A/N: A very pleasant Tuesday to all of you from the Lone Star State. Welcome to the main event of the Project Phoenix series. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here). Before reading this, you should read The Crane's Destructive Path and its accompanying one shot, Granted Wishes.

A/N 2: This is the story of when Jayden leads Rangers old and new into a fight for Earth's survival...with his corrupted mother. In this chapter, the Rangers try to help themselves by keeping the fake Lauren from infiltrating their ranks, only for the Wizard of Deception to take it to another level. Also, Zordon has his long awaited confrontation (albeit in the dream world) with Kimberly's mother Caroline. That's how this chapter title gets its name.

A/N 3: Couples featured are Jayden/Mia, Memily, Lantonio, Jason/Kat, Adam/Tanya and a slew of other old-school pairings. You'll have to read on to see if there is Tommy/Kim at the end...hehe.

A/N 4: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 23: Parisian Confrontation

Thursday, October 18, 2012, late afternoon

The Rangers Chamber of Command

Angel Grove, CA

Jayden's return to the Rangers' Chamber of Command had drawn much cheers, especially from the older Ranger crowd. Because he had brought crowd-pleasers with him.

Ernie's smoothies. On the house. As they would have liked them.

The Angel Grove crowd, because they had various lines of work now, rarely if ever got back to Ernie's for his smoothies. That's why they were so happy when Jayden came back with Mia and his cargo. Not only that, he'd brought various other drinks with him for some of the various other Ranger teams including his Samurai teammates.

There was a little bit of tension in the air though, especially coming from Jayden and that made them all, especially the older crowd, nervous. He'd asked for a meeting in the mess hall so they could talk over smoothies and drinks.

He sounded dead serious when he'd requested this impromptu meeting, and if he was this serious about it that couldn't be good.

Tommy in particular was very nervous. He'd seen the demeanor coming from Jayden before in the previous months since they'd been together. He knew that look.

He was even more nervous when he saw Ninjor, Rita and Zedd in the room. That meant that something was up and that it was serious.

As they all continued sipping on their smoothies, Jayden stepped in front of the massive crowd of Rangers.

"Thanks for coming back on short notice, guys," Jayden said.

"How was the afternoon with Mia, Jay?" Mike said.

"It was great, thanks for asking," Jayden said. "I only wish I could talk about how great it was, but we have a serious situation developing in the basement of the JP Morgan-Chase building downtown," Jayden said.

"The JP Morgan Chase building," Aisha said. "The one where Mama Oliver works?"

"Yes, the very same. And I saw her briefly, she's doing well," Jayden said.

"Wait a minute," Adam said, pondering closely, trying to remember something about that building in his mind...and then it clicked. "Jayden, is that the building right next to the abandoned theater?"

"Yes it is," Jayden said. "And they're using the magical energy from that abandoned theatre, combined with the coming full moon in a couple of weeks and its proximity to Halloween, along with the return of an old foe, to open a gateway to a dimension that I'm sure none of you think still exists."

Immediately, Zedd's face fell. He knew what Jayden was talking about, and Rita immediately embraced her husband, trying to calm him down.

Truth be told though, this situation scared her too.

"To put it very plainly and bluntly, guys, the Lost Dimension is very much back in play, and with an easier doorway to open than when Zedd tried to open it," Jayden said. "They're in the basement of that JP Morgan-Chase building right now waiting to spring that trap."

"Before we get into this Lost Dimension stuff," Rocky said, "who's the old baddie that's back?"

"The Wizard of Deception," Jayden said.

Tommy's blood was boiling.

Not at Jayden, of course, who he loved very much. But that a foe he thought he destroyed was still around.

"I thought I destroyed him!" Tommy said in exasperation.

"Nope, he's back and badder than ever," Mia said.

"I think I have a theory on why," Rita said. "I think I can espouse this theory because I knew the Wizard pretty well."

"As great as the original team was, they didn't have the power then, nor do they have the Power now, to destroy the Wizard completely," Rita said. "When Tommy blasted the Wizard with his wand back in the day he was never destroyed. He simply returned to his own dimension to recharge and recuperate."

"Much like Madame Woe back in the day, Billy," Rita said.

"She's still alive too?" Billy said, eyebrow raised.

"As much as it pains me to say it, yes," Rita said. "But back on topic. There is only one person I know of that COULD have the power to destroy the Wizard for good and I'm looking at him right...now," Rita said.

Jayden gulped. The power to destroy the Wizard of Deception...wow.

"I'll have to have you go see Dulcea in the next week or so, but you are already on the way to unlocking your full potential," Rita said. "You could also be the one to save everyone should worst come to worst and everyone land in that dimension."

He gulped again. That power certainly came with a lot of responsibility.

"What is the Lost Dimension, anyways?" Billy said. "I've heard it talked about, and how scary it is, but I'm not sure I even know what it is."

"To put it very plainly and bluntly," Zedd said, as he fixed the Rangers with serious glances, "it is a network of dimensions, that, normally, has a doorway in, but no doorway out. The more dimensions you go into from the main one, the tougher it is to get out. Back in the day, I was able to open it, but I didn't do it right. The Wizard is unfortunately, a lot smarter than I am."

"What do you mean by that?" Rocky said.

"As the original teams may remember, I opened it in Angel Grove Park when I unleashed Cannon Top," Zedd said. "Had I thought to open it where the Wizard opened it now though, I would have been a lot better off. The doorway is a lot more powerful where he's opened it. In the end, Cannon Top wasn't strong enough, and the doorway was too weak."

"And it's true what Rita said," Zedd added. "If you guys were to land in that dimension, Jayden could actually open a doorway to get you guys back out."

"How difficult would it be to get them out if worst came to worst?" Jayden asked.

"The process isn't insanely difficult but the problem then would be time. After a couple of hours in that dimension, it would be very tough for even the Phoenix to get them out," Zedd said. "Back in the day, if I had successfully trapped you guys in that dimension, it would have been over with. There would have been no way to get you guys back."

"So what is the Wizard of Deception's role in this anyways?" Aisha said. "He's good at opening dimensions, but that really isn't his forte."

"Glad you brought that up, Aisha," Jayden said, looking hard at his sister. "As of right now, there are two Laurens. The Wizard created the second one."

"How is that even possible?" Lauren said. "He was never in the Palace before I left there!"

"It's quite possible that one of Flammia's generals cut a strand of your hair and held on to it for safe keeping in case Jayden or someone else ever got you free," Rito said. "Do you feel a loss of hair?"

"Not really," Lauren said. "I mean, it feels fine."

"It could have been done in the middle of the night, while you were sleeping," Rito said.

"It's OK, Rito, and Lauren, don't beat yourself up. What's important is that the Wizard plans to use her to infiltrate our ranks, open the doorway on the full moon before Halloween and lure us all into the Lost Dimension," Jayden said.

"Well then, that's easy enough, I'll just stay out of the line of fire until we find out the difference between me and my fake doppelganger," Lauren said.

"That's a good idea," Billy said. "Jayden, did you and Mia get any footage of the fake Lauren before you left?"

"No, we didn't," Mia said. "At one point, Jayden had heard enough and got us out of there. Probably for our own good."

"That's OK," Billy said. "The next time she shows her face, I'll have Justin or myself on top of it."

"Have we told them everything they need to know, Jayden?" Mia said.

"I think so," Jayden said. "I need to go work on GED stuff, and I'm sure the cooks need to prepare dinner."

With that, Jayden and Mia left the room, and the Rangers just looked at each other.

"Man, we've got our work cut out for us again," Rocky said.

"One thing's for sure, I should never doubt that kid again," Kat said.

"We all should take that lesson. We all thought he was paranoid," Jason said. "Those fools don't know any better even without their leader. We'll be OK."

For the next week or so, it went on like this. Lauren had appeared once in the city, with the Rangers not coming out, and Billy was trying to identify the difference between the two.

That was, until weirder things started happening, and from the spiritual world Zordon started noticing too.

He hoped it wouldn't have to come to this, but it was time to play his card. He was not happy with the person he was about to come face to face with, but this had to be done.

Wednesday, October 24, early local time

Paris, France

If Kimberly being back and attempting to wreck the Earth was hard on her friends, it was torture for Kimberly's mother Caroline Hart.

15 years ago, Kimberly, or 'Cherie' as Caroline had tried to refer to her as, had dropped off the face of the Earth. Caroline had presumed her dead, even though no one knew where she was.

The last two months, watching the world news and her fighting the various Ranger teams, was just killing Caroline from the inside out. How could her sweet child now be such a monster?

She had no idea what happened to Kim, but had no doubt it was her. The face was unmistakable.

'And the worst part about it is, had you taken care of her better this would never have happened,' she suddenly heard. Was that a voice in her head?

She just shrugged it off and went back to sleep, knowing that she just heard things.

Unfortunately for her, her problems were not over.

'Admit it, you know you took care of her terribly. Maybe if you'd have taken care of her better she'd never have needed a surrogate parent,' the voice said.

As her body slept, her mind was in another place entirely.

The place was serene, but yet she could feel someone with angry eyes on her.

'You are pathetic, Caroline Hart,' the voice said. 'More pathetic than I ever dreamed possible. It's a shame you don't truly know the gravity of what you have caused.'

'Excuse me, who in the hell are you to talk to me like that?'

'I'm the one who's trying to save the world, but you can call me Zordon if you like. More importantly though, I'm the one trying to save your daughter, so you need to shut up and listen to me good.'

'My daughter, Cherie? You can help save her from being that monster?'

'Yes, but you're going to have to be willing to help...and you're going to need to be wanted too. Perhaps if you and Kenneth had been better to Kimberly I wouldn't have had to take her in as a Power Ranger in 1993, so she could be part of something bigger than herself.'

'What in the fuck are you talking about?'

'Oh, foolish lady, you are so naive. By the way, don't use such crude language. I can't blame you for being naive as I specifically instructed her and others liker her never to tell anyone that they were any of my Rangers. Here is what you need to know..."

Two Hours Later...

She might have been wide awake by now, but Caroline Hart had never been more ashamed of herself.

She wouldn't continue to feel this way, but at this point, she almost wished she'd never even been born.

Everything that guy from her dream had said...Zordon or whatever his name was, was correct.

That part of her life had been absolutely terrible and she'd absolutely change it if she could.

But there was no way to.

Ritzy parties, lots of money, worldwide trips...and she'd never taken care of Kimberly well enough that she'd had a good childhood.

That whole thing about the Power Rangers and her being one...she knew Zordon was right about that too.

And it had been a good thing Zordon had taken her in, too. She'd actually made something of herself, been part of something that was special and had avoided the miserable existence that Caroline had become.

And Cherie had been absolutely right not to say anything.

But the bumps, the bruises every night, the random bits of tiredness, it all clicked together. She refused to believe any of that crap at the time...but it sure was believable now.

And Tommy, that redneck Tommy, oh how Zordon had lit into her about what she thought of him. And he was right to do that too.

He'd taken better care of her than she ever had. Had been her rock, her pillar from which she drew strength once upon a time.

And she was especially ashamed that she'd treated her daughter so badly that she had no idea that she had a grandson who was in the process of becoming great.

She knew that Zordon was right to ream her out about that too, because if she had known that Tommy and Cherie were having a son, that she'd have called for an abortion. There was no doubt of that.

The good news, as Zordon had told her, was that she had a chance, albeit infinitesimal, of redeeming herself. But to do that, there was no time to lose. Zordon had given her specific instructions on what to do. So she grabbed a pen, and some paper, and started in on her task...

When it was done one hour later, she left the room. Zordon had specifically told her not to take it to the mail, that he'd transport it out himself.

12 noon local time

Rangers Chamber of Command

Angel Grove, CA

Jayden had tapered down just a bit on the GED studying now that he was two full weeks back into it; he was in a nice rhythm and at the rate he was going, he was going to be ready to take the test some time in the spring.

Just as he was putting his books away, he heard a knock at the door.

"Hey Jayden, mail for you," Rhiannon said as she handed him an envelope.

"That is weird. I never get any mail. Never," Jayden said.

"Yeah, well I have a weird feeling you should read this one. Just a hunch," Rhiannon said as she left.

Carefully, Jayden opened the envelope, took the piece of paper out (which was neatly folded, by the way, and he was impressed with that), and began reading its contents. Upon seeing the beginning of the letter, he almost tore it up on the spot but relented when he saw who spearheaded the writing of the letter in the first place.

As he went through the contents of the letter, worry began to crease his face. He didn't trust this person further than he could throw her, and the person seemed to know that, but Zordon was spearheading getting this warning out. It was that important if Zordon, long since dead, was leading this effort.

The bigger question was: what was Zordon doing with this person, who was obviously unwelcome with the early Ranger teams?

As if to answer his question, he heard a voice in his head.

'Because as much as Zordon detests what Caroline Hart did to your mother, he believes in second chances,' Atsila said. 'Not all of what's going on is her fault, though she shoulders a lot of the blame as well. Everything that's in that letter is true. You and the other Rangers must act fast; the Wizard is indeed striking at your closest friends to try to lure you out. At some point, you must confront them. Take action soon, young Phoenix.'

Jayden sighed.

It was time to call another meeting. This one wasn't going to be pleasant either.

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