A/N: A very pleasant Wednesday from the Great State of Texas. Welcome to the main event of the Project Phoenix series. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption. Before reading this, you should read The Crane's Destructive Path and its accompanying one shot, Granted Wishes. Hope everyone is staying safe in the middle of the coronavirus. My governor, Abbott, relaxed all restrictions and mask orders. Idiot.

A/N 2: Fallout continues from the tragic events which led to two Ranger deaths. Also, Jayden gets tortured (again) while in captivity, and Tommy and Kim hatch a plan to get him back.

A/N 3: Couples featured are Jayden/Mia, Memily, Lantonio, Jason/Kat, Adam/Tanya and a slew of other old-school pairings.

A/N 4: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me. Used to be Saban, then Disney, then Saban, now Hasbro owns them.

Chapter 42 - The Future Is Now

December 3, 2012, early evening

Chamber of Command

Angel Grove, CA

When Lauren Shiba first started this part of her journey in keeping Earth safe and reclaiming her mantle as the leader of the Samurai Power Rangers, she never in her wildest dreams thought she'd have a day like this.

Two Rangers were dead.

Including the man she loved most. When she came back from preparing to seal Xandred, there was little doubt from the word go that she was meant to be with Antonio, who had himself become a spiritual leader of sorts.

Now, they were never going to make it to their wedding day, because of these bastards.

She was not easily rattled, even during the fracas with Xandred, which is probably why Flammia plotted to turn her against her brother a few months ago. It had been a shrewd plan, she had to admit.

Even during the hardest points of the last year, she always remained optimistic and believed good would prevail. For the first time in the 20 years she'd been alive, she now had doubts.

She was now seeing the true side of the forces of evil, up close, as were all Rangers present. They had never, ever been this ruthless before.

And those same people now had Jayden in their custody. That was no less a predicament, either. She didn't doubt her younger brother knew what he was doing - for their sakes, he'd better, she thought.

She then shivered at the thought of a worst case scenario - the awesome powers of the Phoenix turned against their team, as unlikely as she thought it. They'd be beaten in no time - Jayden was the single most powerful Ranger on their team by a mile. Only Tommy and Kim combined could possibly be able to stand against him.

Then, suddenly, a pair of arms went around her, and for a moment, the sadness seemed to stop. She would have tried to wriggle free, but she had the gut instinct that whoever was with her would not hurt her.

Looking up into the eyes of Rita's brother, Rito, she knew now that instinct was correct.

"How long have you been waiting to have this talk with me?" she asked through her tears as she brushed a teardrop out of her hair.

"Forever and ever, since Jayden was tragically imprisoned the first time, but I knew you were with Antonio, and I wasn't going to interfere in that," Rito said.

"Yeah, and I did that, too. That's really something to be proud of," Lauren mumbled sarcastically. But Rito wasn't buying it.

"Lest you forget, I was evil too. I'm probably the only person in here that's completely destroyed a Megazord beyond repair, as much of a fluke win as that was," Rito reminded her.

"Hey, a win is a win, isn't it?" Lauren said.

"Sure is, no matter how it comes," Rito said. "Also, lest you forget, my own sister just lost her very best friend and you saw it."

"Yeah. I suddenly have the urge to not have to face Madame Woe, ever," Lauren said. "Murderer."

"You have no idea," Rito said. "She is powerful enough to kill anyone, even those who possess the Grid."

Then he really got to the point.

"We'll get your brother back, Lauren. There's no way he's going to the other side. Don't you remember how confident he looked?" Rito said.

"For sure, but I'd rather not take that risk," Lauren said. "The Crane fell to Maligore's power before."

"Different set of circumstances, Lauren. Their attempt will fail, I promise you," Rito said. "Besides, the Falcon and Crane have plans of their own for situations such as this one, and I learnt long ago never to doubt them."

That was true. The Falcon and Crane had pulled their old team out of trouble many times.

But now, in Lauren's mind, was their toughest test yet, facing Kim's alter ego who at the very least equaled the Crane in power. If they got the Phoenix on their side somehow, his power combined with Flammia could easily overpower the Falcon and Crane both.

Lauren had to kind of admit she liked Rita's brother being here. He seemed to be very intelligent (unlike his alter ego), kind and very easy to get along with.

"This is gonna be sort of weird, but can you stay with me tonight?" Lauren asked.

"Absolutely. We both have family crises, so we're in the same boat," Rito said. "All of us are, but specifically you and I. We'll get through this and we will win the war. I am reasonably confident the side of good will stand tall when it's all over."

She didn't even know it at the moment, but Lauren Shiba was already taking the first steps toward healing. Antonio's funeral was going to be hard. But after that, she'd fight in his memory to the very end.

The Moon Palace, later that night

The mood on the other side of the war, meanwhile, was quite different.

They had the prisoner they wanted. Again. And this time, they were fully intent on making sure that when his friends and family saw him again, that he would never be the same.

They'd killed two of the Rangers, too. These weren't the Rangers they wanted dead, specifically, but they'd have to do for now.

Besides, since when did the side of evil succeed at killing a Power Ranger, much less two?

Finally, and maybe most importantly, the killing of two Power Rangers ended that stupid confluence. Which meant, they'd have their leader back.

It was too bad the Pink Crane was still free, but this side had supreme confidence that if they got what they were looking for, that would not last.

The only question that was on the mind of Scorpina and Draco was this. What sort of mood would their leader be in? How different would she be than she was in the past now that Kimberly wasn't tethered to her?

As if on cue, the double doors to the throne room opened and in walled the boss.

It wasn't so much the way she walked or looked when she walked in as it was the power level she was giving off.

As deadly as she had been before in conquering planets, in a way, the Crane spirit that Kimberly held onto had kept Flammia from reaching her full potential.

Now, she had no limits. Scorpina surmised that even Master Vile, as great as he was, or Dark Specter himself would have a tough time keeping up with Maligore's offspring.

And in a way that was scary for them, too, Draco thought. One bad step out of line could cause her to kill them all. That had always been a threat but it was more pronounced.

"Hello, your Majesty," Scorpina said, bowing before her boss.

"Hello to you all too," Flammia hissed. "I thought I'd never get out of that confluence!"

"Things have changed, your Majesty," Draco said. "The Rangers are short handed."

"Oh? Do tell," Flammia said.

"Two are dead and one is our prisoner. The Phoenix is captive in the dungeon," Scorpina said.

"Excellent work, then. Who are the two dead?"

"The White Mystic Ranger, Udonna, who was killed by Madame Woe, and the Gold Samurai, slain by Vipera," Draco said

Flammia scratched her chin thoughtfully.

"Not the ones I want dead but they will do for now. The Rangers will have a hard time coming up with replacements. Who is watching the Phoenix?"

"Madame Woe is," Scorpina replied.

"Good. Though not a part of our army technically I will have to see she is paid well," Flammia said.

"Draco, tell your folks to fuel our ship," Flammia said. "We leave in a few days."

"Murianthias?" Draco asked.

"Indeed. The Phoenix will be ours in a matter of days. With his help, I will take Kimmy's body and soul, and then we will destroy the Earth and rule the entire universe."

The dungeon, same time

Madame Woe may have drawn the assignment of torturing the Phoenix, and she loved torture, but this wasn't proving to be much fun.

As many things as she tried, she couldn't break him.

"Scream for me, dammit!" she hissed as she sent another volt of electricity through him via her hair braids. She'd done this about five times and had yet to hear him scream.

Jayden wasn't about to do that though. He was not going to let this witch who killed his best friend have the satisfaction of hearing him in pain.

Then she let go of him, knocking him unceremoniously to the cold hard floor and pushed him against the wall.

"The only satisfaction I'm getting is that in a few days, it's going to be your friends who are scared because you're going to help us kill them," Madame Woe said sullenly.

"Yeah, I know, I know. In a few days, we'll see who's afraid," Jayden said, refusing to reveal what he and he alone knew.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The Chamber of Command

Angel Grove, CA

Even 24 hours after the events of the previous day, the emotions were still raw. The mood was very tense, although when they gathered the next morning, the Samurai Power Rangers noticed Lauren wasn't as sad as she had been previously.

Myakka was still shaken up, they could tell. She'd been on the job barely a month and she'd already seen two Rangers be murdered.

They supposed that Lauren felt better was a good sign.

The Mystic Force team, on the other hand, was not well. Specifically Nick, which was no surprise to anyone in the room. How could anyone expect to function after the loss of a family member?

Not to mention, their overall leader was captive again. This time, they understood, there really was a chance they may never see him again.

So it was a bit of a relief to them when two of the senior members of their mission, Jayden's parents, walked into the room with moods a little brighter than the rest of the teams.

"Hi, guys," Kim said, with a mood that was clearly more cheerful than the rest of the teams.

"Man. Read the room, Pink Crane, why don't you?" Madison said.

"I get it, Madison, yesterday was hard, but believe me, we will make them pay," Kimberly said. "Udonna's passing will not come without retribution."

"I mean, come on, seriously Kim," Justin said. "We lost two people and are probably going to have to go back to that God-forsaken place to get Jayden back and you two actually expect us to function?"

"That's exactly what the other side would want us to believe," Tommy said, "and it could actually make it more difficult to get Jayden back. Positive thoughts are key. They can sustain Jayden through this tough path. His faith is strong, so we need him to be strong."

"This is where the experience we had years ago on the Island of Illusions pays off," Jason told the younger teams. "Unless you went through that hell like the originals - and Jayden did - then you have no idea of the power of positive thinking."

"Certainly, I'm not diminishing the hell that we're about to walk into. Murianthias is an awful place - if anyone knows first hand about that hell it'd be me," Kim added. "But I also think the circumstances are different than they were 15 years ago which I think gives my son a better chance at surviving that God-forsaken pit."

"They're right, you know," Rita said as she walked into the room. "And in my opinion, since the Phoenix's faith is so strong then we have to be strong for him."

"Besides," Tommy said, "Udonna and Antonio...they wouldn't want us to give up. Not now. Not when we're so close to ending Flammia's reign once and for all."

"As heartbroken as I am, you're right. My mother would want us to fight," Nick said; those in the room could tell his resolve was slowly coming back.

"Antonio would want us to fight too. In his memory. He told us that this is our legacy, how we will be defined," Kevin said. "Even though I never really got along with him, I've never heard his speech more in my head than I do today."

"The love birds are right. This is not the time to give up and this is coming from someone who knows Murianthias as much as anyone. We're so close, guys," Diana said. "In my heart, I know if we get through these next few days that we can finally beat them once and for all."

"So then, what do we do next, fearless leaders?" Aisha asked, poking a bit at her friends that she'd known since her sophomore year of high school.

"We grieve for our own, we bury them on these grounds, and then we steel ourselves for Murianthias," Kim said. "Tommy and I have another little surprise planned for them."

As they were about to leave, they noticed a faint glow on the other side of the chamber.

"Hey, isn't that what was my mother's morpher?" Nick asked, pointing to the glow.

"He's right," Vida said. "It's reacting very strongly to someone in here."

Everyone looked at Rita who shook her head. By far, most of the Rangers and even the Mystic Force team considered her to be the next logical choice should anything happen to Udonna.

She seemed very uncomfortable though.

"No way. It can't be reacting to me," Rita said. "Not after everything I did to them..."

she said this as she looked directly at Tommy and Kim.

"Do it," Kim beckoned. Rita sighed...if Kim of all people said it then she had no excuse.

Walking across the massive room, Rita hesitantly touched the morpher that once belonged to her friend. The power responded to her actions, creating a light so bright that the Rangers had to shield their eyes.

But when the light died down, they beheld a fully morphed White Mystic Ranger.

"Holy cow," Rita muttered. "Well, it's not the Council of Meledon, but Mystic Force has a full team again at least temporarily."

"Now we just need to find a Gold Samurai Ranger and we'll be at full strength," Mike said.

"That gives me an idea, since my wife is back in the game again," Zedd said. "There are some...things...that happened last night. Based on my hunches, I think we can find a temporary Gold Samurai Ranger pretty quick."

No one had any idea what Zedd just said, but they just let it roll for now.

"Now, what's that surprise Kim and Tommy have for Flammia?" Tori asked.

Kim sighed. She knew she was going to cross some boundary lines but this was war and her son's fate was at stake.

"OK, so I'm sure some of you know that if we win this fight, your kids are going to be Ninjetti?"

The older Rangers in particular nodded their heads. They didn't like where this was going but let Kim continue.

"This is going to upset some of you, but frankly at this point I don't care. That's in the future but in my view the future is now. Are any of your children acting strange?"

Several of the older Rangers nodded.

"Bring them here. They're going to be coming with us and we're going to get them to unleash their animal spirits to help Jayden in that hell pit."

Rocky was about to vehemently protest, but Aisha held him back.

"Some of us are going to hate this idea, and it's very risky, but I think it's a sound plan, Kim," Aisha said. "They're not going to see that coming and if we lose the Phoenix, it's over. As you just said, the future is now."

Many of the older team members gritted their teeth, but none dissented. They had to admit, the plan was sound.

"It's all about positive thinking and they don't know any better. We have plenty of older people who can keep them from being harmed," Kim said.

"I agree, but if any of my children are chosen and they get hurt in this, I'm not going to be a happy camper, Kim. Most of our kids are younger than Justin was," Rocky said.

"Understood. But if we don't throw everything we have at this, leave nothing to chance, then there may not be a world to come back to," Kim said.

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