Chapter 20: Once a ranger part 2.

Chelbell2016:

Hi everyone things will be cleared up about Jayden.

Courtney's POV:

I am sat outside of Hartford mansion. Azantys is there for comfort but it's not the same as being able to talk to him. I feel lost without his thoughts in my head.

"Hey," a voice says and Jayden approaches me. "You okay?"

I nod but don't speak at first. "I just miss my magic... and being a ranger."

He smiles before sitting down after a second of hesitation.

"You know my mum used to say," he begins. "That the morpher doesn't make you a ranger... what you have inside does. The morpher is just a tool to help you."

I sit there and ponder this for a few seconds. I have heard that line from somewhere.

"It's not just that," I say glancing at Azantys. "I miss my connection to him. Ever since I was a ninja ranger I had a connection to him. Now it's gone... and I miss him."

Without thinking about it Jayden says. "He says he misses you too."

I freeze and get to my feet. Now that was weird.

"How do you know what Azantys said?" I say crossing my arms and he also gets up. "No one but me can talk to him... How did you hear him?"

He seems to realize he screwed up. "I uh... well... oh my sisters gonna kill me."

I glare at him.

"I want to know how you are able to hear Azantys," I say it again.

He sighs before coming to a decision.

"Because..." he says slowly. "I am your son!"

I freeze. Then as the realization hits me my mouth drops open.

"What did you say?" I say in a whisper.

"My name isn't Jayden," he tells me. "But I knew if I told you my real name you'd guess who I was. My names Thomas named after the ranger legend Tommy Oliver... daughter of ranger legend Courtney Oliver!"

"I uh.." I clear my throat and turn. "I need some time to think!"

I then walk away. I didn't mean to leave him hanging but this is a lot to take in. My son is a power ranger. With my history I wouldn't wish it on anyone. And by the sounds of it my daughter is also a ranger.

Later I am with Mack as he sweeps the floor. I am still shocked to think one day... in a few years if my calculations are correct... I will become a mom.

Sentinel knight appears. "Ah I see not everyone has abandoned the mission."

Mack leans against his broom as I just stare at the sentinel.

"Sweeping the floor isn't exactly up there with being a power ranger," Mack points out. "But I still wanna be involved with the mission somehow!"

"Remember what the others said," Sentinel knight reminds us but I am so lost in my own thoughts I barely hear him. "Once a ranger, always a ranger!"

"Yeah but what goods being a power ranger if you don't have any power?" Mack says.

"As long as you keep fighting for whats right," Sentinel knight says glancing from Mack to I and back again. "You'll always have power!"

I get to my feet as I remember something about the last time I seen Thrax. "What did Thrax mean when he said he knew what could defeat you?"

"There is one weapon that has the power to end my days," he explains and I wonder what that is. "The sword Excelsior. I'm sure Thrax intends to get it and exact his revenge on me!"

"Why don't we get it first?" Mack asks the most obvious question.

"No" Sentinel knight is firm with his answer. "It's too dangerous. Protecting the jewels must come first. I grow weak. I must rest!"

And with another flash he disappears. Mack turns to me and I sigh.

"Whatever you're planning..." I begin before walking over to him. "I'm in. I need to get out for a bit."

Mack and I head to England to Rose's university. When we get to her room her class is just clearing out. her eyes widen as she notices us.

"Mack! Courtney!" She yells getting to her feet. "What are you doing here? It's so great to see you both!"

We run to her and after Mack picks her up and spins her around for a hug, I hug her as well.

"Great to see you again Rose!" I tell her and she smiles.

I nod.

"Good to see you too," Mack says and he gets straight to the point. "But I'm here for something really important. What do you know about a sword called excelsior?"

Rose quickly goes into her usual answer questions mode.

"There's a book all about it in our library," she says and then she sounds confused as we quickly move towards the door.

"Okay, thanks bye," Mack says and after sending a smile Rose's way I begin to follow him.

"Wait!" She says.

"Got to go!" Mack tells her as we begin to exit.

"SEE YA!" I yell one last goodbye before we leave.

After reading the book on Excelsior Mack and I head into a creepy looking forest to find it.

"This isn't so bad," Mack says and I turn to raise an eyebrow at him.

But before he can answer we both fall into a ditch. I gasp as I fall on my still sore ribs. Mack helps me to my feet.

"Really miss being able to heal," I say to him before brushing myself off. "And Mack darling, next time... keep your mouth shut!"

"Noted," he says smiling. "Too bad you cannot flame us out of here! But looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way!"

"Magic is a want and not a need sometimes," I say.

"This will do," he says grabbing a vine and a bone. "Sorry, pal. Hope you don't mind."

He swings the vine around before throwing it and it wraps itself around a tree branch. First he, then I climb up it to get out of the ditch. We also see that we are now right in front of the statue with the sword.

"Excelsior!" Mack says and I smile at him.

Mack goes to grab it but suddenly Thrax appears and blocks us with his staff. I pull Mack back and we both prepare for a fight.

"Very impressive young man and lady," he says and he steps in front of the statue so we cannot get to it. "But in finding Excelsior, you led me right to it!"

"Can you say oops!" I whisper to Mack.

"Once you two are out of my way," Thrax begins and he begins to step towards us forcing Mack and I to take steps back. "Excelsior will be mine! And it will be the end of the sentinel Knight!"

He growls at us and points his weapon at us. But before he can fire, Dax appears and knocks him away from us.

"Dax, what are you doing here?" Mack asks as we smile at the blue ranger.

"I came with them," Dax says before pointing behind us.

I turn to see the rest of my team. I smile at them.

"I knew you two were going to do something crazy," Rose says from the middle of the group. "So I called them!"

I have never been so happy to see them as I am right now.

"My parents were weak," Thrax says and I glare at him as I think about the mystic mother. "And succumbed to goodness, but I will restore their legacy. By destroying the sentinel knight by the blade of the mighty excelsior!"

He goes to grab it but a bright light seems to force him backwards. I smile as I love magic and protection spells.

"What's happening?" Thrax demands to know.

"You obviously don't know the whole legend," Mack informs him and Rose and I share a smile. "Excelsior belongs to the warrior goddess."

"Which means she's the only one who can release it," I say smirking at him.

"GIVE ME THE SWORD!" Thrax yells before shooting lightning at it but once more he hits the ground. "FINE! If I can't have the sword! then i'll trash you're entire planet!"

He then disappears in a flash of lightning.

We begin to try and get the sword but nothing is working. Dax is trying right now.

"COME ON!" He groans as he tries again and again to pull it loose.

He falls and we quickly catch him before he hits the ground.

Ronny slaps her thighs. "I bet if we were still rangers, the goddess would give us the sword."

"No doubt!" Will says.

"Come on," Ronny says moving away. "We better get back!"

But Sentinel knights words and my own stick in my head.

"NO!" I snap and the others turn back to me. "I have been a ranger more times then I can count, I have no magic, no morpher but I believe I can still get that sword. Because I believe even without our morphers... we are still power rangers! I am not leaving without that sword!"

"She's right!" Mack says and together we move over to the sword. "One last try!"

The others all join us and nod at us. Together we all grip it. As we pull for a few seconds there's nothing then the statue suddenly comes to life. I am shocked and so are the others.

"Greetings power rangers," she says and we step back. "I am the warrior goddess, the unity of your friendship, and the conviction in your hearts has convinced me that you are worthy. Excelsior is yours now!"

She passes it to me and at the same time it turns to steel, I gasp as a sudden rush of magic runs through me. It is like all my magic returned at once and had a boost. I glow as I heal.

"What was that?" I ask the goddess.

"I am entrusting you as the guardian of the sword," she says and I go wide eyed. "Your determination that you do not need magic to have power has shown me that you are a worthy owner. It has the power and has restored your magic! The longer you are with it the more magic you'll discover!"

I smile as I pull out my wand and see that it is back working.

"WOW!" The others say at both things that happened.

The goddess turns back into a statue.

I give Mack the sword and he went to help the other rangers. I realise that maybe I was a little harsh on Thomas and as soon as I have a chance I'll explain my reasons.

Mack gives me back the sword and we call for the sentinel knight.

"As the new guardian of the sword," I tell him as I hold it out to him. "I want you to have this. It'll never hurt you that way!"

"Thank you, Courtney," he says and as he grabs it it suddenly restores him and he is now bonded with the sword. I do not need to watch it now so thats a good thing. I have too many weapons. "Incredible! I never knew it had the power to restore me as well!"

"Mr. Hartford," Rose says and we all turn to look at her. "We were wrong to leave."

"And we'd like to come back," Will continues. "And do anything you need us to do."

Spencer pats Mr. Hartford who smiles. "Welcome back to the team!"

We all laugh glad that once again we are a team. Then the retro rangers enter. Thomas smiles at me slightly but I give him a full one back and he seems to relax.

"There you are," Xander says and I see they are still morphed.

"You really saved our butts out there!" Tori says to Mack who seems happy to have helped.

A robot suddenly teleports in and me and my team are shocked. I know what it is but it doesn't mean I was expecting to see him.

"Hey am I late for the party?" He asks.

Dax seems shocked but also impressed. "Whoa! Who are you?"

"Alpha right?" I ask and Adam nods. "I've heard a lot about you!"

"Yes it's Alpha six at your service!" Alpha tells all of us.

"We brought him in to repair the morphing grid," Adam explains and I nod.

Mr. Hartford races over to the computer and checks on the grid. It is good news.

"He did it!" He tells all of us and Bridge punches the air. "The morphing grid is fixed!"

I high five Thomas and the others as everyone laughs.

"And we got our ranger powers back!" Ronny says and I nod. "Thanks Alpha!"

I hug Rose as she is pulling everyone in for a hug one after another. Even Will is dragged in for a hug. I hug Spencer, Mr. Hartford and Mack.

"AY-Y-YI-YI-YI!" Alpha says and I smile at him. "It feels good to be useful again!"

"Oh, tell us about it!" Dax says and we all laugh.

A few minutes later and we've been alerted to Thrax and the evil alliance's return.

Adam holds out Mack's morpher for him to take. "You ready for action?"

"You know it!" Mack agrees and we all take our morphers.

I took mine off of Thomas.

All thirteen of us head to the battlefield. The alliance does not look happy to see us.

"LET'S DO IT!" Mack and I say together.

"READY?!"

"READY!"

We begin morph.

"IT'S MORPHIN TIME!" Adam calls out morphing into the black ranger.

"NINJA STORM RANGER FORM!" Tori morphs into the blue ranger.

"DINO THUNDER POWER UP!" Kira calls.

"S.P.D EMERGENCY!" Both Bridge and Thomas call morphing into their respective colors.

"MAGICAL SOURCE MYSTIC FORCE!" Xander goes next.

"OPERATION OVERDRIVE!" My team and I yell also morphing.

Our color smoke explodes behind us as we all stand in a line.

"But how?" Thrax asks shocked to see us overdrive rangers morphed. "I took your powers away!"

"That's what you thought!" Dax says pointing at him.

"But once a ranger..." Mack begins.

"ALWAYS A RANGER!" We all finish together.

"Come my evil alliance!" Thrax says motioning to the crew behind him.

We all race at each other. I join Thomas against a bunch of Chillers and Mig. I punch Mig and turn to kick a chiller. I see that my son takes after me with my moves. As he pushes Mig back I jump over him and kick him in the chest. He falls back and I turn to see Thomas is using some sort of leopard armor.

It looks quite cool but It's not Azantys he's combined with so who is it.

I click my fingers as I go into ancient mystic mode. "ANCIENT MYSTIC MODE! FIREHEART!"

Fireheart appears and roars. Like many times before we combine.

"BATONS!" I yell calling for my weapons.

"LEOPARD CANNON!" Thomas yells and a cannon with a leopard head for the firing part attaches itself to his arm.

"FIRE!" We both yell and together we destroy the chillers and Mig goes flying back.

I see Sentinel knight has destroyed Thrax and we regroup with the others.

"His evil legacy is over!" The knight says as we join him.

"But we're not!" Kamdor says as he and the rest of the goons regroup.

"We'll see about that!" Tori says as we all prepare for another fight.

"All together!" Mack says and we all raise our weapons.

We all blast them and then turn away. Lowering our weapons I am so glad we have won this battle even as the alliance splits up again and disappears.

"POWER RANGERS FOREVER!" We all yell.

"Now that's what I call ranger power!" I say to Adam as I hold my batons in one hand.

"You got that right!" Adam agrees.

We then clap hands together.

I have asked to speak with my son outside.

"Okay," I say as we walk around. "I am sorry I walked off earlier. I wasn't upset with you... a few years ago I would have been thrilled to know I have two children that become rangers. But after doing this on and off for four years... I wouldn't wish it on anyone... that is until I lost my powers and I realized how much I had to lose."

H nods and smiles. "I understand. Trust me you and dad are not exactly thrilled when my sister and I become power rangers at first. But it grows on you."

I smile back at him and we hug. Then I hear Azantyz voice.

"Nice to be able to speak to you again young one," he says and I am shocked as I turn around and see he is with another snow leopard.

"Azantys who's your friend?" I ask him.

"Hello," The female says in my head and I now have a theory to who she is. "I'm Regina! Azantys is my father and I work with Thomas and his sister at the SPD Base!"

I lean down and pat her as she comes to say hello.

"Very nice to meet you Regina, you are beautiful," I tell her before turning to Thomas. "So you also have her and I am gathering she's who you combined with?"

He nods and we both get up and head inside.

Later all thirteen of us are in the rec room.

"First I was glad you came," Dax says as we know its now time to say goodbye. "Then I was mad when you stayed. Now, I'm sad that you're leaving!"

"Yeah we're really gonna miss you guys," Rose tells them as we are all squashed around the arm chair that she is sat in.

"We're gonna miss you guys too," Kira says to us.

Spencer walks in with a plate full of toast. I am shocked by how much toast their is on the plate.

"You're toast master Bridge!" He says to the red ranger.

"Is it..." Bridge begins wiggling his fingers near his mouth for some reason.

"The butteriest!" Spencer tells him.

I glance at Thomas.

"Don't ask?" He tells me rolling his eyes at his teammate.

Bridge grabs one and bites into it.

"Now just remember we're only a phone call away," Tori says and then she looks at me. "And Courtney if you remember where it is maybe you can pop back to blue bay harbor once in a while."

I nod looking sheepish. Tori smiles as she passes her cart to Mr. Hartford.

"Tori Hanson," he reads out loud for all of us. "Custom surfboards. Impressive!"

"And guys," Xander says to all of us. "Feel free to drag Courtney to show you where the rock porium is. I'll give you 10% discount."

I smirk. "Okay Mr Manager. Toby okay with you giving discounts out."

He glares at me playfully.

"And I'm gonna come see you guys," Kira says from besides Will. "I'll bring you the new CD I'm working on."

"So Alph you ready to head back to angel grove?" Adam asks and I smile. "I can use some help with my dojo."

"Say hi to everyone for me," I request and he nods.

"You bet?" Alpha agrees with Adam. "Anything's better then that crater!"

We all laugh.

"Okay guys," Mr. Hartford says approaching the middle of the room. "Once more for old times sake!"

We all gather together and put our hands on top of each others.

"GO GO POWER RANGERS!" We all yell but at that moment a time portal opens and Regina appears after rubbing heads with Azantys.

"We got to go," Thomas says giving me a hug but then he points a device at me. "Sorry but the only reason I only told you who I was is so I can remove your memory."

I see a flash and then Jayden is heading for the portal with Bridge. Some sort of animal had just gone through.

"Goodbye!" We all say to Bridge and Jayden.

Chelbell2016:

Sorry guys had work. Not got work till next week so hoping to get one fine day out before then.