"How'd you do that?" Maddie sputtered, believing it only because she could see it. Udonna had said such a thing was impossible, as their powers were bound to good magic alone. That meant that either Nick still practiced light magic or they'd found a way around that little roadblock. Her money was on the latter, but there was always a chance that he'd had no idea what would happen when he tried it. That did sound more like how he'd go about it, ever a fire elemental, rushing headlong into something and forgoing the consequences.
The Red Ranger before her smirked at the awe and confusion she was projecting in waves as her mental defenses dropped a tiny bit.
"It's nothing special. Guess you could say that it's your fault, really. Your good influence carries over to me enough to allow me to morph. But, with you blocking yourself and all, I don't know how long it'll last." He paused, raising his hand to his chin in a mockery of thought. "Of course, that's all Dad's theory. At least that one makes sense. The man has some demented ideas about everything, I tell you."
Madison simply stared him down, fingering her trident anxiously. This needed to end, and soon.
"Aww, what? No witty banter, no clever wordplay? You've lost your edge, Maddie." He let out a long-suffering sigh. "I guess if you really want to fight so much..." In an almost lightning fast movement, he was on her, sword aimed at her head. Blocking with equally fast reflexes, she caught the blade between the prongs of her own weapon. She threw both he and his weapon away from herself, leaping at him in the same motion and stabbing into his gut. If not for the astounding protection the spandex provided, he would've been left with more than three equally spaced bruises and a temporary lack of oxygen.
Even as he took in much needed air, he tried to block a succession of swings from the Blue Ranger, intense training showing as he managed to land a few hits while still on the defense. These grouped together gave him the precious few seconds he needed to stand himself up as Maddie recoiled.
Not allowing her the time to recover, he began his own furious onslaught, forcing her back further and further each time she defended herself. He kept swinging his blade with enough force to push her away, inching her closer to the center or the room. Then, when opportunity presented itself, he struck his final blow.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he knocked her out of morph and into the dead space over the Master's pit. She fell through the air above it, but her body never touched the still pool. A red arc of lightning caught her, suspending her above the now-alight circle bored deep into the stone floor. More bolts joined it, criss-crossing over her body in a disturbing pattern.
Seeing the terrible pain wash over her face, Nick almost leapt into action, then stopped himself, falling out of morph. In his mind, an intense battle was taking place: loyalty to his father, and the Master by extension, or his love for Maddie? Which held more sway with him?
Her cries echoed through the cavern, increasing the obvious struggle within, but that wasn't where it ended. Her mental walls fell, giving him the sudden and complete feel of her torment. All she could feel was pain, doused with quick, dead-on-arrival flares of hope. At the same time, a pain spread across his mind, tiny red threads of electricity racing over his temples. A powerful voice he'd never before heard rang clearly through his head.
'You obey only I. Give up your foolish love, for it will only bring our destruction.' The urge to stand back and simply watch grew stronger, but a wave of passion rose up to combat it. The two forces duked it out within him, both powerful influences threatening to tear him apart. Distantly, he could still Maddie's cries of pain, but they were masked by the commanding voice.
'Pay her no mind. She is an enemy, nothing less. You belong to the darkness and the darkness only.' The words crawled into his mind, pushing the light out of even the deepest recesses. He was vaguely aware that it was magic being worked on him, but the true meaning of that faded into the background. Only the darkness mattered now, and she was not apart of their overall design, not anymore. She was merely extra baggage left over from a well-executed plan.
Hatred and emptiness overtaking him, he looked up at her through blood-red eyes and smirked. How foolish that he could've ever loved this light witch, this scum of the goodness. All he saw now was an enemy, a wretched and pitiful foe, unworthy of his time or devotion. She was to be crushed like the insignific-
"Nick..."
With only four simple, strangled letters, his consuming darkness was pierced, a thin ray of light burning away all that it touched. With perfect clarity, he realized what had happened. The Master, the being he had sworn allegiance to despite not wishing to, had spelled him, taken away his personality in favor of pure darkness. The mere thought was infuriating. No one, not even the Master, was allowed to alter his mind, not unless he permitted it. And no one was going to take away his feelings for Madison, not for any reason and not without retribution. Even the all-powerful Master wouldn't escape his wrath.
Before he could even recognize his movements, he'd summoned his sword and launched himself over the pit, severing the thick line of electricity that held Maddie aloft. In the moment after, he caught her suddenly descending body and landed on the other side, gently laying her down. When he'd assured that she was at least alive, he turned back to the still-glowing pit. It seemed to glare mockingly at him, the eye within it hardly appearing on the surface, and his anger ballooned.
"You do not touch Madison," he commanded, thin layer of red engulfing his sight. "Nor will you try to spell me. I am no one's pawn." There was no response, only the unsettlingly uneven breaths Maddie was taking in.
A pain split his mind open from out of the blue, forcing spell upon spell in. This time, though, he knew what was going on and pushed the spells away as best as he could. Each one only clamored back long enough for another to jump in and begin trying again and again, and he couldn't keep them all out anymore.
In a single desperate act, he struggled against his rebelling muscles and took up his sword, clasping it between his hands and pointing it downward. The sudden release of his body as the Master realized what was happening and scrambled to throw up hasty protection spells only added to the force of the blade stabbing into the pit, the only connection to the magical realm that the Master retained and fed off of to remain alive.
Under ordinary circumstances, the protective magic hastily erected around the being would've been enough to stop even the most powerful warrior, but these were no ordinary circumstances. A brilliant gold light emanated from Nick's hands, immersing both the sword and Nick himself in its blinding glow. All the magicks worked around the young wizard were blown away by this light, destroying the darkness it touched outside of him. It pierced the vivid barrier of red around the dragon-like being, plunging deep into his magical essence. The golden light flowed into this gash, drawing a guttural roar from the creature within.
Nick could feel this light washing over his mind and body like a cool breeze, a pure, strong feeling of bliss. He was frozen in his spot, directing this new energy into the Master, knowing it belonged there simply by instinct. It flowed from him slowly, moving like luminescent honey and breaking down the most basic levels of the spells cast over him but not able to fully remove them before it moved away. It all moved into the very core of the Master, eating away at him bit by bit as more flooded in.
Finally, as one last roar echoed past him, a wave of golden energy shook everything, concentrating and hurling itself into the pit. A blinding flash of white light covered them momentarily and then dissipated, leaving Nick trembling from the act. Using his sword as a balance, he dared to look into the hole before him and was met by nothing. No red light, no eye, not even the rolling steam that occupied it when the Master wasn't there. No, it was nothing but an empty space now. Inside, he felt relief though he knew that he had just destroyed the one being his father reported to.
Like oxygen escaping from a punch to the chest, his breath was stolen as he turned to Madison. Only her chest moved up and down in sharp, ragged movements, and she was frighteningly pale. Rushing to her side without realizing his movements, he crouched down and took her into his arms. Every few seconds, he could feel a shuddering breath and with it, she became a bit paler.
His thumb brushing her cheek absently as his mind tried to wrap itself around what was happening. She responded slightly to the touch, a pale flush rising to her cheeks. Struggling, her eyes crept open wearily, a little smile curling her lips up as she saw him.
"Hey there," she whispered, her voice a ghost of its former self. "Good to see you're feeling a little more yourself." He laughed gently despite the tears creeping into his eyes.
"Yeah, it's nice not being controlled," he choked out. "But enough about me. You're not looking so good." She smiled again, eyes closing like she hadn't slept in weeks.
"Yeah, I'm not feeling so great. But what can you do?" She coughed weakly, though her eyes remained shut. A disbelieving chuckle shook her body, so cold against his warm touch. "I'm dying, aren't I?" she asked, no fear in her words. He didn't know how to answer such a frank question, and that was all the answer she needed.
"Don't be so down," she said, not opening her eyes. "If there ever was a way I wanted to go, this would be it. I'm just doing my part to make this world a little better." He heard her laugh again, but it was an empty laugh, only there to fill the space. "And Nick?" she prompted quietly, turning more serious. He perked up a bit, hoping to hear some morsel of knowledge that would save her and end his fresh despair.
"Yeah?" he asked, voice a little choked by the held back tears. She pushed herself up and closer to him, each moment taking unbelievable strength that she no longer had. What was she doing? She shouldn't be moving at all, just saving her energy so he could spend more time trying to figure out how to save her. Inaudibly, she whispered something, and he leaned in closer as she repeated the words.
"Verita naturalis," she murmured. Even as the words left her mouth, he could feel their effect. The same light he'd felt earlier overtook his vision, hiding everything behind its golden glow, and everything around him disappeared, at least to his sense of touch. He could feel all of the dark spells placed on him, with or without his knowledge, dropping away, their missing weight making him feel lighter. Until this moment, he hadn't realized just how many spells he'd been under that altered his personality and behaviour in such slight ways. Minutes ago, this knowledge would've pushed him into a frenzy, but now it was simply the past, as agitated as it made him.
Only fractions of a second later, as the light occluding his vision and touch faded away, he saw Maddie's glimmer of a smile.
"Feeling more yourself now?" she gasped, breathing coming with more difficulty every time she did so. He only nodded in response, not wanting to let her go in fear that nothing else would anchor her to this plane.
"Don't cry," she added, reading his overly-projected emotions and noticing the few escaped tears before he did. "I'm dying, but not without a reason." Her smile turned to one of peace as he put a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"Please hold on," he pleaded. "I'm going to fix this. I don't know how, but I will." Weakly, she shook her head.
"Don't waste your time. Just be happy with the time we have left." He fell silent, the last of his dozen or so tears falling away. The two kept this silence for a few minutes longer, Nick pulling her closer, her head resting on his shoulder and his on top of that. By now she'd let go of her mental walls, and he easily felt how quickly her life was ebbing away, but he continued to rack his mind for something that could save her. Not only did he never learn healing magic and his ancestral repository of spells was also coming up blank, but he doubted that there was any way to save her from such powerful magical wounds.
Interrupting his thoughts, Maddie drew in a shuddering breath and said, "So how about one last kiss before I hit the road?" He hesitated, feeling like it would be giving in to the inevitable to do so, but if he couldn't deny her a kiss when she was perfectly fine, then there was no way he could say no now. Not with that faltering smile and the barely-there blush she maintained, let alone when it could be her last request, even if she'd been half-joking.
He quietly obliged, pulling her into a long, powerful kiss. It lasted for nearly a minute before he pulled back, and swore he has a golden spark on her lip for a fraction of a second.
As he lowered her back down ever so lightly to his shoulder, he felt her complete peace as the last drop of life she held dripped away. Her body relaxed to the most extreme extent, but he tensed.
She was dead, truly dead. Sure, her soul still lingered, but it was no longer attached to her body. Maddie was gone, and it was his fault, his stupid idea to use Leelee's plan to lure her here just because he never wanted her to leave him again. Why did he have to be such a selfish bastard?
You were under the influence of evil, a part of him whispered. You couldn't help it.
That would've been all too easy to accept if he hadn't known that it was an outright lie. He could've helped it. Even if he was under the influence of evil, it was by choice that he allowed that side of him to be brought out. Like it or not, it was a part of who he was and it always would be. The only difference between how he was regularly and after the spell was that it had been allowed to dominate him, to be the majority of his being. He may have only submitted to the spell to save Maddie, but he'd submitted all the same, and look where she was now.
And like that, his wandering thoughts had come full circle back to Madison. Within him, a sudden passion arose, the urge to destroy her destroyers, to eradicate any darkness he met without question. It was a vengeance that he'd be happy to act upon, killing whatever dared to celebrate her death and anyone who stood in the way of that objective.
But Maddie wouldn't want it that way. Of course, she'd want justice to be served, but not in the blind, haphazard way he'd envisioned. No, he'd bide his time, waiting for the opportune moment to strike out, and not at the cost of innocent lives. She would be avenged, but in due time.
Almost in response to his more ordered, thought-out plans, a warm breeze gusted around his crouched form, leaving his body tingling. He felt his palms grow warm, the sensation spreading to every inch of skin that was in contact with Maddie. Soft red light rose from these points of contact, soaking into her pale body.
Nick could only stare on in confusion as the light pulled the color back into her skin, his breathing coming to a halt as her own chest began its slow, rhythmic movements once again. Then, not failing to startle him, she jerked straight up, tearing away from his hold. The red light faded away as she did so, leaving only a confused Red Wizard and a Blue Witch gasping for fresh breaths. After less than a minute of this semi-silence, Maddie turned to her boyfriend.
"What just happened?" she asked slowly, trying to work out all the jumbled facts and memories. "I thought I was -"
"You were," he cut off, meeting her gaze. "But then I - I don't know what I did, or what really happened."
"How am I even alive?" Her hands moved to her hair and shoulders experimentally, as if to reassure herself that she was indeed alive and not just a ghost. Nick glanced down to his own hands, no trace of the light on them now, and shook his head.
"I'm not sure. There was this warm breeze, which was weird considering how cold it gets down here, and then my hands felt warm. This red glow came out of them and -" He paused, realization dawning on him. "I healed you. I'm not sure how, but I did. Man, how did I do that?" he asked himself, running a now free hand through his dark hair. "Was - was it that spell you used on me?" He paused again and looked at her, cocking his head. "What was that?" Her face scrunched up in thought, trying to recall the last few minutes before her death precisely.
"It couldn't have been my spell, not even if I messed it up. Mine was just the counterspell for Koragg's 'dark nature' spell. Even if I flubbed a word, it isn't in the right form to do that. And," she added as an afterthought, looking him up and down, "it seems to have worked just fine. Your eyes are their proper green again, at least."
Giving her a quick grin, he replied, "Yeah, I'm all me again. Can't say the darkness still isn't there, but it isn't in control anymore." With a second's pause, he turned serious again. "But what do you think caused this whole healing thing?" She rolled her eyes at him.
"Can't we discuss this later, preferably with someone who can give you an answer? Right now, I'm just glad to have you back, good again, too, and to be alive. Nothing could ruin this right now."
In a blur of yellow light, Chip stood in front of them, looking disoriented, worse for the wear and, above all things, like he'd been crying.
"We have a problem, you guys."
"You still cannot defeat me, even if I cannot morph," Koragg spat, looking up the blunt side of Udonna's sword to the sorceress' green eyes, not unlike his precious Akaia's, or Nickolaus' for that matter. Something about them was eerily familiar, like something from a far-off dream.
"Don't underestimate me," Udonna responded, cutting short his thoughts. "I remember everything you taught me, but you remember none of it. You know nothing of my skill. Now stand up and summon your weapon. I will not fight you like this." She backed away from him, allowing him room to stand up and brush himself off. He admired her honor, how she allowed him to fight back when she knew she could've finished him if she wanted to, but that would not alter how he fought her. She was still a follower of this light, and that alone was reason enough for her destruction. Summoning his sword, he looked her in the eyes.
"Though you are an honorable opponent, I still cannot allow your lies to stand. The Master wishes your death, and he shall have it." With no further words, he raised his blade and swung it downward at her shoulder. Not anticipating the sudden attack, Udonna still managed to deflect a small part of it. Koragg, still the better swordsman, angled his blow at the last second and caught her shoulder, slicing into her skin but not quite hitting muscle and imparting tremendous force. Blood came up instantly, staining the white of her dress. Instantly, her free hand was on her shoulder, attempting to stem the flow, and her eyes told of her mounting ferocity. Koragg laughed.
"The first of many, I hope." Letting go of her wound and taking her sword in two hands again, she aimed for his gut with the blunt side, not wishing to mortally wound him. Though he hadn't known exactly what kind of attack she would use, he had expected some sort of retaliation, jumping out of the way while letting his sword fall in a perfectly angled arc toward her dominant arm. It barely nicked her flesh, drawing a thin line of blood. She leapt back before it could go any deeper, but he came forward along with her. He swept her feet out from underneath her before she could gain a sure footing. Even with the many decorative layers of fabric that made up her partial skirt, there wasn't enough to cushion the hard fall she took, and it left her unready for the cold metal point that grazed the soft flesh of her throat when she landed.
"Where are your skills now, White Witch?" Koragg gloated. "It seems that I was not the best of teachers in my so-calked past life. Still, you have proven your worth as an adversary and I may now dispense of your life in the name of the Master. Goodbye." He raised his sword high above his head, magically reinforced metal glinting in the sparse light, and let it fall in a killing curve.
It would have been a deathblow if not for his arm hitching in place mid-swing, a dying roar echoing throughout the caverns. In the same instant, red sparks sprung into life around the Knight Wolf's temples, dancing around listlessly before fading away dejectedly, last dregs of blood-red light soaking into his skin.
Seizing her moment, Udonna rolled away and stood up, sword abandoned for its wand form again. She took careful aim between her husband's eyes and shouted, "Restituo memoract! Restituo forma!" Two beams of white light, identical to her two earlier attempts, flew in a perfect line toward her target, interlacing even as his head and body were swallowed by them. It died away quickly, leaving the similar sight of a single body flickering between two personas, both clutching their head in what could've been any number of things.
Much to her joy, it flickered to the man she had long dreamed to see for a bit longer each time, the tanned man like an aged version of what she saw in her memories. As he flashed back to Koragg, a thousand threads of red electricity rose to his flesh, coursing over it momentarily before flowing downward, off his body and onto the cool stone floor. There, is dissolved, leaving nothing to speak of its presence. As it moved down him, it stripped away not only almost two decades worth of spells and their reinforcements, but the very persona of the Knight Wolf Koragg.
When it had all vanished, all that remained was a motionless man, hunched over and gripping his head. Hesitantly, Udonna moved toward him and crouched down to his level.
"Leanbow?" she asked quietly, placing a hand lightly on his shoulder. He responded slowly to this, hands falling to the ground. When he spoke, his words seemed harsh and disjointed, as if he hadn't spoken in a long time.
"U-Udonna?" he rasped. "Where are we? What's going on?" Based on the confused tone alone, warning signals went off in her mind, but she maintained a calm exterior.
"Do you not remember the last nineteen years? Have they been blocked from your memory?" He glanced to her, eyes caught deep in thought as he dredged through the bog of his own mind.
"The last thing I remember is fighting the Master from within the Gates, hoping it would purge me of my wrongdoings and eradicate him from this world, and then -" He shook his head softly, attempting to dislodge nearly twenty years worth of memory. "- and then I was here with you." Eyes turning serious, he left his gaze on her. "What happened to me? To us?" Fear crept into his features. "To Bowen?" For the first time, she smiled.
"Bowen is alive and well, raised by humans under his true name, but still carrying on our legacy as the Red Mystic Ranger, chosen one of Ignos and the Light. Judging by the sound of things, and your fully returned state, I'd say that he has completed a large part of that role in his destiny. But enough of that. We must find Nick and Madison."
As she helped him to stand, he queried, "Who is Madison? And is this Nick our Bowen?" She let him lean on her good shoulder, each helping the other stay steady as they slowly began to move forward.
"Yes, this Nick is indeed our Bowen. Madison is the Blue Mystic Ranger, and his girlfriend." Leanbow smiled, a gesture that had not been seen on his features with such honesty in many years.
"Ah, love between teammates. Hearkens back to our days, doesn't it?" They shared coy smiles, but the reality of where they were dawned on Leanbow all too soon, breaking the moment. "Are we in the Underworld?" Udonna nodded. "I can understand why I am here, but why are you here, and with two Rangers?"
"Five Rangers, actually," she corrected. "Three of them are on rescue missions, as am I."
"And the other two?"
"One was a servant to the Queen of the Vampires, and the other was under the influence of the darkness. They are the ones being rescued, along with you." Leanbow shook his head dejectedly.
"I remember none of my time here, but I have the feeling that I've done nothing to atone for my past evils."
"Do not worry about that right now. When we are safe in Root Core, then you can worry."
"But how can we get back? No followers of the light can summon the magic to leave without losing their power forever." A grin flashed across her face.
"Leave that to Nick and Madison." When he gave her a questioning look, she shook her head. "You shall see. First," she said, taking out her wand, "we need to find them. Cuspis ut Nick." Like before, it began to hover over her open palm, snowflake crystal shining like a white flashlight. It guided them expertly through the intricate passages of the Underworld, never leading them astray. Only a half dozen minutes or so passed before they were once again standing in an entrance to a cavern, but only two people were in it, neither of which was Nick.
Xander, skin once again its warm tan color, kneeled next to a still body - that of Vida, Udonna realized with a short gasp. He watched her intently, fear not hidden in his features. Glistening blood lay stagnant in a pool around her, a fresh trickle occasionally spilling out.
Just as Xander heard her gasp and looked up, and Udonna began to wonder not only what had happened here, but what had gone wrong with her spell to lead them to this place, a yellow blur came to a sudden halt between the two parties. In its wake stood two disoriented magicians and a third who only seemed frantic.
"How can we save her?" the third asked aloud, coming to his knees next to the Pink Witch. Maddie, instantly snapped out of her dizziness by the sight of her sister, was next to her friend in an instant.
"Oh, god. What happened to her?" She allowed her hand to touch down on Vida's body, but recoiled when she felt the lukewarm blood. Chip's eyes seemed to water up at the question, but he answered nonetheless.
"I - I was shooting the Dawn Crystal at Necrolai, and I thought V was trapped. I guess she found a way out of Xander's cage, because she jumped right in front of it." Guilt was weighing down on him heavily, and she could tell how hard it was for him to recall all of this. "It went right through her and into Necrolai, who poofed into dust. At least she isn't a vampire anymore," he laughed weakly, trying to lighten the seemingly hopeless situation.
Xander, quiet through everything, stood up and crossed the room, giving Nick a distracted pat on the back as he passed him. The Red Ranger visually followed the Green Ranger's movements, finally noticing the adults in another archway, both seeming near exhausted. Positioning himself between them, Xander easily supported and guided them over to the group.
"Together again, eh?" he joked, no sign of strain in his voice. No one else seemed so awake, Chip and Madison lost in thoughts of saving Vida, Udonna and Leanbow beyond tired and Nick just staring at them. Before he could stammer a hello to them, Madison grabbed his arm and yanked him over to her.
"You healed me, right?" she asked, pulling him down to her side.
"Yeah, I think... " he responded slowly, mind too muddled by the events of the past few minutes to follow her meaning.
"Well, thinking is good enough. Think you can do the same for Vida?" Udonna gave the pair an interested glance, but Nick didn't notice, sending Maddie a wary look.
"I can try, but I can't promise anything. I don't even know how I did it earlier."
"Just try," Maddie insisted. The duo shared gazes for another second, Nick hesitant and Maddie insistent, and Nick gave in after only a moment longer. He lowered his hands to the still bleeding wound, hovering over but not quite touching the soaked fabric of her uniform. Eyes falling shut, he focused on what he'd been feeling when he'd healed Maddie earlier: undying love, passion and the need to exact beautifully calculated revenge on her enemies. These powerful emotions once again surged through him, and he latched onto them before they fled him again.
Seconds turned into minutes as he concentrated on these feelings, but he felt nothing. Trying for another minute or so, he'd almost given up until the moment he opened his eyes and saw the soft red glow lying dormant in his palms. It went nowhere, only pulsating, and he wondered why it wasn't working, what he was doing wrong.
'You must touch the wound itself,' whispered a strong voice from the ether. Knowing by now to trust these para-instincts, he let his hands move down to the open edges, tearing away the blood-encrusted parts of her shirt. Forcing himself not to think about it, he touched his hands down to the cool, sticky flesh on either side of her gaping wound. The warm red light in his hands spread to every inch of where their skin made contact, drawing some color to the areas. It absorbed into her body, moving from his hands to her torso in a steady flow. Slowly but surely, the wound through her gut began to mend itself, first the exposed organs, those pierced or damaged, and then the flesh itself.
Everyone in the room, save for Madison, stared on in awe at this feat. Udonna smiled slightly, while Leanbow cocked his head in thought. Xander helped the pair stand steady while still watching Nick, and Chip watched in pure joy.
After another minute, the light faded away and the last tiny repair was made, leaving everyone to hold their breath in anticipation. No more than a few fractions of a second passed, though it seemed like an eternity, until she inhaled sharply, eyes snapping open. When she glanced around at the crowd she'd inadvertently gathered, her brow creased together.
"Uhh... Hi guys. What's going on?" She propped herself up on her elbows, Nick, Madison and Chip backing up to give her some room.
"Don't you remember?" Chip asked tentatively.
Shaking her head, she replied, "No. What happened?" She looked suspiciously to every person, Nick and Leanbow mostly. "They're good now, right?" Maddie giggled through her joyous tears, nodding enthusiastically.
"Yeah, they're good again. Thankfully," she added as an afterthought, "or you probably wouldn't be with us right now." Vida's confusion, which had been lessening as everything came back to her, deepened again.
"Care to elaborate, sis? I know I was injured and everything -"
"I wouldn't call a hole I can see through just being injured," Xander interjected.
"- but what do they have to do with it?" she continued, giving Xander a short, withering look.
"Well, not both of them. Mostly Nick - he healed you. Chip helped, too. He got us here." Pausing, a confusing epiphany burst into her thoughts. "How did you get us here? I didn't know you learned how to teleport." Besides the fact that it didn't really feel like teleporting, at least not any kind she'd experienced. Teleporting was instantaneous, and you could almost feel yourself in both places while being in neither.
What Chip had done (and this was assuming that it was even Chip's doing) was far from teleportation. She knew she'd been moving of her own accord, at least partially, only keeping up with Chip because he led her by the hand, and Nick through her. Everything around her had seemed to slow, so surreal and with a slightly yellow tint. At the same time, she herself felt fast, unstoppable, like pure energy.
And then it had stopped, and everything had become normal again. She wasn't quite sure what had happened, but it most definitely wasn't teleportation.
"I'm not really sure," Chip admitted. "I didn't teleport. I was just in here and I wanted to find you guys so you could help V, and then I'm there, looking at you guys and really confused. I'm not sure what I did."
"The Ancients have seen your worth and need and given the help that was within their realm to grant," Udonna stated. "I'll elaborate further once we are safely away from here. For now, I'd be happy if we simply escaped."
"I'll do it," Madison and Nick simultaneously volunteered. They turned to look at each other, Maddie shaking her head.
"I can do it," she added. "You just healed V. I can imagine that it isn't exactly refreshing." He opened his mouth to protest, but Udonna held up her hand.
"You both shall. Not only have you both fought, a tiring venture, no doubt, but to teleport a group such as ours alone after already using so much of your power tonight could magically exhaust you. It will be better if you both teleport us." Accepting her logic with a nod, the two held out their hands. Chip helped Vida up, thrilled that she was still alive, and Xander helped Udonna and Leanbow hobble over. Each person somehow took a hold of the person next to them.
When they'd guaranteed that everyone was attached somehow to the next, the pair chorused, "Uthe norquas ozarro." It took only a second for a spell seal, shining every shade of red, blue, purple and gold all at once, to engulf them, delivering the group within Root Core moments later.
Almost instantly, Clare was on them, helping Xander support Udonna and Leanbow and guide them to chairs at the center table. The whole time, she stared at Leanbow, eyes never leaving the familiar but unplaced face.
"Ummm... Do I know you?" she ventured timidly as he sat down. He searched her soft features, familiarity coming over him as well.
"I am Leanbow," he stated, searching the memories he did have for that face, those wavy blonde locks, the features he knew he should remember, what with the fondness they evoked.
Then, without warning, it hit him. Could it be? He'd thought she'd died, but feelings could be deceiving, especially when dark magic was busy wreaking havoc with your soul. ". . . Niella?" The words were so quiet, she would've missed them had she been paying any less attention. Her face, which had brightened when he'd mentioned his name, fell considerably.
"No, I'm not Niella. Mom died when I was little," she replied sadly. "I'm Clare, Uncle Leanbow." For a moment, he seemed saddened by her words, but a tiny smile grew on his face as he processed her last statement. When he'd last seen her, she'd barely hit three years, and here she was now, an adult and remarkably like her mother.
"And if you're here... " she added a moment later, pieces falling together in her mind. Her eyes only roamed the room for a minute before falling on Nick. "Oh, yay! Nick's back!" He quite suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a bear hug, something he'd grown oddly accustomed to lately, and half of his face was quickly smothered by a blanket of golden hair.
"Hi, Clare," he managed, blowing some of the hair away from his mouth. She leaned back and grinned wildly.
"Be happy! Our family is all together again! Well, except for Mom, but the past can't be changed, right?" She exhaled loudly. "Wow. The last time I saw you, you were just an itty-bitty baby."
"Clare, the last time you saw me was a few weeks ago."
"Yeah, but I didn't know we were cousins then! Udonna only told me a few days ago." For a moment, he looked at her confusedly, but that melted away as he remembered Madison's words from only a few days prior, combined with things he'd learned earlier. Udonna was his mother, and Niella her sister, which made her his aunt and Clare his cousin. His family was expanding in leaps and bounds.
"I only remembered the truth last week, child," Udonna stated, exhaustion on the fringes of her voice. "Believe me, you would've known much sooner had I not been under a spell." This last statement was directed at both Nick and Clare, who'd stepped back from her cousin only a moment earlier.
"I'm just glad to be back."
"And I'm glad my family is back," Clare added.
"And I'm glad to be alive," Vida threw in.
"I'll second that," Maddie stated with a grin.
"Well, I'm just happy that this whole ordeal is over," Xander appended.
"Yeah," Chip said. "Necrolai's dead, Nick's good, Vida's human and Koragg is Leanbow."
"But Leelee and Morticon are still out there," Vida added, bringing down the mood. Nick shook his head in disagreement.
"I don't know about Leelee. She never seemed really evil when I was down there. It was more like she was just trying to fit in. Believe me, she doesn't enjoy it down there."
"I don't know..."
"Can we just trust me for now? I know what I'm talking about." Vida nodded slowly, letting a silence descend upon the room. It lasted only a minute or two, as Chip soon spoke the question he'd been pondering for a while now.
"So who are these Ancients? I know the Xenotome is written in their language, but who are they? And what do they have to do with these new powers?"
Udonna took a moment to focus herself, to fall back into mentor mode after such a chaotic morning, then responded, "Eons ago, our dimension was one with yours. Humans lived in peace with mythical creatures such as elves and fairies, and all knew of the magical arts, teaching their own to one another. Then, there were no basic forms to magic, only personal styles and overall chaos. For hundreds of years it continued this way, until the day when eleven great magicians rose up. They established the eleven branches of magic, giving it order and form, and greatly increasing its power.
"Together, they were the most powerful magicians in existence, and each of their branches alone was more powerful than the chaotic magic as a whole. They amassed many followers who were attracted to the specific aspects of that branch. The core five established the main elemental magicks. Ignos represented fire, Viscan earth, Aerika air, Undelle water and Levitas lightning. They took on many followers, many more than the other six, but this did not matter to them, for they were all friends. They all taught their magicks to any true followers, who then passed their knowledge onto their own apprentices. Their own power grew as their legions of followers increased, and they eventually became the physical embodiment of their branch, forging new bodies as a perfect mix of their human forms and magical powers.
"Soon after, a small group of rejected followers, not of pure enough heart to learn anything more than basics, came together, angered by their rejection. They found a powerful warrior and magician, craving power, to be their leader and waged war against the Ancients, as they would later be named, amassing armies rapidly by way of the newly forged art of raising the dead. Thus, dark magic was born. Though they were soundly defeated by the armies of light magic, they went into exile for many years, and the followers of light magic went back to peace.
"That, unfortunately, was not meant to last. Some humans, with their expanding knowledge of the sciences, began to fear magic and its followers, human and mythical creature alike. This began a war that was not as easy as the previous one, for fighting old friends and family is never easy, and, in the end, the Ancients died to create our realm, the magical dimension we reside in now, and separate it from your human world. Only a handful of places remained as connections between the two worlds, left in case of any emergency, and the humans of your world soon forgot about magic, save for fairy tales and a select few who remained there to keep order.
"In our world, the Ancients ascended to pure magic, truly becoming the essence of their branch. Their powers were now limitless, and they fueled their branches for anyone who chose them, granting more or less power case by case. More was given to those who proved themselves worthy, and less to those only seeking power to conquer and destroy. The core five became known as the Ancient Titans, while the other six were called the Ancient Mystics."
"Wait, wait, wait," Chip interjected. "If there are eleven branches of magic, why have we only heard of six?"
"Because, young warrior," replied Leanbow, giving Udonna a chance to rest, "the core five branches are the most common, and the other six generally appear less often. Some, like Luria, Solus, Fortis and Reiku, hand pick one avatar and a few other champions, while Cias chooses a several champions and the few dozen magicians who accept the path, like Udonna."
"And me," Clare added.
"But that's only five more. What about the sixth?" Leanbow shook his head slightly.
"Sadly, Aika no longer supports her magic. It became abused, used to change things to the advantage of the wrong sides and alter necessary events." Chip arched a confused and interested set of eyebrows.
"What was her branch of magic?"
"She created the magic of time." The young man nodded thoughtfully.
"And who are those other ones that you named? Luria, Solus, Fortis, all of them."
Not hesitating, the elder warrior began, knowing all of this information from memory and experience. "Luria is the patron of the moon. She chooses only one follower, a Gatekeeper from each generation that would protect the Gates of the Underworld. The Underworld was in fact her creation, a prison for the condemned, living and dead. Our own Niella was the Gatekeeper of our generation. Solus is the Mystic of the Sun. He grants the Solaris Knight powers to a worthy avatar, most often in times of need. My apprentice Daggeron was his chosen. Fortis was the leader of all of the Ancients, master of both the magical and warrior arts. I was his own, and used his power to lead our old team of Mystic Warriors. Reiku presided over magical knowledge and cunning, and he took another student of mine, Calindor, as his representative. We took their forms at the most necessary times, becoming the whole of their power and our own.
"Unlike the other Mystics, Cias chooses to allow many followers, but very few choose her path, for it is long and difficult. The core five, the Ancient Titans, let in any who choose their way, but never grant power higher than that of Knighthood. You five, though, are exceptions, being the Legendary Ones of prophesy. For ages, it had been told that when the darkness rose up again, a magician from each branch would rise up and defeat it for all time, ending the war that the Ancients themselves had been apart of all those millennia ago. For a time, the other Mystic Warriors and I thought that we were these legendary heroes, but we never received the power that was meant for these prophesied ones alone: Mystic Ranger power. Still, we fought the darkness back and won, at least for a while. Only with your arrival could it truly end, though."
Chip once again nodded appreciatively, absorbing the information, then asked, "So how does that effect Nick and I having these weird new powers?" He zipped across the room in a flash of yellow light to reiterate his point.
"As these prophesied magicians, you afforded much more power than any previous follow of your branch. It was simply the right time to receive these powers, both related to your element."
"But what does healing have to do with fire? I thought it was a destructive element," Nick protested.
"Ah, but it is also a healing, cleansing agent, used by many cultures to burn away the old so new growth can appear. And, Chip, is it?" he asked, turning to the Yellow Magician. "Your newfound speed is obvious: as light is fast, so are you."
"And the rest of us?" Xander inquired. "Are we not important enough for new powers?"
Shaking his head at the young man's question, Leanbow replied, "You, too, will receive these new abilities when you need them the most. Your individual abilities always spawn from your elemental characteristics, and so shall these." The quintet of teens accepted this, but it was Madison's turn to ask a question.
"Okay, another thing about these Ancients: if ours are known as the Titans, then what are our Titan forms?"
"Ah, an easy question," Udonna said. "You see, each Ancient Titan chose an animal or being to be their chosen race. Your Titan forms, not the first you may receive, are reinvented bodies of each branch's representative, made to combat creatures larger than yourself. Viscan chose the minotaur, Aerika the sprite, Levitas the garuda, Undelle the mermaid and Ignos the phoenix. These beings, those few that still exist in either world, are yours too, for you are the avatars of their masters."
Leanbow, taking the fresh lull in the conversation as a cue, looked between the young magicians and asked, "Is that all?" It took a moment, but then the general murmurs of assent cropped up. "Good. Then I'd advise you all to go back to your homes, your lives. I get the impression that it has been a long day, even though it's barely midday."
"I'd like Nick and Madison to stay for a while longer, if you both could," Udonna added. The pair shared a glance and nodded, giving the other three their goodbyes. When only the five were left in the room, Udonna again spoke up.
"Leanbow, though you have met him before, I feel I must reintroduce you to our son Bowen, though he goes by Nick now. Until a few months prior, he knew nothing of our world, and only occasional acts of magic that forced him into denial of its existence. Today, he fulfilled part of the prophesy." Nick looked at her confusedly.
"What do you mean?"
"Each one of you Rangers has had many prophesies made of your powers, existence and destiny, but you the most of all. You may be familiar with the line 'a dark phoenix, raised by the light, shall bring an end to his beginnings.'"
"But how does that even make sense? My 'beginnings' were in the light." She gave him a small smile.
"Not true. You were born during a battle of the Great War that took place on dark soil. And, if I'm not mistaken, you destroyed the Master while still evil, did you not?" He nodded. "Then a dark phoenix brought an end to his beginnings, at least partially. We do not know if Morticon will continue the fight, or if any other warriors will join their forces. Only time can tell us that." A hush fell over the smaller group, lasting only a few moments until Nick asked the question on the forefront of his mind.
"So you're really my mother?" he asked, voice softened to the point of being just a few notches above inaudible. "And you two are..." He gestured between Udonna and Leanbow. "... married?" Udonna smiled slightly at his disbelief.
"It is true, Nick, unbelievable as it may seem to you. If Phineas had not used his magic to alter my memories, I would've told you when you joined us again. You look too much like your father for me to not recognize you."
"But he has your eyes," Leanbow added, giving her reason to smile.
"Yes, yes he does. Quite startling, really, but things can work in such strange ways sometimes."
"Says the sorceress who trains Power Rangers," Maddie muttered playfully, evoking grins from her elders.
"Maddie, I assume?" inquired Leanbow, giving her a once-over. She smiled and nodded.
"Yes, I am. Good to see that you like me a bit more now." He cocked an eyebrow, and she went on to explain. "We weren't exactly on the best terms when you were Koragg." At the name, he winced.
"Is that really where I've been these past twenty years? They turned me into Koragg again?"
"I'm afraid so," Udonna replied reluctantly, knowing exactly how he'd react.
Pressing the heels of his palms into the lower part of his forehead and elbows carefully propped on his knees, he let out a deep sigh.
"What have I done? I thought my actions beyond the Gates would be my end, that they would absolve me of my sins, but they only brought more to my name." He let out a disgusted growl. "And why can I remember none of it?" On his feet before all of his words were even out, he was pacing across the room, a foul mood gracing his aura. A set of books on the shelf were suddenly alight, the crisp, ancient paper burning quickly.
Nick already had his wand out, murmuring "Extinguo" while Maddie gave him a strange look.
"What was that for?" she asked, confused by why he'd do such a thing when he seemed so peaceful.
"It wasn't me," he protested, just as confused by what had just happened himself. Smoke rose off the damaged, but now unlit, tomes, prompting him to add, "Restituo libri." The bit of red light fixed the charred pages, but Leanbow kept pacing, self-anger rolling off him in waves. Udonna stood up next to him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Do not berate yourself for what was beyond your control. The Master was strong, beyond our comprehension, and resisting his will is impossible."
"But why can I remember none of it?"
"Yeah, it's confusing us all. That, and why the books caught on fire," Nick interjected, nodding his head at the now repaired books, coils of smoke still lingering around the shelves. Leanbow glanced at where Nick had indicated, sighing slightly.
"That was my fault, I believe. For all the mastery I have over my magic, it fades away when I'm angry." Nick smiled a tiny smile. His father's words echoed his own from a few months back, albeit in a more eloquent way. Maddie simply gave her elder a curious look, to which he responded, "Fortis and Ignos were brothers, and they shared the same interest in magicks. Both developed the branch of fire magic that Nick uses, but Fortis soon moved away from his brother's studies, wishing to meld magic with fighting techniques. While Ignos further pushed his fire magic, Fortis blended what he already knew with the weapons he used, creating the warrior magic of today. That leaves the few followers of warrior magic with the secondary power of fire, not quite of the magnitude of an experienced Red Wizard." Maddie nodded appreciatively at this new knowledge, but Nick remained curious about another subject.
"So why doesn't he remember anything?" he asked his newfound mother. "I mean, I remember everything about the past few weeks, and you remember everything even though you were spelled."
"There are a few key differences between those examples, though. You were not under a memory alteration spell, but one to affect your personality. I was under a memory spell like Leanbow, but only one spell. I suspect that the Master reinforced his magic many times, necessary when dealing with a strong-willed person unwillingly placed under such a spell. If done enough, it would have the power to eventually block away the other consciousness."
"So let's just use the magic I used on you to bring back his memories," Maddie suggested, trying to be of some help.
"I fear there may be no way to reverse this. The Master was very strong," Leanbow said, despondence in his voice. He nearly began another sentence, but caught himself as another thought hit him. "You did destroy the Master, didn't you?" Twinges of fear were in his words, the fear that they'd assumed too much.
"Yeah, at least I think I did," the teen responded. "He was attacking Maddie, but I stopped that after a quick bit of brainwashing from him. After I got her out of the way, I attacked him back while he kept trying to take control of me again. I stabbed his pit with my sword and all of this golden light poured out of me and into him, and then he was gone. That's the gist of it." Both adults smiled slightly.
"So much has happened in so little time," Udonna said, gentle reverie in her voice. "It is astounding what magic alone has brought together."
"And broken apart," Leanbow muttered, earning himself a good-natured smack on the shoulder.
"That is in the past, and it cannot be changed, but we forge our futures now. Can you not be happy with your family, all together once again? The Master is gone and you are free. We are together again. Our son has returned, and he has Madison. Life, in this moment, is good. Be happy!" Faced with her exuberant words, he couldn't help but grin, pulling her into a joyous embrace. Nick and Maddie, hesitating only to give each other brilliant smiles, did the same, Nick twirling her through the air as the light-hearted moment overtook the room.
"It feels good to be good again," he laughed as her feet touched down on the ground again, whole body radiating glee. "I missed you," he added, realizing how much hadn't been said yet. "It was so weird down there, always either fighting or just being bored, and no surface trips made it unbearable. Don't ever let me do that again."
"Even for my life?" she asked with a mock frown, eyes defying this with their sheen. He scoffed back.
"Aw, come on. We'd have figured something out if we'd had more time. We always do." Though this wasn't particularly funny, they both grinned and burst into short spurts of giggles, coming together again. Their laughter, paired with Clare's joyous squeals as she pulled the couples into a family group hug, resounded through the cathedral ceilinged room, amazing acoustics for a building carved into a tree.
Surrounded by the family he'd just recently regained, not to mention the ever-so-wonderful Madison, Nick felt like life was perfect for the first time in months. No zombie attacks, no giant monsters, no evil father hellbent on his return to the darkness, nothing threatening what could've been something great. Only the echoing laughter and warm contact as his family shared the hug for another moment. Everything was calm again, and he had the feeling it'd be that way, at least for a week or two until the bits and pieces of the darkness pulled themselves together again. Right now, though, that seemed so far off, a distant destination on their path. They'd deal with it when they got there.
Still, he knew there was one thing he had to do.
A hazy light broke through the darkness that had until now engulfed her being, forcing her to push toward consciousness. As feeling seeped down from her mind, she began to notice the stiffness in her limbs, how alien they felt. There was no strength in them, nor was there anywhere else in her body. If anyone had been watching, all they would've seen were her eyes struggling open.
She took in the bleak, jagged texture of the ceiling above her as another feeling crept across her flesh: intense cold, chilling but not in the least bit odd feeling, as if it were natural to feel so. To say that this confused her would've been an understatement; she was utterly baffled.
What exactly had happened? The last thing she could remember was hightailing it away from Nick as the Mystics got closer. She may have been a vampire princess, but she wasn't too keen on fighting, let alone the Rangers. Sure, she'd done it once, and done quite nicely, but that had only proven to her how much she didn't like doing so. Fighting them just felt... wrong.
Even her plan, a last attempt to see how evil she really was, had obviously not gone so well, at least on her part. She was passed out on the floor, feeling absolutely terrible. Not a good sign. But that still didn't answer her question: what had happened to her?
Building up a minimal amount of strength, she feebly got to her feet. She patted her shoulders and hair gingerly, and immediately knew that something was wrong.
Instead of her normally wavy golden hair, a thin veil of nylon-like skin, incredibly durable, hung from its own jutting stalk of perfectly blended smooth skin and rigid bone. In between those, one of which pointed at angles out from either side of her head, was a long, mohawk-ish tuft of hair. Ignoring the sickening realization that was dawning on her, she broke into a dead run toward her room, legs pulling her in the correct direction despite her lack of energy moments earlier, while her mind was elsewhere. The shiny black skin of her arms was entrancing, as were the heeled boots and leather bodysuit that seemed to have joined to her skin now.
Faint glimmers of candlelight caught her eyes as she neared her chamber, whispering quiet prayers that this was only an incredibly vivid dream and not the harsh reality it felt like. With a blur of purple and black she was in her room, eyes clamped firmly shut as she arrived in front of her vanity mirror. It all seemed like some terrible nightmare, her worst fear possibly becoming a reality.
Though it took all of her will to do so, she hesitantly peeked one eye open. In the few seconds that it took for everything to come into focus, the truth hit her like a sixteen-ton weight, and she couldn't deny it now that it was presented so obviously before her eyes.
Leelee Pimvare, the vampire princess who tried to fit in with the darkness and hated every moment of it, was the Queen of the Vampires.
A/N - Ha ha! A fairly quick update, at least by my standards. Sadly, this brings us one step closer to the end. The next chapter will be the epilogue. That's not where this ends, though. There's a sequel, currently in the process of being written, and possibly an assembly of short stories that weren't big enough for their own chapters, a kind of 'lost chapters' montage. Those two are a bit off though, seeing as this still has one last part before it ends. Hope you enjoyed it!