Ten years have passed since the Guardian Rangers saved the world from multi-dimensional evils. In that time, peace has returned to their world. Until now. Can our heroes save the day, or will this be the end of the world as we know it?
Ten years ago, the Guardian Rangers fought to protect the legendary Guardian Elements from the many evils that coveted them. After that, peace came to their world and the rangers were able to move on with their lives. Until now.
A new evil has appeared and plans to destroy everything the Rangers have worked so hard to build and protect. In order to stop them, the Rangers must stand together. But that might prove impossible, with one of their own having joined the evil they now fight against.
Prepare yourself, for the ultimate battle between good and evil.
Canterlot City. A bustling metropolis that was once the site of many great battles in a war against good and evil. Since then, the city had repaired the damage done to the place and become one of the countries leading technological heavens. And it wasn't just technology that had advanced.
The place was one of the greenest cities in the city, doing away with every form of fossil fuel to be replaced by the many natural forms of energy production. Wind, hydro-electric and many more were used to power the country.
But despite the many amazing things about the city it was far from perfect.
In one of the streets of Canterlot, people were enjoying themselves as they lived their lives. But the peace that covered the city was soon broken by the sound of an alarm, making everyone begin to worry.
"Halt!" A loud robotic voice cried, making the people turn to see an army marching down the streets. That army was made up of a bunch of robots, which were humanoid in appearance covered in silver metal with heads that had a large screen where the face should have been. They were carrying black guns and all were running in perfect sync. "Criminal miscreant. You will be detained!"
The 'criminal miscreant' turned out to be a boy of around sixteen years old. He had red skin and yellow hair with orange tips, who was wearing an orange hoodie with blue jeans and red shoes. On his hands were a pair of red fingerless gloves that showed his yellow fingers whilst his face was littered with freckles.
The teen ran as fast as he could, whilst the robots pointed their weapons at him and started firing lasers in his direction. Luckily, they appeared to have terrible aim and instead blasted everything that was around him.
The people on the street screamed as parts of the pavement and the stores blew up when they were hit by the lasers, whilst the boy ran passed them followed by the robots. "Stupid kid," a man said whilst watching the continuing carnage. "Don't make the Peacekeepers destroy our things!" The other people nodded, appearing completely forgiving to the robots that had caused the destruction they blamed on the boy.
The teen continued to run down the street and quickly ducked into an alleyway, which was to narrow for the bulky robots to fit through. They tried shooting him, but he managed to get out the other side before they finished aiming.
The teen took a deep breath of relief as he stopped running, only to hear more footsteps and turn to see a smaller group of Peacekeepers marching down the street. "Oh come on!" He moaned before running off.
Down the street, a woman in her late twenties was riding her bike until she came to a stop in front of a book store.
Getting off and taking a cardboard box out of the basket, she skipped into the bookstore. "Delivery," she whispered before a late age woman at the front desk smiled at her. "I've got that candy order you commissioned." The woman looked her over, seeing she was wearing a bulky coat and hat that mostly hid her hair despite the pink and blue strands that had snuck free. She had cream coloured skin and blue eyes.
"Thank you dear," she took the box. "Your candy is always the best. What is your secret?"
"Old family recipe," she replied with a smiled. "Very old family recipe." Before she could say anything else, explosions could be heard and the pair looked out the window to see the boy and the Peacekeepers rush passed. Luckily, the store was struck by a stray laser but it was very close.
"Honestly," the woman shook her head, "teens today. No respect for law and order."
"Yes," the younger woman nodded, "no respect at all." The ton she spoke those words in showed she didn't believe a word of it. "I need to get going." She rushed out the room and grabbed her bike before racing off down the street, pressing a button on her bracelet as she did so. "This is Pink. We have a situation. Green, it's heading your way."
In a nearby park, many people were playing. Either they were kicking a ball around, climbing trees or doing other fun things you would usually do in the park.
But one person in particular was near a bed of flowers, planting several seeds and calmly watering them. He was a rather bulky man in his late twenties with brown skin, wearing clothes similar to the woman before that hid his distinctive features rather well. But like the woman, he couldn't hide all his hair under his hat and a few green dreads could be seen coming out the back.
He had just finished planting the seeds, when his bracelet let out a voice. "This is Pink. We have a situation. Green, it's heading your way." The man looked up and spotted the teen running through the park, the Peacekeepers following after him.
"Got'em," he told the bracelet. "Anyone else around?"
"This is Red," a male voice spoke up. "Blue and I are also nearby. We'll head'em off."
"Got it," Green nodded before getting up and running after the robots.
The teen had run into a more busy area of the city, with larger buildings surrounding him. The Peacekeepers right behind him as he ran down the street between two large buildings, only to stop when he spotted another group of Peacekeepers right in front of him.
Seeing no other way, he turned towards one of the buildings and headed into an opening that lead to its parking garage. The teen ran as fast as he could, fearing for his life as the Peacekeepers followed.
But then, he ran past a pillar and as he did he spotted someone step out from behind it. He didn't bother to take in his features and kept running, but that soon changed when he heard the sound of a gun being shot. A moment later he felt something wrap around his legs and tie them together. "WOW!" He cried as he fell to the ground.
He let out a moan and rolled onto his back, looking down and seeing his legs were tied up by some kind of thin metal rope.
He then looked up and saw the one that had fired the rope was a yellow skinned man with a brown buzz-cut wearing black combat armor. The teen's eyes went wide as he started shuffling backwards, looking terrified as the Peacekeepers arrived.
"You've led us on quite the chase," the man told him. "But it's over now. Come quietly and we won't be forced to hurt you." The kid looked terrified, almost appearing ready to cry. His body reacted without thought and he continued pushing himself backwards. This caused the robots to raise their weapons and train them on him.
"Please," he whispered, "just...leave me alone. I didn't do anything wrong."
"Your very existence invites disaster," the man told him. "Our perfect future can be undone by you and those like you." He took out a pistol and pointed it at the teen, "that's why you need to be dealt with." The teen looked ready to have a panic attack, closing his eyes and waiting for the inevitable. But then-
The sound of a laser firing filled the air and a red energy bullet shot passed the teen and struck the man's gun.
"Augh!" He cried, dropping the destroyed weapon.
Before anyone could process this, several more energy bolts shot passed the teen and struck the Peacekeeper's guns. One by one, the lasers destroyed the guns leaving the robots weaponless.
The teen looked around and saw who had fired the blasts, along with everyone else.
Marching towards them were two individuals. One was an orange skinned man with short blue hair, whilst the other was a mint coloured woman with blue and white hair. The man wore a red zipped up jacket and blue pants, whilst the woman wore a blue open jacket over a pink blouse and blue pants. But what really made them stand out, where the strange yellow guns they both carried in their hands.
They passed the teen, the man pointing his gun at his legs and firing it. The laser struck the wire and made it break apart, allowing the kid to pick himself up and run to a pillar on the far wall, leaving the adults to stare one another down.
"Flash Sentry," the man growled.
The man named Flash smiled, "sup partner. Long time...no see."
"You're no partner of mine," he growled back. "You're nothing but a criminal. You and the rest of your Ranger team." Flash frowned at this, but the woman turned to him.
"We have to stay focused."
"You're right," Flash nodded as he got serious. He then took something out of his jacket pocket, a strange red battery with a dragon on the side of it. "Ready Lyra?"
"Ready!" The woman named Lyra took out a blue battery, which had a snake on it.
"Magi-Chargers!" They clicked a button on the batteries as they lit up, "Ready!" They then placed the batteries inside a slot of the gun before shutting it, both guns lighting up and speaking out.
DRAGON CHARGER...ENGAGED!
SEA-SERPENT CHARGER...ENGAGED!
They spun the guns before holding them up. "Energise!" They spun the barrels and the gun's light increased, the pair then pointing the guns forward. "Unleash the Power!" They pulled the triggers and the light shot out the guns and filled the entire parking garage.
POWER RANGERS: GUARDIANS OF HARMONY! TEN YEAR RETURN!
When the light faded, the two where wearing brightly coloured suits and a helmet. Flash now wore a red suit with white in certain areas and an upside down pentagon on his chest with a dragon head on it, whilst Lyra's suit was a mix of white and light blue with her pentagon having a snake's head on it.
The teen gasped, "Power Rangers!"
The man growled before pointing at them, "arrest them!" The robots charged and the two Rangers did the same, pointing their blasters and the machines and firing. Some of the Peacekeepers fell, but others managed to withstand the blasts and attempted to punch the Rangers.
But both of them managed to spin to avoid them and as they did, a pair of swords appeared from out of nowhere. "Spirit Sabre!" They both yelled whilst slashing at the robots, knocking them down. The two suited individuals fought through the machines, both using a different style of battle. Flash fought using fast and strong attacks, hitting as many robots as possible in seconds with as much strength as possible. Lyra seemed to have a different style, the girl practically dancing around the robot's attacks before hitting them with precise attacks to their vital areas.
From where he was hiding, the teen watched in amazing. Something seemed strangely familiar about this.
Flash had just taken down another Peacekeeper when his dangers senses kicked in and he ducked to the side to avoid a punch, the Ranger spinning around to point his blaster at the perpetrator before stopping as he realised it was the man he had called partner. "Give up," he told Flash before trying to punch him again. "You know you can't run forever."
Flash kept dodging his attacks, fighting every instinct he had that told him to fight back against him. "You're not thinking straight Shock Trooper." He used the side of his blade to block another punch, using this to push him backwards until he pinned him against the pillar. "Come on, you know me. You know I'm not a criminal."
"Then why did you steal mister Mirage's power gems?" He asked, pushing Flash away. Before Flash could respond, he found himself getting blasted at as more Peacekeepers arrived with their weapons charged. Flash and Lyra cried out as the lasers slammed into their, their suits the only things keeping them from getting seriously hurt.
"Flash!" Lyra cried, "there's too many of them." Flash knew she was right.
"No other choice!" He cried as they both started jumping backwards until they reached the kid, blasting at the robots for cover fire. "Let's get out of here!" He grabbed the boy by the sleeve. "Come on kid. We're running for it!" He pulled the teen with him and the three of them ran, rushing from side to side to avoid getting shot. "Watch it!" He cried back, "careful!"
"I'm getting too old for this!" Lyra cried as they continued to run.
As they did, the teen stared at the Red Ranger's helmet. Doing so caused something to happen, memories long since forgotten flying to the front of his mind. He remembered seeing this Ranger before, not in pictures or on TV, but in person. For some reason, this person filled him with a sense of familiarity.
"They're not getting away," Shock Trooper stated once the three were out of range. The army marched after them, rushing around a corner seconds after the Rangers did.
"This guy doesn't give up!" Lyra cried as they ran, Flash laughing.
"It's one of the reasons I respect him so much." He stopped laughing as they caught up, getting ready to shoot at them again. But before they could, the ringing of a bell filled the air.
Before anyone could ask what was going on, a person on a bike rolled between the Rangers and Peacekeepers. The rider cried out as she stopped and spun on her back wheel, the front of the bike hitting the robots and knocking them back.
The three stopped and looked back, surprised by their savior's sudden appearance. That was until she took off her helmet to reveal their friend, Sweetie Drops. "Hey!" She smiled before slamming the wheel of her bike into another robot.
"You!" Shock pulled out another gun and pointed it at Sweetie, only for something to hit his hand so hard it made him flinch and drop the weapon. "Gyah!" He looked down at what had hit him, seeing it was a seed. "What?"
"You seriously need to chill out man." Shock turned to the voice and spotted a bulky individual standing near another pillar, but run from it when some Peacekeepers tried to fire at him. It held up a small bag and pulled something out of it, the man flicking a handful of seeds at them that went into the gun barrels and caused the machines to start going haywire.
"Sandalwood!" Lyra cheered as he took of his hat to confirm it, he and Sweetie rushing over to them.
"Took you guys long enough," Flash told them as the pair took off their bulky coats to reveal the green and pink versions of the jackets the two Rangers had been wearing.
"Sorry," Sweetie told him, "deliveries are a lot harder when you're trying to keep a low profile."
"The plants needed some proper love and care before I left them," Sandalwood stated before he and Sweetie pulled out the same blasters Flash and Lyra had. They then took out a battery, Sandal's green with a large wolf on it whilst Sweetie's was pink with a winged cat on it.
"Magi-Chargers!" They clicked a button on the batteries as they lit up, "ready!" They then placed the batteries inside a slot of the gun before shutting it, both guns lighting up and speaking out.
SPHINX CHARGER...ENGAGED!
FENRIR CHARGER...ENGAGED!
"Energise!" They spun the barrels before pointing them forwards, "Unleash the power!" Like before, the entire building was filled with light that exploded out the guns.
In the streets, an alarm went off as one of the TVs on the side of a building activated.
On it, a white skinned woman in her late twenties appeared with her purple hair up in a bun and a pair of red spectacles in front of her eyes. "This is a message from Mirage Corp's Security System. Several Power Rangers have been discovered in sector B-44. Anyone in and around that area are advised to take extreme caution so as to not fall into an unwanted situation. Remember, anyone aiding and abetting the criminals will be met with the same punishment."
As this was being announced, a fancy business car drove through the street. Inside the car, the same message was being playing by a TV inside. The person riding in the back heard this and looked out the window. "Stop here."
"Sir?" The driver asked.
"That's an order." The car pulled to a stop and the person opened the door to get out, standing tall and revealing themselves to be a man in his late twenties with purple skin, dark blue hair and thick black glasses. He wore a suit and straightened his tie before looking up at the TV.
As the light faded, Sandal and Sweetie were now dressed in suits like their friends. Sweetie's was pink with a cat head on her pentagon whilst Sandal's was green with a wolf head on his.
The four circled around the teen and with their numbers, they were able protect him against the attacking robots. Sandal slashed as several with his sword whilst Sweetie blasted them with her gun, Flash and Lyra fighting the same as before.
When the last of the robots were destroyed, Flash turned to Shock and held up his sword. "Last chance Shock. Try and remember."
"I do remember," the man told them before holding up his gun. "I remember you are nothing but criminals that need to be snuffed out." Flash growled, but knew they had no choice. He took out another Magi-Charger and activated whilst pressing a button on his sword, causing a section to open up and allow him to slot the Charger inside.
DRAGON CHARGER...ENGAGED!
"Sorry bud," Flash slashed his sword through the air and unleashed a shockwave that struck the ground in front of Shock and made it explode. Shock Trooper hissed as he leapt back from the explosion, allowing the Rangers to make a hasty retreat with the teen.
"Damn," Shock growled when the flames faded. He took out a radio and spoke into it, "they got away. Lock onto their energy signatures and send...them."
The Rangers rushed out of the parking lot and into an alleyway between in and another building, pulling the teen around a corner where nobody was looking.
"I think we got away," Sandal gasped.
"I hope so," Sweetie prayed before turning to the teen. "Why were they after you?"
"Yeah," Lyra nodded, "you don't look like much of a threat. So why were they after you, kid?"
"I'm not a kid," he told them. "My name's Fire Heart and I don't know why they're after me." He frowned, "but they have my sister." The Ranger's eyes went wide, "they just showed up at our house and broke down the door. They got my sister before I could do anything. I barely managed to get out myself." Flash looked down and saw the kid gripping his fists, shaking in rage.
He put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay Heart. I know this is hard. We'll find a way to save your sister. Promise." Heart smiled. But before he could say anything, the Ranger's heads all shot up. "Look out!" Flash tackled Heart as the street around them exploded.
The five managed to leap to safety and turned to the source of their attack, Heart doing the same as his eyes went wide.
A pair of Power Rangers were walking towards them, one in an orange suit with a lion head on the pentagram whilst the other was in a silver suit with a bull's head on the pentagram. Both were holding a blaster and pointing it at them, completely silent as they got closer.
"Not good," Flash gulped before they pulled Heart in the other direction. But they stopped when they saw another pair of Rangers walking towards them, these ones being in suit of black and gold with a bird and serpent head on their pentagrams. "We're trapped."
"What do we do?" Sweetie asked, the four pulling out their blasters.
"Take'em down," Lyra told her. But the other Rangers already had their blasters at the ready, just waiting for them to attempt to attack so they could blast them. However, they didn't get that chance.
THUNDERBIRD CHARGER...ENGAGED!
"Thunder Sabre Strike!" From above them, another Ranger flew into the alleyway. He was dressed in dark blue with red in place of white and a bird head on his pentagon. In his hand was a lightning-themed sword which he swung around, unleashing a blast of lightning in the direction of the Orange and Silver Rangers. The attack blasted them backwards, surprising the Gold and Black Ranger.
This gave the others the chance they needed, the four rushing forwards. Sweetie and Sandal fired at the Black and Gold Ranger, whilst Flash and Lyra did the same to the Orange and Silver ones. The other Rangers were unable to recover from this bombardment, allowing Flash and his team to get in close and slash them down the chest with their swords.
The four Rangers cried out as they began to glow, then vaporised into light partials that disappeared into the air.
Heart was shocked to see this, as the five remaining Rangers turned to the newcomer. "Soarin!" Flash told him, "took you long enough!" The new Ranger reached up and grabbed his helmet before pulling it off, revealing a light blue skinned man with dark blue hair.
"Sorry," he told them. "I got here as quick as I could. Good thing I arrived when I did I would have been caught like you guys." He turned to Heart, "whose the kid?"
"I'm not a kid!" Heart cried before turning to Flash, as he and the other Rangers removed their helmets. "You...killed them. I thought the Power Rangers were all supposed to work together but...you killed them." Heart stared at Flash and saw the look of worry appear on his face.
"It's...complicated." He turned to the others, "how'd they find us so quickly. I don't think Shock saw where we went."
"CCTV?" Lyra suggested, "a camera or two might have caught which way we went."
"You think it's that simple?" Sweetie asked, Sandal just shrugging. "I don't like not knowing. What's to stop them from tracking us down if they do have a way to find us."
"They're tracking your magic." The group turned towards the voice and spotted someone sanding at the entrance of the alleyway, the sight of him making all their hearts break.
"Micro Chips," Flash whispered as the man moved towards them.
"Mirage Corp has discovered how to track the energy of your Elements when it's in use. Basically, whenever you're morphed they'll be able to tell where you are."
"I see," Lyra nodding.
"Well then we'll need to be careful when we morph," Flash told the other Rangers before he was consumed by light. When it faded, he was back in his street cloths. The others de-morphed the same way, Heart's eyes going wide at the sight. But the Riders remained focused on the suited man.
"Flash," Micro whispered, "you haven't changed." His eyes shifted to Heart, "always jumping in when you're not wanted to help those that didn't ask for it."
"Yeah," Flash nodded, "I guess I haven't changed." He reached out and grabbed the side of Micro's jacket and opened it up to reveal an M-shaped emblem on his shirt. "Wish I could say the same for you. Working for the guys that did this to us." Micro pulled away, covering up the emblem. "Why Micro. Why are you on the same side as the guy that turned the world against us."
"Turned the world against you." Micro turned to walk away, "I have too much to afford becoming a fugitive." He stopped for a moment and glanced back at them, "you should consider turning yourselves in. Mister Mirage is a forgiving person. I'm sure he'd be willing to look passed what you've done. Then maybe you can go home to your families and continue on with life."
Flash frowned at him, "you know we can't do that. Not if it means that guy getting our Elements." He pointed at Micro, "you might have forgotten what being a Guardian means but we haven't. We'll protect the Elements and undo what this Mirage guy's done. Mark my words!"
Micro continued to stare at him for a few moments, then turned away. "I knew you'd say that." He corrected his tie and began to walk off, his former teammates watching him leave.
"Micro!" Flash rushed forward, "why are you doing this!" But Micro didn't answer, Flash about to run after him. But before he could, the sound of sirens filled the air.
"Flash!" Lyra called out to him, "we have to get out of here." Flash clearly wasn't happy about that, watching as Micro stepped out of the alleyway. "Flash!"
The Red Ranger growled, but turned to them and nodded before they all ran off. A minute later, the police arrived but there was no sign of the fugitives anywhere.
Keeping as low a profile as possible, the group of six made their way through the city.
Heart looked terrified as he went with them, especially when they passed an electric bulletin board that had a wanted poster on it that swapped between their faces every ten seconds or so. Luckily, nobody noticed them and they soon arrived at their destination. An old warehouse that looked like it hadn't been used in years.
Looking around to make sure they weren't being watched, the Rangers lifted the shutters just enough for them to roll under before closing them again and delving the group into darkness. But before Heart could ask why they were in pitch darkness, he heard a clicking sound and the place was suddenly filled with light.
Lyra had hit several switches that had powered up a bunch of spot-lights that looked like they had been pulled out of the garbage. This allowed Heart to look around and found the place...was an absolute dump.
Many mismatched tables were carrying a bunch of half-cobbled together pieces of tech that looked like something a high-schooler would throw together for a science project. He watched as the Rangers moved over to one of the table, which had a bunch of devices that reminded Heart of rechargeable battery holders. They placed their Magi-Chargers inside one of the machines before taking something else out.
They were a bunch of strange looking gemstones that were the exact same shape, but were each a different colour and matched the colours of their Ranger Suits. They clipped the gems into the top of the machines and Heart watched the devices power up, amazing him. "What are those things?"
Flash turned to smile at him, "our Elements." Heart looked confused. "The source of our power. Each of them chose to bond with us because we were worthy and we held a great amount of the quality that each Element represented." He pointed at his Element. "Courage."
"Trust," Lyra continued.
"Love," Sweetie nodded.
"Will," Sandalwood stated.
"And Selflessness," Soarin finished.
Heart wasn't really sure what they meant by that, but continued to look around and see all the old and dusty machines in the warehouse. "What is this place? And where'd you get all this gear."
"This warehouse has been abandoned for years," Flash told him. "As for the gear, it's what's left from our days as Rangers. After we defeated Legion, we put it all into storage. But over the last few months...we found we've needed it more and more."
Heart nodded as he turned to them. "You're the Power Rangers. Ten years ago, you guys used to battle against monsters that attacked the city. You stopped an evil madman from another universe that attacked with robots and then saved it from a massive army of shadow monsters." The Rangers looked amazed.
"So you remember?" Lyra asked, Heart frowning.
"I remember hearing the stories. I was only six at the time, so I didn't really know all the details. But...I only started remembering them a couple of days ago. Before then...I just thought you were a bunch of criminals." The Rangers frowned, but also looked curious.
"So you're saying you forgot as well?" Sweetie asked.
"Just like the rest of the city," Sandalwood carried on.
Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Canterlot, we find a rather nice looking house that was painted in a mix of purple and orange.
Inside said house, a woman in her late twenties was sitting at the dinning table looking over a bunch of documents. She had purple skin and darker purple hair tied up in a ponytail, with a pair of black glasses over her purple eyes. she was wearing a blue sleeveless top and blue jeans with a star pattern on the sides.
A radio was playing in the corner, some gentle music filling the room as she read through her documents. But then, the music cut out as a special bulletin played.
"Once again, an attack by the notorious group of Criminals calling themselves the Power Rangers has the city in a state of terror." The woman was pulled out of her thoughts and turned towards the radio, a heartbroken look appearing on her face as she listened. "This marks the twentieth attack by the group since their sudden appearance three months ago. Though their numbers have been reduced since then by the brave work of Mirage Corp's security forces, their continued presence has the city remain on high alert. Further more-" The radio stopped when the woman rushed over and shut it off before it could say any more.
The woman took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself as she moved over to sit back at the table. But she couldn't get her focus back on her work, her mind to focused on what she had just heard.
Getting up again, she got up and moved over to the mantelpiece. On top of it were several framed pictures, with one particular one in the centre being a book-like frame that had three sections: One large centre frame with two smaller ones on either side that shut to completely covered the middle one.
The centre picture showed her and another man, the wanted criminal known as Flash Sentry, both of which standing together. Flash was holding her tightly wearing a suit, whilst she was wearing a beautiful white dress. The ones in the side frames were of the two together at different times. One had them in the park as teenagers, whilst another showed them in a hospital room with the woman in the bed holding something.
"Why Flash?" She asked, "why are you doing this?" She looked ready to burst into tears, but those stopped when she heard the front door open.
She quickly wiped her eyes and turned towards the living room door as it opened, with a very small child rushing in. She was around two or three years old, with orange skin and blue hair that had a streak of pink running through it like hers.
"Momma!" She cried, rushing over to her as she knelt down and scooped the child up.
"Stardust," she smiled whilst holding her up. "You have fun at preschool?" The girl nodded, as two other people stepped into the room. One was a woman with pink skin and pink hair, wearing a suit that were different shades of blue and green. The other was a young girl of around seven or eight years old, with white skin and long flowing hair of pink, blue and purple who was wearing a light blue dress.
"Aunty Twilight!" She cheered, as the woman named Twilight put Stardust down and hugged the girl.
"Hi Flurry." She looked at her, "did you have fun at school." Flurry nodded, though she looked a little sad about something. She had been wearing that expression a lot over the last few weeks.
Twilight turned to them. "Hey, the others are coming over soon. Why don't you two go up to Star's room and play until they get here." The pair nodded and ran out of the room, Twilight looking up at the older woman. "Cadance, the radio-"
"I know," Cadance nodded. "We were listening when it came on. I changed the station as soon as I realised but Flurry still heard some of it."
Twilight frowned. "I wonder if the others heard as well. I hope not. It's hard enough getting through the day. Hearing about it will just make them feel worse." She looked back at the pictures around the room, her eyes locking on another on the mantel. This one showed Flash in a police uniform alongside an older man with white skin and blue hair in the same uniform. "They had so much," she picked up the picture. "I can't believe they would just throw it away without reason."
Cadance nodded, feeling pain at the sight of the man in the picture. They went into the kitchen and made a drink, the pair sitting around a small table and talking about anything other then what they had heard on the radio.
Then, thirty minutes after Cadance arrived, there was a knock at the door before it opened. "HEY!" A hyperactive voice called out before a pink skinned woman the same age as Twilight came in. She had pink puffy hair in a pony tail and was wearing a blue jacket and a pink skirt. She was holding the hand of a four year old girl with yellow skin and pink hair. The girl instantly ran off and the woman sat down, her happy demeanour vanishing as soon as the girl was gone. "You two okay?"
"We're fine Pinkie," Twilight told her. "You hear the radio as well?" Pinkie nodded, as the door opened again.
"Hello?" A gentle voice called out before another woman entered the room. This one had yellow skin and pink hair, wearing a flowing blue dress with a butterfly pin in her locks. She had a young boy, around four of five, and a baby girl in her arms, both children having yellow skin whilst the boy had dreads that was a mix of green and pink. The baby looked like a perfect clone of her mother, though the hair had a few specks of green in it. The boy was hiding behind the woman's leg, looking rather shy.
"Hello Fluttershy," Twilight smiled before turning to the boy. "Linden, the girls are upstairs." The boy nodded and carefully came out from behind Fluttershy's leg and headed upstairs. The women headed out of the kitchen to the more spacious living room.
As they did, they noticed Fluttershy looked ready to start crying. "I know," Cadance pulled her in close. "It's hard."
"Why are they doing this?" She asked, ready to burst out crying. "Doesn't he care that Ayala will probably grow up not knowing him. And Linden's been getting odd looks at school that's making him cry."
"We'll figure it out," Twilight assured her before flying. "But it's Rainbow I'm concerned for." As if on cue, the door opened again and a voice called out to them.
"Hey, you guys see that news footage!" Two women walked into the living room. One was an orange skinned woman with blonde hair tied up in a pony tail, with a rather familiar looking handkerchief tying it up, wearing a brown jacket over a green top and blue tight jeans with brown boots. The other was a woman with light blue skin and short rainbow coloured hair. The most noticeable thing about her was the rather large stomach she was currently sporting, hidden under the blue maternity dress she was wearing.
Pinkie and Twilight got off the couch, allowing her to move over to it and take a seat. "How you feeling?" Twilight asked her, the woman named Rainbow moaning.
"My back hurts. My ankles are swollen and I need to pee ever twenty minutes. So...not great." She frowned, "it wouldn't be so bad if a certain somebody wasn't off making an idiot of himself. Seriously, what's that nut job doing? Leaving me for three months with twins."
"A'm sure he has a good reason," Applejack told her. But the look on her face showed she wasn't sure for that. The others looked just as upset, Twilight turning to a picture of them back when they were still in high school. It was the five of them, minus Cadance, plus the six wanted fugitives and three others. They were all wearing their graduation gowns and cheering at being free from high school.
The three others in the picture were friends they hadn't seen since the whole Power Ranger thing started. Micro, Sunset and Rarity had all been absent from their lives for three months now. Sunset had, for some reason, joined the Power Rangers and started causing havoc, whilst Micro and Rarity...
There was a knock on the door before somebody stepped inside, the sound of high heels filling the room. "Hello?" They turned towards the doorway and saw the woman who had been on the Ranger alert earlier that day. Now that her whole body could be seen, a small but noticeable bump could be seen around her stomach.
"Rarity," Twilight whispered. "You're...looking well." Rarity looked down and frowned.
"Saw you on TV earlier," Rainbow told her. "Who'd have thought you'd give up your fashion career to become Mirage Corp's face."
"Times change," Rarity told them. "When Micro's company was taken over, his investments in my business came to an end as well. This is the only way to get my career back on track." She let out a sigh, "which is why I'm here right now." They frowned as a new set of footprints filled the air and a new person stepped into the room.
They all suddenly felt a chill run down their spins and Ayala started crying, Fluttershy shushing her back to sleep as Twilight frowned. "Welcome...Mr Mirage."
"Mirage?" Heart asked as the Rangers did maintenance on their gear. "The guy that owns that really big company that pretty much runs the whole city?"
"Yup," Lyra nodded. "But that only started a few months ago. Before then, his company was barely known. But suddenly, he started buying up business after business and had half the city's capital under his control within a week."
"You sure?" Heart asked as he held his head. "I mean...I remember the city always being under Mirage's control." But as he thought about it, his head started hurting. "Ow."
"Don't think about it," Flash told him. "We don't know much about Mirage's power, but it's painful to try and fight against it."
"Power?"
"Some kind of brainwashing power," Soarin told him as he tweek something on his Thunder Morpher. "It really took us by surprise. One minute we're living our normal everyday lives, the next we find there's a warrant out for our arrest and nobody remembers anything that happened involving our Ranger days."
"So he changed the world?" Heart asked, beginning to fear just how powerful this guy that was after them was.
"No," Sweetie told him. "But he's somehow rewritten everyone's memories. Plus, any form of documentation about Power Rangers have vanished. As far as the city's concerned, the first time we ever appeared in our suits was three months ago."
"And it's just the city," Sandal went on. "I drove out of the city a few days after we were put on the most wanted list and when I asked somebody about the Power Rangers, they remembered everything they had heard about our exploits ten years ago."
"So it's just the city?" Heart asked, "then why don't you leave. You wouldn't be wanted if you were."
"And leave Mirage in control of it?" Flash asked, "with our friends and family as pretty much his hostages. No, we're not leaving the city until we figure out how Mirage is doing all of this."
Heart nodded, understanding that. He let everything that the Rangers had told him sink it, trying to find a way to prove they were heroes. "But what about...the internet. My sister and I used to watch footage of you guys all the time."
"Yeah, we tried that too." Lyra pointed at a nearby beaten up laptop, "try searching for us now." Heart moved over and typed the word Power Rangers into the search bar, but all he got were a bunch of crime footage and wanted posters. He then added the date ten years ago into the bar and still found nothing. He kept trying a bunch of different words that were connected to the Rangers. Zord, Legion, monster invasion, Megazord. But nothing came up.
"What's going on?"
"Like we said," Soarin told him. "Anything and everything related to our time from ten years ago is gone. It's like the city has a bubble around it and anything to do with the heroic Guardian Power Rangers gets erased as soon as it enters."
"Then why can I remember it?" Heart asked, "my sister and me. We were both being affected until a few days ago, when we started remembering the truth about you. It was slow at first, but the more we thought about it the more we remember."
"And you're not alone," Flash told him. "Whatever Mirage did, it's not perfect." He held up his Element, "we were protected because we're connected to these. But other people were effected differently. Only now, it seems the effects are starting to ware off on people. Like you and your sister. Whatever spell is being cast on you is starting to ware off. That's why Mirage was after you."
Heart looked worried, "he doesn't want anyone spilling the beans about who he really is." He turned to them, "what's he gonna do with my sister?" The Rangers all looked sombre.
"I don't know," Flash sighed. "You're not the first person he's captured. We've heard stories of Mirage's security details arresting people that have always been outstanding citizens. They arrest them and haul them off somewhere. We've tried to save them, but every time we're too late. You're the first one we've been able to get to in time."
Heart shivered, fearing the fate of his sister. "Mirage. He's a monster." They couldn't argue with that. Hopefully, he wouldn't try and do anything to anyone the Rangers cared about.
Back at Flash's home, the woman were all staring at the man that had just walked in. A middle aged man with orange skin and gunmetal coloured hair that fed a beard running down the side of his face and chin. On the top of his head was a streak of purple hair running upwards. He was also dressed in a purple suit with a grey shirt and orange tie, not seeming to care at all how ridicules he looked.
The man looked around, a very serious expression on his face. As he did, the women looked worried. "What can we do for you, Mr Mirage?"
"I'm sure you've heard already," he told them. "About our mutual friends showing up again today." They all frowned. "This time they've gone so far as to kidnap a young man and take him with them." They gasped.
"No way!" Rainbow cried, Applejack telling her to calm down. "They'd never do something like that."
"Yes," Fluttershy nodded, "there must be a misunderstanding."
"I'm afraid not," Mirage held up a strange pen-shaped device and clicked it. When he did, it unleashed a hologram that showed footage of the Power Rangers and Heart in the alleyway. The footage showed them powering down before Flash grabbed Heart by the arm and pulled him with them, Heart appearing to be struggling but not being able to escape.
"I...I can't believe that," Twilight told him. Mirage put the device away and turned to one of the pictures on the wall.
"Tell me. When was the last time you talked to your husbands and their friends."
"We told you," Twilight frowned. "We haven't seen or heard anything from them since you put them on the most wanted list."
"For obvious reasons," he told her. "They stole a very dangerous power source and are using them to try and play vigilante, not caring how much danger it puts them and their families in." He turned to Twilight, "I'm sure you can understand why we have to take precautions against them." Twilight frowned as Mirage turned back to the pictures, noting all the ones with Flash in them. "I'm sure these times are hard on you all. Being associated with such criminals." He turned back to them. "Maybe it would be best if you annulled your marriages to them. I can have my attorneys draw up to contracts. All it would take is a single signature from you and you'd be free from them."
The woman all looked upset about this, clearly the thought of what he said making sense to them. But Twilight quickly shook her head. "No!" They turned to her as she pointed at Mirage, "I won't abandon him. I don't know why he's doing this, but I know him. He wouldn't be doing any of this unless he had too. He's a good man and I won't leave him until I see with my own eyes that he's anything but." The others all nodded, whilst Mr Mirage frowned.
"What a shame. I had hoped you would see the logic and return to my company."
"I never worked for your company," Twilight told him. "I worked at Micro's company, until you somehow bought it out from under him." Rarity frowned at this, whilst Mirage just smiled.
"Then we have nothing left to say." He turned away, "but you can't go on without a job forever. This is a lovely home and I'm sure keeping it isn't easy, especially with your husband's career choices up in smoke now that he's a wanted criminal." Twilight frowned, knowing that was some kind of threat.
"No need to worry. I've already found myself another position. Filling in for a friend at her teaching job at our old high school. The principal's an old friend."
"Ahhh...yes." Mirage nodded in understanding. "I guess a position or two has opened up thanks to two of the teachers being...detained, due to their criminal activities. Well, I'm sure you'll find that job fulfilling. Baking soda volcanoes are always fun." With that, he walked out of the room and headed for the door. Rarity stayed for a moment, looking a little worried, then followed him out of the house.
When they were gone, Twilight fell to her knees and looked ready to start crying. The others rushed around her and gave her encouragement, telling her she did great standing up to him. "Thanks," she told them. "But this insanity needs to end. We need to find out what's really going on."
"There's no way the others actually kidnapped a kid, right?" Rainbow asked, her friends shaking their heads.
"So we've gotta find out what's really hap'nin," Applejack told them. They all nodded and as Twilight stood up, she spotted one of the pictures on the mantel. One that was face down so nobody could see it.
She moved over to it and lifted it up for them to see. But when she did, she saw the family photo. A picture of her and Flash in front of their house, Flash carrying Stardust in his arms. And in Stardust's hands was something else. A little red toy-like devices in the shape of a dragon with tiny wings. She couldn't tell how she knew, but the toy looked...happy.
Staring at the picture, she suddenly felt something burst into her head. Images and memories she didn't remember having. But the images were too fuzzy and as they appeared, Twilight's head hurt a great deal. She cried out, clutching her head as she put the picture down. When she did, the pain stopped.
"Twilight?" Cadance asked, "are you okay?"
"I...yeah. I thought I remembered something I'd forgotten but...I can't remember it any more." The others frowned, asking if she was okay with that. But Twilight shrugged. "If it was so important, I wouldn't have forgotten it." They all nodded in agreement, the face down picture laying completely forgotten.
Back in the warehouse, in one of the corners, Flash was laying on an old army bed with a sleeping bag at his feet. He was staring up at a photograph, the very same one his wife had been looking at, appearing wistful as he did so.
"Is that your family?" Flash looked over and saw Heart staring at him, the Red Ranger nodding as he sat up to let Heart sit next to them.
"Yeah." He showed him the image. "Twilight Sparkle and our daughter, Stardust." Heart took the photo, "hard to believe I might never get to see either of them again."
"They don't remember you being a Ranger either?"
"Star never really understood what we meant by that," Flash explained. "Twilight probably just told her I had to go away for a while. But there's definitely one thing she'll have forgotten that would break her heart if she knew."
Heart wondered what he meant, but then noticed something about the picture. The robotic dragon his daughter was holding. A robotic dragon he had seen in some old Ranger footage. "Is that...your Zord." Flash looked at the picture and nodded when he pointed at it.
"Yeah. That's Drago. After we defeated Legion, he started living with us full time in his miniature form." Twilight found a way to recharge the device that allows him to do that without needing to take it out of him.
"Cool," Heart smirked as he looked around. "Where is he? I've always wanted to see a real life Zord." He then noticed Flash frown, "what?"
"I haven't seen him in three months," Flash explained. "He disappeared...the day all this started." Heart was amazed by this, clearly wondering what had happened. "It was just like...any other day."
Three months ago.
Flash was in his kitchen, wearing his police uniform, helping Stardust eat her breakfast. "Open up," he told her. The girl looked at the porridge on the spoon and shook her head. "Come on."
"Na-ah," she shook her head harder. Then, Drago leapt onto the table and started dancing in front of Stardust. She laughed and was so entertained, she didn't notice she was eating the porridge Flash shovelled into her mouth until it was all gone.
"Good girl," Flash told her before turning to Drago. "Thanks bud." Drago roared happily as Twilight arrived in the room, dressed in her work cloths: A blue blouse and black pants.
"Star ready to go?" She asked, putting her hair up in its usual ponytail.
"Just about," he picked his daughter up out of the chair. "You ready for school, sweetheart?" The girl nodded her head, excited for another fun day. "Alright. Well, I've got to get to work so wish me luck."
"Luck!" She laughed, as Twilight took her from him.
"Be careful out there," she kissed him on the lips.
"I'm always careful," he assured her before heading for the door. As he did, he found a large purple dog laying in front of it. "Really man?"
Spike opened his eyes and huffed. "Can't a guy get a good morning's nap." He got up and moved out of the way, Flash giving him a pat on the head.
"You have a dog bed," he laughed. "That's a great place to sleep out of the way." With that, he grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. Drago rushed off with him, jumping up onto his shoulder. "Ready for another hard day of work?" Drago roared in agreement, then stopped and looked up towards the city. "Drago?"
Before he could ask what was going on, the Dragon Zord leapt off his shoulders and flew away as fast as he could. Flash wasn't surprised by this, since Drago would often go off on his own. But something about this time seemed different.
Flash wanted to follow, but he needed to be at the precinct in the other direction. He wasn't gonna get away with tardiness, even if the captain was his brother-in-law.
Later that day.
Flash was on patrol with his partner, Shock Trooper, and the former Red Ranger was getting their lunch whilst Shock was waiting in the squad car. "Two double cheese burglars, one banana milkshake and one diet soda," the girl at the counter pushed the bag and two cups towards him.
"Right," he nodded as he took them and headed out the food joint. He began to make his way over to the car, slurping his soda as he did, but then stopped when he felt something. A strange sensation, the likes of which he had only ever felt from one object.
"Hey!" Someone called out, "what's that?" Flash turned to see him looking up at the sky and followed his gaze, his eyes landing on a red light flying through the air.
"It can't be," Flash whispered as the light began to fly straight towards him. He quickly dropped his soda and reached his hand up, the light flying into it at amazing speed but not hurting his hand at all. He pulled it down as the people around him watched in amazement.
"Flash!" Shock Trooper rushed up to him and spotted the light in his hand. "Is that...what I think it is?" Flash opened his hand and sure enough, a familiar gem was sitting in his palm.
"The Element of Courage," he whispered. "But that means-" in that moment his phone rang and he handed Shock their food before taking it out, seeing it was his dad.
"Son!" The man cried once he picked up, "you're not gonna believe what just happened."
"Your Element just showed up?" Flash asked, Trail Blazer's voice stopped. "Mine did too." He then started getting texts and messages, Flash looking at the screen and seeing it was from the rest of his Ranger team. Everyone had sent him a message. Well...everyone except Micro. "This can't be good."
"And I was right. The very next day, the world had completely forgotten about the Power Rangers. Our friend Sunset tried to get in contact with someone who might have known what was happening, but we never got an answer. Twilight was all prepared to help figure out what was going on when she learned I had my Element back, but the next morning she woke up and had no idea what I was talking about."
"Was that when the news report came on about you guys stealing from Mirage?" Heart asked, Flash nodding.
"Me, Lyra and even my brother-in-law all found ourselves being brought in for questioning. Mirage even somehow got fake footage of us busting into his facility and stealing the Elements before morphing on the screen. None of it happened, but the people were too brainwashed to listen to us."
"That's horrible."
"Maybe," Flash nodded, "but we're gonna change all that." He stood up, "we're gonna find out what he did and reverse it. Then, we're gonna find where they took your sister and our friends and get them out. I promise." Heart smiled at this, feeling amazing admiration for this man he had just met this day. "And then, Mirage will find out what happens when you mess with the Power Rangers."
Mirage had arrived at his company, a large skyscraper that had undergone several reconstructions over the last few months. On top of the building was a large antenna, that looked big enough to send a signal to even TV and computer in the city.
He entered the building and many people nodded and smiled at him, he and Rarity walking side by side. Then, someone else stepped up to him. It was Shock Trooper.
"Mr Mirage," the former police officer told him. "I'm sorry about losing the Rangers."
"Don't worry Shock," Mirage told him. "We'll get them all eventually." He turned to his company's face, "Ms Rarity. I'm sure you have a broadcast or something soon. You should probably go get yourself presentable for it." Rarity nodded and walked off, frowning as she did so. Now that it was just the two of them, Mirage spoke more openly with Shock. "I've been working on a little something that should give you the edge over those Rangers. It's almost complete and with it, you'll finally get me what I need."
"I won't fail you," Shock told him as they entered an Elevator and began to rid it down underground. "We managed to get the girl safely transported without anyone noticing. We've put her with the others."
"Good," Mirage nodded as the doors opened and they stepped into a long hallway. "I can't have anyone whose immune to my abilities walking around freely. Too much of a risk." They began to walk along the hallway, which was full of metal doors that had glass windows.
Through each of the windows, the head of a person could be seen. They appeared to be in some kind of sleep, their heads slumped down as their arms were raised up like they were being crucified. There were many different types of people, young and old, male and female. They were all locked away and likely to never see the light of day again.
"I don't get why you don't just get rid of them?" Shock asked as they arrived at their later prisoner. A girl around Heart's age with silver skin and hair that went from light to dark blue.
"Now now," Mirage told him. "Once we have the Elements we'll be able to help these poor individuals see the light." He then turned to a bunch of doors at the very end of the hallway. "Besides, you can always find a use for things that might be an inconvenience." He marched up to the doors and looked inside, seeing four individuals trapped and asleep.
One was a man that looked like an order version of Flash Sentry with a beard. Another was a white skinned man with blue hair. Another was a yellow skinned woman with bacon hair. And Finally, there was a grey skinned man with black hair. Their rooms each had a strange device inside of it, which was holding a familiar looking crystal that was each a different colour.
"Five down," he told himself with a chuckle. "And once I get the other five Elements, nothing and nobody will get in my way. This world...will be mine."
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."
The first thing he noticed was that he was now un-morphed and laying on the ground. Said ground was rather rough and it was covered in dust, Flash's vision slowly turning from fuzzy to clear and allowing him to see where he was. He pushed himself up to his knees, looking around as his eyes went wide.
He was in some kind of city, but it was like no city he had ever seen. First the place appeared completely empty, with not a single human in sight. A few cars could be seen here and there, but they were all parked. Another thing he noticed was the place had been overrun by nature. Multiple trees had grown in the middle of the road and sidewalks, along with grass and moss that was growing up the sides of the buildings and on the cars. The building themselves all looked rundown, with shattered windows, rusted signs and other such situations.
Flash looked around and spotted all of his friends, the lot of them laid out on the ground like he had been. He forced himself to his feet and rushed over to them, groaning as he did so. "Guys!" He called out, shaking Lyra. "Guys, wake up." He rushed over to Heart and rolled him onto his back. "Come on!"
Heart let out a moan and opened his eyes, the other Rangers doing the same thing. "What happened?" The teen asked.
"Where are we?" Lyra asked as they pushed themselves up, the lot of them looking around and seeing the state of the city they were now in.
"I don't think we're in Canterlot anymore," Sweetie told them.
"I remember now," Soarin groaned. "That Mirage guy sucked us into a portal."
Sandal frowned, "that means we were sent to another world. But I'm guessing we're not in Equestria."
"Definitely not," Flash told him. "Less ponies and more...greenery." He frowned as he looked up at the sky, amazed when he spotted the moon in said sky. The moon appeared to be broken in half, with the other half ripped into several large chunks. "Wherever we are, I don't think things ended well here." The other Rangers frowned at this, but then a sound caught their attention.
It was the sound of footsteps, heavy ones that shoot the ground. Sandal looked over at a puddle on the ground and saw the water within it shake with every step. "Something's coming."
Flash pulled out a Magi-Charger and clicked it, throwing it into the air and summoning a motorbike with a dragon head on the front. The other Rangers did the same, summoning bikes of their colour with different animal heads on them. As they climbed on board, Heart getting on behind Flash, the footsteps got louder and they were able to tell that they were coming from up ahead.
And sure enough, from around a building came a large furry orange paw with finger-like appendages that each had a long black claw on the end. It extended towards the ground, revealing a large and muscular orange limb that cracked the pavement when it hit. Then, a second claw and arm appeared and did the same. They pulled the body out from behind the building and it was revealed.
It was the size of an elephant and had the body of a lion. But instead of a face in the center of the bright red mane, there was nothing but a massive mouth with razor sharp fangs and a pair of giant ears sticking out the side of the mane. The body was orange and muscular, with back legs that had claws just like the front ones. And instead of a tail, it had what looked like the arm of a scorpion with a snapping claw on the end of it.
The beast pulled itself around the building and stood in full view of the Rangers, then turned towards them before letting out a loud snarl. Somehow, despite not having eyes, it could see them. "MOVE!" Flash yelled, kicking his bike into action. The other Rangers did the same and soon the five of them were roaring down the street as fast as possible. The monster let out and roar and began rushing after them, its enormous weight and bulk shaking the ground as it did. It was catching up and the Rangers doubted it wanted to do anything nice when it finally caught them.
Twilight had just gotten up and was preparing breakfast for Star.
The young girl was still in bed, but would be up any minute. But as Twilight finished frying the bacon, throwing some to Spike and their other dog Springer so they could snack on it, there was a knock at the door. Twilight moved over to it and opened it up, only to frown when she saw who it was.
"Oh, hello Shock." The man in question smiled at her, then became serious.
"Twilight, can I come in?"
"I guess," she turned to head back to the kitchen. "Don't go expecting to have a long conversation. I need to get Star to school before my meeting at my old school."
"That's fine," Shock nodded. "But, I don't think you want Star to potentially walk it." Twilight turned to him with a raised eyebrow, "this is about Flash. He and his friends...broke into Mirage Corp last night." Twilight's eyes went wide, as Shock took out his phone and showed her a video. It was footage taken from last night, showing the Power Rangers in the building fighting the Peacekeepers.
It also showed Shock, looking very human, fighting against Flash until Heart slid passed and stole the key card. It then changed to the Rangers in the underground lab, where Mirage was also located looking just as human.
"They were messing with something they shouldn't have." The video showed Sandal grab Mirage and throw him towards one of the desks, accidently causing the machine behind them to switch on. The machine sparked several times as the Rangers backed away, only for it to completely explode and the video to end. "I'm...I'm sorry."
Twilight's eyes went wide, "no." Shock moved up to her, "no." He pulled her into a hug, "NO!" She screamed, trying to push Shock away but the man held her tightly and tried to comfort her. "This can't be happening."
"I now it's hard," he told her. "But...maybe this was for the best."
"NO!" Twilight cried.
"Flash...let's not remember him as the criminal he became. Let's remember him as the good man that tried his best to help others. Whatever made him turn away from being that person, we have to forget." Twilight continued crying as Shock held her tightly, Twilight completely unaware of the smile that appeared on his lips.
Back at Mirage Corp, Micro had just sent Shining Soul's cell back to the others as he finished work on the Magi-Charger he had made the previous night.
"Micro?" He turned to smile at his wife, Rarity walking into the room with a hand on her slight belly. "You've been working all night. Don't you think you should take a break."
"I'll be fine," he told her. "Once I've finished working on this bad boy, everything will be perfect." Rarity looked at the Charger and raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that the same battery devices Flash and the others have been using?" Micro nodded. "Why are you making one."
"Special request from Mirage," he explained. "Once we have all the Elements, we'll be able to use it to make the world perfect." He then turned to her, a smirk appearing on his lips. "In fact, do you wanna help me test it."
"Oh?" Rarity asked, "how?" She watched as Micro took the Charger over to another desk that was holding a case of some kind, the man opening it up and fiddling with whatever was inside until he was done.
"It's simple," he explained before spinning around. "Just hold still." He was carrying a Morphin Blaster that now had the Magi-Charger inside of it, which he fired right at Rarity. The woman screamed as the light overcame her, consuming her entire being.
The Rangers continued to cry out as they attempted to outrun the horrible monster that was trying to eat them. The beast got closer and closer with every step they leapt, the Rangers realising they couldn't escape this thing.
"Energise!" They spun the barrels of their guns along their legs to charge it up, Soarin leaning back on his bike to point his at it, then pointed them behind themselves before firing. "Unleash the Power!" They fired the Zord heads, which flew at the monster and collided with it before returning to the Rangers and morphing them into their suits.
The beast was stunned by the impact, slowing it down long enough for the Rangers to get a good distance away from it. But it quickly recovered and continued chasing the lot of them. "Split up!" Flash told them, the five bikes splitting apart and rolling down different streets.
The beast followed after Flash and Heart, the teen looking back and seeing this. "Great. Of course it follows us."
"Can you drive a bike?" Flash asked, getting a nod from Heart. "Good, take over." He then leapt off the bike, Heart quickly pulling himself forward as Flash landed behind him. He took out his Morphin Baster and after spinning the barrel several times, he fired an extra powerful blast.
The beast was slammed in the face by this, but the attack barely even seemed to phase them. "Oh, come on!"
"Flash!" Heart cried, making Flash look forward, "We're running out of road!" And sure enough, the street right ahead of them had a massive hole in the middle of it. It went from one building to another and was almost fifteen meters across, looking really deep.
They had a choice. Stop the bike and get eaten, or try to jump the gap. "Floor it!" Heart pumped the bike into full speed and shot forward, the beast also picking up speed. "There!" He pointed to a section of the ground that was curved upwards like a ramp, Heart pulling the bike in that direction.
They shot off the end of the road and flew into the air, the bike and its riders flying upwards as they did so. But when they were halfway across the hole, gravity took hold and the bike began to fall. "We're not gonna make it!"
Flash realised he was right and as the bike fell below the level of the street, he grabbed Heart around the waist and used all of his Ranger strength to leap them both off the bike. Heart cried out as they flew through the air, Flash reaching out and managing to just grab the other side of the hole.
"WOW!" Heart yelped as Flash grabbed his arm and stopped him from falling, whilst the bike continued to fall until it hit the bottom a good twenty meters down.
"You okay?" Heart nodded as Flash began swinging him back and forth, eventually managing to swing him around and up over the edge. Heart yelped as he flew through the air and hit the ground, rolling along until he came to a stop. Flash then pulled himself up and sighed in relief. "That was close." They heard a roar and turned to see the beast growling at them.
"Ha!" Heart cried as he got up, "you ain't snacking on us." He blew the beast a raspberry, the monster appearing to understand this and roaring louder. Heart didn't seem at all worried, until the beast leapt into the air and grabbed onto the side of the building besides the hole. "Huh?" They watched as the monster ripped its way across the building, its claws allowing it to move without any trouble. "Uh oh."
Flash grabbed his arm and pulled him along, as the beast leapt and landed on the other side of the hole. The impact was so strong it shook the ground and sent the pair flying, both crying out as they hit the ground and rolled around until they came to a stop.
Flash was the first to recover and looked up at the monster, who snarled and looked ready to gobble them both up. But before it could...
"BURST MODE!" Four streams of energy exploded into the street, "Power Strike!" They slammed into the monster with enough force that it was blasted backwards towards the edge of the hole. The streams then landed and raced back to Flash and Heart, the energy fading to reveal the four other Rangers in their bikes.
"Nice timing guys," Flash told them before getting an idea. "Let's end this thing." He took out a Magi-Charger. "Guardian Buster!" He clicked it before throwing the battery into the air, "activate." In a flash, the Charger transformed into a larger black version of their Morphin Blasters. Flash caught it and cocked the forend, causing four opening to appear on the side and one on the back.
"Magi-Chargers!" Everyone activated their Chargers, placing them in the compartments before shutting them. "Locked and loaded!" When Flash placed his into the compartment and shut it, the white streaks changed to red.
GUARDIAN BUSTER...RED CHARGE!
The weapon began to buzz as it charged up, and was ready to fire.
Flash aimed the weapon at the monster, as Lyra and Soarin placed their hands on his shoulders and Sandal and Sweetie did so to them. "Guardian Buster, Dragon Blast...FIRE!" Flash pulled the trigger and a single powerful blast shot out, which morphed into the shape of the Dragon Zord's head as it flew at the beast.
Slamming into the monster, it exploded and blasted the creature backwards. It tried to save itself, but it couldn't grab the sides of the hole before it fell in. It let out a mighty roar as it disappeared under the ground, the earth shaking ten seconds later as it crashed into the bottom.
The Rangers and Heart barely managed to keep their balance at the shaking, which eventually subsided and they sighed in relief. "That was too close," Flash told the others. "Whatever this place is, they need to seriously invest in animal control."
"I say we get out of here in case it's not dead," Lyra told him. "I don't wanna mess with it again, especially if it angry about being thrown in a hole." The others nodded and headed back to their bikes, Flash and Heart planning to ride with the others, but stopped when they heard the roar of the creature.
Only this roar wasn't coming from the hole. It came from down one of the streets. Then, another roar came from the opposite direction. And another followed from some place else.
"Oh no," Flash gulped as the ground shook again. And sure enough, three more of the creatures leapt out from between the buildings onto the street around them.
"Oh come on!" Soarin cried as they took out their weapons, "how many of these things are there!" The Rangers prepared for battle, but didn't think they could take these creatures. This was something a Zord was needed for.
Speak of the devil.
A mighty roar filled the air, the lot turning to see something flying towards them. A massive robotic Dragon coloured red. It let out another roar as it flew down and slammed into one of the beasts, knocking it backwards as Flash broke out into a smile beneath the helmet.
"DRAGO!" He cried happily, the dragon turning to roar happily at him before swiping a monster with its tail and jumping up to stomp on another one.
"But what's he doing here?" Lyra asked, but got their answer when someone rushed out of one of the streets.
"Rangers!" They spun around and were shocked to see an elderly man, wearing very dirty wizards clothing and a hat with a staff in hand. He had a long white and grey beard and a serious expression on his face.
"Starswirl?" Sweetie gasped, the others amazed to see him.
"Come on!" He told them. "Let Drago deal with them whilst we escape." They nodded and rushed after him, the wizard leading them all into an alleyway that was too small for the creatures to follow. As they did, Drago continued to battle the beasts. They attempted to slash and bite at him, but their fangs and claws were now match for his metal body.
Drago slammed two of them with a metal punch before grabbing the third and flying it into the air, dropping in down into the hole along with its friend. The other two seemed to see this and turned to run away, but the Zord flew after them and grabbed their claw tipped tails before flinging them towards the hole. Both landed on the ground and slid until they fell over the edge, both roaring as they disappeared into it.
Threat neutralised, Drago turned in the direction his friends had gone and flew after them.
Mirage was back in the portal room, typing away at the machine and checking to make sure it was working perfect.
"Excellent," he nodded, "but it's still only connecting to that world." He sighed, "I guess it doesn't matter. Why would I want to return to my world, when soon enough I'll have this one under my complete control." As he said that, the elevator dinged and opened to allow Shock to step out. "So," he smirked, "how'd it go."
"Twilight's still in shock," he smiled. "But she'll get over it and when she does, I'll make my move."
"It amazes me that you're willing to do all this just for a woman," Mirage shook his head. "I mean, she's a brilliant woman. Smart and I guess beautiful by human standards, but to betray the man who considered you a friend and once even saved your life. She really must be something special."
"You have no idea," Shock smirked. "She's smart, funny, caring and so many more things. Flash didn't deserve her. He didn't need her. He was so famous he could have had any woman he wanted, but he chose the one woman I fell in love with."
Mirage nodded. "Didn't you only meet her because of Sentry. You said you met at the policemen's ball."
"That might have been true, but I know we would have met even without knowing him. It was destiny and now that he's out of the way, we can be together forever."
"Only if he's actually dead," Mirage pointed out as he turned back to the portal. "But considering every single drone I've sent into that dimension has been utterly destroyed, I guess it's only a matter of time."
"Exactly," Shock nodded. "But I have to ask, haven't you shot yourself in the foot. You said you needed to Elements, but they're somewhere in that other world and probably gonna end up getting swallowed along with the Rangers. How do you intend to get them back?" Mirage turned to Shock and smiled, the man's eyes going wide. "You can't be serious."
"Deadly," Mirage told him. "Remember what we agreed upon when we first met." Shock frowned as he thought back to that day.
Two days after Flash became a fugitive.
Mirage was in his office working, when he got a message from his secretary. "Mr Mirage, there's a police officer that needs to talk to you" Mirage raised an eyebrow at this, but told her to send him up. A few minutes later, the elevator opened up and Shock Trooper stepped out. "Hello there officer. What can I do for you?"
Shock said nothing as he moved to the other side of the desk, then suddenly moved and in a flash Mirage had a gun pointed at it face. "What did you do to the city?"
Mirage raised an eyebrow at this, "what do you mean. I've done nothing to my city."
"Cut the crap. I know that you never ran this city until just a few days ago." Mirage's eyes went wide, "now what did you do. Why do people think you rush the place and why have they suddenly forgotten about Flash and the other Rangers saving the world."
Now Mirage was truly surprised. "You remember?"
"I seem to be the only one."
Mirage's surprised slowly faded, the man letting out a chuckle. "Well I must say this is a surprise. To think someone actually managed to be immune to my power. Impressive."
"Power?" Shock asked, "what are you-" He didn't get the chance to finish, as Mirage suddenly moved and knocked his gun away. It hit the ground and as Shock staggered back, Mirage stood up and suddenly transformed. In a flash, he was now a robot and raised his arm as a slot opened up before a gun barrel folded out. "Gyah!" Shock fell to the ground in terror. "You...you're..."
"The one who will soon rule this world." He pointed his gun at the cop, "and you're in my way. If you can see through my illusions, then you could be a possible threat and even help the Rangers."
Shock rolled his eyes, "why would I wanna help the Rangers. They've never done anything for me."
"Oh?" Mirage looked intrigued.
Shock looked down in anger, memories flashing at the forefront of his mind. "Ever since Flash became my partner, he's constantly overshadowed me. He's always put in charge of operations, all because he lucked into getting super powers and saved the world."
"I see," Mirage smiled under his metal mask. "Then you and I have a common interest. I'm sure there's something you want that I could give you. And all I'd ask in return would be utter obedience and help keeping the peace. Do that, and everything you ever wanted will be yours."
Shock thought about this and seemed to have an idea. He turned to Mirage, "you have the power to control people...correct?"
Mirage shrugged. "More like...influence a few people. It's how I was able to build this company. But now I'm able to alter the memories of this entire city. And in time, I'll be able to control the entire world's populace."
Shock smiled and stood up. "So if I help you, will you make it so the woman I love will fall in love with me. Make it so she thinks she's always loved me and that her child has always seen me as her father."
"Of course. Though you'll have to earn it." He retracted his gun and held out a hand, "do we have a deal?" Shock stared at him for a moment, then smiled and took the hand.
Present.
"You agreed to do whatever I ask and in return, you could have everything you've ever wanted." Mirage pointed to the portal, "gather the Elements. And when you return with them, I'll be able to make it so that Twilight and her entire family see you as the love of her life."
Shock smiled and turned to the portal, "alright then. But...you can't expect me to do this alone."
"Of course not," Mirage nodded. He then took the pen device out of his jacket and projected the screen, the man disguised robot tapping at it until he found what he was looking for. "Mirage Rangers, awaken."
Inside the cell block, the ones holding the four captured Power Rangers lit up.
Energy surged into the cells and struck the four, making them all begin to cry out despite still being unconscious. The energy then shot out of their chests and struck the Elements, flowing through the gem and out of the cell doors. It appeared in front of the doors and slowly, formed shapes. Within seconds, the Orange, Silver, Gold and Black Rangers stood tall.
The four turned towards the elevator and headed towards it.
Mirage smirked, "you'll take them and a couple of Peacekeepers. Find the Element and return to this place." He then took out a metal sphere with a button on top of it. "This device will be connected to the portal. Press the button and throw the device, which will explode into the portal back to this world. You'll only get once shot at it, so don't mess up."
"Fine," Shock nodded as he took the device. "I'll make preparation to head out."
Mirage nodded and turned to leave, heading into the elevator and flying up the shaft towards another laboratory. When the doors opened, he stepped out into Micro's lab. "So," he called out, "what developments have we made regarding our little immunity problem?" He waited, but there was no response. "Hello?"
"Mirage." He turned to see Micro step out of another room, Rarity stepping out behind him. Something about the way she moved was...strange, almost robotic. "Good, you're here."
"Hello Micro," Mirage focused on Rarity. "Enjoying some quality time with the misses?" Micro frowned at him, then took something out of his pocket.
"I've finished it," he threw Mirage the device and he caught it. It was the Magi-Charger Micro had used on Rarity before. "Anyone struck by this Charger's power will be instantly put under your complete control. Even those that appear immune to your power will be controlled."
"Excellent," Mirage smirked before turning to Rarity. "And who, might I ask, did you test it on." Micro frowned, "I see. Just shows how committed you are to science that you would test a device on the woman you love. Though I guess this'll make her the perfect wife for you. Maybe now she'll put her silly fashion love aside and stay at home where she belongs."
"Indeed," Micro nodded. "However, the Magi-Charger can only be used on one person at a time. The amount of power needed to spread its influence throughout the entire world..."
"Don't worry," Mirage assured him. "I'm looking into that. By this time tomorrow, the entire world will be under my control."
Back in the other dimension, Starswirl had brought the Rangers over to one of the few building in the city that didn't seem at all destroyed.
It was a large apartment building, Starswirl gesturing for them to follow him up the stairs. They did so and after what felt like an hour of climbing, they reached the very top of the building where the penthouse was located. "Here we are," Starswirl opened the door and they stepped into the room.
"Wow," Heart whispered at the sight of the place. It was probably the cleanest room in the entire city. "This place is awesome." They then heard a roar and looked towards the windows, where the Dragon Zord could be seen hovering over the building.
Starswirl and Flash stepped out onto the penthouse's open area, Starswirl taking a familiar battery out of his cloak before throwing it. It grew larger and slotted into the dragon's mouth, the Zord glowing as it shrunk down and fell towards him.
"Hahaa!" Flash cheered as he caught Drago and spun him around, "it's great to see you bud." Drago roared back happily, as the three returned to the penthouse.
"We should be safe here," Starswirl explained. "Those creatures can only hunt through a sense of smell and hearing. Up here, our scent is dispersed by the winds and they can't hear us this high up."
"I can't believe you're alive," Lyra told him. "We thought...we thought you were dead."
"What would make you think that?" Starswirl asked as Drago jumped down next to him.
"We saw footage," Sweetie explained. "You and Drago were fighting Mirage and blasted one another. The screen went black for a moment and when it came back on...you two were gone and Mirage was the only one standing."
"Mirage?" Starswirl hummed as he sat down and reached into his pocket to pull out a bunch of batteries, which he plugged into a device before inserting it into the Magi-Charger in Dragon's mouth. "So that's the name of the being that we met that day."
"What happened?" Soarin asked as the others sat down, "why'd you send us our Elements?" Starswirl looked worried.
"You still have them, right?" They nodded and took out the gems, but Flash sighed.
"Sunset, Shining, Dusk and my dad were all captured. Their Elements were taken as well." Starswirl frowned at this, "and Micro...what happened? We've been spending the last three months as fugitives because Mirage somehow turned the entire world against us."
Starswirl sighed and sat back, then reached into his cloak and took out a device. It was a strange looking device that looked like a remote control with a glass screen and a long antenna on it. "Princess Twilight Sparkle and a few others back in Equestria built this device. It allows me to open portals between the two worlds wherever I want, meaning I didn't need to use the mirror portal to travel to your world. It also has a scanning function, which meant I could detect when other spacial anomalies occur. And three months ago, it picked something up."
"Mirage's portal," Flash guessed.
Starswirl nodded. "The technology of your world, whilst quite amazing, still isn't to the point where it can open dimension doorways without issue. What's more, he was attempting to open a portal to a world not connected to the one he was in."
"What do you mean?" Starswirl turned to Heart, appearing curious about his appearance. But he quickly shook it off and grabbed a piece of paper off a stack along with a pen.
"This is your world," he drew a circle in the center of it. "And...this is my world," he drew a seconds circle next to the first. "Both of them are connected," he drew a line between them. "And there are other worlds that they're connected to as well." He drew multiple circles around the first two and started joining them up one after the other, then made more circles around that and so on until the entire page was covered in line connected rings. "However," he pointed to a circle that was no directly linked to the first one, "this is Mirage's world. As you can see, it has no connection to yours. Attempting to open a portal to it with no established connection is dangerous. World shatteringly dangerous to be precise."
Heart gulped, understanding now what he meant. "So...you tried to stop him?"
"Indeed," Starswirl nodded. "I didn't know who it was that was causing the dimensional stress, but I hoped they could be reasoned with. So I set the dimensional transporter to the location I detected the fracture and headed over there. But I soon found the one responsible was anything but reasonable."
Three months ago.
Starswirl appeared within the underground laboratory, the Elements and his staff in hand. As the portal vanished behind him, he turned to Mirage who looked at him warily. "Wait," the robot looking human stated, "you're...the one who helped the Power Rangers ten years ago."
Starswirl stared at him, as if seeing something that wasn't easily noticeable. "And you...are not of this earth."
Mirage smirk, "that obvious?"
Starswirl turned to the portal machine. "This device is not safe. It's every use is tearing the dimensional space of the world." He turned to him, "you must stop."
"Are you out of your mind?" Mirage asked him, looking upset. "This device is the only way I can get home."
"It's not safe. Even the tests you're doing on it are affecting the fabric of this dimension."
"And how is it any different from what you just did?" Mirage asked, "you just showed up from another world. Why do you get to hope between worlds and I can't?"
"If you were trying to go to Equestria then I wouldn't be trying to stop you," Starswirl told him. "There are many worlds out there that are safely connected to this one, but the world you're trying to open a gate to isn't one of them."
"I can create a safe connection between worlds," Mirage told him. "I just need a little time. With a few more tests-"
"You'll rip the very fabric of existence in this world to shreds." Starswirl reached out a hand, "come with me to Equestria. Maybe you world is connected to that one."
"And if it's not?" Mirage asked, "I've spent the last ten years building up resources and creating this company just so I can make this machine. You can't expect me to give up and start again just because you think it's dangerous."
"Please," Starswirl told him, "don't make me have to stop you." Mirage replied by summoning energy around his hands.
"Who says you could stop me." He unleashed a blast of energy, which Starswirl barely managed to block using his magic. The bolt flew off and struck the camera up in the corner. When Mirage's attack stopped, Starswirl acted fast and fired a blast of magic from his staff.
Mirage leapt to the side and fired a few more blasts, being sure not to hit his machine, which Starswirl deflected. The wizard then fired a chain of magic that struck Mirage and wrapped around him, making him flinch as he was lifted into the air. "It didn't have to be this way," Starswirl told him. "But you've forced my hand." He turned to the machine, "once you're out cold I'll destroy this device. Then you'll be coming to Equestria with me. If you refuse to see reason then, I'll have no choice but to place you in Tartarus. Cerberus has been rather bored since his main prisoner got turned to stone a while back."
Mirage growled and thought against the magic, his eyes shooting open as he glowed. "LET ME GO!" He screamed as his body morphed into his robot form and broke through the magic. He quickly fired at Starswirl with his arm blasters and struck Starswirl in the chest.
"Augh!" He cried as he was knocked backwards and slammed into the wall, the impact causing a certain somethings to go flying from his person.
Mirage panted and after a few seconds, he managed to retake his human form. He sighed in relief before turning to Starswirl, only to then notice the ten objects on the ground. "Are those..." He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He reached down and picked up one of the Elements, whilst Starswirl groaned and pushed himself up with his staff. "To think, Darklight never even bothered to give me a chance to take one of these." He glanced around the room at the Elements, "and I managed to get my hands on them without even trying." He grasped his fist around the gem, as Starswirl growled.
"I won't let you have them," he stated before raising his staff and slamming it into the ground. Doing so caused the Elements go glow and after a few seconds, they all shot into the air.
"What?" Mirage cried as they flew up and slammed into the ceiling, causing pieces of debris to fall down. "What's going on? Where are they going?"
"Back to their Guardians," Starswirl told him with a smirk. "All of them." Sure enough, the Element in Mirage's hand began to glow and tried to pull itself free from his fist. But he was able to keep it shut pull it back.
"I don't think so!" He cried, unleashing a burst that surged around his fist. After a few seconds, the energy died down and he smiled. "Perfect." Starswirl frowned, wondering what had just happened. "My power might not be much, but it was able to effect the Element. Now it thinks I'm its Guardian." Starswirl's eyes went wide hearing this. "And now," his other hand sparked. "Good bye!" He fired at the wizard, who barely managed to put up his shield in order to protect himself. He hissed at the force being thrown at him, his barrier slowing growing weaker. "You can't possible escape this unscathed."
"Augh!" Starswirl hissed, his magic flickering in and out of power.
But then, the ceiling exploded and something shot down into the lab. Both turned to see the tiny robotic dragon, which roared at them both. "Drago!" Starswirl gasped as the tiny Zord flew towards Mirage and started firing at him, making him hiss as he staggered backwards. "Did you sense the dimensional damage as well?" Drago roared as he landed next to him. "Good to see you my friend. Hopefully Flash will have his Element by now and can come lend a hand with the others."
"Not gonna happen!" Mirage cried as he stood tall, "I won't let you get in my way!" He began to summon as much power as possible, Starswirl and Drago doing the same. The three then unleashed their attacks and they all combined in the center of the room, building up energy until-
KABOOM!
The entire room was struck by a shockwave and they were sent flying backwards into the walls. Mirage hit his head and was knocked unconscious, whilst Starswirl and Drago managed to stay awake.
What none of them seemed to notice was that some of the energy struck Mirage's portal and caused it to spark and activate. The two began to pick themselves up and prepared to grab the Element from Mirage. But before they could, the portal formed and Starswirl turned to gasp at it.
"GYAH!" He cried as he was suddenly grabbed by a powerful sucking force, Drago too. Before either of them could stop themselves, they were pulled into the portal. Starswirl grabbed Drago and managed to grab the edge of the portal, "NOOOOOO!" He yelled, felling his grip loosening. And eventually, he lost his grip and they were both pulled into the portal.
Present.
"And that's the story. The next thing I knew, I was in this place and getting attacked by those monsters. If I hadn't had Drago with me, I'd have been lunch meat on the first day." Drago roared as he removed the wires from the battery.
"Why didn't you just use your transporter thing to go back home?" Heart asked, the others nodding their heads in agreement.
"I wanted to, but the device was damaged when we crashed here. I've managed to repair it, but the damage made it lose its magical charge. Normally I'd recharge it with my own magic, but this world is like how yours used to be before Sunset brought the Element of Magic into it." He lifted his staff, but the thing didn't even sparkle. "My magic is gone."
"So you need another form of magical power to charge it up?" Sandal asked, getting a nod from Starswirl. "Dude, we've got ya'h covered." They all took out their Elements and Starswirl smiled. He handed the device to Lyra and she got to work, opening up the back of it and connecting two wires to it and two the sides of the Element.
As she did, Flash thought about Starswirl's story and then realised something. "Wait, you said Mirage had one of the Elements. Right?" Starswirl nodded, "so which Element did he get?" Starswirl sighed and stated what Flash already knew.
Mirage once again returned to the room with his greatest creation.
He had originally built the amplifier in a hopes to boost his power and do exactly what he had done to the city, but that had only resulted in failure. He had left it forgotten, until he got his hands on his most precious of objects.
He stepped into the glass room and took something out of his pocket: The Element of Knowledge."
"That's it!" Flash cried, getting up and looking like christmas had come early. "That's it!"
"What's it?" Sweetie asked, Flash turning towards her with a smile on his face.
"Don't you get it? Micro never betrayed us." Their eyes all went wide hearing this, "he must have realised Mirage had his Element. So he started working for him to try and find a way to get it back."
"Yeah," Sandal smiled, "that's totally something Micro would do. He must have thought if he got close enough, he could summon his Element back to him."
"Well I'm afraid it's not that simple," Starswirl stated. "Whatever Mirage did to the Element, seemed to make it think he was its Guardian. If he's able to keep that up, then Micro won't be able to summon it to him no matter how close he gets."
Heart thought about what they were saying. "So if we can get his Element back, Mirage's spell on it will break."
"And then the city will be free," Sweetie realised. "He must be using the Element of Knowledge to boost his power and cast his spell over the entire city. If we can get it back-"
"He'll just use the other Elements," Soarin pointed out. "If we wanna end this, we have to save everyone. The other Rangers, the Elements and the people Mirage captured."
"Including your sister," Flash patted Heart on the shoulder. "But we can't do it all at once. We need to focus on what should be done first. And I think that should be getting Micro's Element back. If we do, we'll have another Ranger that can fight for us and help stop Mirage." The others nodded and wondered what Micro was doing right now. Hopefully, he and Rarity weren't in any danger.
At the Mirage Corporation, Rarity was robotically wandering through the company.
Nobody was even giving her a second look, used to seeing the pregnant woman walking around the place doing a variety of tasks. So nobody even noticed her as she stepped into one of the labs that was currently empty.
As soon as she closed and locked the door, her mannerisms changed. She appeared less like a zombie and gave a confident smirk. "Maybe I should have attempted an acting career before going into fashion."
Earlier that day.
"Oh?" Rarity asked, "how?" She watched as Micro took the Charger over to another desk that was holding a case of some kind, the man opening it up and fiddling with whatever was inside until he was done.
"It's simple," he explained before spinning around. "Just hold still." He was carrying a Morphin Blaster that now had the Magi-Charger inside of it, which he fired right at Rarity. The woman screamed as the light overcame her, consuming her entire being.
When the light faded, Rarity staggered but managed to stay upright and clutched her head. "Ow," she moaned before her eyes went wide. Memories flowed back into her head, through the false truth she had been promoting. "Oh my god!" She turned to Micro, "you're a Power Ranger." Micro nodded as Rarity looked close to tears, "our friends. I...I kept calling them criminals and villains."
"It's okay," Micro pulled her into a hug. "You were being controlled. But luckily, this new Magi-Charger has given you an immunity to Mirage's power."
"Oh Micro," she pulled away and placed a hand on his cheek. "The last few months...my feelings for you. I...I was falling out of love with you."
"I could tell," Micro nodded. "Us getting together was so ingrained with my Ranger past, Mirage's power sealed it away. Without that beginning..."
Rarity nodded and placed her hand on her stomach. "If it hadn't been for this little one, I probably would have divorced you already." Rarity looked furious, "Mirage is going to pay for this."
"You're right about that," Micro nodded. "And I need you to do something for me." He took a flash drive out of his pocket, "Mirage still doesn't trust me. But if you pretend that I brainwashed you with the Magi-Charger, you'll be able to sneak into a lab that's connected to the main server." He pointed at the flash drive, "load this in and activate the file inside it. That'll unleash a malware virus that will allow me to have access to the computers."
"Alright," Rarity nodded, "I don't know what you're planning but I trust you." They kissed one another as a voice from the next room caught their ears, making them realise Mirage was there. "Show time."
Present.
Rarity took out the flash drive and plugged it into the computer, the device activating and digging into the main server. The file came up and Rarity hit it, causing a download window to appear. The process was slow, Rarity waiting with both impatience and fear.
If someone came in, Rarity would have no way to explain why she was there. Being in this area of the building wasn't unusual for her, but being in a computer lab would certain stick up some red flags.
But eventually, the download was complete. "Alright," she took out the flash drive and switched the computer off. "Hopefully, Micro will have everything he needs."
Micro waited patiently in his lab, hoping Rarity hadn't run into any trouble.
The idea of sending her into a dangerous situation was one thing. But sending her into it whilst pregnant, made him hate himself more then he already did for all the stuff he had done over the last three months.
A beeping sound then came from his tablet, making him grab it and smile seeing Rarity had uploaded the virus. "Perfect." He now had full access to all the building's computer systems. He quickly got to work, using the security system to look at all the underground labs had hadn't been allowed to access.
He frowned when he saw the cells, which held all Mirage's prisoners and the other Rangers. "Hang on guys. I'll get you out of there. However, when he tried to find the controls for the cells he was stopped by a pass code requirement. "Great," he moaned, "I'll have to find out what it is first. Alright, what else do we have." He flipped through the cameras and stopped when he found himself looking at a feed showing Mirage, Shock Trooper and the other fake Rangers.
They were in a lab and Mirage pulled a leaver, causing a machine to activate. Shock, armed to the teeth with weapons, began to march forward and Micro frowned when he disappeared into the portal that had been created. The fake Rangers and Peacekeepers followed suit, Mirage deactivating the machine once they were gone.
"What are you up too?" It was clear Mirage was planning something and unless Micro found a way to free the others, things were gonna get problematic.
"Finished," Lyra stated as she held up the dimensional transporter. The device was now fulled charged and ready for use.
"Excellent," Starswirl took it. But when he started fiddling with the device, his eyes went wide. "No." The others wondered what was wrong, "breaking and fixing it has caused the device to be reset. I don't have the coordinates for your world or Equestria."
"So we're stuck here?" Heart asked.
"Well I could open a random portal," Starswirl told him. "There's a chance it could open it up onto our world."
"Or it could open a portal to a world that's made entirely out of ice cream," Soarin caught on. "And with an infinite amount of universes out there, we could spend the rest of our lives travelling from world to world every five minutes and not find our way home."
"So what do we do?" Heart asked, only for his stomach to start growling. He hadn't eaten anything in a long time, which was true for everyone.
"Got anything to eat?" Sweetie asked Starswirl, who shook his head.
"I was out gathering more food when I ran into you. I ended up using all of the edible food in this building in the first month. We'll have to go out and find more." They nodded and all began to make their way back towards the stairs, thought they weren't to keen on running into those monsters again.
At the same time, a portal opened up and Shock Trooper stepped out of it. The Mirage Rangers followed suit, along with a group of Peacekeepers.
As soon as he stepped out of the portal, Shock took out his blaster and charger. Like the night before, he brought them together before spinning the barrel and firing. In a flash of lightning, he was transformed into his robot form. He then turned to the Peacekeepers, who were carrying large cases. "Do it."
The machines put the cases down and opened them up, revealing a bunch of identical devices. They looked like giant robotic eyes, which activated as soon as the cases opened. They floated out of the cases and into the air, there being seven eyes in total. The drones then shot off in different directions, whilst Shock gestured for his team to follow.
Back in Canterlot, at the Mirage Corporation, Micro was continuing to look through all the files he now had access too.
He was hoping something in them would give him a clue to the password that Mirage would use for the cells. But so far, nothing in them was giving him any idea. "Come on," he sighed. "There has to be something. Anything." Despite being focused on the files, he was still careful not to get so distracted he didn't notice anything else.
As such, when he heard the door opening he quickly switched off his tablet and hid it under a bunch of papers. But he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw who it was that entered the room. "Rarity."
"The one and only," she smiled as she stepped into his office. "I managed to upload the file like you asked."
"I know," he took his tablet out and showed her his access to the system. He then showed her the images of their friends in the cells, his wife gasping at the sight and saying they needed to free them. "I've been trying, but it needs a pass code and I can't find anything to tell me what it might be."
"So what do we do?" Rarity asked, Micro frowning.
"I'm starting to wish I didn't give Mirage the Magi-Charger yet. I could have used it on Twilight and the others. With their help we might have been able to find a way to save them." Rarity placed a hand on his shoulder.
"They'll be freed from his brainwashing as soon as he uses it."
"Which he won't do unless he has all ten Elements." He let out a sigh, "it's times like this I wish our friends weren't so good at being Rangers. I know we're supposed to protect the Elements, but right now they're doing more harm than good in their hands."
"Maybe we can find them," Rarity suggested. "Tell them what's really going on and have them pretend to lose their Elements."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple." He clicked his tablet again and showed Rarity the footage from the previous night, Rarity's eyes going wide seeing Mirage take his robotic form. She then gasped when they were pulled into the portal.
"What happened? Where'd they go?"
"I don't know," Micro frowned. "It looked like a dimensional portal, so I think they've travelled to another world."
"Equestria?"
"I doubt we're that lucky," he then showed her the image he had seen earlier of Shock and the others stepping through the portal. "If they come back with the Elements...I don't want to think what they'll mean for our friends." Rarity also began to worry, fearing what Twilight and the others would think of this situation.
Flash and the others were carefully making their way through the abandoned city. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any of those monsters around.
"So any idea what happened in this universe?" Lyra asked Starswirl, "I'm guessing those monsters didn't build this city." Starswirl shrugged.
"Sorry, no idea. The only living things I've seen here were those monsters. Clearly some kind of disaster took place which caused the humans that live here to either leave or..." He didn't finish, the other option not one anyone wanted to think about. "It doesn't matter," Starswirl told them. "This isn't our world and we can't change whatever happened. All that matters now is finding a way back to our worlds and stopping Mirage."
They nodded as they turned a corner and as they did, they found themselves staring at a strange robotic eye that was hovering in the air and staring right at them.
"Destroy it!" Starswirl cried, Flash, Lyra and Soarin firing at the machine. It exploded and the remains fell to the ground in a fiery heap, Starswirl frowning. "It saw us."
"What was that thing?" Sandal asked.
"A drone. Mirage has been sending them into this world constantly. They usually get destroyed by the monsters, and I've been careful to stay out of their sight so he doesn't realise I'm alive. But now it's seen us, so it won't be long before Mirage sends his forces to take us down."
"That's...great!" They turned to Flash thinking he was nuts. "If he sends Shock, then he will have given him a way to get back to our world." They caught on.
"And we can use it to go home," Lyra smiled.
"But wouldn't that just have us going back to Mirage Corp?" Heart asked, "we'd still be trapped." But Lyra smiled and pointed to Starswirl's device.
"Maybe not. If we find out how they're gonna travel back to our world, we can use it to scan and pick up the dimensional coordinates. Then we can open our own portal back to our world."
"Now that's a plan!" Soarin smirked as more drones appeared in the sky. "Here they come!" The Rangers took out their gear and activated their Magi-Chargers, placing them inside their Morphers.
"Energise!" They spun the barrels before pointing them at the drones, "Unleash the Power!" They fired and the heads shot through the air, destroying the drones before flying back and morphing them into their Ranger Suit.
"Alright!" Flash turned to Drago, "let's show these guys why you don't mess with the Power Rangers." Drago roared happily, but Starswirl spoke up.
"Sorry Flash, but I doubt Drago has enough power to make you go Red Legend. I've barely been able to keep him charged up enough to stay in that form." Flash groaned at this, but quickly shook it off.
"Whatever. We can still win this, right guys?"
"RIGHT!" They all nodded, not a second before a bunch of Peacekeepers marched into the street before pointing their guns at them. "Spirit Sabre/Thunder Sabre!" Flash, Sandal and Soarin cried as they summoned their swords and started deflecting the lasers, allowing Starswirl and grab Heart and pull him over behind a nearby dumpster.
As they did, Lyra and Sweetie leapt before the boys and took out their Magi-Chargers. "Ready?" Lyra asked the Pink Ranger.
"Oh yeah!" She nodded before they put them into their blasters, then leapt above the boys. "Magitech!" They both cried before firing, "Online!" Their weapons appeared in hand, Sweetie landing in front of Lyra and using her Sphinx Shield to block the oncoming lasers as they charged forward. Once they were close enough, Lyra used her Serpent Staff to pole vault over Sweetie and land between them. She then started swinging the staff around, slashing at some of the robots whilst grabbing others in the mouth and throwing them.
"Magitech!" Flash and Sandal summoned their weapons, "Online!" Dragon Breaker and Fenrir Fang in hand, they and Soarin charged forward. Flash swapped his sword for his blaster and starting shooting several Peacekeepers down, whilst slamming his giant dragon-shaped fist into others and smashing them to pieces. Sandal was moving at incredible speeds, slicing the robots to pieces.
Soarin took to the skies and began firing his Thunder Morpher, sending out several electrical bolts that struck the Peacekeepers and overloaded them.
"Wow," Heart whispered. He had seen them fight before, but something about the way they were fighting had more life to it. Like the fights they were battling before were just because it was all they knew how to do. But now...they were fighting with an actual purpose.
"Learning the truth about Micro and how they can stop Mirage has clearly inspired them," Starswirl told him. "They've regained their fighting spirit." As he said this, a Peacekeeper that had survived the battle spotted them and charged. Starswirl prepared to attack, but he was beaten to the punch as Heart pulled out the Proto-Blaster and fired it straight through the head. "Nice shot."
"Thanks," Heart smirked. "I have a reason to fight too. I've gotta get back home and save my sister." Drago roared in agreement, also wanting to get home and protect it from Mirage's influence.
"Head Smash!" Flash cried as he socked a Peacekeeper in the chest and sent it flying backwards into the remaining robots, causing it to overload and explode. The other Peacekeepers were consumed by the blast, destroying them all. "Hurrah!" He cheered before suddenly finding himself and the other Rangers getting blasted, the lot staggering back as they turned to see where the attacks had come from. "Shock."
Shock Trooper and the Mirage Rangers stood further down the street, Starswirl's eyes going wide. The others had told him about the fake Rangers, but actually seeing them was another story. "We have to get the other Elements back."
"I don't know how the heck you losers survived," Shock told them. "But you won't for long." He unfurled his blade, "this ends now."
"You're right," Flash told him. "It does end now!" He charged, the other Rangers following suit. The Orange, Silver and Gold Rangers took out their Spirit Sabres, whilst the Black Rangers took out his sword and charged. Flash and Shock met in the centre of the street, Shock slashing at Flash only for the Red Ranger to grab his blade in the mouth of his Dragon Breaker.
Soarin and Black clashed swords whilst Sandal slashed at Silver, only to miss and receive and punch to the chest. Sweetie held up her shield to block Gold's blaster fire and Lyra began fighting Orange in hand to hand. The eight Rangers were on even terms of strength, speed and ability. However, the real Rangers were running on empty stomachs and had just expended a lot of energy fighting the Peacekeepers. They knew they couldn't keep this battle up for long.
"Die!" Shock tried blasting Flash, but the Red Ranger threw the blade away and leapt back.
"Sorry," Flash told him, "but I've got too much to live for to let you kill me!" With that, he threw his fist downwards and smashed it into the ground, causing it to shake as a fissure shot towards Shock. The robot leapt backwards to avoid it, but this allowed Flash to charge forward and slash at him several times with his Spirit Sabre.
"Ahh!" He cried before blocking the next strike with his blade. "And yet you're willing to throw it all away in order to play hero. Don't you care that Twilight..." He turned to the other Rangers, "that all your families are suffering because you're going against Mirage."
This caused them to stop for a moment, the Mirage Rangers trying to take the opening, but they quickly recovered and kept fighting. "I know they're confused right now," Flash stated. "But when we beat Mirage and undo his work, they'll understand this had to happen." He pushed Shock back and prepared to throw a Dragon Breaker Punch at him, but Shock fired several times and Flash was forced to evade them.
"No, they won't. Because you're not gonna beat Mirage. Half your team is under our control and once I beat you and take your Elements, we'll have everything we need."
"They're not under your control," Flash told him. "You've got them trapped and using...something to make those fakers over there, but they can't stand up to the real thing." To show what he meant, Soarin leapt into the air and flew up to avoid the Black Ranger's sword, then dived down and slashed it with an electrified slash.
Lyra pulled out her Serpent Staff and grabbed the Orange Ranger's kick in its mouth, then threw the fake and good several meters before it smashed into the sides of a building. Sweetie continued to block the Gold Ranger's blaster fire and get in close, finally able to spin on the spot and kick the blaster out of hand before slamming her shield into its stomach. And Sandal blocked the Silver Ranger's punch with the side of his blade and then stomped a foot into its chest, making it stagger backwards.
"No matter what you do," Flash stated. "The Power Rangers will always keep fighting to protect our world."
"Is that so?" Shock asked, "but don't you realise that's pointless?" Flash tilted his head, "you can't win forever. You can try and stop threats like Darklight and Chaos for the rest of your life and sure, you might be able to win against them. But nobody wins forever. Even now, you're not exactly as young as you once were. Eventually, you'll come up against an opponent you won't be able to defeat. And they might have a lot more sinister plans then Mirage. So why not take the burden off yourselves and let him rule our world. Beats it getting completely destroyed." The Rangers heard this and knew he was right. It was something they had often thought to themselves, that one day they would lose and their world would be conquered or worse. "Face it, giving up now will make things way easier. After all, Mirage is always one step ahead of you."
At that very moment, Mirage was in his office.
The Magi-Charger Micro had given him was attached to a device, the battery glowing from the energy being sent into it. After a few more moments, the light faded and the device's screen lit up with words. 'Programming reversed.'
"Perfect," Mirage smirked as he removed the Charger, "and to think Micro would try and fool me. Oh well." He reached into his draw and took out an odd looking device, which appeared to be a gun with a small satellite antenna on it. "Looks like I'll need to give him a...promotion."
Micro and Rarity were still in his office, trying to find anything that might help them find a way to free the prisoner. "Damn it!" Micro cried, "there's nothing. Whatever the code is, Mirage made sure there wasn't a clue to it in any of these files."
"So what do we do?" Rarity asked, worriedly.
"Ahh," Micro groaned, "we've got no choice. There's only one other person I know that could possibly hack this. We need to get to Twilight."
"But she thinks the Rangers are all criminals," she pointed out. "Do you really think she's gonna help us."
"We'll show her this," Micro pointed to his tablet. "If she sees her brother, best friend and father-in-law are all captured and held in that state, she might be willing to help us. And if not...well I still have the specs for the Magi-Charger I gave Mirage. I'll make a new one and use it on her." Rarity nodded and the pair began to make their way out of the building, completely unaware that Mirage had just tracked them down by Rarity's bugged company phone.
"Just stay calm and relaxed," Rarity told Micro, though she was more saying it to herself. "Don't let anyone know we're trying to escape."
"Ms Rarity?" She almost jumped, then turned to see one of the people in charge of her TV schedule. "We have an announcement to make in fifteen minutes." Rarity panicked, but tried to play it off.
"Oh, I'm sorry. But I'm not feeling to well at the moment. Pregnancy stuff, you know. I'm afraid we'll either need to cancel it or-"
"Nonsense." The two spun around and were shocked to see Mirage walking towards them, "we'll just have you take some green tea and you'll be right as rain. Your adoring public is waiting. We have to announce that our little Ranger problem is officially a thing of the past."
Micro's eyes went wide, "what do you mean?"
"Oh," Mirage smirked, "didn't you know? The Rangers broke in last night and attempted to destroy some of our more experimental inventions. Because of that, there was an accident and they were all...unfortunately rendered deceased."
"I see," Micro stated. 'Either he knows for sure that they're...or he's only assuming. It hasn't been that long since Shock and the fake Rangers left. There's no way Flash and the others would be beaten so easily.. "So you're going to tell the city they're gone."
"Of course," Mirage nodded. "We can't let the people remain scared. This way they'll be able to relax and not have to worry about accidently getting caught in the crossfire."
"And what about their families?" Rarity asked, "you can't expect them to take learning the truth over the news." Mirage turned to her, raising an eyebrow as Rarity realised she had just blundered. She was supposed to act like a zombie under Micro's control, but she hadn't been doing anything like that whilst talking to Mirage.
"No need to worry," he assured her. "We've already informed their families of the situation. I'm sure they'll understand that this was an inevitability with what they were doing. But anyway, come along. I need my beautiful leading lady to make the announcement." The two panicked, knowing that if Rarity refused Mirage would know she wasn't under his control any more.
"Understood sir," she nodded before the three began to make their way through the hallways. But the second they were alone, Mirage came to a stop.
"Micro. How certain are you that your Magi-Charger will work the way we intend it too?"
"One hundred percent," Micro told him. "I made them using the data I acquired when I analysed the prisoners. It'll bypass the resistance they all have and put everyone who's struck by it completely under your spell."
"Hmm," Mirage turned away. "You know...I don't think you're telling me the truth." He took out the Magi-Charger, "I think this device will actually have the opposite effect." He glanced back at Micro. "Instead of removing the resistance..." he turned to Rarity, "it give whoever's struck that resistance." Micro and Rarity both looked shocked by this, realising they had been had. "So you know what I did. Reversed its programming so that it will do exactly what I want it to do."
"No," Micro whispered.
"Yes," Mirage put it away before taking out the strange blaster device. "And now I have to punish you for your...well I can't say betrayal since you were never on my side." Micro pushed Rarity behind him, staring at the device. "On the bright side, I won't have to pay you a severance package. Firing you would be so much hassle. Instead," he fired the beam and it moved so fast that Micro couldn't dodge it, "I'll be reassigning you."
"Augh!" He cried as the beam struck him, Rarity gasping as she staggered backwards.
"MICRO!" The beam emitted a light that completely enveloped his body, which began to reshape and change to a more...angular shape. When it finished changing, the light began to fade and reveal something knew standing where Micro had once been. A Peacemaker. Only this was was bright purple and when it turned towards Rarity, it had a robotic version of Micro's face on it, complete with his glasses. "NO!" She screamed, turning to glare are Mirage. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"
Mirage chuckled, "a little extra tech from my home dimension. In order to survive after a natural disaster made our plants atmosphere poisonous, we developed a way to turn organic flesh into machinery. I might not be as ingenious as your husband, but the schematics were implanted into every member of my race's computer minds in order to make sure the technology could never be lost. This was what I originally planned to use on the five percent of humanity that were immune to my power, until your husband promised to fix it himself."
"Change him back!" Rarity almost screamed.
"Oh I don't think so," Mirage told her. "And since you're now immune to my mind control." He pointed his weapon at her, but Rarity turned and ran as fast as her pregnant body would allow and rushed through a doorway. "Get her!" The transformed Micro began to march forward.
"Accept reality," Shock told the Rangers. "You can't win this fight." He charged with his blade drawn, "just give up already!" He slashed at Flash, but the Red Rangers blocked it at the last moment.
"Never!" He grunted, pushing Shock back and slashing at him. Shock blocked with his and the two clashed blades, appearing at a standstill until Flash leapt back. Shock tried to slash him, but Flash grabbed the blade in his Dragon Breaker before raising his sword and slicing it downwards.
"No!" Shock cried as his blade was shattered, allowing Flash to slash him down the front and make him stagger backwards. The other Rangers managed to knock the Mirage Rangers back, but as they did so Shock held his blaster in both hands. In a flash, the hand gun morphed into a larger double barrelled rifle. He cocked the weapon and fired it, the blast hitting Flash with enough force to knock him flying backwards.
"Raaah!" He cried, hitting the ground whilst Shock began firing on the other Rangers. They all cried out as they were knocked back, allowing the fake Power Rangers to opening they needed to hit them hard.
"Guys!" Heart cried, as the five fell to the floor. They all moaned and as they pushed themselves to a kneeling position, whilst Shock prepared to end it with his blaster.
"It's over," he told them. "Once I have your Elements, I'll have everything I need."
"Except you'll be trapped here," Flash pointed out. "How exactly do you expect to have everything if you can't get out of this destroyed world." Shock laughed at this.
"What are you, an idiot?" He pulled out the spherical device, "with this I'll be able to head home whenever I want. I just need to deal with you losers first." But then something happened. Shock couldn't see Flash's face under his helmet, but his body language told him he had just made a serious error.
"The only idiot here is you," Flash stated. "Drago!" Suddenly, the little robotic Zord appeared from its hiding spot in a tree and bit down on Shock's wrist, making him cry out and drop the device. Flash took this opportunity to leap forward with all his might and slam both his feet into the human turned robot and knocking him staggering back, Drago leaping from his wrist and landing on the Red Ranger's shoulder.
The other Rangers charged forward, slashing or blasting the Mirage Rangers and knocking them all backwards. They groups moved away from the device, allowing Starswirl and Heart to rush up and grab it.
"What do we do?" Heart asked as he looked the device over, Starswirl pulling out the dimensional portal generator.
"Activate it and create a portal." Heart was about to ask how, but then noticed the button on top. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the button and the machine started beeping. Their eyes went wide, fearing Shock might have tricked them and handed over a bomb.
"GYAH!" Heart threw it as hard as he could and as he did, it exploded seconds before hitting the side of a building. And sure enough, that explosion produced a portal in the middle of the street. Heart realised that the portal must lead to Mirage Corp, where his sister was being held.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the card he had stolen the previous night, which would allow him to go anywhere in the building. "NOOO!" They heard Shock cry as he tried to get passed Flash, but the Red Ranger managed to hold him back.
"Starswirl!" The wizard nodded and pointed the device at the portal, the machine activating and sending a signal through the vortex. After a few seconds, it got an answer and beeped.
"Got it!" He smirked, "your world's dimensional coordinates."
"Then let's end this!" Flash told the others, who nodded whilst all re-positioning the Mirage Rangers before kicking them away. The four slammed into one another in a group, as Lyra and Sweetie put a Magi-Charge into their blasters whilst Sandal and Soarin did the same to their swords. The girls spun the barrels and the boy swung their sword around.
"GO!" They yelled before unleashing their attacks, the four blasts striking the Mirage Rangers and combining to explode.
Shock growled at this, whilst Flash kept fighting. "It's over Shock."
"Not yet it's not!" He cried before looking over at the portal, seeing that it was already beginning to shrink. If he didn't jump through it, he would be trapped there.
At the same time, Heart stared at the portal. Then he did something stupid. He pulled out his blaster and charged, "HEART!" The Rangers heard Starswirl's yell and turned to see the teen leap through the portal, Flash gasping at that.
"No!" But this distracted Flash long enough for Shock to kick him away,the Red Ranger groaning as he fell to the ground and the robot charged.
"Oh no you don't!" Starswirl cried, getting between him an the portal. Shock tried to blast him, but Starswirl used his staff to knock the blaster away. As he did, the other Rangers arrived and each grabbed an arm or leg. "You're staying here until that portal's closed."
"NO!" He roared, as his chest armor suddenly swung open. Doing so revealed a large glass orb that began to glow before unleashing a wave of energy, the Rangers gasping as they were struck by the energy.
"GYAH!" They all yelled as they were knocked backwards, Shock rushing forward and body checking Starswirl. "Augh!" He cried, falling to the ground whilst Shock rushed to the ever shrinking portal. And just as it was about to close, he leapt through it and disappeared before the vortex vanished.
"HEART!" Flash cried, worrying for the boy he had come to respect for his courage.
Back at Mirage Corp, Shock knelt in the abandoned portal room.
In a flash, he returned to normal and started panting. "Damn those Rangers!" He growled, pushing himself to his feet. He moved over to the elevator and swiped his new pass card to call it, only for the elevator to be engaged. "What?" He asked, pulling out his phone. "Mirage? Mirage, are you there?"
"Shock," Mirage chuckled, "Back already. I hope this means your expedition was a success."
"Not exactly. The Rangers are still alive and they've found a way to return to this world."
"What? That's impossible!"
"Don't know what to tell you. They were alive and they had a guy with wizards clothing and Flash's pet dragon with them." This caused Mirage to remain silent as he seemed to realise what was happening. "What do you wanna do?"
"I'm sending you a signal. Our little computer worm has properly joined our side. He's off after another little annoyance that's decided to cross me. It's time we make her see what getting on my bad side gets you."
"Understood," he nodded as the elevator finally started coming down to him. "Where are you anyway?"
"Watching the show."
"So you're not in the elevator?"
"No. Why?"
On another level, Fire Heart had just stepped out of the elevator and found himself in a strange lab. Unknowingly, he was in Micro's laboratory.
"Please let her be in here," he told himself as he looked around. But there was no sign of any place that looked like it held captured people. "Soul?" He called out, "Soul, you in here?" But nobody responded. He would have called out again, but before he could the elevator dinged to indicate it was about to approach.
Not wanting to be found yet, he rushed over to a corner of the room and hide behind a large machine. A moment later, the elevator opened and Shock Trooper stepped out into the lab. His heavy footsteps filled the room, his rifle in hand as he looked around.
Heart glared seeing him and pulled back around before he could turn in his direction, pulling out his Proto-Blaster and preparing himself to try and fight his way out of there if needs be. But Shock simply walked around the room, not bothering to look in the direction he was in. And after a few minutes of searching, he pulled out his communicator.
"He's not here either."
"Check the cells," he then heard Mirage's voice state. Shock moved over to a desk and swiped his card through it, the thing beeping several times before a screen lit up.
"They're all there. Want me to activate the Mirage Ranger system."
"Not yet. If he's not there he likely ran out of the building. Meet up with our new friend and do what I ordered before."
"Understood," he nodded before cutting the call and rushing back to the elevator. Once he was gone, Heart came out of hiding and moved over to the desk. Taking out the key card, he slotted it until the system came back online and showed a layout of the entire building.
Several different sections had lines coming off them connected to words. 'You are here' was one of them and Heart looked the map over until he found the ones marked cells. He pressed that section and the screen changed to show the cells where all of Mirage's prisoners were being held. Including-
"Soul!" He cried, seeing his sister in such a state being heartbreaking for him. "Hold on sis. I'll get you out of there."
In the streets of Canterlot a mile or so away from the Mirage Corporation, people were waiting for the next Mirage broadcast.
However, in that moment a portal appeared and the people all began to scream and run at the sight of it. Those screams doubled when the five Power Rangers leapt out of it along with a strangely dressed man, the six and their little robot landing on the ground and quickly standing up to take in their surroundings.
"We did it!" Lyra cheered, "we're back!"
"Celebrate later!" Flash told her before running in the direction of Mirage, "we gotta find and save Heart!" The others nodded and rushed after him, completely ignoring the screams of terror that surrounded them.
Rarity continued to run as fast as she could. She had managed to escape the building and was now in the street behind the building, which was more like a loading dock for materials and where newly built items were shipped out.
She was forced to come to a stop and catch her breath, putting her hand on her stomach as she looked around. She was just about to think she had lost him, when a bunch of crates near her exploded before her robotic husband stepped out of them. He stood still for a second before turning towards her, marching forward as Rarity slowly stepped backwards.
"Micro," she pleaded, "please stop this. This isn't you!" She cried, but the robot didn't respond. "You're stronger then whatever Mirage did to you. Please, fight it!" But still, the robot continued to march towards her. "MICRO!"
In a dark void, Micro stood there in a daze.
He couldn't move. He couldn't think. All he could do was stare ahead, looking at something that was glowing before him. That something was a large screen, which showed a clip that was on constant loop. It was a clip of the day he and Sandal found their Elements, when they first met Doom and discovered the gems trapped in stone.
His eyes then shifted to see another clip, this one being of the first time he ever morphed and fought as a Power Rangers. There were others, all around him. Memories from his life. Saving the Manticore Zord. Using the Magi-Drill Blades for the first time. And not just his Ranger life. Days he spent playing video games with friends. Working on science projects. Dates he took with Rarity. Their first kiss, the day he proposed and the day they were married. So many memories he cherished beyond belief.
However, as he stared at them the images got fuzzier and fuzzier. And as they did his actual memories of those times got fuzzier and fuzzier. "My memories," he finally whispered. "My soul." He tried to remember, but nothing he did allowed him to regain those times. They were fading and it's possible they weren't coming back. "Who...who am I?" He felt his head getting duller and duller. "WHO AM I!"
Rarity found herself backed into a wall, Micro preparing to grab her.
But before he could, they heard someone yell out. "HYAH!" They turned towards the voice, seconds before a red boot stomped into the robot and sent it flying backwards.
Rarity turned to see the Red Ranger land next to her, "Flash!" He turned to her, as the other Rangers arrived on the scene with Starswirl. "You're all okay!"
"You...you're happy we're here?" Sweetie asked
Rarity nodded, "Micro managed to undo Mirage's control on me. I remember everything." The others Rangers smiled under their helmets, then heard the robot begin to pick itself up.
"Let's take this thing down!" Soarin cried as they charged, only for Rarity to jump in front of them.
"NO! It's Micro Chips!" The Rangers were shocked by this, turning to the robot and seeing his face in the metal. "Mirage did something to him. Turned him into...that"
"Indeed I did." They looked behind Micro and spotted the robot disguised man standing behind the machine, who slowly stepped forward. "Micro has now joined my race in shedding our feeble bodies, replacing them with cold hard steel." He stepped up next to Micro and patted his shoulder. "You should be happy for him. He is now immortal and indestructible. Nothing will ever harm him again. He'll feel no pain. No fear. No sadness."
"No love," Flash pointed out. "No joy, excitement or any of the other emotions that give life meaning."
"Small price to pay."
"Change him back!" Sandal ordered, but Mirage simply laughed. Sandal growled, but before he could charge forward he was suddenly bombarded by a barrage of laser fire.
"Sandal!" The others cried as they rushed to his side, Flash looking up and seeing the robotic Shock Trooper marching towards him with rifle in hand. "Great."
"This is your final chance," Mirage told them. "Hand over your Elements and I will forgive your previous sins. I'll use my power to make people forget you were ever Power Rangers, or fugitives. You'll be able to return to your lives and your families, never having to worry about risking everything as Power Rangers again."
"And in return you'll turn the entire world into your mindless zombies," Lyra glared at him. "No thanks."
"Very well," Mirage nodded. "Don't say I never gave you a chance." He pulled out the device he used on Micro, "when this is over all ten of you Rangers will join my race and act as my personal army." With that, he morphed into his robotic form. Mirage, Shock and Micro stood in line, whilst the Rangers pulled out their weapons.
"Let's end this!" Flash cried before the two sides rushed forward, Starswirl and Drago protecting Rarity as they rushed over to a more safe area.
At the same time, Heart stepped out of the elevator and found himself inside the cell block of the building.
It had taken a while to find it, but now he was finally at the one place he had been searching for since his sister was taken. And sure enough, there she was. Soul and the rest of the prisoners were all trapped in the strange cells looking asleep. He stepped up to his sister's cell and tried to open it, but found it required a key code.
"To heck with this!" Heart pulled out his blaster, seeing he didn't have much energy left in it. Enough for probably one more shot strong enough to break through the cell. He pointed it at Soul's door but just as he was about to fire, he stopped and turned to the cells holding the other Rangers.
The four unconscious heroes remained where they were, waiting for someone to save them. And as Heart looked back and forth between them and Soul, he finally made a decision. Pointing his blaster at the chosen door, he fired.
The streets were in chaos as the Rangers did battle against the three robots.
"Wow!" Flash cried as he avoided Mirage's lasers, using his Spirit Sabre and Morphin Blaster to try and do damage but the machine was just to strong. Flash, exhausted from the day's events and running out of energy in his Magi-Chargers, wasn't able to fight to his full potential. "Gyah!" He cried as a blast struck him in the chest and he was knocked backwards, Mirage stepping forward and preparing to point his robot making ray at him.
"Once you power down, I'll be taking your Element and adding you to my ranks."
"Not happening," Flash told him as he rolled back to his feet and pulled out his blaster. He pointed it at the ray, but stopped before he fired. If he destroyed that device, there would be no way to reverse Micro's condition. "Gotta get it without damaging it."
"You can try!" He fired several more shots, Flash barely managing to avoid them. He then brought both his arm lasers together and unleashed a super charged blast, which struck the ground and made it explode.
"AHHH!" Flash cried as he was blown backwards.
At the same time, Soarin and Sweetie were battling against Shock. The human turned robot fired his rifle, but Sweetie blocked using her shield. "Thunder Sabre!" Soarin leapt over her and swung his blade, unleashing a lightning bolt that struck Shock. But the robot threw off the lightning and fired, "GYAH!" The shots struck Soarin and he staggered backwards, Sweetie leaping in front of him to defend her teammate.
"I can't believe he's still going," she stated as Shock charged. "Morphin Blaster!" She fired the weapon, but the bullets simply bounced off his body. "No way!" Shock held up his arm as the blade unfurled, Sweetie barely managing to block it with her shield.
Shock then held up his rifle as it charged up and unleashed a powerful blast right into the air. He leapt back as it exploded, raining down lasers on the two Rangers. "AUGH/RAAAH!" They cried as they were bombarded by it.
Meanwhile, Lyra and Sandal were doing their best to beat Micro without hurting him. The robotic Ranger had summoned a sword from somewhere and was slashing at them both, Lyra leaping around to avoid it whilst Sandal blocked with his sword.
"Come on bro!" Sandal told him, "you're gonna have a kid soon. Don't you wanna be there to see them?" Micro didn't respond and just kept slashing at the pair, who were forced to remain on the defensive. As Micro slashed sideways through the air, Lyra leapt over him whilst Sandal rolled beneath the sword. Both got to their feet and spun back to Micro, swords raised protectively as Sandal turned to Lyra. "I can't fight knowing that's really him!"
Lyra agreed, "but if we don't do something..." In that moment, Micro's sword became charged with energy and he swung it around to unleash a crescent energy slash that struck the two Rangers and exploded. "GYAH/AUGH!" They cried as they were blasted backwards.
"RAAAAH!" Flash cried as he was knocked backwards, hitting the ground and rolling several times. He eventually stopped and looked up at Mirage, as the machine walked towards him. "Okay," he pushed himself up, "I'll admit you're strong." He then slammed his sword and gun together, hitting the buttons that opened the slots. "But I'm not giving up!" He placed his Magi-Chargers into the weapons and shut the slots, both of them beginning to glow. "Blast Cutter!" He fired before slashing his sword through the air, the two attacks merging into an extra powerful attack that soared towards Mirage.
But Mirage simply brought his arms together and fired another supercharged laser. It struck Flash's attack and pushed against it, eventually overpowering the attack and flying towards Flash.
The Red Ranger screamed as the energy struck him, sending him flying backwards as Mirage laughed. "Is something wrong?" He joked, "or are you finished already?"
"Not yet!" Flash cried as he pushed himself to his feet, the other Rangers staggering over to him as Micro and Shock stepped up next to Mirage.
"Let's end this," he told his minions before charging up another energy blast. Shock cocked his rifle and Micro's sword glowed, the three unleashing the attacks upon the Rangers. They struck the ground and exploded, the Rangers all screaming as they were knocked backwards and crashed into the ground, finally hitting their limit and demorphing in a flash.
"NO!" Rarity screamed as the five were laid out, their cloths damaged with several cuts and burns covering them.
"Get up!" Starswirl yelled, only for Mirage to step forward and hold up his hand. As he did, he unleashed a burst of lightning that struck the downed Rangers. They all screamed as they were zapped and lifted into the air, the lot feeling the energy wash over them and stop when it found something.
The next thing they knew, the energy was pulled off of them and they fell to the ground. As they did, the energy retracted into Mirage and pulled five gems towards him. "No," Flash moaned as Mirage grabbed the crystals and laughed, "the Elements."
"Are finally mine!" Mirage cheered, "finally. I have everything I need to make this world mine." He turned to the Rangers, "a world that you don't need to be apart of." The three robots charged up their attacks, Starswirl and Rarity gasping.
But before the robots could fire, they were suddenly struck by a quartet of lasers that caused the ground around them to explode. "Huh?" Flash spun around and his eyes went wide, "no way."
"Hey son!" Trail Blazer smirked as he and three others stepped towards him.
"Looks like you guys could use a hand," Shining Armor smirked.
"Looks like we got here just in time," Sunset stated as Dusk nodded.
"The whole team's almost completely back together." They reached the downed Rangers and helped them up, the lot looking at them in amazement.
"But...how?" Lyra asked, "you were captured."
"We had a little help," Sunset smiled. In that moment, someone else ran into the area. Fire Heart, spotting Starswirl, rushed to his side.
"I found the cells in Mirage Corp and freed the Rangers!" He stated, "Soul would have wanted this."
"And we'll save her and the others once Mirage is taken care of," Shining assured him. Flash smiled at the team and gave him a thumbs up, Heart smiling back before they turned towards their opponents.
The three robots got up, the newly freed Rangers seeing Micro and going wide eyed. "Is that..." Trail couldn't finish, but the others nodded. "Not good."
Mirage growled at them, "you're free." He then looked shocked, "that can only mean..." He got his answer when the four held up their Elements, proving they had gotten them back. "NO!"
"This battle isn't over yet!" Flash told him. "As long as even one Ranger has their Element, we'll never stop fighting to take you down." They all nodded, knowing this could be their final battle. And no matter what, they had to claim victory. The entire fate of the world rested in their hands.
Twilight was once again sitting in her living room with her friends, all of which had heard about the five Ranger's fates.
Fluttershy was crying into Pinkie's shoulder and even Rainbow was balling her eyes out. Applejack was comforting the retired athlete whilst Cadance was in the kitchen, making them all something to drink. But she stopped when she got a call, the school principal taking out her phone and seeing who it was.
"Celestia?" She asked, "now isn't a great-" She stopped and her eyes went wide, "what?" This caused the others to turn to her as she looked absolutely astonished. "Are you sure?" A few seconds later, she turned to the others. "Turn on the news." They looked confused, but Twilight did as she was told and switched on her TV.
When she did, she was greeted to a sight she didn't think she'd ever see again. "Flash!" Her husband, once again decked out in the strange red suit he had started wearing the last few months, was fighting some kind of robot on the TV screen. It was being recorded by someone hiding on the street using their phone.
"If he's alive..." Fluttershy's eyes went wide when the phone moved to show the Blue and Green Rangers fighting another robot, then turned to show the Pink and Thunder Ranger fighting another. They all gasped seeing they were alive, but then grew worried when they realised the five of them were losing the fight. Nothing they did seemed to hurt the robots.
"Flash!" She cried when the Red Ranger was blasted backwards, whilst the other Rangers rushed over to him. They all gasped when the three robots fired on them at the same time, forcing them out of their suits. The sight of their injured forms was almost worse then the thought of them being dead. They were then forced to watch as the lead robot unleashed tendrils on energy that zapped the five and stole something from them, the robot cheering as he held them. "GET OUT OF THERE!" The three robots prepared to end it, but in that moment they were struck by several lasers.
A moment later, the camera turned to see where the lasers had come from and they were shocked by who they saw. "Shining," Cadance gasped.
"Sunset," Twilight saw her best friends, brother, father-in-law and a friend from her school days all stepping towards them. "They escaped."
The nine Rangers and their friends stared down the robot, mainly focusing on the one that had once been their teammate. "What's the plan?" Shining asked Flash, who wasn't sure to be honest.
"I don't know," he told them. "Mirage used a gun to change him, but now I'm wondering if it has a reverse function. He seemed pretty happy about turning someone into a machine like him, so I doubt he would take the time to add that to the gun."
"We still might be able to reverse it if we get the weapon," Sunset suggested.
Dusk stepped up, "the four of us will keep the other two busy. You guys see if you can't talk Micro out of it." They nodded and the four newly released Rangers charged forwards. They all placed their Elements into their Morphers and as they leapt over the robots, they transformed in a flash of light.
"Come and get us!" Trail cried, the four running off as Mirage spun around. "Get them!" The three prepared to charge but before Micro could, Starswirl used his magic to grab him and keep him in place.
"Hurry!" He told the other Rangers, "I can't keep this up for long." He missed being in Equestria, where his magic wasn't so limited. As Mirage and Shock disappeared down the street, the other Rangers rushed to Micro's side.
"Micro!" Starswirl's magic finally gave out and the robot could move, swinging his sword at Sandal who managed to duck under it before grabbing his arm. "It's me, bro!" Soarin grabbed the other arm and the girls grabbed his legs, holding him in place.
"Micro!"
"Micro!"
"Micro!" They all yelled, but the robot kept fighting against them. As they held him in place, Flash rushed up and took something out of his pocket.
"Micro!" He held up a bunch of yellow batteries with a griffin on them, "you know what these are." The robot stared at them, "they're your Magi-Chargers. I kept them because I knew one day you'd return. Even when it seemed like you'd turned your back on us, I knew there was more to it." The machine continued to stare at the Chargers. "Come on! Turn back and take them!"
After a few seconds, the robot stopped fighting and seemed to consider this. Flash smiled, but then saw Micro's eyes glow red and unleash and pair of lasers that slammed into the ground.
"GYAH!" He cried, being blasted back and dropping the Chargers. The others called out to him, but this allowed Micro and throw and kick them off before attack. "Micro!" Flash groaned, pushing himself up. "You have to fight it."
Micro continued to float inside the void, his memories growing weaker and weaker by the second.
"I'm nothing," he whispered to himself. "Nothing special. Nothing great. It's better to just...let myself fade away." And as he said that, the world around him got darker and darker. It wouldn't be long before his humanity was lost forever.
"Duel Morphin Blaster!" Sunset cried as she powered up her weapon and and fired the twin blasts at Mirage, who leapt back as they made the ground explode.
Mirage then jumped back to avoid Dusk's blade. "Give back the Elements!" The Black Ranger cried, "they're not to be used by villains like you!"
"Who are you calling a villain!" The robot cried as he blocked the blade with his arm. "All I wanted was to return home, but your friend Starswirl wouldn't let me. I was stolen from there by Chaos, locked away by Darklight and almost destroyed by you fools. And when I was free and trying to return home, you attacked me and tried to ruin everything. You're the villain in my book." He pushed him away and fired several blasts, the two Rangers leaping away to keep from getting hit.
At the same time, Shock was firing at Shining and Trail. The two Rangers leapt from side to side to avoid the blasts and Shining Armor get in close, dealing several kicks and punches to the robot. "Gyah!" He staggered back and came to a stop, "not bad...captain."
Shining frowned under the helmet, Heart having told him about Shock. "Don't expect your pension after all this. You sold out the people you once swore to protect, and for what."
"For the woman I love," Shock told him. "When this is over, I'll finally have her." He stood tall and pointed his rifle at him, "don't make me hurt you. I'd hate to have to harm my future brother-in-law." Shining's eyes went wide as he realised what Shock was talking about, his expression becoming one of anger.
"You keep your grubby hands off her. There's only one man worthy of her!"
"Yes!" Trail leapt up and kicked the rifle out of his hands, "if you think I'd let you raise my granddaughter, you've got some serious screws loose!" The two Rangers charged, but Shock extended his blade and tried to slash at them both.
The four Rangers soon had the two robots back to back, the lot pointing their blasters at them. "FIRE!" The lasers shot towards the robots, but the pair leapt up with such speed that the Ranger's eyes weren't able to keep up. This caused the lasers to hit them, blasting the quartet backwards. "GYAH!" They hit the ground and slid along the ground, whilst the robots landed.
"What's the matter?" Mirage laughed, "I remember you being a lot stronger than this before."
The Rangers groaned as they pushed themselves up. "Before we had access to fully powered Magi-Chargers," Dusk moaned out as they stood up.
"Such a shame," Shock chuckled. "Looks like you'll have to find another way to beat us. Or better yet, just give up."
"NEVER!" The four cried before charging forwards.
"Augh!" Lyra cried as Micro threw her into the side of a building, the Blue Ranger sliding to the ground as Micro's eyes glowed.
"Look out!" Sweetie rushed to Lyra's side and rolled her away before the lasers made contact and caused the wall to explode, whilst Soarin and Sandal once again grabbed Micro's arms.
"Stop it!" Flash yelled, getting up closer and throwing a punch right into the machine's face. He hoped the impact would snap Micro out of it, but all it did was make Flash's fist hurt like hell. Micro once against threw the other two off and punched Flash, the force sending him flying backwards and crashing down next to where the Magi-Chargers had landed.
"They...they can't stop him," Heart realised as he watched Flash push himself up. "But...he's not giving up."
"Of course," Starswirl told him. "They're the Guardians. The Protectors of the Elements, entrusted to protect the world using their power. Even if it seems impossible, they won't stop trying to defeat evil." Heart turned to him, "they're the Heroes that I found."
"Heroes," Heart whispered before looking back at the others as the four Rangers once again grabbed Micro's arms and legs.
The real Micro, as if hearing Starswirl's words, thought about this fading time as a Ranger.
"You can't be a hero forever." His body, was now beginning to disappear into the darkness. First it was his feet, and slowly the shadows moved up his legs. "One day, we'll all be separated..." The darkness flew up his legs faster. "Just the thought of that made me want to leave. Made me want to try and stop Mirage on my own." Half his body was enveloped as now his hands and arms were starting to fade as well. Soon, there would be nothing left of him.
"MICRO!"
The man's eyes opened at the sound of Flash's voice. He looked ahead and saw a light, which appeared right in front of him. That light morphed into a screen, showing what his robot body was seeing.
The Red Ranger groaned as he pushed himself up, grabbing the Magi-Chargers in hand. He then lifted his head to stare at the robot. "You're in there...aren't you?"
As he did, Micro suddenly remember a time from their Ranger days. When Flash tried to show Micro that having a plan and sticking to it religiously wasn't a good idea. At the time, he didn't appreciate what he had been saying. But in the years since then, Micro was grateful for the words of wisdom his friend had given him.
"Micro!" Lyra cried, making Micro remember another time. He and Lyra had been working on a science project when Micro accidently caused an accident that made the whole thing go up in smoke, forcing them to start it again from the beginning. Lyra had had every right to be angry, but instead she smiled at assured him that it was okay. They had worked together and managed to finish the project in time.
"Micro!" Sweetie cried, another memory appearing. This time, it was when Micro finally asked Rarity out and Sweetie had helped him plan the date out. Thanks to her, Micro was able to make the event one of the best nights of Rarity's life. If that date hadn't gone so well, their relationship might not be as strong as it was today.
"Micro!" Soarin yelled, with more memories appearing. This time, Micro thought back to a time when the school soccer team had an important match but a bout of flu had struck it. Micro had stepped in as a spare bench warmer, but then the team went to penalties. Soarin was the expected shooter, but the teen decided to give Micro the ball. Trusting in his geometry skills and great aim, Soarin told Micro he could do it and sure enough, the nerd managed to score the winning goal and became a hero.
"Micro!" Sandal yelled, and a bunch of different memories flowed through his head. Their times hanging out, Sandal helping with his science experiments, finding the Elements together, fighting as Rangers together and so many more. Sandal, his best friend who was always there for him.
Flash pushed himself to his feet, staggering slightly but standing strong as he gripped the Magi-Chargers in hand. "If once isn't enough...we'll keep trying until it is!" He wiped some blood from his lips and glared at the robot, his teammates continuing to hold him steady. "Micro...we're going to get him back!" With that, he clicked all of the Chargers and they lit up. The few sparks of Element energy that still remained from so long ago was unleashed and covered his fist. He then charged forward, the robot firing several eye beams at him but Flash just powered through. He roared as he got closer and closer, finally getting within range and pulling his fist back. "MICRO!"
Everyone watched as he punched the machine's chest, the power of the Element of Knowledge somehow causing a rift to be opened his said chest that his fist flew through.
Inside the void, Micro saw Flash's hand appear. His Magi-Chargers flew from it and as they did, Micro's hands reappeared and he caught them. He stared at the batteries and clutched them tightly, as his memories returned and became even more clearer then before. "I can't forget." He began to struggle against the darkness holding him, as the rest of his body began to reappear. "I am Micro Chips, the Yellow Guardian Ranger!" With that, he started running through the darkness. As he did, the entire void was filled with the image of a memory. The memory of Micro in his youth and the first time he morphed into his Ranger form.
As the Griffin head flew around him, the present Micro Chips reached Flash's hand and grabbed it.
Back outside, Flash felt his hand be grabbed and gripped it. With a mighty pull, he managed to pull a glowing form of Micro out of the robot.
The other Rangers let the robot go and kicked it away, whilst Flash and Micro fell to the ground and rolled away. "Micro!" Rarity screamed as she and the others rushed over, Rarity pulling him up and hugging him. "You're okay!"
"Yeah," Micro nodded, "sorry for making you worry." The other Rangers stepped around him and were happy he was back. However, their celebration was short lived. An explosion made them look around to see the other Rangers be thrown towards them, crying out as they crashed into the ground.
"Guys!" Flash yelled as they de-morphed, Mirage and Shock stepping into view before Mirage unleashed the tendrils. They struck the four and they cried out, getting lifted into the air and then thrown as their Elements were sucked off of them. "NO!" They rushed to the downed Rangers, as Mirage laughed and caught the Elements.
"YES!" He cried, holding the ten Elements of Harmony and his Magi-Charger in his hand before turning to the Rangers. "You may have saved Micro, but you lost the more important thing." His energy sparked into the Elements, protecting them from being summoned back to the Rangers. "Now, I have everything I need to make this world mine." As he said that, his robotic brain sent a signal to the building they were close to.
Up atop the Mirage Skyscraper, the antenna powered up as a ring folded out of it. Said ring had ten slots that opened up, whilst another slot appeared inside the antenna.
"Rangers," Mirage cried, "I look forward to turning you and the rest of this world into my slaves." He threw the Elements and Charger into the air, the energy tendrils carrying them towards the antenna.
"We have to stop him!" Sunset cried, but Micro held up a hand.
"We can't," he told them. "It's over." The Elements flew into one of the ten slots, which shut as the Magi-Charger flew into the antenna. It activated and began to draw in energy from the Elements, powering up the antenna as the programming began part of the machine.
Mirage turned back to the Rangers and chuckled, "I win." With that, he held up his hand and snapped his fingers. The Rangers looked up at the antenna as it unleashed a wave of energy that flowed down the tower and that shot out through the city in every direction.
"NOOOOOOOO!" The Rangers and their friends screamed as the light enveloped them. A minute later, it struck Twilight's house and hit the inhabitants of the building. The energy travelled throughout the city, then out into the rest of the state, then the country, then the continent and finally, the entire planet was engulfed by the light.
The world glowed with a brilliant light for several long seconds before the wave began to fade away, allowing those struck to finally see. And when they did, they realised something. They weren't brainwashed.
"Huh?" Flash looked at the others and saw they all seemed just as confused, all having the exact same thoughts about Mirage as they did before. "What's going on?"
"Delayed reaction?" Soarin suggested before they heard someone groan, the lot looking over and seeing a teenager who had been recording everything on his phone. He was curled up, holding his head. The Rangers feared he had been effected and the Elements had protected them, but then he turned to Heart, Rarity and Starswirl and saw they didn't seem effected.
After a few seconds, the teen stopped moaning and opened his eyes. "I remember now," he turned to the Rangers. "You guys are heroes who saved our world. You're not criminals." Their eyes went wide whilst Mirage, who had heard this, gasped.
"Impossible!" He cried, "how could he remember. My mind control antenna was supposed to turn everyone into my obedient zombie. It wasn't supposed to make you remember." But then, he heard a chuckle and turned to see Micro smirking before he broke out into full on laughter. "What do you think is so funny? I reversed your Magi-Charger, so it's effects should have been reversed."
"You're right," Micro nodded. "You did reverse the Magi-Charger, just like I knew you would."
"What?"
"I've been working with you for three months," Micro pointed out. "And in that time I learned one thing and that's that you don't trust anyone. I knew the moment I gave you a Charger, no matter what, you would reverse it."
Rarity chuckled as she crossed her arms. "So after he used the Charger to free me from your control, he reversed the programming himself before giving it to you." Mirage's eyes went wide hearing this.
"I wasn't lying when I told you the Charger would allow you to control the entire world once you had the Elements. If you had trusted me, you would have won by now." He shot his former employer a coy smile. "But because you didn't, everyone on earth is not only free of your control, but immune to your power. Canterlot has just gotten their memories back." The Ranger's eyes went wide hearing that, as they realised what that meant.
Back at Twilight's house, the girls had all gasped when the energy wave hit them and their memories came flooding back. Each of them slowly began to remember the time they spent with the Power Rangers during their adventures, with four of them remembering the time they first got together with their significant other.
"I remember," Twilight whispered. "Flash...Drago..." She rushed over to the downed picture and lifted it up, staring at the tiny Zord in her daughter's arms. "I can't believe I forgot."
"Whoever did this is gonna pay!" Rainbow looked ready to beat someone up...though from her condition it was doubtful that was gonna happen.
"Sandal," Fluttershy hugged her baby girl, "I'm sorry I blamed you." They all turned back to the TV, which had stopped playing when the camera teen had gotten his memory back. But now it was back and showed the Ten Rangers and their friends once more.
"You think you've won you fool!" Mirage cried, "I can easily reverse the Magi-Charger once again. And without your Elements, you don't stand a chance of stopping me."
"Oh I wouldn't say that," Micro smirked. "Cause I added a secondary function to the Magi-Charger, which only activates when it's powered by all ten Elements." Mirage tilted his head. "Even after the system's shut down, the Magi-Charger will keep drawing power from them. Which means any moment now-"
KABOOM!
Everyone jumped when a sudden explosion occurred up at the antenna, destroying the machine and doing something even more important. Everyone watched as ten differently colour lights shot into the sky, Mirage's eyes going wide. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" He roared as the Rangers all raised their hands.
The lights quickly changed direction and shot towards their rightful owners, the ten Elements landing in the Power Ranger's hands and unleashing their energy as soon as they did. They all sighed at the sensation, Micro having missed this feeling. All of their Magi-Chargers were powered back up, with a bolt of red lightning flying off the Element of Courage and hitting Drago. The little Zord roared as he felt his power skyrocket.
"Oh it feels good to have this back," Soarin cheered as Flash patted Micro on the shoulder.
"You are the man!"
Micro smirked as Rarity kissed him on the cheek, she, Starswirl and Heart stepping off to the side as the ten Rangers lined up. "Well, I'm full of surprises. Case in point." He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Ten differently coloured Magi-Chargers, with one of the ten Zords on it. There wasn't one for Drago, but there was one for the Alicorn Zord. "A little something I was working on before this little fiasco. Managed to finish them off a few days ago." He threw them to the corresponding Ranger, "use them to summon your Zords and see what happens."
The Rangers nodded and held out the batteries. "Magi-Chargers...READY!" They clicked them on, the Chargers glowing with power before the Rangers threw them. "SUMMON ZORDS!" The Magi-Chargers flew off in multiple different directions, off to their individual mechs.
One by one, the batteries activated the Zords in question and their eyes shot opened, the lot of them flying out of their individual hiding spots. They all roared as they rushed towards their partners, the Rangers smiling when they arrived. But those smiles all turned to shock when the ten large Zords glowed, then suddenly shrank down until they were around the same size as Drago.
"Righteous!" Sandal cried as the Fenrir Zord landed on his shoulder, the others Zords circling their partners before turning to glare at the enemies in front of them.
"Does this mean what I think it means?" Lyra asked Micro, who simply smirked.
"Maybe. We'll need to be in Ranger form to find out."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Flash stepped forward, as the others pulled out their Morphers and their Zords jumped in front of them. "IT'S MORPHIN TIME!"
All over the city, the people watched their TVs with great interest as the Rangers took out their Magi-Chargers. The girls had even called their children down so they could watch, the lot of them having regained their memories and excited to see their parents kick butt.
"Magi-Chargers, READY!" They clicked them online before placing them in their blasters, the devices speaking as they did so.
DRAGON CHARGER...ENGAGED!
SEA-SERPENT CHARGER...ENGAGED!
GRIFFON CHARGER...ENGAGED!
SPHINX CHARGER...ENGAGED!
FENRIR CHARGER...ENGAGED!
THUNDERBIRD CHARGER...ENGAGED!
MANTICORE CHARGER...ENGAGED!
MINOTAUR CHARGER...ENGAGED!
PHOENIX CHARGER...ENGAGED!
BASILISK CHARGER...ENGAGED!
"Energise!" They all yelled as they charged up their Morphers before pointing them to the sky, "Unleash the Power!" The ten Zord heads shot out and flew around them, as white light began to shroud their bodies. The robots fired at them, trying to stop the morph, but the heads spiralled around the group to deflect the blasts. They then bit down on the Rangers, equipping them in their suits.
One by one, the ten Rangers posed as their Zords began dancing around them and they cried their roll call.
Flash: Element of Courage...Power Ranger, RED!
Lyra: Element of Trust...Power Ranger, BLUE!
Micro: Element of Knowledge...Power Ranger, YELLOW!
Sweetie: Element of Love...Power Ranger, PINK!
Sandalwood: Element of Will...Power Ranger, GREEN!
Soarin: Element of Selflessness...Thunder Ranger READY!
Trail: Element of Adventure...Power Ranger, ORANGE!
Shining: Element of Justice...Power Ranger, SILVER!
Sunset: Element of Forgiveness...Power Ranger, GOLD!
Dusk: Element of Darkness...Power Ranger, BLACK!
All: PROTECTORS OF RIGHT, READY TO FIGHT!
Flash: Power Rangers!
All: GUARDIANS!
A massive explosion occurred behind them, signalling the Power Rangers were back and better then ever. Drago leapt into Flash's hands and he quickly changed him to his blaster form, then fired him. "ACTIVATE!" He pulled the trigger and unleashed the energy form of Drago, who flew around him before biting down and decking him out in his battlizer. "Red Legend Ranger...READY!"
The other Zords quickly followed suit, each of them glowing as they leapt at their Rangers. As if on instinct, each Ranger positioned themselves as the energy Zords suddenly merged with their suits.
Lyra, Micro, Sweetie, Sandal, Trail and Shining found themselves wielding an arm weapon that Flash had once used with his battlizer. Lyra held a long sword with a snake head on the handle, Micro had a Griffon-shaped blaster arm with the wings pointing forward to show blasters. Sweetie held a larger version of her Sphinx Shield, Sandal had a long curved blade above his hand, Trail had a whip like appendage on his arm and Shining hard two large horns that snapped together like a claw game claw.
Sunset and Soarin both let their Zords fly behind them and slam into their backs, both morphing into a pair of chest armours. The bird's heads stuck out the front and a pair of bird-like wings stuck out their backs. Soarin was also wielding a pair of swords, the man slashing them around as they sparked with lightning.
Dusk held up his sword, as the Basilisk Zord combined with it. The blade began longer and the handle had the Zord's head on the end of it, turning it into a two handed buster sword.
And finally, the Alicorn Zord merged with Flash's left arm and transformed into a crossbow-like weapon with the wings stinking out and the horn pointing forwards. The ten Rangers and eleven Zords all took up a battle position, ready to take down the three robots once and for all.
"GET THEM!" Mirage ordered, Shock and the Micro-Bot charging forward.
"Let's show these guys why you don't mess with our worlds!" Flash cried as they charged forwards, still being watched by the entire city. The two sides met with the Rangers splitting into groups of five.
Flash, Trail, Shining, Sunset and Dusk began battling Shock, whilst Lyra, Micro, Sweetie, Sandal and Soarin faced off against the Yellow Ranger's robotic duplicate. Mirage stepped backwards, hoping that by some miracle his minion would defeat the Rangers.
"Die!" Shock fired his rifle at the Rangers, but Trail began swinging his whip weapon around to deflect the energy bullets. This allowed Shining and Dusk to charge forward, Dusk reaching the robot first and swinging his new weapon around. The machine tried to block with his blade, but it didn't stand a chance against the buster sword and shattered. "Augh!"
"My turn!" Shining thrust his clawed arm at and the horns closed around Shock, allowing the Silver Ranger to lift him up before slamming him into a nearby wall. "By the way, you're off the force!" He then threw him straight up and as he fell towards the ground, Shining pulled his fist back. "Ultimate Justice Punch!" He threw the fist forward and slammed Shock in the stomach.
"AUGH!" He cried as he was sent flying into the air.
The Micro-bot swung its sword around, but this was blocked by Sweetie's Sphinx Shield. As she blocked it, Sandal laughed. "Now that Micro's free, we don't have to hold back!" He and Lyra charged and as Sweetie pushed the robot back, they both slashed at the machine. Micro-bot staggered back, as the real Micro rushed over and prepared his new Griffon Blaster arm.
"Usually I'd be against destroying something so handsome." He pointed the blaster at its face, "but there's only room for one Micro Chips in this world!" He fired point blank and the robot was blasted back, as Sweetie rushed forward and pointed her Shield at it.
"Time to test a new feature in this upgrade. Egyptian Roar!" The mouth of the Sphinx opened before unleashing a blast of wind and tiny rocks, creating a tornado of sand that struck the machine and pushed it further into the air.
Both it and Shock were high up and collided with one another, Shock letting out a cry of pain as they did. And as they fell, a pair of shadow flew passed them. "Huh?" Shock looked up just in time to see Soarin and Sunset flying towards them. Sunset began firing her Duel Morphin Blaster, preventing the two from protecting themselves against what happened next.
"Twin Sword Cleave!" Soarin cried as he held his blades up before swinging them down towards in an X formation. This unleashed and electrical blast that flew towards the pair and exploded, zapping them both as they crashed into the ground.
The two Rangers landed and Sunset placed another Magi-Charger into her weapon.
PHOENIX CHARGER...ENGAGED!
"Phoenix," Sunset aimed the blaster at a robots, "Flame Burst!" She pulled the trigger and fired a pair of fireballs at the two. The fireballs began to spin around and pick up speed, before colliding and transforming into the shape of a bird made of fire. The firebird soared towards the robots and struck them, exploding in a barrage of flames.
Both machines were consumed by the flames and then spat out, Shock crying out as they flew off in two very different directions. He then crashed into the ground with another cry, his body beginning to spark and malfunction. As he stood himself up, he suddenly found himself getting bombarded by a series of energy blasts. "Augh!" He turned to where they were coming from and spotted Flash running towards him, pointing both his Dragon Blaster and the Alicorn Bowgun at him.
Drago fired several lasers from his mouth, whilst the Alicorn's horn did the same. Shock began to avoid the attacks and then pulled out his rifle, which he fired at Flash who blocked the lasers with his wings before leaping into the air. "Go get'em bud!" He threw Drago at Shock and he morphed back to his normal mini form, which charged at the robot and started biting, clawing and stomping on him.
"Gyah!" He cried, "get off me you little pest!" But Drago refused and continued his assault, Flash laughing at this until Drago finally leapt away. He then pulled out his Morphin Blaster and fired it and the crossbow, blasting Shock and sending him flying.
Micro-bot had also slammed into the ground and like Shock, its body was beginning to malfunction. It pushed itself up as parts of its body started to spark and explode. As it did, the other Rangers ran up to it.
"Time to trash this pile of junk!" Micro cried before taking out a Magi-Charger and activating it. "Magi-Charger, Ready! Guardian Buster, activate!" He threw the Charger in the air before it transformed into the super weapon, which he caught and activated.
Magi-Chargers," everyone said, as they activated their Chargers and placed them in the compartments before shutting them. "Locked and loaded." Micro placed his into the main compartment and shut it, the white streaks changing to yellow.
GUARDIAN BUSTER...YELLOW CHARGE!
As the weapon charged, the Ranger took their positions behind Micro. "Guardian Buster, Griffon Blast...FIRE!" Micro pulled the trigger and a single powerful blast shot out, which morphed into the shape of the Griffon Zord's head as it flew at the robot. Just before it hit it, the head spun around it with a trail of wind following behind. This effect created a tornado, which sucked Micro-bot up. The machine spun at high speed before flying out of the top and through the air, eventually crashing into a building with enough force that it completely exploded.
Shock groaned as he once again pushed himself up, but fell to his knees as more and more of his robotic body gave out. Flash and the others moved towards him, Flash pointing Drago and the Alicorn Bowgun at him. "Surrender Shock. Don't make us have to destroy you. Return to your human form and come peacefully."
Shock growled at him, "never. I would rather die as I am, then give you the satisfaction of arresting me."
Flash sighed, "so be it." He raised his Alicorn arm as it began to glow, the wind bending slightly before firing a laser that linked the two together and formed a bow. The horn then unleashed a burst of energy that struck the center of the string before Flash used Drago's mouth to grab it. He then pulled Drago back, drawing the bow as the energy stayed in place and stretched to form an arrow-like projectile. "Courage and Friendship, united as one!"
Back at her house, Twilight smiled watching her husband do this. That Zord held her power, whilst Drago held Flash's. This attack, was a fusion of them and showed why they were and always would be the perfect team.
"Dragonic Alicorn Arrow!" He pulled the trigger and Drago's mouth opened, firing the bow whilst a laser shot out of his mouth and merged with the arrow. "FIRE!" The arrow was let loose and sent flying towards the traitorous robot.
Shock Trooper watched it coming and stood strong. If he was to die, he was gonna die with dignity. And sure enough, the arrow struck him and exploded. It ripped his robotic body apart, leaving only the spiritual form of his human body behind. He roared as this happened, his spirit being cast to the wind as he did so.
The five Rangers spun around, the explosion highlighting their epic-ness. "And then there was one," Flash stated before he and his team headed off.
Mirage, who had been watching the battle, realised he was well and truly screwed as the ten Rangers charged towards him. He quickly brought his blasters together and charged up an attack, then fired at them. The ground exploded and the Rangers leapt back, but in that moment the Zords disconnected from their Rangers and charged through the flames.
"RAAAH!" He cried as they flew around him, trying to swat them away from the flames. In that moment, Lyra, Micro and Sweetie charged through the smoke. The Zords flew away and he fired at them, but the three easily leapt to the ground and slid passed the blasts as they exploded behind them. They then slid passed Mirage and as they did, they rolled onto their backs and fired at the machine. "GYAH!" He staggered backwards, as Sandal, Soarin and Dusk leapt up through the smoke.
The three sword wielders spun forward and landed after making a three sixty spin, then slashed their blades downwards along Mirage. The three then leapt to the side as Trail, Shining and Sunset stepped up. Sunset loaded another Magi-Charger as the other two preparing to finish the robot off.
Shining used his special punch attack and Trail swung his leg around, firing an energy blade from it whilst Sunset fired another Flame Burst.
The three attacks shot towards Mirage and struck before he had a chance to protect himself, the impact causing a major explosion that sent him flying. The other Rangers gathered around as he hit the ground, his body starting to spark and malfunction like his lackeys.
"Time to end this, once and for all!" Flash yelled as he held out a Charger. "Magi-Victory-Charger!"
"Magi-X-Charger!" Soarin cried as he did the same.
"Combined!" They placed them together, as the other Rangers gathered around and placed their hands on them.
"Together," all ten of them chanted.
"Protectors of right!" The first five Rangers said.
"Ready to fight!" The last five finished.
Flash and Soarin activated the Chargers, causing them both to glow the colours of all ten Rangers before placing Victory into Drago and Maximum into the Morphin Blaster.
MAGI-VICTORY CHARGER...ENGAGED!
MAGI-X-CHARGER...ENGAGED!
Flash combined the weapons as the rest of the team formed a V behind him, then aimed it at Mirage. Flash was about to fire, when Mirage pushed himself back to his feet. "WAIT!" This stopped them, the Rangers curious to see what Mirage would say to try and save himself. "Don't you understand. I'm trying to help your world."
"Yeah right," Shining told him.
"We've heard that before," Trail agreed.
"No!" Mirage told them, "don't you understand. You can't protect this world forever. Darklight, Havoc, Chaos, the Entity. They all came here and tried to destroy your world. And they won't be the last. As long as there's at least two being in the universe, there'll always be conflict. What you have...it won't last."
"You're right," Flash nodded. "One day there will be another threat. Be in magical, technology, alien, monster or multi-dimensional, one day something's gonna show up that'll want us either dead or underfoot."
"You see," Mirage nodded.
"But no matter what shows up, the Power Rangers will be there to make sure it doesn't destroy our world."
Mirage growled, "and how long do you think you'll be able to do that for?" He pointed at them, "you're human. You age, decay, grow weaker with every year that passes. You could continue protecting the world for another ten, twenty, even thirty years. But eventually, you'll be too old and weak to fight off what'll show up to destroy you. Only a machine like me, immortal and powerful, can protect your world forever."
Flash looked down, as if contemplating that statement. Then, he finally spoke up. "You're right, we can't protect the world forever." The other Rangers looked at him with concern, fearing he was going to let Mirage go, whilst the machine chuckled. "But we can protect it long enough for them to get ready."
"Them?" Mirage asked, wondering what he meant. Then, Flash turned his head to the side and Mirage followed his gaze until he landed on the image of the normal humans. Mirage couldn't be sure, but it looked like he was staring at Heart in particular.
Heart was just as confused as everyone else, wondering what Flash was going on about. "Ten years ago, we made a promise. To protect this world for as long as possible." As he said that, something in Heart's mind clicked and he remembered something from a long time ago. Back when he was only a child.
Ten years ago.
A six year old Heart and Soul were hiding with their parents, this being their first response when a bunch of cloaked monsters appeared to attack them. They were lead by a strange rabbit monster with large claws, who had somehow taken out the strange dragon robot that had appeared out of nowhere.
But then someone had appeared that reactivated the robot and began taking the cloak monsters down.
Heart looked around the corner from where he was hiding and spotted a red suited figure punching, kicking, slashing and shooting the monsters down. But as they saw this, one of those cloaked monsters appeared in front of them and attacked. The parents barely managed to jump away, but then another monster appeared and slashed at Heart and his father.
The man cried out as he was knocked back, his son flying from his arms and hitting the ground.
The six year old looked around and saw the monster turn towards him, dagger in hand. But before it could even try and harm him, it was suddenly blasted in the back and staggered away from him. Moments later, the red suited figure leapt onto the scene and slashed the monster, reducing it to a cloud of vapour.
The figure turned to the kid and knelt down, putting his weapons away before helping stand him up. "You okay?" The boy nodded, "good." He turned to the group of remaining monsters, "best leave these guys to me." He turned back to him and ruffled his hair, "I promise I'll whoop their butts and keep you and your family safe." He then stood up and gave him a thumbs up, "then one day, it'll be your turn to be the hero. But till then..." He began to run off, "I'll keep the world safe for you to enjoy." Heart watched him run back into the fray, the sight making him smile with joy and wonder.
Present.
"I remember," Heart whispered as Flash chuckled. "You...you recognised me from back then."
"Sure did," Flash gave him a thumbs up. "And I'll keep my promise to keep fighting until you and your generation are ready to take over." He turned back to Mirage and pointed his weapon at him once again. "Peace might not last forever, but we can work together to make it last as long as possible. And when the time comes for someone to show up and disrupt it, we'll be there to protect our world and bring peace back to it."
"You're okay with living in a world you constantly have to fight to protect. Is the limited time you get to peacefully enjoy it really worth constantly being on edge encase someone else shows up?" Flash didn't even have to think about that, since the image of his family back home made his answer and easy one.
"It's completely worth it. Ready guys?"
"READY!" One by one, they each glowed their respective colours. The light then began to flow into the weapon and charge it up as the Rangers spoke in unison. "VICTORY-MAXIMUM...FINAL...STRIKE!" Flash pulled the trigger and the blaster unleashed the ten energy blasts, one in each of the Ranger's colours, which flew at the robot before transforming into the heads of the ten Zords.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" He cried as the Zord heads smashed into him and exploded, consuming him in fire. "You may have beaten me!" He cried as his body began to malfunction, "but I'll still be the winner!" He pressed a button on his arm before it exploded, sending a signal to his building. "If I can't rule this city, I'll simply destroy it and you will be blamed for causing it!" He let out a mighty laugh as he finally self-destructed, the metal making up his body atomising.
As it did, the Mirage Corp building began to glow.
"What's it doing?" Soarin asked as they looked up at the skyscraper.
"Oh no," Micro realised. "He must have set up some kind of explosive device. The whole thing's gonna blow."
"And take out the entire city with it!" Sweetie realised.
"What do we do?" Sandal asked, as Flash reverted back out of his battlizer and held Drago up.
"We save the day. Drago!" He threw the Zord up and in a flash, he reverted to his normal size. The other Zords also returned to their normal sizes, as the Rangers took out the Magi-Chargers and threw them into the air. The batteries grew and entered the robot's mouths, powering them up.
MAGI-CHARGERS...ENGAGED!
The ten Rangers activated their Mega-Drive and leapt into the cockpits, as the Zords prepared to unite.
Each Ranger was in the cockpit of the Megazord that their Zord was apart of, the five rushing over to surround the building. "Scanning," Micro cried as the building's glow grew larger and larger, "no life signs in the building. But there are some in the underground sections."
"Heart's sister and the other captives," Lyra realised.
"Let's get this thing out of here!" Flash cried, the five Megazord grabbing hold of the building before heaving. Slowly, they managed to rip the building out by its foundation. The underground sections also came up, though one quick slash by the Guardian and Thunder-Charge Megazord's blades disconnected it and they carefully put it down. "LET'S GO!" Flash yelled as the five Zords threw the building straight up before the robots glowed.
The Rangers channelled all of their Element's power into the Zord's systems before they fired beams of multicoloured light from them, those beams hitting the building and pushing it higher and higher until it was almost completely out of sight. And as that happened-
KABOOOOOOOOOOM!
The city shook from the shockwave that the explosion gave off, shattering quite a few windows. The cloud of fire and smoke that appeared in the sky got larger and larger, eventually stopping a mile of so above the tallest skyscraper. If that had gone off on the ground, Canterlot would have been a crater. But it didn't.
The ten Rangers all sighed, some falling to the floor in exhaustion, but they had done it. They had freed their world from Mirage and stopped him from hurting everyone. "Guardian Rangers," Flash sighed in relief. "Victory is ours."
As soon as they were sure no little bits of the destroyed building were gonna fall to the earth, luckily the entire structure was vaporised, the Power Rangers disembarked from the Megazords and the eleven machines all reverted back to their tiny forms.
The Rangers were back on the street, looking down into the pit that had once housed Mirage Corp's HQ. "Let's go!" Flash told them before leaping into the pit, the others jumping down with him. As they did, Heart, Rarity and Starswirl arrived on the scene. And they weren't the only ones.
Police cars appeared along with a few ambulances and several news cars. They along with multiple individuals also arrived, wanting to see what had happened and get some answers about the strange mind glitch they had been suffering through the last three months.
"Excuse me?" A reporter asked Starswirl, "but you were with the Power Rangers before, weren't you." He nodded, "where'd they go?" He got his answer when Flash suddenly leapt up out of the crater, with a young girl in his arms as he did so.
As he landed, Heart realised who was with him. "Soul!" He rushed forward and almost tackled his sister to the ground, the pair hugging one another tightly as the other Rangers arrived whilst carrying their own passengers.
The police and paramedics quickly rushed forward, the medical workers beginning checks on the individuals whilst the police began talking to the Rangers. "Captain!" One officer cried as Shining removed his helmet along with the rest of the Rangers. "What the heck is going on?"
"It's a long story," Shining told him. "Let's just say that we've been cleaning up a few...left overs from the old day." The others chuckled at this, as a group of women suddenly appeared through the crowd.
"DADDY!" Flash recognised that voice and turned to see Twilight at the front of the crowd, Stardust in her arms. The little girl struggled in her mother's grasp until Twilight put her down, Star rushing towards him as Flash crouched down. She leap into his arms and he held her tight, the little girl beginning to cry. "I missed you!"
"I know baby!" He told her, "but I'm here now." Drago then let out a roar as Star turned to him, Flash letting her go as Drago leapt into her arms.
"I'm sorry Draggy," Star cried. "I forgot you. I'm sorry."
Flash smiled before feeling a presence to his side, making him look up and make eye contact with his wife. "Hey," he told her as he slowly stood up.
"Hey," she said back before hugging him. "I'm sorry. I should have been there for you."
"It's not your fault," he told her. "Mirage wiped your memory. You couldn't help it. I'm just glad he didn't try and use you or Star to make me surrender." They pulled back and Flash looked around, seeing the other Rangers embarrassing their families as well. Trail moved over and hugged Star as well, whilst Shining and Cadance embraced along with Flurry. Sandal hugged Fluttershy as she, Linden and even Ayala were crying into his chest. Soarin had a hand on Rainbow's stomach, whilst using the other one to rub the shoulder she had punched. Applejack and Pinkie had gone over to greet Lyra and Sweetie, whilst Sunset began to make her way over to them.
"Sunset!" Twilight hugged her best friend, "I'm so glad your safe."
"Same," Sunset nodded. "I'm glad you have your memories back. Don't suppose you know if Celestia's already replaced me, have you."
"Yeah." Sunset frowned, "but you can have your job back if you want. I expect I'll be able to get my old one back once all this has been cleared up." Sunset laughed as several news reporters finally decided to get in on the story.
Flash stepped forward as the cameras focused on him, the Red Ranger knowing it would fall to him in order to explain what the heck just happened. "People of Canterlot and anyone else outside the city that's watching, I have a very strange tale to tell."
And so he began to explain everything to the media, though he did leave out a few details. He explained how Mirage was a survivor of the monster army that attacked a decade ago, how he had the power to manipulate minds on a small scale and used that to build a business empire. How he tried to create a portal to his world that would likely destroy theirs, leading to Starswirl's appearance. He left out how Mirage got his hands on an Element and told them that he managed to use his device to trap Starswirl in another dimension, whilst also getting his hands on an energy source from there that allowed him to increase his power and use it to brainwash the entire city apart from the Power Rangers. How he intended to use the Elements to spread that control over the entire world, but with the work of Micro and the other Rangers they managed to stop him. Finally, he explained what had happened during the battle and how they managed to finally defeat Mirage.
"So you allowed this monster to escape from you ten years ago?" One of the reporters asked, clearly trying to be that one guy that tried to turn the heroes into the ones at fault.
"Yeah," Flash admitted, "though it's not like we knew he existed. He was never sent after us back in the day, so we never met him. It's not like we have a list of monsters Darklight had under his control. Hopefully, he's the only one that survived until now."
"But what if he isn't?" Another asked, "what if there's a bunch of monsters living in our world getting ready to strike."
"Then they'll have to deal with the Power Rangers!" Flash stated as the ten put their helmets back on and stepped into view of the camera. "Like I told Mirage, we'll protect this world for as long as possible until it's time for someone else to step up and take over that task." The other Rangers nodded, whilst the people of the city smiled at their heroes. They might all be scared anyone they knew could be a monster in disguise, but they knew they had heroes that would protect them from anything no matter what.
The Guardian Power Rangers were just that, the guardians of their lives. Guardian they trusted to always do the right thing.
Later that day, the Rangers had finally finished going over everything they had learned about Mirage to the authorities.
Each of them were then contacted by their former employers, the lot of them being offered their previous jobs back. Luckily, the people that had replaced them were happy to step down and let them have their lives back. Lyra would be back on the national orchestra, Micro's business had been returned to him, Sweetie and Pinkie could continue their work making delicious sweets and treats and so on and so forth. Shining would be returning to acting captain within the month and had even been offered the chance to head up a new division, which would hopefully help find new Power Rangers for when it was time to pass the torch. And whilst Shining, and even Starswirl, was in agreement that that would be a good idea, he knew an officer who would be better suited for such a task.
To the Ranger's amazement, Pinkie had somehow thrown together an amazing party to celebrate the Ranger's victory and return. Heart and all the people that had previously been held captive by Mirage were also invited, the lot of them also explaining to the media why they had all been 'arrested' with the Rangers going into more detail about their strange immunity to Mirage's control.
Celestia and Luna were both there, the pair apologising to the Rangers about thinking they were criminals and promising Sunset and Dusk their jobs back. The two Rangers were happy to hear this, glad they didn't have to worry about finding another line of work.
It never ceased to amaze the lot of them how quickly Pinkie could make such an incredible party, but when they arrived at Flash and Twilight's house the place was somehow decorated to the nine with cake and other great foods sitting on the table.
The younger members of the group rushed to get their favourite foods whilst the adults grabbed some non-alcoholic cider and did a toast to the Ranger's victory. The small Zords then started playing with the children, who all enjoyed having the little robots join in on the fun.
Off to the side, Flash was leaning against the wall thinking about what Shining had told him earlier. The idea of training future Power Rangers sure was an interesting one, but he wasn't sure if it would be that easy. After all, it took more then being a great fighter or amazing Zord pilot to get the Elements to bond with someone. But as he thought that, there was one person who popped into his head. One that, whilst still young and foolish, had the makings of something great. He just needed a little guidance.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when Twilight slid up next to him, drink in hand and a smile on her face. "Crazy day, huh?"
"Crazy couple of months," Flash told her. "Glad it's all over."
"Same," Twilight put her head on his shoulder. "Star really missed you, you know?"
"I know."
"I know it wasn't your fault, but still." She looked down, frowning. "I love that you're a Power Ranger and the amazing things you do as a Ranger, but I don't want Star to go through that again."
"Yeah," Flash nodded, "but I can't promise it won't. We live in crazy times." Twilight nodded back, "but I won't be doing this forever. Like I told Mirage, I just have to wait until I find someone worthy enough to take over for me."
"Any idea who that might be?"
"I might have a few candidates, but it's gonna be a while before they're ready to put on the helmet and spandex." Twilight laughed at this and moved so that she was in front of Flash and leaning back against his chest, Flash's arms wrapping around her.
"Well until they're ready, you be extra careful. I don't wanna raise our kids alone?"
"Kids?" Flash asked, wondering where that added S came from. Twilight glanced back at him and smiled, Flash realising what she was saying. "Seriously, you're-"
"Of course not. When have we had the chance to do that."
"Oh."
"But...I do want Star to grow up with someone, like how I had Shining when I grew up." She then smirked and pulled Flash's arms around her tighter. "Plus, I think I might have overheard Cadance telling Shining the same thing. So if we're lucky we'll have a pair of cousins around the same age that can be best friends." She looked over at Rainbow and Rarity, both talking with their significant other, "and we might also have them in the same year as our other friend's kids. It'd be perfect." She looked over her shoulder at him, "what do you think?"
Flash smirked and hugged her tighter. "I was hoping the next few days I could spend relaxing and making up for lost time with my family. Seems I won't be relaxing at nights like I'd hoped." Twilight snickered at this and blushed up a storm, then kissed him.
The party continued on and after a few more hours, the guests started leaving to head home. The freed captives had all been given hotel reservations until something could be done for their living situation, since some of their homes hadn't even been touched in the months they had been away and needed a proper cleaning before they were liveable again.
The Rangers then started heading home as well, Lyra and Sweetie planning to crash with Pinkie's family whilst Sunset and Trail would be staying at Flash and Twilight's. Luna had offered Dusk the chance to sleep on her couch until his place was back to full liveable condition.
As the sun set and the moon appeared high in the air, Flash stepped outside to take a break from the party. He was out on his porch, thinking he was alone, but then noticed someone sitting on one of the step's stone banisters. It was Heart, leaning back against the stone slide-like construct.
The teen shifted his gaze and noticed the older man, who smirked down at him before moving over to sit on the opposite banister and leaning back against it. "Never thought you'd be going through all this when you woke up last week, did you?"
"Yeah. I never thought I'd get within ten feet of a real Power Ranger, let alone actually fight besides them and help take down an evil dictator."
Flash laughed at this. "Tell me about it. If you had told me ten years ago when I walked into that forest that I'd be leaving it a super hero, I would have laughed right in your face. Strange how life can just throw a curve ball at you when you least expect it. One moment your a normal guy, the next you're bonded to a magical gem that gives you the power to transform into a bright red suit and command and giant robot dragon. Destiny, they're never straight forward."
"Tell me about it," Heart agreed. They stayed there, looking up at the starry sky for a few moments in complete silence. Then, Flash spoke up again.
"That was kinda reckless, you know." Heart turned to him, "jumping into that portal back in the other world. If Mirage or his Peacekeepers had been there, they probably would have done something a lot worse then throwing you into a cell with your sister."
Heart sighed, "I know. But...I had to. I had to save my sister. That portal was the best shot I had at getting her back and...and I had to take it, no matter what was waiting for me on the other side."
"Were you scared?"
"Terrified."
"But you still did it."
"I had to," he repeated. "Though it didn't stop me from being completely freaked out. When I got to the other side, I was so jumpy I pointed my blaster at anything that cast a shadow."
"So you were listening to your fear but not letting it take control of you." Flash smirked at him, "that right there was courage in its purest form."
"Me?" Heart asked, "I had courage?"
Flash nodded, "just be careful. It might have been brave, but it was still reckless to do what you did. There's gonna come a time when doing the courageous thing, isn't the smart thing. That's something you have to learn. When to listen to your fear and realise you should do what it tells you, but not letting it control you completely."
"I guess," Heart nodded. "But, how the heck am I supposed to learn that?"
"Well..." Flash looked like he was thinking, though he wasn't. "If you're not doing anything on the weekends, I could show you a thing or two on the weekends." Heart turned to him in shock, Flash smirking back at him. "Over the last two days, you've done stuff I wouldn't have had the guts to do at your age even if I did have my Ranger Powers. You fought against robots, monsters and infiltrated a bad guy's lair without even breaking a sweat. And when the time came to pick between what you wanted and what the world needed, you made the right choice. I think you have what it takes."
"To do what?"
Flash took out his Element, "to one day be bonded to this instead of me." Heart's eyes went wide.
"Are you serious."
"Deadly." Flash tossed him the gem and Heart managed to grab it and look it over in his hands. He could feel the energy it held, powered by the courageous power of the one wielding it. "But you're not there yet. First of all, there's no way I'm letting a minor become a Power Ranger. I might have started when I was your age, but you've still got school to finish and being a super hero can put a real bite out of your homework time. Plus, like I said, you've still got a long way to go before you're ready to wield the Element of Courage. But you've got potential." He reached over and took the Element back, Heart seeing it glow in his fingers. "So...what do you say. Wanna see if I can turn you into a Power Ranger worthy of this Element?"
Heart continued to stare at the Element, then thought back to what he had watched the Rangers do that day.
Despite all the odds, despite the entire city being turned against them, despite every piece of logic saying they should have lost on this day, they managed to pull out a win and save the whole world. And Flash thinks he could become someone just like that.
"Heck yeah!" He nodded, "I want you to train me to be the best Red Rangers the world's ever seen." Flash smiled at this and held out his hand, Heart reaching out and shaking it eagerly. "Does this mean you're gonna teach me to drive the Megazord?"
Flash rolled his eyes. "That'll be one of the last lessons you ever learn."
"But I'll get to wear that cool armor form, right? And that Alicorn Bowgun you used, I'll get to use that too?"
"Maybe," Flash nodded. "Who knows, maybe by then we'll find a way to make a new Purple Ranger that can use it. Just don't let this go to your head. I can still change my mind if I think you're not taking this seriously and even if I think you're worthy, you'll need to also convince Starswirl and the Element that you have what it takes." Heart nodded, clearly excited but also trying to be serious about this.
Before any of them could say or do anything else, the door opened and the other Rangers stepped outside. "Hey," Lyra smirked, "what are you guys doing out here?"
"Just...looking up at the stars," Flash told them. As he said that, a familiar sound filled the air. The sound of a rocket shooting into the sky and suddenly exploding, unleashing many coloured lights that filled the night canvas. Heart and the Rangers gasped at this and all smiled as they watched another firework shoot into the air, then another and another. Clearly someone was wanting to keep celebrating not becoming a mind zombie and not getting blasted into a crater.
The Rangers smiled as they watched the show, the fireworks strange beginning to make familiar patterns. There was one of each of the Rangers helmets, then some of their Zords before the display ended with multiple fireworks going off followed by one big one that exploded into the shape of the team's logo.
Watching this event, made the Rangers glad they had managed to get through everything they had had to endure over the last three months.
Being a Power Ranger wasn't always easy. There would be challenges and obstacles they would need to constantly overcome, but it would be worth it to allow others to live lives of joy and friendship. And they would protect that joy, defend those friendships, for as long as they were needed.
For they, were the Power Rangers. The Guardians of Harmony.