In a secret lair, shrouded in darkness, a mysterious figure watched events unfolding. He had seen Lavira's sacrifice, he had seen the invasion come, and most importantly, he had watched as the Rangers sacrificed all of their Zords in the vain attempt to keep The Armada at bay.

While it amused him to watch that footage, replaying it again and again like a kid that had found a Youtube video with some uncensored swear words, it was the fallout that interested him the most. He had seen Mavro granting the humans one last day of mercy, to give them time to think about the destruction to come. He had seen the humans finally starting to crawl from the ruins of their homes, carrying what little they could with them as they struggled to find somewhere to cower, to await the inevitable destruction. He could almost smell the hopelessness, he could almost feel the despair coming from the city. He smiled as he saw it.

It interested him to watch the humans scurry around in the ruins of the city, like ants scrambling for any tiny morsel they could find among the waste left behind by those higher up the food chain than them. It interested him even more to see that while they were helping each other to some extent, people sharing out what few meagre provisions they could find, there were some that were in the streets actively helping others, but with seemingly nothing in it for themselves. Some were actually going out in the streets, looking for people that were in need of help, and helping them even when there was nothing in it for them.

He watched one video in particular, one that interested him immensely.

There was a bus teetering over the edge of a motorway bridge. It was a Greyhound that had unfortunately been on a late schedule, making it one of the few that hadn't made it out of the city before the bombardment. People inside were screaming in terror as metal squealed, the vehicle barely holding together and close to tipping them all into the street below.

As it seemed that they were doomed though, there were yellow and red streaks that rushed through the vehicle, following which a couple of lines that hadn't been there before were now threaded through the vehicle. There were two people, one a young, white male around his mid twenties, and the other, a dark-skinned woman in camouflage trousers, with a yellow jersey on the other end of the lines. They both ran around nearby structures, bracing the lines, and starting to pull. The bus started to tip back forward, but not enough to put it out of danger. He could see some of the support struts in the bus buckling.

"We can't pull this thing up! It'll break apart!" Mack yelled.

"Ronny, Conner, do your thing!" Katie stated as she wrapped the line around herself, bracing her foot against the pillar she was using for leverage. The Red and Yellow streaks started darting in and out of the vehicle as the two humans held onto the lines, struggling with the weight. Before long, the bus was empty. As the red streak came back, it stopped, revealing a young man in his late twenties.

"They're clear!" Conner told them. "Ronny?"

"Everything's clear down here!" She shouted up from the street below. "Alright, let it go!"

She streaked out of the area as Katie and Mack let go of their lines. The bus teetered for another couple of moments, before finally tipping over the edge, slamming into the street below. Ronny and Conner rushed to Katie and Mack as they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright guys, I think that's it." Conner stated. "We'll see you back at the safe house."

"Race you there!" Ronny replied, at which they both darted off. Katie and Mack just looked at each other.

"You're not going to challenge me to an arm-wrestling match are you?" Mack asked. "I'm beat."

"Me too." Katie answered. "Rain check?"

"Sure." Mack answered as they both walked away. The figure watching them just smiled as he saw this.

"They're so predictable." He commented. "Everything is going to plan."

On The Armada Command Ship, Emperor Mavro was in a banquet chamber, gorging himself ahead of the final battle. He was confident that he would not only conquer the Earth, but utterly destroy it. It was within his capability to simply destroy the planet, using his heaviest weapons, but he didn't want to turn Earth into rubble, not now. Now that they had taken both his sons from him, he wanted Earth to serve as an example, to be a galactic billboard warning all other worlds what awaited them if they dared to believe that they could stand against The Armada.

As he picked up a bottle, Redker came into the room. He didn't bother looking at his nephew, he just popped the cork on the bottle.

"This is called Dom Perrignon. Some of my troops brought it back from Earth." Mavro told him. "Apparently it is considered one of their most valued vintages."

"I am sure it would not be fit to water the vermin in the plumbing of this ship." Redker replied, hoping to flatter his Uncle. Mavro just looked to him.

"You are saying my ship is full of vermin?" He asked. "Are you suggesting I make a habit of living in squalor?"

"No, no of course not Your Highness, I..." Redker stammered as he tried to think of a response. "I...um...I merely meant that this human swill is probably not worthy of your refined palate."

"What do you want?" Mavro demanded of his nephew, beginning to lose patience. He loathed his toadying. While he expected it from Vekar, his first true heir, Vrak, the bastard that wasn't even his, had earned his respect. Vrak alone dared to actually question him. He was always suggesting ideas, strategies, many of which Mavro had ended up using, and as a result achieving victory in much shorter time frames and with substantially lower losses than he had believed possible. While Vekar was the heir, and he had love him dearly, willing him to take after his brother and learn to become a true Emperor, Vrak was the one he was confident would make a fine ruler when his time came.

Redker...he was more like Vekar, but without the saving grace of being Mavro's son. He was slightly more tactically inclined than Vekar, but he still relied more on his lineage than any real talent to keep his position. His attitude and his constant snivelling and sucking up irritated Mavro to no end, and he was already wondering if he had any other relatives that would work as his heir should something "unfortunate" befall Redker.

"Your Highness...I wish to lead an assault on Harwood!" He told him flatly. Champagne spilled down Mavro's chin as he lost concentration for a moment and just stared at him. He gulped down what had managed to get into his mouth.

"I have already told you..."

"Your Highness...Uncle, please!" Redker pleaded with him. She scurried over, falling to his knees at his side. "I want to do this."

"These Rangers..."

"The Rangers are just five humans, and you've already destroyed all of their Zords!" He reminded him. "Uncle...I only want to prove myself to you."

Mavro just poured himself some more champagne as he considered this. He looked to the goblet.

"This champagne isn't actually all that bad." He commented.

"Uncle, please." Redker stated. "I beg you, allow me to lead the ground forces."

"Will you do as I say from now on?" Mavro asked him.

"I will do anything you want to honour you Uncle!" He rushed out.

"Fine, then you will lead the ground assault." Mavro told him, seeing Redker's face light up. He had the family taste for bloodshed and sadism, but he still failed to convince Mavro he truly had what it took to rule with an iron fist. She figured that he was right that the Rangers' forces had been decimated and there was likely no real threat to Redker left. "Go and get ready. I will have your army ready in time for dawn."

"I will make you proud Uncle, I promise you!" Redker rushed out in delight. Mavro watched him go, and sighed deeply.

"I knew I should have killed my sister when we were kids." He grumbled.

Back in Harwood Mall, things were pretty quiet as people started to find exhaustion taking root, and finding places to settle down to sleep. Everyone knew what awaited them the following morning, but between grieving for those that didn't make it, and scrambling together what little they had left to keep them going, people were more than ready to sleep.

Troy wasn't one of them though. He took a moment to enjoy the quiet as he wandered around the mall. It was more than a little eerie to walk around here when there wasn't a whole crowd of people pushing and shoving to get where they wanted to go, but it did give him a lot of time to think.

He was under no false impressions of what they faced now. They had faced huge battles before, they had faced uphill fights in the past more times than he cared to count, but this was something completely different. They still didn't know where Orion was, or even if he was still alive, and they already knew that the Zords were gone.

It was just them, just five kids, standing against the might of The Armada in the final push. He had spent his whole life hearing inspirational tales about uphill struggles, like Thermopylae, or the Alamo, and while all those stories stirred the soul and ignited the flame of passion to stand up for what he believed in, there was one sad common thread among such stories. In general, the outnumbered forces ended up being wiped out, crushed before the juggernaut they faced on those occasions. The Spartans had 300 warriors when they faced a million Persians. Troy didn't even want to think how many Armada he had to face, and they only had five.

To say the odds didn't look good was an understatement. It didn't matter how much he meditated on the point, it didn't matter how much he communed with his Dragon Spirit, the fact was that the beast they were facing was merciless, and seemingly unstoppable. He was determined that Mavro would have to take his last breath from him by force, it still wasn't an encouraging thought.

He noticed someone moving outside, and he made his way out, finding Emma standing on a balcony that had served as the Al Fresco wing of a Hawaiian barbecue restaurant on the top floor of the mall. She was looking out into the night, staring up at the sky. He was about to quietly leave her to it, but as he was about to go, he heard her say his name.

"Troy?" She asked again. He turned back slowly, looking towards her. "You couldn't sleep either?" He shook his head as he approached.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked.

"I was just looking at the stars." Emma answered. "I remember...we could barely see the sky today. This might be the last time I get the chance to see them."

"It is something alright." Troy commented. "We normally couldn't see them here...that's why we went to the hill...that one over there...to see the meteor shower."

"Light pollution." Emma said with a smile. "There are so many lights in the city from all the street lamps and store signs and such that it's hard to see the stars at night. I'm glad to see you remember some of what I said."

"Emma, I'm really sorry..."

"I came out here to think, I've had a lot to think about." Emma interrupted him, looking back out. "I called Dana, dad's far too weak to move. They can't risk taking him out of the city, so he's going to be here."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Troy answered. Emma just took a deep breath.

"I'm going to be here, no matter what happens." She told him. "I'm not leaving dad here, there's no way I can do that. I'm here to the end, whatever that end is."

"He's lucky to have you." Troy answered. Emma just turned to him, leaning on the guard rail.

"Do you remember on your birthday, how we went to that John Wayne film marathon in the cinema?" She asked him. Troy just nodded. "Or how about that time I watched you in that tournament against the kid from Turtle Cove that was like three feet taller than you?"

"I really appreciated that." Troy told her. "Emma..."

"Do you remember what you bought me for Christmas last year?" Emma asked him. He just nodded.

"I got you that butterfly book." He answered.

"How about my Birthday before that?" She asked him.

"I got you..." His words tailed off. "I got you a nature book?"

"A butterfly book." Emma reminded him. "The...uh...same one you bought me a few months later."

"Shit, I didn't did I?" Troy asked her. She just nodded.

"Then you bought it for me a third time for my last birthday." Emma told him. Troy just slumped down in a corner.

"Emma, I didn't...I really suck...I'm totally sorry." He said to her. She just shook her head.

"You know, in all the time we were together, I don't think we ever took one BMX ride together, and I can count on one hand the number of times we went hiking together." She continued. She could see the way he was looking at her and knelt down with him. She took his hands in hers. "I'm not saying this to make you feel bad."

"Then why...?"

"I guess...I guess what I'm trying to say is, it hurt when we broke up, but now that I think about it, now that I've had time to really think about our time together, we really didn't do a whole lot with each other, other than...well..."

"Emma, hearing this, I really feel like I wasn't a good boyfriend." He admitted. "Your interests...I'll admit, they weren't my speed, but I never meant..."

"Troy, all I'm saying is..." Emma answered, stalling a little to think about what she wanted to say. "What we had together was great, it was something that I'll never forget, but...I guess...it's just something that was at a certain time and place for us."

"So...you're not mad?" He asked her.

"Well...don't expect a Christmas card or anything this year." She told him. "But I guess I'm trying to accept...what we had was great, but I guess...we were different then, and we just grew apart."

"I'm really sorry that happened." Troy told her.

"I am too." Emma answered. "But if this is it, I just want you to know...I do understand."

Troy hugged her tightly. He did genuinely care about Emma, but even he had to admit that they were very different people at the beginning, and it seemed like they had only gotten further and further apart. As much as he was convinced that he had done the right thing, he cared enough about Emma that he never wanted to see her hurt. To hear from her that she understood his decision, even if she didn't say she forgave him for what happened, was something he couldn't hope for.

Just then, they heard some rustling from some nearby rubble. They both prepared for action, but as a shadowy figure appeared over the verge, before stepping into view, their faces lit up.

"ORION!" They both screamed, running into the mall. They stopped only to shake the others awake before unlocking the doors. Orion came in, at which they all whooped with delight.

"Orion! You made it!" Gia yelled.

"Hey, it'll take more than a little air strike to level this guy right?" Jake answered, high-fiving Orion. "Tensou! How's it going little buddy?"

"Not so good." Tensou answered. "I brought the chest but...the keys...they're gone."

"Wait, what?" Noah asked.

"The keys are gone! They just disappeared!" Tensou explained. Troy and the others checked their pockets quickly, realising they still had their own Corsair keys.

"So...this is it." Noah stated. "All we have left is these."

"Then that'll have to be enough." Orion put down flatly.

"Dawn's only in a few hours." Troy told them. "When Mavro comes, we give him everything, no matter what happens."

"If he wants this planet, he'll have to take it from us." Emma stated, taking his hand.

"I'm in." Gia added. "He's not getting Earth without a fight!"

"There are so many mysteries in this world still to explore." Noah commented, putting in his hand. "They won't be lost if I have anything to say."

"You always play the whole 90 minutes." Jake stated as he put his hand in. Orion just looked to the others.

"Andresia is gone, but Earth has a chance." He said, putting his hand in.

"Then this is it, nothing more, nothing less." Troy stated. "We win or we die!"

"Then let's say what we all want to!" Jake said with a smile. "Emperor Mavro, you can..."

"...KISS OUR ASS!" They all roared together as they parted.