Hey Ranger fans! I'm really looking forward to you guys reading this chapter. I honestly really enjoyed writing parts of this story. I won't say what parts. No spoilers in the Author Notes this time!
What I can say is a big thank you to JTWAS1994, GoldenMewtwo and SwifteForeverAndAlways for their continued reviews, Rosebud1923 for their favorite and follow and Notary Sojac, LoveForPink and karthikkannan0 for their follows. I always say this, but I couldn't do this without the support of my fellow Ranger fans!
This story breaks the 400,000 words mark, which is absolutely ridiculous, both that it takes that much (and probably a good 10-20k more) to tell this story and that I have the stamina to write that much in just about 3 years.
I haven't made too much progress on updating the format of the story, unfortunately. I plan to be finished before the final Myth drops, so be prepared for that.
Anyway, I've taken enough of your time. Time for the penultimate Myth to begin!
Myth 39: Till Death Do Us Part
The Rangers looked from Hermes to the golden-robed Fates, both shocked and scared.
"I'm sorry," Valerie said with a nervous laugh. "I thought for a second there that you said somebody was going to die."
"That is what I said," Hermes confirmed.
"Welp, it's probably one of you Reserve Rangers," Nate said. "The rest of us are main characters." He yelped as Mera smacked him upside the head.
"If that statement means what I believe it means, you are sadly mistaken," Mera said. "Paul was not a Reserve Ranger and he still perished."
"Oh…" Nate said awkwardly. "Shit…"
"Well, I for one refuse to believe Paul is dead," Jay said as he stood up. "The Fates weren't there when Paul supposedly died, right?"
"Yeah," Virginia said. "We didn't see them at all."
"Even if that is true," Hermes said. "That does not negate their appearance here. Someone here will die."
"Why don't we just ask them who and get this whole bloody thing over with?" Marcus said as he looked to the cafe's roof, only to see that the Fates were gone. "Or not."
"They sure didn't overstay their welcome," Valerie remarked.
"They did not need to," Mera said. "Their message was clear."
"Welp, glad the whole thing with the Dark Olympians is over with," Nate said. "I'm going to find my family and…" -He looked to the sky- "Oh, come on!"
"What now?" Jay said as he looked up to see the blue fire as it began to form a circle around the building. He stood up as a portal appeared inside the blue fire circle. Out fell two shapes that smashed through the glass ceiling, causing the Rangers to shield their heads and some of the girls to scream. Jay slowly uncovered his eyes to see that the figures were familiar.
"I'm back, Rangers!" the Minotaur bellowed as he scraped one of his hooves along the ground. "And I'm ready to lock horns again!"
"You won't be cutting anything off me this time!" the Nemean Lion roared.
The two charged at the Rangers, the Minotaur with his head down and the Nemean Lion on all fours. The group barely rolled out of the way in time.
"Let's Ranger up!" Jay shouted.
"Right!" the others agreed.
"White Olympian Power!" Marcus shouted as a brilliant white light shined from his Olympian Gems.
"Aqua Olympian Power!" Jasmine shouted as a brilliant aqua light shined from her Olympian Gems.
"Orange Olympian Power!" Victoria shouted as a brilliant orange light shined from her Olympian Gems.
"Crimson Olympian Power!" Mikhail shouted as a brilliant crimson light shined from his Olympian Gems.
"Purple Olympian Power!" Dan shouted as a brilliant purple light shined from his Olympian Gems.
"Silver Olympian Power!" Diana shouted as a brilliant yellow light shined from her Olympian Gems.
"Gold Olympian Power!" Adrian shouted as a brilliant gold light shined from his Olympian Gems.
"Pink Olympian Power!" Valerie shouted as a brilliant pink light shined from her Olympian Gems.
"Yellow Olympian Power!" Mera shouted as a brilliant yellow light shined from her Olympian Gems.
"Black Olympian Power!" Victor shouted as a brilliant black light shined from his Olympian Gems.
"Blue Olympian Power!" Nate shouted as a brilliant blue light shined from his Olympian Gems.
"Red Olympian Power!" Jay shouted as a brilliant red light shined from his Olympian Gems.
In a flash of multi-colored light, the Rangers were transformed. As the Minotaur turned around for another charge, Mikhail and Victor each grabbed him by a horn.
"Hey!" the Minotaur shouted as he struggled. "Let go!"
"1…2…3!" Mikhail and Victor said as they flipped the Minotaur by the horns over their heads and into the ground.
The Nemean Lion let out another roar as it leapt onto Marcus and started trying to bite into his helmet. He tried to move his head back to avoid the bites but found his helmet pushing into the ground instead.
"Keep your mouth to yourself!" Mera shouted as she slammed a mace into the Nemean Lion, knocking it back and off of Marcus. Marcus sat up and looked at Mera as she, already in her Deity Mode, launched a barrage of swords from her palm. While the blades didn't pierce the Nemean Lion's skin, it did force the beast back further.
"Mera, where did that cape come from?" Jay asked as he ran over to the Yellow Ranger.
"Victor, Valerie, Nate and I all remerged with our respective Olympians," Mera said. "That is what allowed us to match your power as a Dark Olympian. I would suggest doing the same with Zeus. The power it provides is most helpful."
Jay looked over at Zeus as he slowly stood up. The Red Ranger ran over and helped steady the god of lightning as he stumbled a little.
"I'm getting too old for all this fighting," Zeus said as he righted himself before looking at Jay. "But I'm sure you're not here to listen to me complain."
"I'm also not here to force you to merge with me," Jay said. "But it's probably the only way we're going to beat Hades as he is now. The others only beat me when they merged with their own gods. It would help our cause if we did the same."
"I have to agree," Zeus said. "I can sense my brother all the way from across the city. The power he is outputting is…terrifying, to say the least. I think that joining together and granting you Deity Mode would be the best course of action."
Zeus began to glow red as he became pure energy and flowed into Jay's body, most especially around his morphers.
"Deity Mode!" Jay shouted as he crossed his morphers over his chest again. He was surrounded by a golden light. When it dissipated, he possessed the same cape and clasps as the other Rangers but with a red outline along the cape.
"Let's do it!" Jay shouted as he summoned his Lightning Sword and aimed the flat of his blade at the Nemean Lion. "Red Lightning Stream!" He let out a cry as red lightning fired from the flat of his blade. The Nemean Lion let out a scream as the lightning coursed through his body.
"What a shock!" the Nemean Lion shouted as he exploded into fire and ash.
"That's that," Jay said. "Now for the Minotaur." As he started to walk away, he was suddenly tackled over by a figure. "What the hell?" He managed to elbow the figure off his back to see…
"I'm back…again!" the Nemean Lion roared.
"I just killed you!" Jay shouted, "and I can do it again!"
Meanwhile, the Minotaur had managed to rise again and had stomped open some portals, causing armored Spartoi to flood the battlefield.
"I…fricking…hate…Spartoi!" Nate shouted as he smashed through chestplate after chestplate with his Trident.
"I'm sure they're not fond of you either," Valerie teased as she flipped off a lunch table, firing pink energy arrows in midair.
Victor grunted as the Minotaur slammed his horns into the Black Ranger's gut. However, he barely felt it with the enhanced protection of Deity Mode. He grabbed the horns and ripped them off, one with each hand.
"AHHHHH!" the Minotaur screamed. "My beautiful horns! You've ruined them!"
Victor responded by shoving the Minotaur back and summoning his Blacksmith Hammer.
"I'm about to ruin a lot more than that!" Victor shouted as the head of the hammer lit on fire. With a shout, he heaved it over his head and slammed it horizontally onto the Minotaur's head, crushing it. As he pulled the hammer head off of the monster, the Minotaur exploded into fire and ash. Victor was about to move on and fight the Spartoi when he noticed the ash particles glowing blue like they would when Hades' monsters would grow. However, they simply pieced the Minotaur back together, horns completely intact.
"Tell me I'm dreaming again," Jay said as he backed up into Virginia. "Because it seems to me like these monsters aren't dying."
"The Spartoi are going down just fine," Virginia said, "but I see what you mean. It's like something is bringing them back."
"So what, one of us is going to die, but the monsters get an infinite lives cheat code?" Nate complained. "I know life isn't always fair, but come on!"
"Well, we need to do something," Jay said. "Or else we're going to be quickly overrun."
Hades let out a laugh as he watched the Minotaur die and be reborn again on the blue flame screen.
"If the Rangers think they can keep destroying my monsters until they stop coming back, they are sadly mistaken," Dark God Hades said, looking to the Olympians, who were still trapped in the blue flame circle. "Isn't this so amusing to watch?"
"Let us out of here, you maniac, and I'll show you something really amusing!" Ares shouted as he popped his knuckles.
Dark God Hades looked him over and let out a laugh. "I don't think so." He turned his back to the Olympians and looked back at the screen. "All of you lost to children."
"So did you," Hera argued. "Multiple times."
"My monsters and Dark Gods lost to the Rangers," Dark God Hades said. "I never lost to them. And I don't plan on losing any time soon, either."
He let out another laugh as the Nemean Lion was also killed and resurrected again.
Meanwhile, down the sewer line, Paul could hear the cackling of Dark God Hades.
"Damn it," he muttered. "I need to get out of here!"
He struggled against the blue flame chains again, but they proved to be just as immovable as before.
"Maybe I need to work smarter, not harder," he remarked as he noticed he could shimmy his wrists a bit to any side. However, it was only about an inch in each direction. He shifted his one wrist so his band was slightly exposed and shifted his other wrist to try and reach the button.
"Come…on!" he grunted as he pulled the chains as tight as he could. A second later, the shield on the band expanded, shattering the blue chains around both wrists. Paul fell to the ground, somewhat spent from his pulling, before standing up.
"Now to get all of you out of here," he said as he looked to the remaining people in chains before drawing the sword from its compartment in the shield.
"This really isn't working!" Nate complained as the Minotaur and Nemean Lion came at the Rangers again, one from either side.
"Everybody roll!" Jay said as the Rangers combat rolled out of the way, allowing the two monsters to crash into each other. They fell to the ground, stunned.
"Ok, now we have a second," Jay said as he looked around at the group. "We need to find Hades, and fast. But first we need to escape these two."
"I'll hold them off," Mikhail said. "You guys go, find Hades and end this."
"We already lost Paul to a plan like that," Adrian said. "I'm pretty sure Jay doesn't want to lose another Ranger."
"Look, blondie," Marcus said. "Like with Paul, we don't really have a choice. Some of us need to stay behind and hold these guys off."
"But-" Adrian said before Jay cut him off.
"It's fine," Jay said. "Marcus is right. We need to keep moving and we can't have these two following us. But Christina, stay with him and help him the best you can."
"They're starting to get up," Mikhail said as he got in between the rising monsters and the Rangers. "So you guys should, as the saying goes, 'hit the road.'"
"Not really the right time to use that phrase," Christina said, "but he's right. You need to go."
"Alright," Jay said as he gestured for the others to head down the stairs before looking to the Crimson and Green Rangers. "Good luck."
Cronus clasped his hands and put his head on top of his fists. "So this is what you had planned, Hades?"
He was currently watching the flame screen as more and more monsters were appearing in the city. His neutral expression didn't betray his thoughts in the least, as he was emotionless as ever.
"I'm glad one of the Dark Olympians' plans actually seems to be working," he remarked. "That possession plan was going quite well until the other Rangers decided to ruin it."
"You've lost, Cronus," Persephone said as she grabbed onto the bars of her cell. "The Rangers will beat my husband and you will have no pieces left. No plans left in place. You'll have nothing."
"Oh, my dear Persephone," Cronus said as he opened a golden-ringed portal and watched as a stream of golden energy came through. "I'll have everything." He opened his arms wide and accepted the golden energy as it flowed into his body. As soon as the energy was done its travel, the portal closed.
"Do you know what this is?" Cronus asked as he stood up from his throne and walked over to Persephone's cell. She shook her head. "This is my energy that the Olympians locked in Tartarus. I was forced to abandon it when I escaped. But now that Hades has broken the barrier? It's mine again. And just to ensure my victory, I'm going to combine it with my children's power as well."
Cronus gestured over to the blue Flame of the Gods and drew all of it into himself. The dark-golden time energy flared up like flames and began to burn all over his body as he slowly rose a couple feet off the ground. Compared to how the time energy had burned before, this looked very much more like dark-golden flames were burning all over his body.
"Once the Rangers are done defeating Hades, as both you and I assume they will…"- he fired a blast into the blue flame screen showing the Rangers as they ran down the stairs, disintegrating the screen to atoms- "...they'll be facing me. And they won't survive that. I'll make sure of it. With my power enhanced by the Flame of the Gods, I am invincible."
Jay led the way as the remaining Rangers, along with Hermes and Hypnos, made their way down the stairs. Once they had reached the bottom, they found Chiron waiting for them.
"Rangers," he said. "It's good to see you all in control of your bodies again. But I'm afraid we have no time to celebrate. I have a few things to tell you"
"Yeah," Nate said as he and the other Rangers pulled their helmets off. "How about the fact that it's raining unkillable monsters?"
"That was indeed one of them," Chiron said with a nod. "I'm detecting energy from Tartarus all over the city. The monsters seem to be wrecking havoc everywhere. Follow me."
The Rangers followed after him and came into the classroom Chiron had been using as their temporary base. He moved over to the computer and pulled up a map of the city.
"We have about 15 energy signatures in the city," Chiron said. "Which means only the monsters have come through. I'm not seeing any signs of Dark Gods yet."
"Well, there's some good news," Adrian said.
"Indeed," Mera said. "Chiron, can you figure out where this energy is coming from?"
"No," Chiron said. "But what I can tell you is that it looks like energy signatures are gathered around 3 specific areas. I'm wondering if one of those areas could be where Hades is hiding."
"Great," Jay said as he looked at the digital map. "Where are we going, then? We just need to split up into groups."
"That's the other thing," Chiron said. "The energy scans and map show that there's a fourth area the monsters appear to be targeting: the bunker. You're going to need to send a group there too."
"The bunker?" Valerie asked. "What bunker?"
"Victor, it appears that your father was a very prepared man," Chiron said as he looked at the Black Ranger and then at the others. "He built a bunker under his building to protect civilians from Ranger battles. Luckily, they were ready to be used just 2 days after the Dark Olympian attack."
"He mentioned trying to build one," Victor said with a nod. "I just never realized he finished."
"The monsters must have," Chiron said, "considering that they seem to be targeting it. So, like I said, you'll need to send a group there too."
"Alright," Jay said as he looked around at the Rangers' faces. "We need to find Hades and protect that bunker. We'll split into 4 groups. I'll quickly look over the areas and split us up accordingly. Then it's back to action!"
"Right!" everyone agreed as they put their helmets back on.
"Go go go!" Paul whispered as he gestured people forward. He continued the motion until he looked over at a little boy sitting over by where they had come from, crying.
"Keep going," Paul said as he pushed past the file of people and reached the little boy. He leaned down and looked at the boy "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Mommy! I can't find my mommy!" the boy blubbered as he continued to cry.
Paul looked around at the people still filing along. None of them were even stopping to look at Paul or the boy.
"Was she with you when you were taken?" Paul asked.
"Yeah!" the boy said, the tears still coming down his cheeks.
"Did that scary guy do something to her?" Paul asked. "Something with golden energy?"
"And then she disappeared!" the boy said, crying even harder. "And there was this black dust in her place and…and."
Paul grimaced at the sound of that. That's what he'd been afraid of.
"I'm so sorry," he said as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "She's gone. I…I couldn't save her."
"So I'll never see her again?" the boy asked.
"Sorry, no," Paul said. At that, the boy started bawling even louder. "But I'm sure you have other family…"
"I want my mommy!" the boy said.
"I know the feeling," Paul said. He knew it all too well. "But we need to leave, or the scary guy's going to come back and hurt us as well."
He picked up the boy, who didn't resist, before he started after the other ex-prisoners, the sounds of the boy's crying filling the tunnel as they went.
"Stay back!" one of the police officers yelled as he and a few other officers aimed their pistols at Argus as he marched forward, backed by a large amount of armored Spartoi.
"EYE find your attempts of resistance amusing," Argus said, "but EYE don't think there's much you can do about it."
One of the police officers popped off a shot as Argus got closer. The bullet just bounced off the film protecting one of his eyes and did no damage. The other officers started to fire their guns at the eye monster too, but no matter if they hit the chestplate, the limbs or even what appeared to be his head, there was no obvious effect. The officers continued to back up as they fired until they were out of ammo.
"These are your defenders?" Charybdis asked as she came down the street, Scylla at her side. "They look…delicious."
She launched a water tornado from her monster head arm and sent it towards the officers. Many of them flinched as the tornado was about to hit them before they were grabbed and pulled out of the way. They fell to the ground and looked up at the Blue, Black and White Olympian Rangers as they stood in a line between the humans and the monsters.
"Blue Ranger!" Scylla roared as she pointed. "I still have a bone to pick with you!"
"For killing your sister and you?" Nate said. "If so, you're going to have another bone to pick with me when we're done!"
"That doesn't really make sense, does it?" Marcus asked, slightly confused. Victor nodded in agreement.
"I mean we're going to kill them again!" Nate said. "Jeez. It's like you guys haven't heard smack talk before or something."
"I'm always up for another snack," Charybdis said as she prepped her monster head arm to launch another tornado.
"Where are the people?" Victor asked as he looked back at the police officers, who were quickly picking themselves up.
"They're still in the bunker," one of the officers said. "We were ordered to guard them, but I don't know how much we can really do against these things."
"Get in the bunker," Marcus ordered as he looked back for a moment too. "It's the safest place for you right now."
"Don't have to tell me twice!" the officer said as he quickly led the other officers inside the building.
"It's weird, being able to tell coppers what to do," Marcus muttered before looking at the monsters. "I take it these are all old foes of yours?"
"Yeah," Nate said. "There's the guy with the eye fetish, Argus. We defeated him with the power of teamwork and stuff. There's Charybdis. You've seen what she can do. And the multi headed one with the impenetrable scales is Scylla, her sister. She's kind of pissed at me for killing both of them."
"You're just great at making friends, aren't you?" Marcus said sarcastically.
"Yeah, yeah," Nate said with a wave of his hand. "Jay told us what we need to do: protect the people in the bunker from the monsters. So let's do it!"
The three Rangers charged forward as Scylla and Argus ran to meet them, with Charybdis staying back…
"Strange. Chiron said they should be around this area," Mera said as she led the group of girls through the junkyard. Her, Christina and Jasmine were all morphed and Mera was in her Deity Mode.
"But it's kind of weird anyway, isn't it?" Christina asked. "I mean, why would monsters be gathering in a garbage dump? Maybe we're in the wrong place."
Mera was going to respond when she suddenly whirled around and launched a dagger out of her palm and between Christina and Jasmine's heads. The dagger flew next to a pile of trash and knocked a hairy black figure that had blended in off of said pile.
"No, I believe we are in the right place," Mera said as the two other Rangers looked between her and the monster.
"How did you do that?" Jasmine asked. "Because that was awesome!"
"My senses have been enhanced by Deity Mode," Mera said. "She has been following us for a little while now. I just wanted to confirm that she was the only monster here."
"You said 'she'," Christina said. "That…thing is female?"
"That 'thing' has a name!" the monster said as she stood up, showing her spider features. "I'm glad you remembered who I was, Yellow Ranger. I would have been insulted otherwise."
"Arachne," Mera said. "Of course I remember you. You're only the monster who tried to destroy my relationship with my best friend."
"You'll be happy then to know I've changed my goal," Arachne said. "I'm now trying to destroy you." She turned to a large trash pile. "And I'm not alone. Rise, Hydra!"
There was a roar as multiple serpentine heads smashed up through the ground and the pile. The Rangers covered their heads as the junk flew everywhere before uncovering them and looking up to see a large (though not Megazord-size) Hydra looking them down. It let out another roar from its nine heads.
"Well, that is quite the difference from our last encounter," Mera remarked. "It must have had time to grow since it was brought to our world again."
"You're not wrong," Arachne said. "It's been eating nonstop since we got here. Why I was made its babysitter is beyond me, though."
"It may be more powerful, but so am I," Mera said as she took a fighting stance. "The same can be said about my comrades. We are not the same Rangers you faced before."
"Good," Arachne said as she took a fighting stance as well. "I want a real challenge before I destroy you."
Mera, Christina and Jasmine summoned their weapons before running at the large Hydra and Arachne, ready for battle…
"Nothing," Diana said as she, Adrian and Dan ran in from different directions into the plaza. "I don't see any monsters around here."
"That could be a good thing," Dan said. "After all, if there's no monsters here, it means we can split up and go help the others."
"Unless that's what Hades wants us to do," Adrian said.
"Maybe we should call Chiron or Jay and ask what we should do," Dan offered. "Because I'm all for staying here and looking some more. I just want to make sure it doesn't make more sense to help out the others."
"Ok, I'll call," Diana said as she prepared to activate her morpher. Suddenly, Adrian leapt towards her.
"Move!" he shouted as he pushed Diana out of the way of a crossbow bolt. The siblings tumbled to the ground as a large figure jumped from a building and slammed into the ground.
"You must be the Olympian Rangers," Polyphemus said as he looked the Rangers over with his one eye. "Though you don't look like any Olympian Rangers I know."
"I do," a more jovial voice said as a smaller figure leapt down from the roof and stumbled a bit on the landing. "Ow! That's harder than it looks!" He looked back at the Rangers. "As I was saying, I know them. Especially you, Gold Ranger. You ruined my collection!"
"Yeah, your 'collection' of my friends!" Adrian argued as he and Diana quickly stood up. "But it's not you I'm worried about. I know you're here, Actaeon!"
There was the sound of a "humph" before a thin figure leapt down and landed in a crouch. Actaeon slowly stood up as he glared daggers at the Rangers.
"I suppose I should take it as a compliment that you think of me as the biggest threat," Actaeon said. "But you're going to find that my companions are no pushovers either. We've all had time to improve in Tartarus during our time being held there. We intend to put up a real fight this time!"
"Well," Dan said as he lined up with the Gold and Silver Olympian Rangers, "I suppose we found the monsters."
"Mm hm," Adrian said. "Polyphemus is just a bruiser from what the others told me. You've faced Actaeon before. It's just Midas you need to look out for. He turns everything-"
"To gold," Dan finished. "I know. I've heard of the Midas Touch before."
"That's enough talking," Diana said as she popped her knuckles. "Let's beat some information out of them."
The two male Rangers nodded as all three Rangers summoned their weapons and took off towards their foes…
"So, what dream did Aphrodite stick you in?" Jay asked as he and Valerie ran towards the sewer plant.
"Is that why you put us together?" Valerie asked teasingly. "Because you really wanted to know?"
"Nope," Jay said. "I just tried to put Rangers with those they're most comfortable fighting with. I figured the two of us would make a good team based on that." He looked over at Valerie. "...And I wanted to know."
Valerie thought back to the dream she had been stuck in with her and Jay kissing and almost…She had to say that she was very grateful she was wearing a helmet right now to hide her blush.
"I don't really want to talk about it," Valerie said. "A girl's got to have secrets sometimes."
"Amen, sister," a female voice said as Parthenope walked out of the plant. "Can't tell the boys everything. Even your boytoy there doesn't need to know your secret desires."
"Boytoy?" Jay asked, feeling a little ridiculed.
"I don't need your support," Valerie said as she glared daggers at the Siren through her helmet's visor. "And Jay is not my 'boytoy'!"
"Suuuure he isn't," Parthenope said as she crossed her arms.
Valerie let out a sigh of annoyance. "I was hoping that I wouldn't have to deal with you again, to be honest," she said. "But I suppose it could be worse. You can't even fight for yourself."
"No, you'll be busy fighting the Red Ranger!" Parthenope said as she began to sing. She continued for a few seconds before stopping and looking at Jay in confusion. "Why isn't it working?"
"You're obviously forgetting what happened last time," Jay said. "Your music lost its power over me after you tried to make me kill Valerie."
Parthenope let out a growl of frustration. "Guess I won't be turning you against each other like I was hoping. However, I do have a back-up plan! Oh Sphinxy!"
There was the sound of wings flapping as the Sphinx flew from the roof and gently lowered herself to the ground.
"Hello, Rangers," she said with a grin. "What group of warriors is about to lose to me and my partner? The answer is you!"
Paul blinked a few times at the bright light of the sun as he climbed out of the manhole. He looked down as the little boy followed after him and Paul reached out his hand to pull him up. The other people seemed to have scattered in various directions, probably to try and find their families or friends in the half-destroyed city.
I should probably try to find this kid's father, Paul thought.
"Do you know where your dad is?" he asked as he looked at the little boy.
The little boy shook his head.
"How about anyone else in your family?"
Once again, the kid shook his head.
Maybe Chiron has an idea on what I should do, Paul thought. Then he realized something. Oh shit! Everyone probably thinks I'm dead!
"Chiron, this is Paul," Paul said as he activated his communicator.
"Paul? Thank the Fates that you are alright!" Chiron's voice said from the communicator.
"Well…alright is a relative term," Paul said. "But yeah, I'm not dead. That's only part of why I'm calling you, though. I have a kid here who needs to be taken somewhere safe and this city looks like a warzone, so I have no idea where that is."
"There's a bunker Victor's father built over by Steel Works on 6th and Park," Chiron said. "It's not 100% safe, as Hades' self-reviving monsters have targeted it, but it's the safest place for civilians right now."
"Got it," Paul said. "I'll make my way there." He looked up to see some armored Spartoi running up to him. "I'm going to have to call you back."
"Be careful," Chiron said as Paul ended the communication.
"None of you boneheads are touching this kid," Paul said as he put himself between the armored Spartoi and the child. He tapped the button on his wristband, causing the Shadow Sword and Shield to expand. He turned the Gems so that the bands were vertical before pulling the sword from its compartment in the shield. "Hades Knight Power!"
In a flash of bronze light, he was transformed. Paul raised his shield as some of the armored Spartoi launched arrows from their bows. He slashed horizontally with his sword, sending an arc of shadows flying at the group and sending most of them flying.
"C'mon!" Paul said as he put the sword back in its compartment in the shield and grabbed the little boy's hand, leading him quickly through the path of downed armored Spartoi.
Jay let out a cry as the Sphinx raked her claws along his suit. He tumbled backwards as Valerie leapt over him and fired a barrage of arrows from her bow. The Sphinx just smirked as she crossed her wings in front of her to block the attack.
"Who's forgotten they can't hurt me? The answer is you!" she said as she unfurled her wings again.
"Ok, you're not even saying riddles at this point," Valerie said as Jay got up and lined up next to her. She looked to her boyfriend. "Should we take this to the next level?"
"I don't see another choice," Jay said. "So yeah, let's do it."
The two Rangers crossed their arms over their chests.
"Deity Mode!" they shouted as they were surrounded by a golden light. A few seconds later, the light had faded and the Rangers were now in their Deity Mode. They looked at each other, nodded, and rushed forward at the Sphinx.
"Fools!" Parthenope shouted. "A costume change isn't going to help you!"
She gasped, however, after the two Rangers smashed through the Sphinx's wings and sent her flying into a wall.
"Yeah," Jay said as he cracked his knuckles. "I actually think it is."
Parthenope backed up as the two Rangers marched forward.
"I can't let you in there!" she cried. "Master Hades told us to get you Rangers away from this place, and that's exactly what I'm going to do!"
"So Hades is in there?" Valerie asked. "Thank you for the info."
"...Shit," Parthenope said as she realized her mistake. She sent out a weak punch and hit Valerie in the helmet. However, it just knocked Parthenope herself to the ground as she over-extended.
The two Rangers looked at each other as Parthenope laid there, clutching her hand.
"Jay, you head in there and stop Hades," Valerie said. "I should be able to hold back the Sphinx and Parthenope here isn't going to be a problem."
"Got it," Jay said with a nod. "Be careful."
"That's my line," Valerie said. Jay could tell she was smiling under her helmet.
Jay turned and took off into the sewer plant, leaving Valerie to turn around and swat the Sphinx's next attack away…
Paul grunted as he leapt over the armored Spartoi's sword swing before kicking it in the back of the head. Fighting one-handed was a lot harder than he expected. However, if he remembered where Steel Works was correctly, he just needed to turn the corner and he would be there. The little boy he was holding in his non-sword fighting arm had been pretty quiet the entire trip, which surprised Paul a little. He had been pretty vocal before when crying about his mother, so Paul had been expecting him to be crying now. But that didn't appear to be the case.
Paul had finally made it through the crowd of armored Spartoi when he saw a creature with a multi-head design tumble along the ground. It quickly stood up and turned to look at Paul.
"Another Ranger?" she asked. "Sister, capture him before he can join the others!"
Another monster, this one with a giant monster head for an arm, ran up to her sister and pointed the monster head-arm at Paul. He heard the sound of water below him and he jumped out of the way as the area where his feet had just been became a watery vortex.
Paul charged up some energy in his Shadow Sword and sent an arc of shadowy energy at the two monsters, causing them to shriek and explode from the force of the attack. They quickly re-pieced themselves back together, but Paul had already ran past their rebuilding forms and towards the Steel Works building. He found Nate, in Deity Mode running up to him as Victor, also in Deity Mode, and Marcus fought a multi-eyed monster.
"Hey, you look pretty good for a dead guy," Nate joked.
"Liking the new suit," Paul replied. "I take it we finally saved you guys?"
"Yeah, it was a whole thing with dreams and shit," Nate said as he pushed Paul out of the way of a charging Scylla before nonchalantly uppercutting her away. "But hey, we got this power-up out of it, so it all worked out."
"I need to get this kid in the bunker," Paul said as he gestured to the kid he was still holding. "Then I'll come back and help."
"Thanks," Nate said. "They seem to be getting harder to kill for some reason, so we could use the help."
"I'll be right back," Paul said before he ran towards the Steel Works building. He just hoped the others wouldn't need his help in the two minutes he would be gone.
"Damn it!" Dan shouted as he used his Vine Thyrsus to have the grapevines he summoned wrap around Actaeon, only for the human-deer hybrid to dodge. "Stay still!"
"Good thing my weapon is a bow," Adrian said as he launched arrow after arrow at Midas, keeping him away from Adrian himself and anyone else.
"Let…me…do…something!" Midas shouted as he kept getting hit with arrows.
Diana smirked as she destroyed Polyphemus again, only for him to be reborn just as quickly as he had been destroyed.
"You really are one-note," she remarked as she dodged a swing of Polyphemus' club before countering with a slash of her daggers. "You just keep swinging and keep missing. When are you going to give up?"
"Never!" Polyphemus shouted. "I was brought back to be the Rangers' doom!"
"And you really suck at it," Diana said. "Now stand still so I can kill you again."
Things seem to be going pretty well here, Adrian thought. I hope the others are doing just as well.
Mera cried out as Arachne kicked her with two of her legs at the same time. She slid back a bit before rushing in for a few rapid punches that launched Arachne away. She let out a sigh of relief as Arachne exploded, glad to get at least a second to relax. However, her second was quickly over as Arachne reformed and came at her again.
Meanwhile, Jasmine and Virginia were finding the Hydra to be quite the difficult opponent. While Mera had killed Arachne at least a half dozen times already, the other two Rangers had barely made a scratch on the Hydra. If anything, they were just annoying it at this point.
"Jasmine! Virginia!" Mera shouted as Arachne leapt at her again, which Mera turned into a judo throw. "Don't destroy the Hydra! And tell the others to stop destroying the other monsters!"
"Not complaining, but why?" Jasmine asked as she looked over at her yellow-clad teammate.
Mera was going to answer when Arachne landing a well-placed blow on her head, knocking her to the ground.
"It doesn't matter why," Virginia said. "Mera's rarely wrong. And luckily, I have an idea on how to contain the Hydra so we can help her. Hit me with a blessing orb."
Jasmine launched a white energy filled aqua orb at Virginia and watched as it splashed over her. Virginia stabbed the flame from her torch into the ground and watched as the fire shot through the flammable pieces of trash, forming a circle of flame around the Hydra. She turned and launched her flame at Arachne, searing the spider and knocking her off the Yellow Deity Ranger. As Jasmine helped her up, Mera finally managed to offer her explanation
"I have noticed that I need to exert more force to destroy Arachne each time and that her attacks are dealing more damage," Mera said. "In other words, the monsters are getting stronger with every destruction!"
"It took you long enough," Dark God Hades said with a smirk as he watched the Yellow Rangers' explanation. "And they call her the smart one!"
He was going to gloat more when he heard the sound of running footsteps. Suddenly, Jay ran into the room from one of the passageways. He was still in his Deity Mode and had his Lightning Sword and Mirror Shield out and ready.
"Ah, I was wondering when one of you would show up," Dark God Hades said. "I notice you have your new 'Deity Mode' suit on. Good. You're going to need it."
"It's over, Hades!" Jay shouted. "All I have to do is destroy you and this will all be over!"
"Let's see you try, then," Hades said.
Jay leapt into the air and came down with a powerful sword slash. Dark God Hades created a longsword of blue flame and blocked the strike. Jay continued to push the edge of his blade down until Dark God Hades pushed his sword along the edge, causing blue fire to shoot at Jay's hand. Jay cried out as the fire nipped at his fingers. He stepped back, trying to stay away from the flame.
Dark God Hades gave a sinister smile as his longsword dissipated and he launched two blue fireballs from his palms. Jay blocked the attacks with his Mirror Shield before launching a stream of red lightning from the flat of his blade at Dark God Hades. The Dark God rolled out of the way before stomping hard on the ground. A jet of blue flame launched out of the ground like a geyser, engulfing Jay. He screamed in pain as he fell to his knees.
"That's all you've got?" Dark God Hades asked. "One or two blasts of my fire and you're done? I thought you were going to destroy me!"
"It isn't over yet," Jay grunted as he shakily stood up.
"Then try again," Hades said as he gestured for Jay to come at him. Jay let out a cry as he ran towards the Dark God and slashed out with his sword again, this time horizontally.
Dark God Hades jumped back from the strike before launching two streams of fire at Jay. The Red Deity Ranger was about to raise the Mirror Shield before remembering what had happened last time with Hades and the Mirror Shield. In a flash of red light, the Mirror Shield was replaced with the Aspis Shield. The new shield's more rectangular shape allowed it to better protect Jay from the flames. Dark God Hades relented the steam of fire as he saw its ineffectiveness and rushed in with his blue flame longsword again.
Jay leapt back from the first sword strike before blocking the second with his own sword. When he saw Dark God Hades was going to use the same trick he had used in their last sword clash, he let out a few sparks of red lightning, causing Dark God Hades to be the one to pull back.
"You're learning quickly," Dark God Hades remarked.
"Do you remember what I told you last time we fought?" Jay asked. When Dark God Hades didn't answer, Jay continued. "I told you that the worst thing I could do is fail my team. The same holds true now!"
He sent a slash of red lightning flying from his sword at Dark God Hades and watched as the Dark God blocked it with a blue flame screen.
"A big speech, but I don't see you delivering," Dark God Hades said with contempt.
Jay stabbed his Lightning Sword into the floor and watched as red lightning began to spark from it and launch small bolts. He looked down at the floor.
"Ah, you must be surrendering," Dark God Hades said as he marched forward. "Too bad Master Cronus told me to kill all the Rangers. First I'll kill you. Then I'll kill your little girlfriend-"
"You won't be killing anybody," Jay said, still looking at the floor. Suddenly, there was the sound of metal piercing flesh. Dark God Hades looked down to see the Dory Spear piercing him right through the stomach.
"You think this is enough to defeat me?" Dark God Hades said with a laugh.
"No," Jay said. "But this will be!"
He launched all of the lightning he could muster from his palms into the Dory Spear. Dark God Hades convulsed as the lightning coursed through his entire body. As Jay finally let up, Dark God Hades collapsed to the floor. The dark aura around him finally faded as the blue flame circle holding the other gods went out. They stepped forward and walked towards Jay.
"Well done, Red Ranger," Artemis said.
"I see my husband is now inside you," Hera said. "Could you release him, please?"
"I would if I could," Jay said. "But I don't know…"
He suddenly demorphed and watched as his Olympian Gems began to glow. Energy flowed from them into a spot next to Jay and formed into Zeus.
"My wife, it is good to see you," Zeus said as the two gods embraced.
"As much as I'm enjoying this, don't we have a job to do?" Ares asked.
"A job?" Jay asked, very confused.
"You will see soon," Zeus said as he and Hera parted and he raised his arms, "but first, I summon my fellow Olympians!"
Nate and Victor each blocked one of Scylla's heads. They had been tag teaming her, as she was now the most powerful from dying the most times. Just as they were about to punch her together when they suddenly disappeared in a flash of blue and black light.
Marcus and Paul looked over in surprise. The monsters seemed to capitalize on this moment, moving in on the remaining Rangers.
Mera flipped Arachne over her head again as the spider-monster leapt at her. She was going to strike Arachne while she was down, only to disappear in a flash of yellow light.
"Where'd she go?" Arachne asked. The other two Rangers leapt at Arachne, knocking her out of her wondering and back into the fight.
Valerie smashed her leg into the Sphinx again and again, dealing more and more damage, before releasing the monster as she fell to the ground. Parthenope was still standing back, watching the fight. The Sphinx quickly stood up and extended her claws again. Just as she leapt forward to slash with her claws, Valerie disappeared in a flash of pink light, leaving the Sphinx to swing at thin air.
"Where'd she go?" Parthenope demanded.
The Sphinx shrugged. For once, she didn't have a riddle for the situation.
"How's it going out there?" Hypnos asked. "Am I going to be able to go back to sleep soon?"
"The Deity Rangers' energy signatures just moved instantly from their battlefields to Jay's location," Chiron said. "And I have no idea why."
"I was wondering if this would happen," Hermes said before he disappeared in a flash of white light.
"If what would happen?" Chiron asked before looking to where Hermes had been standing. "Hermes?" He paused for a second. "That may be a bad sign."
Jay looked around in surprise as Nate, Victor, Mera and Valerie appeared beside him. They demorphed as the Olympians' energy flowed out of their morpher and in front of Zeus, where they formed into the remaining Olympians. Hermes appeared in a flash of white light beside Zeus.
"Father," Hermes said with a nod. "I can only assume we're going to reform the barrier."
"Yes," Zeus said. "But first, you should say your goodbyes. The Rangers will not be seeing you again."
Hermes nodded before walking over to the confused Rangers.
"What's going on?" Valerie asked. "I see Hades on the floor there. So we won, right?"
"We did," Hermes said with a nod. "But destroying Hades won't send the monsters back to Tartarus." He gestured to the blue ringed portal. "We must create a new barrier. Once the barrier is created, the monster's connection to this world will be severed and they will be forced back into Tartarus where they belong."
"Sounds easy enough," Nate said. "Just do it and we can go home."
"It's not that simple," Hermes said. "It took a good portion of our godly energy before to create the first barrier and that was back when we had believers to increase our power. It's going to take all of our power to form this new one."
"And by 'all', I assume that includes your life force," Mera said. "I hypothesized quickly based on Zeus' previous statements and that was the conclusion I came to."
"You always were the smart one, Mera," Hermes said with a laugh before he became somber. "I'm going to miss you. All of you."
"There has to be another way that doesn't involve you Olympians sacrificing yourselves!" Jay argued. "We've already lost you twice. I can't go through the pain of losing you again!"
"If given the time, I'm sure we could find another way," Hermes said with a sad smile. "But time is something we do not have. Those monsters are still rampaging through the city and the others can only hold them off for so long. This is the best thing to do for everyone."
"Cronus is still out there, though," Victor said. "What if we need your help then?"
"The Flame will guide you in our stead," Hermes said.
"But that's in the Underworld!" Jay said. "How could it help us?"
"You'll figure it out soon, I'm sure," Hermes said before backing up as Zeus gestured for him to join the other Olympians. "Farewell, Rangers."
He turned around and walked up to join the circle of Olympians. They all put a hand towards the center and focused all of their power into it, causing their hands to glow their respective color. The 13 energies merged in the center of the circle and became a rainbow colored ball of energy. The Olympians' entire bodies began to glow their respective colors as they poured more and more energy into the rainbow energy ball. A minute later, their entire body became energy and they flowed into the ball. The ball flew into the portal and exploded in a blast of rainbow light. The portal suddenly closed.
"My lord!" the Sphinx shouted as she ran into the room from the direction Jay had come from. She suddenly noticed the Rangers. "So this is where you ran off-"
She was suddenly cut off as her body quickly became transparent before fading away completely.
"What do you know? It actually worked," Nate commented.
"Indeed, the others should no longer have to deal with the monsters," Mera said with a nod before turning around. "We should probably go find them and plan our next move."
"Hades had this big plan and Cronus didn't factor in at all," Victor said. "It makes me curious exactly what is going on with him…"
"Well, that's nothing to worry about right now. Right, Jay?" Valerie asked as she followed after the others. She suddenly heard a scream that made her blood turn cold. She whirled around to see Jay standing there with a longsword made of blue flame extending through his midsection. He fell to the ground, revealing Hades behind him.
"You shouldn't have turned your back on your opponent," Hades said as he looked down at the fallen Jay. Jay grunted as some blood flowed from his midsection.
"Jay!" Valerie shrieked as she suddenly morphed and charged at Hades. She landed one powerful blow on his jaw before slamming her leg into his stomach. Hades tumbled backwards from the blows as Valerie ran back to Jay.
The others had morphed at this point and ran back at Hades, using their melee weapons to attack the weakened god. Meanwhile, Valerie had pulled off her helmet and was kneeling by Jay. She propped him up as he continued to bleed out.
"Guess the Fates were right," Jay said with a cough, spitting out a good amount of blood in the process. "One of us is going to die."
"They couldn't have meant you!" Valerie said as tears came to her eyes. "You mean too much to me!"
"You've always meant a lot to me too," Jay said. "You know, I couldn't say it when Eros was using his powers on you, but I can now. I love you." He put his head down on the ground again, having lost the strength to hold it up. "There, I finally managed to say it."
"And you'll get to say it again!" Valerie said. "We'll take you to Adrian and…"
"It's too late for me," Jay said. "But the good part about all of this? Because I'm going to die, none of the rest of you are destined to. I took the burden of the Fates from you all. I protected them. I protected you…"
Valerie saw the light leave Jay's eyes as her vision got blurry from her tears. He was gone.
Jay Parker was dead.
Yeah…Those favorite parts I talked about…That was one of them. I'm not saying it was fun to kill off my "main" character, but it was fun to write that death dialogue. Is it a little cliche? Yeah. Does it match some of the other cliche aspects of this story? Also yeah.
My other favorite part was definitely that final battle between Jay and Hades. It was a little hard to figure out how Jay was going to win, but I think I did pretty well.
Anyways, I look forward to people's reactions to this, positive or negative. Well, until next time, may the power protect you!
