Summary: It's the final showdown! Nesiss vs. Hayden, who will win? More importantly, what does MagiShine have to do with this?
A/N: I hope you're all updated on who MagiShine is, if not, again refer to click database and then MagiRanger in the expansive list. Lastly, click Hikaru and read up on him. Enjoy the final part to Spectres of the Past.
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Hayden Christopher James stood locked together, blade for blade with his former girlfriend. As he stared deep into her eyes, he saw the fear, the pain that she truly felt on the inside. It was like a part of her was fighting for control, to take back her body. Hayden saw all the love that the body, the spirit inside possessed for him. It was a love that was truly, truly unbreakable.
Unless one didn't care.
And Hayden didn't.
And this point in time, Hayden didn't care if this would was his mother, his sister, or his wife – this woman was a threat and she had to die. Even if killing her meant a life time of anguish and pain…a better world would benefit from it. So, Hayden did the one thing he promised himself he'd never, ever do to any woman…
He backhanded her as hard as he possibly could.
Nesiss let out a painful cry and their blades split apart as she stumbled back. The Gold Ranger charged forward, his blade cutting every which way, striking her hard across the chest, the arms, the side, the neck – she cried out with each painful blow. One powerful, snapping side kick sent Nesiss flying through the air and crashing into the near by tree. Hayden gripped his blade tightly and held it out to his side. Golden-red energy cackled at the tip and slowly began to spiral down the blade. He let one hand go and held it out before him, clawed.
This was his most powerful attack. This was the attack that had taken Hayden many months, almost many years to perfect. The blade lowered a bit more to the ground as the energy intensified around it. Something inside Hayden told him, begging him not to use this attack. But then the other half…well the other half was winning. This half of him told him to use it; this half was the side of justice. It was telling Hayden she had done wrong, even if the real spirit didn't want it.
The Shell that was Hayden listened to that half that made the most sense.
He raised the blade a bit and slipped his left leg out. That half said killer her. His eyes narrowed deeply, almost to the point of shutting and he drew the blade back one last inch.
So he did.
"SHOCKWAVE PULSAR!" He whirled the blade over his head, leaving a trail of cackling energy behind and then threw it down, unleashing a cyclone of golden-red energy. Nesiss let out a horrified, painful scream as the energy ripped through her body. Bolts of red energy slammed into her stomach, chest and side, piercing through each part. Blood splattered against the tree and ground as the energy tore through her skin, threw her muscle.
Then it vanished.
She collapsed to both knees, and her eyes wide and blank of any emotion. The spirit that was Nesiss screamed as it left the body and weaved together before vanishing in a white flash. Hayden covered his eyes, holding the blade close to his side. He let out a breath as he look at the broken form of Amanda and all the sadness and hurt one should feel; hit him like a ton of iron. The blade his right hand vanished with a golden flash and his protective suit shrank away; leaving behind a tear scared Hayden. It hurt to stand here and watch the very woman he loved die. But what hurt even more was the fact he was responsible for it. He took in a deep breath and looked up to see another Gold Ranger standing over the woman.
For some reason, he knew who this man was. But at the same time, he had no clue. Something about the aura he wore was so familiar, yet so distant and different. The Ranger looked up at Hayden and sighed.
"Hayden James, Gold Dino Thunder Ranger?" MagiShine asked, turning to him. Hayden nodded slowly, expressionlessly. "My name Hikaru and I am MagiShine…why did you do this?"
Hayden's eyes narrowed. "I had to, Hikaru." He bit out, clenching his fists. "Would you rather I lost?"
He was silent on that matter. "She isn't dead, you know." He said and turned to her. He waved his hand, chanting some phrase and she lifted into the air. A magic carpet slid underneath her and rushed forward, scooping Hayden onto it as well. "She only requires medical attention, Gold One. See she gets it."
Hayden nodded his head in a silent reply and thanks, and then looked down at his true love. Gripping her hand, he let out a sigh and let the golden energy flow between them…she was going to make it – he'd make sure.
Hikaru watched them leave and then whistled, summoning up his own Magic Carpet. He stepped up onto it and growled. "To the Dino Rangers…" He commanded and gripped the Magic Lamp tightly. He already missed saving Amanda…he would not miss saving them.
XXXXXX
Trent Mercer, Conner McKnight, Ethan James and Kira Ford all looked at the paper with studying eyes. The front page headline read: "Earth to change Police Force – Kat Manx and Wes Collins co-develop prototype Police Gear for new Space Patrol Delta."
"Interesting." Ethan said, sitting to Conner's left, peering at the paper. "S.P.D…ah yes, I remember now. Jack Landor's was the future Red Ranger."
Conner nodded, rubbing his chin. "He said Space Patrol Delta was created in the year 2025. That's only 15 years away."
Wes walked absently into the room with a cup of coffee in one hand and in the morning news paper in the other. "I see you've seen the headlines?" Wes said, looking up from the paper. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Why are you helping develop this?" Trent asked, tearing his eyes away from the paper.
"I guess some people got wind that two of the Time Force morphers still existed in this time." Wes said, holding up his morpher. "So, a few years before Eric died, a woman named Kat Manx, a cat-like female, and Commander Birdie…a bird-like male, approached me. They asked if I would lend them a hand in possibly duplicating the Time Force technology." He shrugged and took another sip of coffee. "The rest is as you see it."
"The headlines said you have a prototype developed?" Ethan said anxiously, arching a brow. Everyone glanced at Ethan and each knew where this was going.
"We do, actually." Wes said and fumbled in his back pocket. "I just got faxed the prototype design this morning." He handed the papers into Ethan's fumbling, greedy hands and laughed. "Kat says it actually works to!"
The design was simplistic; it took the shape of a rectangle and written vertically along the left, front side of the morpher was the letters S.P.D in red. The morpher itself was white with gold trimming and at the top were two red lights that would blink. Between them was a grey button that presumably activated the morpher. The second picture was the front of the morpher flipped down with a picture of Wes Collin's and some jibberish next to it. Trent and Conner looked at each other bewilderedly, having no clue what was going on, but Kira had a mild grasp on the concept.
"It says the Morpher doesn't draw off the Morphing Grid." Ethan pointed out, flipping pages again. "How is that possible? All our powers are derived from the Morphing grid?"
Wes nodded, taking another sip of his coffee. "You're right, they are. However, Kat has managed to duplicate the effects of the morphing grid into a technological way. So rather then draining the morphing grid with two sets of Rangers, there are two powers supplies, one for each ranger group.
"You never realize how far technology has advanced until you can create your own Power Rangers." Ethan joked, shaking his head. "This is amazing. Dude, you gotta hook me up with this."
Wes laughed and shook his head. "I'll see what I can do, man. No promises." He took the papers back and frowned. "Speaking of which, Kat is coming up today."
Ethan arched a brow.
"She's actually bringing the prototype up with her." He looked a little…disturbed. "Since you two are the only existing Ranger team, she wants to test it's power on the current team." He shrugged and sighed. "Because this is based off Time Force technology, S.P.D is far more powerful then Time Force is capable of producing. And it's rather ironic too – the year 2010's technology utterly crushes the year 3000. How interesting."
"She's coming up here with the prototype?" Ethan exclaimed with wide, wondrous eyes. To Ethan, it was like he had suddenly stepped into heaven for no apparent reason. They were going to test out the next generation of Power Ranger technology!
Wes laughed again and shook his head. "Yes, that's correct. You'll get to see just how power your possible replaces will be." His face went stern. "Remember, this is only a prototype, so don't be surprised if you completely overwhelm it."
"Any word on what suit's going to be used?" Kira asked, looking up from the paper now.
Wes nodded and sat down on the couch, smiling. "Yeah, for the prototype they are using my Time Force suit. They figured it'd be the simplistic way going about it, rather then develop a whole new design."
"In that case we will win." Ethan said, frowning. "Even for futuristic powers and suit's, Time Force can't mach the Dino Gem's powers. That much is clear."
Wes laughed again and shook his head. "No, not quite Ethan, I'm afraid it's a little more complex then that. Their going with the overall basic design of the Red Time Force suit, but it's completely upgraded. It has new powers and everything."
Ethan couldn't suppress his grin as he leaned back against the couch. Conner sighed. "Oh no…you've got Ethan in techno-mode and that's all were going to hear about." Conner whined and shook his head. Kira smacked him on the shoulder and he winced, looking back at her. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Ethan shook his head and looked over at Conner. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something?" Conner rolled his eyes and looked away.
Everyone let out a laugh, but it was interrupted by the sudden explosion from outside. Ethan's head snapped to the window and he saw Terrorsaurus and Omega Ranger rushing towards them. "Guys, we've got company!" he shouted and bolted out of his seat. Everyone glanced to the window and suddenly rushed for the door as well.
Ethan threw open the door as the Dino energy consumed him and he leaped out into the air as several lasers blasts passed by, taking out several yards of trees. He fell into a roll and onto one knee, laser at the ready. Two precise shots stopped the charging monsters and the four other rangers rushed out side.
Conner, Trent and Kira raised their hands and flicked their wrists.
"Dino Thunder, Power up, Ha!" Conner and Kira shouted as their respective energies overtook them.
"White Ranger, Dino Thunder." He whispered, eyes narrowing. The white suit and sword materialized over his body and three Dino Rangers fell into stance.
"Time for Time Force!" Wes shouted, activating the morpher. A red glow consumed him as he slipped into an all to familiar Kung Fu stance and waited.
Omega and Terrorsaurus breathed heavily as they stared down their opponents. Omega gripped his sword tightly and slowly, side-by-side the two foes advanced on the rangers. They, too, had their weapons drawn and at the ready – a deadly serious look had passed over their face and posture. Too them, it seemed like this was the final battle of a war…the battle that would decide the fate of history.
If only they knew just how much truth there was to that…
The Rangers rushed forward to meet their foes head on. But unlike so many other times, they were more prepared. Omega met Kira and Ethan with a slash across the chest from his blade. He spun between them and drew his blade over their backs, sending them stumbling forward and charged again. Ethan whirled around, snapping his shield up to block the downward blow and Kira stepped in with two quick slashes of her Ptera grips.
Except Omega had moved fast…far faster then they thought possible. His blade snapped twice, parrying each dagger and then a third time, slicing the Yellow Ranger across the chest. She cried out and hit the ground in a spin, clutching her throbbing chest. Ethan had tired to step in, but Omega came in with an onslaught of stabs and slashes that put the Blue Ranger on the defensive. He tried his absolute best to block each attack, but one stab passed through and cut him across the side. He drew the blade back as quickly as he attacked and then cut the Blue Ranger across the chest and shoved him away with a vicious side kick.
On the other side of the field, neither Trent, Conner nor Wes was having any luck with the Terrorsaurus. Each strike that hit didn't seem to faze the monster and each blow from him felt a ton of iron came crashing into their chest. Trent rolled across the ground, clutching his chest in pain as Terrorsaurus whipped around at blindingly fast speed, back handed Conner's staff away and clawed him deep across the chest.
Two Chrono sabers descended for the strike, but Terrorsaurus evaded with amazing speed and backhanded-punched him in the face and stomach several times before jumping into the air and coming down with a swipe of his claws. Wes cried out in pain as he rolled through the air and crashed to the ground.
Trent was back on his feet with Wing Pentact (Drago Sword) in hand. Terrorsaurus whirled around to catch a slash across the face and the White Ranger stepped in with vicious snap kick that had Terrorsaurus flying through several feet before crashing into the ground. Trent hissed angrily beneath his mask and raised his sword at the ready position. Omega suddenly stepped in, white blade flashing. Trent moved back, snapping his blade against Omega's and grasped onto the Rangers wrist, drawing Omega close. Their blades were only a hand width away from each other's neck, but neither seemed to care at this moment.
Trent slammed his knee into Omega's stomach and their blades forcefully split apart. He wrenched Omega's arm down and snap kicked his face. The force lifted Omega into the air, but the youth yanked Omega down against the ground. Trent flipped high and far back through the air, landing several meter's from the downed Omega and sent a beam of spiraling golden energy towards him. Terrorsaurus stepped between it and swatted the attack away like a fly.
Next thing Trent knew, Omega was already in the air, blade in attack position. The White One had no time to evade the attack so he rolled to his right and prepared to strike himself. Except a 400 pound Terrorsaurus came barreling into him at high speed and suddenly crushed Trent against the side of the house. The white suit fizzled away and Trent slipped to the floor, unconscious.
By this time, the original three Rangers had regained their senses from the previous onslaught and were…kind of…sort of at the ready. Ethan wobbled he'd been drinking too much; Conner was breathing like he'd just run a marathon…and well, Kira looked like she just had a heart attack the way she clutched her chest.
But none of that stopped them from reading for the next onslaught. Terror and Omega rushed forward, blades and claws drawn back to strike. To their surprise, for one, Conner rushed forward and jammed his staff hard into Terrorsaurus' gut. He snapped the other end of the staff out and into Omega's face, sending him into a 360 and crashing to the ground. Quickly, he whirled the staff over his head, all the while side-stepping and brought it lashing down against Terror's back. The force buckled the monster's legs, surprisingly, and he crashed to the ground.
Ethan stepped in with a quick slash of his own shield. The thin, dagger like blade ripped through Terrorsaurus' face, taking a chunk out with it. He roared in pain and clutched his face, but grunted again as both Ptera grips jabbed into his stomach. Kira let the grips go and whirled around with a vicious roundhouse that forced Terrorsaurus to the ground…and effectively stabbing the grips deep into him.
Kira waved her hands, producing the grips again and three rangers came together. Wes had also risen from his temporary state of unconsciousness and summoned his blades as well.
"Lets put it together!" Conner shouted and the three Dino Rangers threw their weapons into the air.
As if by a magical force, their weapons bent, twisted, connected and fell into the hands of Conner. Kira and Ethan knelt down at his sides and held the newly combined weapon on their shoulders.
"Z-Rex Blaster!" They shouted and took aim at the struggling Terrorsaurus. "Ready, Aim, Fire!"
Wes connected the blades together at one end and whirled the blades out before him, creating a sphere of red-white energy. "TIME STRIKE!" he roared suddenly cut the sphere in half, sending two waves of energy towards the Terrorsaurus. The two attacks combined into one and the monster let out an ear piercing scream as the fire overtook his body. A red-orange explosion tore Terrorsaurus apart and a thick cloud of black smoke plumed high into the sky.
Their weapons split apart and they fell into stance again, glaring at the recovering Omega.
"Awh…started the fun without me?"
All five heads turned to the left and saw a beautiful, seemingly 25 year old woman standing in the middle of the road. She had long, curly brown hair with reddish-orange freckles along her cheeks. Her ears were cat like and her pupil's were two blue slits.
"Kat!" Wes shouted, looking relieved under his mask. "You're here!"
Kat Manx angled her right arm diagonally along her chest with the prototype morpher in her hand. "S.P.D, Emergency." She said casually and pressed the grey button. A red energy consumed her body and she was soon replaced with an all to similar Time Force-esc costume. On the right side of her chest was a thin badge with the letters S.P.D engraved in it and the belt buckle also had S.P.D engraved on it. Kat raised the two Delta Blasters in an X formation across her chest and grinned.
"Now lets party." She said and charged…
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Tommy laid in Kim's arms, smiling up at her beautiful face. He raised a hand to her smiling face and cupped her cheek gently. His thumb rubbed softly beneath her eye and smiled, mustering up enough strength place a soft, passionate kiss on her lips. Finally, after 13 long years of torment, Goldar was dead. Tommy let out a relieved sigh and curled closer to Kimberly as she cradled him in her arms.
She was happy, oh so happy to finally know Goldar had been vanquished forward…but she was also sad at the same time. Many people had lost their lives today – people who shouldn't have died. A good third of Reefside had been destroyed Goldar and at least, at least fifty people were dead. She sighed heavily and leaned down a bit, kissing Tommy on the forehead.
Selfish or not, at least she had her Tiger; her White Tiger. She smiled happily and cradled him close, just enjoying these moments alone. Only God knew that they didn't get enough of them…
"Kimberly Hart-Oliver? Thomas Oliver?"
Kim looked over his shoulder and Tommy sat up. Standing before them was a golden armoured man standing on a magic carpet. Kim and Tommy exchanged glances and then looked up at the new comer, nodding. He looked oddly like a Power Ranger…
"My name is Hikaru, MagiShine." He explained, jumping down from the magic carpet. "It seems I am too late to help you, as well." He said, looking around at the destruction. "However, I come with a message…"
Both Tommy and Kim were standing now, gazing at the apparent Ranger. "Message? What sort of message?"
"The Heavenly Saints of Magitopia have been watching you for many years now." Hikaru began, moving slightly closer to them. "For everything you have done for Earth, they are grateful towards and consider themselves forever in your debt." Tommy looked at Kim, then to Hikaru, raising a brow. "Because of the many years of service, the Heavenly Saints have agreed upon a reward for your service."
"Reward? What reward?" Tommy asked, gripping his wife's hand tightly.
"This." He said, and pointed past them.
Tommy and Kim whirled around with at confused expression. But that confusion quickly turned to surprise and then to one of happiness as tears shimmered in their eyes. A dozen meters away stood two figures that they new so very well…two figure's that would consider brothers.
Jason Lee Scott and Zack Taylor stepped forward with wide smiles on their faces. Jason held out his arms and shrugged.
"We're back…" He said and the lovers rushed forward to them.
Perhaps maybe this day wouldn't turn out to bad after all…
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Kat Manx moved exactly as her name suggested – like a cat. Her strikes were vicious, clawed strikes and an assortment of lightning-quick kicks, ranging from snap kicks always the way to tornado kicks. Her moves were so perfect, so smooth, that one would almost mistaken her for a swan instead.
Kat slammed her palm into Omega's chest and sent him reeling backwards. She gave him no time to recover as she flipped through the air again, driving her heel deep into his mask, sending him spinning around several, dizzying times. Kat landed on her back and kipped up, simultaneously reaching for the Delta Blasters and landed in a one knee crouch. She squeezed the triggers of the blasters rapidly, and a dozen red lasers slammed into Omega's chest and stomach. Yellow sparks sprayed off his body, splashing against the ground as he jerked with each impact of the lasers.
As quickly as the attack came, it ended. Kat holstered the lasers mid-stride and sprang forward into a front flip and drive both feel into the Omega Ranger's face. He fell back against the ground and his head smashed against the rock, sending a wave of dizziness through his head. A heavy blur settled on his vision and his mind was swirling so painfully that he barely registered the new ranger was looming over him.
"I thought you said he'd be hard to beat." Kat said, aiming the Delta Blaster at his face. "This guy was next to nothing.
Wes watched on with wide eyes. Was this the power of the new S.P.D technology? He looked over at the Dino Thunder rangers to see them with very unimpressed looks. It was…almost as if they'd seen this before? Conner met his gaze and grinned.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Conner spoke, arching a brow. Wes could only nod in reply as he gazed awe-struck at Kat. She had disposed of Omega in record time. It was almost like it David vs. Goliath, except this time, Goliath won.
"You've seen this before, haven't you?" Wes questioned, his eyes narrowing.
"Not at all." Conner lied, narrowing his eyes. "This was the first we'd heard of it."
Wes frowned and then looked at Kat. She still held the Delta Blaster to Omega face. What would she do? Kill him? No, if this was a Police Force's technology, then she definitely wouldn't kill him. But the way her posture was…gave him a completely different answer. Or would she?
Suddenly a white portal opened several feet away and both blasters moved instantly to the target. Kat opened fire, but the white blade deflected the laser shots away. A wrinkled hand lit up with cackling blue-white lightning and Kat let out a painful scream as she collapsed to the ground – lightning sparking over body.
Before all of them stood Darius…
He looked over at Omega with the most hateful glare they'd seen yet. "You've failed me for the last time…" He said, moving slowly towards him. He paid the rangers absolutely no attention – as if he didn't care they were even there. "This time…you're failure shall cost you your life…"
Omega was on one knee now, panting hard. If he had heard Darius, he wasn't showing any signs of it. Now, his head raised and Darius hissed. "I sentence you to death…" Darius' blade raised of his head, but Trent had suddenly between Omega and Darius, Wing Pentact raised. The blades collided and Trent's knee's buckled from the blow. He held off Darius' blade as best he could, but his strength was failing him. Before any of the Rangers could rush to the rescue…an all to familiar figure popped up from behind Trent.
It was Trey, the former Gold Zeo Ranger…
He cut Darius across the face, slicing his cheek open and panted hard, clutching the blade. "Never AGAIN Darius will you use me!" Trey hissed, raising the blade for another strike, but Darius' hand extended out and blue-white lightning slammed into his chest. At the same time, his blades moved, parrying Trent's blade out wide and he directed the current of energy right into Trent's helmet. He cried out and slammed against the ground as the lightning cackled over his body.
"Z-Rex Blaster, Fire!"
Darius gasped and spun away as the massive fireball hit the near by trees and exploded, turning them into ash. Darius held his blade at the ready, an angry, loathing scowl settled upon his face. "This battle is not in my favor…" He said, a portal opening behind him. "I shall retreat for now…but next time Rangers…you won't be so lucky."
Before the Rangers could reach him, Darius stepped into the portal and it closed behind him. Silence had settled upon the forest now as three heads turned to face the unconscious Trey.
The Former King of Trifforia was alive and he a lot of explaining to do…
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A/N: DUN DUNN DUNNN! Omega Ranger is really Trey of Trifforia! And we got to see a younger Kat Manx in action as the first ever Earth S.P.D Red Ranger! I hope you all enjoyed this final chapter to Spectres of the Past arch for I know I enjoyed writing it! Stay tuned for the next chapter!
May the Powers Protect You!