Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I owned nothing.
Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Your brother is Lala! Or Cadan. Wait, that rhymes with Aidan... oh well. I like Cadan. Wait. Zhane and Karone's kid is Kaden. Is that the same name?
Mz. Daydream: They really can't get enough of each other... Their kids show up right about now... Yeah, big battle. :P
Jenny: I didn't update for lots and lots of days. Happy now:P
Chapter 32
"Deca, what's happening?" Andros shouted over the noise of the alarm.
"The rangers have requested assistence," Deca informed them.
"Let's go," TJ said, falling into the Turbo rangers morphing stance.
Andros grabbed Ashley by the hand and pulled her out of the holding bay and towards the bridge, Zhane following close behind. As they worked their way through the Megaship, they heard the morphing calls of half a dozen ranger teams.
"Let's see if I remember how this works," Zhane said, a strained grin on his face as he took a seat to Andros's left. "We try not to get hit."
"Something like that," Ashley agreed from Andros's other side.
"Daddy?"
Zhane swore softly under his breath as his son and daughter appeared on the bridge. "Zora, Kaden, what are you doing here?"
"Daddy, what's going on?"
"Mom!" Aidan suddenly appeared next to Zora, Seren in his arms, Jenny and Marieke in tow. "What's happening? Why are the alarms going off?"
"We're in the middle of a battle," Ashley explained as Andros began firing the torpedoes at the Overlords' ship. "Don't worry. We'll all be all right."
"Can we stay?"
"If you don't talk," Andros said tersely, not taking his eyes off of the viewing screen. The Overlords began firing back and the Megaship shuddered as they took a hit. "Ash, sheilds?"
"Ours or theirs?"
"Ours."
"Ninety percent," Ashley reported. "But falling."
Andros muttered something she couldn't hear. "Theirs?"
"Ninety-nine percent and steady," she said anxiously.
"Zhane," Andros shouted suddenly as the Megaship veered sharply to the left without a second's warning, nearly throwing them all across the bridge. "What was that?"
"Evasive action," Zhane said grimly. "There's something coming at us from behind now."
Andros growled under his breath and began firing furiously, not about to lose now.
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"All right," TJ cried as he and his team landed down on KO-35. "Let's go."
"Cassie, look out!" Karone shouted, seizing the pink ranger and pulling her down as a Quantron blade whizzed by overhead.
"Thanks," she gasped out shakily as she stood.
"No problem," Karone said, a grim smile on her face. "Oh, did I ever mention the Quantron's one weakness?"
"They have a weakness?" Justin Stewart demanded, stumbling back, winded.
"Back of their necks," the yellow ranger informed them calmly, expertly stunning a half dozen of them. "There's a space where their helmets don't meet with the rest of their armor."
"And why couldn't you have told us this nine years ago?" Carlos grumbled. "It certainly would have made things easier."
"I was supposed to be fighting against you!"
"That's not the point," Carlos retorted. He dropped to the ground, tripping several of them, and dealt them each a fierce blow to the weak spot Karone had mentioned. "Hey, it does work!"
"Told you," Karone replied smugly.
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"Duck!"
The voice was unfamiliar, but Tempest obeyed without a second's thought, not caring to find out what would happen otherwise. A volley of laser fire passed by overhead and she leapt up the minute the shots ceased, allowing the pink ranger standing over her to pull her to her feet.
"Thanks," she said, firing her Star Slinger several times in succession. "Who are you, by the way?"
"My name's Jen."
"Your team's from the future, right?"
"Yeah," Jen replied, both of them hitting the ground. "Like yours."
"Yeah..."
Jen laughed a little. "The future can be changed. Don't worry."
"Thanks," Tempest replied, suddenly catching sight of Ailbhe, and worse, her brother attemtping to take him on single handedly. "Uh, I've got to go..."
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"Sheilds failed," Ashley announced grimly. "Andros..."
"Engines at half power," Zhane reported. "You guys know what that means."
"Daddy?"
Zhane groaned. "Deca?"
"I am here."
"Get the kids out of here," he ordered. "I don't care where you put them."
"Mom," Aidan shouted. "What's going on?"
"It's all right," Ashley assured him. "You'll be all right."
"But what about you?" he demanded.
Andros sighed. "Don't worry about us. Deca, teleport them as far away from the battle as you can."
Zhane let his face fall forward into his hands as the children vanished from the bridge. "Is there anything left for us to do?"
"Yes," Ashley said firmly. "We still have some time."
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"Idiot!"
Ryan winced as Ximena suddenly appeared at his side. "I was just..."
"You can't take him on alone," she argued. "You do know that?"
"And I suppose you're going to help?" he retorted sarcastically.
"Do you really think I'd just let you die?"
"Do you really want an answer to that?"
"No," she decided, drawing her sword. "But if you want to live, you're going to have to trust me."
"And me." Skylar stepped over to them, sword in hand. "Let's go."
"Not without me," Tempest put in, joining them. "And not without them."
Ryan sighed inwardly as the Astro team approached, but nodded. "Let's go."
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The three Overlords stood side by side as the Astro team plus Skylar and Ximena approached, weapons drawn. They wasted no time in meeting the challenge, and without wasting a moment, an all out battle was raging. With Skylar and Ximena's knowledge of the Overlords' battle tactics, and the fact that the rangers outnumbered the Overlords nine to three, the advantage was theirs.
"Ciaran!"
The blue ranger hit the ground at Damien's warning, slashing at Idris with his Astro Ax on the way up. The blow hit, and the Overlord fell back. Ciela blocked Ciaran's next attack, tossing him back carelessly into his teammates.
"Hey!" another voice called, and they turned to see that the footsoldiers had been beaten. A few dozen rangers slowly made their way to surround the Overlords. "Need a hand?"
"I think it's time to finish this," Ryan exclaimed, his powered-up Spiral Saber cocked and ready to fire.
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"Don't even think about it."
Ashley's hand closed over Andros's wrist, yanking his hand away from the small red button it had been resting on. He looked up at her guiltily, and then glanced back down at the self-destruct mechanism.
"Andros, if we die, then we die," she said, her anger well hidden but present just the same. "But we will not kill ourselves for them. Do you understand me?"
"I'm sorry, Ash."
"Hey," she said, her voice softening. "We're going to be all right."
"Look at this," Zhane exclaimed, pointing at the veiwing screen. "I think we just won!"
"What?" Andros's head shot up.
"I told you we'd be all right."
He gave Ashley a small smile. She rested both her hands on his, her warmth enough to convince him that he was still alive.
"I think they're going to kill them," Zhane said softly.
"Turn it off," Andros said suddenly, standing abruptly. "I don't want to watch."
"Andros?"
"They're our kids, Ash," he explained. "I know that they have to, but Aidan's only eight. Seren's just a baby. I don't want to think about them being killers."
"Neither do I," she assured him, coming forward to wrap her arms around him.
"You guys," Zhane called urgently. "Everything's gone white."
"What!"
"Just look."
Ashley had time to catch one glimpse of brightness before the world exploded.
A/N: Well, my writer's block decided to go away, so I updated! Sorry it took me so long. I hope you liked it, please review, and please go check out Saving Angel, the story I've been working on while waiting for my writer's block to go away. The next chapter of Different Defenders will only be a few days, I promise.