Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Many Deaths of The Overlords

"When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home." ~Tecumseh

~The dark forest beyond Draven's Fortress...

Kim fires arrows from a massive branch she stands on at the ground a few feet before The Arbiter. The explosion kicks up dirt obstructing The Arbiter's view with Zach emerging from the cloud of dust locking fists with The Arbiter. The air distorts all around them, with Zach trying to force The Arbiter on his knee, but The Arbiter ends up physically overpowering Zach and forces him back. Zach yells flying back slamming into the side of a hill with a loud thud. When the smoke settled Zach was on one knee with his right hand over the transparent golden dragon shield.

Kim moved silently from tree to tree firing energy arrow after energy arrow. The Arbiter uses his sword to deflect each shot with ease. Then in a streak of blue lighting appears before Kim slicing at her with his sword. Kim barely had time to bring up her bow to block the attack. Kim falls from the tree sliding across the ground. Kim quickly uses her right hand flip up off the ground, as she does Zach in a dark blackish green light flies underneath her appearing before The Arbiter with his power axe, brining it down upon him. This allowed Kim to retreat to the shadows.

The Arbiter uses his left hand to stop Zach's attack mid-steam. The ground cracks and breaks under them and the air continues to distort around them. Zach and The Arbiter glare at one another. The Arbiter drops his sword to the ground and uses his right hand punch Zach in the chest. Zach yells out in pain soaring across the ground smashing into a tree, uprooting it from the ground. Kim looks on horrified by his brutal strength.

Kim rapid fires her explosive arrows at The Arbiter, who walks toward her deflecting each shot with ease. Kim keeps leaping back and fires more arrows with The Arbiter closing the gap each time his lighting fast teleportation brings him several paces in front of her. Zach appears behind Kim in a blur grabbing her by her collar and tossing her behind him in the air then swings his axe hard once more at The Arbiter who once again holds out his left hand stopping the attack as the environment around then suffers damage.

Kim does backflip landing on top of tree branch looking down at both of them. Zach lets go of his power axe with his right hand and quickly reaches out with his right hand grabbing the wrist of The Arbiter, then throws a hard left dead center of The Arbiter's helmet. A green flame sparked upon contact as Zach dug deep lifting The Arbiter up off his feet and slams him into the ground.

"I'm through playing around! JUST F**KING DIEEE!" Zach yells out in utter hate. He quickdraws the Dragon Dagger glowing with its corrupted green energy and slams the dagger at the core piece of The Arbiter's plate armor. Another massive shock wave and can be heard and felt riveting through the dark forest, followed by another full force explosion with Zach soaring through the air.

"Zach!" Kim looks up then quickly down at the ground to see The Arbiter standing in a crater only mildly weakened. Zach brings his left hand to his chest tapping the glove with his right pointer and middle finger warping back to the ground in a dark light with green lighting around it.

"Mastodon Full Force Punch!" Zach yells out slamming his right fist toward The Arbiter who stops the full force attack with the palm of his left hand then throws a hard right back. Zach goes tumbling across the ground. Kim jumps to another tree to get a better vantage point only to see Zach struggling very weakly to get up on all fours. Blue lighting strikes a lower branch with The Arbiter looking up at her emotionlessly.

"Damn it!" Kim turns her head to The Arbiter. "You truly are the strongest opponent we have ever faced" Kim laughs evilly, but The Arbiter sees through her false bravado. Kim leaps back into the shadows firing a lighting fast arrow at the right thigh of The Arbiter, with out his sword he was unable to deflect it and at that close range he was not able to grab it. It struck his armor leggings and exploded and for the first time, The Arbiter grunted in pain, his right leg buckling under him and caused him to fall to one knee.

Another arrow strikes at the left shoulder of The Arbiter exploding on contact knocking him over. Kim's sadistic laugh could be heard echoing in the woods. Her confidence in her skills and her ability to win trumps her original plan to stall to buy time for Zach to recover, and for Billie and Trinidad to show up. "Who needs them, I can do this myself" Kim tells herself consumed by her own haughty spirit.

The Arbiter stands up, his heavy breathing can be heard. He scans the tree line looking for Kim when another arrow strikes his right palm. The Arbiter groans in pain falling from the tree to the ground with a loud thud. He quickly recovers to his feet, furiously annoyed with Kim's hit and run tactics. The Arbiter gets struck again and again with arrows. He grunts and groans taking each shoot head on trying to track Kim's movements. Kim masks her movements in the shadows changing positions after every arrow she fires. This allowed her to constantly be moving and striking at The Arbiter at all angles.

"Get it together Arbiter! I thought you were better then this?" Kim laughs evilly. She mocks and taunts The Arbiter, her evil voice seemingly echoing from everywhere. The Arbiter stands there motionless. While Kim mocks him, he is remembering the sequence of her shots, the timing, the depths and angles of which they hit. The Arbiter remembers the sound of her voice and the direction of her taunts. He takes all this information in to proximate her location.

"It's time to DIE!" Kim yells out in a twisted and distorted voice. She fires the arrow but stands there wide eyed and in horror. The Arbiter stood there and caught the arrow dispersing the energy with a flick of his wrist.

"I know where you are Kimberly Hearts of Earth 3-29" The Arbiter calls out to her. If one could see under Kim's helmet she had a bewildered and enraged look about her. Kim starts firing randomly. The Arbiter calls his sword to his right hand by holding it out. Flames materialize the sword. The Arbiter starts to deflect shot after shot with ease like before to Kim's frustration.

"I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED! PTERODACTYL'S REGIN!" Kim yells out charging a massive arrow firing it at The Arbiter that splits into hundreds of smaller arrows. "DODGE THAT YOU MORTAL FREAK!" Kim taunts once more insanely. The Arbiter deflects all the arrows flying toward him moving faster then Kim could perceive his movements. "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Kim looks on as The Arbiter makes light of her best attack. Kim continues to fire more arrows to The Arbiter's annoyance.

"ENOUGH!" The Arbiter raises his voice catching one of her arrows and hurls it into the volley of arrows causing them to collide with one another in a series of dazzling explosions. The shockwave destroys Kim's bow and knocks her from the tree she was standing in to the ground. By the time Kim rolled over and looks up, The Arbiter was descending in a streak of blue light from the sky.

"NOO-" Kim was about to say but is struck silent. The ground broken under her. The Arbiter stood above her. He had driven his sword through her morpher and impaled her into the ground. Her suit dematerialized and Kim is lying in a pool of her own blood. She coughs up blood, trying to speak but no words come out. The Arbiter doesn't hesitate to pull the sword from her and removes her head with it. Overlord Pink was the first to fall to The Arbiter.

"You bastard…" Zach says in a dark whisper full of despair. The Arbiter turns his head to see Zach standing before them in the clearing. His knees were bent, his arms were bent with him clenching and clenching his fists. Zach held out his right hand with his power axe flying through the dark forest into his hands. Nothing else needed to be said. The Arbiter and Zach lunged at one another. Another shockwave echoed through the forest. The Arbiter's sword held back the full force and might of Zach's axe.

The Arbiter forces Zach back and steps forward throwing a fast left. The Arbiter meets Zach's left fist with his. The force of their punches making contact was enough break Zach's left arm in seven different places. Zach screams out in pain. He stumbles back, his left arm dangling at his side. Zach struggled to lift his hammer, it was this moment he realized he was wide open. The Arbiter was pulsing with blue lighting all around him. He struck Zach's helmet shattering his visor.

The Arbiter reaches out taking hold of Zach by the broken helmet lifting him up off the ground teleporting high into the air. In a streak of blue lighting striking the ground, The Arbiter slams Zach into it. The sheer force of the impact into the ground broke over 175 bones in Zach's body. He was killed instantly. The Arbiter removes Zach's power coin from his moropher and the Dragon Coin when Zach's suit dematerialized, then closes his fists around them with blue lighting crushing the coins into nothing. Overlord Black was the second to fall at the hands of The Arbiter.

~Draven's Fortress...

At the same time the fight with The Arbiter was happening in the dark forest, Brody and Sarah desperately search Draven's fortress for the Mega-arrows. They go room by room they can feel and hear the shockwaves, not knowing it was the Ranger Overlords desperately fighting to hold The Arbiter back from them. They assumed it was fighting with their teammates and tommy's team in other parts of the grounds, as did the other teams dangerously assumed the same notions.

"Well, this is the last room" Brody and Sarah race into a room looking around for the Mega-arrows.

"Preston, get your Dragonzord ready. If we find the arrows we'll need a quick escape" Sarah orders over the comms. Brody searches some wooden boxes in the background.

"They gotta be here" Brody power walks around the room looking all around.

"Looking for something?" Draven says in a sinister voice walking into the room commanding their attention. "You have come to the wrong place!" Draven points at them. "Basherbots, destroy them!" upon Draven's orders several basherbots run into the room to support their master. Brody and Sarah make quick work of the basherbots then attack Draven who blocks both their attacks from their swords with his bow.

"Time's up!" Draven counters both their attacks and beats them back. Draven fires his bow, the arrow splits into two arrows, one for Brody and one for Sarah. They block the attack with their swords but get blown back through a wall where the chest held the Mega-arrows was hidden.

"Whoa" Brody rolled over landing on top of the box.

"Yes! This is the chest with the Mega-arrows" Sarah said with hope filled excitement.

"No!" Draven grunted at his own careless mistake. He charges at them recklessly.

"Ninja Blast!" Sarah on one knee pulls out her blaster firing at Draven's kneecaps. Draven hits the ground hard in pain. "We gotta go! Brody, trust me" Sarah quickly says out loud, no time to tell Brody her plan.

"Huh? Hold on-" Brody tries to protest. Sarah rolls him over on the chest and wraps him and the chest in a pink rope.

"You need to guard the arrows" Sarah orders him. "Get ready Preston, catch!" Sarah says over the comms. Sarah hurls the rope out the window only for it to be caught by a blue flying ninja dragonzord.

"Got it! Let's go!" Preston orders the Dragonzord while riding on top of its head.

"Woo!" Brody yells out his heart racing as he and the Mega-arrows are hundreds of feet in the air being held up by a single piece of rope.

"They got the arrows. Let's get out of here!" Calvin orders the rest of them team when he looks up to see Preston's Dragonzord holding a rope with Brody and the Mega-arrows. Each of the Ninja Steel Rangers breaks off from the squad of basherbots they were fighting to regroup with the rest of their teammates.

"Fly, Drago. Fly!" Preston orders his dragonzord to make for a quick escape.

"Well, that's one way to escape a fortress" Brody takes a breath and calmly tells himself trusting his life and safety to Preston and his dragonzord. "Preston, we've gotta get the Mega-arrows out of this dimension, away from Draven" Brody recommends to him.

"Uh, let's go through the rip in the barrier?" Preston recommends for their quick escape. Before anyone could object Preston says out loud "Ah, it's straight ahead. Easy!".

"Yes, hopefully, it takes us home" Brody frowns. They fly toward the tear in the sky…

~Dark Forest beyond Draven's fortress…

Billie and Trinidad stand in shock and horror, Zach lay crushed and dead in a crater. Kim's body in a pool of its own blood with her severed head a few feet away. The Arbiter, was breathing heavily above Zach looking over at Billie and Trinidad.

"He killed them?" Trinidad grips his daggers tightly.

"And he defeated Jaysin!" Billie adds in a dark distorted voice.

"Billie Craigston and Trinidad Kwan of Earth 3-29, you have been deemed unworthy! Forfeit your power coins or forfeit your lives!" The Arbiter tells them and holds his hands out gesturing to Zach and Kim. Using them to show what will happen to those who wont give up the power he has deemed unworthy to wield.

"Billie, this is bad, we were supposed to fight him together, but Jaysin was defeated and he has already killed Zach and Kim-"

"Who cares? Kim was rusty and Zach was a rookie. We can replace them later once we deal with him" Billie laughs evilly not even caring that her two comrades had been killed.

"Yeah, sure…" Trinidad said in a low unbelieving voice with a skeptical look under his helmet. After seeing Jaysin knocked out, sitting up against a stone pillar holding his side and now running into the forest to find their other two comrades dead. Their odds of beating The Arbiter let alone holding him off dropped severely in his mind.

"Ready darling?" Billie leans forward ready to charge with her power lance.

"Yeah, I'm ready...let's go for it…"Trinidad says darkly.

"Overlord Blue!" Billie yells out striking an offensive combat pose.

"Overlord Yellow, ready to go" Trinidad seathes his power daggers behind him quick drawing his dino blaster firing it at The Arbiter. The Arbiter groans taking each shot backing up slowly. Trinidad holds his fire. It barely had any effect on The Arbiter. The energy blast served as a minor annoyance to him nothing else.

"This is going to be harder then I thought" Billie cautions Trinidad who just turns his head to her shaking it thinking to himself "Nah, you think?".

The Arbiter appeared before them in a streak of lighting with his sword drawn driving it into the ground. Billie and Trinidad leapt out of the way just in time missing out on a massive and dangerous shockwave. The Arbiter moved in another streak of blue lighting toward Billie. Billie landing on the ground slides back, her power lance glowing with a corrupted blue energy. As soon as The Arbiter appeared in front of her she struck him hard with her lance. The force of the hit caused The Arbiter to twist around sliding across the ground hard.

Billie's battle dress flowed wildly in the distorted air, she stood tall and proud, her left hand at her side, her right hand out in front of her holding her lance with her glowing blue eyes that could be seen through her helmet. The Arbiter tumbled into a tree, before rolling over getting back to his feet.

"Wow, that dude recovers quick!" Trinidad looked on alarmed then over at Billie who had turned around walking toward The Arbiter in all her evilness. She slices the air with her lance sending a crescent blue energy toward him. The energy slams The Arbiter up against the tree causing very little damage to him, but that wasn't the point. Billie wanted The Arbiter to know she can hurt him and that this wont be like their last fight in the Command Center a year ago.

The Arbiter was furious now, he appeared behind Billie raising his sword at her, Billie had just enough time to turn around to see the sword coming down upon her. Trinidad fires his dino blaster striking the helmet of The Arbiter momentarily stunning him while Billie thrusts at The Arbiter with her lance. The air distorts, blue flame sparks off of The Arbiter's plate armor as he takes one step back to brace himself from the hit looking up at Billie with the same glowing blue eyes whose energy was radiating from his visor.

"This guy…" Trinidad looks up horrified on how The Arbiter could take such powerful hits and brush them off like it was nothing to him, greatly disturbed Trinidad. "Just how strong is he?" Trinidad yells out. The Arbiter looks over to Trinidad and teleports over to him. Trinidad barely had enough time to get to his feet. "Blast it!" The Arbiter was about to strike him with the sword, the stance he took made Trinidad quickly flash back to where they found Jaysin sitting up against the pillar, Billie was checking his injuries with Trinidad looking down at him. Before Jaysin passed out he warned them to beware of The Arbiter's 11 hit combo attack with the sword. "Is this the attack that defeated you Jaysin?" Trinidad thought to himself.

Right as The Arbiter was about to strike Billie had dashed in front of The Arbiter blocking each strike with her lance. Trinidad stumbled back surprised that Billie was able to keep up with The Arbiter.

"Stay behind me!" Billie yells out loud.

"This opponent is too strong to defeat...where in big trouble…" Trinidad frowns under his helmet. At the same time Jaysin snaps awake, like a cold chill going up one's spine. He looks around at the destroyed courtyard, with the robot clones remembering The Arbiter's words about laying him in the streets as a symbol that he had won.

Jaysin weakly gets back to his feet looking around for the others but could only hear fighting in the distances. He looks up at the sky to see the tear between dimensions is still there. He wondered what was taking so long for the other rangers to close the tear. Jaysin holds his side and weakly walks into the dark forest to find his team to see how they are doing against The Arbiter...

Trinidad leaps into the air with Billie tossing him her dino blaster. Trinidad catches it firing both at The Arbiter who breaks away from Billie to deflect each shot with his sword. Trinidad lands back on the ground looking up frustrated having done minimal damage to him. He was beginning to understand now why Zach and Kim lost.

"Hunnie, this is NOT good!" Trinidad warns Billie of the dangerous situation they were in.

"I KNOW DARLING!" Billie snaps at him. Billie charges forward her lance giving off a blinding blue light. "Triceratops Rampage!" Billie unleashes a devastating 25 hit strike with her power lance at The Arbiter. To Billie's horror, The Arbiter deflects each attack while backing up. Trinidad wastes no time racing behind The Arbiter and fires at his back. Even with that Trinidad is shocked to see The Arbiter block each attack and force Billie back.

The Arbiter teleports in front of Trinidad elbowing him into a tree. Billie screams in rage descending on The Arbiter from the sky. The Arbiter leaps out of the way with Billie stabbing her lance into the ground. She quickly pulls it out spinning around knocking The Arbiter away, then gives chase striking at him with her lance's reach and keeping him on the defensive.

Billie strikes both The Arbiter's hands. He yells out in pain, his sword goes flying in the air. He quickly spins around as Billie was pulling her lance back for another attack, only to see The Arbiter's sword rematerlize in his hand, he corrects his footing and bring the sword down upon her. Holding both ends of the lance Billie holds it up to block the attack. Another shockwave pulses from them. Billie falls to one knee under The Arbiter's immense physical strength. Billie didn't account for how exhausting it was to block The Arbiter's attacks. Even when successfully blocked the shockwave and sheer force of the attack was enough to seriously hurt them.

Trinidad fires another volley of blasts, forcing The Arbiter back allowing Billie elegantly spin her lance around her with a blue corrupted energy coming off her lance. She strikes The Arbiter who disappears in blue lighting and reappears next to Trinidad. Billie quickly turns her head alarmed.

Trinidad holds out the blasters to fire but The Arbiter slices the blasters in two. They explode and knock Trinidad back. The Arbiter didn't let up though, he continued to power walk forward grabbing Trinidad by the throat holding him up off the ground and begins to squeeze his neck tightly. Trinidad tries to break the grip of The Arbiter but fails. Billie races forward bring her lance down across the left hand of The Arbiter. He recoils in pain dropping Trinidad to the ground backing up looking at Billie who gracefully spun her lance taking an offensive stance to protect her boyfriend and fellow ranger.

"Thanks babe…" Trinidad says in a horse voice, on one knee massaging his neck.

"That was a close one" Billie looks back to check up on him. Billie quickly turns back to face The Arbiter dashing forward leaping up into the air and striking him 11 times with her lance forcing him back with each strike. Billie feet touch the ground as she leans back missing The Arbiter's counter strike with his sword but failed to block his left punch. Billie goes flying back dropping her lance and tumbling across the ground motionless.

"Babe?!" Trinidad yells out. His eyes glowing yellow. The Arbiter teleports in front of Billie thrusting forward with his sword. The thought of losing Billie throws Trinidad into an unspeakable rage. Before he could even think about it, his body was already moving dashing in front of Billie with his power dagger in his right hand deflecting the sword and protecting her. Billie quickly grabs her spear leaping out of the way.

Trinidad quickdraws his other dagger using both of them to block The Arbiter's sword. The Arbiter forces Trinidad to one knee exerting pressure on him.

"Darling?" Billie calls out to him, gripping her lance about to step forward.

"Stay back!" he yells in rage. Billie stops in her tracks. "I got this!" Trinidad says confidently. Trinidad pushes against the ground forcing The Arbiter back to his surprise. Trinidad's Dagger's glow with a yellow corrupted energy. "Sabertooth Tiger! Furious Strike!" Trinidad moved like lightning striking The Arbiter all over his body 32 times, The Arbiter managed to block some of the hits and get in a couple of sword strikes against Trinidad but he kept up the pressure and on the final strike manage to drive his dagger in his left hand into the armor of The Arbiter and force him back in a dazzling close range explosion.

The Arbiter flew back but caught himself landing on his feet looking at the scratch marks on his armor then back up at Trinidad who fell to one Arbiter in a fury power walked toward them slamming his foot on the ground with each step.

"Oh come on!" Billie yells out.

"Does NOTHING slow this guy down?" Trinidad said weakly and exhaustedly. Meanwhile, Jaysin was running as fast as his legs could carry him through the forest looking around for his team trying to run in the direction of the fighting he heard with a frantic look on his face, aware of the time he had wasted resting and now in distance he is trying to make up.

"Babe, switch!" Trinidad called out needing a moment to rest after that full force attack. Billie dashed ahead toward The Arbiter, twisting her lance and pulling it apart into two distinct weapons. Billie strikes fast and hard like Trinidad with both of her weapons. However, The Arbiter blocks each strike with his sword. Trinidad watched Billie move as fast as she could all around The Arbiter striking him at different angles and points only for The Arbiter to block each one effortlessly. For him it looked as if this was break for him to recover his stamina.

When Trinidad saw this, he knew full well The Arbiter was an unrelenting brutal force of nature. Pure in its intent to cleanse the Morphing Grid, and an unkillable force like death that none could stand up against. They were fools to even try to defy the Will of The Morphing Grid. Billie sees an opening and goes for it only to be blocked by The Arbiter and knocked away by his sword. Trinidad watches drop her lances and rolls across the ground.

"Billie?!" Trinidad calls out watching her struggle to get up with The Arbiter walking toward her. Trinidad slides protectively in front of Billie standing between her and The Arbiter hunched over tiredly with daggers in hand. The Arbiter stops for a moment assessing the situation. Trinidad looks over at Billie saluting her with his dagger. "I love you" was all he said before dashing forward at The Arbiter. Billie looked up shocked and horrified.

Trinidad put everything he had into his speed and thrust, he struck at The Arbiter over 64 times, with The Arbiter blocking most hits. The Arbiter was forced to acknowledge Trinidad's speed and reaction time if he was going to win. Jaysin ran into the clearing holding his morpher coming to a stop next to a tree breathing hard, but when he looked up he saw Trinidad holding the line going toe-to-toe with The Arbiter with Billie a few feet behind him struggling to get to her feet. Jaysin also saw the bodies of Zach and Kim where they had been struck down. Jaysin looks back up at The Arbiter hatefully.

"I'm sorry Billie…" Trinidad said running out of energy, The Arbiter knocks one of his daggers from his hand leaving him open. Jaysin's eyes widen at what he was about to see. The Arbiter's blade on fire coming down on Trinidad but Billie pulls him back stepping in front of him taking the hit. Trinidad's eyes widen as well.

The Arbiter's sword slashes down Billie's body slicing her morpher in two. Her suit dematerialized with her turning to see Jaysin. Jaysin watches blood run down the scar from The Arbiter's sword spreading across her clothes.

"BILLIE?!" Jaysin and Trinidad both called out at the same time. Billie stumbles forward holding her hands out to Jaysin with blood coming out of her mouth and tears down her cheeks. Billie turns to fall on her back. Jaysin races forward sliding across the ground and catches her in his arms holding her tightly.

The Arbiter doesn't even give them a chance to mourn. As soon as Trinidad turns his head to face The Arbiter in his rage, The Arbiter plunges his sword through Trinidad. Jaysin doesn't even care he lost Zach, Kim, or that Trinidad is being murdered in front of him. Nothing matters to Jaysin in this moment then holding the dying Billie in his arms. He looks at his right hand covered in her blood. Billie weakly looks over and frowns, Jaysin looks up to see Trinidad had been ran through with The Arbiter's sword.

With the last of his strength Trinidad runs his dagger through The Arbiter and smiles thinking he has won, he has avenged Billie. He was wrong. He looks up at The Arbiter who looks down at him grabbing Trinidad's left arm and pulls it out of him. There was no mark, no blood, nothing.

"What the hell are you? Bro, are you even human?" Trinidad says weakly coughing up blood in his helmet. The Arbiter splits Trinidad in two before Jaysin and Billie. Making Overlord Yellow the third to be killed by The Arbiter.

"Darling…" Billie looks on horrified. Jaysin just holds her protectively watching with a serious look on his face. The Arbiter picks up Trinidad's coin and crushes it in the palm of his hand then turns his head toward Jaysin and Billie...