Promise Me
Final Chapter
The interior of the Troobian flagship was not what Jack expected it to be. He expected it to be lavishly designed with brightly lit rooms, white walls, marble floors and several massive crystal chandeliers, the kind of place that Syd would love to visit. However this was not the case, instead it was dark, damp, and reeked of death. Jack didn't want to think about what had died in here. Presently he and the rest of his Power Ranger comrades, save for Sam AKA Omega Ranger, were being held prisoner in the Troobian Flagship.
'Like a cage could ever stop me.' Thinks Jack as he activates his molecularization abilities, he quickly charges towards the cage's bars and ends up being repelled and sent flying.
"You shouldn't bother Jack; your powers have being negated by the radiation emitted by this ship's engines." Says Cruger as he walks over to the fallen Jack. Even now in this freakishly precarious situation, the commander of Earth's SPD forces some how managed to stay calm. The others paced back and forth nervously.
"Jack, I've been meaning to talk to you." Says Cruger.
"Can it wait, I mean I'm pretty sure that whatever you have to say is important." Replies Jack. "But we're kinda being held prisoner in an Evil Emperor's space ship which is filled with hundreds of his robotic foot soldiers and we don't have our morphers."
"Hey!" says Bridge in a slightly offended tone of voice. "Only I'm allowed to be that painfully blunt!"
"Sorry." Replies Jack.
"I now you're planning to leave SPD." Says Cruger.
"WHAT?" shout the rest of the team in surprise.
"Again! Only I am allowed to be that blunt!" says Bridge. "Wait you're planning to leave SPD."
"You're wrong sir, I love SPD." Replies Jack.
"I know, but it's not where you belong." Says Cruger. "You and I both know that."
"None of that matters right now." Says Jack. "We have to escape now, or Earth's doomed."
The gate to their cage suddenly opens, the others quickly turn their heads to find Emperor Grumm walk in on them. "Earth's destruction, should be the last thing to worry about. Something much worse is about to happen." He snarls, he turns to glare at Cruger. "This is only the beginning, the worst has yet to come."
Earth's SPD base was in complete chaos, earlier Broodwing had attacked the base with a massive krybot army, the cadets led by Sam, the Omega Ranger, had done their best to fend them off, but in the end, the forces had proved to be too powerful. The cadets were still recovering from the attack, but there was no time for rest. Kat had just received confirmation from several SPD surveillance satellites that Grumm's ship, along with all of his forces is heading to Earth. Since Cruger and the rest of the rangers were nowhere to be found, Kat had assumed the chain of command since she had the highest ranking SPD position on Earth, next to Cruger of course.
Now she stood along side Sam and Boom inside of SPD's main command center, several cadets and other workers gathered around in front of them. "I'll be frank with you, Commander Cruger and the Rangers have been captured by Emperor Grumm, and in about an hour Grumm's army will arrive on Earth. We are Earth's final line of defense."
"What about Lightspeed Rescue and the Silver guardians?" asks a cadet.
"When the Earth branch of SPD was created, those two organization merged with SPD. They won't be of any help." Explains Boom.
"We are the Earth's last line of defense, I won't lie to you the chances of us winning this battle are slim. Those of you that want to leave I won't stop you." Says Kat, several people are already heading towards the door. "I'm staying because I don't want you to experience what Commander Cruger and I had to go through. When our home planets were destroyed, all we had was each other, we wandered from planet to planet until we came upon Earth, where we were welcomed in with open arms. We love this planet, and we would both gladly give our lives to protect it."
The cadets all stopped. "I'm staying." Says a young female cadet.
"Me too."
"Me three!"
"This is what I've been trained for!"
"Graduation's come a little early this year!" says a senior professor smiling.
Kat couldn't help but smile, if Commander Cruger was here to see all of this he would no doubt be proud of the SPD they had built together.
Meanwhile back on the Troobian flagship, the rangers had been freed from their prison thanks to Piggy, one of Jack and Z's old "buddies." At the moment all seven of them, Piggy included, are trying to look for a way out of the Flagship. "Hurry, I really don't want to be in here, when this ship converts itself into its battle mode." says Piggy in a frantic tone of voice. The other rangers quickly stop in their tracks.
"Piggy," Says Z. "Just what do you mean by battle mode?"
"Didn't Grumm gloat about it?" asks Piggy. "All of the metals and other natural resources that he has been collecting from planets all over the universe, they've been ingredients for a body."
"What do you mean a 'body'?" asks Syd.
"A body for the true Troobian Emperor, Omni. This ship will be converted into his body, since Omni's nothing more then a giant brain." Explains Piggy. "Once this ship has been converted into Omni's new body, then he'll land on Earth and destroy it."
"WHAT!" shouts the rangers in shock.
"Jack, you take the other rangers back to Earth, I want you to use the Megazord to take on Omni." Says Cruger.
"But Commander, what about you?" asks Bridge.
"Grumm and I have unfinished business." Says Cruger before he pulls out his morpher. "SPD Emergency!"
The others quickly followed up. "SPD Emergency!"
"Commander, I can't let you stay on this ship, Earth needs you." Says Jack.
"No, Earth needs Power Rangers, it needs you guys now more than ever." Replies Cruger. "Now go!"
SPD wasn't winning the battle, but they weren't losing the battle either, instead it was more of a stalemate. SPD managed to a large number of Krybots, but with the sheer number of Krybots coming, it all seemed hopeless. Even Sam was having trouble, but he still refused to give up since, he was the only ranger present. Problem was that he was zeroed out by three Orange Heads, and even a ranger of Cruger's level would have trouble with Orange Heads.
"This doesn't look good." Mutters Sam, he quickly ducks in order to avoid a slash aimed at his neck, he quickly back hands the Orange Head with his right hand. A portal suddenly opens up right next to him, and out steps a silver female ranger, her upper body is also silver but it is also covered with what seems to be a blue and gold flak jacket with an 'M' design on the center. "Nova!"
"Jeez, Sam I've been searching all over the time line for you." Says Nova in an annoyed tone of voice, before she notices the Orange Heads. "Well it looks like you could use some help."
"It would be appreciated. Plus you still owe me a favor." Says Sam. "Force from the Future! Omega Ranger!"
"Force from the Future! Nova Ranger!"
The two rangers quickly activate their individual morphers. "Omega Morpher!"
"Nova Morpher!"
"Electro Mode!" shout the two rangers simultaneously. The two quickly combine their individual energy blasts together which results in a massive surge of electrical energy which quickly burned away the Orange Heads as well as any other nearby Krybots.
Kat was also having a bit of trouble; most of the cadets had never been in a real fight, much less a battle as important as this one. "Cruger you have better get your ass back down here!" she growls, before she blasts another Krybot. The skies suddenly darkened as a massive rocky behemoth descended from the skies, its yellow eyes glowing with power, in one hand is a massive scepter, in another are several tentacles.
"What the hell?" says a cadet as he stops to watch the behemoth land on the ground shaking it as it lands.
"That thing, it's the Troobian flagship!" says a female Officer.
"People of this Planet! I am Omni, the true Troobian Emperor!" rumbles the ship, now better known as Omni as he plants his scepter into the ground. "I claim this planet as my own, anyone that dares to resist my rule, will be eliminated with extreme prejudice!"
Suddenly Omni was hit with several laser blasts, flying down towards him is the Swat Megazord in all of its glory. It quickly flies circles around Omni firing lasers left and right causing the "The rangers!" cry Kat. "But where's Doggie?"
Doggie was still on the Troobian flagship, now better known as Omni's new body. To be exact he was in the throne room, battling Grumm. The two had a massive score to settle, Cruger wanted vengeance for the destruction of his people, and Grumm wanted to see just who the better fighter was. The two clashed with their individual weapons, Cruger clad in his Ranger suit armed with his Shadow Saber, and Grumm with his scepter. Cruger's wife, Aisinia watched the battle worried. "This cannot end well." She whispers softly.
Cruger quickly slashes Grumm in the chest, he quickly ducks to avoid Grumm's counter attack and follows up with a sweep-kick knocking him down to the floor in the process. Cruger quickly gets back up and kicks away Grumm's scepter. Grumm is now at the mercy of Cruger's blade. "It's over Grumm." He says softly.
"Finish me off!" demands Grumm. "Do it! Lord Omni's magnificence is complete, my life is no longer needed!"
Doggie quickly slashes and with a loud clang, Grumm's horn falls to the ground. "Now they match!" says Doggie in an attempt to make a twisted joke of some sort. He quickly pulls out his Patrol morpher. "Containment mode!" In a flash of red light, Grumm's body is shrunk, compressed, and trapped inside of a small card.
"It's finally over." Says Cruger softly. Suddenly a laser blast hits him in the back; he stumbles to the ground in pain. "Who?" He turns around to find Aisinia standing behind with a wicked smile on her face, in her right hand is a Troobian firearm, smoke is still escaping from the barrel. "Wha? Aisinia?"
"You've ruined everything!" she screams with cold blooded fury.
"What are you doing?" gasps Cruger he struggles to stand up, clearly Aisinia's shot had done a lot of damage.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" asks Aisinia with a sneer on her face.
"What are you talking about!" says Cruger. "Grumm, he must have brainwashed you!"
"You fool! I've always been serving Lord Omni!" says Aisinia. "Think about it, Sirius had the universe's most advance planet barrier. Only a high ranking SPD officer would know the code required to bring down the barrier."
"Or the wife of a high ranking SPD officer…." Finishes Cruger, he still could not believe what was going on. Aisinia was working for Omni?
"DING! DING! DING!" mocks Aisinia. "Exactly, I'm surprised that it took you so long to figure this out. You could never see what was in front of you this entire time."
"But….why?"
"For power you fool! Power is the only thing that matters to me, you were nothing more then a stepping stone for me to obtain more power. And soon Omni will be another stepping stone for me to obtain more power. I allowed Omni to enter Sirius because Sirius possessed a unique ore needed for Lord Omni's Magnificence." Says Aisinia. "Destroying SPD, well that was just a bonus, none of us expected SPD to be rebuilt after the incident, much less spread to other planets."
"I'm sorry." Says Cruger softly.
"Huh? Wha?" says Aisinia.
But she didn't get the chance to finish her sentence, because in a flash of black and blue, Cruger cuts her down. With a soft flash of red light, Aisinia is compressed and placed into a containment card. "I was apologizing to my comrades, and the rest of the Sirian Race." He says softly. "I should have figured it out sooner."
And for the first time since their demise, in the darkness of Omni, Cruger mourned for the loss of his race.
The battle against Omni's forces was not going well, despite the fact, that the SWAT Megazord outclassed Omni's Magnificence in terms of firepower, speed, and mobility, the sheer size of Omni's Magnificence was more then enough for him to withstand the constant onslaught of energy blasts courtesy of the SWAT Megazord. The SPD forces battling the Krybots, weren't doing so well either, even with Nova's help.
"Kat!" calls Sam. "Convert the Delta base into the Delta Command Megazord!"
Kat shakes her head. "And leave you guys out here to handle all of these krybots? No way!" She quickly kicks a krybot away before she blasts it with her laser weapon.
"Hate to say it Kat, but we don't have a choice." Says Boom while he quickly shoots down a few krybots. "The rangers can barely handle Omni right now, if they want to even leave a dent on his body, they'll have to convert the Megazord into its Cannon mode, but there's a five second delay because it needs to charge. Those five seconds would provide Omni with more than enough time to blast the rangers into oblivion."
Kat is hesitant but she finally nods her head in agreement. She and several other cadets run back into the base. Sam and Nova watch them go into the base. "Well partner. It looks like it's just you and me." Says Sam as he cracks his knuckles and gets into a defensive stance. And then the Krybots charged forward. Suddenly lasers coming out of nowhere blow the Krybots away.
"AND US!" shout several familiar voices. Sam and Nova quickly turn their heads to the sources of the voices. Charging into battle, the massive SWAT truck behind them, are the Three Members of the SPD high council, SPD's highest court of law and decision making. Leading the charge is Supreme Commander Fowler Birdie armed with his sword, following Birdie is Supreme Commander Ishmael Silverback, the one who taught the Rangers the value of teamwork and prepared them for SWAT mode. Running next to Silverback is a lion-man, apparently another survivor from Kat's home planet, in a black jumpsuit with a long golden mane; many would instantly recognize him as Commander Leon Mane, SPD's best tactician.
"CHARGE!" yells Birdie, he quickly runs in and cuts through several Krybots. Leon is silent as he quickly pounces on several Krybots and tears them apart with his claws. The SWAT truck continues to unleash a barrage of laser blasts at enemy forces. Silverback was the most impressive sight to behold, as he ran in and easily took down several
"We got your back, son!" says Silverback running up to Sam.
Sam gives him a thumbs up. "That's a relief." A soft beeping perks up Sam's ears, he quickly answers his communicator. "Go ahead Jack."
"Hey, do you think you can get into your Cycle Max Megazord and lend us a hand?" says Jack frantically.
"No can do, there are way too many krybots down here." Says Sam.
"Dammit! Wait a minute! Commander Cruger's still inside of Omni!" replies Jack.
"You'd better tell Kat about this." says Sam.
"Roger!" says Jack.
Omni suddenly looks angry. "YOU DARE? YOU DARE!" he roars, several large compartments in his arms and legs open up and suddenly hundreds, maybe even thousands of missiles launch from those compartments, all of them going straight towards the SWAT Megazord.
"SHIT!" yells Bridge.
"Not enough time to dodge." Says Syd frantically, the Megazord manages to blast a few away, but it still seems to be hopeless.
"This looks bad guys." Mutters Z in a frantic tone of voice.
Suddenly a large yellow beam of energy blows away all of the missiles.
"WHAT!" screams Omni.
The rangers quickly turn their heads to find the Delta Command Megazord, standing not too far away from them. But even the massive Delta Command Megazord isn't as big as Omni. Inside, Kat and several cadets are inside piloting the Megazord. "Fire Finger Lasers!" orders Kat. The Megazord quickly fires several lasers at Omni, each of them hitting him at a vital location.
The insides of Omni shake dangerously, Cruger almost falls to his feet. He hears his Patrol Morpher ring and quickly answers it. "Go ahead, Kat."
"Commander, I think I may have found a way to destroy Omni." Says Kat. "According to my scans of Omni's body, I've located his power distributor."
"Power Distributor?" echoes Cruger. "You mean the part of a computer that decides where most of the power is needed? But those haven't been used for years."
"I know, it's brilliant isn't it? Grumm knew that we wouldn't have suspected that he would use obsolete technology for Omni's main functions. I've tried practically every method, from hacking to low-level nuclear disruptors, to stop Omni." Replies Kat. "Commander, you have to shut down the power distributor. Look around, according to my scans, there should be a control panel around your area."
Cruger quickly scans the area to confirm Kat's report. "I see it."
"Destroy it, and Omni will shut down for about five minutes, until the back up distributor comes online." Says Kat. "That will be more then enough time for the rangers to finish off Omni."
"Got it!" says Cruger, he quickly draws his sword and walks over to the computer console.
"Commander, you know that if we succeed…." says Kat her voice breaking, anyone who can hear her would be able to tell that she was on the verge of tears. "The chances of you returning alive are slim."
Cruger is silent. "I know, but as a commander of SPD, it is my duty to rid the universe of evil. My life means nothing if I can't even protect the peace and happiness of others."
Soft sniffles come from the communicator indicating that Kat is crying. "I know." She weeps.
"Kat…"
"Yes commander?"
"I love you."
Kat was obviously shocked but after a moment she recovered. "I love you too."
"You have five minutes." Says Cruger and with one swift stroke, he destroyed the control panel, disabling the power distributor causing Omni to temporarily shut down. "Do it." Growls Cruger
Outside the rangers quickly reconfigure the SWAT Megazord into its Cannon mode, and quickly lands in front of the Delta Command Megazord. The massive Delta Command quickly grabs the cannon, inside Kat quickly channels all of the zord's energy into the cannon giving it even greater firepower. "FIRE!" shouts the rangers, the energy blast that blazed out of the cannon's barrel would be remembered for years to come. A blindingly bright blast of energy that destroyed Omni in a matter of seconds, additionally, the unique EMP waves emitted by the blast managed to render the attacking krybots useless. On the streets, the officers of SPD cheered, while in the darkness of the Delta Command Megazord Kat wept for the loss of Doggie Cruger, her commander and friend.
It was only a few hours later when the rangers, and the rest of SPD learned of Doggie's demise, the victory celebration ended almost immediately when they realized that their beloved commander had sacrificed his life in order to protect Earth. It was about three hours later, the ranger s all felt that it would do them some good to clear the city of Omni's remains. But it was obvious that nobody was ready to do work of any kind, however how they felt didn't matter, after all they were SPD, they had to serve the people. The five rangers and Kat were cleaning up the mess, each of them silent, mourning in their own way. Finally Z can't stand the silence any longer.
"I can't believe he's gone…." Says Z choking back tears, as she moves several pieces of debris out of her path, eventually she can't hold it in any longer, and she breaks down crying in Jack's arms.
"Yeah, I know…" replies Bridge.
"It's so… unreal." Says Syd, Kat is silent.
"I knew a lot of people would be killed in this battle…" replies Sky, even he is on the verge of tears.
"So what do now?" asks Jack.
"You can start by helping this old dog up." Says a familiar voice, the rangers quickly turn their heads to see Cruger rising from a massive pile of debris.
"Commander!" cry out the rangers happily, but Kat is the first one to run into his arms, crying she buries her head into his chest.
"You came back." She says happily.
"I always do."
A/N: Well that's it for this story, what was originally intended to be a one-shot story has changed into a three chapter story about the unique relationship that Doggie Cruger and Kat Manx share. I hope you all enjoyed it, and if you did, then drop a review or two cause it's always nice to know that people enjoyed reading my stories as much as I enjoyed writing them.