Welcome to the next chapter! Before we start, I just want to thank stevobrown25, JT808, VerdTal1, jfolorumsho4 and Joy Folorunsho for following the story and JT808 and VerdTal1 (again) as well as JTWAS1994 and GoldenMewtwo for reviewing. Paul got a pretty warm reception from those who reviewed, so I'm glad to say that I'm planning on keeping him around. I'll talk more at the end of the chapter. See you then!
(2022 Spidey here. I also had to edit this chapter for Cronus's dialogue in order for me to make it more in-line with his character in the later chapters. That being said, the general premise of what he is saying is the same as before. I understand how confusing this might be and thank you all for your understanding!)
Myth 32: Discord
"I really missed that much in 18 months?" Paul Blake asked as he looked at Jay Parker in surprise. The two were in a diner and were sitting across from each other.
"I mean, it's taken a good amount of meals over the last two weeks to explain everything you missed," Jay said, "so I could understand why it feels like a lot."
"Still don't know what I'm going to say to my parents if...when I see them again," Paul said, catching his mistake before correcting it. "Do you think they even knew about my great-great grandfather?"
"Hard to say," Jay admitted as he stirred his lemonade a bit, "if they never mentioned it, I would be tempted to say no. But you can't really know what another person is thinking, right?"
"I guess," Paul said. "It would make life so much easier, though. Have you ever thought about mind reading and how cool it would be?"
"You're joking, right?" Jay said. "You're talking to the super hero geek! Of course I've thought about it! I wouldn't want that ability, though. Seems like it would be immoral."
"Right..." Paul said, thinking about how he had messed with Valerie's mother's mind a few weeks back. "Look, it's been great to spend time with you the last two weeks, catching up on what I missed and all, but I'm worried your other friends are going to get jealous. That's what happened to me, and the last thing I want is for that to happen to someone else, especially your friends."
"I see them at training all the time, and I've been texting when I can," Jay said. "It's just...I don't want to lose you again."
"Jay, if there's one thing I learned while Gryphon and I were combined, it was how to be my own person," Paul said. "You don't have to worry about me so much. I'm going to be fine. I have a goal now that I didn't have before."
The two looked towards the waitress as she put the bill on the table.
"Thank you," Jay said as he grabbed the bill before looking at it. "Jeez, Paul. I know you've only really been able to eat in the last two weeks, but did you have to order the T-Bone Steak? You're really digging into my life's savings here!"
"Sorry," Paul apologized as he put his head down.
"Dude, it was a joke," Jay said as he pulled out some cash, "but you're going to need to find a job soon or something, especially if you're not going back to school. You need to be able to pay for your own food. Does Chiron even make food in the Temple?"
"He may be a great mentor, but he's a terrible cook," Paul said as the two teens stood up. "It honestly might be better if I just made the meals instead."
"I would consider doing that," Jay said as he pushed open the door of the diner and walked outside. "You can't go out to dinner every night. It isn't really healthy."
"I'll work on it," Paul said as he followed. "Were you coming back to the Temple with me or…?"
"Depends, did Chiron ever make that communicator for you?" Jay said.
Paul revealed his left wrist and the bronze brace with a miniature version of his shield and sword, with the sword in the shield's compartment, on it. It looked like a shield shaped watch, if someone who didn't know what it was looked at it.
"Even better," Paul said, "he managed to connect my Olympian Gems to the Mosaic Computer like your's are. He also shrunk my sword and shield into this miniature form so I'm not lugging them around anytime I need to morph."
"Nice," Jay said. "I guess I'll be going. See you tomorrow?"
"Definitely," Paul said with a nod.
As Jay walked away from the diner in the direction of his house, Paul went the other, heading more towards the city. As soon as Jay was out of sight, Paul ran into an alley and pulled the miniature sword and shield from the brace. With a tap of the button on the side, the shield grew to normal size. Paul twisted the Olympian Gems on the top of the shield and the hilt of the sword to be horizontal before drawing the sword.
"Hades Knight Power," he whispered. In a flash of black and bronze light, Paul was transformed into the Hades Knight. There was now a bronze band on each wrist to keep the mostly symmetrical design Paul had as the Hades Knight while still allowing him to have a communicator.
Paul focused his power and quickly allowed the shadows to overtake him. Very soon, he was invisible to the naked eye. He quickly ran off into the night, ready for his continuous mission...
"Interesting…" Cronus said as he rubbed his chin. He was currently looking at a blue flame screen that Hades had created. On it was Paul as he ran through the city, as if looking for something.
"What's so interesting, father?" Hades said. "He's probably just on patrol or something."
"I don't think that's what's going on," Cronus said as he watched the flame screen some more. "It seems that the Rangers are unable to fully control the Hades Knight. Perhaps I can capitalize on this secret agenda of his. I just need to see his goal…"
He waited a few minutes before nodding in understanding.
"I see…" he said, "Hades, bring me Eris."
"Eris, as in the goddess of discord?" Hades asked. "What would she be able to do?"
"Are you questioning me?" Cronus asked coldly. "Do as you are told."
"Yes, father!" Hades shouted as he ran towards the double doors.
"It's all to get your revenge, it's all to get your revenge," Hades muttered to himself as he walked into the room with all of the cells. "Just use his power while you can. Once the Rangers are gone, you can send him back to Tartarus."
"You madman!" Ares shouted as he slammed against the bars. "You let Cronus out? I can sense his power from here! Why the hell did you free him after all the work it took to beat him the first time?"
"I have my reasons," Hades said as he walked past Ares's cell. By the time he had reached Zeus's cell, most of the gods were yelling angrily at Hades or cowering in the corner from the power they could feel upstairs.
"Hello, brother," Hades sneered as he looked at Zeus. Zeus looked up at him through his shaggy hair.
"Hades," he said. "I can't believe you released our father. We worked tirelessly together to seal him there and you decided to release him anyway."
"If it makes you feel any better, most of his power is still in Tartarus," Hades said. "So the barrier mostly did its job."
"I'm surprised you don't assume he'll just cast you aside when he's done with you," Zeus said, "He was always a cold one and he doesn't like to share power when it doesn't benefit him any longer."
"Once he destroys your precious mortals, I'll just destroy him myself," Hades said. "He'll be weakened then. It'll be easy to take him out."
"If you've figured that out, what makes you think he hasn't also?" Zeus asked.
Hades looked at him in anger.
"But don't let me stop you," Zeus said. "I assume he sent you to get a god to turn into a Dark God. If I were you, I would do it quickly. Father never was very patient."
Hades whirled around and walked down the lines of cells until he reached a cell with a figure in black robes. She had black hair and black wings that were folded in behind her so they weren't too outstretched. In her hands was a golden apple, which she was tossing into the air and catching. She looked up at Hades as he arrived at her cell.
"'To the Fairest'," she read off the apple. "Do you know how much trouble one little apple caused?"
"Eris," Hades said. "My father would like a word with you."
"And I'd like a word with him," she said as she stood up. The bars slid aside as two armored Spartoi chained her up and led her after Hades as he walked away.
"Time is of the essence, Hades," Cronus said as Hades led Eris into the throne room. "I would recommend that we avoid wasting it."
"I'm sorry, father," Hades said with a bow of his head as he sat back down on his throne.
"Greetings, Cronus," Eris said as she bowed her head in respect. "What can I do for you?"
"You seem awfully calm in my presence," Cronus noticed, "why is that?"
"Because I've been labeled as one of the...less desirable goddesses," Eris said. "People blamed me for causing the Trojan War when all I did was throw an apple into a wedding. A wedding I wasn't invited to, I might add! All because of my bad reputation. So I know how you must feel as an 'evil' being in our pantheon."
"'Evil?'" Cronus said. "Is that how Zeus labeled me? No matter. I have need of you to cause a little chaos in the town of Olympia Hills. I've had some Rangers causing me problems and I want you to destroy them, or at least help them destroy themselves. If you agree to help me, I'll grant you power and a place in my new world."
"All for causing a little discord?" Eris said with a smile. "As that's my area of expertise, consider it done."
Persephone, who had been sitting on her bed in her cell off to the side, was shocked.
I knew she was mad about how the other gods and goddesses treated her, but I never thought she would actively betray the Olympians! she thought.
"I like your willingness," Cronus said. "Hades, turn her into a Dark God."
Hades nodded as he reached into the brazier and created a fireball in his hands. He put his hand with the fireball in it out towards Cronus. Cronus gained a dark-golden aura around him as he put a small portion of his power into the fireball before nodding.
Eris put her arms out to accept the flames as Hades threw the ball into her chest. The energy flowed around her, creating a black aura around her wherever it burned. It reached her eyes last, making them glow a brilliant blue.
"Yes, I can feel the power!" Eris shouted as she was unchained. "You won't regret this, Cronus!"
"I would certainly hope not, for your sake," Cronus said. "Now Hades, open a portal. Eris has some work to do."
Hades reached into the brazier again and created another fireball before hurling it into the wall. A blue ringed portal appeared where the ball had met the wall.
Eris nodded her head before turning around and stepping through. Cronus reached into the brazier and formed a blue flame screen with the flames. Small portions of the screen were showing the Rangers in their daily lives. He looked at the screen with cold eyes.
"Let us see if the Rangers can overcome…themselves," he said simply.
A blue-ringed portal appeared on top of the Steel Works building and Eris stepped through.
"All this power should be put to good use," she said as she extended her wings, "but subtly will be my greatest ally."
She raised her hands into the air and focused the shadowy aura around her before creating a ball of energy that fired beams in 6 directions diagonally down into the roof. From each of the beams appeared a transparent version of Eris. Each copy had the same shadowy aura and blue eyes, though both were greatly reduced in intensity compared to the original.
"Fly, my chaos-bringers," Eris said as each of the transparent versions of her leapt off the building and flew into the night.
One flew into the poorer side of Olympia Hills. It reached Nate's house and flew right through the wall like it wasn't there. It landed on the wooden floor without making a sound before going up to Nate's ear and whispering a few things into it. Nate turned over in his sleep as the Eris-copy, its mission done, dissipated into thin air.
All over the city, the Eris clones flew into the Ranger's houses and whispered secret messages into their ears, with one playing double duty with Adrian and Diana due to them living together under one roof. As soon as they were done whispering, they disappeared like they had never been there. There was no trace that anything had happened in the Ranger's bedrooms.
When the last copy of Eris reached Jay Parker's house, it stopped short of phasing through the wall, instead noticing the light coming from inside and going to the window to investigate. When it looked inside, it saw Jay sitting at a desk, working on something. It could hear his voice through the window pane, though just barely.
"That should be good," Jay said as he put the pencil down. "I have no idea I've been procrastinating these projects, but I'm glad to be done with them!"
He looked at the clock on his bedside table and jolted a little.
"Is it really after midnight?" he asked himself. "Guess I should get to bed…"
He got up and was about to head to the bathroom to wash up when his morpher went off. Jay put his morpher closer to his mouth before answering.
"Chiron?" Jay asked in surprise. "Why are you calling now of all times? Don't you have to sleep too?"
"As an immortal, I need very little sleep," Chiron said, "but never mind that. Have you been in contact with Paul lately?"
"Yeah, I just saw him for dinner," Jay said, "but that was about five hours ago. Why?"
"Because he's been disappearing for long stretches of time," Chiron said. "He doesn't come back to the Temple until early in the morning and while he's out, I can't find him using the cameras in the city or the Gems Radar."
"Even the Radar?" Jay said. "I thought that would be able to track him, even if the camera's couldn't."
"It's possible that he may be concealing himself with his powers," Chiron said. "The Radar was never built to be able to cancel out that kind of concealment. He could be anywhere in the city right now, and I wouldn't know."
"Keep an eye out to see if anything changes," Jay said. ""I'll talk to him tomorrow. I'm sure there's a perfectly valid explanation for where he's been."
"I can only hope," Chiron said, "I just thought I should let you know. I know you're worried about him."
"After all he's been through?" Jay asked. "How couldn't I be? Anyway, I'll see you at training tomorrow."
"Good night, Jay," Chiron said as he ended the call.
Jay put his wrist down before sighing.
"I shouldn't stress about Paul," he said to himself, "but I honestly don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight."
The Eris-copy pulled away from the window before sighing. This could take a while.
Jay yawned as he walked up to the lunch table and sat down.
"Are you alright?" Mera asked. "You seem a little exhausted."
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jay said as he rubbed his eyes. "I didn't get much sleep last night. Paul's apparently been disappearing for stretches of time during the night. It's kind of got me worried."
He didn't notice the flash of red in Mera's eye as he said this, as he was too busy looking down at his lunch.
"Are you sure you should worry about Paul so much?" Mera asked. "I'm sure he is doing fine."
"You ok, Mera?" Jay asked as he looked up, "you seem a little...upset."
"All you do is talk about Paul!" Mera said. "At first, you were worried about where he had disappeared to for 18 months. Now you are worried about where he is going at night! You even spend most of your time with him! When will you start thinking about the rest of us?"
"Mera, where's this coming from?" Jay asked as he looked around at the others. "Does anyone else think this is a little strange?"
"Yeah, Mera," Nate said snarkily as his eyes flashed red, "stop acting so weird!"
"You think I am acting weird?" Mera asked. "At least I'm not talking about 'episodes' and 'stories' like you are, Nate! Where do you think you are, a TV show?"
"At least my character's consistent!" Nate snapped back.
"I am unsure what that even means!" Mera shouted in reply.
"Guys!" Valerie said. "Knock it off! You haven't fought in months. What's bringing it up now?"
"Yeah, knock it off!" Diana shouted as her eyes flashed red as well, "or I'll clobber you both!"
"Diana, can you just chill out?" Adrian asked as his eyes also flashed red. "It's always 'clobber' this or 'beat up' that! I know you were affected by your friends abandoning you, but you still act so violently!"
"At least I'm willing to fight!" Diana snapped. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have even been chosen as a Ranger!"
"You take that back!" Adrian yelled as he stood up. "Sister or not, that was uncalled for!"
"Make me!" Diana shouted as she also stood up.
"Victor, can you get in between them?" Valerie asked.
"I don't think so," Victor said as his eyes flashed red like the others. "That sounds like their problem. At least you care about their problem! I haven't heard from Pan in a month and it's eating me up inside that something might have happened to my mom! None of you have even offered to try and help or offer support!"
"Well, maybe we don't all have the extra time that you do!" Valerie, who had been the most calm out of the Rangers besides Jay, shouted as her eyes finally flashed red too, "I've barely had any free time since I became a Ranger!"
She whirled her head around to look at Jay before jabbing him with her finger into his chest.
"All because you couldn't defeat Hades fast enough!" she shouted. "If you had led us better, maybe Hades wouldn't have freed Cronus and we could be done with all this fighting already!"
"Guys, what's going on?" Jay asked as he looked around, wondering what had just happened and how it had all spun out of control so fast. "Why are you at each other's throats all of a sudden? All I said was I was worried about Paul!"
"Yeah, Paul," Valerie said. "I have to agree with Mera, all you do is talk about him! I'm your girlfriend and you probably say his name more times in a day than mine!"
"What's going on over here?" Mr. Rogers, who was watching over the cafe and lunch area this period, asked. "If you guys are going to yell at each other, I'm going to have to either send you to Guidance or separate you."
"No need," Nate said as he stood up and grabbed his bookbag. "I'm out of here!"
The others voiced their agreement as they stood up, all glaring at each other, and grabbed their bags before heading towards the stairs.
"Parker!" Mr. Rogers said. "What's going on with your group? You guys are usually the easiest table to manage."
"I wish I knew," Jay said as he looked around at the empty table. "I wish I knew…"
"You're saying that all of the Rangers snapped, one after another?" Chiron asked as he looked at Jay in confusion. "That doesn't really sound like something they would do."
"Why do you think I'm so confused?" Jay asked as he watched the others come in. They all seemed relatively normal again, not shouting at each other and just greeting Jay normally.
"I'm concerned by what I heard happened today," Chiron said. "Infighting is usually a sign of team disunity. I assumed Hermes had helped you get past that stage."
"Could it be because we are in a state of change with Paul now joining the team?" Mera asked. "Adding a new member to the team could raise tensions a good amount."
Paul walked into the room from the medical center. He had heard Mera's comment.
"Look, the last thing I want to do is cause trouble," he said. "I just want to right my wrongs, and being a part of the team is the best way to do it."
"Could you explain your nocturnal adventures, then?" Mera asked as she crossed her arms. "It seems to cause Jay stress. What are you even doing out there?"
"That's my business," Paul said, "and I'd like to keep it that way."
"Sounds suspicious to me," Nate said as his eyes flashed red again. "For all we know, you're still working for Cronus!"
He walked up to Paul and stood right in front of him.
"Get out of my face, please," Paul said
"Why don't you make me?" Nate asked as he crossed his arms.
"Guys, arguing is getting us nowhere!" Valerie said as she stood right in between them and pushed them away from each other.
Jay moved to assist Valerie. She looked at him as her eyes flashed red.
"I don't need your help all the time, Jay!" she said. "I can do things on my own!"
"I never doubted you could," Jay said as he tried to calm her down. "I just need you to take a deep breath and…"
"Don't tell me what to do!" Valerie shouted as she pushed him away. Jay just stumbled back, stunned by her outburst.
"Valerie, can you just calm down?" Adrian said as he stepped forward, but Diana grabbed his arm.
"Better save this for the person who can actually defend themselves," she said as both her and Adrian's eyes flashed red at the same time.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Adrian asked as he shrugged off Diana's arm. "I can fight just fine!"
"Let's see, what are your powers again?" Diana asked. "Healing and prophecy! You're no good in a real fight!"
As the twins started to scuffle, Valerie started to verbally attack Jay again and Nate actually tried to punch Paul.
"He's a double agent!" Nate said as he threw a second punch. "Someone help me grab him!"
"You never think logically about anything!" Mera shouted as her eyes flashed red like the others and she grabbed Nate's arm to stop him. "What would he gain from betraying us? He is trying to repent!"
"That's what he wants us to think," Nate shouted as he tried to lunge at Paul again. Mera held him back by locking her arms around his shoulders.
"Victor, a little help would be most welcomed!" Mera asked as she held Nate back.
"It's always 'Victor do this' or 'Victor do that'!" Victor shouted as his eyes finally flashed red like the others had. "You always tell me what to do and never ask me what I want to do!"
Chiron looked around at all of the fighting teens and stomped his hoof on the floor.
"That's enough!" he shouted. All of the teens froze where they were and looked over at him.
"You are Power Rangers!" Chiron shouted. "You should be acting better than this!"
The other Rangers seemed to finally calm down as the aggressors released the victims and/or backed away.
"Now, I don't know what caused these outbursts of negative emotion, but they need to stop. Imagine what would happen if you were in the middle of battle and this chaos happened!" he asked as he looked at the Rangers.
"You're right, Chiron," Valerie said. "I don't know what's going on. I just...lose control sometimes. It's not really a feeling I'm used to."
The other five teens voiced their agreements with her statement.
Jay was about to say something when the alarm went off.
"We've got a Dark God attacking the mall," Christina said from her place at the mosaic computer.
"We need to figure this issue out later," Jay said. "For now, just stay out of the others' way."
"Are you sure?" Chiron asked. "I believe that taking them into battle might be a hindrance instead of beneficial."
"I don't think we really have a choice," Jay said. "Paul and I seem to be the only ones unaffected and we can't handle a Dark God alone. I'm sure we'll be fine."
"Where are those Rangers?" Eris said as she knocked over a bench with her wing. "I assumed that they would come if I attacked a public place. Master Cronus will not be pleased."
"Hold it right there!" Jay shouted as the eight Rangers ran up in front of her, "we're not going to let you just attack Olympia Hills!"
"I was hoping you would show up," Eris said.
"Well, you're going to regret that hope!" Jay shouted. "it's Morphing Time!"
Paul pulled his miniature shield off of the strap before pressing the button on the side that expanded it to normal size. He turned the Onyx Olympian Gems on the shield and sword hilt to have the bronze bands be vertical before pulling the sword out of the shield.
"Hades Knight Power!" he shouted.
The other Rangers crossed their arms over their chests as their Olympian Gems glowed with power.
"Silver Olympian Power!"
"Gold Olympian Power!"
"Pink Olympian Power!"
"Yellow Olympian Power!"
"Black Olympian Power!"
"Blue Olympian Power!"
"Red Olympian Power!"
In a flash of multicolored lights, the eight Rangers were morphed.
"Hero Armor, Power Up!" the five main Rangers shouted as their omega symbols expanded into their Hero Armor.
"Remember guys," Jay said. "Just stay calm."
"Let's see if these guys can rile you up a little!" Eris shouted as she snapped her fingers, causing a blue ringed portal to appear behind her. "Spartoi!"
At least 40 armored Spartoi jumped out of the portal before running around Eris and getting into a formation in front of her, drawing their swords. Instead of the normal white color that Spartoi had been before, these Spartoi were black with silver armor, including armor on their backs.
"Those don't look like your grandfather's Spartoi!" Nate said, half-joking, "but seriously, what's up with those Spartoi?"
"They've been enhanced by Cronus himself!" Eris announced. "They should prove to be quite the challenging opponents. Attack!"
She pointed forward and the enhanced Spartoi charged in the direction she pointed.
"Summon your weapons and get ready!" Jay said. "We have no idea what kind of fight is ahead of us!"
The Rangers nodded as they put their hands out and summoned their weapons. The Rangers waited until the enhanced Spartoi were right on top of them before attacking.
"Hey Paul!" Jay shouted as he tried to run through the enhanced Spartoi, but found he was getting nowhere fast. "Give me a lift!"
"You've got it," Paul said as he aimed his Shadow Shield at an angle.
Jay ran at Paul and used the shield as a springboard, with Paul using his strength to launch Jay into the air. Jay flipped a few times in the air, still flying forwards, before coming down at Eris with a two handed slash from his Lightning Sword. He looked up at Eris through his visor to see that she had managed to flap her wings and push herself using the air away from the attack.
"Hey, as long as they aren't impenetrable, I can work with this," Jay commented as he ran and slashed at Eris again. This time, she summoned a sword and blocked the attack. There was the sound of metal striking metal as the blades clashed. While Eris fought hard against Jay, she seemed to be losing ground quickly.
"You know, you're a lot easier than I thought," Jay admitted as their swords clashed again.
"It's not me you have to worry about," Eris said as she pointed behind him. "It's them."
Jay didn't even turn.
"You think I'm going to fall for that?" he asked. "How stupid do I look?"
"Jay!" Paul shouted. "A little help here?"
Jay looked behind him and saw the last thing he wanted to be happening. Mera and Nate were thrusting their weapons at each other, with Mera getting in between Nate and Paul, Valerie was firing arrows at Paul that forced him to hide behind his shield and Adrian and Diana were attacking each other with their staff and daggers respectively. Victor, meanwhile, was sitting on a bench, ignoring all of them.
"Damn it," Jay muttered.
"Well, you have two options," Eris said as she flapped her wings and rose into the air. "Try and follow me or stop your friends from killing each other. With you being a hero, I think the choice is obvious."
Jay grunted in frustration before whirling around and running back towards his warring friends.
"That's what I thought," Eris said with a smirk as she flew away.
"Guys!" Jay shouted as he ran at them. "Knock it off!"
He started towards to Valerie first.
If I can get Valerie to stop shooting at Paul, then Paul can help break up the others, he thought, and maybe Valerie can help too.
"Typical!" Mera said as she looked at Jay in the middle of her duel with Nate. "Going to your girlfriend first! You act as if the rest of us do not exist most of the time if you can get time with Valerie!"
Jay stopped and turned to Mera and Nate.
"Fine," he said. "If it makes you happy, I guess I'll have to stop you two first."
"Paul's just going to betray us, Jay!" Nate shouted. "Tell Mera to get out of my way so I can handle him!"
"Nate is talking nonsense this time, just like he is most times!" Mera retorted. "He needs to be stopped before he does some real damage!"
Jay ran in between the two of them and forced them to point their weapons down to avoid hurting him.
"Look, I know the two of you haven't always seen eye to eye," Jay said, "but Mera's right about one thing. Paul isn't going to betray us. I don't know what he's doing at night, but I'm sure it isn't bad."
"So you're taking her side?" Nate asked.
"I never said that," Jay said. "Now, while Nate has said some weird things, he also always gives his all to help us. There's no need to stop him from 'doing more damage'. We just need to ensure he doesn't hurt Paul."
The two Rangers contemplated this before sending their weapons back into the pocket dimension.
"I guess you are right," Mera said. "Maybe we are just overreacting."
"Head back to the Temple" Jay ordered. "If you guys blow up again, you're just going to be a liability."
"What are you going to do?" Nate asked.
"I'm going to stop the others from hurting each other, just like I did for you guys," Jay answered as he ran to Valerie, this time with no one stopping him.
"Jay's basically replaced me with you!" Valerie shouted as she fired another arrow at Paul, only for him to block it with his Shadow Shield.
"I specifically told Jay to not do that!" Paul shouted as he walked forward with his shield up to block the continuous barrage of arrows. "Please stop attacking me. I don't want to have to hurt you!"
Valerie was about to fire a charged arrow when Jay grabbed her arm.
"How about we don't shoot my returned-from-the-dead best friend, ok?" Jay asked, half joking.
Valerie shook his arm off and swung her bow at him. Jay backflipped away before summoning the Mirror Shield to block another swing.
"Valerie, we've gone through the 'you hating me' thing before," Jay reminded. "I would rather not do it again!"
"If you were more focused on fighting Hades and Cronus instead of joking so much, maybe we would have beaten them by now and the world would be safe!" Valerie shouted as she repeatedly swung her bow.
She said something similar before, Jay thought, and like the Hate Arrow she was struck with before, I don't know how much of this is her and how much of it is whatever is affecting the others!
Jay sent the Mirror Shield back into the pocket dimension and instead caught the bow's body right before it collided with his chest plate.
"I never meant for you to feel like Paul replaced you," Jay said, "and I never meant to make you feel like I wasn't trying to win the fight. I said it all those months ago: it's a team effort. We can't just blame one of our own for not winning. That's something we all have to bear!"
Valerie pulled her bow out of Jay's grip before sending it back to the pocket dimension. She looked at Jay as she seemed to calm down.
"Did I just lose it again?" she asked as she looked at Jay.
"Maybe a little," Jay said. "Now head back to the Temple. Paul and I can finish things here."
"If you say so," Valerie said with a nod. "These enhanced Spartoi look tough. Be careful!"
Jay nodded at Valerie before looking at Paul.
"I'll deal with Adrian and Diana and then Victor, you destroy as many enhanced Spartoi as you can!" Jay ordered as he rushed over to Adrian and Diana.
Diana slashed at Adrian with her two daggers, only for him to block it with his staff and try to smack her with it. As soon as Adrian tried to attack, Diana blocked and the loop began anew.
"If you're such a great warrior, you would have figured out how to get out of this!" Diana taunted as she tried to attack again.
"Same goes for you!" Adrian retorted as he blocked.
"That's enough!" Jay shouted as he summoned his Lightning Sword and slashed between Adrian and Diana.
The two of them broke off from their fighting as they looked over at the interfering Red Ranger.
"Buzz off!" Diana growled. "This is between me and my brother! I need to prove how poor a warrior he is!"
"Jay, don't get involved," Adrian said. "I need to stop her from being so aggressive by getting some of that negative energy out of her!"
"Neither of you have to fight each other," Jay said. "Diana, Adrian proved to be a great fighter in the past, using skills that none of the rest of us have to win battles. Adrian, Diana may be more aggressive than you, but she usually means well. You heard about how her old friends treated her. We know she just wants to help the team the best she can so we don't abandon her like those old friends did."
The two Rangers looked at each other and then Jay again before sending their weapons back into the pocket dimension.
"What are we doing?" Adrian said as he calmed down. "I don't want to fight my sister."
"I don't want to fight you either," Diana agreed. "No matter how much I want to make you a better fighter."
"Head back to the Temple," Jay ordered. "Paul and I will be there in a few minutes."
"You've got it," Diana said as the two Rangers jogged away.
"Victor?" Jay asked as he went over to the Black Ranger and kneeled down to look him in the eye, as he was sitting on a bench. "Why aren't you fighting the enhanced Spartoi? Since you weren't attacking the others, I don't see a reason to send you back to the Temple. But Paul and I could really use your help."
"Now you need me!" Victor shouted as he looked up. Jay could see the rage burning behind his visor. "I feel so useless after the Cyclopes came to the Temple and built that Hoplite Armor for you! Why go to me when you can go to them? Screw Victor and his feelings!"
"We talked about this," Jay said. "It's not that the Cyclopes didn't need your help, it's that it was too dangerous for you to help. You couldn't handle the Flame of the Gods' heat. I know the Hoplite Armor may have been built by the Cyclopes, but I'll need your help to perfect it."
"Really?" Victor asked.
"Yeah, I need some way to make my suit more heat-resistant so I won't get burned as much," Jay said, "and there's no one I would trust more to do it but you."
Victor stood up and Jay could tell that, through his helmet, he had a determined look on his face.
"I won't let you down!" he said.
"And when we have time," Jay continued as he put a hand on Victor's shoulder. "We'll look for your mother. I know how important it is to you that we find her and, like you said, we haven't really helped or supported you."
"Thanks, Jay," Victor said.
"Now head back to the Temple," Jay ordered, "and start working on that heat-resistant upgrade for my suit. I have a feeling I'll need it sooner rather than later."
Victor nodded as he headed back the way the Rangers had come from.
"Paul?" Jay asked as he tried to look through the 20ish enhanced Spartoi surrounding one spot. "You good?"
"I'm fine!" Paul replied as he raised his sword in the center of the mob so Jay could see it before bringing it down in a vertical slash, "but was it really a good idea to send three-quarters of our teammates away?"
"Maybe not, but they were a bigger hindrance to us," Jay said.
There's a lot of Spartoi, he thought, and we don't know what the black coloring means for their power. I have to use them.
Jay sighed as he looked at his shoulders.
"The lack of burns was nice while it lasted," he said to himself as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Hoplite Bracers!"
The large bracers appeared over Jay's morphers while still letting the Red Olympian Gems through. Jay raised his arms to the sky.
"Red Hoplite Ranger!" Jay shouted before a bolt of red lightning engulfed him. When he stepped out of the lightning, he was suited up in his Hoplite Armor.
He summoned his spear and shield before rushing forward. Jay dashed through a line of enhanced Spartoi, knocking them aside with his armaments before he stopped in front of Paul.
"Jay, you know how much the Hoplite Armor burns you!" Paul said as soon as he saw Jay wearing the armor, "and that you get weaker the more burns you get! Why not save it for Eris when we have to face her?"
"Because," Jay said as he looked around at the enhanced Spartoi around him, "I don't think these suckers are going to fall to anything less than the Hoplite Armor as quickly as we need them to."
"Fine, but let's end this fast so you don't get too hurt," Paul said as the two went back to back.
"It'd be done faster if we stopped talking," Jay reminded as the two primed their weapons.
"Fair enough," Paul said as he fired a powerful black energy beam from his sword that punched through an enhanced Spartoi's head and helmet easily. "They seem to fall easily enough, though."
Paul turned to slash another enhanced Spartoi across the chest, piercing its armor and sending it flying back. When he turned to face a third, he failed to catch the two he had already destroyed regenerating until they leapt onto him.
"Get...off!" Paul shouted as he judo throwed the two enhanced Spartoi off of him. "Uh, Jay? They seem to be healing!"
"Yeah," Jay said as he stabbed through an enhanced Spartoi's head, "it seems like the armor or strength wasn't what got enhanced. It was their regenerative abilities! Our weapons are supposed to negate it so the Spartoi can't reform, but these enhanced Spartoi must be immune or resistant to the negation."
"So how many times do we have to take them down?" Paul asked as he slashed horizontally to strike three enhanced Spartoi in the chest armor at once, with the armor slicing in half with one slash before he slashed the other way and cut directly into them.
"As many as it takes!" Jay shouted as he used his spear's body to knock an enhanced Spartoi down before stabbing the bottom point of his spear downwards into where its gut would have been. The enhanced Spartoi flailed a little before shattering. However, seconds later, it just reformed standing in front of Jay again.
"Not really the answer I was hoping for," Paul admitted as he shield bashed a few Spartoi, making them fall like dominoes.
After another minute of fighting, things weren't looking good. For every one of the enhanced Spartoi Jay and Paul took down, another one took its place before it was joined by the reformed first one again. Jay was also starting to heat up to a painful level that he couldn't ignore for long.
"Jay, this isn't working!" Paul shouted as the circle Jay and Paul were standing in the middle of got smaller and smaller.
"I have an idea," Jay said. "Get the enhanced Spartoi close together and then get away from them. If what I have planned doesn't finish them, I don't know what will."
Paul nodded before putting his shield in front of him and smashing through one side of the circle. Jay followed him out and the two turned to face their opponents again.
"Shadow Barrier!" Paul shouted as he pointed his Shadow Sword at the enhanced Spartoi as they tried to follow. The sword fired a beam that spread out to form a shadowy circular barrier around the enhanced Spartoi.
Jay put his spear into an overhand grip over his shield and pointed it forward.
"Phalanx Strike!" he shouted as multiple ghostly hoplite soldiers appeared around him and formed into the phalanx formation in front of him.
"Paul, put down the barrier right before the phalanx reaches it!"Jay ordered. "As for the rest of you, attack!"
The phalanx, ten men wide and eight men deep, marched forward in formation. The front line had their shields up and the other lines had their spears protruding in between and above the shields. The ghostly forces knocked the enhanced Spartoi to the ground with their shields and continued their march forward, trampling the enhanced Spartoi under their shoes. Once the soldiers had trampled over the enhanced Spartoi, the soldiers disappeared.
The exertion of power finally pushed Jay to the breaking point before he sent the Hoplite Armor back into the bracers. They were still glowing and steaming a little as Jay looked at the lack of remains from the enhanced Spartoi.
"Glad something worked against them," Jay said as he fell to his knees, "but I don't think I'll be able to use the Hoplite Armor for a while after that. We've just got to hope that Eris doesn't have any more."
"Come on," Paul said as he put his sword back in his shield and offered a hand to Jay. "Let's head back to base and figure out what's going on with the others."
"My lord, I apologize for not finishing the Rangers and humbly beg your forgiveness," Eris said as she kneeled before Cronus.
"While your powers are affecting the Rangers," Cronus said. "The Red Ranger is unfortunately keeping them from destroying each other. Your new mission is to kill the Red Ranger. Once he's gone, the other Rangers should destroy themselves."
"Understood," Eris said as she looked up. "I only request some more enhanced Spartoi to aid me."
Cronus looked at her for a minute, as if weighing his options.
"Fine," he said. "You may bring 20 with you. That is all I can afford."
"Thank you, lord Cronus," Eris said as she stood up. "I will not fail you again."
Cronus gestured for Hades to create the portal. Once Hades had thrown the fireball at the wall and the portal appeared, Eris stepped through before it closed behind her.
"I appreciate her loyalty," Cronus commented. "It's something some of my other underlings could learn."
Hades just nodded.
I don't know if he knows my plan, Hades thought, but I need to be very careful.
"Now, Hades," Cronus said.
Hades jumped a little at the mention of his name.
"Yes, father?" he asked.
"Bring me more Spartoi," Cronus ordered. "I still have some power left to create some enhanced Spartoi to add to our army and if I create enough, logic dictates that we should be able to overrun the Rangers eventually."
The Doors of Janus flew open as Jay and Paul, both demorphed, stepped through. The other Rangers were standing around the main area, waiting for them.
"So, what happened out there?" Paul asked as the Doors slammed shut behind them. "You guys seemed to lose control again."
The other Rangers looked at each other, unsure what to say, before Valerie finally spoke up.
"It was like some voice echoing in my mind saying things that I was afraid might be true," she said as she looked at Jay and Paul. "Like that Jay was replacing me with Paul."
"Or that Paul was going to betray us," Nate added.
"Or that Adrian was a poor fighter who would get us all destroyed," Diana said.
"Would a goddess with big black wings have the ability to do that?" Jay asked as he looked at Chiron. "The Dark God never gave her name, but the wings were pretty distinctive."
"I was wondering if it was her while I was watching the battle, but what you affected Rangers said confirms it," Chiron said. "Our mysterious opponent is Eris, the goddess of discord."
"Eris…" Mera said. "Did she not start the Trojan War with her golden apple inscribed 'to the fairest'?"
"Correct," Chiron said. "Eris was not invited to a godly wedding because of her bad reputation, so she threw the golden apple into the party with it labeled, as you said, 'to the fairest'. After Aphrodite, Athena and Hera all claimed it, Zeus had the mortal Paris decide."
"I remember hearing this," Jay said. "Didn't all of the goddesses basically try to bribe Paris and Aphrodite offered him the hottest woman at the time, Helen?"
"You are correct as well, Jay," Chiron said. "It was when Paris took Helen that the Trojan War started, and it was all because of Eris."
"If her powers could affect the gods through that apple," Valerie said. "Then it's no wonder that we're struggling against each other now."
"But why weren't Jay or Paul affected?" Adrian asked.
"The only difference I can think of is that I didn't sleep too well and Paul was out doing...something," Jay said as he looked over at Paul. "Speaking of which, once we defeat Eris, we're having a talk about that."
"Of course!" Mera said. "Some experts say we are highly susceptible to ideas in our sleep!"
"Don't tell me we were affected the same way some people are by those stupid 'get confident as you sleep' videos on the internet!" Nate said.
"That's what it sounds like," Jay said. "Somehow Eris got into your houses as you slept and basically enhanced ideas you already had in your subconscious."
"Jeez," Nate commented. "When did myths and gods and goddesses get so scientific? It seems like most Dark Gods' powers have a logical explanation when it should be more fantasy."
"Welcome to the 21st century," Mera said.
"Getting back on track," Valerie said. "How do we get Eris out of our heads?"
"That's a good question," Jay said, "because, like I said before, Paul and I can't handle a Dark God on our own. Especially because I've already used the Hoplite Armor, so I'll be weaker while using it until I heal."
"Did you really have to use it?" Valerie asked as she looked at him. "You know how much it hurts you."
"I told him the same thing," Paul said.
"Yeah, but those black Spartoi weren't a joke," Jay said. "No matter what Paul and I did, they weren't staying down. Only my Phalanx Strike managed to stop them from reforming."
"Those Spartoi are worrying," Chiron said as he stroked his beard. "I'll have to think of something to defeat them. Eris is our real priority, however. If you destroy her, the affected Rangers should return to normal."
"Yeah, but how do we stop them from going crazy next time?" Paul asked. If it weren't for my Shadow Shield, I would have been a pincushion from Valerie's arrows!"
"And Adrian and I might have destroyed each other," Diana added.
"And I would have kicked Mera's ass," Nate said before he noticed her glaring at him. "What? OK, fine. Mera might have had a shot at beating me."
"Paul raises a good point," Valerie said. "How do we stop ourselves from attacking each other?"
"Should we sit in a circle and talk about our feelings?" Nate asked mockingly.
"Sit in a...that's exactly what we need to do!" Jay said. "The whole point of Eris's power is she's taking subconscious ideas and bringing them to the surface. So why don't we make the ideas not subconscious anymore?"
"I...don't follow," Adrian admitted.
"I see what he's saying," Valerie said, "if we talk about our feelings, then we can work to get past them."
"Alright, let's sit on the mat and try this!" Jay said as he gestured to the training mat.
The teens, some more reluctant than others, slowly sat down on the mat.
"Remind me to never suggest anything again," Nate muttered to Victor as they sat down.
"Alright, Nate," Jay said, "since you seem so willing to talk to Victor, why don't you share why you don't trust Paul?"
"Well…" Nate said as he thought about it. "He draws his powers from Hades, right? And Hades is a villain that we've been fighting for so long. Anyone the Onyx Gems chose can't be a good person. Also, Paul was combined with Gryphon for so long and controlled most of his actions. We may have forgiven him, but I didn't forget where he came from. He also disappears during the night, and we have no idea where he's going! Seems suspicious to me."
"First of all," Chiron said as he stood on the outskirts of the circle, "Hades wasn't always a villain, and the Gems wouldn't necessarily choose someone who seeks evil. They merely chose him because he sought power and could also handle the power of the Onyx Gems. Remember that they are more powerful than the other Gems and only Paul's godly blood allows him to handle their power. Paul, would you like to add anything?"
"Look," Paul said, "I may not have made the best choices in the past, but I want to try and make up for them. So...I've been going out at night to right some wrongs."
When he noticed the stares from the others, he looked down at the mat.
"I know I agreed to not do any vigilantism, but I figured out how to bend shadows around me to become invisible. So the bad guys don't even know it's a Power Ranger doing it! I just...don't want to feel worthless like I normally do, ok? And being a hero is the best feeling I've had."
"Paul," Jay said, "I understand you don't want to feel like you used to, but the Power Rangers are only supposed to fight monsters. Or aliens. Or robots. Or…"
"The point is," Valerie said as she jumped in before Jay could rattle off more names. "That we can't be judge, jury and definitely not executioner. We have police who are supposed to catch the human bad guys."
"I guess you guys are right," Paul said. "I just want to feel like I'm helping people, and it was the best way I knew how. But I'll stop if it really bothers you that much."
"That's what he said last time," Nate muttered before Mera elbowed him in the ribs, "ow!"
"I want to give Paul a bit of a break before we talk to him again," Jay said. "So, Diana and Adrian, why have you two been fighting?"
"You know that I've been trying to help the team the best I can so you won't abandon me like my old friends did," Diana said. "Well, I kind of see Adrian as a liability at times. His melee weapon isn't the best and he can't use his powers to attack. But truthfully...I just don't want him to get hurt. He's my only brother and I love him, even though I don't show it often."
"Diana…" Adrian said as he looked at his twin. "I promise I'm trying to be as careful as I can while helping the team the best I can. But I'm really worried that your overuse of aggressive language is going to get you into trouble someday that you won't be able to punch your way out of."
"Maybe I'm a little too aggressive sometimes," Diana said, "but it's mostly to try and protect the people I care about. Like all of you guys. Even Paul, who I barely know. I just don't want to see people get hurt."
"But you did threaten us earlier to try to get us to stop fighting," Mera said. "Do you have reasoning for that?"
"I figured if anyone should be the target of anger, it should be me. Then you two could have focused on making up," Diana explained.
"Mera, you said something about me replacing you with Valerie," Jay said, "and Valerie said something about Paul replacing her. Why doesn't Mera start?"
"If we are best friends, why have we not spent more time together outside of our Ranger duties?" Mera asked. "You are usually with Valerie every moment you can. I just felt...maybe you had forgotten about me."
"I was hoping you didn't still feel this way after the Arachne attack," Jay said with a sigh. "Mera, we are best friends. Maybe I do spend too much time with Valerie, but I can work on changing that. And Valerie, you felt the same way about Paul?"
"You just spent the last two weeks almost exclusively with him whenever you could," Valerie said. "Like Mera, I thought you had forgotten about me."
"And trust me, Valerie, the last thing I want is to steal Jay from anyone," Paul said. "One of the things I learned while being combined with Gryphon is that you can be aligned with multiple people at once. For Jay, it might be best to spread his time between all of us, instead of focusing on one of us."
"Yeah," Jay said. "I'll try my best with that. Because all of you are my friends, and I don't want anyone to feel replaced."
There was a moment of silence before Jay turned to Victor.
"Victor, you've had a lot of baggage lately that we haven't talked about. Do you want to share?"
"It's just…" Victor said. "When Pan agreed to help find my mom, I wasn't expecting fast results. But it's been over a month and he still hasn't come back. The best I got was a 'still working on it' message through Hecate a few weeks back. I just want to see my mom again! And none of you have even offered to help or support me!"
"I'm sorry, Victor," Jay said. "I just assumed you knew that we were behind you all the way. And no, we haven't offered to help, but that's mostly because we're unsure how."
"Indeed," Mera said. "The chances that your mother at least changed her last name are high, so it will be difficult to find her. But I will admit I could have at least tried going at the problem from a technological angle while Pan focuses on the magical side."
"Mera, you said Nate's talking nonsense could be dangerous," Jay said. "How so?"
"He is always talking about things that make no sense," Mera said. "It worries me that he may not be fit to be a Ranger."
"I think Nate just has a different perspective that you don't agree with," Jay said, "and that's ok. But, like I said before, that doesn't make him dangerous."
"Yeah, I prefer 'ahead of the curve'," Nate joked, "Dark Knight fans should get that."
"Yeah, I caught that reference," Jay said, "but we should probably talk about the last problem Valerie brought up. Do you guys really think that I could have led us to victory by now if I didn't joke so much?"
"No, because you've really been cutting back," Nate said. "Honestly, I expected more jokes from you in battle and you've been leading us to victory for a while."
"I agree," Mera said. "We may also lose a lot, but you always work to help us. Like you are right now."
"It might be something I've just got hanging around in my mind," Valerie said, "because I really don't think you joke too much. Honestly, your jokes are one of the reasons I like you so much."
The two got closer before they remembered where they were.
"Before this gets gross," Nate said as he cleared his throat before getting up. "I honestly don't feel any different after talking."
"My hope is that we'll see Eris's powers weakened or nullified," Chiron said, "but it will be hard to know for sure until you are put in a stressful situation."
Jay was about to say something when the alarm went off.
"Speaking of stressful situations…" he joked before becoming serious again, "Christina, talk to me."
"It's Eris again," Christina said, "and she's brought more of those black Spartoi with her."
"Chiron, if you could try and find a weak spot or way to beat them, that'd be great," Jay said. "Meanwhile, the rest of us have a Dark God to destroy."
The Rangers, already morphed and, for the ones who could, in their Hero Armor, ran towards the enhanced Spartoi just generally causing chaos. Several were slashing at a car and clawing to try and get to the people inside. More were attacking the hot dog stands, while others were shattering the glass window displays the stores on the street were using to show off merchandise.
Eris was standing on a streetlamp, looking around for the Rangers. When she finally saw them, she swooped down to land right in front of them.
"I was wondering when you would show up," Eris remarked. "I was getting bored watching the Spartoi destroy things."
"Those are people's livelihoods!" Valerie shouted. "You can't just destroy them!"
"I'm not doing anything," Eris said, "but if you're really going to get angry, why don't you turn on your Red Ranger?"
Her eyes flashed red and Valerie cried out as she held the sides of her helmet and fell to her knees.
"Valerie!" Jay shouted.
"In fact, why don't all of you try to kill the Red Ranger?" Eris suggested as her eyes flashed red again.
The other five affected Rangers also held the sides of their helmets as they fell to their knees.
"Yes! Feel my power enrage you!" Eris shouted. "Now destroy the Red Ranger!"
Slowly, the other Rangers got up and glared at someone. But it wasn't Jay. Slowly, they circled around and surrounded her.
"Your powers don't work on us anymore, Eris!" Adrian shouted as he pointed at her.
"But how?" Eris said as she looked from one Ranger to another in panic. "My discord was perfect!"
"We did the only thing we could think of!" Valerie shouted. "We sat down and talked about our feelings!"
Eris started to laugh hysterically.
"Seriously?" she asked between fits of laughter. "That was your strategy to beat me?"
"Hey, don't knock it 'till you try it," Nate said. "It's actually one of the best ways to resolve conflict. Google it."
"If I can't get you to destroy each other, I'll just have to…" Eris said, "run away!"
She flapped her wings and rose into the sky.
"You are not going anywhere!" Mera shouted as she summoned her spear and turned it into a ball and chain. She hurled the ball into the air and it wrapped around Eris's legs as she rose into the air. Mera pulled hard on the chain and slammed Eris back down to earth.
Eris cried out as she hit the asphalt. She stood up quickly and summoned her sword before using it to slice the chain.
"Let's get her, guys!" Jay ordered as the Rangers all charged inwards.
Eris was able to block Nate's trident, but was struck in the back of the head by Victor's hammer. She went tumbling forward right into the combined arrows of Valerie, Adrian and Diana. When she finally stopped from that attack, she noticed she was right in front of Jay and Paul
"Any chance we could talk out this conflict?" she asked.
"I think we've had enough of your barbed tongue," Jay said as he raised his sword into the air and red lightning struck it. "Red Lightning Strike!"
"Shadow Strike!" Paul shouted as he gathered the shadows around him into the Shadow Sword, creating a dark aura around it.
The two brought their blades down at the same time. Eris tried to block it with her own blade, but the force of the two powered-up swords allowed them to just slice right through it.
Eris cried out as she exploded into flames. When the flames died down, there were two Erises lying in the ash.
"Why are there two of her now?" Paul asked, utterly confused.
"That's right, you didn't see this part with Gryphon," Jay said. "One of them is the good Eris and one of them is still the Dark God version. And the Dark God one is…"
"Lord Cronus, I will lay waste to your enemies now!" Dark God Eris shouted as she stood up and grew.
"...Going to do that" Jay said before he heard more screams. He looked over and saw that the enhanced Spartoi had been causing trouble instead of aiding their leader.
"Adrian, Diana," Jay said. "Use your special attacks to destroy the black Spartoi as much as you can. They'll keep repairing themselves, but they do eventually go down. Also tend to normal Eris when you can."
The two Rangers nodded as they went off to help the people the enhanced Spartoi were attacking.
"The rest of us are going to use our Megazords and destroy that Dark God Eris!" Jay shouted.
"Summon Hero Zords!" the five main Rangers shouted as energy balls in their Ranger colors flew out of them and expanded into the Hero Zords.
"Send the Cerberus Zord!" Paul said into the bronze band on his left wrist. In about 30 seconds, the Cerberus Zord came running into view.
The six Rangers leapt into their Zords through the hole in the chest that quickly closed behind them.
The Rangers' Olympian Gems were pulled from the core Ranger's Olympian Morphers and Paul's Shadow Sword and Shield to fill the holes in the pillars.
"Hero Zords, combine!" Jay ordered.
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. It's 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 in a single cockpit.
"Activate Cerberus Knight Megazord!" Paul shouted.
The Cerberus Zord barked before it began transforming. The back legs swung around to become human legs, allowing the Zord to stand up straight, as the claws rotated around to reveal hands. The tail detached and straightened to become a sword. The two side dog heads rotated around on a pivot to become shoulder pads and a shield like design on the Zord's belly came off to become the shield in its left hand. The middle dogs head moved down to become a chest piece and a head popped up from under it. The head was silver with red eyes and a black helmet that looked like a knight's helmet.
"Cerberus Knight Megazord, ready!" Paul shouted as he grabbed his sword and shield and the Megazord posed.
The two Megazords stomped forwards towards Dark God Eris. Eris, however, leapt into the air and hovered in the air. She flew forward, slashing the Hero Megazord first with her sword on the way past before looping around and slashing the Cerberus Knight Megazord as she passed it. She started laughing at the Megazords as sparks flew from the cuts she had made.
"Man, for someone who wasn't a great fighter when she was small, she's way more powerful now!" Nate said as the Megazord tried to recover.
"I have a theory that perhaps the size increase also translates to a power increase," Mera explained. "This is especially true for Eris, it appears."
"So how do we beat her?" Paul asked in his Megazord.
"Let's try some ranged attacks," Jay said. "Switching to Hero Bow!"
The Hero Megazord's sword and shield disappeared as they were replaced by a golden bow.
"Neat trick," Paul said. "I'll use my Shadow Beams to help knock her down."
"Sounds like a plan," Jay said as the Megazord drew back the bowstring and fired an energy arrow at Eris.
Paul's sword and shield were lowered as the dog heads serving as the shoulder pads rotated around to face Eris along with the one on the chest.
"Shadow Beams!" Paul shouted as the dog heads fired dark shadowy beams at Eris.
Eris was too busy laughing to notice the golden energy arrow flying at her or the Shadow Beams. Both attacks struck her and sent her flying. She landed before slowly getting up, severely weakened by the attacks. By now, the Megazords had switched back to their swords and shields before stomping forward.
"Hero Sword Strike!" the core rangers shouted as they slashed vertically with the gold-glowing sword.
"Cerberus's Fury!" Paul shouted as the Megazord slashed with its sword three times, forming an "x" with the first two before bisecting it, and Eris, with the third strike.
"I might have struck a chord!" Eris shouted as she fell to the ground and exploded.
The two Megazords powered down as they overlooked the city.
"Let's go help the twins," Jay said. The others nodded as they leapt out of their Megazords.
When they landed on the ground, they found that only a few enhanced Spartoi were left.
"Gemini Javelin! Launch!" both Adrian and Diana shouted as Adrian hurled the Gemini Javelin through the remaining Spartoi, causing them to shatter completely. The two Rangers were breathing very hard and Adrian was even resting on his staff.
"These bastards are hard to keep down!" Diana said as she and Adrian walked over to the others.
"Well, let's get Eris back to Temple and you guys can rest there," Jay said as he led the way.
"You willingly gave yourself to Cronus!?" Valerie asked.
Eris was sitting with Valerie on the step, with the others standing around the two of them.
"I was going to become a Dark God anyway, so I thought I might as well accept it," Eris said. "Besides, the folks at Olympus weren't treating me so well. You don't just get skipped for one wedding. I basically missed anything going on in Olympus because people avoided me."
"That's rough," Jay said, "but that doesn't really excuse that you agreed to become a bad guy."
"So what are you going to do to me?" Eris asked. "Lock me in jail and throw away the key?"
"No, that makes us no better than Hades or Cronus," Mera said. "I assume that Jay wants to just return you to Mt. Olympus to rebuild."
"You're just going to forgive me?" Eris asked in surprise.
"What you did wasn't right, but you were correct in that you didn't really have a choice," Jay said. "We forgave Paul for doing stuff worse than you. So yeah, we're forgiving you and sending you back to Olympus."
"Why, so they can ignore me again?" Eris asked. "I didn't ask to be the goddess of discord. I just am. People don't seem to accept that, though. They think of me as one of the 'bad' gods."
"Then prove them wrong," Jay said. "Prove you're a good god who deserves respect. Because you really do."
With that Eris stood up.
"Thanks for understanding me," she said. "I think I'm ready to go and try."
"Christina, if you would?" Jay asked.
"One door to Olympus, coming up," Christina said as she activated the Doors of Janus, which flew open to accept Eris.
"Goodbye Rangers," Eris said. "Be proud of the bonds you strengthened today. Not many can resist my powers, but you did. Farewell."
With that, she stepped through and the Doors slammed shut behind her.
"I guess we did strengthen our bonds," Jay said as he looked around at the seven other teens around him, "but there's still some work to be done. But we should be able to do it. All of us, together."
"Not the result I desired, but Eris did serve a purpose," Cronus said as he looked at a flame screen of the jail cells, "I still have multiple gods and goddesses left, including most of the Olympians. Only Hermes managed to escape my grasp. As long as I plan strategically, then victory shall be mine."
I can only imagine what he has planned, Persephone thought, and it won't be good. For the gods, the Rangers or the world as we know it. Not good at all.
This was an odd chapter for me to write. It's right in between Paul's introduction and a big story next chapter (shh, it's a secret. Don't tell anyone), but that was kind of the point so I didn't jump from Paul joining to the next big chapter. But I realized, like usual, that I had written myself into a corner once the Rangers were affected by Eris: how do they not kill each other long enough to actually beat Eris? The feelings circle was originally just a joke for Nate to say, then I realized that it was actually a viable option. Like Nate said later, talking is a way to resolve conflict.
Whether it was too weird for you or not, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you want to review, that's great. If not, that's fine too. And in the great words of Zordon, may the power protect you.
