Lilith's Last Stand

Maddie's eyes narrowed underneath her helmet as she watched the hidiacs surround her and Chip, who was leaning on her for support.

"You okay to fight?" She asked.

"My head's still spinning but I think we can take these goons!" He replied cheerily, pointing his staff at the oncoming hordes. Bolts of lightning tore through their ranks, leaving nothing but piles of ashes in it's wake.

"My turn!" Maddie said, slamming her trident on the ground. Arcs of blue energy slashed against the remaining foot soldiers, destroying them.

Neil winced, leaping back to avoid getting hit by a blast of dark energy. He swung his staff in retaliation and shards of ice slammed against the dark knight, forcing him back.

Xander and Nick charged at the knight, attacking him relentlessly with their axe and sword, which he blocked with his shield. He shoved them back before swinging his sword and summoning a pack of spectral wolves to attack them, only for Lena to jump in front of the two rangers, her form glowing with amber energy. A spectral garuda emerged from her body and attacked the wolves, while Lena drew her lightning sword at the knight. The other rangers ran towards her to help only to be blocked by a squadron of hidiacs.

The sky was lit up with pink and black flames as Lilith and Vida battled each other.

"You really think I would be defeated by a pink princess of all things!" Lilith said scathingly.

"What did you call me?" Vida asked dangerously, her eyes twitching behind her helmet. She flapped her wings, commanding the wind in front of her to converge into a swirling tornado, which she directed towards the vampire queen with a flick of her staff.

Lilith screeched as she was swept up in the tornado, which tossed her unceremoniously to the ground.

"You have to do it now, Vida." The twin bats on her shoulder said in synchrony, as she flew down, stopping to hover above the vampire queen, who struggled to stand up.

"Alright." She gripped her magi staff with both her hands, and concentrated. Nai and Mea flew away from her shoulder and landed on the ground near to Lilith's crumpled form, turning back to their human forms. A burst of pink wind escaped her body before swirling around her, forming a cocoon of sorts.

Then she found it… something new yet embedded deep within her magic, intertwined tightly with her lifeforce…

Another wave of magic escaped her, but this time, it was deep purple.

Her head rolled back as she screamed in pain as the magic flooded out of her body, threatening to overcome her.

"Concentrate Vida!" Nai screamed.

The swirling winds gained in momentum, becoming a howling tornado that raged outwards, sweeping up everything in it's path, including Lilith. Nai and Mea linked arms, teleporting away in bubbles of dark energies just before it reached them.

Her eyes locked on the vampire queen, who flailed her arms helplessly, shooting bolts of dark magic that were dispersed by her winds.

Her eyes flashed red and her visor was illuminated in a crimson hue. Her cloak was tattered by the winds and the pink of her suit took on a darker shade, becoming mauve.

"You will pay!" She snarled, pointing her staff at her.

Her eyes flashed red and her visor was illuminated in a crimson hue. Her cloak was tattered by the winds and the pink of her suit took on a darker shade, becoming mauve.

She screamed and a purple spell circle appeared behind her and sucked in all the wind before glowing ominously.

Lilith hovered in the air, finally managing to catch herself. She bared her fangs and dived at Vida, only for the spell circle to let loose a tendril of dark magic that tore through the vampire queen, before slamming her to the ground.

"NO!" She screamed, shocked, looking down where the tendril had pierced her. The tendril dissipated, leaving a gaping bloody hole in her abdomen.

"No…" Lilith muttered as Vida landed in front of her. "No… I just wanted to win…"

"It didn't have to end this way." The pink ranger told her. "You brought this on yourself."

"You have no idea what you have just done…" The vampire queen croaked as cracks started to appear in her body. Her legs turned to ashes and the rest of her body followed but not before a wisp of purple magic burst out from her and shot into Vida.

"What just happened?" Vida asked as Nai and Mea appeared beside her, both smiling.

"Isn't it obvious?" Nai asked.

"You are now the new queen of all vampires." Mea completed as they bowed before her.

A blast of dark magic tossed Lena backwards.

"You are no longer in your prime, knight. Like all humans, you have aged." Saizo scoffed, pointing his sword at the yellow mage.

"I may be old but I can still take care of pests like you!" Lena said scathingly, getting up and her sword glowing with a yellow aura as lightning cackled around her armour.

Before she could attack, an axe swung past her, striking Saizo's helmet, shattering it and sending him flying across the wastelands and slamming into a tree, which fell over on the impact.

Lena turned around, confused. She saw the same grey ranger from before walking towards her.

Hidiacs charged at him only for him to pellet them with bullets from his blaster.

The other rangers ran to her side as the new ranger came to them.

"Wait… I recognise you!" Chip said excitedly. "You are the Titanium Ranger from Lightspeed!"

Neil's eyes narrowed. While the other Lightspeed rangers' identities were publicly known, the Titanium ranger had remained anonymous.

"Mystic Force Rangers, there is much we need to talk about. There is an outbreak of vampires in the city." He said, his voice distorted by his helmet as he picked up his axe from where it had fallen to the ground.

"We know." Nick said, coming forward. "Most of them are contained here."

The Titanium ranger tilted his head towards where the vampires were being held.

"There are five more. I have captured them in my base." He informed them.

"You have a base! That's so cool!" Chip said excitedly.

The titanium ranger ignored him. "Any other hunter would have staked them on the spot but I am hoping that you wizards might have some solution."

"We don't have a cure but we can rehabilitate them." Lena said.

"Good." The ranger nodded his head before body slamming Nick to the ground and just in time, as a bolt of dark magic shot past them.

"I am not so easy to beat!" Saizo growled, limping towards them.

"Thanks." Nick said, as the titanium ranger helped him up.

"No problem." He nodded curtly.

"Give up, Saizo." Lena said firmly. "Or we will be forced to destroy you."

He started cackling as dark magic enveloped him as he turned into a giant.

"Impudent humans!" He roared. "I will destroy you all!"

"Better let us handle this, mate." Xander told the new ranger just before they leapt to the air, transforming into their titan forms.

"What…" Vida stuttered.

She looked around to see the other vampires the Mystic Force had restrained, bowing to her in a trance.

"You knew this would happen, didn't you?" She asked the twins.

"We had known this was a possibility." Mea said. "Siring a vampire is like having a child in many ways and you killing Lilith made you the first in line to inherit the mantle of the queen."

"Why couldn't you two do it instead?" Vida asked.

"We weren't powerful enough. And even if we had succeeded, we wouldn't have inherited the mantle because we weren't turned by Lilith." Nai answered.

"But I didn't want this… any of this!" Vida shook her head frantically.

"We know but now, you are one of the most powerful beings on the realms. You command the vampires Lilith turned and you can release them from her thrall, though it might be better to do so once we are in the twilight dimension." Mea said.

"This is a lot…" Vida gulped.

Suddenly, the ground shook and they looked up to see Saizo becoming a giant and commanding Catastros.

"The others… They need my help." Vida said.

"Go. We will take care of everyone here." Mea reassured. "We will wait for you in the Twilight Dimension."

"Right." Vida said, running to meet the other rangers.

The twins turned towards the restrained vampires and snapped their fingers, as all of them vanished in a cloud of dark magic.

Saizo in his centaur form grabbed hold of the phoenix titan's head, dragging him through the ground as he blazed across the battlefield.

The other titans watched helplessly as dark energies coursed through them, a nasty curse that immobilised them.

Just then, a blue blur slammed into the dark knight, forcing him to let go of Nick. The curse subsided and the other titans got to their feet.

"You okay?" The titanium ranger's voice echoed as a blue jet zord hovered over them.

"We are fine. Thank you." The red ranger said.

"You dare insult me by striking me with this metal abomination!" Saizo fumed, trying to grab the zord, only for it to transform into a sleek robot.

"MAX SOLARZORD!"

The robot unleashed a blast of energy at the knight, forcing him back.

"You guys okay?" They turned around to see the pink sprite appear beside them, except her wings now resembled a bat's wings than those of a butterfly.

"We are…" Chip reassured. "Lilith?"

"Taken care of. I will fill you guys later." She said as Saizo transformed into the Wolf Centaurus Megazord.

"Right!" Nick said, as they merged into the titan megazord.

"ANCIENT POWER, MYSTIC SPELLSEAL!" They called as soon as they materialised in the cockpit of the megazord, and the megazord executed their most powerful attack only for Saizo to repel that with his own.

Lena charged at the villain, only for her and the Max Solarzord to be entrapped in a web of dark magic.

"He is stronger than us." Maddie frowned. "Guys, what do we do?"

"I say, we fight back, we don't give up!" Chip placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Chip's right! Don't give up." Neil nodded.

"We never give up!" Vida agreed, raising her staff.

"Count me in!" Xander joined in.

"One for all!" Nick called.

"And all for one!" Vida moved to the front as their staffs lit up.

"What's going on?" Chip asked once the light faded.

"You guys believed in me and trusted me. I think that has unlocked another spell!" Vida surmised.

"Nice!" The yellow ranger whooped excitedly.

"Battle me!" Saizo yelled furiously, charging at them with his sword.

"Ready?"

"Ready!" They placed their hands over their consoles, which pulsed with magic and the cockpit lit up with their colours. The wings of the megazord flapped open, as they took to the skies, passing through a new spell circle before slowing down.

"SPIRITS OF THE ANCIENT TITANS, ATTACK!" They dived back at the ground and slashed open the spell circle. Spectral projections of the mystical entities, the legendary heavenly saints – the phoenix, minotaur, garuda, mermaid, fairy and the snow lion flew out from the circle, joining their attack.

They struck the dark knight with their sword, empowered by their totems and watched as golden magic washed over Saizo, reducing him to ashes.

The web that restrained Lena and the Max Solarzord disappeared and the rangers cheered.

"Have to admit, they do grow more powerful by the day." Bandora mused, watching a projection of the rangers alongside her husband from the Underworld.

"And we lost another knight!" Morticon fumed.

"You forget husband, I can create another wolf knight for you…" She said placatingly.

"But they are not as good as Koragg!"

"Well, I value loyalty over expertise and Koragg would have never joined our cause." She scoffed.

"We need more generals! Someone who can finally find a way to get me out of this infernal pit!" He growled.

"Well, lucky for you, I have the perfect person in mind to join our ranks! Someone who the rangers will never see coming!" She smirked.

"So, what brings you to Briarwood? Are the other Lightspeed rangers coming too? Are we teaming up with them?" The yellow ranger asked Ryan, who smiled underneath his helmet, though he remained silent.

This yellow ranger reminded him of Kelsey, not just because of his colour but for his boundless enthusiasm and endless optimism.

"We are here." He said, the steel doors to the Lightspeed safe house opening on voice command, revealing the computers monitoring the entire city as well as the vampires who were knocked unconscious and bound by a salt circle.

"This is awesome!" The yellow ranger whooped. The green one whistled and the others nodded their hands.

"We will take care of this from here." Lena said, pointing her staff at the vampires. "Lanuae Magicae!"

They vanished in bursts of glimmering lights.

"I have sent them to the Twilight Dimension. Nai and Mea will take care of them."

"What about their families?" Ryan asked. "Are you not going to inform them?"

"We will… in due time. So many vampires were turned together at the same time. Things are quite the mess but we will fix it." She promised.

"Good." He nodded.

"I have to ask though why are you here?" Lena pressed.

"I am not just a ranger. I am a hunter as well." He said, removing his helmet. "My name is Ryan Mitchell. I sensed a shift in the magical balance in this city a while back and came to investigate."

"Ryan?!" The red ranger asked, shocked.

Ryan turned towards him, eyes narrowing. The voice was familiar and it took him a moment to discern it and break the glamour that hid it. "Nick?"

The red ranger demorphed to reveal his neighbour, who smiled sheepishly at him. The others demorphed to reveal his friends and colleagues at the record shop except the Saffron Sentinel, who was an older woman.

"Well, this is a surprise." He laughed. "I probably should have seen this coming though, given your predisposition for red."

Udonna looked at the ranges, except for Nick and Lena who had stayed behind to fill Ryan in on the threat the Underworld posed to them.

Nai and Mea appeared in a puff of purple smoke.

"So, you are the new queen of vampires?" Chip asked.

"Appears so." The pink witch nodded.

"This is mainly a ceremonial title though it comes with several perks. You can walk in daylight unlike others, and hence you can continue to stay here in Briarwood." Nai said.

"Though you still need your fill of blood." Mea reminded her.

Vida made a disgusted look. After her collapse last morning, she had been forced to drink blood. Lena had managed to procure some blood bags from the blood bank in the hospital. She hated how tasty it was, how it quenched her thirst but that was something she had to get used to now, apparently.

"And the others?" She asked.

"They have been brought back to their senses and informed of their current predicament. Tomorrow morning, we will arrange monitored visits to their homes with emissaries from our clan who will help break the news to their families." Mea said.

"So, everything worked out. Lilith is gone and everyone is safe!" Maddie said with a smile. "And my sister is not going anywhere."

The wasteland was empty as the moonlight shone on the barren surface. Piles of ashes flew by before settling on a pile. A flash of silver light fell on it and the ash swirled and the body of a naked human girl replaced the pile. She had golden curls framing her beautiful face. She had a gaping wound in her abdomen, which quickly stitched itself back in place.

She gasped, revealing her fangs.

She coughed, struggling to get up. Funny, the weakest part of her had saved her from certain doom.

The dark magic attack would have decimated her if not for her human half. While she may have lost the mantle of the vampire queen, she was still part of the royal bloodline.

The rangers had won, destroyed her master plan.

Her mind felt like her own again, devoid of the voices of her predecessors hungering for war… the voice of her mother clamouring for revenge… voices that had driven her to the point of insanity.

Her mother may have named her after her grandmother but Lilith was not the name she wanted to go by. She had crafted a new identity that had been untainted of her family's shadow…

Leelee smirked as she snapped her fingers and a blue tank top and jeans materialised on her.

She would avenge her mother but she vowed not to lose herself anymore.

Hope you guys liked this chapter!

There you have it finally, the real identity of Lilith!

RPM Shadow: Thanks! Me too! I have some cool stuff planned for my version of Heir Apparent.

Miley Pinkys: Glad you are liking the story! That's awesome and cute! Though I think Vida is going to punch anyone who calls her Princess to be honest! XD

D.J. Scales: So happy you liked it. My plans for the Gatekeeper arc won't deviate much from canon. That's a good question. Bandora is powerful but her power comes from her knowledge and practice of dark magic. She can channel powerful magic but she can't contain it within herself. Morticon is a being of power and would need someone who is more powerful than him to set him free.