The Dark Cheetah

Summary: Lily's dark past is finally catching up with her. How will she cope when her two best friends find out her darkest secret? Casey/Lily, Theo/Fran.

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers.

Chapter 21:

There were two plans in place to stop Peter: the first one was from Dai Shi and the other one from the spirit. Dai Shi wanted the power that would be produced to go into a talisman, allowing him to cast as much fear onto the world as he liked. Having the Rangers destroyed was a bonus feature of the plan, although he didn't anticipate himself to be in the same position as the Rangers. The spirits plan, however, wanted to nullify the power that would be produced and destroy Peter's animal spirit, thus ending the Rampark curse. It also wanted to save the Ranger's life, being on the side of good too.

Lily couldn't move a muscle, even if she wasn't tied to the alter. The draining of her animal spirit had weakened her considerably, nearly paralysing her. She moved her head to look at Casey, and saw that he was in a similar situation as her.

Casey opened his mouth, as if trying to speak, but no words came out. Instead, he looked straight into Lily's eyes, and smiled reassuringly at her, as if saying that everything was going to be alright. She smiled back at him.

The sky darkened as the sun finally set below the horizon. The longest day was over, and the shortest night had begun. The chanting continued as several colours came from the alter; red, blue, yellow, violet, green and black. They all came together in a swirl, similar to an upside down tornado.

Lily wanted to scream, but her vocal chords were paralysed. Her eyes bulged in their sockets as the pain swept through her body in waves. She was beginning to worry that her brothers had betrayed her, giving her false hope that the curse could be broken.

At the same moment as Lily had that thought, the chanting stopped. The coloured spiral began to fade and movement came back to her body. She looked up, and saw that her two brothers were standing over the alter.

'What is the meaning of this?' Peter demanded, turning his black eyes towards his sons.

Zack held up his Bo staff, letting a blade come out of one end of the staff. He then used his Bo staff to cut the bonds that held the rangers to the alter. 'I'm breaking the curse on our family,' he replied, helping his sister to get up.

'But the power could've been ours!' Peter exclaimed. By this point, his wife Suzy had walked over to him and now stood by his side.

'No father,' Jamie said, helping the others to their feet. 'The power would've been yours, and where would that leave us? You would have no more need for us, making us worthless in your eyes.'

'I would've needed a predecessor,' Peter said.

'No, the power would've made you, and whoever you chose, to be immortal,' Zack explained.

'And we all know the person you would choose,' Jamie chipped in.

'Easily allowing to you to choose more suitable children to share your power with,' Zack finished explaining.

'Well, when you put it that way, you must be right,' Suzy said, leaning on her husband.

'It does not matter, for I have prepared for this moment,' Peter said, raising his hands in front of himself and closing his eyes. Suzy stepped away from Peter, already knowing what was about to happen.

Peter's body started to glow black as a dark form came from his body. As the dark form took the shape of a Cheetah, the animal turned into a dirty yellow colour, with evil looking red eyes.

Peter then fell to his knees, where he fell into his wife's waiting arms.

'This is the curse of the Ramparks,' she explained. 'It formed from the hatred at the Pai Zhuq academy for banishing him and every descendant has taken on the name Peter, to carry on the work of the founding father of the most powerful family in the world.

The dark Cheetah shifted his gaze at the Rangers, who were stood in a line in front of the alter. Dai Shi, Camille, Zack and Jamie were also lined up, their Bo staffs held in front of them, waiting for the inevitable battle.

'Dai Shi,' it rasped in a dark voice, 'I had such a lot of faith in you all those years ago. You showed such great potential and if you hadn't been trapped, I would've welcomed you into the family.'

'You ruined my life,' Dai Shi shouted back. 'Because of you, my heart was filled with anger, with the need to feed of pathetic humans fear! My power would've grown without your input, now that I've had 10,000 years to think about it!' He then transformed into his battle gear, with Camille following suit.

'Wait!' Lily shouted, holding her hand out to stop Dai Shi from attacking. 'Why did you want our powers?'

'Ah, not even Peter knows why, so let me tell you.' The dark form said, sitting down on his haunches.

'When Dai Shi was trapped in that box, I knew that he would be released by a fool hardy soul who craved power and felt misused, similar to how he felt all those years ago. So I waited for the three who would try and defeat him, knowing that their power would make me stronger!' he explained.

'And the only person who can stop you is me,' Lily said, staring straight into his eyes.

'Yes, not many females are born in the Rampark line and those that are are usually true of heart and almost impossible to convert to the side of darkness.' He said.

'Only the purest of light can defeat the purest of evil,' RJ chipped in from behind the alter.

'That is very true, and it is a shame that that pureness can also infect her siblings, making it harder for the next generation of Ramparks to be evil,' he said, looking at the two brothers. He then rose from his haunches and said, 'So now if I can't take your power, then I will have to destroy you.'

'You guys ready?' Casey asked.

'Ready!' Theo and Lily said I unison.

'Jungle Beast! Spirit Unleashed!'

A red, blue and yellow light lit up the newly darkened sky as the final battle begun to break the Rampark curse forever.

Ok, I know I lied, but I didn't want to rush the ending and different things came to me as I wrote this chapter. So I am estimating at least two more chapters, one for the fight and an epilogue. So hang in there guys and I'll update whenever.

Red Shadow Ranger