Lerigot cut off the communicator, looking to his daughter Bethal, who was still on "hard labour" for her part in springing Jordan from The Library before Gosei was ready. Although things had worked out for the best, she had inadvertently put the whole plan at risk. Everything needed to go perfectly, if even one component of the plan went awry, then all their work, all their sacrifices would be for nothing.
"What now?" Bethal asked. "Do you want me to much out Bright Star's stables again? Because I swear, mystical unicorn or not, the stuff that comes out of that damn things stinks like..."
"You don't need to worry; your hard labour is over." Lerigot told his daughter, touching her shoulder gently. She felt her powers returning to her, and could only breathe a sigh of relief.
"Oh, thank the Gods for that!" She exclaimed. "You have no idea how much I missed even simple spells. Cleaning that temple took ages! And don't get me started on feeding Catastros...that thing bites you know!"
"Then perhaps you will think about the consequences of your spells a little more." He answered. He reached into his robes, pulling out his wand. He offered it to his daughter. "It is especially important when you have the power this offers you."
"Your...your wand?" Bethal asked. "But...you..."
"I need you to take my place as the planet's mage." He told her.
"You want me to look after the planet until you return?" She asked him. He just smiled and nodded.
"It was always my intention to prepare you for this day." He told her. He hugged her tightly. "Make me proud."
"I will." She responded, before using the power of her wand to disappear.
He went back inside the temple, where the mystics were all standing around in a massive seal, which had been carved into the floor. The Tribuneral of Magic, The Snow Prince, and Princess Shayla were all standing in positions around the edge of the seal, while the Mystic Mother was standing in the centre. Lerigot stepped up to the one remaining spot on the seal.
"We all know why we're here." The Mystic Mother stated. "Now, we can begin."
Torches lit up around the perimeter of the room as they started to chant. The Mystic Mother placed her staff in the centre of the room, standing it upright, at which it started to glow. An image opened up, allowing her to view the battle, knowing just the time they would need to act.
Back at the site of the battle, the Rangers launched their assault against The Armada, taking heavy fire as they did. The Megazord's cannon opened fire, taking down some of the ships as it braced against the return fire.
"Power levels are dropping!" Noah announced. "We're down to 57 percent."
"Tensou, how are the repairs going?" Troy asked as Gia and Jake concentrated on the battle before them.
"I'm working as fast as I can!" Tensou squealed as he avoided some flying debris. "As soon as I fix one thing, another two blow up!"
"We've lost targeting!" Gia told them. "We're down to manual aiming!"
"How are you holding up Orion?" Emma asked.
"I'm just not doing enough damage!" Orion told them, flying around in his Q-Rex in drill mode, firing into the fleet. "It's like when I take down one, five more are right behind it!"
His ship spun out of control as the Command Ship opened fire, scoring a direct hit. He managed to convert to Megazord mode just in time as he hit the ground, landing on its knees. He continued to fire his secondary weapons.
"Now propulsion is out!" He told them. "I can't take another hit like that! My Zord's on its last legs!"
"There just aren't enough of us!" Jake complained.
"Wait...that's it! Guys, we have our own fleet!" Emma reminded them, pulling out her Mystic Force key. "We have the auxiliary Zords!"
"Yeah, they want to bring in the reinforcements, then so can we!" Jake yelled excitedly as they unleashed the Mystic Dragon. It flew out, beginning to take down ships left and right. "Jungle Fury, spirits unleashed!"
Over at the hotel, the Rangers were all assembling in the main reception hall of the hotel. It had been set up for a presentation, hired for the length of their stay in order to be ready for when they were about to act. They had all come, all ready for the battle ahead. As she made her way to her seat, sitting down next to Leo, the Red Galaxy Ranger looked to Karone.
"All of this must seem pretty familiar huh?" He asked her. She just nodded. There had been one other intergalactic invasion of Earth on this scale. Karone was all too aware of that, back then she was still brainwashed as Astronema, and had been there when it happened. Although she was under mind control and wasn't really responsible for what happened, there was a part of her that still felt like she was. It was just one of the reasons that when Kendrix, who had responsibilities of her own with the children she and Kai had since her resurrection had asked her to take her place, to ensure that the kids didn't have to watch both parents go off to battle, she accepted without a second thought.
"I was on the other side last time." Karone answered. "But I love being a Ranger."
"Hey, I don't recognise everyone here." Mike commented, looking around.
"Apparently there are a few people that others chose to come along." Leo explained. While most of the other Rangers maintained communications with each other, the Reds especially were charged with ensuring they kept up to date with the latest goings on of the current teams. "Over there, we have David Trueheart, Tommy's brother, and there...we have..."
"So, the rumours are true then." He replied. "They're really going to try it."
"We didn't bring these things for nothing." Tori stated from the row behind them, holding up the remains of her broken, inert morpher.
"Can you all take your seats please?" Jason announced from the front of the room, causing them all to file into their seats, looking up to the stage. They all sat with baited breath, waiting to hear Jason begin. "I see a lot of familiar faces in this room. I also see a few new faces among us."
The first Red Ranger gripped the edges of the podium as he looked out over the crowd, observing them all.
"Most of you know exactly what you've agreed to. For some of you though, this will be the first time you've ever been asked to handle this responsibility. However, the one thing that unites us, the one thing that connects us all is that not one person in this room has been forced into making this choice. Each of you has made the decision to be here of your own volition." He continued. "We're about to begin very soon, so this is without exaggeration your last chance to change your mind. If you don't leave now, you're in this until the end, one way or another. If you want to leave, now is the time."
There was a slight murmur from around the room, but as they took a moment, looking around, there was not one person that got up from their seat. Jason just smiled.
"Then I say this with all sincerity. I will be proud to fight by your side, each and every one of you." Jason told them. "Now, there is one of our number who is not currently with us, but he will be joining us soon enough. In the meantime, I suggest you all get to know each other. Soon enough, we'll have to rely on each other. May the Power protect you."
Back at the site of the battle, the Rangers brought forth all the zords at their disposal, sending them forth against the alien fleet. Each new Zord brought forth all of its power, ploughing through the enemy and taking out ships with everything at their disposal. Jake let out a whoop of delight as the Turbo Falcon blew up a flotilla a little way from the Megazord as it continued to fire its cannon.
"This is it! Keep it up guys!" He screamed. "I can't even count the number of ships we've taken out!"
"We're not out of the woods yet, more are coming down!" Orion told him, as his Q-Rex started to swing at low-flying ships with its arms, sending them spinning to the ground.
"There's no end to them!" Gia shrieked. "They just keep coming!"
Her console exploded, and she was barely able to shield herself from the flames bursting forth. She grabbed a fire extinguisher, putting out the flames. "I just lost my console!"
"The cooling system is all but shot!" Noah told them. "In about ten more shots, the cannon's going to overheat!"
Jake was thrown across the room as his own console exploded. He quickly scrambled to his feet.
"Damn it, we've just lost another station!" He called out.
"Noah, what are we facing?" Troy asked.
"System's power is down to 26 percent!" He told them. "If we don't finish this soon..."
"MYSTIC DRAGON!" Gia screamed as she watched it getting blasted out of the sky. The ruined, flaming form of it fell to the ground, breaking apart as it did so.
"The Delta Runner's gone too!" Jake stated, pointing to the screen, where they watched as it blew apart under the relentless assault of The Armada. "Shit! We just lost the Turbo Falcon too!"
"The Lion Zord's down!" Emma told them as she watched it fall. It teleported away, presumably back to the Animarium to heal, but they knew that it would not be ready in time. Functionally, it was out of the battle. They then took another blast, which knocked the Megazord right onto its back.
"We're down to 8 percent!" Noah told them. "One more hit, and it's over!"
"And The Armada ships just keep coming!" Gia responded.
"Oh crap!" Noah stated as he saw the Command Ship taking aim straight at them. "Uh...guys..."
"NO!" Orion called out as his Q-Rex broke into a run, throwing itself into the path of the barrage. As the Command Ship opened fire, the Q-Rex took the hit, full on, being blasted apart. Smoking, flaming wreckage flew in all directions as it was utterly destroyed.
"ORION!" Emma screamed, seeing the Zord being blown to pieces. "NO! YOU MONSTERS!"
"Guys, they're powering up for another blast!" Noah told them. "We have to abandon ship!"
"Tensou, get the key chest to safety!" Troy yelled. "Everyone, bail out before..."
He wasn't quick enough though. The Armada Command Ship fired one more barrage, at which the Megazord, the last Zord in their arsenal, exploded devastatingly. The Rangers were thrown in all directions, scattering around the city. Only the power of their suits saved them from being incinerated, but as they landed in the ruins of downtown Harwood, they were left unconscious, broken and defeated.
Up on The Armada Command Ship, Redker rejoiced over the result of the invasion. He stepped away from the window, where he had observed the destruction of the Zords.
"It's over! Victory is ours!" He declared excitedly, looking to his uncle. "Nothing compares to the thrill of crushing your enemies!"
"Yes!" Mavro agreed. "But there is one more thing that will make our victory all the sweeter!"
He activated his holographic message board, once again allowing him to address the people of Earth directly.
"People of Earth, Hear me! I am Emperor Mavro! Leader of The Armada! We control this entire Galaxy! Only your Power Rangers dared to resist us, and you've seen what became of them! We've won!" He announced as the citizens looked on in horror. "The Power Rangers have been destroyed, and you're all next! I will grant you one last night to savour your despair! Tomorrow at dawn, we're coming back to wipe your pathetic species from the face of existence! So says Mavro, rightful ruler of the Universe, and the new owner of your pathetic planet!"
With that, the rest of the fleet started to rise back into the sky again, blasting off into orbit. The citizens of Harwood could only feel despair as they started to sift through the ruins of their city, desperately looking for anything that would help them survive that one, final night.
In the Mystic Realm, the Mystic Mother saw the moment of the Rangers' defeat, and knew that the time had come. This was what Gosei had planned for all along. She raised her hands into the air.
"And so it is, that we, the Guardians of the Earth unite our Power." She declared.
"We unite our power as one!" They all chorused. "We, the Earth's chosen guardians offer our power, and observe our destiny."
Princess Shayla pulled a long, curved dagger from her robes, at which the others all followed suit.
"And as Guardians of the Earth, we give our all to defend it." She declared, gripping it tightly. "Even at the cost of our own lives."
With that, she plunged the dagger deeply into her own heart. One by one, the others repeated her words, falling to the ground. Their blood leaked into the channels carved into the floor, forming the spell seal in their own blood. The Mystic Mother took her own dagger, and completed the ritual, piercing her own heart. The spell seal started to glow brightly as her temple exploded, sending out a power wave throughout the entire planet.
In the ruins of Harwood, Tensou was carrying the Key Chest in his frantic search for the Rangers, but it started to glow. In alarm, he dropped the chest, which broke open as it hit the ground. He could only watch as all the Ranger keys started to glow, before disappearing.
"What...what happened?" He shrieked! "Where did they go?"
He searched around, but could find no sign of them. With no idea what had happened to them, he went back to his priority mission of finding the Rangers.
In the hotel, the Rangers all watched as their morphers started to glow, and re-form. They all felt the power coursing through them, and could only be amazed. Many of them had lost their powers years before, some of them hadn't had powers in almost 20 years.
"This...this is amazing!" Kira announced, staring at her morpher as Conner and Ethan came to her side. "It worked, it actually worked!"
"Man, I am so amped up for this!" Wes stated as he strapped his morpher to his wrist. "I wish The Armada would come down now so we could finish this!"
"There are still people in the city that need help." Carter reminded him. "We should be out there helping them."
"All in good time." Jason told him. "In the meantime, there's one thing I think we should all see."
With that, he turned on a projector, which projected a news broadcast onto the wall of the meeting hall. The Presidential Seal was on the wall, and there were some camera flashes as the President, Zack Taylor stepped up to the podium. He gripped the edge of the podium as he looked out over the assembled press. He took a deep breath as he prepared to begin.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have scheduled this State of the Union speech to address the events of the last few hours in Harwood." He began. "As many of you know, the Power Rangers have been fighting The Armada for the last year. It is a battle that has seen its share of highs and lows. As many of you have no doubt seen in the news, Emperor Mavro has declared that in 24 hours that he will be back to begin the final stage of his invasion. I must ask that you do not panic in these troubled times."
He stepped around the podium.
"The final battle will take place in Harwood, and I can only ask that the world unite to tell those invading in once voice that we will never surrender!" Zack declared. "We have fought against tyranny and oppression before, but now we fight for our very survival, and I invoke every person on Earth, regardless of their race, creed or religion to send the Rangers their support and their well wishes."
He then looked to his Secret service agents as he prepared for the last part.
"It is with a great deal of consideration that I have decided to hand the reins of control to the Vice President at this time." He told them, causing a murmur from the press. "In my final act as President, I have signed a full presidential pardon for any offences relating to the Corsair Rangers. I implore the other world leaders to do the same in recognition of their services to the world."
"Mr President, you're abandoning your post?" One of the journalists called out. Zack just smiled.
"You'll be in good hands with the Vice President." He assured them. "Right now, there's somewhere I'm needed more. It's Morphin' time!"
With that, he morphed into the Black Dino Ranger for the first time in two decades, before disappearing in a flash of light. For what was possibly the first time in history, the entire nation was left silent.
Back in the hotel, the assembled Rangers watched the State of the Union Address, and could hardly believe what they had seen. Zack appeared in the room, and de-morphed.
"Well, that was...different." Tori stated. "I'll bet the next guy won't have a broadcast that memorable."
"There's nowhere else I'd be right now." Zack told them. "Now, there are a lot of people out there that need help."
"You heard the man." Carter replied, grabbing his jacket and his fire department helmet. "Come on."