Chapter Eleven. Why We Fight…

Ortari?

Forsythia?

Katie rose to her feet, her clothes ripped and burned, the two white rangers laughing down at the group. Already, Naomi was starting to get into Iron Flygon, Paige ready to take another attack at the group.

"Paige!" she shouted. "Snap out of it!"
"Paige has left the building," Forsythia laughed. "She's been voted off the island, she's out in the wilderness. She isn't coming back."

"Crap!" Luke muttered, seeing Iron Flygon ready its blasters to point at the group. "There's only ever been one big mechanical Flygon I liked, and that ain't it."

"Naomi!" It was Claire's turn to stand up. "Don't do this. You can beat her away…"

"Wrong wrong wrong, Claire Springfield," Ortari laughed, settling herself back into the seat of Iron Flygon. "You not just listen to my pretty partner in crime there? Same rules, same outcome."

She hit a button in front of her, a flurry of laser fire ripped out from Iron Flygon towards the Lost Zone and Cosmo Rangers who had to hurl themselves aside again, the blasts leaving deep chunks torn in the ground.

"This day gets better by the second," Nick said sarcastically. "Morph again?"

"Morph again," Max confirmed. "Cosmosis!"
"Solaris!"
"Lost Zone! Energise!"

"Genesis Overload!"

As the ranger suits appeared across their bodies, they went for the weapons. David flung himself towards Iron Flygon, the robotic creation grabbing him by the throat. Ortari would have slammed him into the ground had Sandy not got behind the thing and pulled back its arm with her superior cyborg strength.

"Claire!" Dice yelled, as he fell to the ground following an Ice Ball attack from Ortari. "Can't you shut Iron Flygon down?"

"How?" the Blue Lost Zone Ranger demanded. "I've not got a master switch for it. Hit that, it blows up."
"Shine'd kill you if you blew Naomi up as well," Emma pointed out. "You know, assuming…"
She hurled herself aside, the Ice Ball attack still catching her as she did.

"Assuming we don't get killed first," Riku said. "What we going to do?"

Iron Flygon fired another blast. Falco rose up with his Mirror Wing and blocked the blast, grimacing as it was forced from his hand.

"Anyone got any plans?" Nahir asked. "What did this?"

"They went for the Genesis Book," Katie said. "I gave the order."

"It was tapped into the Lost Zone, right?" Sandy asked. "Just a guess, but what if they were in there, waiting for someone to try and touch it. They crept out with the infusion of power into the book and then when someone touched it, they were able to leap into them."

"Not a bad guess," Claire said. "It's about the only thing we got."

"How do we stop it?" Luke asked. "Some of you smart chicks must have got an idea how to do this."

David suddenly laughed as he looked at Xavier. "Remember the Red Ranger mission?"

"I do," the Blue Genesis Ranger said. "Why?"
"Remember that bomb you had to defuse?" David asked. "One account there wasn't anyone smarter around?"

"Nobody smarter than Xavier?" Ryan asked. "Wow, that must have been a mission of morons."

"Hey!" both David and Xavier protested. "We resent that."

"Okay!" Katie shouted. "We need a plan and fast. Maybe the only way to stop them is to…"

She exhaled sharply.

"I don't know. Maybe we should try and grab the book."

"Ah, same plan again," Crane said. "Like it. Like it a lot."

"It's not like it'll be a problem though, right?" Max asked. "How many more of them can be in there, lurking beneath the surface?"

"Right," Katie said. "I'll go there myself. I might need some help though. Sandy, I need you with me."

"Why?"

"You're a hacker, right?"

"In my spare time and when it's legal."

"They might have locked the doors on the way out," Katie said. "Anyone else?"

"I'll come," Claire offered. "Just purely so I can save my sister in law rather than killing her."
"Try and leave me behind," Max called over. "Might need some muscle. Could be more Blastbots in there."

"David?" Claire asked. "You coming?"
"Duo!" Katie shouted. "Stay here, I'm leaving you in command."

At that, Falco let out an annoyed cough.

"If that suits the Pidgeot, that is."

"Anything fire-boy can do, I can do better," David said. "Come on! Let's get this show on the road."

"Amen," said Nahir. "We're not killing Paige again."

"Now!"
At Falco's shout, Lily, Diana, Nick and Crane rose up from behind the cover of a rock and opened fire on Iron Flygon. The Genesis Rangers went for Forsythia, unleashing their weapons on her. The Lost Zone Rangers split their attacks up, Emma and Riku going for Forsythia, while Julia and Dice tried to help take down Iron Flygon. In the meantime, the small group lead by Katie broke away to head for the factory.

"What can you hope to achieve?" Ortari asked, focusing the Iron Flygon lasers towards one group of rangers. "You won't stop us. You cannot fire on your friends."

"Remember!" Crane shouted. "We just need to stall them!"

"Stall this," Ortari smirked, firing a blast of energy towards the Solar Ranger

Ripping the control panel away at the side of the door, Sandy reached inside it and pulled out a handful of wires.

"This should…" she started to say as the big metal doors slid open next to them. "n't take a second."

"Knew I brought you along for something," Katie said. "Right…"

Stepping inside, the five rangers saw some Blastbots heading for them, their weapons ready and aimed.

"Crap!" David exclaimed. "Guess we need to take out the trash before moving on."

He jumped up and kicked one in the face, knocking it towards Max. The Red Cosmo Ranger grabbed it and slammed it down into the ground. Sandy ripped out a piece of piping from the wall and brained another. Claire brought out her LZ Blaster and shot down three of them while Katie did the same with her Heat Blasters.

"Got more coming!" Max yelled as the last one fell, already turning to see more coming at them from both directions.

"Damn!" Katie exclaimed. "Split up! Max, you and Sandy go one way, Dave, you and Claire with me. I want one smart ranger per team, just in case."
"And you chose me?" David smirked. "I'm touched."

Claire reached out and punched him on the arm.

"Lay off big mouth," she said, the two groups going their separate ways.

Back at the battlefield, Riku had taken out his Psycho Bazooka and attached the Psycho Scope to it. Pointing it first at Ortari, then at Forsythia, he let out a whistle as he looked down the scope.

"What you see?" Emma asked, sending a black cyclone at Forsythia with her Lunar Fan. "Anything?"
He saw a pair of black spots, one each nestled high in the crown of the heads of both possessed rangers.

"I think I see what's making them act like that," he said. "There's something there."

"You know what?" Luke shouted. "I love you man. Nobody states the obvious like that."

"Can you blast them out of there?" Diana asked. "Make the shot?"

"If I fire at low power, their helmets'll take the shot and it won't make it," Riku explained. "If I fire a shot powerful enough to go through the helmet, it'll kill them stone dead."
"Last resort then?" Lily asked.

"I just hope they hurry up," Xavier said. Bringing out his Genesis Blaster, he fired a blast of shots at Iron Flygon. "Because we can't hold out much longer against them."

"This might be it!" Claire exclaimed, the three of them walking into a large lab. "In fact…"

"It is," Katie confirmed, looking down the steps to the very familiar book sat resting at the base of a machine. "This is the place. I've seen that book before; I'm not going to forget it."

"What happened with it?" David wondered. "Any good stories?"

"Back in the last day of the war with the Coppingers," Katie said. "We made a bad decision. We trusted someone we shouldn't have and Dennis got the book. He used it to raise Forsythia, the one inside Paige. While she sent her armies across Verger, I had to stop Dennis and get it back. I managed to beat him down and I got the book from him. I brought it to the battlefield in Holimar City. I meant for it all to end quietly, but it didn't. Dorlinda died, but it was his downfall which brought an end to her."

"We've all seen the youtube footage," David said, the three of them now stood in front of the machine. "First video ever to get a billion hits."

"I didn't know that," Katie said. "Now, how can we…?"

Claire broke in front of her, reaching out towards the book, before looking back with a wink.

"If this goes wrong, one of you give me the kiss of life," she quipped. "Because…"

Katie pulled out a Heat Blaster and shot the machine several times. It exploded before winding down, all its lights fading out into nothing.

"Or you could do that," David said. "Nice."

Now, Katie reached out to pick up the Genesis Book, tucking it under her arm with no harm.

"We need to get back there," she said. "If Forsythia and Ortari came from this, then we need to shove them right back in there."

"An excellent suggestion."

Looking up, the three of them saw Dorlinda stood at the top of the stairs, his arms folded.

"Now, how about you hand it to me," he said. "And we'll sort the last of this mess out."

"I'm down with that," Claire said. "Let's do it."

Dorlinda reached out to take the Genesis Book from Katie, the four of them vanishing soon after.

The Mirror Blaster fired several times, the blasts ricocheting off the shell of Iron Flygon. Angrily turning the vehicle towards him, Ortari prepared to fire…

… Only for Dorlinda and the other five rangers to appear between them, the blast bending around them all.

"You!" both Forsythia and Ortari shouted, seeing Dorlinda. "You were dead."

"So were the two of you," the Conduit replied. "You're both back. And yet I'm not the one hopping aboard two innocent women. Now, I'm going to give you both an ultimatum. Leave Ms. Martinez and Ms. Springfield right now and return to your prison of your own free will, or I'll drag you both out of there and throw you in there myself."
"Big words," Forsythia replied. "You wouldn't dare."

"I'd plenty dare," Dorlinda said. "Step outside her body and say that."

With a roar of anger, Forsythia transformed into an Ice Ball and hurled herself at Dorlinda. Waving his hand, the Conduit halted her progress, Forsythia falling to the ground and morphing out of her ranger suit. The rest of the Genesis Ranger suits vanished as well, the morphers hissing and crackling.

"The power in those morphers has run dry once again," Dorlinda said, throwing out a hand to restrain her with an invisible forcefield. "You're powerless once more Forsythia. Ortari, you can surrender or go the same way. Your choice."

For a moment, she didn't do anything. And then the cockpit of Iron Flygon opened up, Ortari jumping out and demorphing back into Naomi's real appearance as she did.

"Damn you," she said. "All we wanted to do was rule the universe. What's so wrong about that?"

"You forget what we are," Dorlinda said. "Lower beings conquer. We observe. It's time for the two of you to crawl back from whence you came."

Waving a hand, reality ripped open beside him, a glowing red light emerging from inside it.

"A path straight to the bottom of the Lost Zone, farther than anyone else has ever gone," Dorlinda said. Bringing back his other arm, he brought out the Genesis Book and hurled it inside, it going through with a wet pop.

"You want it back, you're going to have to get it," he warned. "Now, leave the two of them."

Ortari yielded first, Naomi's body doubling over and coughing up a faint white smoke. As soon as it was all out, it was sucked into the Lost Zone.

"I'll die before I go back there," Forsythia said angrily. "You can't make me!"

"Very well," Dorlinda replied. "If that is what you wish, then…"

He clicked his fingers and a shower of red flashed across Paige's eyes. Like Naomi had, she doubled over, choking out a smoke. Rather than white, it was red and black, the stuff slowly being sucked into the Lost Zone.

Straightening herself up, the White Genesis Ranger gave the Conduit an evil look.

"Man!" Paige complained. "What's wrong with you? You just killed her! I felt her die!"

"She left me no other choice," Dorlinda said simply. "If you expected anything else from me, then you were mistaken. The man you knew me to be is dead. From now on, I must be as ruthless and calculating as I can. No more compassion. I offered her the chance to surrender; she meant to kill you before she would walk away. If you'd rather be the dead one, then I'll freely bend back time and…"

"He has changed," Xavier commented. "And I guess not for the better."

"Everyone changes," Dorlinda said. "Dying can do that. If you think you can pass that which comes to us all and stay the same, then you don't have a grip on the situation."

"You're wrong," Luke said, thinking back to that strange day when most of them had been working for SDI and he'd seen his teammates die over and over again. The look Dorlinda gave him soon shut him up.

"You know," Emma said, looking over to the portal to the Lost Zone, the sight still hanging there in the air. "After all we went through to ensure that thing stayed lost, it's kinda strange seeing it just hang there, a million miles from where it should be and a few thousand years."

"Memories, huh?" Dice said.

"Sorry," Dorlinda said, turning to it. "Meant to close that."

Close it he did, with a wave of the hand, it swished shut, no trace that it had ever been there.

"Man, I still can't believe I got bodyjacked," Naomi muttered, rubbing her throat. "Not pleasant."

"Ha," Nahir said. "When we were fighting the Coppingers, I was the bodyjacker once. An alien named Infiltra threw me into the body of this demon worshipper."

At that comment, Diana looked up in surprise but decided not to say anything. Nick on the other hand looked at the Yellow Cosmo Ranger.

"Not a common name, is it?" he asked.

"I guess the only thing left to do now is work out where we go from here," Duo said. "I mean, the future's nice and all, but there's no place like home."

"I would say that," Julia quipped. "But I left my ruby slippers at home."

Falco cleared his throat. "I must say," he said. "You past rangers may not be as disciplined as my guys here. But you're all good fighters."
"We were taught by the best," Ryan said. "Well…"

"We used a high tech training system on board the SeaBlade, not unlike what you have on the Night Hawk," Claire said. "What did you guys use?"

"Me and Paige got trained by that guy there," Duo said, pointing at Crane. "Remember?"

"G-Force feels like a long time ago," the Solar Ranger said. "A very long time ago."

"And we were trained by a Pokémorph," Xavier said. "Me, Luke, Katie, Nahir…"

"Hey, we did stuff too," David exclaimed. "What about when I went crazy and attacked anything that wasn't a red ranger?"

"Yeah, I used your morpher," Claire said. "To calm you down."

"Is there anything you'll not ape Katie over?" Xavier smiled, looking at the Red Genesis Ranger. "Remember that time when you borrowed my morpher and battilizer to defeat that demon that attacked your parents."

"All I'm going to say," Lily said. "Is I used to be a professional killer. Beats the mrek out of anything you ever did."

"I once overdosed on aura," Nick said.

"What about when I woke up on that planet with no memory?" Sandy asked. "That was freaky. Or when I had to hack into that space station's mainframe in order to stop us getting roasted."

"Remember when you caught a computer virus?" Max asked.

"How?" Ryan asked. "You an android?"

"Cyborg," she said. "Really long complex explanation. And one that's not entirely clear either."

Dorlinda laughed. "You've all done so much," he said. "So very much."

He turned to the Cosmo Rangers. "Your fight is not yet done. Given your duty, I doubt it ever will be. Even when the Oblivings no longer threaten the galaxy, you will still fight on."

He smiled. "Although, I do know that one of you…" He pointed to the Cosmo Rangers. "Will see four of them…" He pointed to the Lost Zone and Genesis Rangers. "Again at some point in the near future when your fight is done. Something to consider. Anyway, my point was that you didn't have to help here, but you did. So good on you."

Dorlinda then turned to the Genesis and Lost Zone Rangers. "You have done more. You finished your fights and you went into retirement, well deserved it was as well. Yet when it came down to it, you didn't hesitate to step back into the fight, none of you. And for that, I applaud you."

He made a show of the applause, his hands lightly tapping together.

"Being a ranger is a part of you that never dies. It's always there, the power you drew on to get you this far. It was why you stepped up so readily, it was why you fought when you didn't have to. Come, it's time for you to go home. All of you."

"Hey, if some of us are going to see you again," Luke said, looking over at the Cosmo Rangers. "Then until next time."

"Not you, Luke," Dorlinda smirked. "So you might as well get your farewells in."

One by one, the twenty one rangers went around each other, all offering their goodbyes and the like to each other. And when finally it was up, they stepped away, the Cosmo Rangers returning to their speeder to go back to the Night Hawk, while the Genesis and the Lost Zone Rangers teleported away, returning back to their own time.

All fourteen of them found themselves back in the Genesis Ranger get together, Crane, Lance and Bill still waiting for them.

"Hey," Crane said, as they stood up. "You all made it back. How was Vandor?"

"You knew didn't you?" Nahir asked. "You knew all these years that we'd go to the future like that and see a version of you there."

"Of course I did," he said. "I was there."

Xavier winked at Crane. "That Sandy's hot, right?" he said. "You ever consider…"

"Xavier," Paige said. "I urge you not to finish that sentence under pain of me reaching inside you and pulling out your ribs."

"Guess there's still a little Forsythia in you," Luke quipped.

Both Paige and Naomi shuddered.

"Don't even joke about that," the Latias Ranger said. "That wasn't fun, Luke."

"You know what was less fun?" Dice asked. "Being shot at by you in…"

"Crap!" Claire exclaimed. "I left Iron Flygon in the future!"

"It's still on Vandor?" Riku asked. "Ah, someone'll find it and make use of it no doubt."

"No point worrying about it," Julia said. "Anyway, if we're here, can we join the party?"

"Feel free," Duo said. "It's all paid for by Sunderland Inc. so don't feel guilty."

"You're not going to tell us that we're fired if we do, are you?" Emma asked, smiling at him. "You're very good at that, by the way."

"I know," the Purple Genesis Ranger said. "You don't have to tell me."

Meanwhile…

It had been a long time since Dorlinda had set foot back in his Time Hole. Being dead and all had kinda made it difficult. Still, it was more or less as he'd left it. He'd expected Errol would have made off with some of his stuff, such was brotherly love. His inheritance, no doubt. Still, he had brought something new back with him. Just outside, where the G-Force Zords still rested, a new trophy stood proudly in front of the Roserade G-Force Zord.

He'd never had an Iron Flygon before. It would make a nice addition to his collection.

Shrugging his shoulders, he turned away from it and looked out to the consoles. A whole world waited for him, time would need him.

And he wasn't going to disappoint.

The End.

Author's Notes.

Well, that's it. I hope you liked it.

A bit of reminiscing towards the end there with the rangers remembering their past victories.

Actually, lots of harks back to the past.

Thanks for the reviews. They are all super appreciated.

Anyway, that's it for this.

Next one will be Forever Blue. I'll start that as soon as possible, still don't have all the ranger profiles yet, but it will star twenty blue rangers in their efforts to… Well, you'll have to wait and see. Five of them appeared in this fic.

Thanks for reading.

Don't forget to review! Please!

A note.

Sean Fubrizzi.

Derik Dragonfly.

Jameral.

Matt Farrell.

Ray Hoover.

Josh Courtland.

Greg Simpson.

Nanene Valentine.

Dorothy.

Duo Roronoa.

Katie Myers.

Xavier Jackson.

Elphock.

Sandy Garcia.

Claire Springfield.

Lucria Dimon.

Lucas Osborne.

Alisha Hart.

Marina Wright.

Ethan Webb.

Their time will come. Forever Blue. Coming soon.