DISCLAIMER: I do not own Power Rangers or Super Sentai. They are respectively owned by Saban Brands and Toei Company. I do not profit from this story in any way, shape, or form.
Dradarius smirked confidently as he sat upon a seat being carried into the forest of Everbright by a group of Venom Blots. Stomping through the woods ahead were about a dozen Giant Blots, ready to take the brunt of the opposition first. With the Magna Buster focused on them, the smaller, yet far more numerous, force would be able to stampede in mostly unimpeded. And, as a bonus, should Jowar decide to deal with them afterward, he'd be weakened a bit. It was a well-constructed plan to assure this would be dealt with as promptly as possibly.
As such, it was a bit of a surprise to the Usurper of the Dark Throne to find the old wizard ahead. Jowar was morphed into the Wizard Ranger, and preparing to fight them on the ground with only a single Magma Naga at his side. Seeing this, Dradarius gave the signal for his forces to stop their advance and, out of sheer curiosity, to allow him and his Dark Generals to gather at the front.
"...I have to admit, Jowar, you surprise me!" Dradarius called as he came to the edge of his forces, facing Jowar with only a few yards between them. "I wasn't expecting you to greet me so...brazenly!"
"I'll say this once..." Jowar replied, readying his staff as Infernios drew his claws. "...Get out of my forest, Dradarius!"
Dradarius tilted his head back and laughed at this demand. "Jowar, old friend, you indeed have a wonderful sense of humour! Look before you! You can't hope to defeat this entire army with a single Magma Naga as your sole ally!"
The Wizard Ranger grinned under his helmet. "...Who said that was my plan?"
Before Dradarius could inquire what Jowar meant by that, a loud cawing sounded overhead, just before the cracking of thunder. Immediately, a Giant Blot was blown to dark mist as the Thunderbird Zord swooped ahead, firing lightning bolts all around. The explosions of the bolts hitting the ground knocked a number of Blots off their feet.
"One of the Gaia Zords?!" Spine demanded. "I thought the Guardians and their crystals were gone from Gaia!"
"Apparently, I need to try harder," Dradarius replied with narrowed eyes before looking back to Jowar. "...I suppose I'll start with you. ATTACK!"
With that order, the mass army of Blots charged past the Emperor, running headlong toward Jowar and Infernios. The two immediately leaped into battle, releasing streams of light and fire at everything that came their way, incinerating a few Blots right away. With staff and claws, they began pounding down on any shadows that came close, all the while Faye piloted the Thunderbird Zord above and sent blasts of electricity across the bodies of the Giant Blots, who swung at their target wildly.
Meanwhile, on Earth, the Rangers were battling their own horde of Blots. Ducking under one that dove at him, Adam sprung backward onto his hands and kicked upward with his feet into the Blot's gut, sending it sailing through the air right into a roundhouse kick from Nikki in its eye. Going low, Adam quickly tripped another Blot up, punching it in the face as soon as it went down, just as Nikki leaped overhead and caught another in the chest with a dropkick, sending it crashing into two more.
"How's it looking now?" Nikki asked as she and Adam went back-to-back.
"3-2, your lead," Adam replied before punching down another Blot with a right hook. "Getting too excited?"
"Well, it's one of those days!" Nikki responded as she kicked an attacking shadow in the face.
A few feet away, RJ was driving knees and elbows into any Blots that came near him, while Patrick was slashing at Blot legs with his Gaia Saber while keeping crouched down. Seeing a dozen suddenly charge him, RJ quickly performed a number of katas before releasing his Wolf Spirit, which knocked the Blots away with a single swipe. RJ smirked at this, but as soon as his Wolf Spirit disappeared, five Blots suddenly leaped down from a roof above him, claws outstretched.
"RJ!" Patrick yelled, sensing the Venom Blots as he stretched an arm out. Suddenly, without even trying, Patrick released his own Animal Spirit, as a projection very similar to his Hippogriff Zord swooped up into the air and collided with the Blots, raking across their eyes with its talons and turning them all to mist.
"I..." Pat stammered, feeling his hands as the Hippogriff Spirit faded. "How did I do that?"
RJ smiled, slapping Patrick on the shoulder. "Looks like you're learning pretty fast, after all."
Patrick nodded before turning back to the Blots charging them again, picking his sword back up. "...Well, let's see if we can teach THEM a thing or two!"
With a loud cry, Jowar brought his staff across a Blot's face so hard that they spun around completely three times before hitting the ground. With it out of the way, the Wizard Ranger found himself face-to-face with Dradarius, who merely grinned at this encounter. Clearly, both were looking forward to this fight, and both were going to get exactly what they wanted.
"You know, I'm actually glad you survived your home being burned to the ground," Dradarius admitted. "I'd much prefer breaking you with my own two hands."
"Come and try!" Jowar yelled, firing a hot beam of light at Dradarius, who dodged with relative ease and let the beam instead scorch a pair of Venom Blots behind him. At a speed that surprised Jowar, Dradarius raced forward, grabbed the old wizard by the throat, and slammed him down onto the ground. However, with his opponent now standing directly over him, Jowar now had an easier target, unloading a blast of light right into his chest. This attack sent the Usurper of the Dark Throne straight up into the air, where he was blasted with bolts of lightning from the Thunderbird Zord.
"Taste that, you monster!" Faye cheered as Dradarius fell back to the ground, only to watch in astonishment as he landed on both feet with little more than a few scratches on his armour. "...Alright, I suppose this is going to be a bit harder than I thought."
Dradarius likewise glared up at the Thunderbird Zord with narrowed eyes as Arc came up to his side. "Let's see about clearing the skies a bit, shall we, Arc?"
Arc nodded, setting four pitch-black arrows to his bow. He then released them straight up into the air, only for them to curve back downward and strike a quartet of Venom Blots. With a growl, the shadows grew in size to become giants, staring menacingly at their opponent in the sky.
"Looks like it's time for that back-up!" Faye realized, opening the Crystal Blast Morpher and inserting the Unicorn Crystal. "Unicorn Zord!"
Closing the blaster and pulling the trigger, Faye sent out a silver light from her Zord, creating an effigy of a silver moon in the sky. The Unicorn Zord climbed out from behind the moon, standing atop it as it fired rays of light all across the Giant Blots and Giant Venom Blots. This managed to eradicate all but two of the standard giants, while the Ebony Venom variety were still standing. The quartet of giants unleashed a series of eye blasts at the Unicorn Zord, who dove off the moon to evade them.
"Turtle Zord, you're next!" Faye called, swapping out the Unicorn Crystal for the Turtle Crystal.
The Thunderbird Zord unleashed an aquamarine blast that splashed down into a nearby bay. Within seconds, the Turtle Zord came sailing out, tucking into its shell, and flew through the air. It then collided hard with the first giant that it came across, then essentially pinballed its way through the group, knocking them all around.
"Kitsune Zord, your turn!" Faye shouted, replacing the Turtle Crystal with the Kitsune Crystal.
Faye pulled the trigger of her Crystal Blast Morpher and released a blast of pink light at a nearby mountain. A mass of pink flames erupted from the mountain top, from which the Kitsune Zord leaped out of and charged into battle, unleashing pink fireballs from the tips of its tails at all the remaining Giant Blots. It annihilated the ordinary variety, but the Venom Blots seemed more vexed than anything, which Jowar observed from the ground.
"Don't give up, Faye," Jowar whispered. "Keep fighting."
"You should be more concerned with yourself!" a growling voice yelled, getting Jowar's attention just before an axe came down into the ground where he was standing a second beforehand. Clutching the Unimax Staff in both hands, Jowar looked upon his attacker with a look of contempt.
"Spine," Jowar muttered. "Given up heading the Metallurk Dwarves so you can be Dradarius' lackey, I see."
"The Metallurk are beneath me now!" Spine countered, swinging his axe hard against Jowar's staff, locking weapons with him. "When I win Dradarius' war for him, the profits I'll receive will be astronomically greater than mere weapon designers'!"
"You're a disgrace to your Dwarven heritage," the Wizard Ranger replied, spinning his staff and catching Spine in the gut hard enough to knock him backward. "But then, that's nothing new."
"HE seeks profit in his actions," another voice declared as Jowar glanced over his shoulder, spotting the Fallen Angel behind him. "I, on the other hand, seek something greater."
Jowar's eyes twitched in anger. "To abandon the light to be a mere lapdog to Dradarius? How many Angels were lost because of your treachery?!"
Arc's demeanor didn't change at all as he drew an arrow, readying it. "...Enough. No more, no less."
Back on Earth, Kira and Dirk were fighting off a batch of Blots on their own as more enemies continued to come through the dark crack. Dirk shoulder-tackled a few of the vicious shadows against a brick wall, then quickly rolled out of the way before Kira unleashed a powerful Ptera Scream, which collided with the Blots so hard that they actually shook apart into mist.
"Yikes!" Dirk yelled, cleaning out his ear. "You don't do that on-stage, do you?!"
Kira shrugged with a smile. "Only when I need to hit the REALLY high notes."
"Kira, up high!" Tori yelled as she and Layla ran toward the two.
With a nod, Dirk and Kira got side by side and stretched their arms out, just as Layla and Tori leaped up into the air. Springing off the Orange and Yellow Rangers, the two dove into a group of Blots, Tori dropkicking one into a pile of three more, while Layla tackled another to the ground and swiftly kicked it in the eye, taking it out immediately. As the others started to get back up, the Blue Wind Ranger thrust two fingers forward, unleashing a powerful jet of water that drove them across the ground hard, crashing into a wall near where Mia and Madilyn were fending off Blots with their swords.
"These guys slip through the cracks of the world worse than Moogers!" Mia commented, cutting down a Blot with her Spin Sword.
"I'll take your word for it!" Madilyn replied, stabbing a shadow in the eye and eliminating them. "I REALLY wish I had my daggers right now! I like having a weapon in each hand!"
"Oh, you're a twin blader?" the Pink Samurai Ranger asked, kicking a Blot in the gut before handing over her sword. "Try this on for size!"
Mad smiled, taking the Spin Sword in hand. Now with two blades, she quickly began ducking and spinning around Blots, slashing any shadows that moved, until everything on her side was down. Seeing Mia get overwhelmed, though, the Violet Gaia Ranger threw both swords to her, letting her cut across the legs of her attackers and sending them all sprawling across the concrete.
"Not too bad with two swords yourself," Madilyn commented, punting a downed Blot in the head as it tried to get up.
"Thanks," Mia responded graciously, handing the Gaia Saber back.
Nearby, Eric was kicking and punching his way through well over a dozen Blots on his own, but was quickly finding himself outnumbered. He wasn't for long, though, as Drayden ran in and hit a Blot with a jumping knee to the side of the head, immediately getting back to back with Eric.
"Sure are a lot of 'em!" Eric commented before taking a glance at Drayden's Dragon Buster. "Think that thing can take 'em all down?"
"Should be able to, but I could use a hand!" Drayden replied, grabbing hold of his blade as Eric grinned. Drawing it, the Indigo Ranger hacked through everything on his side, knocking the enemies to the ground, before thrusting it against the Blots attacking Eric, who rolled to Drayden's side and took hold of the Dragon Buster as well. With a yell, the two ran forward, shoving the giant blade across any Blots who came near it before pinning a few against a street sign, then cleaved both it and them apart.
"Pretty hefty thing," Eric noted, releasing the blade.
"Well, it's not exactly what I'd call a finesse weapon," Drayden retorted, putting his sword away.
As the Rangers started finishing up the last of the Blots, Adam's wrist communicator went off just as he was about to punch one, causing him to roll his eyes and kick the shadow away instead as he lifted the communicator to his lips. "Go ahead, Doctor K!"
"Rangers, the proximity of the crystals to the portal is causing energy to pour through at an accelerated rate, as Layla predicted!" Doctor K exclaimed over the comm, as sure enough, the thin, black crack in the brick wall was becoming a large, multicoloured tear of energy, actually shattering the wall around it.
"She's right!" Patrick shouted as visions of everything around him started flooding his brain. "I can see through the wind again!"
"Then let's find out how much energy's going through!" Nikki yelled, regrouping with Layla, Patrick, and Dirk. The four drew their Crystal Blast Morphers, inserted their crystals, and unleashed an array of red, blue, green, and orange blasts on the last of the Blots, evaporating them.
"It worked!" Layla cheered. "Our powers are back!"
"Well, YOUR powers, anyway," Madilyn pointed out, albeit with a grin.
"Rangers, a new development!" Doctor K reported as the twelve started to converge on the portal, its width increasing more and more. "I'm reading some sort of energy link leading back through! It seems to be connected to another Gaian Crystal!"
"That's gotta be your friend, Faye," RJ guessed. "Your crystals must be connected to each other somehow."
"He's right," Drayden replied. "When the five of you brought your crystals together and opened a portal, they signaled mine to bring me in, too."
"But for our crystals to link to hers so easily, it must be active," Patrick noted. "...She must be in a fight."
"Well, is there some way to ride that connection to where she is?" Tori asked.
"Traversing the portal is already difficult enough," Doctor K answered before an idea struck her. "...Layla, you and the others need to summon your Zords. It should increase the width of the portal more, and allow you to safely navigate the space between worlds to your destination."
"We're gonna fit our Zords through THAT?!" Dirk demanded, pointing at the portal.
"We're gonna try, anyway!" Nikki insisted, placing her crystal in her Gaia Saber as the others followed suit.
"Doctor K, how long should the portal stay open for?" Adam asked, surprising everyone.
"It's difficult to be sure, but I can't imagine it would hold for much longer than 15 minutes after the Gaia Rangers pass through it," Doctor K responded. "...Why?"
Eric blinked in surprise. "...Adam, are you thinking of doing what I THINK you're thinking of doing?"
"Nikki told me the one responsible for this was incredibly powerful," Adam explained, "and now he's attacking their friend. I might not be able to stay in Gaia to help forever, but I can at least help push him back."
Eric grinned. "So, you're going...Okay, count me in, too."
"We'll ALL go," Mia corrected the two as the Retro Rangers formed up. "We're a team, after all. And that includes the Gaia Rangers now, too."
Nikki smiled as she watched this. "...You guys...Thank you."
"Don't thank us yet," Kira pointed out. "Wait until we've kicked this Emperor guy's butt back to wherever he came from."
The Red Gaia Ranger nodded, the twelve Rangers forming up with Nikki, Patrick, Layla, Dirk, and Drayden in front. Together, the five aimed their swords forward, their Gaian Crystals inside, as beams of light poured out from them and into the portal. Eventually, the portal began to shake a bit in the air as the beams forced it wider, now expanding to a size greater than the buildings around it. After a few moments, the group heard a familiar cluster of roars as the Gaia Rangers grinned, the light growing brighter around them.
Faye cried out as sparks flew in the cockpit of the Thunderbird Zord. Even with the Auxiliary Zords backing her up, the Giant Venom Blots were becoming too much for her, and were blasting across the hull of her Zord repeatedly. A couple more hits like those, and she'd be knocked out of the skies. Looking down, she could see the battle on the ground wasn't going much better, as Infernios was barely keeping himself up and had his bandages shredded apart, while Jowar was being knocked around by Dradarius and his Dark Generals.
"No!" Faye yelled, gripping the controls tighter. "I can't let it end like this! I've gotta stay strong!"
Just as she said this, though, a single Giant Venom Blot swung both hands toward Faye in her Zord, looking to swat both like a bug. Seeing this coming, almost as if it were in slow motion, Faye knew she didn't have enough time to evade, so instead, with grit teeth, she poured as much energy as she could into the Thunderbird Zord's wings, hoping that at least the act of crushing her would electrify the monster to death. As the Blot's hands loomed at her, she closed her eyes, waiting for the end...but it didn't come, as instead, the Giant Venom Blot was hit hard by a large chuck of ice, knocking it to the ground.
"W...What?" Faye asked, shocked.
"Sorry we're a little late!" a familiar voice called out as, all around her, the other core Gaia Zords had arrived and were taking formation, unleashing their respective attacks on every over-sized Blot in the area and blasting them away.
Faye's eyes widened in sheer joy as she looked down at the Leviathan Zord. "...LAYLA! You're back!"
"We're ALL back," Nikki corrected her. "And we brought some friends!"
Down on the ground, Dradarius looked up as his giants were destroyed, genuine shock taking over. The Gaia Zords soon warped away, an array of lights touching down to the ground as the Rangers teleported down to face his army. However, not only were the Gaia Rangers back, but backing them up were the Retro Rangers, all glaring holes into the opposition, who backed off enough for Jowar and Infernios to regroup with their allies.
"Rangers...!" Jowar exclaimed, getting to his feet. "I KNEW you would return!"
Nikki smiled, slapping a hand to the Wizard Ranger's shoulder. "Jowar, Infernios, Faye. You guys did great holding them off until we got back."
"Did you expect any less...?" Infernios inquired, clutching his arm.
"Not at all," Nikki replied. "But you've done your part. Faye, get Infernios back to the library."
Faye nodded, demorphing and handing both her blaster and crystal to Madilyn. "...Here. I think these are yours."
"Ooh, I've missed you SO much!" Madilyn cried, kissing her Crystal Blast Morpher. "I am NEVER letting you both go ever again!"
Layla rolled her eyes, giggling. "Until the next time you decide to put my girlfriend in harm's way, right?"
Faye smiled, kissing Layla deeply as she caressed her face. "Oh, Layla, I knew you were alive. I just knew it."
"Faye, I'm so proud of you," Layla replied, running her fingers through the Dryad's teal hair. "Now hurry back to the library."
Faye nodded, wrapping Infernios' good arm over her shoulder and helping him back to the Ancient Library. With them gone, the team all turned their attention back to Dradarius' forces, who were grouping up and preparing for another attack.
"So, you're the Emperor of Darkness I've heard so much about," Adam remarked.
"All terrible things, I'm sure," Dradarius replied with an evil grin.
"If by terrible, you mean making you out to be a deplorable person, then yes!" Mia yelled.
"You've been making an awful mess of two worlds, punk," Eric noted.
"And destroying the lives of people who never did anything to you," RJ added.
"On the contrary," Dradarius retorted, "they did something very deep and personal to me: They denied the darkness its rightful place as ruling element of this world, so I eliminated them all, every last person who ever stood against me."
"And yet, you didn't get rid of US," Patrick pointed out, "or our ancestors. That was a bad move, because now we're gonna make you wish you'd never even LOOKED at the Dark Throne."
"Watch your tongue, lowly 'Guardian'!" Arc roared, clearly incensed.
"Make him, 'Dark Pit'!" Dirk yelled back with a stomp.
"Enough!" Dradarius groaned, rubbing his temple. "This pre-battle bickering has gone on long enough. I gave the appointed Guardians of Gaia a chance to return home and be with their loved ones before the end, but clearly, that was an error on my part. Let's END this."
"That was the first and last thing we're gonna agree on today, Dradarius," Jowar declared.
With that, the Rangers all lined up, readying their respective Morphers as the enemies gathered in front of them, Nikki calling out "Okay, everyone! Let's take 'em all down!"
"It's Morphin Time! Mastodon!" Adam called as he thrust his Power Morpher forward, releasing a burst of energy that formed his Mighty Morphin Black Ranger suit around his clothes. The image of his helmet materialized in front of him, overlapping his head before forming the physical helmet.
"Quantum Power!" Eric ordered into his Quantum Morpher before throwing his fist skyward. A massive amount of energy exploded from it as his Quantum Ranger suit formed around him.
"Ninja Storm! Ranger Form! Ha!" Tori cried, spinning the disc on her Wind Morpher. A twister suddenly shot out from the Morpher, surrounding her as her Blue Wind Ranger suit materialized, ending with her helmet.
"Dino Thunder! Power Up! Ha!" Kira yelled, flipping the plate of her Dino Morpher open and hitting the red button, causing her body to be surrounded in a white light. She then did a back-flip as her Dino Thunder Yellow Ranger suit suddenly slapped itself on, ending with her helmet as she landed on her feet hard enough to make the ground beneath her crack.
"Jungle Beast, Spirit Unleashed!" RJ roared, flipping the bell-like switch on his Wolf Morpher and summoning his Wolf Spirit. Said spirit then enveloped his body, becoming his Jungle Fury Wolf Ranger suit.
"Samuraizer! Go Go Samurai!" Mia exclaimed, using the light on the end of her Samuraizer to draw the kanji for sky, 天, in the air. She then gave the symbol a smack, spinning it around to face her, before it covered her body and transformed into her Pink Samurai Ranger suit.
"Guardians of Gaia, AWAKEN!" Nikki, Patrick, Layla, Dirk, Madilyn, and Drayden all shouted, thrusting their morphers into the air as a rainbow of energy spiraled up and around in the air before coming back down to the seven and granting them their Gaia Ranger forms as Jowar joined them. With all 13 Rangers morphed, they all struck a group pose as a giant explosion of energy went off behind them, the group calling out "POWER RANGERS!"
"Show no mercy to any of them," Dradarius ordered, leading to him charging the group with his army of Blots and his generals at his side.
With the enemy charging them, the Rangers quickly leaped into action, splintering off into several smaller groups. Tori and Layla shot blasts of water from their respective Morphers at the Blots, keeping their backs to each other as they spun about and blasted foes down. Pretty soon, though, a group of about two dozen Blots started to charge them, their claws stretched outward as they were prepared to launch their nails.
"Flood Launcher!" Layla called, bringing out her massive blaster and firing a gigantic wave of watery energy at the Blots, knocking them back. "Tori, you're up!"
"Ninja Sword!" Tori shouted, drawing her blade and leaping up into the air. Just as the Blots got back to their feet, the Blue Wind Ranger struck them all down in a blue blur before landing behind them, sheathing her blade as her foes all fell in an explosion.
Nearby, Madilyn, Mia, and Kira were cutting down Blots with their Spin Sword, Gaia Saber, and Thundermax Saber. They soon found themselves knocked to the ground, though, when an arrow full of dark energy shot past them. Mia groaned as she dug her sword into the ground, lifting herself back up with it as Arc approached them, chuckling menacingly as he readied another arrow. Seeing this, the Pink Samurai Ranger opened her buckle, revealing a silver Power Disc with lightning patterns on it.
"Hope Jayden doesn't mind me borrowing this!" Mia exclaimed, setting the disc on her Spin Sword and spinning it hard, sending electricity running through it. "Spin Sword! Lightning Fury!"
"Lightning Slash!" Madilyn yelled, slapping her Thunderbird Crystal into her Gaia Saber. Together, the two made horizontal slashes as Arc released his arrow, sending out a thin blast of electricity that cut the arrow in half and knocked the Fallen Angel skyward.
"Get him, Kira!" Mia shouted, turning back to face the Yellow Ranger.
"Super Dino Mode!" Kira roared, suddenly gaining pterodactyl-like wings attached to the arms of her suit. The Pink and Violet Rangers quickly locked hands together as Kira leaped up, springing off their hands and sailing through the air with her sword in hand. Before Arc could react, she slashed him hard, sending him tumbling across the ground as Kira floated back down to the others. The trio exchanged a quick three-way high five before turning to get back to work on the Blots.
"Dragon Buster!" Drayden exclaimed, hacking away at Blots with his gigantic sword a few feet away.
"Quantum Defender!" Eric shouted, blasting down any shadows that came near him. Eventually, he and Drayden found themselves face-to-face after taking down several Blots on their own. "...Heh, guess we just can't help ourselves, huh?"
"Guess not," Drayden replied before spotting a pair of Mecha Bots sneaking up on Eric. "Look out!"
The twin Mecha Blots fired dark blasts at Eric, trying to catch him in the back. Luckily, Drayden managed to push him out of the way and block the blasts with the side of his Dragon Buster, knocking them harmlessly away. Seeing this, Eric quickly rolled back to his feet, raising his Morpher and hitting a button on it.
"Mega Battle!" Eric yelled, leaping toward the Mecha Blots as his gold and red armour appeared over his Ranger suit, grabbing hold of the armour's twin blades and slashing past the Mecha Blots.
"Shadow Break!" Drayden yelled, inserting his remaining Gaian Crystals in the Dragon Buster and cutting through the Mecha Blots' weakened armour with a single slash as he landed behind them.
"Your time's up!" the Quantum Ranger exclaimed as the Mecha Blots fell to the ground, engulfed in an explosion. Looking to his left, Eric and the Indigo Ranger grinned and exchanged a fist bump.
Elsewhere among the fighting groups, Patrick, RJ, and Dirk were taking on a mass of Blots by themselves. Just as he cut one down, however, Dirk instead found himself locked ax-to-ax with Spine, who shoved hard against him. Despite his strength, Dirk found himself behind pushed back, trying desperately to dig his feet into the dirt.
"Man, you've gotta be the baddest Dwarf I've ever seen!" Dirk admitted through grit teeth.
"You don't know the half of it, boy!" Spine exclaimed through a cocky grin.
"Yeah, well, you know what you don't know?" Dirk asked. "Your breath stinks, and I'm just stalling!"
Before Spine could really react, RJ and Patrick leaped over Dirk and came down on Spine, RJ slamming a knee into his face while Pat jabbed his Storm Lance at his chest. The combined attacks knocked Spine off-balance enough for Dirk to ram his Quake Ax's blunt side into the Dark General's gut, sending him tumbling across the ground. As soon as Spine managed to roll back onto his feet, RJ hit a button on his Wolf Morpher and gave a fierce uppercut, sending a spiral of purple energy at his opponent and blasting him several feet away.
"Nice shot!" Patrick exclaimed. "You have GOTTA teach me THAT someday!"
As the other Rangers continued to clean house on the Blots, however, Adam, Nikki, and Jowar were having a rougher time, having gone straight for Dradarius. Jowar charged the Usurper of the Dark Throne while unleashing a brilliant, blistering blast of light from his staff, but the moment he got close, Dradarius merely swung his arm and swatted him away like a fly. Adam and Nikki then leaped in with their Power Axe and Heat Sabers, but Dradarius squatted down and held both arms up, blocking both with ease.
"Did you think bringing more of your kind would be enough to stop me?" Dradarius inquired, sounding amused before leaping up and roundhouse kicking both to the ground, their weapons tumbling away.
"Okay, so maybe he's a LITTLE tough," Adam acknowledged, getting back to his feet. "But nothing I've never stood up against before."
"Heh, come then, Black Ranger," Dradarius taunted, waving his hand.
With a growl, Adam charged again, throwing a flurry of punches and kicks, which Dradarius blocked with one arm as the other was bent behind his back. Finally, Dradarius merely thrust a palm against the Black Ranger's chest, stunning him long enough to be grabbed by the throat and lifted off the ground. Before Dradarius could inflict further pain, though, Jowar leaped up and unleashed a barrage of light blasts from the Unimax Staff on the Dark Emperor, causing him to drop Adam as he took a step backward.
"Radiance Blast!" the Wizard Ranger shouted as he landed, aiming his staff at Dradarius and firing three spherical blasts of light. Dradarius batted them all aside, sending them off to explode elsewhere, but his armour was beginning to show smoke rising from it. Nikki then came running and jumping over Jowar, firing an arrow from her Heat Bow, and while Dradarius caught it, it nonetheless exploded in his face and caused the fingers of his left gauntlet to crumble apart. Finally, Adam followed that up with a blast from his Power Axe in cannon mode, catching Dradarius in the chest and sending him stumbling backward.
"You're annoying little pests, I'll grant you that," Dradarius admitted, his face starting to show anger. "But you all made a terrible mistake standing against me...!"
Slamming the ground with both fists, Dradarius sent dark electricity out through the ground too fast for the Rangers to dodge, causing them to be shocked hard and knocked to the ground. The Emperor's smirk returned, but it quickly faded again as he was blasted hard from behind. He turned to find the Quantum Ranger rushing him with his Mega Battle armour's blasters, firing upon him again, but this time, Dradarius simply caught the blasts and returned them, though Eric managed to leap up over the resulting explosions. Eric then slashed down hard with both his blades, but Dradarius raised both hands up, dark orbs of energy pulsing in them, and shattered Eric's weapons before kicking him hard in the gut, knocking him away and out of his Mega Battle mode.
"Is this REALLY the best that the Guardians of two worlds can do?" Dradarius demanded before the rest of the Rangers all regrouped around Eric, who started to get back to his feet.
"Time to go all out, guys!" Nikki yelled, getting nods from the other Gaia Rangers. "Crystal Gauntlets!"
With that, Nikki, Patrick, Layla, Dirk, and Madilyn all stepped forward and raised their right fists, their golden gauntlets materializing over them. They quickly inserted their Crystals into the gauntlets, calling out "Guardians of Gaia, MINERAL MODE!" The crystals shone brilliantly before expanding to fit the larger circular compartment in the gauntlets, the light emblazoning them with the image of their matching Gaia Zords. The five Rangers then threw their fists up as golden light poured out over them, turning the silver on their belts and Gaia Sabers gold, adding gold trim to the top of their boots and golden armbands around their biceps, and changing their suits' main colours to shinier, more metallic colours.
"Ultra Ray!" the five called together, throwing their gauntleted fists forward and releasing streams of elemental light from each of their crystals that crossed together, forming a sphere of white light. The gigantic sphere collided with Dradarius, causing smoke to rise from his armour, but with a growl, he nonetheless grabbed hold of the sphere and began to lift it up off the ground.
"You've gotta be KIDDING me!" Mia exclaimed in disbelief.
"Everyone, let's add to the sphere's power!" Jowar shouted, aiming his staff at Dradarius. "Share your energy with me, and we'll blow him away for good!"
"Will that really work?" Tori asked.
"You heard Nikki before," RJ replied. "It's time to go all out."
"He's right," Kira said with a nod. "It's all or nothing time."
"Let's take this guy down!" Drayden yelled.
Together, the remaining Rangers all grabbed hold of Jowar's Unimax Staff, focusing their own powers through it. Black, red, blue, yellow, purple, pink, and indigo beams of light raced along the staff and entered the Light Crystal, causing it to shine a mighty golden light. With one collective yell, the Rangers launched a massive beam at the Ultra Ray, causing the sphere in Dradarius' hands to grow triple its original size. With a defiant cry, he fell back as the blast overwhelmed him, and he was engulfed in a massive explosion.
"RANGERS FOREVER!" the Power Rangers all declared in one voice as the explosion went off.
"We did it!" Madilyn cheered, leaping into the air.
"Don't be so sure," Adam interjected, pointing to the mass of fire. "Look!"
Sure enough, despite their celebrating, as the fire and smoke started to dissipate a bit, the Rangers watched in horror as the Usurper of the Dark Throne got back to his feet. However, most of his upper torso was now exposed, the explosion having blasted apart his armour, and his body looked a bit blackened as he glared at them in rage. To their shock and disgust, upon looking at Dradarius' chest, they saw a large, black crystal embedded in him, and massive veins bulging around it.
"What the heck is THAT?!" Eric demanded.
"It's...a Gaian Crystal!" Jowar realized, holding a hand to his mouth. "I've never seen one of that size, but there's no mistaking it!"
Dradarius stomped the ground hard, actually causing it to shake beneath him, his eyes twitching in murderous anger as they turned blood red. "You! You are all mere insects before me! I WILL CRUSH YOU ALL!"
"My Emperor!" Arc shouted as he and Spine raced to Dradarius' sides. "This encounter doesn't seem to be to our advantage anymore! Let's retreat for now!"
"He's right!" Spine acknowledged. "'He who fights and runs away', and all..."
Realizing his generals were right, Dradarius clasped a hand over the crystal embedded in his chest, causing a thick, black smokescreen to pour out, filling the area. Jowar and Drayden managed to get rid of it quickly, by both creating a brilliant light and absorbing the darkness of the smoke, but it was too little too late as the army of darkness was gone, and Dradarius' massive flying whale was seen leaving in the distance.
"He's getting away!" Dirk yelled. "We gotta stop him!"
"Guys, wait!" Madilyn shouted, pointing up in the sky in the opposite direction. "The portal!"
Sure enough, as the Rangers all looked up at the portal, it was beginning to shrink down again. Adam clenched a fist, knowing their time was nearly up. If they stayed, the portal would shrink down too small for them to leave through. However, the only chance they had of taking down Dradarius immediately was for all 13 of them to go after him while he was weakened.
"...Go," Nikki said with a sigh, catching the Retro Rangers' attention. "You've gotta get back home, or you could end up stuck here."
Adam blinked, removing his helmet. "...Are you sure?"
Nikki nodded as she and the others all took their helmets off, too. "Earth needs you guys. Besides, we might need a second front on Earth in case Dradarius' influence gets to be too bad."
"But that would mean leaving you guys to deal with him alone," Kira pointed out.
Patrick shrugged. "Hey, it's cool. We decided a long time ago this was gonna be our problem to deal with."
The Retro Rangers nodded, understanding. One by one, they each walked up and shook the hands of the Gaia Rangers, exchanging knowing glances with one another that this wouldn't be the last time they'd see each other. Finally, Adam and the others turned and walked toward the portal as it hung overhead, putting their helmets back on.
"Oh wait, your spare gi!" Nikki realized. "I never gave it back!"
Adam smiled, looking back over his shoulder at the Guardian of Fire. "...Hang onto it. And I expect to see you in my dojo when you make it back home."
Realizing what he meant, Nikki blushed a little, but nonetheless gave a small bow to her new teacher. With that, Adam and the rest of the Retro Rangers looked up at the portal and, with one mighty leap, all entered it just seconds before it closed up, shrinking to a size far too small to be seen with human eyes. With a deep breath, Nikki turned back to her fellow Guardians of Gaia, and gave one simple order.
"...Let's go home."
Sitting upon his throne, Dradarius rested his chin on folded hands as Blots went about repairing his armour. His mind was still going over the battle that had occurred in Everbright, and how, for the first time in he couldn't even recall how long, he'd been repelled. The Power Rangers had overcome his incredible strength, bested his Dark Generals, broken his army, and actually forced him to retreat back to his castle.
Yet, as he felt his armour being placed back onto his torso, it wasn't rage that the Emperor of Darkness felt at this defeat, nor humiliation. Instead, a dark smile began to form on his face. He looked upon the mirror in the center of the throne room, which showed the image of the Ancient Library to all who looked upon it, his eyes making his sadistic glee apparent to anyone who saw them.
"...Finally," Dradarius muttered. "After all these years, there's finally an enemy out there worth my time..."
"So, we're going to have some fun with them after all?" Shroud asked as she emerged from behind the Dark Throne, lazily dragging her claws across the Emperor's chest plate.
"Yes, Shroud, I believe we will," the Usurper of the Dark Throne replied, leaning back into it. "It will be glorious tearing them apart."
Shroud grinned evilly. "Good...because you know just how much I adore breaking poor Jowar's heart and mind into tiny little pieces, and letting you do the same to his body."
"You take far too much joy in your work," Dradarius stated matter-of-factly, though maintaining a similar grin, "...'Annabella'."
"...So, how is everyone recovering?" Nikki asked Jowar as the two made their way through the halls of the Ancient Library.
"Fairly well, actually," Jowar replied. "They should be ready to return to their homes soon. Of course, they've all agreed to stay in touch in case we ever need to call on them again."
"And the others that didn't make it?" Nikki inquired.
"If they're still out there, we'll find them," Jowar answered with a sigh, stroking his beard. "In the meantime, I suggest we prepare ourselves for the next attack. Dradarius will not take the result of the last battle well, I can assure you. Now that the true war has begun, he will not rest until victory is his, and he will use every last method available to him to see it done, no matter how deplorable."
"Well, we wanted his attention," Nikki retorted as the two entered the central room of the library. "I guess we should've been more careful of what we wished for."
"You made the right decision, going after Walker," Jowar assured her. "It was a necessary step to stopping Dradarius."
Nikki nodded, looking the old wizard in the eye. "...Jowar, I...I'm sorry I couldn't save him."
Jowar shook his head, holding up a hand. "You did the best you could, Nichelle. No one could ask more of you. And besides, Walker is too much like...well, ALL of his parents, really. I'm sure that if there was a way to survive, he did."
"Think there's any way he'll come around if he did?" Madilyn asked as she and Patrick walked up to meet the two. "I mean, he's not exactly on Dradarius' best friend list anymore."
"I wish I could say for certain," Jowar replied honestly. "But after so many years in the dark..."
"They will," Patrick said confidently. "I believe in them both."
Madilyn rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what Pat really meant to say, but before she could pick on him for that, a loud thud from Layla's lab got her attention. "...What was that?"
Curious, the four headed into Layla's lab, their faces becoming stunned at what they saw: Dirk and Drayden lifting and moving what looked to be incredibly hi-tech and expensive computers and machines around as Layla and Faye directed them. Both looked a bit exhausted, and perhaps a bit aggravated as Layla kept changing her mind as to what should go where.
"...Sis?" Mad asked as she and the others entered. "Where did all of this come from?"
Layla smiled, turning to face Madilyn. "I had Doctor K teleport some of her equipment into the Behemoth Zord's interior before we returned to Gaia-"
"Thanks for asking, by the way!" Dirk interjected sarcastically.
"...so I could use it to make improvements on our weapons and tech, and maybe even figure out a way to piggyback on Earth's signal to get back home when this is all over," Layla finished. "Not to mention, the tools I was using before were kind of basic. Aren't the Dwarves of Gaia supposed to be able to make better stuff than this?"
"Unfortunately, the only Dwarven clan left that can produce the kind of equipment you're referring to are the Metallurk, and they craft for the highest bidder," Jowar answered. "Which, more often than not, is Dradarius."
"Ah, so good to know mankind isn't the only practitioner of capitalism," Patrick snarked.
Nikki pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly looking aggravated on the outside. But, on the inside, she couldn't have been happier. For, despite everything that had happened in the past couple of days, at least everything felt like it was returning to the normalcy she'd come to expect while in Gaia. And, for this exact moment, that was more than enough for her.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: And that was Always A Ranger. I hope you all enjoyed this three part beginning to Season 2 as much as I enjoyed writing it. And, in case I hadn't made it clear before, from here on out, it's JUST the Gaia Rangers. The Retro Rangers will not be recurring characters, although I am admittedly on the fence as to whether I want Doctor K to cameo later on, but that's simply because I love Doctor K. lol
I should also note that the TV Tropes page I made for Guardians of Gaia now has a WMG (wild mass guessing) section. So, from here on out, if you have a theory on what you think is going to happen in the story later on, you can either add it to the section yourself (if you have a profile on TV Tropes), or post it in the reviews to be added to said section by either myself or my proofreader.
Lastly, regarding Faye, as I said, her becoming a Ranger was only temporary. However, she WILL be getting in on the action from time to time in the future, and I'm still contemplating making her a full-time Ranger later on.
Next time on Power Rangers Guardians of Gaia, Dradarius decides to test the Rangers' mettle by pitting one of his newest and most powerful Lightless against them, but is he really looking to finish this in one battle, or is he after something else? Ja né!