Don't Give Up
The alarm blared angrily into his ears and he woke with a start. It was not even light out yet, but already he knew he'd slept too long. The cheap motel linen under his head felt horrible, bleach and sweat scents mixed into a toxic odor. His chest heaved, his heart skipping beats.
He was not going to watch his friends die. He was not going to give up. Never give up. It was one of the Ranger rules.
"Morning sunshine," a groggy voice called from near the sink. Someone was shaving, he couldn't tell who.
"Should've taken someone up on the room offer. Damn bed was a rock," the voice was clearly Damon's.
Kai shrugged and slipped headed over to the sink. "Whatever, it's not like I was going to sleep anyway."
Damon nodded, sticking his toothbrush back in the carrying case. "Nice fluffy dreams too?"
"Yeah, nice fluffy dreams of Trakeena ripping my heart out with her bare hands and feeding it to some demented pet of hers. Sweet dreams, Damon. Real sweet."
The African American ran a hand over his bald pate. "Wonder what sort of things were gonna get today."
"Don't want to know," Kai replied bitterly. "Let's just do our job and get this over with."
"This isn't just a job, Kai." He was fully dressed now and was finishing up with his packing. "We're going to lose some innocent people today."
"No way around it. Yeah, I know. I just feel like I'm making the choices for them, and I don't feel right about it."
"You know the drill. We have to do what saves the most people."
"I'm tired of screwing up, Damon."
Damon scowled back at him. He raised a hand and brushed it across his sleeve. "Never. Give. Up."
Kai nodded and opened the door. The sky was pitch black and the world was silent. "Good morning, Angel Grove."
It didn't seem possible that it was five thirty. The night had passed by in a fit of raging spirals of darkness that still closed in around them.
Merrick turned over and opened his eyes. Alyssa was lying next to him on the couch, her small form resting against his chest. She stared up at him and reached up with her hand, touching his face and letting her fingertips slide down the length of his cheek. "We'll avenge her, Merrick. I promise."
He nodded, taking her hand and holding it against his heart. "I still feel her, here, and here," he brushed her hand against his temple.
She smiled and brushed her hand away. "I wish we had more time."
Cole came inside and wrapped his arms around her. "We all do, Alyssa."
She leaned back against his shoulder. "I'm glad we're all together. It makes this a little easier."
Danny sighed. "I just wish I knew Kendall was safe."
"You're more than just Elizabeth's cousin, aren't you, Danny," Max said quietly from near the window. He was finishing fastening a new pair of fingerless gloves. He didn't turn around. The smile he usually brought to the group was gone.
Danny shook his head. "What do you mean?"
"I mean you're lying to us."
"I'd never lie to you," Danny told him, his Columbian accent stronger than ever- which meant only one thing to his best friend. He wasn't being truthful.
"You're her father."
"No way," Danny told him. "I don't have a daughter."
"Then why don't I believe you?" Max said quietly. "Every time Kendall comes with you to an event the two of you act strange. She gets weird and runs off. She's never made any connection with any of us. Why are you hiding this from us?" He turned away. "At the reception, it was all a cover up. You've known all along."
"What?" Taylor called as she came out of the back bedroom. She was toweling her hair and re-braiding it as tightly as she could.
Alyssa took Cole's hand and squeezed a little harder than she mean to. "Danny?"
Danny turned away. "Why are you doing this?"
"Don't you think we deserve to know something as huge as this?" Max said with a grimace. His anger was apparent. "It took me a while to put the pieces together, but you cried out her name in your sleep last night. I heard you call out for Elizabeth."
Taylor put her hands on her hips. "I can't believe you have a daughter and you never told us about her."
"It's complicated."
"Sure it is," she said with as much seething anger as Max was silently wafting from across the room.
"I couldn't tell you, I couldn't admit it to myself."
"What could possibly be so damn complicated, Danny?" Taylor asked bluntly, throwing her towel at him. "You let Z go on thinking you were some distant relative."
"I couldn't let her know..."
"Know what?"
"That I abandoned her."
"What?"
"I don't know where she is," he told them firmly. "It took me about a year to put the pieces together myself."
"Kendall isn't her mother," Merrick realized.
"That's why she gets like that...." He paused. "The first time we contacted SPD using Trip's device on a different frequency, I saw Z and I knew she was my daughter, I didn't know how, but I knew that she was my own blood." He sat down and rubbed his face against his palms.
"You had an affair," Cole said unflinchingly.
Danny nodded miserably. "I don't know what happened to her mother. I haven't seen or heard from her since that night...Kendall told me that if I tried to find her she would leave me."
"You know her mother dies and leaves her orphaned," Alyssa said with disbelief. "You could change that, and you're not going to?"
"He doesn't have a choice," Eric said, taking a sip of black coffee and entering the conversation.. "If he changes Z's childhood at all she won't be found by Cruger in a few years, she won't come to SPD, and she won't become a ranger."
"You've got to be joking," Taylor smirked, looking back at her boyfriend with disbelief.
"He's right. I can't be her father. She can never know me." Danny shook his head in hopelessness.
"We're about to die, Danny. To hell with everything else," Max groaned. "At least you can tell her why you weren't a part of her life."
The air grew heavy around them, laden with unsaid words. They all walked away in silence. Max would not spare his friend even the most guarded glance. The wound was far too deep, the betrayal too fresh. To know that he was not a part of Danny's life when things really mattered was as much a death sentence as the ship coming to destroy his world.
"Good, God," the voices of the rangers echoed. The shattering calm of the darkness didn't lift as the summer morning arrived and the sun did not rise. The world would stop, for an instant the only thing that would stand between the world and total destruction would be a group of human warriors with failing powers, but no lack of heart or skill.
Holding on to each other, the rangers prepared for the instant when the field would hit them. Their window of opportunity. A minute stretched into two painfully long hours as the ship stopped time around them and started its reign of tyranny. Their day of reckoning was at long last come.
"The window should happen any minute now..." Billy told them all over his com link, praying as much as everyone else that he could save his own world from the fate that had already claimed so many of their allied worlds.
Suddenly the sky went black, everything swirled for a moment. "Brace yourselves."
The teams fell back as several hundred soldiers in pitch black armor made their way down from the vessel.
Tommy manged to strike one down as he readied his weapon. His hand came back bloody from striking the armor. He grimaced and pulled back, a bright red steam running down his arm.
Jason looked over at his friend anxiously. "You okay?" he asked as he blocked a massive blow coming for his head.
Tommy groaned, his hand hurt like hell and he'd barely started the fight. Kimberly shrieked as two of the soldiers went for her full speed.
"No you don't," her husband said with ferocity as he leapt in front of her and took one of the soldier's off to the side. He head butted it full on, knocking it unconscious. He then pulled out a dagger and sliced clean across the joint between the head plate and the body.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Zack asked. "They've got serious attitude!"
Rocky groaned as he was sent flying through the air toward a towering metal statue. "I don't know and I don't care. I just want them dead and buried," he said in pain as he stood up. His back was aching worse than ever from the impact.
"Guys!" Tanya called, reaching out to keep one of the soldiers from clamping down on her neck. She was starting to get surrounded. "We need to get movin'!"
Trini freed her from the corner by sending a blast straight through the armor into the soldier's heart. "Our phasers seem to work on these guys."
Tommy pulled out his own and fired. The blood from his hand made holding the weapon difficult. Kimberly took out her own weapon. "Team one to base," she called. "Requesting data on quadrant epsilon."
"We're not picking up any life signs in the area," she received from one of the command stations.
"What do you mean you're not seeing any life signs?" Kimberly paused and looked at her wrist. She was getting the GPS data, but there was no one in the vicinity other than her teammates. "Where the hell are the people we're trying to save?"
"There's not one civilian in the whole city, not a soul," Kat realized, coming up next to her. "They're in a different time."
Aisha grabbed Adam's arm. "Come on," she cried. "Don't give up."
He clutched his chest and nodded. She bent down in a crane stance and forced a forward ridgehand into the neck of one of their assailants. The two of them had been cornered and attacked, forced away from the group.
Adam was bleeding so heavily now that he could barely stand. He clutched his chest where he'd taken the knife blade slice for her.
"Come on," Aisha told him, supporting him.
"How much further to the rendezvous?" he asked, feeling the lightheadedness starting to spread.
"I'll let you know," she told him, reaching over to grab a fallen pipe in case they were attacked again.
"Do you remember that time we won the Ninja tournament?"
"Adam, why are you talking like this?" she asked.
"Answer me...Aisha."
"Yeah, I remember."
"You were the strongest one there, even then."
"Stop it, I'm going to get you back."
"I don't remember how, but I knew this would happen someday. I knew I'd never see her again."
Aisha stopped and let him rest his head on her shoulder. "I'm gonna get you back to Tanya."
He smiled up at her. "You never could give up."
"It's not that bad, Adam. I'm sure with some cleaning up and some rest you'll be fine."
"I can't feel my feet."
"Adam!" she knew there wasn't a chance that she could hold any more of his weight. As a small woman, she could only do so much.
"Leave me behind, Aisha. Save yourself. If they come back, I can fend them off for a while."
"I am not going to leave you behind."
"Please," he begged her. "Don't put your life on the line for me."
"We're going to get out of here together."
"Aisha,"
"I mean it Adam, fight with me."
She knelt down next to him and put her hand under his chin. "Don't you dare stop now."
He looked up blankly. "I feel like I'm going to die, Aisha."
"You are not going to die. I'm going to get you out of here. You are going to be fine."
She ripped off part of his shirt. She could tell that he had lost a lot of blood already, but actually seeing the slash was enough to make her stomach turn. "I don't think it's too deep."
"It feels like a paper cut, you know how they sting?."
She knew he had to be in excruciating pain. "We're almost there, Adam, just hang on. Once we make rendezvous, we'll stitch you up and you'll be fine."
Adam nodded and let her help him to stand.
Between the two of them they left a trail of blood behind them, but they would make it one way or another.
"Fan out!" Cole cried, trying to keep three men from attacking him all at once. He caught the first one with a front snap kick to the groin; the second he hammered with a roundhouse; the third made it to his shoulder before he slammed him face first into the ground with a well balanced throw.
Alyssa nodded and ran off to help Taylor and Eric.
Danny and Max made their ways to opposite ends of the courtyard, aiming kicks, punches, and bullets at anything they knew could be remotely hostile. Max couldn't bear to look at his friend, not now, maybe never again the same way. It was better if they split up, keep their heads in the game.
Merrick covered Cole's back, using his stunner to shoot down as many as he could, and attacking those he couldn't with neck thrusts born out of his devastating blocks. The wolf spirit inside him took control- all the power he'd held inside from Zen Aku's possession was making him a fierce opponent.
"Need some help?" Alyssa called, making her way across the courtyard and to Taylor's side, as she approached the fountain behind her exploded in a mass of water and stone.
"What I need is a miracle!" Taylor replied, reloading her gun and aiming toward another of the soldiers attacking them ferociously.
"I'm fresh out!" Alyssa replied, trying her best to stay focused.
"It's almost time to move out," Eric said, wiping a cut lip on his shirt sleeve. Just as he bent down to talk to them a piece of metal whizzed over his head and lodged deep in the tree behind him.
An enemy trooper rammed through her makeshift wall. Taylor stood up and rammed her foot into his stomach. As her body took in the impact, her gun slipped from her grip. She reached down to grab it a fraction of a second too late. The enemy had it aimed at her, his expression of delight masked behind dark armor.
The bullet shot straight at her at point blank range. Taylor fell to her knees as the bullet found its way into her flesh. She could not scream, she could not turn to defend herself.
Eric leapt forward, driving all his energy into the warrior, killing him instantly.
"Taylor," he groaned, falling to the ground, holding her in his arms.
She reached up and grabbed his shoulder, "Eric," she struggled to breathe.
Alyssa moved to intercept, her face still written in disbelief. She picked up Taylor's weapon and began to fire rapidly until the clip was empty.
"Is this...what...it feels like...to die." She had closed her eyes.
"Don't you die on me. Don't you die..." Eric pressed his hand to her wound trying to stop the bleeding. "Taylor!"
She tried in vain to smile at him as her body went limp.
Cassie covered Ashley using a broken dagger like sai. She could feel the cut on her forehead running blood down her cheek. It was getting harder to concentrate with the exhaustion she now felt. The assailant caught her off guard and knocked the dagger away, leaving her hands empty. She immediately flew into defense mode, catching his thrust to her neck with a spear hand/block combination. His strength was too much, however, and he sent her sprawling to the ground.
Carlos threw himself on top of her assailant, shoving him onto a piece of shrapnel.
Cassie was too stunned to stand.
Carlos came to her side. "Are you okay?" he asked her, putting his arm under her head to keep it from slamming against the concrete.
She nodded dumbly, feeling herself slipping out of the daze. She didn't want him to leave her. She wanted to stop fighting.
"Cassie?" he asked her again. "Do you have a concussion?"
She didn't know, and sat up, shaking off the dizziness. "I think I'll be all right for now, but I don't know how much more of this I can take."
"I know," he told her. She could tell he felt the same way. His arm was bandaged with a piece of his shirt and he had a distinct fatigue to his step. His face was worn and greasy.
"Where's TJ?" she tried to murmur.
"I don't know, I lost him." The mall was huge, and dark with the lack of electricity. The team had lost Andros and Zhane and Justin.
She swayed as she stood up. "We have to keep fighting."
Carlos nodded, helping her back into a fighting stance by letting her lean back-to-back against him.
Ashley trudged over, leaping gracefully over a fallen steel beam. "What just happened?" she asked, realizing that Cassie was staggering.
"I got knocked over," Cassie told her. "I'll be all right."
Ashley breathed heavily. "I don't think we can hold them much longer."
"Don't say that," Carlos protested. "We have to hold them."
"We need to regroup, start out fresh with larger numbers. We can't hold them like this."
Carlos knew she was right. "Where are Andros and Zhane?"
"I lost them a while back. Andros went off to find Justin, Zhane went to help Karone."
"I think we're on our own," Cassie commented. "How far to the rendezvous point?"
"At least a mile," Ashley told her.
"Can we make it?"
"If we fight like hell, maybe."
Cassie nodded. "How many stand between us and them?"
"At least thirty, if not more."
Carlos clenched his fist around her shoulder. "Ten to one odds isn't at all comforting."
"We don't have a choice."
"Are you sure?" Ashley asked, feeling the weight of what they were about to do bury her.
"Look, Ash, we don't have another option. This is it. We don't have a choice," Carlos told her.
She nodded. "Okay let's try."
"Right."
Cassie flexed her legs to get her muscles working again. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears. She began to run, feeling the pumping sensation create a sort of barrier between her and the broken word around her.
Ashley followed not far behind, tossing a piece of steel like a throwing star at the one barrier in their way. She had a grim look on her face, full of utmost determination. She didn't want to die. Not now. She had Andros to spend her life with. She wouldn't give up.
Carlos launched forward into an aerial front kick, taking out two of the assailants with backfists as they started to stumble from his kick. They kept running, not attempting to see if they had taken out their enemy.
It was too hard to breathe, let alone stop to check how many of them were following.
Cassie launched herself at one of the soldiers, grabbing his gun and mercilessly ripping it from his hand. She aimed and fired at point blank, letting the electrical current drop him like a rock.
She could feel sweat pouring off her in sheets. She was running out of energy quickly and surely.
It was then that she saw TJ up ahead. Ashley saw Andros, sitting on of of the piers, his back arched to give his backflip momentum. They both looked relatively unharmed.
"Guys!" Carlos called as they reached them.
TJ nodded in relief. "I'm so glad to see you guys. For a minute there, I'd thought we'd really lost you."
Cassie staggered forward, collapsing in his arms. "We almost didn't make it."
"You're hurt," he remarked, noticing the caked blood coating her forehead.
"Don't worry about me Teej."
"Where's Justin?" Andros asked, hugging Ashley as tight as he could.
"He went off to find Zhane. I haven't seen him since, but I think the building he ran into had already been cleared so he should be okay." Carlos collapsed against the pier.
"We'll have to go back for him later," Andros decided. "Hopefully we can meet up with Leo's team soon. It says they're about three miles northwest. If we run we might make it before nightfall."
"I don't think I can run any more," Cassie told him.
"I don't either," Ashley told her husband.
"We'll have to find some transportation, then."
"If we take a car they'll blow us to hell," TJ reminded him.
"We can at least try," Carlos argued. "If we stay here we'll be in the belly of the beast before we know it."
TJ agreed reluctantly. "We need to stock up on artillery to defend ourselves."
"Right, you two go find as many cartridges for this thing as you can find," Andros told TJ and Carlos. "I'll find some water and food for Ashley and Cassie."
Leo held out his hand to his brother. Mike took it with a fierce look that reminded Leo of the look he'd gotten every time they'd played tag as kids.
"You gonna hold on this time?" he asked.
"You gonna let me fall?"
Leo smiled. "I never could stop you."
Maya and Kendrix came up beside them. "I think I see Zhane, Karone, and Justin coming."
Leo nodded. "That's good. We're clear to go then."
Mike nodded. "You ready, little brother?"
Leo didn't respond. He turned and started running.
"I don't think I can hold it much longer," Syd told Sky over her comm. The signal was breaking up as the static clouds continued to build. "Bridge and I are surrounded, trying to hold position..."
"I'm coming, just hold position."
"Jack," Z whispered.
"Yeah, Z?"
"I'm going to get you home safe, I just wanted to confirm that in your mind."
"I'm not scared, Z. I know Ally will be okay." It was getting so cloudy it looked like it was snowing. Jack shivered, feeling colder than ever. He was leaning against one of the massive chunks of what used to be the wall in front of the government building, steadying his breathing and trying not to pass out from the pain in his ankle.
"You deserve to hold that baby, Jack. You deserve to see your son."
"I'm okay, Z. Don't worry about me. Just focus. Do your duty and I'll do mine. That's all that matters right now."
"How can you be so cold?" she asked. "Jack, you have a baby waiting for you at home. Don't you feel something?"
"If I don't do this right now, it doesn't matter. We won't have that world to go back to anyway."
"I just don't understand. You're not afraid to die are you, Jack?"
He looked over at her, she was holding the stunner to her shoulder. "Now is the time to believe in God if you ever are, Z."
She turned, noting that there was no sense of sarcasm in his voice.
"I'm glad you're here with me, Jack." Elizabeth turned to him. "You're giving me strength right now. You might not realize it, but you are." He reached out, grabbed her hand and squeezed gently.
Z felt herself split into pieces, three bodies to one mind. She forced two of herself to go out to fight and she let the other, the real her, stay by Jack's side for a while, listening to his breathing and feeling his skin against hers. She knew he would never be hers, but at least she knew that they still had a friendship that was unbreakable, and in their moment of reckoning they were together.
Bridge pushed back against the wall, feeling himself succumbing to hopelessness. "We can't get out of here, Syd."
She looked back at him. "Remember that time I stole your gloves and you got mad at me?" Syd asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, I remember." He smiled over at her. "Good thing you gave them back."
"I wasn't trying to upset you, I hope you know that."
"I've always known that, Syd." He pulled out his phaser and prepared to rush the next group coming around the corner. "I've always known."
It was hard not to feel like death would be easier. Wes would not deny that it would be a simple action to grab Jen's arm, kiss her once more time, and then blow away in the winds of oblivion. But he knew there was so much more to life. He had to save the people of Earth from an evil they weren't ready to face. He had to fight so that others would live.
"Wes," Jen called, throwing him a weapon. He caught it with his outstretched hand. He brought it down in a crescent arc down on the armor of the man attacking him.
Lucas breezed by on a motorcycle he'd stolen from a nearby lot. He hit Wes's attacker with the back wheel sending him spinning head-over-heels into a nearby building. He looked back and nodded to Wes diligently before driving off, shooting at each target that he could find.
Trip followed him using a Xybrian fighting staff that shocked whoever was touched by the tip. He caught someone just beneath the arm and hiked them up enough to perform a decent fireman's throw that caused an awful crack when the body hit the ground.
Katie was performing a well-executed hip throw on one of her victims who was going at her with a steel rod. She was breathing harder than usual, and everyone around her could see that she was weakening from the stress of fighting so long. Her hair no longer had its signature bounce, and her step was long and pronounced.
Lucas came back to cover her as she took a quick sip of water. She almost fell over as she tried to squeeze the bottle.
"Katie?" he yelled.
She looked over at him with dark eyes. "I'll be fine. Let's just get this bitch over with."
He gave her a hand and she flung over the seat behind him catching another one of their enemies over the head with a somersault kick to the chin. She brought her foot back with a knee reap before climbing onto the bike behind Lucas. A bruise was already forming on her forearm where she'd caught the brunt of a blow that was meant for her throat. Lucas wasn't faring much better, he had a cut dripping blood down his shoulder.
Trip back flipped just in time to miss a rogue shot fired at Wes by someone on top of a nearby building. He caught a piece of rubble as he landed, wrenching his ankle just enough to cause him to scream in pain.
"Die Xybrian!" was the monotonous call of one of the warriors that had once been a humanoid from one of the conquered worlds.
"No, you die!" he yelled back, tapping into the adrenaline and ramming the staff head first into his heart.
Jen noted Trip's scream and began a downhill sprint to his side. "Trip!" she called, shooting over his head.
He looked back at Jen wearily. "I'm losing steam," he admitted. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."
Jen felt exactly the same way, and she put a hand on Trip's shoulder briefly to show her consent. She found herself longing for one of the many battles against Ransik's goons where they'd been getting their butts kicked while morphed instead.
"Son of a..." Katie exclaimed as a large piece of the Angel Grove Bank collapsed onto the street in front of them as if it had been a piece of Styrofoam.
Lucas swerved just in time to miss it. "How long till rendezvous?" he asked her.
She looked down at her wrist quickly. "Twenty five minutes."
"Dammit," Lucas exclaimed, not holding out much hope that they would last that long. "This thing's running out of gas."
Katie squeezed his shoulders. "We'll make it Lucas."
He stopped the bike and they dismounted just in time as another blast blew the whole Ducati bike to shreds.
Jen, Wes, Trip, Katie, and Lucas stood there in the middle of the street waiting for the clock to strike. They knew that was only the beginning of the fight.
Blake had never considered himself lucky in the lotto sense of the word, but as a five ton beam crashed just inches from him, he realized someone was definitely looking out for him.
Hunter looked over at him with wide eyes. He had been sure that Blake had been killed.
Blake gave a thumbs up to his brother and launched at another of the warriors that was threatening to take out the Angel Grove Farmer's Market with a RPG.
Tori sent a blast of water toward Blake to cover his tracks. She was rapidly tiring from using her powers so often. Already she could see the effects beginning to wane. She took off at a run to vault off a car over the heads of several of the warriors. The momentum sent her higher into the air than was probably safe for a landing. For a moment she panicked. Just then she was relieved to note that Shane had arrived and was preparing to catch her as she fell.
She hit him like a sack of potatoes, but his strong build managed to hold her without collapsing. "Nicely done," he told her, checking out the mass of limp forms in front of them.
She smiled. "I'm actually amazed that worked," she confided.
Dustin breezed by with a series of roundhouse kicks that left them both spinning.
"Ten minutes till crunch time!" he called, whooping as loudly as he could to pierce the droning.
Cam followed close behind him with his Samurai katana whirring elegantly, catching each opponent in all the correct places to cause the most damage. Tori was extremely impressed with Cam's skill.
"Going up again?" Shane asked Tori.
She nodded, letting him give her a leg up onto his shoulders. she stood there focusing on creating another torrent. Shane's eyes became a mass of fire for a moment and the fire and water mixed creating a blinding light.
Hunter and Blake met Dustin and Cam in front of a toppled fruit cart and managed to create a gauntlet that involved several moves combined between the four of them.
"Okay guys," Shane called, checking his watch. The little red light was flickering. "Time to make a run for it."
Conner was wishing he'd done something besides play soccer the last few years. Sure it had left him in peak physical condition which helped, but his Tae Kwon Do was all muddled. He kept seeing the enemy as little black and white balls that he could kick at an invisible goal, which was bad because they were kicking back.
"Conner!" Kira yelled as he almost missed another block. "WTF?"
He looked back at her. "I'm a little preoccupied," he yelled back.
"Now is not the time, man!" Ethan reprimanded. "Now kick their asses before they kick yours!"
Conner nodded and went back to his furious hacking. This time he kept seeing Krista being dragged off in the corner of his vision which made things worse. He closed his eyes and begged himself to focus on saving his own life. He kicked out and sent the nearest villain flying back at least five hundred feet.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Trent yelled. "Tell them who's boss, man!"
Kira shrugged a large alien warrior off her by ducking as he went in for an attack. He flew past her right into Trent's punch.
Her fiancé smiled. "Now that's teamwork."
Ethan did a vertical wall run and popped up behind another to take it out stealthily. "Time of destruction, Whatever the hell time it is: Pacific."
Conner nodded. He was glad it was time to start heading toward the center of town for the morpher detonation. He was about ready to lose his mind. He wished he could morph. It would have made it a lot easier to focus.
"Are you okay, Conner?" Trent asked as he came close enough to carry on a conversation.
"I'm not really sure."
"What's wrong?"
Conner couldn't really explain how he felt. He had a tingling sensation all over like he was going to explode. He felt extreme hypertension.
"Is it you, or something else?"
"Um...I think something freaky is happening actually. I literally can't focus."
"This is sort of important, Conner."
"Yeah, I get that, Trent." He closed his eyes again. He was now starting to get a migraine. The ground was starting to spin under his feet. "What the hell is happening to me?" he whispered almost inaudibly.
Trent noted his sudden tremble. "Man, you don't look so good."
Ethan had managed to fight his way toward the two other guys. Kira quickly followed.
"Conner?" Kira said with concern.
He looked up at her. His eyes were misted with tears of pain. "My head is splitting." He felt his knees give out.
Ethan's eyes went so wide Trent was surprised to see them remain socketed.
"Conner!"
He was on his knees, holding his head like it was on fire.
Destroy them! he heard a voice in his head screaming. End this!
"I can't," he started. "I can't breathe."
Kira knelt beside him, trusting that Trent and Ethan could hold them for a moment. "Come on, Conner."
"Come on, man!" Ethan said with as much force as he could muster. "We need to get the hell out of here."
Conner opened his eyes and looked over at Kira. She touched his cheek with her hand. "What is it, Conner?"
"I can't breathe, Kira. My head feels like it's going to explode and I can't hear my own thoughts." He grimaced again.
"Can you walk?"
"No," he told her with utmost certainty.
Kill them! Take them back to the beginning! I command you!
"Get out of my head!" he screamed. He knew now what was happening. The leader of the enemies, the Unknown Force, was trying to get him to ruin their plans.
Kira backed away. "Who's in your head?"
"HIM!" Conner yelled. "GET OUT!"
The other three understood immediately. "Come on, Conner, you're stronger than him."
Conner could feel rage inside him making his blood boil. A question kept popping into his head. Why me? Why? Why? Why?
Ethan and Trent moved in closer. "What does he want?" Trent asked as he drove another snap kick.
"Control of everything." He shook his head. "He wants to go back to the beginning, whatever that means."
"NO!" Conner forced the thought as hard as he could. He could feel blood start to run from his nose.
Kira brushed the blood away with her fingers. "Conner, you're bleeding."
He could feel his head coming closer and closer to the breaking point. The normal human mind was not built to withstand this kind of rebellion.
His eyes snapped open.
He stood like a puppet on strings and threw his arms in an arc. Each and every soldier surrounding them collapsed under his power. "I will never do as you say," he said with finality. "You'll have to kill us all before we give in."
The clouds swirled in the sky above them.
Conner's hair covered his eyes making him look more dangerous than ever. "Let's go Rangers."
Kira, Trent, and Ethan followed in a daze. There would be room for questioning later. If they survived.
Come on stupid, Mack taunted. He was daring them to attack him. He knew exactly how to execute a move that would devastate them. One perk of the strength he'd retained from his android birth.
Dax was his decoy.
There was Rose, sneaking inside the circle where they were marching.
Will was getting in place, and so was Ronny.
"Are you ready, Ty?" Mack asked, realizing he wouldn't get an answer.
"Come and get me," Dax yelled at the top of his lungs. "I know you want me!"
A loud growl welcomed him as one of the warriors launched at him. Just as the sword was about to connect Tyzonn shifted form and sent him flying back like a marionette on broken strings.
Mack dived under his feet and knocked down at least four of them at one. Rose took the distraction and made her move. Will launched himself off the flagpole and Dax and Ronny raced back to the center of the fray.
"Good work!" Will cried out. "We doused those losers!"
Rose smiled, giving him a high five. She was trying to remain composed, trying not to think about who they were fighting. Their souls were gone, but they were still alive. She knew that a part of her would always carry that weight.
Nick turned his back for a moment, just a moment. In that split second he found himself flying headfirst at a piece of rebar.
It was only because of Madison that he managed to survive the impact. She stood in his way, causing him to crash into her. The impact slowed him down just enough to stop him from impaling them both on the outstretched metal.
She looked up at him as he landed on her. "Don't do that again," she made him promise.
He looked back down at her. "Thanks," he helped her stand and blocked a blow coming for them. Just as his upturned arm caught the arcing blow a spell burst forth and cooked the warrior like a piece of meat in a barbecue. "Good timing."
Chip looked over to see Vida and Xander teaming up against six or seven armed troops. "Guys!" he called to Nick and Madison. "We need some help over here!"
Nick looked over at Vida, the young woman was standing about as close to the brink of death as you could get without reaching out and grabbing it.
That was all it took, one look at her and he flew into a rage- the sort of rage that was of a last resort- best used only when your friend was about to die. The blood magic inside him unleashed in a fury. Madison barely had enough time to duck before he sent a massive ball of fire at the group of warriors, turning them all to ash. His eyes still glowed a sanguine crimson when he turned back to her.
"Nick?" she asked, shirking away from him in fear. "Nick, what was that?"
He closed his eyes and focused back on her. "That is my Light," he told her with cold determination.
Carter groaned as a massive chunk of rock smashed into him, knocking the breath right out of his chest and cracking a few ribs. Dana collapsed in a heap next to him. "Carter!" she cried, hearing the break and quickly flying into the role as his doctor.
"I'm okay," he told her as she crawled to his side.
She didn't seem to believe him. She touched his chest and he groaned in pain. "If that's okay," she started.
"I'm okay, Dana. I promise." He took her hand and let her help him to his feet.
"We need to get that wrapped," she told him angrily as he stood up and started back toward the fight. Chad and Joel were working hard to keep several of the warriors from severing the cables connecting the massive movie theater sign from its hinges.
"I'm fine, sweetheart, stop worrying about me!"
"What I wouldn't give to have you all be allergic to Earth," Kelsey said with bravado as she plunged one of the warriors head first into a shorted out electrical box. "That would be totally awesome right now."
Ryan smiled back. "Maybe if you make a wish!" he shouted over the loud droning of the fighting.
"We've survived this long," she shouted. "It's still possible."
"Now would definitely be a good time," Ryan replied before diving back into the melee.
"I don't think this is the best time for doubts," RJ told Casey as he tapped into his Pai Zhuq powers and flung a massive storm of black smoke in front of them. The magics lingered just long enough for him to turn to her and allow a moment's peace.
"I've always followed you on instinct, RJ, this time I can't." Casey looked over at RJ pleadingly. "I won't let you sacrifice yourself for us."
"You and I both know that Zordon doesn't have enough power left," he said while taking another step back and letting fly another of his devastating blows.
"But it doesn't have to be you. Not you. You're my brother, my friend."
"And who would you sacrifice instead, Casey?" his eyes glowed a fierce purple as he turned back toward his student and friend.
Casey couldn't answer that question. "I don't know."
He looked over at Lily and Theo and Dominic. They were there with him, his family, and he was not going to let any of them die that day.
"You still have so much to learn," RJ told him fiercely, "about love and sacrifice."
Casey's stomach turned. He couldn't change RJ's mind. That much was clear. All he could do was hope to the spirits that they could find another way.
"My children are out there, Angela," William Mitchell said defeatedly. "All my life I've tried to keep them safe but I always fail."
"You haven't failed them," she told him quietly. "They're strong. If anyone makes it back it will be them." She turned and looked over at her daughter, sitting on the floor next to her. She wouldn't give up hope that Joel would be coming back to them.
"I always told Ryan 'I won't let you fall.' I let him fall, Angela. He's out there fighting and I'm sitting here on my hands waiting. And Dana, she's never..."
"Bill," she said, taking his hand. "They're coming back."
Aysinia Cruger sat watching the stars, her back leaning against the hard metal armor protecting her husband's chest. For years she'd been in Gruum's prison, tormented by the thought of never seeing him again. Now she faced the same heart-wrenching pain of watching him fade away into the distance- and this time it would be her that took him for dead and was forced to move on.
"I have to do this," he told her quietly. "You know that as much as I do."
"But why, Doggie? Why do you have to go?"
"I'll see you again soon, in the stars glowing above Sirius," he told her fondly. "The Power will always protect me."
She didn't believe him. She didn't have enough faith. The sky above New Tech City had gone pitch black. It was as if the world was being swallowed up by the night.
"What happened that day?" she asked him quietly. "What really happened?"
He suppressed a sigh. "The Earth stood still," was all he told her. "The world stood still and planets all around the known universe were snuffed out like candles in the wind. History did well to erase such a horrible day from its books."
"And?"
"And we made a terrible mistake." He moved away from her, staring out into the pitch black sky. He handed her his portable database, the mini super-computer holding all the information from all the records of human existence from the dawn of writing.
Aysinia looked over at him from the screen. The tiny dome flickering as a beacon against the desert. "What is it, Doggie?"
"They said it would be the last city on Earth." He turned back to her. "In 146 BC the prosperous Greek city-state of Corinth was destroyed by the Roman Empire. The whole city was obliterated. The name was later used for a project being conducted in California's Death Valley. Corinth, as the new city was called, was enveloped in a dome, a city meant to withstand a nuclear war or an alien invasion. The project was based on the design first created for Terra Venture, one of Earth's first space endeavors. When the Dark Day came, the city disappeared. The whole thing went up in a cloud of sand. The inhabitants were never seen again. It is my belief that the city was taken outside time- that those people are still alive, Aysinia. I need you to continue my work. I need you to find the domed city of Corinth and return it to it's resting place in time. Do this for me. Promise."
"Anubis!" he had already morphed, the Shadow Ranger stared back at her.
"I love you, Aysinia."
Before she could reply, he was gone.