.B. snaps.

The human looks at the gnome-dwarf with a crooked smile. “How much are you willing to bet on that?”

They hold tense eye contact for a moment before breaking away with snickers.

“So when and where are we meeting this guy?” Phlash asks, clearly higher than a kite as he tacks on, “I wanna see if I’m taller than him.”

Glib rolls his eyes. “The shakes place we normally eat at. He said he wanted you guys to have home-field advantage.”

“So, we won’t see him all dolled up in those suits you love so much?” Charlie asks with faux worry and disappointment.

“No, you will. He’s meeting us after work, he won’t have time to change,” Glib explains as he sits next to the Goliath, reclaiming his spot.

“We should show up in suits,” Phlash says, nodding at his own statement like it was sage advice.

Charlie oo’s as she leans over the couch. “I like that idea. Suits are so my style.”

“I think he’s referring to formal suits, Chip,” Specs corrects, barely looking up from his scrolls.

“Yeah, not whatever you wore to formal,” B.B. tacks on in a clear joking tone.

Specs looks up tiredly. “That is not what I said.”

“But it is what you meant,” B.B. points out.

“You are putting words in my mouth,” Specs grumbles.

“Wouldn’t that just be sign language for Vaktaan?” Phlash, ever the philosophical man he is, points out.

“No, the mouths can talk! They would have no need for sign language because their minds are all connected see in the story of-”

“Okay,” Charlie says, cutting him off and holding the “o” for far longer than needed. “I’m going to bed before I have to listen to another stupid theology debate or lecture.” She pushes off the back of the couch and walks towards her room, calling “Night, boys!” over her shoulder and a chorus of “Night, Charlie!” following her as her door shuts.

“Yeah, I’m going to join her, night,” Glib says simply as he gets up and wanders into his room. He changes quickly before pulling out his sending stone. By now Skog should have gotten home and texted him that he was safe, but there are no new messages. Glib gets worried for a moment before deciding that the charge on his stone must’ve worn off on the walk, it was nearly gone anyway. The human dismisses his anxiety and lays down, curling up in his favorite blankets with a stuffed animal that smelled like Skog.

He’s woken up several hours later by Specs rapping on his door as he does every morning after his morning prayer.

“I’m up! I’m up!” the human calls groggily, words slurring. He grabs his sending stone off his desk, expecting to see a good morning text from Skog, who wakes up an hour earlier than he does, but finds none. No calls, no texts, nothing.

His anxiety from last night comes back in force, a sick feeling settling in his stomach. He tells himself it’s okay. Skog probably woke up late and had to rush to get to work before getting swamped in meetings.

He swallows his anxiety, trying to shake it from his head as he walks into the common area.

“Morning to all my losers who sleep in late,” Charlie announces as Phlash, Glib, and B.B. file in. “We’ve got a problem.”

“Don’t we always?” Phlash questions as he yawns.

“Tell me ‘bout,” B.B. grumbles.

Specs waves a hand, getting their attention before silently motioning for everyone to gather around. “We need to get briefed by Ggarok.”

Seeing Ggarok is the last thing that Glib wanted to do, but if the city was in danger then it had to be done.

They beam into the cave, dim and artificially warmed by charms littered around the stone, and see Ggarok standing in front of the console, rapidly flipping through drone–bird feeds that survey the city.

“Professor Ggarok,” Specs says as they step off the teleportation pad, “What’s going on?”

Ggarok looks at them through the reflection of the screens. “Rangers,” he says flatly. “I was beginning to suspect you’d never arrive.”

“Unlike you, we actually need sleep,” Phlash says grumpily.

“What he means,” Specs says quickly, trying to prevent another fight from breaking out between the green ranger and their mentor, “Is the rangers were getting the rest required to fight effectively.”

Ggarok tsks. “Regardless, there is a monster loose in the city. Its rampage started this morning.”

“How long ago was ‘this morning’?” Glib questions, wondering if Skog got caught in it on his way to work.

“An hour ago.” The centaur finally turns from the monitor and eyes down the rangers, his gaze lingering on Glib, though that may just be the blue ranger’s paranoia. “The Bowenburg Guardsmen tried to handle the issue after an hour they decided to call in our help.”

“The B.G. tried handling it?” B.B. echoes. “They never try to get our monsters.”

“It does not look like a traditional Ranger’s Enemy,” Ggarok warns. “It looks like a civilian, but large and brutish. A barely civilized race, barbariac in nature. Said race is the ideal form for a clay monster to inhabit if it wants to exist among everyday people.” He levels a look at the group of Rangers and seems to stare directly into Glib’s soul. “Remember, it is still a clay monster even if it looks like a civilian. You must kill it.”

All the Rangers nod solemnly before spreading out slightly. This part had never been Glib’s favorite. It's slow and too flashy for his taste, but it has to be done because of tradition.

“It’s Morphing Time!” the Rangers say in unison, easy to do after years of practice, with varying levels of enthusiasm.

“Pink Beholder!” Specs, their leader and the most enthusiastic of them all, calls out excitedly. His suit is the best maintained out of all of them, as pink as the day it was made and constantly fixed with mending spells and a classic needle and thread.

“Red Dragon!” B.B. shouts. He’s not excited to defend the city like Specs is, he’s excited to shoot some monsters with his gun. B.B. made the suits but his looks the worst for wear. The once bright red leather is a near blood red as it is caked with dirt and accented by black soot.

“Yellow Owlbear!” Charlie has always been the middle of the road with the transformation. She wants to fight alongside her friends to defend their homes, but she would also rather not be in danger as frequently as they are. Her suit represents that ideal as it is maintained but clearly been used in battles, the yellow is bright but not as bright as it once was.

“Green Myconid!” Phlash calls out, somehow already high despite them just having woken up and clearly not wanting to go into a battle so early in the morning. His green suit is the heaviest enchanted as it stays with him as he wild shapes into a wolf. Glib isn’t sure how it’s possible but the goliath looks high while masked; although, it might just be because Glib knows what to look for.

“Blue Kraken!” Glib, always the last in the lineup and the most scared of them, says tiredly. He loves the city, but he is not a fighter. He’s strong and agile, sure, but that’s meant to avoid attacks not dive into them. His suit looks the worst, but not for a lack of trying. The once vibrant blue is now reminiscent of the ocean at midnight, a near-black blue daunting and unwelcoming. It's littered with sewn-together pieces and magically enhanced to resist more than the others. He gets hurt the most and his suit reflects that.

Specs swings around in front of them, practically bouncing up and down, as he says, “Alright Rangers, let’s go kick some monster butt!”

He’s met with a tired cheer which quickly becomes loud and excited when Ggarok levels a glare at their heads.

They huddle up and in a flash of multicolored, crackling light, they teleport into the city. Glib recognizes the street they are on, it's only a few blocks away from Skog’s Penthouse. The human tries to think about what that could mean as he and his friends identify the horrible monster they are meant to destroy so peace can be restored to their town.

But Glib couldn’t believe his eyes. The “horrible monster” they were meant to be fighting was a familiar orc in a tattered pinstripe suit, but the look in his eye was foreign. Gone are the soft smiles and kind looks he gives Glib over dinner and the low rumbling chuckle that is reserved for Glib. In its place is an orc from legends of old, filled with bloodlust and anger, foaming at the mouth, and not caring about the several deep cuts littering his body.

He lumbers forward, almost blindly, as he swings the broken light post with rage, a rage that Glib has never seen on his lover. Glib stands deathly still and can’t bring himself to move.

“Ranger Blue!” Charlie calls, dutifully using their Ranger “names” in uniform. “What are you doing?! Get the monster!”

Glib’s eyes leave the orc for only a moment as he sees the other Rangers fanned out around Skog, weapons drawn.

Glib tries to ready his weapon, a bo staff that breaks apart into chain whips, but the idea of hurting Skog makes him physically ill even if Skog is a raging “monster.”

The orc lunges at a random civilian only to be knocked back by a firebolt from B.B.’s gun, scorching the orc’s thick skin and causing him to scream. While the sound was logically from anger, Glib only hears pain.

“Don’t hurt him!” Glib screeches without thinking as he darts forward. “Skog!” he screams, trying to get the orc’s attention.

Skog doesn’t look at him and instead roars in B.B.’s direction. It's a sound that should make his blood run cold but instead, it makes him run faster. Skog doesn’t acknowledge him as grabs a chunk of concrete and hurls it at Specs who brings his shield up at the last moment, getting thrown back with the force of the hit and crashing into a building. For a moment, Glib wants to change directions to help his friend but he can’t stop.

“Skog!” he screams once he gets closer. “Skog, look at me!”

The orc goes unnaturally still as he cocks his head in Glib’s direction.

Glib gets closer, moving slowly, knowing his boyfriend isn’t in his right mind. “Skog, it’s me, it’s-” he pauses and glances around. There aren’t any civilians close enough to hear him. “It’s Glib.”

Skog twitches as turns to look at him. His green-grey skin is spotted with dark blood and cuts with black lines that crackle with energy surrounding his eyes and streaking across his face and down his neck. His scleras are black with purple lines that pulse with the same energy. He breathes heavily as he leans down to get into Glib’s face.

Glib stands still. “It’s me, baby, it’s me,” he murmurs. It's unnerving to see Skog like this. Almost unseeing as he peers into the mask and seemingly through it, staring into Glib’s soul with his discolored eyes.

Vague recognition flashes in the orc's eyes as he makes a low grumbling noise that almost sounds like “Glib?”

Glib could melt at the sound but it also makes him want to cry, throw up, and scream, but instead, he just shakes slightly, fighting hard to keep the quiver from his voice. “Yes, Glib.” He slowly reaches up to touch Skog’s face. “What happened to you?”

Before he can answer, a giant wolf in a green suit tackles the orc to the ground, startling Glib back.

“Phlash!” he screeches as he stumbles. “Get off of him!”

“Ranger Blue!” Specs yells as he runs up behind him. B.B. and Charlie get on either side of the orc and level their weapons on him as he struggles under Phlash. “Have you been compromised?! That is our monster! You can’t reason with it!”

“‘It?!’” Glib screams back. “He is under some sort of spell!”

“Ggarok said it is a creation!” Specs snaps back.

“He isn’t a creation!”

“Vaktaan damn it, why are you so sure of that?!”

“Because that’s my boyfriend!” Glib cries, the shaking in his hands having extended to his entire body.

Before any of them can respond, Phlash goes hurtling through the air with Skog getting to his feet far faster than a 7’8” man should be able to. He uses that surprise to grab B.B. and throw him into Specs and Glib sending the human, goblin, and gnome-dwarf back several feet. Before Charlie can get a retaliation strike on him, he’s lunging at a group of trapped civilians on the other side of the street.

“That’s the boyfriend you’ve been talkin’ about?!” B.B., ever the rational dwarf-gnome that he is, screeches as they untangle themselves and get up.

“Well, he’s not normally like this!” Glib growls as a chuck of concrete hurtles toward the trapped group and hits the building behind them, shattering to dust and leaving a creator on the building’s side.

Wolf Phlash dashes past them before body-slamming Skog again, this time knocking him away from a group of scared civilians and towards Charlie. “What are you talking about? He seems so chill,” Phlash says smugly.

“Yeah, you should bring him by for coffee sometime, I’m sure he’d- fuck-!” Charlie yelps as Skog swipes her feet out from under her.

Specs looks at him for a moment. “And you are sure this is him?”

“Has to be,” Glib says, letting his desperation slip into his voice. “He recognized me, Specs, he knew my voice and reacted to his name.” When Specs doesn’t seem convinced, Glib grasps at straws. “He’s bleeding, Specs. Clay monsters don’t bleed.”

The leader is silent for a moment before running back into the fight. Glib has a moment of fear that Specs didn’t listen to his pleas but then the leader shouts, “Nonlethal damage! We want to bring him down!”

B.B. audibly groans in disappointment but knows better than to argue with Specs and switches his gun’s spell into thunderclap, firing a shot at him. The blast throws him forward and off balance before Phlash tackles him again, this time simply trying to pin him to the ground instead of knocking his head into the concrete. Charlie brings her axe in front of her and begins to aggressively strum the strings that run up and down the handle.

“Go the fuck to sleep!” she says, magic lacing her words and suddenly the orc stops moving, collapsing entirely.

Glib runs over as Phlash slowly steps off him. He starts to take inventory of his injuries while also using the tattered remains of his suit jacket to staunch the bleeding in as many cuts as he can.

Faintly behind him, Glib can hear Specs talking with the others. “Clear out civilians and get the B.G. to set up a perimeter and to check for others under a similar effect.”

“Do you think there are more?” Charlie asks.

Specs is silent momentarily before saying, “Can’t rule anything out, especially since we caught this one so early. Tell the B.G. should any others become violent, to use nonlethal damage. They’re just civilians under a spell.” There is a moment of silence as the others leave to do as they were told before Specs approaches the human. He sits on the opposite side of Glib and waves his hand over Skog, muttering in an ancient language. “You’re right, he’s just-”

“Under mind control?” Glib asks hopefully to which the goblin nods.

“An enchantment.” Glib can’t see Specs' face, but he knows what he’s thinking. He clearly recognizes where the magic comes from and the magic recognizes him. “A very powerful one.”

“Can you break it?”

Specs is silent for a moment before nodding and placing his hands over Skog’s chest. “I can certainly try.” He pauses. “But that will also remove Charlie’s sleep spell.

“He’ll wake up eventually,” Glib reasons. “You could at least try to make sure he is back to himself when that happens.”

Specs sighs but nods regardless. He takes a slow deep breath before murmuring in the same ancient language. Glib and the other Rangers are supposed to be fluent in it, but the only one who seems to be is Specs.

The human watches in amazement as the dark lines slowly retract up his neck and face, but Specs begins to strain once the magic is only left around his eyes.

Glib, desperate to get his boyfriend back, begins talking to him, murmuring inconsequential things to him. His hand interlocks with the orc’s, clinging to the dull pulse in his fingers like a lifeline. He can feel Skog react to his touch but his hand still stays loose in his hand.

“I love you, I love you so much. You mean everything to me. I can’t survive without you. Come back to me, damn it all, just come back to me.” He’s not sure when he closed his eyes, nor is he sure when he started to lean over him like he was saying a prayer with Specs, but he shoots up when Skog murmurs, “I love you too, but you make it sound like I’m dying.”

“Skog!” He shrieks, abandoning his hand and diving forward to hug the orc tightly, minding his severe injuries.

“Ranger Blue,” Specs says gently, still exhausted from the spell. “You are still in uniform.”

“It’s alright,” Skog assures as he slowly raises his hands to rest on Glib’s back, running his hands up and down the suit material in a soothing manner as the human shakes like a leaf. “I was able to deduce Glib was Ranger Blue and his friends the other Rnagers of Power months ago.”

“Glib?!” Specs snaps, terrified that their secret identities have been compromised.

Skog waves a bloody hand. “I figured it out after my 5’7” husband was able to pick me up and run with me during an assassination attempt.”

“I panicked!” Glib grumbles, not bothering to lift his face from Skog’s tattered shirt.

“What about the time you managed to dive under a collapsing marble pillar, grab a little girl, throw her out of harm's way, and then catch the majority of that pillar's weight to keep it from doing untold damage?” Skog questions teasingly.

Glib grumbles before saying, “It wasn’t that heavy.”

“They weigh over a hundred thousand pounds,” Skog counters.

“I didn’t hold it for very long.”

Skog chuckles. It is a warm sound, but pained at the edges as the movement pulls on his wounds. “You held it for ten seconds when it should have crushed you.”

Glib says something incomprehensible into Skog’s shirt in response.

“Regardless, after that, it was easy to identity the constant fresh bruises as marks from weapons, not to mention it was odd how he would consistently disappear right as a new monster showed up, regardless of what we were doing,” Skog elaborates.

Specs looks between them. “Why didn’t you lie, Glib?” Specs asks more for posterity’s sake than actually expecting a good answer.

“I tried, but you know I’m a shit liar,” the human answers.

“A truly horrendous liar. It’s one of your best traits I’d argue,” Skog teases, getting an exasperated groan in response.

“So, you know who I am?” the goblin questions.

“Speckles Beauregard,” Skog answers quickly. “The leader and academically inclined of the group.”

“He read you like a book, dude,” Charlie says as she approaches. “And sorry for knocking you out.”

Skog looks at her strangely. “You did what?”

At this, Glib raises his head. “Do you remember what happened?”

“I remember making sure you got home safely, walking back to my house, then rounding a corner and having a fairly painful spell put on me,” Skog recalls. “Past that, nothing.”

“How about we fill you in over some shakes?” B.B. offers as he rejoins the group.

“And I want you to stand up so I can see how tall you are,” Phlash demands immediately.

“Phlash, he’s hurt,” Glib groans.

“If he’s well enough for shakes, he’s well enough to see how much shorter than me he is.”

“She didn’t mean getting them right now! He’s going to the hospital first.”

“And I can see how tall he is before he gets there.”

“Phlash!”