A/N: We're nearing the home stretch; what may happen soon-some will not like, but it's not like I haven't been building up to it.

Chapter 10

With the sun on her face, Ivy smiled as she stretched out her limbs and retracted her roots. She shook herself to wake up further, and watched from the corner of her eye as Nightshade did the same. Her smile faltered when she saw that Gia wasn't where she'd been the previous night, and her lapse in judgment began to rush in.

"That traitor!" Ivy screamed and Nightshade stood at the ready.

"Just say the word, master, and I will personally hunt down that girl." He vowed.

"There's no need for such haste." A familiar voice spoke.

Ivy whirled around, her eyes locking on her maker's form as he stood on the perch. How he got there or why he wasn't there didn't cross her mind as she knew better than to ask her maker such things. Instead, in her hurt mindset, she ran toward him, and threw her arms around him.

Her maker froze under the grip, and while he grabbed her to push her away, he paused, and slowly began to pat her on the back; the gesture was familiar to Ivy, it was something from her memories, something that she could vaguely remember someone important to her doing when she was scared or upset.

'If they were that important, you would have remembered them. Maker is the only one who truly matters.' Ivy thought, and she couldn't disagree with that reasoning. "Gia was turned, why would she still run from me? I thought she really did care."

"You have a soft heart. Perhaps now is the time to end things." Her maker said. "If she really did change, and she chose the humans over you, it would be best for you to harden your heart from further pain."

Ivy tightened her hold on her maker, and she closed her eyes tightly. "Yes, you're right, father."

Her maker froze once more under her grip.

Walking into the cave in the early morning of the day, the first thing Noah and Jake noticed was that Tensou was buzzing around the colored panels, specifically Emma's as there were several charts on it.

"What's going on?" Jake questioned. "Did you get a cure for the sleeper fruits already?"

"Not yet, but Gia was able to bring us the plant cure for Troy, and the blood from Emma!" Tensou said.

"Really? Where is she?" Jake asked.

"She's sleeping on a cot next to Troy; she spent the most of the night here." Tensou replied.

"Is she hurt?" Jake asked.

"Do you need any help with making an antidote?" Noah asked.

"Gia's not hurt, just tired; you can go talk to her." Tensou said.

"And while it is admirable that you wish to help, Noah, you're time would be better spent in preparation for how to administer the cure when it is time." Gosei said.

Noah nodded reluctantly, and hurried after Jake toward the cots. Noah took in how the purplish coloring to Troy's skin was skin spreading slowly, but the painful expression on his face had smoothed out. 'At least it looks like he's not feeling it anymore.'

Jake shook Gia's shoulder, who groaned as she opened her eyes and sat up. "What happened out there? Did you get caught or something?"

Gia remained silent as she removed the green contacts from her eyes, and grimaced as she tugged on the vines. "Get me that solvent, these things are starting to hurt." She said and took in a deep breath. "When I was out there, everything was going fine. It wasn't until I woke up during the night that things got…weird."

Exchanging a glance, Noah asked "Weird, how?"

Gia furrowed her brow, her expression vaguely disturbed. "Well, I couldn't find my morpher, and then Vrak showed up…"

Gia felt a flush of terror grip her as she uselessly clenched her fists and tensed up; part of her wanted to run, and another part wanted to fight. She was almost sick to her stomach as she didn't know which method to take. "What are you doing here?"

"Let's start with the obvious first," Vrak said flatly, "you're not a plant, and Ivy isn't contagious."

Gia scowled. "Her name is Emma!" she shouted defiantly. "She's always gonna be Emma!"

Vrak chuckled, his tone amused. "Not anymore." He said, but something seemed to shift in his demeanour as he gripped the can. His claws cut through the tin, and with a growl of disgust, he shook the liquid off.

Gia dashed forward, her hands grabbing the morpher from Vrak with all the strength she had, which sent her tumbling to the ground at how easy it had been. "Beam me up!" she yelled, and in a flash, she was gone.

Noah furrowed his brow. "That…sounded like he wasn't even trying."

"I know." Gia agreed. "We've seen what he's like when he's trying to stop us. With this though, it was almost like he wanted me to escape."

"What's his end game? If Emma can do so much, how come he's only had her try and get plants to eat people?" Noah questioned. "I thought he would have tried to destroy the city by now."

"Maybe he's still waiting for something." Gia said. "Let's hope Gosei and Tensou are able to get the cures we need. I don't think we're gonna like what Vrak has Emma do next."

Ivy frowned as she soaked in the continuing rising sun, but the warmth of the rays didn't help her sour mood. Had she crossed a line? Was that why her maker had pushed her back and told her to wait for his return? He'd ignored her frantic calls, and the rejection cut deeper than any previous betrayals she'd suffered, but the recent actions of traitorous Gia certainly hadn't helped.

'Perhaps I'm simply not meant to be anything more to him.' Ivy thought morosely. Glancing at her own servant, she pondered if that was going to be the same with them. "Nightshade, what do you think of me? With so much changing, and so much pain; can I depend on you?"

"I will serve you faithfully in return for the life you gave me, you are my maker and I will defend you until my dying breath." Nightshade said dutifully and bowed to her.

Ivy smiled tentatively. "Good, though I am worried about what my maker is going to do or say when he comes back; he certainly didn't look happy with me."

"I serve you, not him." Nightshade said firmly. "If he attempts to harm you, I will protect you even from him."

Ivy placed a hand over her heart, feeling touched that he cared. "While your dedication is appreciated, I do not wish to lose you either. We shall do as my maker says and wait for him as he commanded of us. The rangers are still the bigger threat after all."

"Man, Troy's kinda heavy." Noah said as he held up one of Troy's legs, while Gia held the other one and Jake was carrying his torso.

"Why couldn't we have just waited until Troy came too? Can't we just tell him he needs to make up where he went?" Jake asked.

"No, you know how Troy is about lying, and with how worried his parents are, I don't think he could handle it." Gia said. "This is for the best; Troy can play off that he has short-term amnesia or something, and the doctors can make sure the cure's doing its job."

"This still feels so wrong." Noah said. "We're just dumping his body and calling in the authorities to pick him up."

Troy groaned from his limbs being jostled by his friends handling, but he looked remarkably better given how terrible his condition had been. The purple had almost disappeared, and the rest of the patches could simply be brushed off as bruising.

"How do you think Troy is gonna react when he wakes up?" Jake asked. "The last thing he probably remembers is that plant monster attacking him, what if blows his cover and the doctors question him about it?"

"I think they'd be too focused on stabilizing him than to ask any questions until he's fully awake." Noah said. "One of us should be there though, to make sure he really is gonna be okay."

"I'll go," Gia volunteered, "I need something to take my mind off Emma." She shuddered and the movement caused Troy to groan in pain once more. "It was disturbing seeing her so devoted to Vrak for a moment, but now it's getting freaking creepy. I really hope Gosei and Tensou can up with something soon."

"Let's hope that Emma and Vrak don't realize what we're trying to do." Jake pointed out.

"Finding out Troy's still alive, or that we're trying to cure Emma?" Gia said sarcastically.

Jake grimaced. "Both, really."

Gia didn't want to agree, but he was feeling nervous too. She had left Emma behind and that anger would likely rear its head and Emma might go further off the deep end. 'If she hasn't already.' She thought guiltily.

Ivy had felt disjointed for every moment that her maker was gone, and her thoughts began to grow more and more uneasy. Why had she let that… word slip out? Who was she kidding; she was just his servant, nothing more. She'd be lucky to still be alive after her purpose was fulfilled.

Grimacing, Ivy's thoughts turned to Gia, and the anger returned with a vengeance. 'This is all her fault; if she hadn't left, then that word wouldn't have come out, and my maker wouldn't be avoiding me. I don't want him to hate me; I don't want him to look at me like he does the rangers again.' she thought bitterly. 'This is why the maker didn't want Gia around; she's too much of a distraction, she abandoned you again, how could you have believed she cared in the first place?'

Ivy held her head, gritting her teeth as a headache came over her, but this was nothing compared to the painful transformations she could feel echoes from. Clenching her fists, Ivy watched the leaves on her arms and hands bristle from her slowly rising rage, and she could see the energy from the tree start to fluctuate as well.

Not wanting to take her anger out on her tree or her servant, Ivy used one of the vines to lower herself to the ground and stared at the maze. She could only fault herself for bringing Gia over the maze, and telling her about all the intricacies it had, making it more than useless now.

Shaking from rage, Ivy let out a wordless shriek as she stomped down on the ground, and the maze shuddered for a moment before it began to sink back into the ground. The hedges turned into grass, the flowers were planted into the ground, and the rest of the adornments simply rotted away when the main parts had disconnected from them.

Ivy wrinkled her nose in disgust at the sight of the dirty and withered leftovers, and raised her hands, clasped them together, and the grass curled over the scattered husks and pulled them back into the earth. Sighing at the once more pristine field, Ivy sat down on the ground and absently noted Nightshade had followed her down the tree before her attention was caught by the sight of the two mutants with that toxic energy returning.

Ivy could feel a different kind of headache starting to form, and it made her seethe once more with the phantom pain flitting through her as she looked at them. They paused when she raised her hand, but she just clenched her fist. 'It's too easy.' she thought as she felt the thorns just beneath her palm retract. "What are you doing back here? My maker gave you a job, shouldn't you be doing it?"

"We've been gone for a day and you turn into a brat; what, did Vrak not give you something you wanted?" Bluefur taunted.

Ivy gritted her teeth as her leaves rustled once more. 'Maker still needs them, don't attack just yet.' She thought and let out a frustrated breath. "You still haven't answered me."

"Your plants have been destroyed by the rangers, well, two of them." Bigs said. "That coward yellow didn't show up; you better send in the rest of your flytraps."

At the mention of Gia, Ivy's rage started up again. "You will not tell me what to do!" she hissed. "There will be no flytraps; I have something else in mind." She said and narrowed her eyes. "Obviously since I can't rely on anyone other than Nightshade not to disappointment me, he will go and fight the rangers." She looked over at her servant. "You will end them; I don't care how painful you make it, or how quick, just kill them!"

Nightshade didn't hesitate as he bowed to Ivy. "It will be done. I shall show the wretches no mercy." He said and walked off to do fulfil his duty.

"Send in one more monster? He took out red, big deal." Bigs said snidely. "With all your great and mighty power I thought you'd come up with something more original for all the hype you got." He said sarcastically.

Ivy narrowed her eyes once more, fists clenched so tightly she worried about drawing blood. "I am my maker's creation; you will not speak to me in such a manner!"

"Yeah, he made you from a human, didn't even bother trying to just make you out of something else." Bluefur retorted.

Ivy hissed as she clutched her head, the word 'human' ringing her head as the haze clouding her memories began to fade a bit. 'These are of the past, they mean nothing anymore. They should be disregarded as useless. Your duty is to my maker, not to the ties from the past. Gia has proven that you can't trust them.' Ivy shut her eyes tightly. 'Maker is from the past, and he rejected me.' 'Destroy the city; crush the bonds of your previous existence! He will see you as worth keeping around, but do not dare betray him.' 'He left me,' Ivy thought and there was no reply to that, but Ivy didn't need one as she finished her thought, 'but I know he'll come back; the rangers only bring disaster with them.' 'They are the ones who must pay for this, go out and do your duty to my maker.'

Ivy could hear the mutants commenting on her slipping sanity, how she'd turned out to be a bust, and why she was still around. Feeling the anger swell once more, Ivy snapped her eyes open and fired a warning shot of thorns at them. "Leave me be, I need to think, and I can't do that with you two here."

"So you do have a mind of your own, I thought you were just a mindless drone with how you acted." Bigs said spitefully.

Ivy gritted her teeth, her leaves ruffling as she realized that her words or actions wouldn't have any affect unless her maker was around. Knowing that she'd be disobeying orders, Ivy waved her hand to the side and knocked the two mutants out of her way. "Nightshade can't deal with the rangers by himself, so I'm going to finally end this."

She didn't hear what the mutants had to say behind her back this time; her focus was on the task at hand. She marched through the forest and kept a look-out for any sign of the city. She could recall that it was down the mountain, but not how far.

Ivy frowned when she spotted something lying on the ground, her hazy memories unclouded for just a moment. What came to her had her clutching her head once more; she could feel the gratitude and hope from Gia accompanying her to somewhere, that she wasn't going through this all alone, that she still had someone there with her.

'What's happening, why is this happening now?' she wondered, picking up the white sheet and held it up in front of her. 'I was wearing this, when everything started; this is where-' her thoughts were cut off as another flash appeared in her mind; she could see Bigs and Bluefur attacking her and Gia, and the terror that came over her when she realized what they were after.

'These memories mean nothing,' that voice repeated, 'what's done is done.'

Ivy blinked a few times, her eyes trained on the blanket in her hands. As she continued her march into the city park, she kept the blanket clutched tightly in one hand.

Gia didn't know what to say to Troy, who looked quietly grim as he stared down at his lap. He had been rather groggy and wincing when he finally came to, his parents both simultaneously fussing over him and staying out of the doctor's way. Gia had stayed off to the side, a bit uncomfortable to be there, but when it was concluded that Troy would be fine, Gia took her chance to explain to him what had happened so far.

Troy finally broke the silence which had ensued, his expression unchanging. "Let's hope that Emma won't remember any of this then."

Gia blinked; she hadn't been expecting that to be his response. "Huh? Why say that?"

"Because, Emma has a big heart, and to know what she'd been like; I think the guilt would destroy her." Troy reasoned. "She might not be herself right now, but knowing that she sent those plants after the people, that she had that monster poison me, and she put all these civilians asleep; you're her best friend, can you honestly tell me that she wouldn't be upset by what she'd done?"

Gia remained silent as she thought over her answer. "She would," she answered carefully, "but not remembering would be just as bad; what if something happens to bring it all back? What if Vrak or those mutants come after her again and remind her of what happened? Emma could work through it, I know she could."

"First we need to get her back though." Troy said. "How's that cure coming along?"

"Nothing so far," Gia said, and pursed her lips, "and speaking of nothing coming along; where the heck has Robo Knight been? I thought he'd have been the first one here."

"Robo Knight still has trouble with humans," Troy reminded her, "and his first mission is to protect the environment. Well, Emma and her monster are part of the environment now. Would he really have attacked them if he was here?"

Gia grimaced. "Great, we're two rangers down and our ally might just stand back; this is turning out to be a wonderful week." She said rolling her eyes.

"I'm not out just yet; I'll get the doctor to let me leave as soon as I can." Troy said. "I've been out of commission long enough."

"You were poisoned." Gia said flatly. "No one was expecting that monster to just up and shoot you."

"I should have dodged it."

"You're not psychic; you couldn't have seen it coming." Gia said.

Troy only ran a hand through his hair, sighing in disappointment. "That's what makes this so much worse, I didn't. We've been at this for a while now; I should have realized that maybe the monsters might try something like this."

"You have every right to question the ranger method, but now's not the time to be brooding." Gia said. "You need to get better; you're the leader, how can you expect us to have faith in you when you don't?"

Troy glanced away, his expression conflicted. "A monster is one thing, this is different. Emma is our friend; I almost wish it had been me who got doused."

Gia frowned. "Don't go talking like that; you can only carry so much weight. Do you think it was easy betraying Emma? I would hate doing that to her even if she was normal again."

Troy peered at her a bit strangely. "You're rather hung up on this, how close are you two?"

Gia flushed mildly. "Best friends." She said firmly, but Troy didn't quite look as though he believed her. Frankly, she didn't believe herself either.