Jordan came to, finding himself in somewhat familiar surroundings. He was surrounded by stone, covered in moss and cobwebs. There were five plinths in the room, covered with thick layers of dust and grime, but he could recognise them as the control panels from the old cave on Gosei's island.
"I'm back in the Command Centre." He surmised. "Why would dad send me here?"
"Because this is the last stage of your journey." He heard a familiar voice saying. He turned to see the projection of Pythia approaching him. She still took on the form of his mother, but instead of finding it unsettling, he felt himself smiling as he saw her.
"Pythia! I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad to see you." He told her. He then furrowed his brows. "But...uh...how can you appear outside The Library?"
"The Library has been dismantled." She told him. "I have all the power I need to appear here in order to give you this."
Jordan looked to her as she held out a red memory crystal. He just looked to her as he took it from her.
"What's this?" Jordan asked.
"It's the last memory crystal." She told him. "This is Gosei's memory crystal. This will finally explain everything."
"What about dad?" He asked. "He's still up there fighting Mavro without me! I need to go back, I need..."
"Jordan...your father would not have sent you here if it wasn't necessary." Pythia assured him. "This is what all of this has been about. This is your destiny."
Jordan gripped the memory crystal tightly, and closed his eyes, entering the last memory crystal.
On the streets of Harwood, the Rangers were carving through the remaining soldiers of The Armada. The streets were finally starting to clear out, and the Rangers could finally see the end of the battle approaching. They could finally see an end to the army.
Troy watched as Megaforce Red hacked down a couple of X-borgs. He approached him, smiling as he did so.
"Good job." He complimented him. "The only question I have left is...who are you?"
"Gosei figured you can never have too many Rangers." He replied. His voice was familiar, but Troy couldn't quite place it. "We can catch up after!"
"Well, the Black guy's putting up a good show." Jake said as he stood back-to-back with his counterpart.
"Wait, my counterpart is a girl?" Noah asked, noticing a skirt as Megaforce Blue took down some bruisers with her Bowgun. "Just as well I'm not threatened by stuff like that."
"Well, my counterpart seems to be a guy." Emma added as he blew a few Kingsmen apart. One of them had its head blown clean off its shoulders. "And he's a pretty good shot!"
"Hey, this past year's seen a lot of gender-switching in the suits; I guess it was just our turn." Gia answered as she and Magaforce Yellow smashed through some more of the robotic troops. "Although...my counterpart still seems to be a girl...OK, I guess only some of us."
"Guys, I can see the back of the lines!" Zack called out from where he was taking pot shots with his Power Axe in cannon mode. "There's actually an end to this invasion! We're going to do it!"
"Then let's stop talking about it and get it done!" Mack shouted, lashing out with his Drive Lance. "Let's give Gosei the time he needs to finish up whatever he's doing!"
Up on The Armada Command Ship, Gosei spun away from the Emperor, twirling his halberd in an intricate pattern as he went. Mavro looked to a huge gash in his leg, and clamped his hand over it, seeing his blood running, the first time he had seen that in years.
"Eltarian steel!" Gosei said with a smile, bringing the weapon back around into a guard.
"You honestly believe some trinket from that little mud ball you came from scares me?" Mavro roared as he lashed out with a huge, broad bladed sword, slashing through support beams and guard rails as he lunged at Gosei. "You saw what I did to that!"
"You talk a lot about what you're going to do to me!" Gosei stated as he deflected a blow, bringing the blade back across Mavro, slicing along one of his arms, then opening up a neat little gash across his left cheek bone. "But so far you just look like a big bumbling infant! Crawling around, smashing up your toys because you have the power to do so! You can't imagine what it means to have real power!"
Mavro saw that in his rage, he had cut up more than a few support beams, and left the walk way they were on rickety, and loose. He got a wicked smirk on his face.
"You made a big mistake coming here, one that's already cost your friends their lives!" Mavro told him. "And one that will soon cost you yours!"
He distracted Gosei with some power blasts, and swinging his massive blade, before bringing his foot down on the walkway with all his power. Gosei felt the walkway shift. As he stomped down again, the walkway fell, taking Gosei with it, all the way to the ground level. The last Eltarian hit the ground floor, right at the base of the engine room hard, but didn't get much of a chance to recover. His arm only barely took the impact as Mavro landed, stomping down on it. His armour saved it being crushed into oblivion, but Mavro had managed to stop him retrieving his weapon. He picked up Gosei's halberd and inspected it.
"This is an interesting piece; perhaps it will look good in my trophy room." He mused, before ramming it through Gosei's abdomen, causing him to scream out in pain. "On second thought...perhaps I'll just have you stuffed and mounted instead!"
He kicked Gosei so hard he flew up into the air, before smashing him across the room with his sword. Gosei hit the reactor core in the middle of the ship. He struggled to remain upright. His insides felt like they were on fire, every breath was agony, but he knew that this was what needed to happen. It was his destiny, the destiny of his people. Mavro ran into him, slamming a fist into his chest, cracking his armour. Blood welled up in Gosei's mouth as he felt the evil warlord's massive hand gripping his head, beginning to squeeze his skull. He could feel the power in his grip, and as he increased the pressure, he felt his skull starting to strain against it.
"It's over Gosei! Did you really think you could match my power?" He roared. "Your whole RACE fell before me! If you Eltarians didn't die so easily, I might actually feel a sense of accomplishment right now!"
Gosei formed up his hand, extending a thumb...from which a large spike extended. He brought it up, ramming it straight into Mavro's right eye, destroying it as the creature screamed out in agony. He picked up Mavro's own sword, and swung it, smashing it into Mavro's injured leg, causing it to buckle under his weight, no longer able to hold him. He blasted Gosei back into the reactor, staring up at him.
"You really think this matters?" Mavro screamed at him. "I've defeated whole armies without getting out of my throne! Do you think I need to stand to defeat you? You're on your last breaths as it is!"
"You may not need to stand to defeat me, but you do to run!" Gosei announced. "And you got this battle all wrong. I never needed to defeat you!"
Gosei pulled the Power Ruby out of his chest cavity, holding it up for Mavro to see.
"I just needed to stop you from winning!" He replied, grabbing it in his hands. Mavro's one remaining eye shot open wide in horror as he realised where they were. They were right next to the reactor! Gosei never intended to survive the battle; he just wanted to lure Mavro into this trap. He watched as Gosei prepared to crush the Power Ruby, unleashing all its energy right next to the reactor.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Back on the ground, the Rangers all looked up as the final Kingsman made its last stand in the centre of the square. Kimberly took him down, smashing him into oblivion with her Power Bow. The Rangers all let out a loud cheer as the final robot fell. The Yellow Megaforce Ranger came running over to Gia, smothering her in a massive hug. She was more than a little taken aback, but pretty soon she returned the gesture. Gia parted from her a little way.
"Um...am I missing something here?" Jake asked. Gia reached to Megaforce Yellow's helmet, undoing the catches and lifting it off. Bright red hair spilled out, and the others all smiled as they recognised the young woman underneath the helmet.
"CAT!" They all called out as they saw her. She smiled as she nodded, reaching out for Gia's face.
"Gosei came to me and told me there were some spare morphers." She told Gia. "I couldn't let you face the end without me."
Gia wanted to say something, but she couldn't think what to say. She couldn't decide if she was happy to see Cat, upset that she had put herself in danger by coming into a Ranger battle...but not just ANY Ranger battle, the one that was easily the largest any Ranger had ever faced. Or if she was enraged that Gosei would even suggest that bringing Cat into the battle was a good idea. However, looking into her eyes, there was only one thing that occurred to her, that over-rode everything else. She pulled in, kissing her passionately, embracing her with all the passion in her heart.
"Well...I guess that's one way to celebrate." Jake said with a smile. "So...uh...if that's Cat, who replaced all of us?"
"I bet I know who's under that helmet." Noah said with a smile, approaching his counterpart. "And I have to say, that suit looks better on you than it did on me Quinn."
She pulled off her helmet, smiling as she approached him.
"I couldn't let you do this alone." She told him.
"It's a bit different from my Samurai training." Spike stated as he walked towards Jake, removing his helmet. "But I couldn't pass up the chance to finally be a Ranger could I?"
"And don't think I was exactly pleased about it either." Kimberly said grumpily, before throwing her arm around her step-son. "But I couldn't be more proud of him."
"Um...so...you are...?" Emma asked. Megaforce Pink pulled off his helmet, revealing himself to be Kyle.
"Your dad would have done it for sure if he'd been healthy enough." He assured Emma. "I just hope you don't mind me as a substitute."
"You've done a wonderful job helping my dad." Emma told him, hugging him tightly. "Not sure pink is your colour though."
"Well...it's a one-time deal." He assured her with a chuckle. Troy looked to Megaforce Red, who pulled off his helmet. It was Xavier Teach, the actor who had played Troy's character in Dax's movie. He and Troy had a kind of friendly rivalry, dating back to when they trained together before Xavier went into movies. Xavier had always had a lot of talent, and it frustrated him that because he went into movies people thought his fights were fake.
"OK, I have to concede, that was pretty impressive." Troy told him. "I guess you did get another chance to be a Ranger for real."
"Hey, I'm just glad I got to fight alongside you again." Xavier told him. "I'm willing to say you're the better..."
"Let's just say...we all did a great job." Troy answered, shaking his hand.
All of the Rangers looked skyward as a huge explosion ripped through the sky, and they saw The Armada Command Ship exploding devastatingly. In a massive fireball, the Armada Command Ship disappeared, taking with it the last remnants of the Empire.
"GOSEI!" Troy roared as he saw this. Everyone looked around as their suits started to glow, before disappearing. They all looked to their morphers, feeling no power from them. Once again, they were inert, useless devices.
"Our powers, they're gone." Troy stated. "But that means..."
"The Morphing Grid is gone." Tommy concluded with a sigh. "There's only one way that would happen."
"Gosei sacrificed himself for all of us." Emma said sadly. "He's..."
"He is gone!" They heard a booming voice echo through the air. They all looked up to see a massive, winged silhouette standing on top of a building. The voice was eerily familiar, and it chilled them all.
"Vrak?" Orion asked. They all watched as he leapt off the building, soaring down on what appeared to be feathered, angelic wings made of an unknown metal. He landed a little way from them, rising to his feet. He was wearing a new form or armour, far sleeker than his cybernetic form, and it looked like his face had been restored to normal. "No...we killed you! HOW?"
"For months, I've been perfecting my science and my magic. I prepared a clone of myself, infused with the very limits of magical and technological power at its disposal." Vrak told them. "When you destroyed my old body, I was already downloading myself into this new, all-powerful form! Not only did you free me from that monstrosity that Metal Alice turned me into, but you put my final plan into play!"
"You planned...?" Troy started to say, before he started to see it. "Wait...Emperor Mavro only came to Earth because both of his sons were destroyed!"
"Even with my brother out of the way, I'd still have had to wait on my father finally giving up his grip on life." Vekar declared regally. "When he believed that you Rangers had destroyed his precious heirs, he would never rest until..."
"Until he and Gosei destroyed each other." Troy surmised.
"Leaving me as the last one standing, and the Earth totally defenceless!" Vrak smirked as he stood before them.
"Not totally. We may not be Power Rangers anymore!" Jason said as they all prepared to fight. "But we'll never stop..."
"I thought you might say that." Vrak answered. Just then, thousands more robots suddenly appeared out of thin air. In a flash of light, Kingsmen, Bruisers and X-borgs surrounded the former Rangers on all sides, completely outnumbering them. "During my brief time at the helm...I saw fit to lay a little something aside for a rainy day. Take them alive!"
With that, the robots fell upon the former Rangers, attacking them mercilessly. He stopped one of the Kingsmen as he was about to attack.
"Restrain them and bring them to the rock quarry...they seem to be fond of that place." He told him. "Once we show them the futility of opposing me, we'll see how defiant they really are."
A/N: I got a lot of good answers about my challenge in the last chapter, including a few relating to the marine corp Sergeant Daly, who probably inspired the quote I meant! So...Kudos to all those who answered.
However, credit goes to Earthbird who got the connection I was looking for. The quote is from Starship Troopers, it was the catch phrase of Rayzack (and later Rico), the leader of the Roughnecks! The connection? Remember those cool uniforms the Terra Venture security forces wore? It's the same uniforms as the Mobile Infantry from Starship Troopers! Lost Galaxy was being filmed at the same time as Starship Troopers, and the production team managed to borrow the uniforms for use in the show! It was a cool connection that I really got a kick out of, loving both the show, and the movie!