Heart frowned as he watched Lyra take apart his phone, the teen clearly not happy about her messing with it. "Remind me again why you're doing this?"
"Security," Lyra explained as she finally undid the phone and pulled it apart to reveal the circuitry. As she did, it revealed a strange looking chip-like device with a stylised M on it. "Not long after he took over the town, Mirage released a special chip that could be installed into any phone or tablet."
"Yeah," Heart nodded. "He said it would give us free calls, free internet and it was available to everyone. Didn't even charge us for...it." He sighed, "it was an evil scheme wasn't it?"
"Oh yeah," Sandal nodded as he handed Lyra some pliers. "It might give you free everything, but what the packaging doesn't tell you is everything you do on your phone will be recorded. Everything you say, text or search online, Mirage will know about."
Heart frowned at this, his eyes then going wide. "No way." They turned to him, "my sister. Soul and I were talking on the phone about the memories we'd just got back. That must have been how Mirage knew about us."
"It's one of the ways," Sweetie told him. "Others probably tried looking us up online after they remembered what we did a decade ago, and who knows what else Mirage could have done to find others who remember."
Lyra pulled the chip from the phone, holding it up for them all to see. "And with this, they could track you no matter where you went." Heart's eyes went wide as Lyra threw the chip into the air, Flash taking out his Morphin Blaster and firing. The chip was disintegrated, the dust falling to the ground.
"But doesn't that mean they know where we are now?" The teen asked, "if they were tracking us-"
"Relax," Soarin told him. "We already have that covered." He held up the bracelet they all wore. "A friend of ours managed to block our signal using our communicators. Your phone was completely jammed whilst it was around us." Heart sighed in relief, but then frowned.
"Mirage...he tricked us. Made us think he was the good guy and who wanted to help us, but he was using us this whole time. He got my sister and put her who knows where. All because we could spoil whatever plan he was cooking up." He turned to the Rangers, "we've gotta do something!"
The Rangers nodded. "We're with you on that," Flash told him. "But things aren't always that easy. We've tried sneaking into his company to figure out what he's up to, but the security there's too tight. And we don't have the same resources we used to have."
"There has to be something we can do?"
Lyra frowned, "the first thing we need to do is locate your sister and all the other people they captured."
The others nodded as Soarin spoke up. "The more people out there that know about what we really did and who Mirage really is, the easier it'll be to finally take him down. And maybe we'll be able to save the other Rangers."
"Other Rangers?" Heart asked, "you mean those guys that attacked us? They're your friends?"
"Those weren't our friends," Flash told him. "They aren't even human. That's why we didn't have any doubts about destroying them. Whatever they are, they're not real. Just...energy bodies that are using our friends forms."
"Really?" Heart asked, the others nodding.
"My dad and our friend Sunset were captured the day after the city forgot about us. That's when the rest of us went on the lamb. Then, a month later they appeared in their Rangers forms. We thought Mirage had brainwashed them the same way he had to the rest of the town. But then..."
Two months ago.
"GYAH!" Flash cried as he was thrown into a wall by the Orange Ranger, sliding to the ground as said Ranger stood over him. "Come on dad!" He cried as he rolled away to avoid the Ranger's blaster fire, "snap out of it!"
Off to the side, the Silver Ranger was doing battle against the Gold Ranger. She was throwing kicks and punches at him without hesitation, causing the Silver Ranger to be on the defensive. "Sunset, you've gotta wake up." Sunset threw a punch, which he grabbed. He spun her around and got her into a full nelson, thinking this was the only way to stop her from attacking that wouldn't hurt her. "Wake up!"
As this was happening, The Orange Ranger spun the barrel on his blaster several times to charge it up. "Dad!" But the Ranger didn't listen and pointed it at Flash, firing as the Red Ranger leapt to the side. But it was only after he did this that he realised Shining and Sunset were behind him. "Guys, look out!" But it was to late.
The attack struck the ground in front of them and exploded, Shining crying out as they were blasted away. Shining hit the ground and Sunset, having been between Shining and the explosion, had taken much of the damage. "No," Shining moaned seeing her laying on the ground. "Sunset." But before he could rush to her, her body started giving off some form of light and eventually she disintegrated. "What...just happened?"
"We managed to escape and wondered what the heck happened. But then Sunset appeared again a few days later. That's when we realised the Rangers weren't the real ones."
"Weird," Heart whispered. "So this Shining Armor guy. He's a Ranger too?" They nodded.
"He's my brother-in-law," Flash explained. "He was captured a month ago, trying to save another person who remembered just like you." He sighed, "always was the heroic lover of justice. I don't know how they got him, but they managed to take him down."
"So there's him, Sunset and your dad. Whose the last Ranger?"
"Dusk," Lyra told him. "He's the one who upgraded our communicators to jam the trackers. He was captured two weeks before Shining was."
"Now it's just the five of us," Soarin sighed. "Fighting an impossible fight against an incredibly powerful enemy."
"But we're not gonna stop until we find a way to beat him," Flash affirmed. "No matter what, Mirage is gonna go down." The other Rangers nodded as Heart counted.
"So there's five of you and four of those other Rangers that aren't real. That's nine. Weren't there originally ten Rangers all those years ago?" The Rangers frowned, as Heart remembered the person they had met before. "Micro Chips. He was the tenth Ranger, right?"
"Yeah," Sandal nodded. "For some reason, he wasn't made a criminal after Mirage took over. And before we could contact him and find out what happened, we heard his company was bought out by Mirage's and Micro joined him."
"So he betrayed you." That statement did not make the Rangers happy. They wanted to deny it, but couldn't think of why Micro would join Mirage.
At The Mirage Corporation, we find Micro Chips in a lab typing away at a computer.
As he did, Mirage and Shock stepped inside. "Micro," he moved over to the man, "have you discovered a way to undo what's been going on. More and more people are beginning to fight against my power. We cannot allow them to regain their memories."
"I'm working on it," Micro told him. "But considering you haven't allowed me to take scans of you when you use your power, or allow me to take a scan of the energy source when you're using it to power the device, finding a way to overcome the resistance people are starting to build up isn't gonna be easy."
"I don't pay you to make excuses," Mirage told him. "And whilst you haven't given me any reason to doubt you're on my side, I'm hardly going to just give you free access to my most well kept secrets. Prove to me that you're worth keeping around and find out why they're starting to fight against my power. If you don't...you and your wife's position here will be far from stable." Micro frowned at him, but nodded. "Also," he took out his phone a pressed a button, "we have a new specimen for you to examine." As he said that, the floor began to open up.
From it, a metal coffin-like device was lifted into the lab. Inside, the silver skinned girl known as Soul could be seen. She was still in a form of stasis, asleep and unaware of her current situation. Micro stepped up to look her over. "She's the youngest one you've captured."
"Just goes to show how much trouble we're in. If younger and younger individuals start regaining their memories, we're gonna have a harder time capturing them whilst not drawing suspicion. I have...places I need to be." With that, he turned to leave and Shock Trooper followed him.
Once they were gone, Micro continued to stare at the girl in the pod. "I'm sorry," he told her. "I really am. But this needs to happen." With that, he returned to his work bench and took out a device that was beeping. "Now," he moved over to her, "let's see what you can tell me."
Back in the warehouse, Lyra had finished putting the phone back together with a few added upgrades. "The phone now has the same tracking jammer system our communicators have. Now it can't be traced by anything."
"Great," Heart smirked. "Though it's not like I can call anyone. I'm just as much a wanted criminal as you guys."
"True," Flash nodded. "But we'll be able to contact you if we get split up."
Heart frowned. "You guys are gonna be in a lot of trouble if I slow you down. Constantly needing to protect me means you'll be in trouble if something attacks me."
"True," Flash nodded. "But that's alright. We're heroes and protecting those that can't fight is what we do."
"Maybe," Heart sighed, "or maybe it'd be easier if I just let those guys catch me. Maybe you can find a way to track me and find out where they're hiding all those people they captured."
"No way," Sweetie told him. "We're not letting them get their hands on you." She turned to Flash, "right?" But then she noticed he had a strange look on his face. Like he was thinking of something. "Flash?"
"Maybe he's onto something," the Red Ranger told them. Heart looked surprised that he would say this, whilst the other Rangers looked shocked that he was even think of contemplating that. "Heart, do you have your sister's number?" Heart raised an eyebrow at this, but nodded and used his phone to show them the number. "Perfect."
"Flash?" Soarin raised an eyebrow, "what are you doing?"
"If they didn't smash the phone, it's possible we can trace it." The others realised what he meant and gasped, "give it." He took the phone and moved over to a laptop, which he plugged the phone into before typing away. "I took a few courses on tracing phone signals. If we call her and the phone picks up, even whilst going to voice mail, we can track it." He finished typing and turned to Heart, "make the call."
Heart gulped before hitting the call button, the phone ringing several times. As it did, the computer beeped as it followed the signal to the phone. And after several rings, the phone picked up and went to voicemail.
"It's working," Flash smirked. "We're zeroing in on the phone. As long as the call doesn't get interrupted then-THERE!" He smirked, seeing the pinpointed signal. And when he saw where the call was being sent, his eyes went wide.
"Where's the phone?" Lyra asked, only for Flash to turn the computer around to show them. "Seriously. He's keeping them in his own building?" Sure enough, the part of the map that had the highlighted area was Mirage Corp's main building.
"I guess they didn't wanna risk having them located off sight," Sweetie suggested.
"But he's kinda running the risk of somebody accidently finding them," Sandal pointed out. "Dumb move."
"One we can capitalise on," Soarin pointed out as he drew his sword. "We might not have been able to get through their security before, but there has to be a weak spot. We just need to find it." The Rangers all nodded as Heart cut the call. He knew where his sister was now and he wasn't gonna let them hold her any longer then needs be.
"Let's get inside that place," he told them.
Meanwhile, Mirage was walking through the dark hallways of his secret underground facility. As he did, he came to a door that was being guarded by a pair of Peacekeeper robots.
"Deactivate," he stated as they both powered down. The screens they had for faces turned off and their heads lowered, but they remained standing as Mirage stepped into the room. "Time to get to work." Inside the room was a large device located in the middle of it. A metal chair sat in the middle surrounded by a glass tube that went up into a mechanical pillar with many wires and lights that continued upwards into the ceiling.
Mirage stepped forward and opened the door of the tube, closing it behind himself. He then took something out of his coat and placed it inside a hole in the chair's arm that he quickly shut. He sat down as something descended from above. It was a metal cap of some kind, connected to the machine above by a chord. It landed on his head and as it did, the machine activated.
Mirage closed his eyes as he began to glow, the light flowing upwards into the cap, through the chord and into the machine. The entire room was full of light from the device, which sent the energy flowing upwards. Nobody was aware that this energy was being channelled through the building into the large antenna on the roof.
Within seconds, the building was sending out wave after wave of undetectable energy. It flowed out through the city, hitting every living thing and every computer system there was.
The Rangers and their new friend were preparing for their infiltration of Mirage Corp. They would have to wait until night fall before they risked heading inside.
They had their weapons all ready. Their Magi-Chargers were fully loaded and as long as they weren't stupid, they should be able to make it through the building without too much difficulty.
However, the Rangers soon found themselves facing another problem as Heart let out a loud moan before he clutched his head. "Gyah!" He fell to the ground, his head feeling like it was going through a blender. As he did, he felt the memories he had only just gotten back start to slowly slip away.
"Heart?" Flash rushed to him, but Heart looked up at him and had fear in his eyes.
"Get away!" He cried, leaping back and scurrying backwards. He reached for his phone, but it was still on the desk.
"Heart," Flash reached out for him, "we're not gonna hurt you, you know that." But Heart didn't listen, instead getting up and rushing towards the exit. But as he tried to open it up, the energy that had been flying over the city came to an end. Heart's headache slowly began to fade and as he did, his memories started to un-fog.
"Orrrr," he moaned as he fell to the ground and clutched his head. The Rangers rushed over to him and tried to help the teen sit up.
"Heart?" Flash asked, "are you okay?"
"Errr," he opened his eyes, "yeah."
Lyra frowned, "what was that all about?"
"I don't know. One minute I'm fine and the next...my head's killing me and I suddenly forgot everything I was starting to remember." The Rangers frowned, not liking the sound of that. "What happened?"
"I think Mirage was doing...whatever it is that made the city forget about us." Everyone turned to Lyra. "It makes sense that the spell...or whatever it is, wasn't permanent. He must have to recast it every now and then."
"But I thought I was immune."
"Not fully," Soarin guessed. "You're able to fight it off, but not when it's actually being cast."
"This is good," Flash told them. They looked towards him, "if we can find out how he casts the spell then we can find a way to stop it. Then the effects will eventually ware off." The others realised he was right, the lot of them turning back to the schematics of the building they were preparing to invade. "And I'm betting the source of this spell is right there."
"Then we have even more reason to get in there," Soarin stated. They all nodded and continued their preparations.
Back in the building, Mirage had returned from his secret room. The Peacekeepers guarding it were back online and he had removed the power source from the chair.
He stepped out of the elevator that had taken him up to the top floor, which doubled as his office. And when he did, he spotted Shock Trooper standing there. "Finished?" He asked, Mirage nodding as he walked to his desk. "Good. We have a problem."
"Oh?" Shock held up a pink phone, "doesn't look like your colour."
"It belonged to the girl we captured earlier. We were about to destroy it, but it started ringing and the caller was the boy the Rangers took." Mirage's eyes went wide. "I think they were tracking the call."
"I see," Mirage sat down. "So now they know where the prisoners are being held."
"I doubt they know exactly where they are," Shock told him. "But they must know that they're somewhere in this building. I've already informed security to be tightened."
"No," Mirage smiled, "lessen the security." Shock's eyes went wide hearing this, "at least enough on the outside so they decide to come in. When they do, we'll be ready and catch them off guard. They'll think they've landed on a break, but it'll actually be the opening we need to bring them in once and for all."
"I see," Shock nodded. "I understand. But...taking them down won't be easy. Their Ranger powers give them incredible strength. A Peacekeeper just can't keep up."
"True," Mirage nodded before reaching into a draw on his desk. "Luckily, I've been working on a little something that should help you even the odds." He took out a briefcase and placed it on the table, pushing it over to Shock. "But I warn you, this device will forever change you. You'll have incredible power, but you'll never be truly human again"
Shock opened the case and looked inside, his eyes going wide before a smile appeared on his lips. "Small price to pay."
As the sun began to set on Canterlot, the Rangers were almost finished with their preparations.
Heart continued to stand at the side, unsure what he would be doing whilst the Rangers infiltrated the building. "Heart," he turned to Flash as the man stepped over to him. "Here," he held out a case, "this should keep you safe whilst we're making our way through Mirage Corp."
Heart took the case and opened it, his eyes going wide seeing what it was. A gray blaster similar to the ones the Rangers used. "What is this?"
"A Proto-Blaster. With it, you can do everything we can do except morph." He handed Heart a Magi-Charger, "this is a Hypno Charger. If we run into someone, use this to put them to sleep. As for the robots, just blast'em until they stop moving."
Heart nodded and put the two items away, as Lyra stepped up. "It's time." They all nodded and headed out the door into the darkening night. As the sun completely set, the six of them made their way through the city and eventually arrived at Mirage Corp at around midnight.
They all hid behind a building next to the skyscraper and looked around it at their target. The front door had only three guards there, something that confused them. "There's usually a lot more," Flash pointed out. "Where are the others?"
"Maybe there's a bug going around," Sandal suggested as he, Lyra and Sweetie prepared their blasters. "Or maybe they're late, so we should hurry up and get passed them before they show up." The others nodded and the three fired at the guards, hitting all three before they realised what was going on. The guard's eyes became hazy as the effects of the Hypno Charger made them close their eyes.
The quickly rushed over and passed them before the effects of the charger wore off. They were inside before the guards opened their eyes, having been both blind and deaf to everything that had been going on around them.
The Rangers were inside the main lobby and began looking around, but nothing they found made the place look like anything except a normal office building. "So if I was an evil villain," Soarin spoke up. "Where would I hide a bunch of wrongfully imprisoned hostages?"
"Someplace out of sight," Sweetie suggested. "A place nobody can just walk into by accident."
"So there wouldn't be access to it by the stairs or corridors," Flash guessed before noticing the elevators in the back. One particular one in the center of them had a golden boarder around it. The executive elevator. "Someone see if they can bring that elevator down."
Lyra nodded and moved over to the lift, but found there was no button to call it like the others. Instead, there was simply a slot on the left that looked like it needed a key card or something. "We're out of luck. Unless you have an executive pass that we can use."
Flash frowned until he heard a voice, "looking for this?" He turned towards the voice and spotted an arm reaching out from behind a pillar, holding a golden credit card-like item. From behind the pillar, Shock Trooper stepped out and frowned at them. "Sorry, but this is the end of the road for you lot."
Flash frowned, "come on Shock. You have to snap out of this. Mirage is using you, don't you see that."
"The only one who ever used me was you," Shock told him. "But those days are over. Peacekeepers!" The doors opened and a couple dozen robots rushed into the room, Rangers springing into action by taking out their weapons and circling around Heart as they put their Magi-Chargers into the blasters. "Get'em!"
"Energise!" The Rangers charged forward and spun the barrels of the guns, "Unleash the Power!" They fired and the Zord heads shot through the air, knocking down several Peacekeepers before returning to the Rangers and equipping them into their suits.
Now Rangered up, the five began fighting their way through the robots. Flash fought his way to Shock and grabbed him, "don't you remember. Everything we did together as partners. Doesn't that mean anything to you!"
"I remember everything!" Shock told him, managing to push Flash off him before kicking his in the chest. "That's why I'm doing this." As he said that, he took something out. A blaster, similar to the one the Rangers were using. Only this one was pitch black. He then took out a Magi-Charger, but it was like nothing Flash had ever seen before. It was also black with a large M on it.
"No way," Flash whispered.
"Mirage-Charger," he clicked it. "Ready!" He then placed the charger inside the blaster and shut the compartment, powering the weapon up as he lifted it up next to his face. "Energise!" He spun the barrel before pointing it at Flash, "Unleash the Power!" He fired and it a blast of purple lightning shot towards Flash, who barely managed to pull out his Spirit Sabre and deflect it.
The others watched as the lightning returned to Shock and began to wrap around his body, forming a cocoon that quickly moulded to his form before exploding off of him to reveal his new form. Instead of a human, what stood before them was a brown robotic being with yellow around its chest and shoulders. His head was like a brown helmet with two triangular eyes and a triangular mouth, with a yellow strip running along the top. The chest appeared to have a grove going down the middle, with hinges on the side to indicate it opened up
"Shock?" Flash asked, as the machine turned to him and charged. As he did, a blade shot out the front of his left arm above the wrist. It swung it at Flash, who used his sword to protect himself. "What did you do to yourself."
"Master Mirage gave me the power to fight you on an even footing," Shock stated before using his blaster and firing at Flash point blank, the Red Ranger crying out as he was blasted backwards. He hit the ground and slid along it, Heart and the Rangers gasping as he did. "Bet you wish you had your pet lizard now."
Flash moaned as he lay there, but then his eyes went wide behind his helmet and he looked up at Shock. "What?" He let what Shock told him sink in and slowly, he put the pieces together. "You remember." He pushed himself up to his feet, "you remember!"
Shock laughed, "of course I remember. But it doesn't matter."
"Doesn't matter?" Flash asked, his body shaking as anger began to flood through him. "You...you knew. You knew we weren't criminals and yet..." He leapt up to his feet and charged, sword in hand. Shock charged as well and the pair started clashing blades and firing at one another. "What did you do to Heart's sister. To the rest of the people you kidnapped. To our friends!"
"Sorry!" Shock slashed at Flash's head and the Red Ranger ducked under him, "can't tell you. Company secrets and all." Flash roared and continued firing at him, but Shock deflected each of the attacks.
Meanwhile, the other Rangers were cutting down the Peacekeepers. But every time they took one out, two more came in from a doorway. "There's no end to them!" Sandal cried as he pierced one through the chest and pushed it away.
Heart was also having trouble. He had taken cover behind one of the pillars and fired at any that got close. But like the others, his opponents were endless. "We have to get out of here." He then noticed the elevator and remembered that might be the key to finding his sister. But the only way to get it was...
He turned to Shock and Flash as the pair locked blades, the two circling around. And as they did, Heart noticed a pocket-like compartment on the back of Shock's waist. And the gold card was pocking out of it.
Stealing his nerve, Heart blasted another Peacekeeper and charged forward. Flash saw this and did everything he could to keep Shock in place, but the newly born machine spotted Heart in the reflection of his visor. "Raaah!" He pushed Flash back and swung his blade around, preparing to cut Heart's head off.
But Heart managed to jump to the floor and slide along the ground on his knees, the blade soaring just above his head as he reached up and grabbed the card. He slid passed Shock and came to a stop, the card grasped between his fingers. "I got it!"
"No!" Shock pointed his blaster at him, but Flash responded by blasting him. "GYAH!" He was thrown into several Peacekeepers, as Heart and the Rangers rushed towards the lift.
Heart swiped the card, the dinging sound revealing that the elevator was coming. The six kept blasting and blasting at all the Peacekeepers that got close, but Shock was beginning to recover and pick himself up. "Come on!" Soarin cried as the elevator kept coming and eventually, a dinging signalled its arrival and the doors opened. "Get in!"
They all stuffed themselves inside, barely managing to fit the lot of them as they spotted the buttons on the side. But when they pressed them, nothing happened. "Why won't it work?" Sweetie asked, as Lyra spotted a slot that looked like a credit card went into it. "Heart, the card!"
Heart slotted the card inside and all the buttons lit up, Flash pressing the first button in reach.
Shock finally recovered and pointed his blaster at them, but the other Rangers fired their before he could and the room around him exploded. This distracted him long enough for the doors to shut. The elevator began to go downwards, allowing the Rangers the chance to breathe. "That was too close," Sandal told them.
They all nodded, "but we made it...barely." Soarin turned to Flash, the Thunder Ranger able to tell he was still angry. "You okay?"
"Shock," Flash whispered, "how could he do this."
"It's possible Mirage brainwashed him," Lyra told the Red Ranger. "He might have all his memories, but he's completely under the guy's control."
"Maybe," Flash nodded. "But...something about his eyes makes me think...he isn't under anyone's control." He shook his head, deciding not to think about it. Instead, he turned to Heart. "That was pretty gutsy kid. Pulling off a move like that."
Heart smiled. "Honestly, I was totally terrified. When that blade swung at my head, I thought I was gonna have a heart attack." The other Rangers laughed at this, Flash ruffling his hair as the elevator came to a stop.
"We're here." The doors opened and they stepped out, finding themselves in a strange looking large room. It was dimly lit and made multiple machines in it. But what was really surprising, was that the room was covered in burn marks and parts of the wall looked like it had been blown apart.
"What happened here?" Sweetie asked as they moved around the room.
"Looks like there was some kind of battle here," Flash suggested as he walked to the back of the room. "Hey, what's this?" The others turned to him and saw he was looking at something built into the back room. It was a strange looking mirror that was ten foot high and five foot wide. It was surrounded by a metal frame fulled of nobs, lights and wires. The frame had several spikes coming out of it that running into the mirror, merging with the glass.
"Weird," Lyra whispered as she stepped up to it and placed her hand on the glass. When she did, she felt something and pulled back. "No way."
"What?" Flash asked, but put a hand on it and gasped as well. "Equestrian Magic." This shocked the other Rangers, whilst Heart looked confused.
"What magic?"
"Equestria," Soarin told him. "It's where our Elements come from. It's a place of magic that's connected to our world through portals." He turned to the mirror, "could this be a portal to that world?"
The others weren't sure, but Sweetie then spotted something. "A camera!" They looked up at where she was pointing a sure enough, a security camera was pointing into the room. "Maybe we can find something out from it."
"Only one way to know," Flash agreed. They grabbed one of the laptops that was still in one piece and took it over to the camera, plugging it into the device and making a connection between them. Everyone gathered around as the screen came to life, a single folder could be found dated three months ago.
"That's the date the Elements came back," Sweetie realised.
"Why would that be the only one on the camera's memory?" Sandal asked.
"They must backup the camera's memory onto a different server and erase it from this for room," Soarin suggested. "But if they haven't done that for this date...they must have abandoned this lab." Flash clicked on the folder and when it did, it showed a staticy video with a time stamp stating it started recording at midnight and stopped at eleven fifty nine. A full twenty four hours of footage.
Flash put the video on super speed, an hour rolling over in only a few seconds. They studied the super fast images but there was no change until much later in the video, when someone arrived in the room.
Said room wasn't as damaged as it was now, with the machines all working perfectly. Flash un-sped the clip and they realised it was Mirage, who was working on the mirror device alone. "What's he up to?" Flash sped it up again, the lot watching as he continued to work on the machine over the next three hours. He then moved to a computer and started typing away, the machine around the mirror powering up.
They watched as energy flowed out of the spikes into the mirror, where it started swirling around to form a vortex. "It is a portal," Lyra realised. They watched as Mirage rushed to it, looking happy as the portal swirled around. But then, something on the device sparked and the machine began to power down, Mirage crying out in anger.
When the portal closed, Mirage began throwing a tantrum and saying something they couldn't hear without the sound but had a feeling involved a lot of cursing. They continued to watch as he calmed down and looked like he was getting back to work. But then, something else happened.
A bright flash of light signalled another portal appearing in the room, which swirled around as something stepped out of it. Or someone. "Starswirl!" Flash cried, the others gasping at the sight of the only man dressed like a wizard.
"Who's the cosplayer?"
"Starswirl the Bearded," Lyra explained. "Protector of the Elements."
"But what's he doing there?" Soarin asked, the lot watching as Starswirl began to talk to Mirage as the portal vanished. They couldn't hear what was being said, but Mirage didn't look happy. Suddenly, Mirage's hands were covered in energy and he fired them at Starswirl. The wizard used a barrier to deflect it but the energy flew towards the camera and the screen went fuzzy.
"No!" Flash cried, but then the camera skipped ahead and came back into focus. When it did, they saw Starswirl on the ground with Mirage standing over him.
"Look!" Soarin pointed at a part of the screen and the Rangers spotted an Element on the ground, the Element of Adventure. Several other Elements were scattered around the room and Mirage was staring at them intently. Starswirl then raised his staff and slammed it into the ground, causing the Elements to glow. Once again, the screen went staticy and skipped ahead to show Mirage firing at Starswirl as the wizard used his magic to shield himself. But it was clear the elderly wizard was having trouble.
But before Mirage could finish his attack, something exploded down into the room from the ceiling. A tiny robotic dragon. "Drago!" Flash cried, seeing the robot flying at Mirage and blasting fire at him. Mirage cried out and staggered backwards, Drago flying over to land next to Starswirl. "So that's where he went."
As he said this, the elevator began moving. "Looks like they're coming after us," Lyra gulped as the others kept watching the screen. Mirage stood up and turned to glare at the pair, as energy began charging through his body. Starswirl and Drago both prepared to fire their own attacks, the three launching them at the same time. The attacks struck and created an explosion that caused the camera to cut out again. When it stabilised, the room was just like it was at the moment. And standing there, alone, was Mirage. The camera then went dead, still recording but the lens had finally reached its limit and couldn't record anything new.
"So that's what happened," Sandal frowned.
"But what happened to them?" Heart asked. "You don't think they...died?" The others turned to Flash, wanting to know what he thought. He and Drago had a closer relationship then any of the other Rangers had with their Zords, so him learning that Drago was destroyed...
Flash just stood there, staring at the computer. He wanted to yell out, but the sound of the elevator caught his attention. "We don't have time to think about that right now." He pulled out his weapons, the others doing the same, as they rushed over to the wall with the portal and prepared to do battle with however many Peacekeepers appeared.
But when the doors opened, the Peacekeepers or Shock didn't step out of the room. Instead...Mirage was the one who appeared. "So," he smiled, "we finally meet." The Rangers were still on guard, their weapons primed.
"Mirage!" Flash cried, "you're going to undo whatever it is you did to this city. Restore everyone's memories of us and free all the people you captured, including our friends."
Mirage simply smiled. "I wish I could, but I'm not going to."
"How the heck are you even able to do this?" Lyra asked, "the powers you've shown aren't natural to a being of this world."
"You're right," Mirage nodded. "And that's because I'm not from this world." The Ranger's eyes went wide, as Mirage's body began to glow and spark with energy. Then, his body shifted and transformed. Within seconds, they were looking at an eight foot tall machine. Its body was a combo of orange, purple and grey. His face was orange with grey around the sides and a purple horn sticking out of his forehead. His body was grey and his arms were purple with orange hands, whilst his upper legs were orange but became purple at the knee with grey feet. On his chest was the same M that his company used as a logo.
The Rangers and Heart were all shocked to see this, unable to believe what they were looking at. "Where...where did you come from?" Sweetie asked. "And how did you get here."
Mirage laughed. "I have you Rangers to thank for that." They all looked confused by this. "It was you destroying my captors that allowed me to escape my prison." Their eyes went wide.
"You were one of the monsters Chaos captured," Flash stated. "Darklight..."
"Never saw the value of my power," Mirage explained. "So he, Havoc and all the other fools who were after you never bothered to give me a chance to take your Elements. Luckily, that meant you Rangers didn't realise you'd missed a monster when you destroyed them all ten years ago. I escaped and when the Dark Fortress was destroyed, my control collar deactivated and I was able to live a new life in this world."
"So you took human form and decided to build your own company?" Soarin asked, "but why go from that to trying to take over the city?"
Mirage chuckled, "so many question. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to answer them all." With that, he grabbed a leaver on the table and pulled it. When he did, the portal behind the Rangers sparked to life. The energy flew out of the spikes into the mirror and began swirling around, forming the portal.
The Rangers stared at it in shock before turning to Mirage, whose hands began to spark with energy. And before the Rangers could do anything, he fired it at them. "Look out!" The Rangers all started deflecting the attacks with their blades, but doing so meant they were forced to stay where they were. And this meant they couldn't escape when the portal started unleashing a powerful sucking motion.
They all cried out as they were slowly dragged towards it, their feet sliding along the ground. And eventually, Heart was pulled in. "AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as he fell into the portal and vanished.
"Heart!" Flash cried, jumping in after him. The other Rangers didn't even have time to contemplate doing the same, as they were all pulled in and soon the six vanished in a flash of light.
Mirage flipped the leaver and the portal vanished, the robot letting out a laugh as he did so. "A day or so over there and you'll be nothing but chow. All that'll remain will be you Elements." He continued to laugh as he left the room, completely unaware that he was being watched.
In his lab, Micro frowned at the sight he had just seen. "Idiots," he told his former teammates.
He then turned towards his work bench, where a device was currently charging something. A Magi-Charger with Mirage's M logo on it, which had a sinister looking appearance. "Once this is complete, the world will be perfect." He turned towards the coffin with Heart's sister inside. "Thank you. Now that you've shown me how you fight against Mirage's power, you've taught me how to undo it."