A/N: A very pleasant Tuesday 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.
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. This chapter continues an arc that is as described...havoc on Halloween. In this chapter, most of the Rangers are lost...to the Lost Dimension, and the only Rangers left are Jayden and the Ninjetti team, and Wes and Jen. It's up to them to cut down Flammia's forces and get their friends back.
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. Used to be Saban, then Disney, then Saban, now Hasbro owns them.
Chapter 27: Halloween Havoc IV: Wizard Defeated
October 29, 2012
3:45 p.m. PDT
Rangers Chamber of Command
Angel Grove, CA
They could hear the sirens blaring. They knew...it was time.
They knew what was ahead of them was a trap that could cost them everything.
Yet they knew they had no choice but to spring it. Because if they didn't, Angel Grove, and then the world, would pay the price.
Unbeknownst to most of the people in the main room, and not even Jayden until today, the scientists had been working hard the last month on a plan that could not only help them in this battle, but could severely take away their numbers issue. Great as the team was, on their best day they could be outnumbered by anywhere from 5/1 to 10/1 in battle.
But in the meanwhile, they had to focus on the task at hand.
"We're going to need every last body out there, aren't we?" Emily asked.
"Not EVERY body," Jayden said. "We're going to lose some people to the Dark Dimension in this fight. That's just a fact. We have to accept the fact that they've planned this out well enough to where we're going to lose some people...maybe for good if I can't get them out."
Chills ran down the spines of everyone in the room. They didn't want to admit it, but they knew Jayden was right. Bodies would be lost in this fight.
There was even a chance that if worst came to worst, Jayden would never see his father again, just months after the two had been brought back together for the first time since Jayden's birth.
"Here's the plan. Everyone but myself, Samurai team, Kat, Mia and Uncle Billy goes out there. Billy and Cam insinuated have got something up his sleeve, so if people get taken, that's our last card that we'll play. I'll need the Samurai team and Mia so we'll have a full team if worst comes to worst."
"The rest of you...go give em hell."
"Is everything ready for our plan, Cam, Justin?" Billy said.
"It is," both men said.
"Go. I'll stay behind, as Jayden has asked," Billy said.
Tommy nodded, tears in his eyes, just in case this was the last time he'd ever see his son, and initiated the morphing sequences. The Lost Galaxy team thought about going out there for a brief moment, but stood back...they were nowhere near ready yet.
"It's Morphin Time."
"Let's Rocket."
"Lightspeed Rescue."
"Titanium Power."
"Time for Time Force."
"Wild Access."
"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form, Ha."
"Thunder Storm, Ranger Form, Ha."
"Samural Storm, Ranger Form, Ha."
"Dino Thunder, Power Up, Ha."
"White Ranger, Dino Power."
"Magical Source, Mystic Force."
"Overdrive, Accelerate."
"Jungle Beasts, Spirits Unleashed."
As soon as they were gone, Mia turned to Rhiannon.
"Will they all come back?" Mia asked.
"I don't know, young dove. I do not know," Rhiannon said. The answer shook Mia to her core as she turned back to the viewing screen to watch the impending action.
The Rangers watching gasped as they got a rather ominous answer just seconds later. As soon as the teams landed, unfortunately for the Dino Thunder Rangers, every one of their team members sans Justin landed on a "hot spot" which immediately opened a portal and sucked four of the five young Dino Thunder adults in. Just as quickly, the portal closed.
"How in the world could that happen!" Myakka cried in fear.
"Bad luck, unfortunately, and also unfortunately good preparation by them. They've been preparing this for weeks and unfortunately they did a good job. We're going to lose more bodies," Jayden told her flatly.
Almost as he said that, as three of the Wild Force team members, Merrick, Shayla and Taylor were fighting footsoldiers, they landed on another "hotspot" opening yet another portal. In a flash, they were gone too and Cole had to watch himself very carefully as he narrowly missed stepping on another.
"It's going to be up to us, isn't it?" Kevin said.
"Pretty much, Kevin, yes. I wouldn't be surprised if every single one of us that went out there gets trapped," Jayden said flatly as he turned to Billy, face turning very stern.
"Your plan better be good," he told his Uncle Billy. "All our fates may ride on this."
"I know and trust me, this plan will turn the tide in our favor. They won't even know what hit them. All I need you and Mia do is morph and pull out your laser pistols," Billy said.
Jayden looked at him funny, but nodded and pulled out his morpher.
"Crimson Ranger Power," he called, and soon, he was fully suited up. This got gawks from Myakka, who was seeing Jayden for the first time in a Crimson Ninjetti suit.
"Turquoise Ranger Power," Mia called, and everyone gawked again. This was the first time Mia had morphed since gaining her new powers.
"You too, Samurai team," Billy said. Morph and give me your Spin Swords."
Lauren nodded and beckoned her team.
"Go, go Samurai."
"Samurai, gold power."
Jayden then reached into his holster and pulled out his pistol, as the Samurai team pulled out their Spin Swords.
"Remember a few months ago when Flammia's goons invaded on your birthday and you told us smart people to go get samples of their blood?" Billy said.
Jayden nodded...and Mia too, just the thought of that made her nose turn up. It had been totally gross.
"We've been studying on the side for the last month. We think we've got a solution to our numbers problem," Billy said as he reached into his bag and pulled out a bucket of half green, half red liquid.
"As soon as I load this into your pistols and onto your swords, any time you fire that pistol and it hits any of their goons, they perish," Billy said, Jayden's eyes widening. "It will need to sit for about 20 minutes for it to be fully in your weapon but after that, it's usable any time."
"Really? Immediately? You're sure about this?" Jayden said.
"100 percent," Billy said. "Cam, Justin and I worked very hard on this, knowing we'd need an answer to being outnumbered."
Nodding, Jayden handed Billy his pistol, as the Samurai team handed their Spin Swords over, and Antonio handed over his Barracuda Blade. After a few minutes of work, Billy handed it back to Jayden, and handed the swords back to his Samurai friends.
"Give it 20 minutes and we should be good. At some point I'll load some of this into the Phoenix Cannon for a future battle. Mia, why don't you come get some too?"
"Will this work with our discs?" Emily asked.
"I see no reason why it shouldn't," Billy said.
After about 15 minutes of letting everything settle, they again turned to the battle screen.
The situation was dire.
At this point, the only Rangers remaining on the battlefield were all the Ninjetti (Jayden momentarily breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his father) and Wes and Jen. The Rangers remaining lay battered and bruised.
"Get them out of there," Jayden suddenly said as his eyes widened. Flammia's army was warming up for a massive attack.
"On it," Rhiannon said, as Jayden held his breath.
Moments later, teleportation beams flew into the Chamber of Command, knocking the Rangers flat on their asses.
"Thank God," Aisha said, as Jayden let out his breath. "Another few seconds..."
"And it would've been all over." Jayden finished.
"Well, it's clear they didn't want to dump us into the Lost Dimension until they've destroyed us," Rocky said.
"That's because Flammia wants us for herself. She doesn't care about the other teams necessarily, it's us she wants," Kat said, shivering as she did so. She was fortunate enough to have had the best of the legendary conqueror before, but knew that it would not be a regular occurrence.
"We're still going to win though," Jayden said. The Rangers, including his father, looked at him like he'd grown a second head.
"Dude, you realize we're outnumbered like a million to one now, right?" Tanya said. "I love you like crazy, Jayden, and I'm normally a pretty positive person, but I have to think they finally have us beat. There's no way we can beat that many of their creeps!"
"Billy says we have a solution for that," Jayden said. "Billy, you want to tell them?"
For the next few minutes, Billy talked to them about what he'd told Jayden. The team handed him their pistols, hoping it would work. Some smiles returned, although many concerned faces remained.
"Yeah but even if we get rid of their creeps, we still don't have a full squad for the foreseeable future," Kat said.
"That's true," Rhiannon said. "However, I have some news of my own."
"What's that?" Billy said. Now it was his turn to be surprised.
"Based on the readings I've done, I hypothesize that if the Wizard of Deception is destroyed in the next hour or so, the doorways that took your friends will open and they will be released," Rhiannon said.
"That only ties to our plan if he's been infused with the Flame," Jayden said.
"My readouts say he has," Rhiannon responded.
"We're still going to have to dent that human wall to get to him though," Jayden said, the others nodding in agreement. "And it's going to take a bit for Billy's plan to fully get into your pistols."
"How long?" Jason said.
"15 minutes," Billy said.
"And unfortunately, every minute that goes by, they can trash Angel Grove even further," Tommy said, praying that Billy's plan would work. Truly, this was it.
For 15 minutes, the Rangers paced like caged lions. Finally, Billy spoke up.
"We should be good now," he said.
"Rhiannon, where are they?" Jayden said, urgency creasing his voice.
"Approaching Angel Grove High," Rhiannon said.
"Oh God, school's about to get out. They're going to hold Miss Appleby and the students hostage," Jason said. "Let's get our asses out there."
"Kat, let me speak with you a second," Jayden said.
"Sure, what's up?" Kat said.
"I like our chances, but this is a big army we're facing. I won't ask you to do anymore than use your pistol but can you come with us? I know you're not 100 percent."
"Absolutely. I'm game. I'll do what helps the team win," Kat said.
"Right," Jayden said. "Back to action."
Angel Grove High, same time
Angel Grove had seen hundreds of monster attacks over the last 20 some odd years, which had been revived this year with Flammia's return. Miss Appleby in particular had seen plenty of these attacks on local news.
Even with the final invasion of Astronema in 1998, she never remembered it being this bad. Flammia's goons were all over the place, with the diabolical Wizard of Deception directing traffic. People going home from the school found it nearly impossible to get out.
As she continued to duck and dive away from the goons that followed her, she was grabbed from behind by the throat and she screamed.
That was when a crimson-colored fist shot in from out of nowhere and nailed her captor in the back of the head, freeing her and sending the goon crashing against a parked car.
"Jayden..." Miss Appleby breathed softly as she looked at the crimson colored Ranger, awed that she was seeing him for the first time as a Ranger up close.
"Get to safety," Jayden said. "We've got this."
She hustled to her car and was able to get to safety. Meanwhile, Jayden and his team came face to face with the seemingly never ending army led by Flammia's forces.
"So, the Crimson Ranger and his friends finally decided to come out to play," the Wizard of Deception laughed. "When we get through with you, you and your friends will be prisoners of the Flame of Destruction. Forever."
"It's the fake leader," Lauren's clone said.
"I wouldn't be so haughty if I were you. Today's the last day you live, period," Jayden responded.
"I'd like to see you try," the Wizard responded. "Attack!"
"Let them come in and then we hit them..." Jayden said as he waited for them to come just a bit closer, "now!"
"Laser pistols!" Tommy ordered, as the Samurai team grabbed their discs and attached them to their swords.
"Chrono Blasters!" Wes and Jen said.
"Fire Smasher."
"Hydro Bow."
"Sky Fan."
"Forest Spear."
"Earth Slicer."
"Barracuda Blade."
Instantly, a stream of firepower careened towards the villains, who were none too aware of what it could do. Until they were struck, and it was too late.
The Rangers watched in awe as 150 members of Flammia's army were obliterated in two minutes. Lauren's clone, too, had been extinguished. Billy had been right all along.
"How dare you, Rangers!" the Wizard said to his army, in disbelief that the Rangers had killed over 100 of his soldiers just like that.
"Want some more? Come get it," Billy said. "Our weapons are now possessed with a substance that kills any one of you on contact."
Foolishly, the Wizard sent the troops to attack the Rangers. Within the next 10 minutes, over 400 more of Flammia's soldiers died in the battle. Fittingly, as Jayden had killed Squalus and Pistrix before, it would be him that killed the last remaining Lander that had come down to fight with one final blast from his pistol.
Grunting in frustration, the Wizard reluctantly sent the troops remaining back to the Palace, before they got killed too. He was going to take care of these Rangers himself.
"Well played, Power Rangers. Unfortunately, your friends are still trapped, and you could never beat me," the Wizard said arrogantly.
"Want to take a bet?" Mike said. "You too have the Flame of Destruction in you."
Angered by the impudence of the young heroes, the Wizard charged in. That was all the Samurai Rangers needed.
"Quintuple Slash!"
The resulting Quintuple Slash attack didn't quite finish the Wizard because he wasn't a member of Maligore's army by nature, but when he emerged, his robe was severely damaged and he was wounded.
"I think the Power Blaster should be enough to finish this asshole, right?" Jayden asked his aunts, uncles and father.
"I think so," Rocky said. "Bring them together, guys."
"Power Axe!"
"Power Bow!" Jayden called.
"Power Daggers!"
"Power Lance!"
"Power Sword!"
"POWER RANGERS!" Jayden called, as the six other Ninjetti readied their laser pistols again, and Wes and Jen loaded their Chrono Blasters once more. Meanwhile the Samurai team warmed up one final round of attacks.
"Blazing Strike!"
"Dragon Splash!"
"Airway!"
"Forest Vortex!"
"Seismic Swing!"
"Barracuda Bite!"
"FIRE!"
All at once, the Samurai Rangers released their finishers, the first Ninjetti team released a wave of firepower from the Power Blaster and the other five Ninjetti and Wes and Jen fired their laser pistols again. What resulted was a massive deluge of firepower that engulfed the seemingly unbeatable Wizard. To the shock of many in Angel Grove and around the universe, the Wizard exploded in a huge ball of fire.
Suddenly, almost immediately, three sets of portals opened, dumping the previously captured Rangers...every single one of them...onto the pavement.
They all looked around in confusion.
"We're here?" Andros asked.
"I think so," Cole responded. Then, they looked to their left at the victorious Ninjetti and Samurai teams, weapons still in hand.
"Jayden!" they all said at once and rushed to congratulate him and the rest of the Rangers on their seeming victory.
"How in the world did you just do that?" Taylor asked, who had once been a skeptic of Jayden. She was a believer now.
"I'll explain later. Thank Billy, and Cam," Jayden responded. "And Justin."
"So Billy finally put our project in action, huh?" Cam said.
"He did," Jayden said.
Before the Rangers could celebrate for a second more, however, Draco appeared before them.
"RANGERS!" he roared. "HOW DARE YOU RUIN MY PLAN!"
"Because we can, and I have the firepower," Jayden said. "Would you like to be next?"
"No way. I'm not playing your game right now, Rangers," Draco boomed. "However, your fight with the Wizard is not finished yet. Grow, and destroy the Power Rangers!"
A wave of fire suddenly hit the Wizard, who was suddenly 50 stories tall.
"Whoa!" the Rangers said as the Wizard began stomping his feet, trying to crush any Ranger he could. They all moved, fortunately.
"We're gonna need...ALL...the Zords for this one!" Kira exclaimed.
"No we won't," Cam said. "I have an idea, Jayden, come here."
For a few moments, Cam and Jayden huddled. Tommy knew something was up when Jayden suddenly summoned Saba and Cam took it and did something with it for a moment.
Then Jayden turned back to the rest of the team, even as the Wizard stomped off towards downtown.
"Go back, guys. I've got this one. Trust me," he said, then whispered something to Billy.
"I agree with him. Retreat," Billy said.
"You got this, Jayden?" Tommy said.
"I do, Dad. There's a plan," Jayden said.
"All Rangers retreat. Jayden, he's all yours," Tommy said.
Taking a deep breath, Jayden raised Saba high and said, "White Tiger Thunderzord Power!"
For the first time since Jayden's birth, the White Tiger Thunderzord zoomed across the barren desert towards Angel Grove. When it got to town, Jayden leapt for the cockpit.
"Warrior Mode!" he exclaimed once inside, as he inserted Saba into the holster. Immediately, the Tigerzord transformed into Warrior Mode, and drew its sword, readly for battle. It then leapt in front of the Wizard, keeping him from destroying a nearby bank.
"Just the Tigerzord? You have to be kidding me, Crimson Ranger!" the Wizard laughed.
"The joke's on you, fool. You die today, and there's nothing that can stop it," Jayden said.
The Wizard charged, and the two clashed weapons for a moment before the Tigerzord turned and disarmed the Wizard with its sword. In the next moment, the Tigerzord hit the Wizard with a flaming slash, and the Wizard was staggering as Billy and Cam's liquid, which had been put on Saba and thus transferred to the Tigerzord's saber when Warrior Mode was created, was already taking effect. It hadn't taken full effect yet, but the Wizard was losing strength fast.
"White Tiger Thunderbolt!" Jayden, seeing an opportunity, said as he stuck an orb into a console. On order, the Thunderbolt launched, nailing the Wizard full on.
"NO! HOW IS THIS HAPPENING!" the Wizard screamed as he was systematically burnt by the Crimson Rangers attacks, and was finally reduced to nothing but ash.
Immediately, the hub spots for portals to the Lost Dimension closed upon the Wizard's final destruction.
"That'll teach you to mess with the Power Rangers," Jayden said. "Victory is ours."
Upon his exit from the cockpit, Jayden suddenly came upon a projection that made his eyes mist over.
It was his mother.
"For the first time...the galaxy has hope, my brave Phoenix," Kimberly said. This wasn't Flammia, she wasn't at full strength yet. This was Kimberly, if only for a few moments. "I am so proud of you."
"I'm proud of me too, Mom, but don't give me all the credit. Thank the technical geeks for coming up with this plan."
"Your uncle Billy always came up with things in a pinch," Kimberly said. "There will be more tests to come, but for the first time in a long time, the universe has a chance. Two bits of advice. One, start being more aggressive and pursue the freedom of other planets which my alter ego has conquered.
"And secondly, beware Murianthias, my son. May the Power protect you."
With that, Jayden saw his mother...his real mother...disappear. He had to clear his head for a moment, then teleported back to base.
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