Hey Ranger fans! School starts later this week for me, so I decided to push and finish this chapter early before then. I know I've done a chapter every 15 days or so (twice as fast as usual), it may cut back to the usual once a month again. I hope that isn't the case, but it's likely.
I want to thank JTWAS1994 and GoldenMewtwo for their reviews and continued support and DaughterOfSBWG for her extremely detailed review, which I really enjoyed reading. Speaking of GoldenMewtwo, I just caught up with Eon Force and if you thought Kanto was good, you ain't seen nothing yet because Eon Force is better. I'm actually kind of sad I caught up, as it means there isn't more to read right now. However, with both of GoldenMewtwo's Poke Ranger fanfics, it's over 70 chapters so far, and definitely worth a read.
My survey is staying up another 2 weeks. It's on my profile, for those who don't know how surveys work on . I'm asking who your favorite Olympian Ranger is. It has no implications for the story, I just want to know who is connecting with audiences. Thanks in advance for those who do it!
The Hero Armor is a cross between the Mega Tector from Megaranger VS Carranger and the Dragon Shield and armbands from MMPR/Zyuranger. Just in case anyone was curious.
That's all I've got. On with the show!
Myth 22: Everything is Magic
"Rangers," Chiron said as the team gathered around him. "As you know, over the past week Hades has been quiet. However, we should not take this as a sign that he has given up. If anything, it should be more cause for concern."
"I wonder what's going on with Persephone," Valerie said. "She hasn't contacted us since that last message about Hades sending minor gods to attack."
"They're probably just worried that we're going to hand their asses to them," Nate said.
"I agree," Diana said as she pounded her fist into her palm. "They can't be that tough if they're minor gods."
"You obviously forgot Chiron's teachings about these minor gods," Adrian reminded. "They may be minor, but they are still gods."
"We have been able to defeat every monster sent so far with logic," Mera said. "I see no reason we cannot do the same with the minor gods."
"Great, half the team is cocky," Jay said with a sigh. "Just what we need."
"I would prefer you use the term 'confident'" Mera corrected. "If we fight using logic, there's nothing we cannot do."
Hades walked from cell to cell, looking at his captives.
"I need a perfect god to corrupt and send at the Rangers," he said as he continued down the center. The gods, major and minor, spit at him as he passed.
Hades frowned.
"That's no way to treat your captor," he said as the flames on his head glowed brighter and flew higher as he raised his hands up to his head. The ground underneath the gods began to become uncomfortably hot as jets of blue flame fired out of the floor. The gods began to cry out in pain or profusely apologize until the flames on Hades' head died down and he lowered his hands.
"Respect," he said. "That's all I'm asking for."
He walked up to one cell and looked in. The woman there hadn't moved a muscle when Hades had shown his display of power. Instead, she sat cross legged and seemed to be meditating with her eyes closed. She had black hair and a simple black robe.
"Hecate," Hades said. "Need I remind you that you get no power here unless I allow it?"
"I still find that meditation focuses the soul and the natural magic inside us," Hecate said, her eyes still closed.
"I don't have time for your magic mumbo-jumbo," Hades said as he started to walk away before turning back towards her. "Unless…"
He looked over at the armored Spartoi acting as guards.
"You two, take her to the throne room," he commanded. "I think we have many things to...discuss."
Hecate said nothing and opened her green eyes as her cell was opened and she was put in chains.
"You will find that corrupting one who listens to the ancients of nature very difficult," Hecate said as Hades led her and the armored Spartoi to his throne room. Persephone was waiting there in her throne, as always.
"We'll see about that," Hades said as he sat down on his throne and looked at the large blue flame beside him.
"That Flame!" Hecate said as she finally showed an emotion: shock. "You should only have 20% of the power. It is not the solstice, so the ancients should not grant you this much power!"
"All the gods are in the Underworld," Hades explained, "and the Rangers haven't trained to harness its power. Why would the flame leave me when all of the gods are here?"
"Themis will correct this. There is a price for using too much power and disrupting order," Hecate said before Hades created a ball of blue fire from the Flame and threw it into Hecate, who collapsed to the floor as the blue fire spread across her body, reaching her head last.
"This negative energy of my Flame of the Gods shall corrupt you and grant you new powers," Hades said. "Now, obey me and stand."
"My lord," Hecate said as she stood up. She now had blue eyes, the same shade as Hades' flame.
"Tell me, what are your new powers as one of my Dark Gods?" Hades asked.
"I can manipulate the elements, as well as the body and mind," Hecate said. "It's more of a question of what power I don't have. If given enough time to focus my magic, I could vaporize the Rangers where they stand."
"Then you shall have the aid of my Spartoi to distract the Ranger long enough to do exactly that," Hades said.
"I hear the Yellow Ranger likes logic," Hecate said. "Let us see how she deals with the illogical powers of my magic!"
"As long as you bring me the Flame, you can take out the Rangers however you want," Hades said. "Now go!"
He created a blue portal by throwing another blue fireball at the wall. Hecate picked herself up with her magic and hovered into the portal.
"Let's see the Rangers face the first of my Dark Gods!" Hades shouted. "They won't even see it coming!"
"It's been a while since it's just been the two of us," Jay said as he and Mera walked down the street.
"I agree," Mera said. "With our Ranger duties and your relationship with Valerie, there hasn't been a lot of time for the two of us to spend time together."
"That's changing today," Jay said as he put his arm around Mera. "We're best friends! We should act like it."
Mera sighed as she removed his arm. "I suppose you have things in mind?"
"Not really," Jay said. "I was just thinking of going where the wind takes us."
"Not very logical," Mera commented.
"You know, I've found that not everything has to be," Jay said. "I mean, our new mentor's half horse, for god's sake."
"Yes, but he still follows the laws of nature," Mera said. "We have both seen him caring for his human and horse halves. It is more of a symbiotic relationship between them than him literally being half horse."
"I don't know…" Jay said as they went past a magic show in progress and stopped for a minute. "Oh look! A magic show!"
"Just trickery of the hand," Mera said. "I could tell you how he is doing those tricks."
"How about we don't ruin it for the kids, ok?" Jay said as he dragged her past. "What, you don't believe in magic?"
"Of course not," Mera said. "Like I said, it is just showing that the hand can be quicker than the eye."
"Care to test that theory?" a female voice called out.
The two Rangers looked in front of them to see Hecate floating in front of them. She hurled a small lightning bolt at the Rangers, causing them to roll to the side, away from each other, to dodge.
"Who do you think you are?" Mera asked.
"I am Hecate, the Dark God of magic," Hecate explained, "and Lord Hades has sent me to destroy you!"
"Well, there goes our hanging out time," Jay said as he strapped on his morphers. "Ready?"
"Ready," Mera confirmed as she strapped on hers.
"Yellow Olympian Power!"
"Red Olympian Power!"
In a flash of red and yellow light, the Rangers morphed.
"Hero Armor, Power Up!" the two Rangers called as their omega symbols glowed and expanded into the Hero Armor.
"Battle Spear!" Mera called out as the yellow-bodied spear appeared in her hand.
"Lightning Sword!" Jay called out as the red-hilted zigzag blade appeared in his hand.
The two leapt at Hecate, Jay swinging his sword vertically and Mera jabbing at her. Hecate teleported a few yards from the Rangers and charged electricity in her hands before throwing it at the Rangers.
Mera cried out as the bolt struck her, but Jay just walked through it.
"You're not very smart, sending lightning at someone with the power of Zeus," he remarked as he slashed his blade vertically again, sending a half-crescent of lightning energy at her.
"And you don't know the power of the Dark God you're facing," Hecate said as she grabbed the slash and whirled around, the lightning now turned into fire. She blasted a stream of it at Jay, who cried out as the fire struck him. As the flame died down, Jay fell onto the pavement.
"We cannot give up!" Mera shouted as the two of them rose. "Jay, give me a boost!"
Jay nodded as he stood with his arms outstretched to the sides of him. Mera leapt onto him and used him as a springboard. She pointed her spear at Hecate and sent a stream of blades at her.
Hecate's hands glowed blue with magic power as she waved her hand and created a screen to block all of the blades.
Physical attacks, elemental attacks and ranged attacks all did nothing! Mera thought, I do not know what more we can do without the others.
"Giving up is an option," Hecate said as she lowered her hands, "just tell me where the Flame is and take me to it."
"Did you just...use telepathic powers?" Mera asked aloud in shock.
"So what if I did?" Hecate said, "what are you going to do about it?"
"That is n-not possible!" Mera shouted, "ESP is a myth!"
"So am I," Hecate said as she waved her hand and created a wall of blue energy before pushing it at the two Rangers. Jay tried to jump over, but the wall was too high so he instead fell to the ground again. Mera tried to smash through it with her spear, but it just bounced off. The wall pushed the Rangers down the street, away from Hecate. The wall quickly dissipated as Hecate waved her hands again and created icy mist in them.
"Freeze!" she shouted as she blasted a wave of icy air down the street. The two Rangers tried to block it with their hands and arms, but quickly found the ice shooting up their bodies before freezing them solid.
Hecate lowered her hands and walked up to the two Rangers, admiring her work. She created a ball of fire in her hand and used it to melt the top of the Ranger-sicles, freeing their helmets and nothing else.
"Now, where is the Flame?" Hecate asked.
"Like we're going to tell you!" Jay shouted defiantly.
"I could shatter off one of your friend's legs…" Hecate threatened as she walked up closer to Mera.
"I don't think so!" Nate's voice shouted as five figures leapt towards Hecate.
Hecate teleported a football field away from the Rangers as they landed. They were already morphed, and Nate, Victor and Valerie already had their Hero Armor on them. All five Rangers had their weapons drawn.
"Be careful, guys!" Jay warned. "She's a tricky one!"
The three Rangers with bows aimed and released a shot each.
Hecate raised her hand and stopped the arrows in their tracks before spinning them around with telekinesis and sending them flying back at the Rangers who fired them. Valerie, Adrian and Diana cried out as the arrows hit them, causing sparks to fly from their armor, and they fell to the ground.
Nate and Victor leapt at Hecate, but she put up a blue energy wall to block the trident and hammer strike before pushing back against them with the wall.
The two Rangers backflipped away as the wall dissipated before they both sent out a blast of water and fire at her respectively.
Hecate grunted as she absorbed the fire, but the water still pushed her to the ground.
"Victor!" Jay shouted. "Any chance you can free us?"
Victor nodded as he backed away from Hecate and aimed his hammer at the two before shooting a concentrated beam of heat at the ice, causing it to melt.
"Thanks," Jay said. "Now, any ideas on how to beat her? What did you two do that made it effective?"
"Not quite sure, actually," Nate said as he shrugged.
Victor shook his head, unsure as well.
"We just have to fight harder!" Diana shouted aggressively as she aimed her bow at Hecate again.
"Hold on, sis," Adrian said as he put his hand on Diana's bow to lower it. "How do we know she won't just send it back at us again?"
"Yeah, and Chiron already taught me that that doesn't work," Nate said. "As much as I hate to admit it, we need to fight smarter, not harder."
"Maybe we need to send her attacks back at her?" Valerie offered.
"It's worth a shot," Jay agreed.
"Are you done?" Hecate asked as she created a fireball in each hand. "Because you will be in a second!"
She hurled the fireballs at the Rangers, but Jay summoned the Mirror Shield and reflected it back at her before returning the Mirror Shield to the pocket dimension.
Hecate raised her hands and caught the fire before absorbing it back into her.
"Any more bright ideas?" Nate asked sarcastically to Valerie.
"Hey, they're not all winners," Valerie admitted.
Hecate raised her hands over her head and began to absorb power.
"Whatever she's doing, we need to stop it!" Jay shouted. "Let's try attacking together!"
The Rangers nodded in agreement before they all charged forward. Diana and Adrian transformed their weapons into the Hunting Daggers and Sun Staff respectively.
Right before the Rangers reached attacking range, armored Spartoi appeared in between the Rangers and Hecate, blocking the Rangers' path.
"Damn it!" Nate shouted as the armored Spartoi pulled out their weapons. "We were so close too!"
The armored Spartoi ran at the Rangers, making sure to maintain the distance between the still-charging-up Hecate and the attacking Rangers.
Jay whirled his sword around him in a spinning attack, sending bolts of red lightning from his blade at the armored Spartoi. The armored Spartoi struck by the lightning convulsed as they fell to the ground and broke apart.
Nate slammed the dull end of his trident into the ground, causing a wave of water to emerge from it and send the armored Spartoi flying back.
Victor slammed his hammer into the ground, creating a fissure that some armored Spartoi fell into before it closed up behind them.
The point on Mera's spear began to glow yellow as she threw it through the armored Spartoi, the point somehow finding the weak point in their armor and stabbing through it. Mera ran up to the wall the spear had stabbed into and pulled it out before whirling it around for another attack.
Valerie swung her bow like a melee weapon, striking an armored Spartoi in the face with one end before whirling around and striking another with an energy arrow fired from the bow.
Adrian put his staff into the ground and spun around on it, using the built up momentum to kick the armored Spartoi away.
Diana hacked and slashed with her Hunting Daggers. Whether the last strike did anything or not, she continued to attack. The armored Spartoi began to back away as she continued her warpath.
Diana seems more wound up lately, Jay thought as she noticed her fighting style. I wonder why? I should probably talk to her about it…
He noticed Diana now leaping at the armored Spartoi, knocking them down and stabbing their exposed faces with her daggers.
Then again, maybe not, Jay thought as he looked around at the defeated armored Spartoi. I should probably focus on the battle.
Hecate finished charging up her attack and sent out a burst of energy that turned into a powerful wave of energy. The wave continued onward from the initial burst and struck the buildings on the sides of the street and the pavement, causing the walls to crack and the street to fracture.
Valerie noticed this and slowly backed away.
"Uh...guys?" she asked. "I recommend a tactical retreat."
"Agreed," Mera said as she noticed the destruction the attack was causing.
"Let's make like a tree and GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Nate shouted as he turned and started running. The other Rangers were right behind him.
"Chiron! We need a Door! Now!" Jay shouted as he noticed a door ahead of them begin to glow blue. He shoved it open and directed the other Rangers through before going through himself. The Doors of Janus slammed shut just as the wave reached their location. A powerful wave of force blasted the Rangers back onto the floor and caused them to demorph.
"Ow…" Nate said as he got up, "I'm going to be feeling that tomorrow."
"What in the world was that?" Adrian asked as he got up as well.
"Some kind of wave of kinetic energy," Mera answered as she did the same.
The other Rangers got up without a word and looked at their new mentor.
"So, who the hell was she?" Nate asked.
"That was Hecate," Chiron answered as he pointed at the mosaic computer screen. "Christina, if you would?"
Christina nodded as she powered up the computer and pulled up a file.
"I've asked Christina to stay and aid me," Chiron explained to the confused Rangers. "I cannot sit down and use the computer myself, so I have asked for her help."
"Anything I can do to help," Christina said as she opened the file. On the screen were pictures of Hecate with her traditional black robe and green eyes.
"As I said, that was Hecate," Chiron said. "She is the goddess of magic, witchcraft and sorcery."
"Which you should all remember if you were paying attention during Chiron's lesson last week," Mera said as she rolled her eyes.
"Didn't she have blue eyes when we fought her?" Valerie asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.
"Yeah, and she called herself a 'Dark God'," Jay said. "Any idea what that means?"
"If I had to guess," Chiron said, "I believe that Hades is using his Flame, with which he still possesses 80% of the total power of the gods, to corrupt his captives and turn them into these Dark Gods. They seem to have more power than anticipated."
"That's an understatement," Nate muttered.
"Hecate always possessed great power," Chiron continued. "Some would even say she was powerful enough to become an Olympian. But she always obeyed the laws of nature the ancients like Themis, the goddess of order, put out. As a Dark God, she seems to possess all of her power, but none of that rule-following. If she is allowed to act like this for long, there will be consequences for the whole world."
"That sounds bad," Victor said, finally joining the conversation.
"Try catastrophic," Chiron responded. "I can't even get into what would happen, but basically she would destroy the world before Hades could even try to rule it. My guess is that he doesn't know what he's unleashed."
"So we'd better stop her before that happens," Jay said. "Anyone have any suggestions on how to do that?"
There was silence as Jay looked around at the team.
"Ok, how about we meet here tomorrow and discuss it?" Jay offered.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Ok, I'd like verbal confirmation, but that works too," Jay said. "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow."
As the other Rangers started leaving through the Doors, Jay and Mera stayed behind.
"Sorry our hang-out time got cut short," Jay said.
"It is fine," Mera said. "we will just have to find another time to do it."
"Sounds good to me," Jay said. "You heading out? I've got to get home. Ford gave us homework over the break. What kind of teacher does that?"
"A good one," Mera said, "it keeps your skills sharp. But no, I need to stay behind for a minute."
"If you say so," Jay said as he walked towards the doors and stepped through.
"Mera, right?" Chiron said. "I've just trained so many heroes that names sometimes escape me."
"That is fine," Mera said.
"What's bothering you, Mera? You seem troubled," Chiron asked.
"We tried to fight Hecate with logic," Mera said, "but it did not work. She also used powers like telepathy that should not exist. There is no scientific proof that ESP is real. It does not make sense."
"In my experience, not everything has to," Chiron said. "I believe I know the answer, but where does this desire for everything to 'make sense' come from?"
"It started right before I moved to America..." Mera said
Flashback
Young Mera is reading in her bed. Based on the darkness outside her window, it can be assumed that it is night time.
"My first non-fiction book, as you saw in the vision of the past, was a book all about America, Mera narrated, "but after that I found a thirst for knowledge I did not know existed."
The scene shifts to Young Mera carrying a pile of books out of the library, then shifts again to her sitting at a desk, books around her.
"I read a lot of science books that taught me how the world worked," Mera continued, "and I even tried some experiments."
The scene shifts to Mera messing with a chemistry set.
"Chemistry, Biology, even Geology. It all fascinated me," Mera continued, "and I read more and more. The more I read, the more knowledge I gained. The more knowledge I gained, the more I was certain how things were."
End Flashback
"Because I was so certain of things being one way, things I do not understand either excite me or scare me," Mera finished, "and Hecate definitely scared me. I do not understand her powers and I hate it!"
"I understand that things not making sense is scary," Chiron said, "but as you said, nothing can't be solved with logic."
"I do not understand," Mera said. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that something that can't be explained needs to be explored further, just as you did as a child," Chiron said. "As we grow up, we lose a sense of curiosity and become set in the way things are. Sometimes we just need to open ourselves to what we don't understand and try to learn about it."
The Doors flashed to life and shot open, revealing Victor entering the Temple.
"...Victor, right?" Chiron asked. "What brings you back?"
"I was thinking about our battle today," Victor said, "and something was bothering me. I was hoping to review the footage of the battle."
"That may be a good idea," Mera said. "Let us learn about our foe and how to defeat her."
Christina played the footage of the battle up on the mosaic screen. When Nate and Victor attacked together with their elemental attack, both Mera and Victor looked at the attacks more closely.
"Look," Victor said. "She only absorbed one element in that attack and let the other hit her, but why?"
"Perhaps she did not let the attack hit her," Mera answered. "Maybe she could not block it."
"She can only absorb one element at a time!" the two teens said together as they looked at each other.
"Let's see what else we can learn," Victor said with Mera nodding in agreement.
They looked at Hecate's attacks, her fire, ice, telekinesis and everything else she attacked with.
"She seems to only be able to manipulate one element at a time as well," Mera commented.
"That's what I picked up on too," Victor agreed.
They also watched as she charged the attack they had retreated from.
"She charged for about two minutes and it was enough to demorph us," Mera said, "but what would happen if we disrupted her?"
"Won't she just summon Spartoi to stop us again?" Victor asked.
"Yes, we need to find a way around that…" Mera answered.
The two thought for a minute before Mera looked at Victor again.
"I have a plan," she said, "and we are going to need the others to complete it."
"Rangers!" Hecate said as she created fireballs in her hands and hurled one at a car, causing it to explode. "Face me! The quicker you fall, the quicker I accomplish my goal!"
"How about we don't fall and we beat you instead?" Jay asked as he, Nate, Victor Mera and Diana, ran up to face her.
"Sounds good to me," Nate said as he grinned.
The Rangers morphed in an instant and stepped forward to face Hecate.
"Hero Armor, Power Up!" four of the main Rangers shouted as the omega symbol on their chests expanded into the Hero Armor.
"Armor or no armor, I will defeat you!" Hecate shouted as she started charging magic power. "Spartoi, I summon you!"
A blue portal appeared and at least 50 armored Spartoi jumped out, weapons drawn and ready to strike.
"You know the plan," Jay said, "let's do it!"
The Rangers nodded and summoned their weapons before the armored Spartoi reached them.
Jay stabbed an armored Spartoi where it's face would be before kicking it away and leaping over another. He then kicked the one he leapt over in the back, sending it falling to the ground.
Nate whirled his trident around him, sending a veil of water smashing through the armored Spartoi. He used his trident to take the moisture near the armor away. The Spartoi looked down as their armor cracked and shattered off of them. Nate stabbed his trident into one's now exposed chest before kicking it onto its back. He took a second after that, leaning on his trident.
"Man, that moisture-stealing trick took a lot out of me…" he said. "I better not use it too much, or else I won't be able to continue fighting. And winning."
He grinned under his helmet as he blasted a jet of water from the points of his trident at another Spartoi.
Victor swung his hammer vertically, smushing an armored Spartoi's helmet onto its head, before using a spinning attack to force the ones surrounding him away. Flame flew from the head, leaving burning embers on the exposed parts of the armored Spartoi. The armored Spartoi began to panic as they tried to put the embers out, but were soon consumed by the enlarging flames.
Diana slashed an armored Spartoi's head off by the neck before kicking it into another one, sending it to the ground.
"Do I want Hero Armor?" she grumbled. "Yes. Do I get any? Nope. Nothing."
The armored Spartoi looked at her, confused.
"What are you looking at?" Diana asked aggressively as her daggers began to glow silver. "Double Swipe Slash!"
She zoomed past a line of armored Spartoi, leaving a trail of silver glowing slashes at the armored Spartoi's necks before she looped around and left another trail at the legs. The armored Spartoi split at the places they had been slashed.
Mera leapt over armored Spartoi, trying to reach Hecate, but found that no matter how many armored Spartoi she avoided, more just took their place.
"Out of my way! I have business with your leader!" Mera shouted as she used her Hero Armor powers to create a line of spears before launching them into the armored Spartoi, striking them in the exposed sections of their armor.
Mera growled as the armored Spartoi she had defeated got replaced, once again, with fresh ones.
"How tiresome," she said. "Looks like I will be unable to reach Hecate in time."
Hecate laughed as her magical energy began to reach max power.
"There is nothing you can do to stop me!" she shouted as her power maxed out.
"We couldn't get to her in time," Jay said over his morpher as he used his other arm to slash an armored Spartoi, "start plan B."
Hecate was about to launch her wave of magical energy when she was struck from two different sides with a glowing pink arrow on the left and a glowing gold arrow on the right. Hecate cried out as her concentration was broken and the magic she was charging fizzled out. She clutched at her chest where the arrows had struck.
"How?" she asked as she fell to her knees. "I am one of the most powerful gods! How could I be defeated by...children?"
Valerie and Adrian leapt from the building they had sniped from and joined the other Rangers standing in front of her.
"Because everything follows certain laws of order," Mera said, "and you forgot that. We thought logically about how to defeat you using the evidence in front of us, and we found a way."
Mera looked at Jay.
"Shall we put her out of her misery?" she asked.
"Let's," Jay said. "7 Ranger Omega Strike!"
Nate's Ocean Trident bent 90 degrees as the "teeth" spread out and bent to form a handle. Victor's Blacksmith Hammer landed on the ground handle side up as Valerie's Love Bow clicked onto the former trident, which then clicked onto the hammer handle. Mera's Battle Spear was bent around the bowstring to make it thicker. Adrian's Sun Staff helped the hammer hold up the crossbow, and Diana's Hunting Daggers went on either side of Jay's Lightning Sword as both were loaded into the crossbow.
The Rangers lined up diagonally on either side of Jay. Nate and Victor put their hands on Jay's shoulders, then Mera and Valerie put their hands on their's respectivly. Then Diana put her hand on Victor's shoulder and Adrian put his on Valerie's.
The Sword and Daggers began to glow with a golden energy created by combining all of the Rangers' power as Jay put his finger on the trigger.
"Fire!" he shouted as he pulled the trigger. The Lightning Sword and Hunting Daggers flew at Hecate.
"No!" Hecate shouted as the sword stabbed into her and the daggers created the glowing omega symbol, "I refuse to fail!"
Instead of being defeated by the 7 Ranger Omega Strike like Hades' monsters, Hecate withstood the attack. However, to the Rangers' surprise, she split in two.
"What just happened?" Valerie asked.
"Rangers," one Hecate said as she got up, her eyes now returning to their natural green color. "I must thank you for defeating my evil half."
"Ok…This is weird," Jay said. "Now what do we do about- whoa!"
The other Hecate, eyes still blue, got up and surrounded herself in blue magical power before growing to skyscraper size.
"This spells danger for you!" the evil Hecate shouted.
"I was deep inside that Dark God version of me," Hecate explained. "When you attacked her, her concentration was broken enough for me to free myself. However, she still possesses enough magic power to grow, it seems."
"Look, I'd love to talk more," Nate said, "but it's Zord time!"
"Hold on," Hecate said. "Before you summon your Zords, your Hero Armor gives me an idea."
She began to chant in ancient Greek and slowly floated into the air. Jay could have sworn he heard the name Themis somewhere in Hecate's words. Golden energy flowed out of the five Hero Armored Rangers.
"She's stealing our power!" Nate said as he prepared to move to attack.
"No, I think she is reshaping some of it," Mera corrected as she put out an arm to stop him from advancing.
The golden energy swirled around in Hecate's hands before she allowed it to flow back into the Hero Armored Rangers.
"There," Hecate said as she landed, "I have granted you the ability to tap into more of your potential as Heroes. I have given you the power to summon the Hero Zords."
"Hero Zords?" Jay asked. "What are those?"
"They are humanoid Zords that each correspond to your god or goddess," Hecate said. "You will find them quite useful. Just call for them, and they will appear."
"If you say so," Jay said as the five core Rangers turned to the evil Hecate.
"Hero Zords!" the five Rangers shouted. Their omega symbols glowed as an orb in their Ranger color flew out of it. The orbs flew into the air and formed into humanoid figures.
They all were in the Rangers' color with gold accents. There was gold on the chest in the shape of the Ranger's visor, as well as on the arms and legs. However, there was the Rangers' color for the elbows and hands, as well as the knees and feet. This created a nice contrast between the segments of the thin limbs. The heads were robotic with a Roman ridge style helmet over it in the Ranger's color, not unlike how the Olympian Megazord's helmet looked but without the plume.
"Fascinating," Victor said. "We don't need Chiron's help to summon them. This makes them quite easily the best Zords to use in an emergency situation."
"Yeah, yeah," Nate said. "Let's see what these bad boys can do!"
He and the other four core Rangers leapt up to their new Hero Zords and found them creating a hole in the chest that they entered.
Jay looked around at the cockpit. It wasn't a standard cockpit. Instead, he was standing on a glowing white platform with white pillars behind him and two with large holes on the front, with the one holed one on either side of him. The walls were red, matching his Ranger color. There was a magic screen in front of him that showed what his Zord saw. His Olympian Gems were pulled magnetically from his morphers onto the pillars, where they grew to fill the holes.
The other Rangers found themselves in similar "cockpits" that had their Ranger color as the wall instead, but were otherwise the same. Their Olympian Gems also were pulled from their morphers to the holes in the pillars.
"So, how the heck do we pilot these things?" Nate asked. Somehow, his voice was audible to the other Rangers, even from their own cockpits.
Jay took a cautious step forward to view the magic screen better, and was surprised to see that his Zord was stepping forward as well while he appeared to get no closer to the screen.
"Guys!" he shouted, "I think the Hero Zords copy our movements! Step forward, and the Zord will too!"
The other four Rangers took a step forward towards their magic screens and saw their Zords step forward too.
"So what, we fight with our bare hands?" Nate asked.
The area around the Hero Zords' hands began to glow as Zord-sized versions of the Rangers' personal weapons appeared in their hands.
"Hey, that's pretty cool," Valerie said as she looked at her weapon through her Zord's eyes.
"Thank goodness they are the weapons we know how to use," Mera said. "Otherwise we might be in trouble."
"Alright, guys," Jay said, "let's finish this."
The Hero Zords brandished their weapons and moved forward.
The Zeus Hero Zord reached Hecate first and swung with his sword. Hecate raised a magic shield and blocked the attack before pushing against the sword with the shield, knocking the Zord off-balance.
The Poseidon and Hephaestus Hero Zords moved in next, but they were blasted back by Hecate's fireballs. The Zords' chests sparked as the fireballs hit them and Nate and Victor cried out as sparks flew around them in the cockpits. The Zords fell to the ground.
"We just took some heavy damage," Victor said. "We're going to need a minute before we can get back into the fight."
"We will handle it," Mera said as the Athena Hero Zord and Aphrodite Hero Zord lined up their shots. The Athena Hero Zord threw its spear at the same time that the Aphrodite Hero Zord fired an energy arrow.
The two attacks struck Hecate and knocked her to the ground before she levitated herself back up.
"Nice try!" Hecate said as she grabbed the fallen spear, "but I have the upper hand now!"
"I doubt it," Mera said as she caused the spear to disappear from Hecate's hand and reappear in her Zord's hand.
"Alright, we can't seem to beat her alone," Nate said as the Poseidon and Hephaestus Hero Zords stood up. "You think these Zords combine?"
"I'd be surprised if they didn't," Jay said. "So let's try it! Hero Zords! Combine!"
The Aphrodite Hero Zord's arms folded into its body as its legs pivoted to the front before combining to form a foot. Its head also flipped into the body, leaving a connection point. The Athena Hero Zord did the same transformation, creating a second leg.
The Poseidon Hero Zord's arms also folded into its body as the head flipped into the body, but leaving no connection point. The legs rotated 180 degrees before folding onto the back of the Zord. A connection point on the back of the Zord flipped out. A fist slid down and out of the Zord's body. The Hephaestus Zord made the same transformation but facing the other way, creating a second arm.
The Zeus Hero Zord's legs folded before sliding into the body and being covered by a plate with two holes for the legs. Its arms folded into the body and revealed a hole on each side for the arms. The head flipped around to reveal a larger head that still had the same style helmet, but in gold with a red plume on top.
The Aphrodite Hero Zord and the Athena Hero Zord connected into place as the left and right leg respectively as the Poseidon Hero Zord and Hephaestus Hero Zord connected as the left and right arms respectively, with the Zeus Hero Zord bearing the points they connected to.
A golden gladius and a round gold shield appeared in the Megazord's hands. Magically misty versions appeared in the Ranger's hands to show them how they were using the weapons.
"Hero Megazord, ready!" the Rangers shouted as they joined together on one of the white platforms that was large enough to fit all of them comfortably. The pillars behind them had their Olympian Gems still in them as they blocked the black wall from being totally visible. The order of the Rangers on the platform was Valerie, Nate, Jay, Victor and Mera.
"What is this?" the evil Hecate asked. "You have another toy for me to defeat?"
"Man, the two Hecates could not be more different," Nate commented.
"The stark contrast is startling," Mera agreed.
"Well, we know this one is evil," Valerie said. "So let's beat her!"
"I agree," Jay said as the Rangers made the Hero Megazord start stomping towards her.
Hecate grinned as she created fire balls that she blasted at the Megazord, but the Megazord just deflected them to the ground with its shield.
"What, you thought this shield was for show?" Nate mocked, "wait till you see what the sword can do!"
The Rangers made a 45 degree slashing motion going from 10 to 4 o'clock with their misty swords and the Megazord copied them, slashing at her at the same angle.
Hecate raised a magic shield to block the strike before using a bolt of electricity she summoned to strike the Megazord's right arm, causing the Megazord to drop the sword. The magic-created swords disappeared from the Rangers' hands.
Hecate used her telekinesis to levitate the sword across the city, far away from the Hero Megazord.
"Uh...any suggestions?" Jay asked.
"Let me try something," Mera said as she reached out with her right hand, closed her eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, a misty golden spear appeared in her hand, as well as the right hands of the other Rangers. A similar, but solid, spear appeared in the Megazord's hand.
"What did you do to do that?" Victor asked, fascinated by the fact that it worked.
"I just had a feeling that I could do it," Mera said. "If we could use Jay's weapon, why could we not use mine?"
"I don't really get it, but it works," Jay said. "Who am I to question it?"
"Actually, I have found that asking questions-" Mera started before Nate cut her off.
"Yeah, yeah. Can we get back to Dark God fighting now?" he said rudely.
Mera sighed before speaking.
"Sure," she said. "Just don't say I do not try to teach you anything."
"Hero Spear!" the Rangers called out as they stepped forward again, this time with their new spear. They all stabbed with the misty spear at the same time, making the Megazord stab as well.
Hecate blocked the attack with another magic shield.
"What made you think that would go any differently from last time?" she mocked as she pushed against the spear with her shield.
"Because the spear can do this!" Mera shouted. "Critical Strike!"
The golden spear's point began to glow yellow as the Rangers pulled it back before using the spear's new ability to strike the weak point in the magic shield, which was slightly right of the center. The magic shield shattered like glass, blasting Hecate back and onto the ground.
As she sat there, stunned, the Hero Megazord spun the spear around in its hand, creating a glowing yellow circle.
"Hero Spear Strike!" the Rangers shouted as they pulled back the spear before thrusting it forward.
The Hero Megazord copied the movement and stabbed through the circle, which gave it more power to finish her off.
"My lord will send more Dark Gods to avenge me!" Hecate shouted as she fell to the ground and exploded.
"Oh, we're counting on it," Jay replied to the dust that had once been the Dark God Hecate. "So we can defeat them too."
"I mean, I don't know where else to take you," Jay admitted as the Rangers, demorphed and with Hecate in tow, stepped through the Doors of Janus back to the Temple.
"I am sure the spirits of fate have a plan for me," Hecate reassured him.
"Rangers, I see you have freed Hecate," Chiron said as he slowly stepped towards them.
"Yeah, she made Zords for us and everything!" Nate said. "They were totally wicked!"
"And very different from our other Zords," Victor added.
"That's because they were created through magic instead of technology," Chiron said, "and magic can be unreliable."
"And technology can break down," Hecate retorted.
"Is there something going on here that we don't know about?" Valerie asked as she stepped between them.
"Technology and magic have had a feud for millenia," Chiron said. "Both of us are from a different side of the spectrum."
"But aren't the gods considered magical?" Jay asked. "You're technically a magical creature yourself."
"As Mera has learned, everything can be solved with logic," Chiron said, "and magic and the gods still follow laws and logic. So technically, magic is technology, just not one we all understand."
"Ignorant ones like him will never truly understand magic," Hecate said.
"Before you two argue for who knows how long, where should Hecate go?" Valerie asked. "Olympus is decimated."
"Technically, decimated means one-tenth of it would be destroyed," Mera corrected. "All of Olympus was damaged in the battle."
"Guess what? Nobody cares!" Nate said as he and Mera glared at each other.
"Anyway," Jay interrupted. "Nothing is destroyed forever. Why don't we send Hecate to start rebuilding Olympus?"
The rest of the Rangers nodded at the idea.
"Sounds like a solid plan to me," Adrian agreed.
"If that is what the spirits of fate will, then I will go," Hecate said as she bowed her head for a moment. "And they do. I shall start now."
"I swear she sounds like a crazy person," Nate whispered to Victor, who just shrugged in response.
Hecate hovered over to the Doors as they flew open, revealing the destroyed Olympus landscape.
"Call me if you need help," she said as she turned to face the Rangers, "all of the gods you free from Hades's grasp can aid you in one way or another, I am sure."
"Take care!" Valerie shouted as the Rangers waved goodbye.
Hecate let out a small smile as she stepped through the Doors, which slammed shut behind her.
"I hope she'll be ok," Valerie said.
"Hey, as long as we do our part, she'll get plenty of help soon," Jay said as he put a hand on her shoulder.
Off a little ways away, Victor and Chiron were standing together.
"Well, Victor," Chiron said, "I hear you designed the Radar for the Olympian Gems."
"Yes, I did," Victor said.
"How about we work on improving that, considering all of the other gems seem to be far away from Olympia Hills?" Chiron offered.
"Sounds good," Victor said. "If my job interview next week doesn't get in the way, that is."
"Oh, you might have a job soon?" Adrian said, having overheard the conversation. "Good luck!"
"And that's from all of us," Jay said as the other Rangers added their agreements and well wishes.
"Yeah," Nate said. "What could possibly go wrong?"
The Hero Zords are based on the Shogun Zords from MMPR season 3/ Kakuranger. JTWAS1994 asked if there would be Zords included with the power-up. Uh...technically? It came after, but was inspired by the Hero Armor.
Anyway, that's it for now. Please leave a review if you liked the story! And may the power protect you all!
