Disclaimer: Not mine, please don't sue me, I have no money anyway.

DizneeDol: A lot of stuff happens next... : )You'll see, don't worry. Glad you liked it.

Arwennicole: Something like that... I couldn't think of anything better at the moment, but everyone seems to like it.

Jenny: Thank you. I appreciate it VERY, VERY, VERY, MUCH! You can use copy and paste if you want... I can't update ten times in one day. I don't write that fast. I probably could, but my attention span is too short. I think that's why I'm writing two things at once... Hey, there's something shiny over there...

Melissa: Nope, no vacation. Emotional is okay, I get that way at a lot of the stories that I've read. This soon enough?

Ghostwriter: There's only a few chapters left, but there's going to be a sequel.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: I like to think that I'm psychic, too. Whether I actually am or not has nothing to do with it, I just like to think that I am. : ) Here's some more.

Chapter 24: The Coundown Begins

The Megaship

"Small problem," Aria announced.

"What?" Andros asked lazily, hoping it wasn't something important. He wasn't in the mood for any serious fighting.

"Rita and Lord Zedd are attacking the Vica Galaxy," Aria reported, her voice puzzled, but still relatively calm. Andros sighed and opened his eyes. He and Aria were the only ones on duty, and this sounded like it needed immediate attention. Aria was speaking again.

"Divatox is leading an invasion," she continued. "And -"

She stopped speaking abruptly, shocked into silence.

"What's wrong?" Andros asked, his eyes snapping open.

"Velocifighters," Aria said distantly. The change in her tone was unmistakable, and Andros heard his sister taking several shaky deep breaths. This alone was enough to send adrenaline coursing through him.

"How many?" he demanded, sitting forward.

"Thousands." Aria had paled several shades.

"Heading where?" Andros asked, a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. He already knew.

"Heading for Earth."

"Deca, get the others in here," Andros ordered. "Now!"

Aria and Andros had already flipped open their morphers, but they waited, the realization slowly dawning on them that this was their only chance. There would be no other battles, and the fate of the universe was hinged on the outcome of this one.

"What's going on?" Ashley ran in, Justin and Gabriel on her heels. "Deca said it was important."

Wordlessly, Aria nodded to the viewing screen, where the masses of Velocifighters could now be seen. Ashley gasped, but Justin and Gabriel were stunned into silence.

"We knew it was coming someday," Ashley managed to say, her voice unusually small and wavering. Andros pulled her close as they waited for Zhane and Karone, who stepped off the Megalift only seconds later. No one spoke, but they managed to take in what was happening rather quickly. For a long moment, they stood there, staring into each other's eyes.

"Let's go," Andros said simply.

Angel Grove

The streets of Angel Grove were filled with swarming Quantrons and panicked citizens, all adding up to a chaotic roar that filled the air. As the rangers swooped in on their gliders, the people started to cheer, thinking that their saviors had arrived.

"You guys ready for this?" Andros asked telepathically, knowing that there was no way he could make himself heard over the noise.

"Never surrender," Aria replied, her Astroblaster already firing. She swung down off her Galaxy Glider gracefully, Karone following suit, her purple helmet reflecting the bright sunlight.

Justin, Gabriel, and Aria got into fighting formation, standing back to back. Zhane and Karone took up defensive stances a short distance away, leaving Andros and Ashley to fight together.

"There's too many," Gabriel said despairingly, an hour later.

"Keep fighting," Justin encouraged.

"He's right, Justin." Aria kept her telepathic voice quiet, not wanting to break the concentration of the others. "But there's nothing we can do about it now."

"We'll fight to the death, there's no doubt about that," Gabriel said determinedly. "But what happens then?"

"We had better not die, then," Aria said firmly, her attention back on the battle. Gabriel sighed, and followed his sister's lead, if nothing else, trusting her strength, and finding his own growing.

"Ashley, look out!" Andros cried, dodging Ecliptor's blows only to see Ashley succumb to Darkonda's. Sparks flared up around her suit as Darkonda's sword clipped her just below the neck. Pain flared up on his body, but he banished it to the back of his mind, knowing that whatever Ashley was feeling was much worse.

"Andros!" Ashley screamed, and he turned too late, Ecliptor managing to finally hit him. He crumpled to the cement, dazed from a blow to the back of the head.

"Help them," Karone yelled at Zhane, who was several yards closer to them than she was. He was at Andros' side only seconds after Ashley, who was trying to defend them both. She nodded to him gratefully, and together they dragged Andros to his feet, relieved when the shock wore off.

"We're surrounded," Zhane said, turning to his best friend, and their leader for orders. "What do we do now?"

Andros hesitated, their only option clear in his mind, but that didn't mean that he had to like it.

"Retreat," he said, keeping his mental voice toneless, not wanting them to know how much it cost him to say the word.

"Stop them!" Ecliptor and Darkonda put aside their mutual loathing long enough to send a combined attack that sent Andros, Ashley, and Zhane sprawling.

"Run!" Zhane shouted aloud, the three of them leaning on each other for support.

Ecliptor made to follow them, but was distracted when his eyes fell on the former princess of evil, now a ranger herself. "Princess!" he cried. Karone gasped, and turned to look at him. He took advantage of the opportunity, and grabbing ahold of her, teleported back to the Dark Fortress, leaving behind the wreckage that had once been Angel Grove.

"Karone!" Aria screamed, seeing her sister taken. Her verbal voice managed to carry, and Andros turned in horror just in time to see Karone taken from him again.

Unable to speak, he fell to his knees, his strength sapped completely. Beside him, he thought he could hear Zhane crying, and this sent him spiraling even lower. If even Zhane had given up...

"Get up."

Ashley's firm voice penetrated through the fog that was starting to settle over his mind, and he looked up at her, dazed.

"Get up," she repeated, forcing their telepathic link to open wider. "Andros, listen to me. You have to keep fighting. It's what she would want."

Andros refused to listen, wanting to hide in some small, dark corner of his mind, but Ashley refused to let him run. Slowly, he understood.

"What about Zhane?" he asked, turning to look at his best friend, who seemed even more lost than he did.

"Help me carry him," Ashley ordered him, and he obeyed, grateful that he was no longer in charge. Together, they supported Zhane between them, and made their way to the others had gathered, the six remaining rangers each feeling the loss, their hope beginning to fade.