In the fight between you and the world, back the world.
—Franz Kafka
Midnight. Thousands of stars arranged themselves among the endless heavens, tiny droplets of hope in a sea of dark navy blue, a color achieved no place else save the midpoint between dusk and dawn. Burning spheres of gas light years from Earth that shed light through the void of outer space so perfectly, so magically, they appear as pinpricks in the planet's sky. This night, however, the stars were dimmed and lifeless, as though they anticipated the coming conflict that was destined to arrive on the horizon with the rising sun. When once those lights would twinkle in the sky, now only dull existence. When once they were magical, now they are only plain. Something that had always been special, reduced to trivial for one single night as Earth silently awaited the struggle between good and evil that would decide its fate.
"I must admit," Craig Hopwood sighed to his best friend, "since that night I followed Michael into Alpha Complex, I knew there was something sinister about him. I could see it in his eyes, his manner, the little things he did."
Cecil nodded, adding, "I sensed it, too. I even went so far as to ask Pyrial if he suspected anything unusual about him; he assured me it was just my wild imagination."
"Oriquin says Pyrial has a natural tendency to take things at face value." Staring out the window of Arcanza's one-time-long ago cell, Craig leaned against the dreary stone wall with his arms crossed and a cold feeling in his heart.
That made the other young man fall silent, for a while at least, until he eventually said, "You might have known about Michael, but it was I who guessed about your parents." He was referring to a ridiculous scheme they had come up with years ago: Cecil had convinced him Joyce and Leonard Hopwood were not his parents, so Craig had taken up a mission to question neighbors about it. His father had been strict with the punishment. Now he knew why.
"There's one more thing I haven't filled you in on," Craig warned. "Technically, I am the heir to the lordship of Omnis."
"And you want me to address you as Lord Hopwood?" his lifelong friend finished, biting back an amused grin. "Very well, my lord."
Craig tried to keep a straight face as he replied, "No. I just don't want you interfering when Laurasia and the others start to." Then, with a dismissive gesture, he attached, "Besides, it would formally be Prince Hopwood."
Walking over to meet him at the window, Cecil extended his hand holding to Omni Morpher to him and said, "Then by all means, Prince, take your crown."
It was time to break the bad news. Shifting his gaze he found it locked with his friend's. "You should remain the Red Ranger; you are better suited for leading a team. Most of the time, when I possessed OmniTech, I was taking off on my own, handling situations like the Univerouge fiasco alone, generally stupid stuff. We can't afford to attempt stupid stuff anymore. You're the team's leader now, Cecil."
Betraying neither emotion nor clue as to what might be going through his head, Cecil stared at Craig, seeming to search him for something, then reattached the Morpher around his forearm. "You owe me two big favors now," he grumbled as he started to leave, "Prince."
"Wait a sec," Craig called out. Hurrying to stop him, the Earth-Omnis half-breed—a fact he was slowly coming to accept—reached out and grabbed the Ability Band. Channeling energy through Cecil, into him, and back to Cecil, he explained, "I am teaching you an ability called Annihilation Surge. You're going to need it in Neo Twilight City."
The mention of that place quieted them both and, for a long time afterwards, they found themselves leaving the cold cell and walking along the corridors. Alpha Complex's lights were running at full capacity, so every inch of the building was illuminated with intense light, and at intersections of halls Alpha System was heard reporting, "DEFENSE MAINTAINENCE COMPLETE. BEGINNING DEFENSE CHECK CYCLE AGAIN. MATCHING LIFEFORMS DETECTED IN CORRIDOR AND PRIVATE LAB. ARCANZA CELL DOOR IS OPEN. DEFENSE MAINTAINENCE COMPLETE. SWITCHING TO ALTERNATE GENERATOR." Everything was up and running. There was no turning back from this point. By the next time midnight rolled around on the clock, either they or Arcanza would not live to see it.
Along their walk through the Complex, they found Becky, Brittany, and Alex resting in the eastern living quarters and slipped in quietly to join them. "Hey Craig!" exclaimed Brittany, waving him to sit next to her. "We were trying to get some sleep, but it's just impossible to do that now. What are you troublemakers up to?"
"Reflecting," Craig answered quickly. "Cecil is going to join you now and you're all going to sleep. That's an order." And before any of them could respond, he walked away and headed directly for Seraide's room. Something he could not explain was pulling him there.
Seraide was alone inside, sitting at the foot of the bed, staring at the dull walls and lost in her own thoughts before turning and realizing her biological son was standing in the door. "I am glad you are here," she said quietly, rubbing a small object hidden within her hands. "This is for you." Gently, as Craig approached, she handed him a small globe, similar in size and weight to his old golden worry globe, but colored differently and arrayed with blobs of every shade of blue, green, yellow, and brown.
"This is Omnis?" he asked, pulling up a chair and sitting down in it backwards.
"It is," she answered. Looking up at him with watery eyes, Seraide whispered, "I am sorry, Ori...Cra...Lor...Prin..."
Craig gave her a reassuring smile and offered, "Craig is fine."
She nodded, wiping her eyes with a hand. "I knew who you were all along. When you first came, and Alpha System identified you.... It was why I wanted you to be a Ranger so badly, why I practically insisted it that day. I just wanted you to be near."
"I want to apologize, too," replied Craig. "I acted irresponsibly and suspicious." He held out a hand to the woman who gave him up eighteen years ago and added quietly, "I forgive you. There is too much weighing us down now, we don't need hearts heavy with sadness."
Seraide smiled. "I knew from the beginning you would think with your heart."
As he entered the room unannounced, Professor Donaldson cleared his throat and approached Seraide and his son slowly. "While we are on that subject," he spoke carefully, "I wanted to ask of both of you not to tell Amber about her heredity. It is painful for all of us; we should spare her that knowledge."
"I never planned to tell her," Craig said angrily. Since learning Professor Donaldson was his father, the questions and feelings burned themselves into his mind, but he put them aside by avoiding the topic. He had chosen to confront it now only to get it out of his mind before dawn. "Now get collected." Craig was beginning to feel the blood of leadership again. "In a couple hours we assemble at Control Point; Alpha System will inform you when." With that announcement, he left Donaldson and Seraide alone and headed toward Oriquin's room.
The highest point on Digireign Spire, Arcanza's throne room, once majestically simple and imposing, now existed shrouded with gentle blue light radiating from panels in the floor. Wind howled through the broken window frames that used to house invincible crystiglass panes; the fact they had shattered was testament to the power of the Destroyer's rage. Michael zipped his jacket up higher and moved his blowing hair away from his face. To attempt to describe this mood was to attempt to describe something dark, something powerful, something lingering, something preparing, something ominous, something overwhelming, something impossible. Two other Legionnaires stood on each of his sides awaiting their lord's command.
"Sir Vesper's failure was my fault," Arcanza reflected coolly, his crystalline eyes alighting with indistinct indigo flame. He wore black velvet, trimmed with violet, in the style of Omnian royalty, complete with a golden seal depicting three hands reaching for a black sun. Despite the force of the wind his hair remained black and still, his stance unearthly still and regal. Truly he was part of the Trinity of Darkness. Truly he was power. "I relied on him to accomplished more than he was capable of, just as Fiertoth before him. There is no choice now but to assume the title of commander of Twilight Legion myself."
Michael and his companions went to one knee and acknowledged, "Lord Arcanza."
"Stand up, Tracer," the lord ordered him. "My designated heir should not grovel."
He complied with the instruction and replied, "I didn't mean to grovel. I meant to show respect. Don't make assumptions of me, my lord, you just reprimanded yourself for doing that to those fools you chose to command the Legion."
Grinning, Arcanza swept his hand behind him and beckoned to the city, beautifully illuminated and above ground level, and spoke fluidly. "Neo Twilight City is being sustained by three cores created a triangular field around the Spire. I want you three to protect one core each. Should even one fall, the Spire would be exposed to attack; should all three fall, my entire creation would be vulnerable to destruction."
"Yes, Lord Arcanza," the two Legionnaires accepted their missions.
As he turned toward the elevator to leave, Michael asked, "When do you expect the Rangers to attack us?"
"Twelve hours from now, at noon, of course," answered Arcanza. "The time of the day when light is most prevalent. Do you suspect something different?"
"I would be ready six hours from now, my lord," Michael warned. "The time of the day when light is most valuable. It complements what I know about them."
Michael stepped into the lift and turned around to see Arcanza's reaction. The smile was gone from his face, the light was gone from his eyes, and his hands clenched themselves tightly into fists. "Let the Omni Rangers come six hours or six eons from now, I will destroy them!"
Six hours later, as Michael predicted, the first core guardian reported confirmation of their expected guests.
Neo Twilight City. The buildings were constructed of smooth blue-black stone, crystiglass windows embedded into them, the ground was layer with a thin film of gray-green dust that showed no footprints, members of Twilight City circulated few and far between, and a silvery mist was settling. Rays of golden light were shining upward from the east as the sun rose over the horizon. The five teenagers nervously proceeded, jumping at every sound and trying to take in every movement. Alexander and Bane stayed toward the outside of the group, forming a living shield around Brittany and Rebecca, who hung close to Cecil. Tightly grasped in Alex's hands was his dormant Lifeblade that, should the need arise to use it, would age him at almost four times the normal rate. Bane moved fluidly and cautiously, fading in and out as though he was some type of specter, and based on his distant stare and pale complexion it was more than just a possibility. Both Becky and Brittany had their Omni Blasters ready to fire at anything that might try to assault them, but so far the need had not arisen. Cecil alone was defenseless.
Already he was circulating power from the Omni Morpher into himself, focusing his thoughts so he would be able to execute the Annihilation Surge at will. It was easy for Craig to use because it involved creating a barrier and collapsing a target inward, then dropping the barrier and completely reversing it, forming a paradox of energy capable of vaporizing anything. Hopefully that "anything" would be one of the cores.
"There it is," Brittany announced. She pointed toward a rotating, cylindrical structure engraved with alien symbols and markings, all connected with smooth lines and shapes. Surrounding the thick, short pillar was a pulsing black layer, sending shockwaves of mind-numbing ripples. "Do your thing, Cecil."
Nodding, the team's leader stepped forward and held out his hands. Before he could finish, however, a female Legionnaire slid around from behind the core and leapt directly toward him. Instantly Alex reacted, hurrying to grab her in mid-air and throw her an a different course. She fell, twisting nimbly, and flung a sharp two-pronged knife at her opponent. Becky intercepted the projectile with a shot from her blaster, buying Alex time to move forward.
The Legionnaire was too fast. She dodged Alex's kick and swung around, tripping him, before leaping up out of the way of another blast. On the other hand, Bane was smooth and collected as he appeared behind the team's assaulter and grabbed her, holding her still. Suddenly sharp projectiles began growing out of her skin, which was changing from flesh to pale red bone. "Skelenna!" Bane hissed.
"I will not let you destroy the core," Skelenna snapped. "I will destroy you first."
"Combine powers," ordered Brittany, holding her hands out. "Dazzle Wave!"
Rebecca and Alexander contributed "Magnet Wave!" and "Tremor Wave!" A bright flash of heat, a quaking ground, and a magnetic field bombarded the monster with a mighty combined force. Losing her footing, Skelenna screamed and started pushing herself up.
The simultaneous exclamation of "Storm Lance!" was accompanied by a downward thrust and rumble of thunder as Bane made the killing strike. Looking up from his victory, he said naturally, "You are good to go, Mercuric."
Raising his fists and channeling all of his focus and strength, Cecil cried, "OmniTech Annihilation Surge!" Before the final word became sound waves, a blood red barrier formed around the Twilight City core, and in seconds the entire closed system molecularly collapsed. Now free, the chaotic particles exploded outward; the first core was now nothing but atoms too small and too repulsive of each other to maintain themselves together. Complete annihilation.
"Excellent work, Rangers," Craig's voice came directly into their ears through Alpha System, "one side of Arcanza's barrier is down. Oriquin and I are going in. Right now, you should find and destroy the other two cores. By the time you do, this will all be over."
Becky smiled and replied, "I certainly hope so."
"Amen," Alexander added gravely.
Extending into the heavens far above, from the base Digireign Spire seemed to extend upward forever, and unfortunately forever was where Craig was destined to be. Standing at the entrance to the evil building, with Oriquin on one side and Soleron on the other, it seemed such a long time since he had been happy with life. Once upon a time, his life consisted of attending school, playing sports, practicing piano, sparring with Alex, and fawning over Sarah. But that was before he learned his mother was an extraterrestrial, he was the heir to a destroyed civilization, and a lunatic was declaring his home to be the site of a holy war.
"A crusade," Craig said aloud.
"Pardon, Prince Hopwood?" asked Soleron.
"This is a crusade," agreed Oriquin. "An Omni Crusade. It was predicted by a Lineage priest several decades ago. Talyserys's mentor, actually, a very religious person whom my father deliberated with on a constant basis."
Far behind them, Professor Donaldson and Seraide waited, most likely impatiently, if Craig was to assume his traits came from them. He, Soleron, and Oriquin made up the attack force and were supposed to "clear the path" to Arcanza as the others followed. It would take a long time to get past that many defenses.
Craig began walking forward as he asked, "And why is that important now?"
"The same priest predicted the only weapon that can defeat the Destroyer is the light of heaven," answered Oriquin. "I have the power to channel Starlight."
The news took Soleron by surprise. "What?" he growled. "When? How?"
"What is Starlight?" Craig threw his question into the mix.
"I have been able to use it since we crashed on Earth," Oriquin spoke gently. "Although I did not know until after Arcanza confronted me in Control Point all those years ago. He had wounded me, but not lethally, and I faked my death to convince him I was no longer a threat so he fled before you could catch him. It was then I first used the Starlight power to teleport." Turning to Craig, his dark eyes seemed to sparkle with several distant glowing points. "Starlight is the power that survives from the days of Kerith the White Omni Ranger. Once that energy was tainted with evil, it had to be split—one half was called the Black Hole and one half was called Starlight. Arcanza, as you might expect, acquired the Black Power when he killed its previous possessor. I inherited Starlight, as I was unconscious and in an alternate plane of existence, from my mother High Lady Janoa."
Twilight Legionnaires began filtering out through the entrance, charging on direct collision courses with them. "Which power is stronger?" Craig wanted to know.
"We will find out at the top of the Spire," replied Oriquin, assuming a fighting stance. Soleron and Craig followed his example and prepared for battle.
"Second core destroyed," Cecil reported through his communicator. "Teleporting to probable third location now." Knowing the definite locations of the first and second cores, and knowing they formed an equilateral triangle around the evil Spire, Brittany had done some quick math and predicted the final core's location. In five beams of light, the teenagers teleported now.
Touching down, they found themselves only yards from their rotating goal. "Fine job, Elliott," Bane complimented her. She smiled.
But when the human figure emerged from the core's shadow, created by the eastern light source of the sun, all smiles faded quickly. Michael Tracer walked toward them slowly, eyes seemingly locked on each one of them even though that should have been impossible. He wore a dark blue coat, zipped up all the way, emblazoned with the Trinity Seal. In one hand an inactive Lifeblade handle waited to spring to life, around the other was a facsimile Morpher, probably containing the power of the Pseudo Ranger.
"Hello, friends," he greeted them coldly.
"We're not your friends anymore," Brittany informed him with hatred in her voice.
Michael shrugged, tilting his head to the side, and countered, "We never were."
"Stand aside, Tracer, and let us destroy the core," Bane demanded, shaking his fist at him, visibly uncomfortable around the keeper of his old powers.
"I am afraid," the turncoat spoke with a sinister grin, "following your advice would not be in my best interest."
Rebecca lunged forward, challenging, "Cutting off your traitorous head would be in our best interest!" At the same time Bane was snarling, "It was not advice, it was a command."
Placing a hand on Rebecca's shoulder, Cecil spoke loud enough for the irritated New Omnian to hear as well. "Relax, Rangers. We cannot let our anger ruin our mission. Let us pass, Michael, or we will fight you."
A sharp response was apparently at the tip of Michael's tongue, but suddenly it slipped away and he began laughing. At first it was nothing more than a stifled giggle, but soon it was a continuous train of amused mirth. Alexander's Lifeblade came to life in the blink of an eye and sang as its wielder charged forward. Casually Michael activated his own, the hissing blade of blue energy burning an afterimage into Cecil's eyes, and parried the attack.
"I will cut you down alone," snarled Alex, his face tight with rage.
"By all means," Michael laughed, "hold nothing back." The two energy-created weapons exploded with every collision as they met time and time again. In the beginning the action was focused and intense enough to follow, but soon it became wild and fierce, the combatants moving too quickly to keep track of.
The voice at his side startled him as he watched the fight in a trance. "He is buying you time, Mercuric, not out for blood. Destroy the core now."
"Right," Cecil agreed, and hurried with the three other members of the team until they were within spitting distance of their target. Using all of his mental capacity to ignore the raging battle nearby and center on the OmniTech power coursing his body, he prepared himself to unleash the ultimate power once more.
Michael noticed it. "How dare you!" he screamed, the blue Lifeblade spiraling as it forced Alexander backward to avoid being sliced open. Turning, the Rangers's traitor ran toward Cecil with his weapon poised to thrust through the heart of his intended victim.
"Om...Om...OmniTech..." Cecil stuttered the words as he tried to displace the fact Michael was coming in for the kill. "Annihilation..." Inhaling sharply, he banished all outside thought and roared, "OmniTech Annihilation Surge!"
What followed was a jumbled mess of action and devastation. Only slivers of time away from blacking out, Cecil fought to stay conscious as Bane and Rebecca supported him on their shoulders. The core was gone. So was Michael. Alex was pacing back and forth. Somebody was whispering for Cecil to come back. Or were they talking to Michael? Michael...? Who was that? And who was Cecil? Where was he? Who?
"Amber, we're on our way to Babel, so get ready," a voice instructed.
Another said, "You're going to be fine, Cecil, just hang on for a little bit longer."
"I am taking you back to Alpha Complex," a dark and troubled voice added.
The slivers gave way. The nameless person was immersed in darkness.
Seated in the main pilot's chair of the Babel CarrierZord, Amber waited with nervous excitement as she watched the final wall of Digireign Spire's barrier dissipate. That meant Neo Twilight City was exposed to attack; one blast from the Omni Ultrazord would be all it takes to eliminate the evil place once and for all.
One at a time, Brittany, Alexander, and Rebecca teleported into the cockpit to join her. "Where's Cecil?" she asked quickly. "And Bane?"
"Cecil expended all of his mental energy destroying the last core," Brittany explained. "We fought Michael, too, but we don't know what happened to him. Bane took Cecil back to Alpha Complex."
Amber frowned at the disappointing news. "We can't form the Ultrazord without them."
"We have to," Alex asserted quietly, tossing something into Amber's hands. The idea he proceeded to reveal was crazy. But, she realized drably, it had to work. For the sake of the universe, it had to work.
This.
This was it.
This was the moment Oriquin had been waiting for.
A quarter of a century ago, Meridian-Omega had exploded, then imploded, and propelled so many lives and so many events even this many years later.
The elevator rumbled as it ceased moving. As the doors opened, the five-member group found themselves engulfed in powerful bitterly cold winds. Oriquin stepped forward off the elevator first and immediately the gusts died down to silence. Standing directly opposite him, in the wicked glory of his throne of the heavens, Arcanza stared at him with eyes of pure crystalline evil incarnate. He was dressed in the clothing of an Omnian lord; Oriquin silently commended himself for choosing to dress in simple bronze and silver colored casual clothes.
"Two decades I was left in the dark," Arcanza whispered, but regardless of how quietly he spoke his voice reached across the chamber. He smiled at his little joke. "I was certain when I left you there, you were dead. But that doubt always remained. It was the single dent in my armor of invincibility."
"You destroyed Omnis when you initiated Meridian-Omega's supernova," declared Oriquin. "Your reign of evil continued on New Omnis until we defeated you there. This reign of evil on Earth ends now."
Arcanza dismissed the notion with a brush of his hand. "Wrong on all three counts, Oriquin, Lord of Death. The reign of evil on Earth—indeed, throughout the entire universe—is only beginning. As we speak, Rapture Legion grows stronger than ever on New Omnis; you never stopped its spread. And Omnis was never destroyed."
"Lies will not save you from paying for your crimes," Soleron told him.
"Crimes?" the villain laughed. "Such a relative term! They may be crimes to those who follow the pathetic Lineage, but they are holy to those such as I who follow the Trinity. I am a deity, old friend, the very god whom Legions on two worlds worship." Turning his back to them and staring out the broken windows, he continued speaking, "Concerning Omnis's fate, the truth compliments what I have told you today. Think about the logic behind it. Would the OmniTech powers that thwart my plans at every turn even work if Omnis and the Central Star were truly gone forever?"
Professor Donaldson and Seraide moved behind Soleron on Oriquin's left side, while Craig breathed heavily to his right. "OmniTech is drawn from the Hypercoins," the Omnian ex-Red Ranger insisted, "not from the planet or the star."
"Limitless power comes from Meridian-Omega," Arcanza argued. "When I infiltrated the Solar Research Project, it was because the star around which Omnis revolved was a focal point for all stray energy in the universe. Nyru himself formed that hypothesis. By making it go supernova, all that energy began to escape and I planned to harness it all in the name of the Trinity of Darkness. But, being a 'power magnet,' all of that energy returned instantly, causing our sun to implode into a parallel universe, taking our beloved home along with it, leaving nothing but an empty Nexus. A door to unending time and space. All of the work I have done on New Omnis and Earth has been to organize the largest and most important expedition ever: going through that door and finding Infinity itself, from where I and the other two members of the Trinity would plunge all existence into an eternal age of darkness."
The teenager, perhaps the truly bravest among them all, began walking forward slowly and stopped in the center of the empty room. "You understand why we cannot allow that to happen," he spoke directly to Arcanza. "The people of Earth, those of New Omnis, living creatures on every planet in every solar system at every corner of the universe deserve a chance at life, free will, and everything being alive has to offer."
"The Trinity agrees."
"The Trinity does not agree!" screamed Craig. "The Trinity does not even exist! All of these ideas are lodged into your mind because you put them there. Ruling people, owning slaves, controlling destiny—that is your true goal."
Arcanza smiled as he turned back to face his visitors and reply to Craig's accusation. "The Trinity does not exist?" he asked as a wild bolt of lightning crashed into him from outside. "You will think differently, young man, when this non-existent force DESTROYS YOU!"
"He is channeling the Black Hole power!" Oriquin cried, hurrying to his younger namesake's side. "Get back and let me take it from here." Returning his gaze to Arcanza, the lord of Omnis called out, "I challenge you to a one on one battle, Destroyer. Just the loneliness of the Trinity versus the warmth of the Lineage."
"I accept!" Arcanza roared. An incredible surge of unbroken solid dark energy tore itself into reality and homed in on Oriquin. Quickly he felt for the warm light surrounding him and used the Starlight power to shield himself from the attack. "This is too good to be true," Arcanza was laughing. "I always knew one day I would have to seek out whatever poor soul was cursed with Kerith's legacy. Here he was under my nose all along!"
Oriquin extended his arms outward at his sides. Beams of light began being emitted from them and bouncing off the walls and around the room randomly. In the back of his mind, he was controlling their movement, and finally directed them at Arcanza. They blinked out of reality before touching him.
The Destroyer raised grasping hands and discharged another black ball of concentrated power; the Lord of Omnis did the same. The two blasts met halfway between them; both evil and good champions maintained their constant energy discharges. Starlight and empty void kept balance between them until the room began to shake with unstability.
"I swore I would not rest until I defeated you!" Professor Donaldson suddenly called out to Arcanza. "Oriquin may not be able to beat you with power, but a gunshot will kill you as quickly as any Earthling." Lifting a loaded gun, the scientist aimed and wrapped his finger around the trigger. "It ends now, Arcanza."
"Kill me, human," the self-proclaimed god laughed. His hands moved from being aimed at Oriquin to being aimed at the Professor. An unstoppable surge of darkness washed over him, searing him exactly where he stood. Seraide screamed as she jumped away from the raw power rush.
In his wrath, his determination to kill Professor Donaldson, Arcanza exposed himself to Oriquin's Starlight. The pure force rocketed toward him. As the first thread touched him, he roared with rage and suffering, the terrible sound continuing as the torrent of untainted light burned him to ashes. When it was obvious the Destroyer of Omnis was gone, Oriquin dropped the assault.
Violet and black clothing drifted to the floor, along with the golden Trinity Seal.
"Abner," Seraide sobbed, kneeling in the spot he was vaporized and burying her face in her hands. "Abner, why did you do it? Oriquin would have won. Why, Abner, why?" Soleron went to one knee beside her and hugged her tightly.
Even so slowly, Oriquin moved to stand over Seraide and Soleron, and wiped away the moisture in his eyes. "Thank you, Professor."
A loud grunt made the three Omnian survivors turn to see Craig Hopwood lifting the heavy evil Seal above his head. With all of his strength, he threw the disc at the floor. The shattering pieces of gold were accompanied by an echoing crash. And, for the first time in what seemed to be forever, Oriquin smiled.
"The Destroyer is now the destroyed," Craig proclaimed. "Our Omni Crusade is over."
Some say time flows like a river. Some say it crawls by at a snail's speed. Others insist that time will never end, their views conflicting with those who says everything, including time, is finite. Anyone present at the fall of Neo Twilight City, however, would say the best time always is, always has, and always will be the present.
"This is it," Amber whispered. "The end." Lifting the OmniTech Ability Band, an item so unique in every aspect, an item that had accomplished things mankind had considered impossible, she summoned the Titan OmniZord in addition to her own Cerberus. When both vehicles came into sight, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
Brittany was the first to spot the surprise. "Look!" she exclaimed.
Standing on top of the head of the Titan, his thin hair tossing in the wind as the Zord moved with incredible speed, was Craig. "He'll never learn," Becky laughed.
"He used to do that all the time," Alex explained to Amber and Bane.
Soon the Dragon, Pegasus, Hydra, and Sphinx had joined the assembly, and Amber was the one who gave the order. "Initiate Omni Ultrazord assembly sequence." Seven Zords, machines of unrivaled strength and durability, rearranged themselves to create the monumental configuration known as the Ultrazord. "Load the Ultimate Attack."
"Thank God this whole experience is coming to an end," sighed Alexander Revell, pressing his switch. "Five!"
"We made it through some pretty rough times," Rebecca Spencer reflected. "Four!"
"It has been a honor to fight alongside you; it is much more pleasant that fighting against you," Bane said is what was probably his joking tone. "Three!"
"This happened because we worked together as a team and never gave up what little hope their was," Brittany Elliott said with a soft smile. "Two!"
"There have been several risks, surprises, and dangers over the past couple of months, and we're about to witness the wonderful result," Amber Donaldson continued. "One!"
The air around Cecil's empty seat shimmered, an outline of light appearing, followed by a teleportation beam carrying Craig Hopwood inside the Ultrazord piloting chamber. "Arcanza has been defeated," he announced in his leader's voice. "Now we make sure the future is free of his shadow. Fire!" Craig flipped the launch switch.
Standing steadfast on a hill overlooking the little Colorado valley in-between here and Ivory Glade, Michael watched as the looming figure called the Omni Ultrazord began discharging all of its strength in order to destroy his master's empire. The buildings of Neo Twilight City collapsed and fell in ruin to the ground below. A cloud of dust and dirt began to form a ring around the one-time center of evil on Earth.
Sliding his hands into the pockets of his coat, the Betrayer blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, Digireign Spire was falling from its reach into the skies. It broke apart into uncountable pieces, ending Arcanza's reign once and for all.
"My lord?" a shaking voice spoke behind him.
Michael turned in time to see the black and orange clad Legionnaire fall prostrate until the teenager replied, "Yes?"
"What remains of the Twilight Legion has fled the city as you instructed," the Legionnaire reported as he stood and brushed dirt from his outfit. "They await your arrival."
The linings of his coat pockets trembled between his fists as he questioned heatedly, "How many?"
Sucking his lips in, they quivered as the messenger's teeth chattered, resonating the fear of the man he address. With a tight squeezing of his eyes and more than one step away he answered meekly, "Thirty-one plus us, Lord Michael."
Thirty-one plus two. All that remained of the Destroyer's undefeatable empire. Bottling his desire to lash out at the Legionnaire in rage—he could not replace them easily, now, and lowering the number of his forces would be suicidal—the heir to the Trinity's evil throne burned with anger in silence. When his temper began to cool, he stepped down from the hill's crest, away from the crumbling dream he shared, and began plotting his revenge against those Omnian burnouts and those so-called "friends" he had so easily deceived for months. He would need numbers, men and woman, and if they were not loyal he would need a way to control them, likely through pseudoine as his master had done. He would need power, and had a fairly good idea who to contact to get that. He would need patience, it would take time to organize an effort even a fraction as well-planned as the one before. Embracing the cold metal of the Pseudo Morpher around his forearm and the warm handle of the dormant Lifeblade at his side, he would carry on Arcanza's fight. And anyone who stood in his way would burn in his steps.
Some say time flows like a river, and history repeats as the same waters roll along time and time again. If so, Craig was thankful that good had triumphed in the past. If not, he definitely hoped the trend would start with them.
The sun was setting in the west, behind the mountains, and the world was peaceful at last.
Oriquin remained silent and reflective since returning to Alpha Complex and spent most of his time inside his private room staring at his aged reflection in the mirror. Soleron and Seraide has grown friendly, they spent most of their time attached to one another, both mourning the loss of Professor Donaldson and celebrating their victory. Laurasia composed a beautiful song to the memory of the man who sacrificed himself. In the spirit of their success, Pyrial and Rade organized a grand party inside Control Point which most everyone attended. Even Talyserys's steps seemed lighter, and his golden eyes no longer reflected a tormented spirit.
Alexander, Rebecca, Brittany, and Amber seized every moment of it. All afternoon they had circulated among their friends and allies, getting pats on the back, patting each other on the back. Bane kept to himself, as was becoming the usual, but still allowed himself a smile or two and complimented Rangers and Omnians alike.
Most of Craig's day, however, was spent at the bedside, as his best friend Cecil remained unconscious inside Alpha Complex's infirmary. Alpha System repeatedly insisted his vital statistics were positive and he would recover in time, but Craig remained vigilant regardless. He felt responsible for his friend, responsible for giving him the Red Ranger power and teaching him Annihilation Surge, the two things directly accountable for his condition. His friends came in to check on them periodically, then returned to forget the somber mood in the midst of celebration.
As dusk settled, Cecil stirred. "Hey," Craig spoke to him gently despite the excitement exploding through him. "Cecil! Are you alright? How do you feel?"
"Michael," the philosophic young man Craig had grown up with, constantly at his side through good times and bad, whispered.
"What about him?" asked Craig quietly. "Michael has been defeated."
"Yeah," Amber agreed from the infirmary door, with a large group of people behind her waiting to thank the other person who led them to victory. "Michael is gone, Sir Vesper is history, and Arcanza has been destroyed once and for all. It's all over now; we won!"
Oriquin was the one who said, "Not entirely true." Everyone turned to look at the Lord of Omnis and defeater of the Trinity. "There are still some Legionnaires running around, infused with pseudoine, that you Rangers must still handle."
"We can do that," Becky insisted. "Compared to what we have been through, it'll be a piece of cake."
"Just so," Oriquin answered with a sad smile.
Craig, suddenly feeling exhausted of both physical and mental strength, pointed out, "It's getting dark outside." He tried to say it without breaking a smile of his own, but it failed miserably. "Let's go home!"
People say, if you stood in the streets of Ivory Glade that night, you could hear a beautiful song coming from Alpha Complex. They tell you that, if you stood near the water, you could hear the taunting of a traitor. The story also spread of those who found themselves standing in darkness and growing cold at the sound of a distant sinister roar. A ring of debris that was once a city of darkness encircled the city, the tale goes. But, regardless of the stories that have been told, or will be told in times to comes, the people of Earth slept easy that night.
They dreamed of a world of green and blue and gold, shining for an eternity, safe from the manipulations and terror that existed outside. They dreamed of the forgotten world Craig Hopwood held in his hands, given to him by his birth mother.
They dreamed of their own bright future, given to them by his birth father.
"The crusade is over," a voice echoed in their hearts as their heads hit the pillow. And when Earth awoke hours later at sunrise, life began anew.
Original Publication Date: 17 November 1999
