Disclaimer: Not mine

Juzblue: I like chocolate chips. :)

Arwennicole: I'll review, I swear. I didn't know you'd put up your next story. Thanks. :P

Jenny: I wrote it right, then! All the depressing chapters were starting to get to my head. The rest of your review I'm not quite sure how to react to. :D:P There, you got two smilies.

the-power-of-love: Thanks. This wasn't too much of a wait, was it:P

Piper xox Leo: I think it would be so cool to live without gravity. I don't think I ever will, but I like dreaming.

Melissa: Didn't work... I love the Simpsons. I love all the random background characters who do nothing but appear at odd moments. No, there's nothing wrong with Ashley like she's dying or anything like that. I think Andros would cry first, too.

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Which question was that? If it had something to do with something that could possibly be important to the story, it's because I'm evil and I enjoy taunting people. If it's anything else, I forgot, so ask me again. :P Good taunting. Have fun making Sims ranger babies. :D

Chapter 11: Changing the Stakes

Fully morphed, Aria led the seven rangers out of the Megaship, to survey the damage to themselves, but first, to Samael. His ship was a quarter mile away, the light reflecting off of it acting as a beacon, guiding them to him.

"Let's go," Aria said needlessly. Silently, they trooped off towards Samael.

From the looks of it, his ship hadn't been able to pull up as quickly as the Megaship had, and had sustained much heavier damage. For one, the ship was in two pieces.

"Think he's dead?" Justin asked.

"We're not that lucky," Aria said, her eyes narrowing behind her visor. Sure enough, two figures soon emerged from the smoldering ruins.

"White Ranger," Samael growled, "You will save me the trouble of killing your teammates."

"Maybe next time," Aria said lightly, drawing her sword. "They seemed to have survived this time."

"Only to die at my hands," he retorted. "From one death to another."

"Well, then," Aria said cooly. "Prove it."

"With pleasure," Samael sneered. "Enni!"

The sorceress appeared next to him, her staff nowhere in sight. Karone smirked. Either it had been destroyed in the crash, or Enni had completely drained it of it's power. Either way, Enni was little more than a human mortal now.

"Attack!" Samael ordered. Enni looked at him dumbly, and he howled in frustration.

This time, the battle was in the ranger's favor. Enni was powerless, Samael was weakened, and for once, there were no bumbling footsoldiers to be dealt with.

Karone's sword made contact with Enni's right shoulder, and swept across her chest to her left shoulder. Enni shrieked with rage, and returned an attack, which Zhane promptly blocked. Together, the two of them wore down the sorceress.

Andros planted his foot firmly in Samael's stomach, driving him back towards Gabriel. The green ranger attacked from behind. Aria and Justin attacked simultaneously from the sidelines, their swords coming down in two gleaming arcs.

Samael was not to be beaten easily, however, and withstood these hits. Still strong, he spun around, catching Justin by surprise. Stunned from a hit, the blue ranger staggered back. Ashley and Aria moved in on Samael, to give Justin time to recover.

Ignoring the white ranger completely, Samael made Ashley the sole target of his attack. The instant he went for Ashley over her, Aria knew what he was going to do, and turned to warn Andros, but it was too late.

His protective instincts kicking in at the sight of his wife being beaten by Samael, Andros drew his blaster as well as his sword, and began firing continuously at Samael. Suddenly, Samael had abandoned his attack on Ashley, and had turned towards him.

Andros had no warning before Samael's eyes burned into his, even through his visor. Then he was aware that he was moving, but it was not his brain controlling his arms and legs. His mind was his own, however, and he struggled, but resistance yeilded no results as he found himself attacking his teammates. Remembering what Aria had said about mind control, he supposed that he had fallen victim to it.

"Dammit," Aria cried, knocking away Andros' sword and blaster telekinetically. "Ash, you and Gabriel stop him. Justin and I can take Samael."

"Or so you think," he taunted. "I know things that you do not, White Ranger."

"I'm sure you do," Aria said calmly, her tone countered by the viciousness of her attacks.

"You don't know what you've done, do you?" he asked, blocking her sword expertly.

"I've got a pretty good idea," Aria said. "So shock me."

"I'm not Enni," he shot back. "I'm not going to tell you." He paused. "But you did say that you had come for their lives."

"I remember that," Aria replied calmly. "And I have their lives."

"But you have changed the stakes, White Ranger, whether you realize it or not."

"How?" Aria demanded. "You can't possibly expect me to believe everything that comes out of your mouth, especially in the middle of battle."

"Suffice it to say that you have changed much more than you intended to," Samael said. "And the blood price you will pay to me grows higher."

"You are a lunatic," Justin said scathingly.

"I agree." Aria sliced open his arm, and he dropped his sword. Kicking it out of the way, she moved closer, prepared to kill him this time.

"Andros, listen to me," Ashley pleaded, blocking Andros' attacks. "You have to fight."

"I'm trying," came his frustrated reply. "Please, don't let me hurt you."

"Don't worry about that," Ashley shouted at him. "Just fight."

It seemed as though the harder he struggled, the more Samael's control over him grew. Andros was grateful for Gabriel's presence; the green ranger kept him from getting too close to Ashley.

Out of the corner of his eye, Andros saw Samael stumble, and for one fraction of a second, the mind control wavered. It was all the time Andros needed to break through, and he demorphed. The power made him stronger, and he was not about to make it easier for Samael to use him to hurt his friends and family.

Then Samael and Enni were gone, and he heard Aria shout with frustration and rage. Ashley demorphed, kneeling down beside him in the hot sand that was the ground.

"Did I hurt you?" he demanded. "Either of you?"

"I'm fine," Gabriel assured him, before backing away to let him and Ashley alone.s

"It's all right," Ashley said, resting her hand on his arm gently.

"No, it's not all right," Andros protested. "I could have killed you."

"But you didn't," Ashley said softly. "And he's gone now."

"Ashley," Andros said suddenly, pulling her into a fierce hug. "Promise me that you'll never just let me kill you."

"I promise," Ashley whispered, holding him close. "Come on. Relax. We're all fine."

Andros nodded his head against hers, and stood up, slipping his hand into hers as they rejoined the others, who were pointedly ignoring them.

"All right then, let's go back and fix the Megaship," Aria said.

The walk back was silent, and Andros noticed that his sister's eyes were dark and troubled. They lit up once she caught sight of the Megaship, however.

"I love magic," she said, grinning, as Cathan appeared in front of them. "It's all bright and shiny and new."

"So you approve then?" the sorcerer asked her.

She nodded instantly. "Why would I not?"

"Deca had some objections."

"She likes to be in charge," Aria said. "But if you didn't screw it up, she'll be fine with it."

The Megaship lifted off smoothly, and the rangers left the bridge to occupy themselves however they wished.

"Cathan," Aria said as she left, not looking over her shoulder at the man behind her. "We're going to need to talk."