"You knew, didn't you, Ancient?" hissed the dark shadow as he approached Merrick, his dark glowing eyes looming right at him. It was Takach, but he was different, more powerful and frightening in appearance. His body was covered with long pointy sharp horns and in his hands he held a large bone-like sword, similar to what Ransik used. "You knew what I was planning….."
It hadn't taken Merrick long to figure out what Takach had been planning. He had known about orgs long enough to know they can't be trusted. Not even by one who would be fighting the same fight as theirs. To them, Ransik had just been a pawn and once he had out grown his usefulness, well…. He knew if Takach was able to combine with Ransik there would be no stopping him. The two combined would just be too powerful, so he knew the only way to prevent that from happening was to take Takach down right there and now, and knew that Takach would have no choice but to combine with his two comrades, against their will. "Yes. I knew," Merrick circled around him, keeping his sword in hand and ready, not daring to take his eyes off the org, not even for a minute. "You should know by now, you can't win. Not as long as there are those around to stop you."
"You may have prevented me from joining with Ransik. But I still have more than enough power inside of me to take you out, ancient one,"
"We'll just have to see about that." Merrick knew he would have to hold it together and defeat this new form of Takach. He needed to give Eric and Wes all the time he could; if he was unable to defeat him then all would be lost. There would be no stopping Takach, it was going to be up to him. This was his chance to redeem himself for his past mistakes and for all those he had to leave behind all those years ago.
"Your confidence blinds you, ancient one." Takcach was determined to defeat and kill Merrick at all costs, even if he would go down with him it would be worth the price, just to defeat an ancient warrior of the past. His org brothers would be proud of him and he would be remembered by all orgs past and present, as the org that killed the last ancient.
"It is you that is blind, org," Merrick roared, as he continued to circle around him, sword in hand, ready for when he would have to make his move. "I can see right through you….. You are weak!" He waited a moment, staring right into Takach's eyes. "And your two comrades that you consumed know it."
Takach began to laugh; he liked this one. He was so much better than any of the warriors he had fought and defeated over the years. This one had sprit and honor, perhaps that was because at one time he had been one of them. "So we are the same then, just as I consumed my comrades, you consumed the greatest org there ever was."
"Zen-Aku is no longer a part of me, he has been stripped away and is only a memory." Merrick knew it wouldn't be long before the powerful org would bring up his troubling past; he had already known he was an ancient warrior, it was only a matter of time until his dark shadowy past came out. But he knew he couldn't let Takach get to him, not like he had gotten to Wes. He needed to stay focused and keep his mind cleared. "My mind proved to be stronger than his and I overcame him, but you, my friend, will not be able to do the same."
The battle inside the motel was getting fierce, as more and more cyclobots joined in on the fighting. The Rangers were getting weary and there looked to be no letup, it was either fight or die, as far as the cyclobots were concerned.
Alex and Katie fought side by side; both of their hearts were racing as they watched as bodies of cyclobots would crash through the walls and doors. So much damage had been done inside that anyone could easily be thrown through the walls, doors and broken windows. Even the ceiling was starting to show some wear; little trickles would fall down every so often on top of them, and it was getting worse.
"Alex, this building isn't going to hold up for much longer!" announced Katie, knowing that if they remained inside and the foundation of the ceiling fell on top of them, they'd all be history.
"I know." And he wasn't the only one, he knew the others knew it too, and while Taylor, Lucas and everyone down below would be fine for the time being, they however wouldn't be so lucky. But there was no telling how much time they had left before the ceiling would fall. And it wasn't like they could all jump out at once, at the very last second. It would be too risky. They would have to start going out a few at a time; chances are a few cyclobots would follow after, but he was hoping that a good number would remain inside while the ceiling fell, crushing every last one of them.
"So should we start making a break for it?" exclaimed Max.
"Start going two at a time." Alex turned to Max and Danny, who were surrounded by a group of five cyclobots, fighting them off and taking on others as they started to crowd around them. "Starting with you two, take out as many cyclobots as you can and then make a run for it." Alex then glanced over at Cole, who understood the situation very well. He might not know a whole lot about buildings, but he did know this one wouldn't last for much longer. "Cole and I will be the last to come out."
"I'm with you, Alex." Cole nodded his head and continued on with his battle with the cyclobots. He would make sure he took out as many as he could so that both his old and newfound friends would be able to get out safely. "Down to the last second."
"But Alex….." started Trip, as he took a moment to gather in his surrounding; while he knew the building's structure was unstable and they needed to get out of there as soon as possible, one part of it still concerned him. "What about the floor if the ceiling falls on top of it? I don't know if the floor's foundation will be able to handle it." And while in any other situation that wouldn't be a problem, in this case they had people down below who had no idea what was going on.
It was the one thing he didn't want to think about. Only moments before, he had sent both Taylor and Lucas down to go and assist Jen and whoever else was down there; if the ceiling fell and was too much for the floor to handle, it would cave in and likely kill everyone down there. "Let's just hope that doesn't happen." Alex gulped in heavily, because it brought another thing up, as to why he couldn't send anyone else. "Which is why I can't risk sending any of you down below. The mutorgs could still be out there and it's going to take everything we have to defeat them."
While Trip and the others knew he was right, they didn't like the idea of leaving their friends, having no idea what could happen in the next few minutes. All any of them could hope was that the floor would hold long enough for them to find a way out.
It was like a graveyard, as they walked down the halls, bodies and blood were everywhere. Though this had been something they both had expected, it didn't mean they were prepared for this.
"I can't believe this." Taylor bent down next to one of the Silver Guardians feeling for a pulse, but found none. "We were too late."
Lucas felt his heart sink, as they passed by more and more dead bodies of Silver Guardians. It seemed less and less likely that they would find Jen alive, given the condition of the others. Ransik would have killed her on the spot, no questions asked. But he wouldn't say it. He didn't want to believe, he couldn't believe, that she could be gone.
She didn't want to say it, but knew that if death was all they were going to find, then it was likely that could be their fate if they remained down here any longer. "Lucas, I hate to say it, but…."
Lucas quickly grabbed her and pulled her against a wall, as he heard footsteps and started to make out voices. He put his fingers to his lips, as they both leaned back against the wall and began to listen. The voices were muffled-sounding, as if they were behind some wall or something. Then they began to hear a banging noise, someone or something was banging against a door or a wall, from what they could make out. The Blue Ranger grabbed his blaster from his holster and signaled Taylor to do the same, as they slowly made their way to the noises, making sure to keep close to the wall to go unnoticed. "Let's go nice and easy…"
Inside the room where Jen and the others had been hiding, they waited knowing that at any second the door would bust open and all hell would break loose. Nadira kept close to the wall, holding James tightly in her arms, fully prepared to shield him from any threat that would enter inside. Jen and the Silver Guardians got ready, all in fighting stances, weapons ready and then……..complete silence, the banging stopped and all that could be heard was the faint sound of blaster fire.
"What's going on? Why'd they stop?" asked Nadira.
"I….I don't know," answered Jen. Had something happened to them, or was it just a trick and Ransik was waiting outside for them to come out? She had no way of knowing for sure, not without opening the door, but even then she wasn't too keen on going and opening the door. Not with the possibility that Ransik was waiting on the other side, ready to blast them to pieces.
One of the Guardians decided to make that decision and started to approach the door, fully intending to find out what had happened. Jen reached out to him and pulled him back away from the door. "No wait, it could be a trap!"
"Jen?" called out a voice. "Is that you?"
It couldn't be? Jen powered down, her face going through every possible look of confusion and shock. It couldn't be who she thought it was, but it sounded so much like him. With everything that had happened, she should have suspected that Time Force would have sent someone out to look for her when she had gone missing, but still she never would have thought that they would send Lucas or any of the others, considering everything that had happened before and the memory adaptation. "Lucas?"
Not a moment later the door dropped down making a loud bang, a puff of smoke emerged and two figures could be seen, but it was difficult to make out who they were. The Guardians quickly pointed their blasters right at the two dark figures, not sure if the two new strangers could be trusted, even if their company appeared to know who one of them was. You can never be too careful these day, was their motto.
Jen, however, just stared, trying to get a better look, her eyes wide as the smoke began to fade away, and right away she recognized Lucas's blue uniform and a Yellow Ranger who wasn't Katie. She then realized that this Yellow Ranger must be part of Merrick's team. "It's all right. They're Power Rangers." Jen ran towards them. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."
"Same here, Jen." Lucas demorphed and put his arms around her, giving her a tight hug, just enough to know she was alive and well. And that's when his eyes met with Nadira. "Nadira!" He quickly pulled away from Jen, pulled his blaster out and went straight for Nadira.
"No!" Jen grabbed a hold of Lucas. "Lucas, don't! She's on our side now." Jen pointed out the young child their former enemy held so tightly in her arms.
"It's the truth. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore," answered Nadira, hoping the softness and sweetness of her voice would be enough to convince Lucas that she had no intentions of harming any of them. All she wanted was for this nightmare to be over and be able to go back home and pay for her crimes.
Lucas took a moment to take all of this in, it was a lot to gather but from what he could tell Nadira did seem sincere, and for as long as he had known Jen she had never been one to forgive others so easily. So if Jen was willing to trust Nadira, perhaps he should too, or at least give her the chance to prove that she had indeed changed. "All right." he put away his blaster. "But just remember I've got my eyes on you, so don't try anything."
"I hate to break this up, but shouldn't we get the hell out of here?" announced Taylor, breaking the silence as the room began to shake around them and pieces of the ceiling began to fall around them.
"She's right," answered one of the Guardians. "The ceiling isn't going to hold for much longer."
Lucas had to agree, right now the best thing to do would be to get everyone out of here. As far as he knew the only ones alive down here were those in the room they were in now, which consisted of a few Silver Guardians, Taylor, Jen, Nadira, James and himself. He turned to Jen. "Have you seen Ransik?"
She shook her head. "Not for a while now, but I know he's down here, somewhere."
"Well, as much as I'd like to get a piece of him, it would be best if we all get out of here right now," announced Taylor, knowing that if anyone of them stayed down here in an attempt to take Ransik down, they would be crushed into pieces.
"I agree." Jen eyed Nadira. "You ready for this?" It wasn't that she knew Nadira wasn't ready to leave and go up above, but more if Nadira was ready to leave her father behind, knowing what she knew, that the floor could cave in and would probably kill him.
Nadira didn't answer, just shook her head, afraid of what she might say.
"All right, let's move out!" shouted Lucas. Taylor led the way as they dodged falling pieces of the ceiling and ran past a few cyclobots that tried to prevent them from escaping, but they all managed to make it past them with no problem.
Jen took up the rear with the Silver Guardians and Nadira, with baby James in the middle screaming his little lungs out. Lucas got a glimpse of a little light up ahead; they were nearing the way out. "We're almost there!" he called back to the others and stopped for a moment, wanting to get Nadira and James in front of him, whether it was because he didn't trust her or wanted to see to it that James made it out safely he didn't know, maybe it was a little of both.
The time was drawing near; they all knew that this building foundation wouldn't be much longer for this world as they reached the steps, their hearts were all relieved that they would all make it out alive, at least that was until...
"Oh no you don't, none of you are going to make it out of here!" A powerful blast drove over their heads, hitting the steps and causing parts of them to break to pieces. They all turned their heads to see Ransik just a few feet behind them, angry as ever.
"Ransik!" snarled Jen, as she drew out her blaster.
"Daddy!" cried Nadira as she clutched young James closely to her. Her heart was beating rapidly against her chest, in fear of what her father could do next.
"Nadira, I have never been so disappointed in you in all my life. Human are our enemies!"
She felt a few tears slip from her eyes and roll down her cheek. "They are your enemies, not mine," she answered. All her life her father had taught her to hate humans, but she had learned that mutants and humans were not as different as her father had led her to believe. The only thing she hated about this was that her father never would see the light of truth as she had. "I'm sorry, Daddy."
'Then you have chosen your fate, to die among these humans!" Angry for his daughter's defiance, Ransik began going on a rampage, blasting powerful blasts right at them, causing more pieces of the building to fall around them.
"We have to get out of here now!" shouted Taylor. "He's going to send the ceiling right onto us."
"This ends now, Ransik." Jen morphed quickly and pulled out her chrono saber; she tightened her fist around it and looked right at Ransik. "Lucas, get everyone out of here; I'll handle Ransik."
"But Jen, the building, it's going……"
"Just do it! That's an order!" She charged right for Ransik. "Your time is up, Ransik."
Lucas watched her go, full well knowing that this could be the very last time he would ever see her. He turned to the others, who were all motionless watching her, as she bravely and willingly went to sacrifice herself in order to save them. "You heard her…." He sighed heavily. "Let's get out of here." No one spoke a word as Taylor led them up the stairs and out the exit….
Outside they found Alex and the others fighting the remaining cyclobots, and went to go and join them in what was still a very fierce battle. Nadira ran a few feet ahead and got some cover for her and James behind an old broken down car. Lucas had signaled for the two Guardians to go join her, both for her and James' protection from the cyclobots and to prevent her fleeing away. While a part of him felt that Nadira was telling the truth, he knew it was going to take a lot more than Nadira holding a little boy to convince Alex.
"Where's Jen?" questioned Alex breathlessly, as he broke away from the cyclobots he had been fighting and joined up with Lucas.
"She's fighting Ransik."
"What!" Alex yelled. He got right into Lucas's face. "And you just left her there?" He couldn't believe that Lucas would just leave Jen alone like that, knowing very well that Ransik would stop at nothing to kill her.
"You think I wanted to…." He would have thought that Alex would know him better than to think he wanted to just leave Jen down there alone, fighting against that murderous monster. Of course he didn't want to leave Jen; she was one of his best friends. "She ordered me to leave, Alex. She's my commanding officer; I didn't have a choice."
As much as he didn't want to admit it, Lucas was right. Lucas didn't have a choice; he had to listen to Jen. She was hardcore and very demanding; you would have to be stupid to disobey one of her commands.
"Oh no!"
The sound of Trip's cry broke everyone out of the battle and their eyes all locked onto the motel that was shaking and making loud rumbling noises. Their hearts raced with fear; the building was going to collapse. "Oh no…." Alex took a few steps forward; he raised his morpher quickly up to his mouth. "Jen! Jen can you hear me..." His heart began racing with fear. "Damnit Jen, answer me, the building's going to collapse!" But she never answered and time wasn't on their side. Alex knew what he had to do. "That does it, I'm going in after her."
"But…." But there was nothing he could say, Lucas knew what Jen meant to Alex. She was his whole world and though Jen didn't love him anymore, that didn't mean he didn't love her.
The sound of two voices and rushing of feet stopped Lucas, from trying to come up with something to say to prevent Alex from going inside, to what would only be a suicide mission. Both he and Alex turned around and were face to face with two young men, that Lucas has never seen both, or at least that is what he thought, but according to what Alex had told him, he knew both of these young men. "Your Wes and Eric…"
Wes ignored Lucas's comment. He didn't appear too concerned with getting reacquainted with his former teammate. Jen had already told him, that Lucas and the others had their memories erased and had no memory of ever knowing him. Right now it's thoughts were only of Jen and stopping Ransik.
"I'm going with you." Wes stepped forward, locking eyes with Alex. "Jen means just as much to me as she does to you."
Alex didn't say anything, just stared Wes in the eyes, motionless. He knew there would be no stopping him; one way or another Wes was going to follow him in. There would be no point in fighting it.
"You two better hurry up, that building won't hold for much longer," announced Eric. "We'll start looking for another way out for you guys, just in case the building doesn't hold." He bit his lips. "Just hope that floor will hold out a little longer."
No words were said between Wes and Alex; they just nodded their heads and ran towards the building, not knowing if they would ever see the light of day again. The only thing that mattered to them now was getting the woman they both loved more than anything out unharmed, and to put an end to Ransik once and for all.