Chapter 42—Kings and Queens
Aaron
From where I was presently lying on the muddy and grass-ridden ground of Mount Imperious, I could see the inner sanctum of the Cronus Altar perfectly.
The Mecha White Solaris Ranger was facing off against Gabriel.
But the white ranger was a chick.
It was just not possible.
I was thinking of every single person in the entire world, but no one came to mind. Not a soul. Doc Ol had that morpher under lock and key—SPD didn't even know it was in his possession. So if SPD didn't know and only the Fury Rangers and the Cyber Rangers knew…it wouldn't stand to reason that the Solaris Ranger would be anyone but Doc Ol. I mean…he had the morpher.
So why was it a girl? Was I mistaken? Maybe I was just done as a leader. I just seemed to make mistake after mistake, and it had gotten me nowhere.
Lately, it seemed that there was no room for mistakes. Patrick had upped his standards to nothing less than perfection—looking at every single option and every single possible outcome. I, on the other hand, went with my instincts and what was obvious to the people who didn't over-think things. My dad said that my autism opened my learning pathways to a different, alternative aspect that was regarded as genius by some. I just always thought that it was something he told me to make me feel better about being different. I knew I wasn't the smart guy on the team. Patrick was smart, and Grace and Amy were smart, but I just felt the rest of us were pretty average. I made mistakes all the time—Patrick usually corrected me on them, but I still made them. It was evident in my personal life that I had made mistakes. The biggest mistake I'd ever made was broadcasted to the whole world thanks to Patrick's music and fame. Cheating on him was one thing I'd never let myself forget. The betrayal he must have felt would have driven me insane. The fucked up thing is that I never knew why I did it. Even when I sat down to really think about it, the reasons just never came to me. After a while, I just chalked it up to the fact that I made mistakes.
But…in all the years I'd been alive, there was really only one person in the entire universe who didn't care what mistakes I made. Like no matter what I did, I was still cool. I was untouchable in the realm of awesomeness—like I was the all-time greatest idol. Like if you were to die, their world would end. Like every time you think of that person not being a part of you—or vice versa—you feel your eyes burn. That feeling never really left you, I felt; because even in my darkest times, or my worst of moods, or my happiest of days—I was still the most amazing and phenomenal man in the universe.
I had this one memory of my childhood—just one in particular that shined brighter than the others—of a time when Corey was being picked on. She was in 1st grade and was kind of weird for her age—she was never one of the popular girls; meanwhile, I was top dog in 5th grade with my social life blooming out of my own control. One day after school, she finally told me kids were picking on her. What did I care? She was a strange little 6-year old girl with a penchant for throwing temper tantrums. Nonetheless, when we were little, we played together all the time. And even at the age of 9, with my maturity stunted by all the contact sports I could muster, I remembered she was my best friend. So, during recess the next day, I gave up 30-minutes of two-hand-touch to head over to the 1st grader's playground. Sure enough, I found Corey getting her face rubbed in the woodchips. I beat the shit out of the 3 boys who were bullying her and chivalrously pushedthe 2 girls into Corey's fist. Instantly, I became the number one brother in the world.
I never understood why, but she kept her idolization of me. In all honesty, I knew I was a weird guy. Even in elementary school, I knew I was different from the rest of my friends. I just kind of did my own thing until I met Jay on the 1st grade playground because he had the same backpack as me.
In my moments of weakness, though, I tried to remember Corey's philosophy. That, to her, I was the most powerful person in the world. Not my Dyn, not my dad, not Cronus, and not Gabriel; me. My self-esteem was built solely on the opinion of one little girl.
But jumping right back into being a ranger after being out of service for 17 months…it was a whole new ball game. Everything was confusing me and Gabriel was just far more powerful than I remembered. Even after my first battle with him when Mesomorph first transformed. Despite every mistake I'd made, or how incompetent I felt presently; I knew one absolute and irrefutable thing. As soon as that white ranger spoke, I knew who she was.
She was the one person I could always rely on to be there for me—the one person in the entire world who would give her all just to see me be me.
She was my little sister.
She was Corey.
My little sister—18 years old and nearly finished with high school—was the Mecha White Solaris Ranger.
"Is everyone okay?" I wondered, snapping from my personal reverie and coming back to reality.
"I think so," Beth groaned as she stood up. "I know we got our asses kicked, but…did the White Solaris Ranger just recharge the Mecha Squad using the Aleph Morpher?"
"Yeah," I said half to myself, "that was Solaris alright."
I immediately looked over at Patrick, who was in worse shape than I had ever seen him. The spot of blood on his shirt had spread into a full-blown blotch, and the scrapes and bruises on his face were already starting to heal—thanks to his advanced Ranger healing powers. I couldn't decide if it was for better or worse that he had been knocked out by the blast.
Mira's body was just a few feet away from him, as well as another body that I assumed was Rheas'. Only his skin wasn't blue, and he was a lot smaller than he was before—nearly half his normal size—and from the looks of it, he appeared to be a boy no older than 19. His dark brown hair was just becoming a buzz-cut, and his complexion was just a bit darker than Patrick's slightly tanned skin.
"What happened to him?" Grace asked as she knelt down by him.
"Mesomorph drained the energy from the crystals he and Mira were wearing," Amy said, "I think."
"Sounds about right," Jay agreed.
"Is he…you know…alive?" Amy asked Grace, who was feeling for a pulse.
"Barely. Whatever Mesomorph did to him, the guy's pretty much comatose."
"Look, we can worry about him later," I said, realizing the severity of the situation. "If Gabriel is able to resurrect Cronus, we're fucked. There's no way we can take on Cronus, Gabriel, and Mesomorph; especially with Patrick out of commission."
"Rangers, come in."
I immediately held my communicator to my face. "Aaron, here."
"Aaron, I'm using our reserve energy to try teleporting Patrick back here. My scans on his body aren't coming back good, and he needs immediate attention. The rest of you are going to have to get back here as soon as possible so I can try re-energizing your morphers. Let the Mecha Squad hold them off until then."
"Send for Patrick," I said, "but I'm staying."
"Are you insane?" Jay asked me brashly. "Dude, you saw what Gabriel did to you—to all of us. How the hell do you plan on stopping him? Even with the Mecha Squad's help? We have no powers."
"I'm the Prince of Eltar, Jay," I said simply, my eyes already beginning to glow as I pulled at the power inside me: the Eyr Orion. "I always have power."
He stepped back slightly as my aura built up, but he remained silent.
In my head, it felt like my transformation took eons. But I knew that it took mere seconds—about 15 to be exact.
"We're staying, too," Grace was saying into her own communicator, looking at me as if she knew we'd all be fine.
Looking at me as if I was their savior.
Looking at me like Corey.
I don't think Doc Ol even argued, but I saw the green energy begin to revolve around Patrick as his atoms were dispersed in a teleportation beam.
"Stay back," I said to my teammates, my voice echoing off nothing in particular.
No one responded.
As I stepped forward, I could feel Mount Imperious seeming to tremble beneath me. It hadn't seen the light of an Eyr Orion since the Titanomachy II. And like my Dyn, I was here to end this.
As I entered the inner sanctum, I could see Corey had her hands full with Gabriel while Mesomorph held off the Mecha Squad with powers that seemed unfit for his new human body. Meanwhile, I saw his device continuing its duty of decoding the Cronus Seal. Somehow, I knew what he was doing. Somehow, everything had come full circle. And I knew that it was because of the Eyr Orion.
I prepared my body to launch forward, my eyes locking onto Gabriel. I knew it was logically sound to attack Mesomorph, but I knew Corey was no match for Gabriel—even with the Solaris Ranger powers. But I felt she could help handle Mesomorph in his new humanoid form.
"Gabriel," I boomed.
Corey turned to face me for just an instant, and as Gabriel's own piercing blue eyes locked onto mine, I knew he felt the fear I used to feel upon seeing his Ascended Form. He knew this was ending now.
Corey back-flipped out of the way just as I jumped forward and spinning-heel-kicked Gabriel in the jaw, sending him crashing into the wall. I flew after him, energy trailing behind me, and slammed my fist into his chest. I felt the wall crack under the intensity of the blow, and Gabriel seamlessly crumbled through it.
Meanwhile, I could hear Corey and the Mecha Squad tussling with Mesomorph. He was no match for their combined ranger powers, but as he dodged her foot, he struck her in the stomach and kicked her back into the entryway of the room.
"ENOUGH!" he hissed, his old voice overtaking the new one.
I saw energy begin to encompass the man that Mesomorph had become, the reddish power tinting his whole body until two massive wings broke the skin around his scapulae. Their bony appearance instantly brought a tinge of fear to my confidence; and in that one moment of hesitation, Gabriel was back in full force. I had no time to block his wave of Cronus energy, and was sent reeling backward. When I looked up, both Gabriel and Messiah stood before me.
"What do you think you're doing?" Corey berated me, still confident I had no idea who she was.
"Protecting my little sister," I answered back dramatically, the echo adding to the seriousness of my statement.
"What?" Gabriel spat. "Doctor Oliver gave my morpher to you?"
Corey's visor slid open so she could stare back at him with her hazel, color-changing eyes. "You got a problem with that?"
I looked back and forth between the two, suddenly anxious about Corey being anywhere near Gabriel and his unstable emotions.
"Oh, you'll see what my problem is!" he screamed back at her as his wings spread out to their full-length.
"Everyone back!" I bellowed, stepping in front of the 7 Mecha Rangers.
I inhaled deeply, exhaled, and on my second breath, thrust my arms out at Gabriel.
Instantly, our opposing energies collided. The usually semi-transparent Cronus energy became opaque and plasmatic as it struggled against the bright white-and-blue energy of my Orion form.
"Give it up, Aaron!" he taunted. "I know you can't hold that form for long!"
We all knew he was right.
Sure, I could use the Eyr Orion, but to be able to sustain it for longer than 10 minutes was going to be an impossible feat. But I had to try.
His powers intensified as he flapped his wings harder, winds picking up speed and slamming the Mecha Rangers into the wall near the entrance of the chamber. Their suits began to flicker, emitting sparks and electricity at random. It wouldn't be long until they demorphed. It was like we were fighting a God, and he wasn't even the True Angel yet. That could never be allowed to happen.
I felt the power struggle take its toll on me as my legs began to give out. My eyesight was becoming blurrier—meaning my normal sight was returning—and I could feel the glow beginning to leave my skin. My heart rates accelerated, struggling to keep up with the constant strain of trying to be a full Eltarian. But I wasn't. I was only half-Eltarian, and I knew, deep down inside, that I would never be my Dyn. And he expected me to be king.
Suddenly, I felt my powers bolster—as if some secondary defense had kicked in. It was like this force of energy that had always been there, as long as I could possibly remember, and had just been waiting for me to ask for its help.
It was Corey.
She was burning brightly next to me, her arms mimicking my own as her hair flew behind her like she was in some sort of sick and twisted wind tunnel. Her eyes shone brilliantly, rivaling the most complex of nebulae in beauty and mystery, and the white-and-blue flame-like aura surrounding her was uniting with my dying radiance.
She was an Eyrn Orion.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Gabriel yelled angrily and confusedly.
I saw Messiah prepare to assist, but the Mecha Rangers—hardly standing—were expelling all the raw natural energy they could muster. The powers of Aquos, Naturos, Tundrus, Spiritos, Lunarus, and Technos meshed into one giant static energy arrow that slammed into Messiah and thrust him backward.
"This ends NOW!" Corey and I shouted together.
Our powers coalesced, feeding off each other symbiotically, and formed an enormous ray of energy that engulfed Gabriel in a fiery burst of light. I heard him scream painfully, every vibration of his vocal chords emphasized by his powers and my enhanced ears. But Corey and I never stopped. I saw Messiah's device explode, spilling unprocessed energy into the open air. I felt the morphers on my wrist absorb the Delta Coding and saw the Psi, Sigma, Kappa, Upsilon, Alpha, and Zeta Coding shoot off into the unknown.
—42—
The first sound I could hear was Doc Ol's voice, so I knew I was back in his basement. From the feel of things, I was on a med bed.
You have no idea how tired I was of waking up on med beds.
"How long was I out this time?" I muttered, not daring to open my eyes.
"Only a few hours," Patrick's voice assured me.
That got me to open my eyes.
"What happened?" I asked, sitting up slowly and feeling the bandages around my bare abdomen pull slightly.
"I saw the end of it on the monitor," he said, "you and Corey…you destroyed Gabriel and Mesomorph."
I looked over at Corey, who was sleeping silently on the med bed next to me.
"Are you serious?"
"Doc Ol's running a scan for Gabriel's Cronus signature, but he can't find it. Then again, he could be having his signal blocked if they are alive."
I rubbed my hand through my hair, glancing at the monitor. My teammates were standing around it, talking with Doc Ol about something.
I moved so my legs were hanging of the med bed and signaled for Patrick to sit next to me. "You know," I said as he sat down, "I was really worried about you. Back on Mount Imperious."
He looked away slightly, and even though he was different from the Patrick I was used to, I knew he was thinking about his mother.
"I'm sorry about your mom."
"She stopped being my mom years ago," he said, anger slightly welling in his voice. He paused and gathered his thoughts and added, "I mean…I've already gone through the process of losing her. I can't really do that twice. It's just better to remember how she was, rather than who she became."
"You never cease to amaze me," I grinned, nudging him with my elbow.
I could see a grin slowly creep up his lips.
"We should be celebrating, you know," I said. "I mean…after all…Corey and I owned."
"Yeah, you really did," he conceded.
"And…since we're not at war anymore…"
"Shut up, Aaron."
But he laughed.
And that was my main goal. To see him finally laugh.
"Now that you're awake," Doc Ol said as he walked over to me, apparently done with whatever he was saying the Cyber Rangers, "I need a few favors."
"Um…okay. Shoot."
"What do you know about David Trueheart?"
I frowned.
"Well…not a lot. He was Earth's first representative in the Eltarian Council during the Titanomachy II. Early SPD appointed him because of his half-Eltarian status and he became crucial in passing the TPA. Far as I know, he retired and lived alone. Why?"
"I was able to hack into the SPD Database," he said, motioning for Patrick and me to follow him to the monitor. "Mira was telling the truth about being an SPD Operative. And she really was involved with David. And she had two children with him."
"Two?" Patrick wondered, stepping forward. "What do you mean two?"
"You were the first, Patrick," Doc Ol said, looking at him oddly, "and Rheas was the second."
The room went silent.
"Are you kidding me?"
"You're saying Rheas is Patrick's brother?" I asked.
"Dude, freaky," Jay sighed. "I am so sorry, man."
Patrick's face remained unchanged. "It's…it's not something to be sorry about, I guess, but…Rheas hasn't woken up since you guys brought him here."
"That's because when Mesomorph absorbed that energy from Mira and Rheas, he drained the device that gave Mira her super-human powers: the SPD Geno-Enhancer. When he took Rheas' energy, he took his Geno-Enhancer and tapped into the low-level psychic field that all Eltarians retain," Doc Ol explained. "Even you, Patrick."
"So…he's brain dead?" Patrick questioned sadly as he looked over at Rheas' body.
I could now see the resemblance between the two. The dark brown hair, the slightly olive complexion like they were just always tanning…it made sense, I guessed.
"Not entirely. He's got brain activity, but it's like his body is in shock without its psychic field."
"What does this mean, though?" Grace wondered. "I mean…with Mesomorph and Gabriel gone…is it safe for us to go outside, or…what?"
"That's what the Mecha Squad is trying to determine," her father answered. "I sent them on a recon mission to see how SPD is reacting, but they're still gathering data."
Patrick sighed. "This has been one hell of a day."
Doc Ol smiled, placing a hand on Patrick's shoulder. "I do have one other surprise for you."
"Honestly," Patrick replied, "if it has anything to do with long-lost relatives or crazy Eltarian stuff…I'm just gonna pass."
I frowned slightly at his defeated demeanor.
"Are you sure?" Doc Ol asked, his smile growing.
"Let me guess…you know where he is?"
"Not quite, but I'm sure I could find him. He's my brother."
"WHAT?" was pretty much the entire room's response.
"Well, half-brother," he answered.
"So we're like…family?" Grace pondered, looking back and forth between her father and Patrick.
"We're like family," Doc Ol said.
"If you guys are brothers, why didn't you tell me about this a long time ago?" Patrick demanded, not at all as pleased as Grace and Doc Ol seemed.
"I had no idea David was involved with SPD—not like that. My communication with him was sporadic at best, and around the time I became involved with the Dino Rangers was the last we really talked. He said he was following his spirit, and I respected that."
"Was part of following his spirit abandoning his wife and kids? And why the hell didn't I even know that Rheas existed?"
"I don't know," Doc Ol sighed. "Rheas, I'm guessing, was raised by David. His and Mira's relationship was probably against SPD regulations at the time, so I'm assuming they kept everything very secret."
"Obviously not secret enough," Matt muttered.
Grace elbowed him subtly.
"I'm just not getting this," Patrick sighed. "None of this makes any sense whatsoever."
"Which is why I'm going to find David and get some answers," Doc Ol said determinedly.
Patrick looked away, walking aimlessly toward the back where the med beds were sitting on the few stairs.
"Patrick," Doc Ol said, following him and putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder once again, "I promise; I'm going to figure this out."
"It's not that," he mumbled, "it's just…for the first time in forever, I don't know if I really want to figure it out."
"Dude," I said, having made my way over as well, "I know it's confusing, and a lot of what you're finding out about yourself and your family is hard…trust me, I do…but…it doesn't really change you. I mean, look at it this way: you've got a brother and a father—that's more family than you ever even thought possible just yesterday."
I smiled at him as I crouched down and rubbed his back.
He smiled back, but it was a bittersweet smile. Regardless, I knew I helped. If there was one thing I knew I could do well, it was make him feel better. I just had to hope that would be enough to get him through the challenges that laid ahead for him.