Scorch made his way into the throne room, walking briskly and yet with his head held high. Snapper and Whiger were already there, guarding their king who was sat on his throne, awaiting the confirmation from the phantom beasts to go ahead with the use of the spirit rangers once again. Camille was there as well, standing around idly as she too awaited for the Pai Zhua masters to be used once again against the very students they taught. Part of her couldn't help but grin maliciously at just the thought of them being tortured, being controlled and forced to fight, especially when it came to Master Finn. She hadn't forgotten the shame he brought her when he defeated Jellica's beast and forced her back to the temple in order to keep her life.

The phantom beast noticed her little smirk when he walked by her, and he stopped. Turning slowly to her, they made eye contact, and Scorch growled at her. "You'll bow when in the presence of a phantom beast general."

But Camille did not bow. "I don't take orders from you," she countered, her cold gaze piercing him. After giving Maya her boost of confidence the day before, she had realised that she was no better than the lioness had been. She had been taking hits, accepting the violence and abuse her kind put her through, simply because she had been taught to be that way despite her urge to fight back and not endure the slaps, the scratches and the bruises. But now, after encouraging Maya to do the right thing despite what others may be telling her to do, she had realised that she should have listened to that urge. And now, Camille was going to do her damn best to show she's not a punching bag. Not to anyone. ESPECIALLY not her own kind.

The general growled again, and grabbed her wrist, claws digging into his skin as he dragged her close so they were inches apart. Just as he was about to shout at the warrior, however, Whiger put his hand on Scorch's shoulder and halted him in his dark tracks.

"Enough, Scorch. Save your strength for Pai Zhua, not each other." While Whiger didn't sound entirely calm, he certainly wasn't as angry as Scorch was right at that moment. "Come, let's go and summon the Spirit Rangers to cause some fear." Relucently, Scorch pushed Camille backwards into a pillar. He didn't say a word, as he and the other two phantom beast generals stormed off quickly to the dungeon where the three masters were chained up and ready to be used.

Camille groaned a little, and rubbed her head. It wasn't bleeding, much to her relief, but it certainly did hurt. "Damn that dragon..." She grumbled, as well as uttering several curse words under her breath, though loud enough for Dai Shi to hear as he walked over.

"Bleeding?"

"No, thankfully."

"Good. Let's get going then. We have a lot to do today, as per usual."

"Yes Master. Though is it wise to summon the spirit rangers this early in the day?"

Dai Shi shrugged. "There are pros and cons. But either way, we will make it work. We always do, right?" As Camille looked up at her tall master, she noticed the soft yet evil smile on his face and her heart began to race wildly as the colour rushed to her cheeks. She still didn't fully understand what it was about him that made her so giddy... But she definitely liked it.

"Y-Yes. We do." With a gentle smile in return, Camille makes her way to the dungeons, with Dai Shi right behind her. "We are getting close to the end, I can sense it. The rangers will fall soon, and victory will be ours. We may have lost many beasts, but their sacrifices will not be in vain." Camille paused for a moment, as a thought emerged from her unconscious. "Master? What will we do once we take over the world? What if these are not the only rangers that exist on this planet? The Samurai no doubt still exist somewhere on this planet and there is also the Ninja academies to consider."

The dark lord smirked once again. "We will deal with them when the time comes. If they do not suspect us, we can attack without warning and catch them off guard. Of course, Pai Zhua are our main priority."

"I understand that, of course, but who do we deal with afterwards? One Pai Zhua has fallen?"

"Hmm..." Dai Shi thought as they walked to the dungeon, their quiet footsteps echoed ever so slightly by the long dark halls they make their way down. "I suppose the Ninja academies first; I have a small suspicion that they have ties to the Pai Zhua academy, ties which could cause is some problems if we don't cut and discard them fast enough. After that, we deal with the Samurai, last time we encountered them they were on the other side of the earth, so they won't be a threat anytime soon." He concluded with a soft chuckle. "That is but a brief plan for the future, but we can develop it further once the time comes. For now, let's focus on what is currently going on."

"Understood, my lord." As the two of them finish their discussion, the faint light at the end of the corridor and the rough rocky cave merging with the smooth, chiseled walls of the temple indicated their arrival at the dungeon. Upon entry, they could see the three Masters, in their chains and looking weary despite their supposed recovery. Master Phant was barely moving and looked like he was close to falling asleep, Master Swoop looked pale and ragged, and Master Finn simply looked discouraged, like he had lost hope in his rescue. 'He has every right to be that way.'

'But he doesn't deserve to be that way.'

Dai Shi ignored Jarrod's voice in his head, determined to keep his control over the human. He was already slipping due to Camille and the confusing relationship she seemed to be developing with Jarrod, and he certainly did not intend to lose anymore control than he already had. He walked past the three Masters, giving each of them a harsh glare as he made his way to his little spectators box, where he would gleefully watch the Masters 'fight' with Camille by his side as per usual. As he walked past the weak Master Finn, the shark-spirited warrior looked up and suddenly spoke to him, causing the man to halt in his tracks against his will.

"Jarrod, think back to Pai Zhua. You were honourable, kind, virtuous... You can be again. You know that your sister waits for you to return. You know she cares and always has. And you know that we care too. We always have," he pleaded, desperate to help free this student from Dai Shi's clutches. Master Finn hadn't always been fond of Maya and Jarrod, at first he found Maya too shy and cautious and found Jarrod too irrational and, to put simply, too messed up in the head after the trauma he experienced. They weren't deserving to be Pai Zhua students. However, over time, he saw how the students changed; how Maya opened up more and became more energetic, how Jarrod was slowly able to think more logically and more calmly, and how they were inseparable and balanced each other out. He saw them not as intruding outsiders anymore, but as regular Pai Zhua students, two of those amongst the crowd that all deserved to be there. Like he did with the other students, when he was at the temple, if he encountered them, he would say hello and give them words of encouragement. Master Finn remembered the joy in the eyes of the twins when they were given these words; it was no surprise how different Jarrod looked now, how dark his eyes were and how lifeless they seemed, and yet Finn was still shocked at how corrupt the man had seemingly become.

Dai Shi froze, as a spike of pain hit his head and sudden memories flashed in his mind like a PowerPoint presentation on fast forward. He too remembered those times, when Master Finn looked at them with warm smiles. Not just Master Finn, but Master Mao too. Heck, all the masters cared for all of the students like they were their own. 'So... Why am I hurting him?'

'Because you chose this path. He will only lie to you and hurt you after all of this. He doesn't care.'

Jarrod growled at Master Finn, before walking past. Scorch stormed over, still in a state of rage after his little episode with Camille not even an hour ago. "Be quiet, you!" He ordered, shouting as he began to harm the shark master by draining whatever power or energy he had left, causing him immense pain. How gleeful it was to hear the Pai Zhua Master shriek in pain. Camille smirked at the site and sound, it was like music to her ears; she was happy to see him suffer.

But Jarrod couldn't stand it.

Quickly, he stopped walking, turned around and summoned his zocato. A burst of purple and black energy flew forth from him as Jarrod knocked Scorch back in a desperate attempt to stop the phantom beast general from harming the Pai Zhua Master any further. Camille stumbled back a little and shielded herself, cowering as the sudden blast of dark energy caused her to be thrown off balance a little, and Master Phant was also caught by surprise as he got a face full of the dark energy also, being to the left of Dai Shi when he stopped and turned around suddenly.

Scorch stopped harming Master Finn almost immediately, and was knocked back by the zocato blast. "You protect him?! A human?!" He bellowed in a furious roaring voice as he used his rinzin to cut through the dark energy to avoid losing his footing entirely. The zocato vanished as quickly as it appeared, and Dai Shi stood there looking... Stunned. As though he wasn't entirely sure what he had just done.

'What the hell was that for? What did you do!?' 'That's for you to try and come up with.'

Dai Shi composed himself after a few moment, and focused his now not-so-menacing glare onto Scorch. "Your power will weaken his spirit, meaning we cannot summon the spirit ranger. Don't you dare do it again," he snarled in his deep voice, before storming away. As the three phantom beast generals take their positions, Camille watches her Master as he walks over to the steps leading to the spectators box, then stops and leans against the wall, looking dazed and confused.

'Stop it! Stop doing this! You're mine to use!' 'My body, my rules. I won't stop fighting you. I won't stop fighting to save the others. I never wanted this.' 'I don't care about what you want! You can't go back even if you wanted to! Now stop resisting!'

A warm hand is what snapped Dai Shi and Jarrod out of their fight. They looked down to see Camille, gazing up at him and gently squeezing his hand. She was trembling a little, but continued to hold his hand regardless, as a means of comforting him. Slowly, she helped to guide him up the steps, and into the spectators box out of the general's sight.

The first thing he did was hold her close as soon as they could no longer be seen.

Fran walked up the stairs to the loft, adjusting her glasses a little. The restaurant was closed for the day, but she had decided to come in regardless and see how everyone was doing. The first thing she saw was Maya, sitting in RJ's armchair and watching the surveillance system. The second thing she noticed was that Maya had taken off the bandage used for her injured shoulder and had wrapped them instead around her hands almost like gloves. Lying back in the cosy seat, she looked somewhat bored, but also like she was daydreaming. Shyly, Fran shuffled on over and tapped the warrior on the shoulder lightly.

"Uhm... M-Maya? Are you okay?" She asked cautiously. Maya didn't respond, however, so she tried again to get a response. "Maya? P-Please answer me. Are you okay?"

With a small jump and a small "Oh!", Maya snapped back to reality, and turned to look at Fran, flicking some ginger hair out her eyes. "Sorry Fran. Guess I must've gone daydreaming again."

"It's okay, I daydream a lot too. Especially after reading a good book!" Fran smiled a little. "What are you looking at on the screen? Or, I guess, supposed to be looking at."

Maya let Fran take a look at the system, with the cameras RJ told her to watch. "Y'see this one right here, the one in the forest? RJ set that one up becayse they're gonna be fighting there, and they want me to keep an eye out. This other one, believe it or not, is right outside Dai Shi's temple." The lioness couldn't help but smirk and chuckle a little as Fran's expression shifted from curiosity to shock surprisingly fast. "Is it really that shocking?"

"Well kinda, yes! How did you guys get a camera there? Why not closer?"

All Fran gets is a shrug and a brief response of "Ask RJ." After that, Maya returns to being silent, staring at the camera looking at the entrance to Dai Shi's temple. Fran watches her for a few moments, before grabbing a stool and sitting down beside Maya, deciding to watch the surveillance cameras too, mostly so the young lady beside her wasn't so lonely. It was rather awkward, just the two of them sat watching for any sign of either the forces of evil or the forces of good.

"... Why have you wrapped your bandages around your hands? T-That's supposed to be for your shoulder isn't it?" queries Fran, unable to withstand the horribly awkward silence anymore. Maya shrugged again, but this game gave the bookworm more of an answer.

"I dunno. Guess I feel more comfortable with the bandages on my hands. Especially since kung fu and fighting in general involves punching and swinging at enemies. My shoulder isn't bleeding or anything, so I don't see the need for a bandage on it."

"T-The reason they put a bandage on it is because of the pressure, and that pressure helps relieve some of the pain. S-Since your shoulder is either pulled or sprained, and according to the others there's quite a bruise there too, RJ should have put it in a sling rather than wrap it in bandages to take some weight off it... And maybe some ice would help relieve more pain as well as stop any sweeping. And maybe-"

"How do you know all of this?" Fran jumped as Maya turned to look at her again suddenly as she asked her question in a tone which the bookworm noted was in a slightly irritated tone. "Seriously, you're like a walking dictionary. Spurting out random knowledge and all that medical stuff."

Fran hesitated a little, before replying, "W-Well, I like to read lots of books, a-and when I was in school I studied medicine and first aid s-so that's how I know how to treat a shoulder injury."

"Then why work here? Why not become a nurse in training or something?"

"Well... Y'see... I'm scared of hospitals. I don't like the smell, the look, it's just... Creepy. To me anyway. So I instead use my medical knowledge to help any friends that, for example, have pulled a muscle or twisted an ankle, o-or something like that anyway. I-It isn't much, but... I like to help others out h-however I can." There's a slight pause before Fran talked again. "So, uh... W-What made you do all of this?"

Maya tilted her head a little. "What do you mean? Coming home?"

"W-Well yes, but, uh.. The other stuff too. Learning kung fu, going to Japan, coming back home... I-It all seems like quite a lot to do for no reason."

"It's for my brother," Maya quickly responded, "my brother and myself. I didn't want to be weak, so I jumped at the opportunity to do kung fu when I got the chance. And... I couldn't stand the thought of my brother getting hurt again. I wanted to be able to protect him. But that didn't really work out; seems me moving to Japan, to get extra training, hurt him more than any physical attack could."

"I... I guess that's a valid reason to want to do what you've done. ... In a way, you do have more than your brother as family. Dominic is like family to you, right? He acts that way, at least," Fran stated, becoming less nervous as she reasons with the lioness. When she received a shrug in response, Fran continued. "The others seem to care too y'know. And since you took their constant asking of you to stay out of fights to heart, I'd be willing to bet you see them as family too. Or at least as friends."

With a little sigh, the lioness warrior looks over at her sort of friend; she and Fran hadn't exactly spoken since Maya first arrived, either because Fran was too shy or Maya just wasn't there for her to talk to. And yet, despite that, she was still being nice to the Pai Zhua student and even giving her some food for thought. "I... I guess you're right. I never thought about it that way." She smiled a little, and Fran smiled back.

The surveillance system alarm makes both the girls jump, and they quickly look at the screen. Lightening was crackling along the floor of Dai Shi's temple entrance, something which Maya remembered RJ told her to alert them about. "Oh no! I gotta warn them!" She garbled as she hurriedly scrambled for the headset and put it on, before chucking another headset at Fran for her to use. "Hello? Can you guys hear me?"

"Loud and clear Maya," Casey responded, making Maya sigh with relief.

Casey tensed up as his worst fear was confirmed by Maya's worried sounding voice. "I just saw lightening! I think the spirit rangers are on their way! Be on your guard! Also I have Fran with me."

"H-Hi guys. Here to help." The red ranger chuckled as he heard the slightly nervous voice of his friend communicating to them.

"Thanks Fran. Which camera did you guys see the lightening on?"

"Camera 45, the one outside Dai Shi"s temple. You might not have much time until they arrive, but at least it's some sort of sign. By the way, do you guys know where the camera is? Can you see it? Because I haven't seen any of you on the camera ever since you left the loft."

RJ pointed to the northeast of where they all stood, and through the various trees and various leaves, allowing the team to catch a glimpse that was hidden. "Y'see the red light? That's the camera. If we can get near it, Maya and Fran should be able to see us and the fight that's probably going to be ensuing any moment now." The five walked over in the direction RJ pointed, and promptly heard am "Ah ha!" Through the communication system. "Haha, see us now?"

"Yea, we see yo- oh no. LOOK OUT, BEHIND YOU!"

Maya's shrieks alerted the team, and all of them quickly turned around. Lightening crackled along the floor, before dispersing. Like moths to a flame, the spirit rangers swarmed the group almost immediately after the lightening vanished, and began to fight them.

"Split them up!" Fran shouted through the communicator. With a nod of agreement, RJ began to fight the bat spirit ranger, and managed to move back away from the others. He attempted to strike the wolf ranger's helmet, stomach and chest with swift and sudden movements, with RJ either being hit or just barely being able to block the attack with his arms. RJ swung at the bat spirit ranger, only for his attack to be dodged, and when that failed he quickly followed through with multiple quick kicks. One kick, dodged, second kick, blocked, third kick, blocked again... And then an arm strike to the chest knocked RJ backwards, stumbling. Just as he recovered, having been somewhat caught off guard, the bat spirit ranger attacked with a strong kick to the chest, sending the wolf ranger flying and sprawling out onto the floor. "RJ!" As the master groaned and tried to recover, he heard the shrieks of the two girls in his ears, frantic and worried.

Dominic only got a brief glance at RJ getting beaten up by the bat spirit ranger, before quickly ducking and dodging a one-two punch attack from the elephant spirit ranger. He quickly kicked in retaliation, hoping to knock his foe off his feet with the powerful strike. But the spirit ranger didn't even wobble when he blocked it. Dom tried again with a low sweeping kick, but the elephant spirit ranger jumped and avoided it, before dodging the oncoming swing as the rhino ranger desperately slashed at his foe with the rhino blade attached to his morpher. As the blade hit a tree, sparks flew everywhere and caused a semi-large explosion. As Dominic swung his blade again, the spirit ranger stopped it with a swift move of his arm, and with a burst of sonic energy, Dom got flung away and sent crashing into a tree, and while his helmet protected him for the most part, he was still very shaken up and dizzy. "Dom! No!" As Dom looked up at his for, he not only heard Fran's terrified voice, but he remembered a few days ago; when Camille was in the same position as he was, dizzy and weak.

Casey, Lily and Theo meanwhile were too busy fighting the shark spirit ranger to even see their friends getting thrown about like colourful ragdolls. Despite there being three of them and one of him, the spirit ranger was able to quickly block any punches or kicks the rangers attempted to hit him with. With a sharp jab to the chest, he sent Casey sprawling out onto the floor. He watched as Lily and Theo got caught in an arm lock with the shark spirit ranger, trying to stop him from attacking them too. The red ranger scrambled to his feet, and called out to his friends. "Guys! Let's do this!"

"Right!" Quickly, they knocked the shark spirit ranger back and rolled swiftly underneath his arms, ending up to the left and right of Casey. With a mighty cry of "Claw Cannon! Powered by animal spirits!", their weapon formed in their arms, and the three began to charge it with the elephant, shark and bat spirits that their masters had taught them; the only things that gave them solace and comfort knowing their spirits were still alive. The spirits all cried out together, eager to fight the control that had their owners captive and forced to fight against their wills, before vanishing as the cannon became fully charged.

"I hope this works..." Lily mumbled, worried. In the background, they could now see the other fights going on clear as day, with RJ being mercilessly beaten up by the bat spirit ranger, and Dominic struggling against the elephant spirit ranger.

Casey gripped the handle of the claw cannon tightly, hesitant. He still didn't want to do this, he still hoped that somehow a miracle would occur and allow them to not risk the lives of any of the masters... But as the shark spirit ranger slowly made his way over, as time seemed to almost halt for the three, he realised he had no choice. "Hold it steady... Don't hit the wrong target," he advised in an almost shaky voice.

RJ, struggling to hold off the bat spirit ranger, turned to the three students. "Rangers! Fire, hurry!" He urged desperately, before dodging another attack from his enemy.

"Guys, do it. Fire the cannon, " Maya's voice said through the communicators, "think about what we said earlier. About Master Finn preferring to be destroyed if it was for the good of the world. You know he would want that. I know it too." Despite her attempt to sound confident, her voice wavered, like she was having a hard time talking. Lily was the only one who could guess she was crying.

Hidden by his helmet, Casey bit his lip and closed his eyes. "Right... Sorry, Master." He inhaled deeply... And pushed the handle into the cannon, firing. "FIRE!"

Maya made her way through the forest, a black leather jacket keeping her warm, half running and half trying to take it easy. After the bright light of the claw cannon hit the shark spirit ranger, the camera went down and stopped showing any footage as well as having no sound. To make things worse, the communication system went down too, meaning Maya couldn't hear the rangers and they couldn't hear her. So much spirit energy caused the systems to shut down completely, though only temporarily. But Maya couldn't wait for the systems to come back online, nor could she wait for the team to return to the loft.

So she went to the location herself.

As soon as she saw a brief flash of red and purple, Maya began to sprint as fast as her body would let her, and she burst through the trees similarly to how the spirit rangers spontaneously appeared just a few minutes prior. After practically screeching to a halt, she looked at her friends before her. "Oh... Oh thank goodness you guys are still okay. The communication lines went down, and I couldn't wait for you to return home."

"Well, thanks for being concerned about us," Lily said in a gentle tone despite her heart pounding like crazy in her chest.

"Any sign of Master Finn? Is he okay? How will we know?"

Incoming footsteps from another source alerted the six, and they looked to see Camille making her way through the smoke, walking in an almost sassy manner. "I think I can answer that ~" she said with a smirk on her face. "You destroyed a spirit ranger. Congratulations. Guess what? You also destroyed your Master Finn~"

RJ felt sick to his stomach as his eyes widened in horror and shock. He felt ill. He felt dizzy. He felt like he was going to collapse at any moment, either that or suddenly burst into tears. He wasn't the only one who felt unwell so suddenly; Casey too was feeling a sudden wave of nausea, causing him to have to lean on his friends for support. Maya also felt sick to her stomach as tears threatened to spill from her eyes similar.

"Oh no, RJ..." Flit buzzed as he watched his friend go pale. Camille looked at RJ herself, and sighed. She gave them a look of pity, before turning away; even though she disliked these rangers, even though they were being a pain to her and her Master, and even though she especially disliked Master Finn and his son... She felt bad for them. All of them, even RJ, were still just young by her standards. Still barely able to understand the world she herself had lived in for ten thousand years. A death like this was no doubt a shock to their systems.

"Flit, come. Let's go," she said flatly, and he obediently flew to her side, landing on her shoulder.

As Camille vanished into the smoke the same way she appeared from it, the forest became haunting and silent, as only voices on the wind could be heard.