"The Mystic Realm?" Jared asked, "Why do you want Jacob?"
"That information's classified." Aiden informed, "That boy is our objective and we need to take him back to the Mystic Realm."
"What?"
Aiden did not back down. "Slayer, stay back. Jacob has a Phantom inside him just like you."
"That's what that feeling was!" Jared pointed out.
"Unlike you, he doesn't have full control over it. He's liable to go berserk. Slayer, Jacob needs to come with us."
Jacob shook his head, "I have no intention of going with you."
Jared quickly intervened and asked, "Can we work something out?"
"How do you mean?" Aiden replied.
"Look, my friends and I are responding to a Twilight Signal that's been drawn to a Power Source. Right now, we're protecting the keeper of that energy. The holder is drawn to Jacob and needs him to be there to protect her. I keep him under my supervision until my mission is done. Then, you can have him."
Nodding Aiden agreed. "Fine. But if he tries to escape, we will know and will strike him down."
"Don't worry." Jared met the eyes of Jacob, who looked at him in bewilderment. With a quick telepathic spell, Jared told Jacob that he wouldn't hand him over and that they would figure something out.
~With the Others~
The air exploded with clashing attacks.
"How'd they find us so quickly?!" Asher demanded as he jumped from tree to tree with Holly on his back.
Alicia and Noah couldn't hold off the three Twilights forever. Twilight Arrows rained down on them but Noah erected a shield of water to absorb them.
"How about this?!" Alicia swung her arms forward and sent around a wave of wind knocking Twilight Pink out of the air. Suddenly, a huge ball of fire bashed into Noah's shield and exploded. The force of the vapor sent the four spiraling to the ground.
"We saw everything." Twilight Red informed grabbing Holly's wrist. "And we're gonna take the power on a test run."
"Test run?" Noah asked.
"The nearby city looks like a good target." Twilight Blue pitched.
"No!" Alicia protested trying to get up only to get kicked into the tree by her Twilight counterpart.
"Stay down. Be thankful we're sparing you right now."
With that, the Twilights left in a flash.
"We've got to go after them!" Asher said getting to his feet. "If they keep that power source, the future is definitely doomed!"
~Jared and Jacob~
After receiving word from Alicia, the two Phantom hybrids raced for the nearby city to meet the Twilights. As they approached the edge of the city, they were met with resistance in the form of Shiners.
Jacob kicked a Shiner in the chest and sent it into a building. As Jared seared numerous Shiners with his fire he said, "Jacob! You have to know."
The other boy blew green bubbles down at a group of Shiners and made them burst, sending acid in all directions.
"Know what?"
"Before Clark died, he told me something."
~Flashback~
It was shortly after Jules had faded away. Clark's friends were long dead, but the last boy hung on. As the dark clouds dissipated above, Clark's head was in Jared's lap.
"This is it for me." He told Jared.
"No, we can still save you."
"I'm beyond saving... listen to me. Slade is after someone. He'll return..."
"After who?"
"Before we were captured, my friends and I sent our power to my little brother."
Jared didn't understand. He tried to press Clark for more, but the boy said, "My brother... he's powerful I'll tell you that... this world is cruel. Things are gonna come after him and Slade is one of those beings. We pooled our power inside him so he can protect himself..." Clark coughed up some blood and lightly laughed to himself. "He must hate me right now..."
"Where is he?" Jared asked worriedly.
"Hell if I know... But please, find him... be his friend... help him..."
~End Flashback~
"Did you hear me?" Jared asked after finishing the story. Jacob had gone several minutes without replying. However, the Slayer noticed a change in behavior. Despite using bubbles to fight, Jacob's aggression increased in ferocity; he was replying through action. To finish off the last of the Shiners, Jacob blew a gigantic bubble to trap them in. He snapped his fingers and the prison closed in at the blink of an eye, destroying its prisoners.
"Let's go save Holly." Jacob told Jared with determination in his eyes. Jared smiled, knowing he had gotten through to the boy.
~The Twilights and Holly~
The Twilights brought Holly to the park, which was right in the center of this city. She was standing by the giant water fountain.
"Leave me alone!" Holly resisted kicking Twilight Blue in the shoulder.
"You brat!" Blue yelled, raising his axe.
"Stop it, Blue." Twilight Pink lectured. "She needs to be in one piece for this to work."
"I thought you were the violent one." Blue sneered.
"Absorbing the current Pink Ranger's brainwaves has influenced me to some degree."
Holly looked on as the Blue and Pink went on bickering. "Now's my chance!" She thought to herself. She clapped her hands together and focused her Mana.
She then blew forward and a burst of water shot out of her mouth and sent both Twilights away. Holly then ran in the opposite direction, but a flash of red knocked her down causing her to hit her head.
"Nice trick." Twilight Red taunted. "It won't work a second time."
"Yeah? How about this?" Speeding bubbles came raining from the sky, but Twilight Red easily avoided them.
"Holly!" Jacob called out as he and Jared came in view.
"Jacob! Jared!" A flush of relief washed over the girl.
"Don't forget about us!" Noah called out.
"It ends here!" Asher told the Twilights.
"It's just begun!" Twilight Pink snapped her fingers and the ground started to shake. It sounded like a stampede of some sort. Within moments, thousands of civilians rushed to the park, surrounding everyone. Each had a blank look in their eye.
"What's going on?" Jacob asked.
"I think the Twilights hypnotized them." Jared deducted.
"How astute." Twilight Pink sneered. "Get them!"
"Don't hurt them!" Alicia called out as she flipped over one. "Peels!" She chanted at a few, making them drop into sleep.
"Easier said than done!" Noah called back as he controlled a strip of water to act as a moving shield around him. Each time a civilian rushed at him, he'd push them away with the water.
Asher blinded the attackers with light and lightly flipped them to the ground.
Jared avoided all confrontation as much as possible. He jumped over the tackles, rolled away from the punches and parried the kicks.
Jacob proceeded to trap numerous "zombies" in bubbles and raise them into the air.
Holding them off took a toll on all of them, while the Twilights were preparing Holly for their ritual.
"No!" She screamed in pain. The spot on her back started to glow bright lights. First, all of her skin glowed a bright white, then it spread to her eyes and hair.
"Holly!" Alicia shouted. Suddenly, multiple vines rose from the ground and restrained a vast number of civilians.
"Sorry we're late!" Liam called out as he, Chris, and Sonia arrived.
Sonia smacked the ground and sent out a bright yellow sound wave, knocking the people off balance. "We would have gotten here sooner, but Slade paid us a little visit."
Chris sent his dark orbs out and erected a giant wall, blocking all the oncoming civilians. "Terrence told us everything! Just get to Holly! We'll hold'em off!"
Jared nodded. "Jacob, let's go!"
"Right!"
Jared and Jacob focused on their inner Phantoms and drew out power. Jared rocketed through the air by blasting fire from the soles of his feet. Jacob did the same, except he used pressurized water vapor.
The two bashed into Twilights Blue and Pink and sent them into the air.
"Why you..." Red fumed. He sent a burst of flames out, but Jacob canceled it out with a stream of water. He then blew bubbles into the air and Jared ran across them like stepping stones. He jumped off the last one and kicked Twilight Red in the stomach. Jacob stepped off of Jared's shoulder and kicked him in the mask.
"You pests!" Red let out a giant burst of energy and hit the two dead on. However, when the smoke cleared, the two were still standing. Jared had morphed and Jacob covered himself with a sky blue aura.
He even started to morph into his inner Phantom. His arms were covered with orange fur. His left eye became green while his right eye became yellow. His canines extended out and his shoulder blades were covered with a navy blue shell like substance. Purple horns grew out of his head and had purple electricity running through them.
In a rugged voice, Jacob said, "Let's end this in one shot."
"Agreed." Jared nodded.
The two dashed forward at high speeds and focused their power into their fists. Twilight Red didn't have enough time to defend himself. Before raising his arms to counter, he was launched into the air.
"Legend Burst Cannon!" Jared called out. He and Jacob put their hands together and charged the cannon.
"Phantom Mode! Fire!" A huge burst of energy flew from the cannon's mouth, struck Twilight Red, and sent him flying.
"I'll be back!" He threatened before fading away. With all three Twilights gone, the civilians returned to normal.
"Holly!" Jacob called out as he willed himself back to his normal form.
She was glowing brighter than ever. "I can't... keep it in anymore... please, kill me."
"No... a master never abandons his student. You're like family to me."
Holly's eyes widened in realization and she started to cry. "Jacob..."
Jacob turned to Jared and said, "Get everyone out of here."
"Are you crazy?! She's about to blow up!"
"I'll handle it!" Jacob said. "Trust me, Jared."
"Alright..." He sprinted to his friends. "Morph up! We have to get away from here!"
"What about the people?" Alicia asked.
Jared called his team together and explained, "We need to combine our powers and cast a teleportation spell. We need to move all these people to the mountain plateau where the fort is."
"Alright. I'll draw on your magical power." Alicia nodded. "Then, I'll cast the spell."
The Rangers linked hands in a circle and focused. They all glowed their own ranger colors and Alicia chanted, "Kciuq epasce!" Within a second, everyone was gone.
"I'm gonna save you." Jacob whispered to Holly as he started to glow a sky blue. He thought to himself, "Clark... I'm gonna use the powers you and your friends gave me to protect those who are important."
Jacob started to grow and expand into a giant human shaped energy being as the light from Holly grew.
As the Rangers looked out toward the city, they witnessed a giant flash of light expand, then fade away...
~Later on~
The Rangers went down in the city to find Jacob and Holly. Everything was left untouched. They found the two in the exact spot they left them. Jacob looked drained, his blue trench coat a bit torn. In his arms was Holly; her back was showing, but it was completely blank. The power source was destroyed.
~Much Later on the Plateau~
Jared and Jacob shook hands. "Thanks for everything, Jared."
"No problem. We're just on the other side of the mountain range if you ever need us."
"I'll keep that in mind. But, Holly and I are gonna travel around for a while. There's a lot I'm gonna teach her."
"We'll meet again soon?"
"Of course."
With that, the Rangers departed in a swirl of blue and black orbs.
"Wait here, Holly." Jacob said. "I'm gonna go find Aiden and ask them if I can train you."
"I'll be waiting right here."
As Jacob walked away, Holly sat down and started to hum the song Jacob's mom used to sing to him. He smiled at this as he ventured on.
After a while, he got worried. He sent numerous messages via his bubbles, but no one responded.
"This isn't normal." He whispered. After looking around for a bit, he found a bloodied badge in the grass.
"This is Aiden's." Jacob realized. An arrow soared straight at him, but he jumped into the air and sent a fast bubble at the origin.
"Who's there?!" Jacob shouted as he unbuttoned his Trench Coat.
"Fast reflexes, young man." Slade came into view. The three Twilights were behind him.
"You three! You're still alive?!"
"Of course we are." Red informed.
"Something like that can't take us down." Blue said.
"But why are you here?! The power source is gone!"
"My boy..." Slade calmly stated, "Holly was just a side treasure. Our real objective was you. Or rather... what's inside you."
A rush of fire came at him, but he jumped out of the way. "So that's their game!" Jacob said to himself as he cast bubbles in all directions. He fended off the Twilights easily, but Slade saw right through all his attacks. Jacob jumped through the air but was kicked in the spine by Slade. He crashed to the ground and let everything go.
His clothing and skin started to glow a sick dark purple and they were absorbed inwards. Jacob looked more like a demon. His eyes were plain white, his hair was spiked and he was completely dark purple.
Twilight Blue swung forward with his axe, but like a slippery slug, Jacob wrapped around him and bit his neck, letting acid burn through the armor.
Twilight Blue screamed out in pain and threw the Hybrid into the air. Twilight Pink shot a few arrows, but Jacob suddenly grew beetle wings on his back and sent forward Navy Blue colored wind, knocking her down. He then turned his hands into horse hooves and clapped at the ground, causing steam to burst everywhere.
"Enough of this!" Red yelled swinging forward with his sword. He stabbed Jacob's back, but his blade broke. A tortoise shell appeared to protect the hybrid. Jacob roared like an animal and spat lava from his mouth, burning Red. Jacob then sent blue fire in all directions and managed to hit all three Twilights.
Slade called out to his minions. "Regroup behind me!"
"Yes sir!" The three jumped behind Slade as he formed a magical symbol in mid air. He then moved the symbol twenty feet above Jacob and made it expand.
Jacob let out another loud roar and horns grew from his head. The horns shot electricity bullets but they were blocked by a wall of water.
Jacob expanded even more and was covered in orange colored energy. His claws grew out and his eyes turned red.
"Impressive." Slade complimented. "Using the powers of the nine Phantom powers inside you. But... it's not enough. Your Chimera Phantom is mine." Snapping his fingers, Slade made the magical symbol glow causing numerous flaming meteors to emerge from it and rain down on Jacob. It was a relentless assault and the Hybrid couldn't move.
After minutes of this barrage, a mound of rocks and debris covered the lower half of Jacob's body. His upper body was at the bottom of the mound.
His hair was a mess and blood came down from his temples. His sight was fading fast...
"Holly... you have to live..." He weakly blew a final bubble and watched it fly into the sky.
"Capture: success." Red said.
Holly was lying in the patch of flowers where she met Jacob. She had no idea what had happened and continued to hum Jacob's song...
A/N: This isn't the last we see of Jacob!
Next time: When Arum is kidnapped by mysterious people, Noah will stop at nothing to get him back! To make things more interesting, Noah's uncle arrives and informs him about the location of Noah's father! How will this turn out? Stay tuned and Later Days!
Note: If you want to hear Jacob's song, the link is on my profile.
