Back on the cliff, the rangers had arrived with the members of the Order, after having gone through the traps.
"Weird, no one's home…" Azu noticed.
"Maybe she went out to find another Founder, we should get setting up." Azula grunted impatiently.
"Right." Azu agreed. "Everyone, start setting up."
The Order nodded, getting to work, drawing symbols on the ground and setting up crystals.
Ziga sighed, leaning against a wall, Tessa coming over. "Oh, Tessa, hey."
"You seem like something's still bothering you." Tessa stated gently, leaning against the wall next to Ziga.
"...I found my resolve, I think." Ziga told her. "...it's still not gonna be easy. I think I got our hornet's help, but…even if it was just a simulation…just the thought of hurting her…"
"Any hurt you inflict will be temporary, we have to do this Ziga, she can't host Lunatsuki forever and there's no telling if she'll survive the body creating process Lunatsuki's setting up."
Ziga nodded. "...I know. But…do you think I can do this?"
"I know you can, Ziga."
"...I hope you're right…"
Tessa patted Ziga's shoulder reassuringly before returning to her group to help them with the set up.
Ziga raised her top left wrist up, a holographic picture of her and Suba receiving medals of honor materializing, the two in the picture hugging tightly after having successfully protected a village under Hoshuke rule from some of their more…fearsome enemies.
She took a breath, nodding to herself. She made a promise, and she will keep it.
As the preparations finished up, the rangers got an alert.
"The hell…?" Ziga's eye widened. "But he-WHAT!?"
"What is it?" Azu asked.
"These readings say Lunatsuki's fighting…the Authorian."
"WHAT!?" The others shouted.
"I thought he wasn't on the planet?" Nazu asked suspiciously.
"These readings…something's up, he would've alerted us if he was returning." Ziga responded, trying to understand this.
"... Maybe someone other than us is trying to trap her?" Andah suggested.
Ziga blinked. "...Could be it!" She turned to the Order. "Tessa, everyone, we're gonna draw Lunatsuki back."
"Alright, we'll stay here, keep everything ready." Tessa nodded.
"Alright. Let's go, everyone!" Ziga spoke, the rangers running off.
"Aren't I supposed to be team leader…?" Azu muttered.
"You're leader in my heart~" Slavi winked.
Azu blushed. "That makes no sense."
"C'mon, you guys!" Andah called.
"Right, right!"
Later on, the five saw a portal open, Lunatsuki jumping from it and landing, the portal closing.
"The hell?" Azu asked, blinking, everyone in covert suits.
"She looks…. Hurt?" Andah commented softly.
"Yeah, like someone gave her a tough time…" Slavi noted. "Whoever tricked her must've been real powerful."
"Well, let's take advantage." Azu stated, moving to ambush.
Lunatsuki dusted her shoulders off, cracking her neck and knuckles before moving to walk off…then sensing something.
She held up an arm to block an attack by a morphed Azu, the contact creating a loud explosion of ice and fire, lighting the respective warriors in blue and red as well as the surrounding area.
"Rangers..." Lunatsuki growled loudly at them. Azu kicked off of her, sending flaming slashes at her, which she blocked, Azu firing with her Ryubiter.
The others jumped in, Nazu firing with his crossbow, Andah sending her yoyo at her, Slavi sending energy blades forward, Ziga shooting lightning from her tonfas.
Lunatsuki rushed at the rangers with her blades forming, dodging or blocking their hits.
The five punched, slashed, kicked, and blasted at her more, trying to overwhelm her.
"GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed, letting out a blast of cold and lightning to push them back.
"Think we can last long enough to get her there?" Nazu whispered over comms.
"We have to." Azu affirmed.
"Maybe we should actually start running that way?" Slavi suggested.
"Was planning on it." Azu responded, leaping forward, kicking Lunatsuki in the head and flying off.
"GET BACK HERE, RED!" Lunatsuki chased angrily.
"Uh oh, looks like someone's looking to steal Red." Andah teased Slavi as the four went after the two.
"Do you have to tease me every time our opponent is attractive?~" Slavi teased Andah back as they gave chase.
"You're a Pythonian, you have no room to talk there." Andah giggled.
"Speciest! True, but speciest!" Slavi laughed.
Back at Lunatsuki's base, the goddess arrived with the red ranger, tackling her to the ground, the two rolling along it before Azu managed to kick her into a wall. Lunatsuki launched a blast of cold, freezing Azu's feet in place, rushing to the center of the room to absorb more power.
As the tendrils of energy connected the goddess to the frozen Founders, the rest of the rangers arrived, Azu heating up the ice to free herself.
Ziga reached her first, tossing a bolt of her own lightning at Lunatsuki. "Why…why are you doing this? You used to be a hero, worshiped as a goddess! What happened to you!?"
Lunatsuki turned to them with a cold glare, one that sent chills down everyone's spines.
"I…Lost…EVERYTHING!" Lunatsuki bellowed, an ice-lightning blast sending everyone flying back.
"Nghh… Damn she's really mad now…" Azu groaned, moving behind a piece of rubble for cover.
"Yeah…" Slavi moved next to her. "Just…damn."
"So that's what this is all about…" Ziga muttered, standing up. "You…your family…history says you blamed the empire for their deaths, but could never prove it…people say you disappeared when you tried going after em yourself…" She narrowed her eye. "And since your revival needs more energy to be complete, you needed the Founders…"
"I see you catch on eventually, at least." Lunatsuki snarked. "No one can hold my power for long. Each time I go all out just hurts the girl more."
"Please, stop hurting her. We can find a way to permanently revive you back at HENSHIN! You can join us in our fight, you don't have to do this!" Ziga pleaded.
"Oh yea so I can languish in a holding cell while getting preached to that vengeance isn't the right path? I know you Hero types. I was you!" The goddess sneered.
"Please, you can still be that! You can still be a hero again! What would your family want!?"
"ALL MY FAMILY WANTS IS MY NAME!" Lunatsuki cried out in anger.
"What…what're you talking about?" Azu asked.
"My only surviving descendants are this host and a handful of her relatives, who have all become lazy, her mother and sister sit around in their homes crying over her as if it'll bring her back, her cousins break into my tomb every night just for the sport of it, her aunts and uncles and more distant cousins don't even care- oh, sure, they care in front of the mother and sister, but get them alone and all they want is to use my name on their fucking businesses."
Azu blinked. "Oh…oh geez…"
Slavi was silent…and turned away, thoughts running through her mind…
If…if her parents knew she was a ranger…would they do the same…?
"...Don't…don't you say that." Andah spoke, clenching her fists.
"Excuse me?"
"You say her mother and sister cry over her every night? You think it's lazy, you think it's pathetic to MOURN?" Andah's fists shook as she glared at her. "How dare you? How DARE you mock those who are hurting!? How DARE you spit on those who have lost!?"
"It's been multiple decades! They've nearly killed themselves doing it! Everyone has a right to mourn but there needs to be a line!"
"NO!" Andah bellowed out, surprising everyone. "Do you see this?" She pointed to Ziga. "This is someone who's been trying every damn day she's worked for HENSHIN, every damn day since she put on this morpher to live up to YOUR legacy! Cause she and so many others believe you a good person, someone worthy of respect and worship! And now you call people pathetic for losing family, for contemplating such thoughts as the ones you say they have!? I've lost someone! Ziga has lost people! Everyone here has lost someone, and yet we haven't turned into maniacs kidnapping people to drain their power all for the sake of vengeance!"
"...Andah…" Ziga whispered in surprise. She…she had no idea her green ranger was capable of…such fury and anger.
Andah pointed to Lunatsuki. "If this is how you always were, then you were never worthy of the worship and respect you've gained! You were NEVER worthy of that morpher you once had!"
"Maniac?! No one's dead, you think a bit of power draining is going to do any serious damage to these guys?! The only one in any danger is this host and I'm trying to get her out of it by getting my body back! Get angry at me for being frustrated at my family all you want, I called to them for centuries, this girl is the only one who answered and she did it on death's door."
Ziga blinked. "...Death's door…what?"
…
Ziga then went pale. "You…you mean…!?"
"After the incident when you two got separated… Well, she couldn't go back to your bosses."
"She…d-during that…she…"
"After the incident where they tried to kill you both for having your precious consciences, she made it to my temple, barely alive. Y'know what she was craving? Vengeance. This innocent little girl you wanna protect? She's just as hungry for that as me. I picked up on that and since the temple was centered around me, I was able to shut off the traps and let her in. I made a promise to her, an agreement. Something we both wanted. She had finally broken her brainwashing and realized the true nature of the Empire. So we made a deal. She let me possess her, I keep her alive long enough to ensure a more permanent revival, and then we both go take down the empire, and snap the empress's neck and drown the castle in a storm of all the pain they caused."
"Is that why the empress wanted to capture you? To stop you herself?" Azu asked.
"She's not her parents, I don't know what she wants, I know I don't trust it… I've popped into the empire a few times since this whole thing started. Empress was interviewing my family, but none of them had any way of knowing what we were up to, so honestly, no idea what the Empress was doing or why she was copying the Authorian's energy signature. And I don't care."
"Lunatsuki, ma'am…I'm a family man." Nazu spoke up. "I know what it's like to do bad things for the right reasons. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. I'm trying to put that behind me now…but I've also lost people, as Green said. Even if you don't care what your living relatives have to say…what would your dead ones say? The ones killed by the empire?"
"They'd want me to do the right thing. Isn't taking down the empire just that?" Lunatsuki groaned.
"Who're you taking down?" Azu asked.
"Wh-what?"
"Are you planning on taking down just the Empress and foot soldiers…or you planning on killing every last person in the empire, no matter what?"
"I'm not a maniac. I'm just going after the guilty, not just the Empress, the power structure as a whole, if the Empress dies she'll just be replaced by whoever's next in the line."
An unknown voice suddenly interjected. "Except that's already happened, The Emperor and Empress of your era are long dead. Yes, the Empire wronged you, Lunatsuki, but by your own admission, several centuries have passed. The Empress wasn't even born when you died. As for why the Empress was using my signature, she knew if you captured me your plan would be all but guaranteed, and she was worried you'd get in over your head and I'd kill you." the words were followed by a loud thunk as a book closes, a robed and hooded figure sitting on a stone far too close for Lunatsuki's comfort.
"... And why would she care?" Lunatsuki asked, a familiarity in her body language contrasting against the shocked expressions of most of the other rangers.
"Because the Empress was told the same lie as her flock. You are a hero to her and the Empire, host died disobeying orders to save civilian lives. The Empress knows more than her flock but she is still being lied to, easier to guide the sheep off the cliff if you've blind-folded the Shepherd…Mmm but perhaps I've said too much." The man sighed. "Spoilers, so hard to keep track of."
"I-I'm sorry, is this who I think it is…?" Azu asked.
"O-oh wow…" Ziga blinked.
"M-Mr. Fall?" Slavi exclaimed in surprise. "What're you doing here?"
"Wait, you know this guy!?" Nazu asked in surprise.
"She dated my daughter Silvia for a bit, I was living under an alias, people tend to get stabby if you live too long." The man explained as if the situation was hilarious to him.
"I'm sorry, what the fuck is happening," Azu asked, confused. "how did he just get here-when did he get here-wha-"
The man chuckled jovially "Ah… When, my favorite question. I got here somewhere between the first and second time Lunatsuki screamed that she wasn't a maniac. I listened for a bit, then I sat on this rock with a book in my lap, as if I'd been here the whole time."
"I'm sorry, who the fuck are you?" Azu demanded.
"I know him as Dragon Knight, you've discarded your armor for robes but I know the stench of guilt and too much power anywhere. It seems we're always gonna wind up on opposite sides of a morale line aren't we?" Lunatsuki posed defensively towards the man.
"That depends entirely on your choices, Lunatsuki, I'm not going to preach to you that vengeance is wrong, you of all people know I'd be a hypocrite for doing so, but that doesn't mean you should disregard the children." The Authorian responded simply.
"I'll take in their opinions when they've actually lost everything, and died regretting that their families went unavenged. Now do you plan to fight me alongside them?" Lunatsuki growled
"Don't need to, whatever you absorbed, it won't be enough. Also if you want to talk about losing everything and coming back from death then you really should listen to this new Red Ranger." Azu looks very confused at the comment.
"Do you have anything actually important to say?" Lunatsuki said impatiently.
The Authorian chuckled again, his eyes unfocusing, looking past Lunatsuki. "Not to you. Hear me young lady, Lunatsuki may not have absorbed enough power to defeat the rangers in this battle, but it was more than enough to form a new body. She waited this long because she didn't want to come back as strong as she was in life, she wanted to come back stronger. But as you've no doubt put together, this means she put you at risk to do this. Lunatsuki was isolated for too long, her heroic qualities are not gone, but they are being suppressed by her fanatical need for revenge. Fight back, if you want to live to see the end of this combat. Fight. Back." With another "Clap" of a book closing, the robed man was gone as suddenly as he arrived.
"..." Azu blinked. "So…THAT just happened…Yellow?"
"..." Ziga clenched her fists, contemplating the Authorian's words, glaring fiercely at Lunatsuki, her singular remaining eye glowing with yellow lightning through the visor.
Lunatsuki glared back, eyes flaring with blue ice-lightning.
"Suba…I promise…I'm gonna free you." Ziga spoke, resolve in her voice.
"Everyone ready!?" Azu called out.
"READY!"
Ziga stood in her ranger form in a valley with yellow lightning and storm shaped plant life with a village along it. She waved her limbs like they were swords. "The Topaz Slasher!"
A yellow lightning bolt struck the place, the smoke clearing as she stood on top of a rooftop, standing on one leg, raising a knee, her arms posed like a mantis' blades. "RyuMantis!"
…
Azu was in a technological marvel of a town, with buildings resembling those of HIDEN Intelligence's in its architecture, in various shades of red. She flipped in the air, snapping her fingers on her right hand with it to her left. "The Ruby Light!"
A red flare erupted, dissipating into embers as she stood on a rooftop, the ranger putting one foot in front of the other as she sent her arms out, wings spreading. "RyuButterfly!"
Slavi stood in a sleek, towering city, a mix of magic and tech kept buildings of impossible curved structure standing, shades of pink reflecting off the curved surfaces to dye the center of the city the color. Slavi coiled around and launched off one of the buildings "The Amethyst Star!"
Pink light surrounded her as she came crashing down in the bright pink center of the city. She stood up from a crouched position, curving her back as she came up, bringing her hands in front of her face. "RyuFirefly!"
…
Nazu stood in a space age looking urban town, colored various shades of blue with rivers, ponds, and lakes all around, with water paths impossibly curving into the sky and the stars above, vehicles and creatures rushing through them. He spun around, raising his fist before bringing it down in front of his face in a gun gesture. "The Sapphire Flier!"
A tidal wave came down, water splashing as he now stood on top of a submarine-spaceship hybrid that was a base. "RyuDragonfly!"
Andah stood in a more modern city than the high-tech one of Azu, green glowing signs with the HIDEN tech logo, people and androids with green clothes walking around on the streets below as Andah hopped onto the rooftops. "The Emerald Kicker!"
Andah did a kick flip, moving from the flat rooftop to the next, bits of her costume flying up to latch on before she ended the display landing an overhead kick on the head of a gargoyle as she landed in a service bow, green wind kicking up around her. "RyuHopper!"
The five stood together, with Ziga in the center, Azu to her left, Andah further left, Nazu to her right, Slavi further then, all of them in front of a shining light.
"The crystals shining with light!" They chorused, clapping their hands together. "The power of dragons and insects!"
"Gijutsu Sentai!" Ziga yelled out, everyone getting into their respective poses, but faced outwards from Ziga.
"RYUMUSHINGER!"
An explosion of light in all five colors happened behind them.
"Everyone, let's buzz," Ziga called out.
"AND ROAR!" Everyone called back, roaring.
"Lunatsuki…" Ziga stepped forward. "I'm gonna free Suba…and save your , I promise you." She launched off the nearest piece of rubble and rocketed at Lunatsuki, fist out-stretched.
Lunatsuki caught her fist, their eyes sparking with their respective lightning before Ziga sent her lightning charged tonfa into her foe's chest, shooting lightning at her and sending her back.
Andah somersaulted in the air, her yoyo glowing with green wind energy as she became a human sized spinning disk of green wind, intending to slice at Lunatsuki. Focused on Ziga, Lunatsuki couldn't fully dodge the edge of the Yoyo smacking into her.
Azu leapt into the air and stabbed downward at Lunatsuki at the same time.
[GEYSER! G-G-G-GEYSER!]
Nazu loaded the Ryumucard into his weapon, firing it at the same time, the team attempting to overwhelm the goddess. She roared as the hits connected, using their recovery time after the hits to slam them all with a bolt of ice-blue lightning.
She perked up, then blocked a hit by a long pink energy blade produced by the Photinus Knuckles used by Slavi, the two getting into a clash of blades. Lunatsuki tried to twist her blade to force Slavi to let go but Slavi was too flexible, simply backing out of the sword clash and leg-sweeping Lunatsuki in return.
Lunatsuki twisted in midair, blasting ice-lightning at her, Slavi blocking with her blades, getting knocked back a short distance and recovering to launch another series of slashes at Lunatsuki.
Lunatsuki nimbly dodged each slash at her, forming a small bolt of lightning to deflect some more before throwing it like a disk at Slavi.
[MAGMA! ROARYAL BUZZ!]
Magma constructs chomped down on the lightning before combusting, Azu sending a kick towards Luna with her wings spread out.
"BUTTERFLY BIG BANG!"
"Blizzard of Lightning!" Lunatsuki exclaimed, releasing a powerful blast of cold and electricity into Azu's kick to keep her from connecting.
[S-S-S-SWARM!]
A swarm of green energy grasshopper dragons flew in at Lunatsuki, chomping at the bit at her. She screamed, stomping and swatting at them, letting go of her tornado of ice and lightning, allowing Azu to finish her kick.
Azu managed to send her flying with her kick, shooting repeatedly with her Ryubiter. Lunatsuki crossed her arms to avoid taking too much damage from the shots, twisting midair to land on her feet in front of Ziga again.
Ziga aimed to jab at her with her tonfa in her right hand, Luna slapping it down before elbowing her in the helmet, Ziga using the momentum to do a spin kick, knocking her back a bit before Luna slammed two bolts into the ground, ice-bolts shooting out of the ground towards Ziga, who backflipped out of the way, leaping into the air, Andah grabbed her midair and throwing her towards Luna, wrapping her yoyo around the latter's legs to bind her, Ziga aiming a punch at her. Lunatsuki did a front flip, kicking her leg so that the yo-yo string pulled Andha into Ziga hard.
"OOF!" Both yelled out as they crashed into each other, falling to the ground. Luna prepared an ice-lightning bolt to strike down at them, only for Azu to punch hard into her side with a flame coated fist, sending her skidding back. Lunatsuki growled angrily and made for the center of the room.
As soon as she stepped in the center, light blue glowing circles with mystical patterns appeared under her. Her eyes widened with recognition as the trap started up, ghostly blue-green shackles reaching up and around her.
As they chained her up, she screamed as they glowed brightly, murmurs of spells surrounding her and echoing around the cave. She could feel the magic all around tearing her soul from her host, burning at the seams to try to separate the two.
"Ziga! Go!" Azu called out.
Ziga nodded, her morpher materializing as she pressed the button to activate the finisher.
[FINISHER READY!]
Electric music blared as she got into a stance before launching at Lunatsuki, aiming for the mask, Lunatsuki grabbing her arm and kneeing her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her.
"Nice…try!" Luna grunted before punching her away, yelling out more as a surge of energy flowed through her from the chains.
"I think it's about time I introduce you to one of my little… FRIENDS!"
A storm cloud fog flowed into the area, and with a flash of lightning, a silhouette of a humanoid bird creature with glowing eyes appeared. With a single wing flap, the entire fog cloud was dispersed. The kaijin's feathers were the color of storm clouds, and lightning jumped between feathers.
It glared intensely at Ziga, rearing back before SHRIEKING at her with the force of a thunderclap, knocking her way back into the cave. The Thunderbird flew in circles around Lunatsuki to disrupt the trap.
"Oh shit…" Tessa spoke from her hiding place.
"Having trouble…keeping it…" Azula grunted.
"We gotta knock that thing outta the sky, Nazu, Andah!" Azu called over comms.
[SWARM!] [Geyser!]
The swarm of dragonhoppers and a blue energy geyser blasted from two sides at the Thunderbird, causing it to shriek, sending ice lightning through the geyser and turning to shriek at the swarm.
Ziga ran back in at Lunatsuki with a growl. Luna took a deep breath, focusing…
And just as Ziga ran in for another punch to the mask, Luna's eyes glowed…
And the chains SHATTERED!
The Order was sent flying out of their hiding places, along with Ziga being sent to the ground, Slavi quickly getting the temple members to safety, not that Lunatsuki was paying them any mind as she flew at Ziga.
Ziga's eye widened as she rolled out of the way of a punch, kicking up at Luna with a lightning charged kick from her left leg, Luna grabbing her leg-
CRACK!
And SNAPPING it, Ziga letting out a yell of pain before Luna lifted her into the air before slamming her down again, stomping onto her torso before punching her across the helmet.
Just before she went in for another punch, her fist shook.
Ziga looked on. "S-Suba…?"
Luna looked to her shaking fist. "What…are you…doing…!?" She growled.
Ziga slammed her fist into the mask, emboldened by the idea that Suba was fighting too.
Luna grunted in pain, growling before punching again, Ziga turning her head to dodge, her adrenaline letting her fight through the pain in her leg, kicking with her other leg. Thinking back to what Suzesaki said in the training room.
…
"And what if you wait too long and she's fulfilled her usefulness to Lunatsuki?"
…
Ziga narrowed her eye, pushing herself forward into a flying kick with her right arm, boot landing on Luna's mask, Ziga using her tonfa to bounce herself off the ground as she fell, kicking again.
Lunatsuki let out a roar of frustration and kicked Ziga in the side, flinging her into a crater.
Ziga groaned in pain, vision blurry, only seeing Luna zoom up to her, eyes glowing with blue energy flowing.
That was what she saw before a flurry of punches came flying from the goddess. Sending Ziga's mind reeling back to happier times…
…
It was so many years ago.
Back in boot camp.
The students had just gotten inducted and were assigned their dorms.
A younger Ziga, with both eyes, and sheathed arm blades in a uniform with the Hoshukan logo on it, walked into her dorm, unable to believe she was finally here!
"Hey!"
She looked and saw a yuki-onna on the top bunk of the room's bunkbed.
"U-uh…hey!" Ziga greeted back. "So you're uh…my roommate?"
"Yeah! I'm Subazerra. Nice to meet you!"
"Y-you too!" Ziga set her bag down. "I'm surprised to see a yuki-onna way out here. Thought you lived in more snowy areas."
"Well I'm only part Yuki-Onna, I just happened to get their good looks~"
Ziga blinked. "Are you…uh…f-flirting or is that a joke?"
"Both!" Suba smiled widely.
Ziga blushed hard. "U-uh, heheh, uh, I, well, you are right about the looks, uh, heheh…"
"I look forward to working with you!" Suba extended her hand.
Ziga wiped her hand on her pants subconsciously before shaking Suba's. "Y-you too." She said again.
'Oh shit oh fuck first day at boot camp and I'm already dealing with something like this I thought after high school I'd be done with this oh fuck-' She thought, sweating.
"Are youuuu okay? You look like you're stressing out."
"OK AM!" Ziga squealed.
"...Okayyy you need to chill out. Why don't you sit down?" Suba suggested.
"Y-yes ma'am." Ziga answered. "...was that a pun?"
"... Maybe." Suba chuckled, guiding Ziga to sit on the bottom bunk.
"S-so uh…why'd you sign up?" Ziga asked. "Some of the others I talked to seemed interested in either glory or catching the rulers' eyes."
"I uhhh… I'm descended from Lunatsuki…"
Ziga blinked. "...Get out, no way."
"It's true! I'm the eldest daughter of the direct line." Suba said somewhat proudly this time.
"..." Ziga narrowed her eyes. "Prove it."
"You got a drink or something?"
Ziga brought out a water bottle from her bag. Suba pointed a finger at it and concentrated, a little arch of electricity bouncing from her finger tip to the glass, and the top froze over.
Ziga blinked, staring in awe. "...you…wow…"
"Told ya~ Now tell me your reason~"
Ziga blushed. "Many people are in high positions of power simply to live a life of luxury, reaping the benefits from pretending to be doing something, or to push their own agendas onto the populace while ignoring many actual problems. I just…wanted to make a difference myself. I thought by going into the military, I could actually help."
"... That's…awesome." Suba smiled wider.
Ziga turned more red. "I-it's nothing much…"
"No no I really think that's great! Like you said, a lot of people are just here to get ahead, or get in some higher-ups' pants. Even though I'm here because I figured it was the best way to live up to my ancestor's legacy, you're just… here to help. I love that."
Ziga was blushing so hard steam blew from her. "Th-thanks."
…
Ziga took a heavy breath, standing in front of two metal doors. This was it, no more training, no more tests, she was part of a squad now, and they were behind these doors, waiting for her…
"You got this…" She said to herself. "You got this." She opened the doors, letting out a small breath of relief on seeing Suba occupying one of the chairs at the table that dominated the center of the room, talking with the rest of their squad. "H-hi!"
The others turned to her.
There was a tall, muscled scorpion man in one chair, his body a deep red and wearing a black shirt, pants, boots, and gloves. Standing up to grab a cup of coffee was a lithe but strong looking Dragonfly woman, her own body a navy blue accented by a brighter blue uniform. Another person there was a chocolate brown rove beetle woman in a form fitting attire in white.
Ziga had to pause at the beauty of the Dragonfly and the size of the Rove beetle, entirely unsure how to introduce herself now that she'd seen her rather impressive squadmates.
"Heh, you uh, gonna come back down from the stars?~" Suba giggled.
"I ummm, sorry, I just, didn't want to interrupt." Ziga said sheepishly.
The scorpion chuckled. "You must be Ziga." He greeted. "Name's Veniso."
"I'm Drania, Suba was just telling us about you~" The Dragonfly greeted with a smile, Ziga blushing.
"Beatila!" The Rove beetle greeted, saluting. Ziga saluted back somewhat awkwardly.
"I'm Ziga, the way I understand it we're gonna find out who's in charge today?"
"That's right." Veniso nodded. "Beatila here's probably hoping it's her." He teased, elbowing the Rove beetle.
"I will respect the chain of command no matter the outcome!... But yeah it'd be nice…"
The others laughed.
"C'mon, take a seat!" Drania spoke up, suddenly beside Ziga, looping their arms together while shooting a teasing smirk at Suba, walking her over to the empty seat, Ziga's face red, Suba giving a playful glare to the dragonfly as she sat down.
"S-so uh…who's going to pick the leader again?" Ziga asked, Drania and Suba sitting on either side of her.
"Sir Owlio the current War-time leader." Beatila responded immediately.
"R-right." Ziga nodded. "So uh…what's you guys' stories?"
"Meh, this is the highest paying job where I can shoot a gun." Veniso said casually.
"To honor a friend." Drania spoke simply. "That's all. Well, that and …" She eyed Ziga up, smirking, Ziga blushing harder. "I get to meet some interesting individuals."
"My family have been in the military for generations! It is my duty!" Beatila finished.
"Uh…wow." Ziga blinked.
"What?" Drania asked.
"You're…" Ziga gulped. "Interesting individuals."
"Thankyou!" Drania smiles "But you didn't tell us your reason."
"I…just wanna help." Ziga answered honestly.
"Pfft." Veniso chuckled. "Sure."
"I do." Ziga insisted. "There are so many people who just go into the military or politics for their own goals and …not enough who just wanna help, which is the actual purpose of those things. I just…wanna help."
"That is a good reason!" Beatila said proudly.
"Exactly!" Suba side-hugged Ziga, smiling. "Told ya you guys would like her!"
"Eh, someone had to be a goody good. At least she looks strong enough to back it up." Veniso scoffed.
"Oh don't mind him," Drania told Ziga. "He likes showing off how tough he is. 'Oh look at me, I'm the big soldier guy, shoot shoot bang bang!'" She spoke in a deep, masculine voice with a silly face. Veniso waved her off but chuckled to himself.
"I look forward to working with you!" Beatila told the mantis, extending a hand. Ziga shook it, trying not to cringe when Beatila squeezed just a bit too hard.
"You'll get used to it, I promise." Suba said gently to her. Ziga nodded her understanding with a smile.
…
Three minutes.
That's all they had, three minutes.
Veniso has told them orders from higher up told them to bomb the places, and he and the others weren't gonna help the rebellion members they were stealing from evacuate.
They gave em three minutes to escape…
But Ziga wasn't about to abandon those people, and neither was Subazerra.
"C'mon c'mon c'mon…" Ziga rushed through the building, tossing them out or helping them down stairs or escapes, Suba getting them to safety once she caught them, continuing like this as the building shook and groaned.
This…was what Ziga admired about her.
Suba didn't question her. She…she just helped. Like she also knew immediately what to do.
Just…helping others.
Ziga continued to rush, to try and do as much as she could. Just one more… Just one more… She pushed herself harder and harder.
As she threw the final one out the door, she heard…Suba screaming her name…
And then boom. A bright light and painful heat.
The last thing she thought of…was her face.
That beautiful smile…
Her best friend…her partner…
And in Ziga…something awakened.
Ziga's eye opened, and everyone was blasted back by a HUGE yellow lightning blast.
"Holy shit…" Amy stared in shock at the monitor.
"BOSS!" Shizuka called out as she banged on the door.
Amy did a quick scan, then signalled the guards to let her in.
"Boss, you won't believe this!" Shizuka told her, running in.
"What?"
"The power up plug in…it's gone!"
Amy blinked, then looked at the monitor.
"..." Amy smiled.
"Boss?"
Amy gestured, Shizuka coming over, then seeing the image on the monitor.
"..." Shizuka grinned widely, then opened a holographic screen. "Readings are off the charts…"
"...Ziga…" Amy smiled warmly.
Ziga stood up, a swirl of electric yellow energy around her, silhouetting her, her eye glowing yellow with lightning sparking. She raised her left arm up, a crystalline plug in device like closed wings attached into her Roaryal Buzzer.
Her body was healed, her energy restored, and then some.
She felt…ELECTRIFYING.
Lunatsuki stared forward, standing up, everyone watching in awe.
"...Hmm. Well done." Suzesaki spoke from her realm, eyes glowing as she watched in her forest.
Ziga narrowed her eye, her plug in, the Chrysalis Hatcher, glowing yellow, the screen on it reading stylized kanji for "Topaz" and "Lightning" as a standby played.
[What's your name, what's your name, what's your name]
A synth-techno voice spoke during a techno piece of music.
Glaring at her former hero…the goddess of her friend…
The form of the two she swore to save…She spoke the next words with passion.
"CHRYSALIS RYUMUCHANGE!" She bellowed out, voice overlaid with a divine one, slamming the lightning button on the Roaryal Buzzer.
[MY NAME IS!]
A huge storm flooded the top of the cave, yellow lightning strikes happening everywhere as tiny energy dragon-mantises flew around her, the energy swirl combined with them to form a yellow energy chrysalis around her, an electrifying rock-synth music piece playing.
[Ch-Ch-Chrys! Alis! Chrysalis! Ch-ch-CHRYSALIS! CHRYSALIS RYU~MAN~TI~S~]
The chrysalis cracked, then SHATTERED, blowing Lunatsuki back, the goddess creating trenches in the ground, the Order members and Ryumushingers being sent back along with the Thunderbird.
When the chrysalis shattered, Ziga stood there, morphed…in a new form.
She now had a black bodysuit with neon yellow stripes.
Her new torso armor was black, made up of a dragon-mantis' head in the chest plate, with topaz stones for the eyes.
Her shoulder pads were also black, with cylindrical neon yellow parts, with black gauntlets with neon yellow trimming and topaz stones.
She also had black greaves with neon yellow trimming and topaz stones, lightning bolts on her ankles.
She also had a metallic black helmet a similar shade as the rest of her armor, dragon-mantis eyes above her visor, said visor having neon yellow trimming which lead off the helmet and resembled mantis blades.
"The Topaz of Assurance," Ziga called out, energy mantis blades popping up from the gauntlets as she pulled a similar pose to her default one before jumping up and pulling her left elbow back, a chop motion with her right hand, right leg forward, left leg crouched, arms moving to resemble mantis blades again. "CHRYSALIS RYUMANTIS!"