"Location of target confirmed," Alpha-S2 reported through the wristwatch communicator with an excited tone in his manufactured voice. "Coordinates are being downloaded to your Omni Morphers now. Xe'ex is at the Ivory Glade clock tower."
"That's right in the middle of the city!" exclaimed Rebecca.
The Channel 7 News Center was insanely busy, and had been ever since the five Rangers had revealed their secret identities on city-wide television. People shuffled back and forth from their computers to their telephones, from one end of the newsroom to the other, frantic about jumping on the story and getting it immediately to the air. A crowd of people had also gathered around Becky and the others, and clamored for statements, interviews, and first-hand reports. Repeatedly Cecil pushed them back, adding a darting look of irritation, and every time he did the circumferential men and woman took a nervous step backward.
Lifting his hand to draw their attention, Cecil announced loudly, "Our computer has found Xe'ex. We are on our way to fight him now. Please continue spreading our message, that this fight is in everyone's hands now, not just ours. Thank you." He replaced his helmet over his head and teleported away in a flash of red light. Brittany, Bane, and Amber followed immediately, and finally Rebecca did the same.
Materializing again on the ground in front of the old city hall and the clock that protruded from its roof, Rebecca looked up with apprehension, expecting to see this frightful enemy who manipulated thoughts and emotions at will. Instead she saw a single man in a relaxed pose staring out over the city. "Who's that?" she wondered.
The figure above suddenly jumped off, falling to the ground as fast as gravity could carry him, eliciting a terrified gasp from both Rebecca and Amber. The breath they held, however, left them when the person, still standing upright, stopped falling and hung suspended by nothing in mid-air. He was a young man, black hair blowing to the side in the gentle passing breezes, with hands resting in his pockets in a nonmaleficent manner.
"You are Xe'ex," Cecil addressed him in disbelief.
"The name I serve Rapture Hold in, yes," the youth answered. He could not have been older than Bane, but his eyes betrayed a timeless quality to his maturity. "This place was my home also, you know." Xe'ex smiled sadly, taking one more look back up to the platform at the top of the tower where he had stood.
Brittany demanded of him, "Then why do you want to ruin it?"
Sighing, Xe'ex closed his eyes as though his answer were requiring all of his effort to deliver. "I don't. But if the Betrayer, the second being of the Trinity of Darkness, wishes it, I will run my home city itself into the ground."
"That's so stupid," Rebecca sneered.
The Earth-born Holder reached around to his back, and in a group display of instant reflexibility all five Rangers braced themselves to defend against some sudden assault. Xe'ex withdrew a long, fluid-filled syringe and held it up briefly for them to get a clear glimpse of it, then viciously jammed the needle into his upturned forearm, injecting the entire contents into his veins. Very gradually at first his size began to increase, but in a span of seconds he was twice as large as he was before.
"He means it," warned Cecil, pulling Rebecca back and away from their opponent while he simultaneously moved himself. "CrusaderZords online!"
Instantly the Rose, Crimson, Gold, Cerulean, and Dark Crusaders responded to the call, hurrying from their new hidden location. Rebecca teleported into the piloting stage of her Zord and forced herself to prepare to fight a fellow human.
Craig sat on the Parapet of Power, legs dangling over the edge, watching over the city and paying particularly intense attention to the very center where Xe'ex was beginning to grow to gigantic size. In the back of his mind Arcanza ranted insanely about destroying everything, but after putting up with the villain's consciousness for months already he had grown accustomed to ignoring it. Using his powers was necessary, though, to keep hidden from both his friends and his enemies, and the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach was tolerable when compared with alternatives. His vision was enhanced beyond what OmniTech ever allowed, and the clarity of the scene was perfect down to a microscopic level.
The Rapture Holder called Xe'ex was really an Ivory Glade citizen, Joseph Parrish, whose father became a Twilight Legionnaire sixteen years ago. After his mother died in an automobile accident, he was given to Arcanza to raise, but with two children already under his care the Destroyer sent the child to Corout on New Omnis. So Joseph grew up on New Omnis, was infused with pseudoine, unlocking an ability to control and change moods, and joined Rapture Hold when it was formed. The father was liberated from the Legion by Cecil's massive Psychic Stream that stopped the city's invasion, and later committed suicide, as many of those stripped of pseudoine's enhanced abilities did. Sometimes having access to Arcanza's mind was beneficial. It enabled Craig to feel empathetic.
Xe'ex was now larger than the tallest city buildings still standing, and for some reason, probably a side consequence of activating such a large amount of plasma pseudocioal, he looked different. Bony horns projected from his temples, coarse black hair grew over his skin, his lifeless eyes sunk deeper into their sockets, and the back of his pants ripped as a long hair-sheathed, stinger-ended tail protruded from his back. The Rangers were not stationary during the transformation; five massive humanoid CrusaderZords were approaching from the northern horizon, and by now the Rangers themselves had likely teleported inside their respective vehicle. With amazing speed for being such large machines, the five CrusaderZords came apart, converted into different forms, twisted and maneuvered themselves to new positions, and reassembled themselves into a solitary form just as it reached its position face-to-face with Xe'ex.
The Crusader Megazord was a breathtaking sight, in stark and utter contrast to the gruesome and fearful terror of its opponent. It was a multi-colored mechanical fighting machine, the red, blue, yellow, and pink of the original CrusaderZords mixing with the black of the Dark Crusader that was its base, plated with silver and gold that sparkled as it reflected light. Two wings emerged from its back, a powerful sword and protective hand-held shield grasped in its hands, completing the image of the archangel and the comforting emotions that accompanied it.
In the middle of Ivory Glade, Colorado, a dark demon and a shining angel, born of Earth itself, stood steadfast antagonizing one another, their backs to the rest of the world. Within the mind of the demon, a hatred unquenchable by anything short of reality's instantaneous obliteration; within the mind of the angel, five young women and men who fought for themselves, their homes, and their right to continue living in a world untainted by the sin of the surrounding universe.
"You're hiding something from me," Craig thought to the other psyche inside his mind. Xe'ex struck first, ripping the Ivory Glade clock tower up out of the ground, the abandoned former city hall still attached to the tower's base, and thrusting it fiercely at the Megazord.
Arcanza laughed, and taunted, "Jealous that you cannot do the same?" The Megazord blocked the attack with its shield and counterattacked quickly. A beam of laser light formed over its head in the form of a red halo, traveled a short distance to stop above Xe'ex's head, and exploded, knocking the final Rapture Holder to a ground that tremored under the collision.
"Somehow you've hidden your past from me, all I can remember from your life are things that happened after you and the others landed on Earth." Climbing to his feet, Xe'ex grabbed the Megazord's shield, tore it from the robot's grasp, and tossed it away. The item landed in one of the city parks, on its side, embedding itself into vertically into the ground.
"Every man deserves privacy," Arcanza replied. "My life was squalor. It was degrading. I was condemned to live the life of an enslaved automaton that every other commoner on Omnis lived, and Earth is no different." The Crusader Megazord lifted its sword and swung diagonally, attempting to slice through Xe'ex, but he avoided the blade in the nick of time. "I was different, though, in that I made the choice to fight back. I strained to make my own fate, and strike down those who thought me struck down."
"Like Taerys," thought Craig. A giant sphere of energy formed between Xe'ex hands, hot white power burning like the sun, and the Rangers maneuvered the Megazord backward to put distance between themselves and the attack.
Arcanza's laughter became so uproarious and loud that it hurt the sides of his young host's mind. Reacting defensively, Craig focused on the battle and diverted his attention from that part of his mind that had become the enemy. Xe'ex ball lightning streaked toward the Megazord, leaving a bluish-purple afterimage wherever it moved and exciting molecules so quickly that the air instantly tripled its temperature where the ball moved. Behind the blast, the Earth-born Rapture Hold demon was grinning, certain this would finish everything.
Reacting on impulse over strategy, the Crusader Megazord lifted its silver sword in both steel hands and, beginning overhead, swung down forcefully just before the white sphere would have collided. The sheer power of the action radiated out across the city as another groundshaking clap of thunder. And suddenly Xe'ex attack was moving backward, away from the Megazord. The demon's smile disappeared, his empty pseudocioal-tainted eyes widened in understanding, and his entire mutated body reflexively tensed up. The miniature sun hit him head-on, and there was a split second of silence on the earth and in the heavens.
Xe'ex's body exploded, and Craig stood up on the Parapet of Power as he sprang to action. Using his powers, he created an energy tunnel around the destruction, guiding the explosion of deadly power away from the city and harmless into the sky. The atmosphere came alive, as the energy dissipated high above, creating a massive aurora, a symbol of another major victory against the Trinity of Darkness.
Shortly after midnight, Cecil Mercuric sat alone on the bridge of Gemini Destiny, watching the gentle glow of the city through the massive windows. His mind would not stop obsessing on everything and everyone: Alexander, Ivory Glade, Craig, Twilight Legion, Michael. Somehow it all fit together, but he was at a loss when it came to explaining how. Sighing, he leaned back and closed his eyes, knowing full well that another sleepless night was ahead of him, and tried to empty his mind completely.
"I have something for you."
Snapping his eyes open and swirling around in the chair, Cecil was both startled and relieved by Oriquin's presence. The Omnian, wearing his favorite leather jacket and the strange golden circlet, his hair grayer than Cecil had ever seen it, walked toward him with something delicately held in his hand. Sitting down in the seat next to him, he handed Cecil an unlabeled miniature compact disc.
"Thanks," Cecil said, taking the disc from him and turning back around to a computer console to use it. "What is on it?"
"I do not know," admitted Oriquin.
Pressing the keys to load the disc, Cecil was not really surprised to see nothing but a solid black monitor. There was an audio stream, however, and after a short introduction of silence Craig's voice began to play. "Hi everyone. Thanks to Oriquin, I was given a copy of Alpha System's backup files and Alpha-S2's updated memory, and I think I've finally pinpointed where Alex should be. You won't like it, though. Normally, when Devus opened a gateway, there was a reflection on the 'other side' of the location it opened to. When Alexander fell through, however, there was no reflection, meaning an entry gate was made, but no exit gate. I think this means he's trapped outside of space."
Cecil growled under his breath, "Great." He wanted to slam his fist against something, but fought the urge. The Rangers were going to be devastated when they found this out.
"If I'm right, the next time a portal outside of existence is opened, Alex will emerge from it, meaning everywhere in the universe is a potential exit point. There's no way of knowing if or how many other beings out there have the same powers as Devus. But there is a place where I think such a portal can be opened. The Nexus."
The recording stopped suddenly. Cecil prompted, "And...?" but there was no more to the message than that. Turning to Oriquin beside him, he asked, "What is the Nexus?"
A painful look on the lord's face obviously meant the question was troubling, but with Alexander's life at stake, it was a necessary rudeness. "The Nexus," Oriquin answered, "is what my solar system has become. Immediately after Meridian-Omega exploded and destroyed Omnis, it imploded and left nothing in the center of the universe. Dead space."
"So it is like a hole in space," concluded Cecil, scratching an itch on the back of his head. "But how will it help us save Alex?"
Oriquin folded his hands in his lap and swallowed before replying, "I think Craig means we might find Alex if we enter the Nexus. But there is no air there, no form of matter at all, so I am not sure how he could exist."
"Nothing," Cecil whispered in bewilderment. "If that is true, he may be in some sort of suspended animation. Re-exposing him to our environment might revive him! Of course, we cannot be certain of what state of mind he would be in but we would know he was alive."
He turned slowly to look at the Omnian, who was looking back at him with a bright and expectant gleam in his dark eyes. "Gemini Destiny made it to New Omnis twenty years ago. Making it to the Nexus is not a problem," Oriquin answered the unspoken next question.
"I will wake the others," added Cecil, smiling. "They will probably want to say good-bye to their families before we depart." He jumped to his feet and began to hurry toward the sleeping quarters of the ship, but skidded to a stop before passing through the automatically-opening door. "Wait a minute," he called back to Oriquin. "If Craig has found this way to save Alex, then he does not need to let Michael complete the time-travel thing." A icy sheet of fear slid from the back of his head down his spine. "He is going after Michael now!"
Michael's hand clenched Corout's neck with incredible force, so much that the simple Omnian scientist was lifted off the ground by several inches. Just seconds ago, Corout had entered the Lord Tracer's chambers eager to deliver the news, but it seemed bad tidings traveled faster than good. He was still getting air, but he was struggling to gulp it and force it down rather than breathing easily. His whole head was beginning to tingle. Sweat poured from every sweatable area on his body.
"Gan-Ust, Varron, Akai, Pito, Romises, Lanbow, Naelride, Tunsul, Salodis, Fhare, Devus, and Xe'ex. The most powerful warriors in the universe." Michael spoke softly, what would have been tenderly if he possessed such a manner. "You promised me they were. And yet, all of them are dead, killed at the hands of five teenagers and my 'replacement.' If justice were not blind, you would join them right now." Snarling, the Betrayer flung the former Rapture Hold commander across the room into a hard earthen wall.
Corout inhaled and exhaled deeply before gathering his strength to stand up and face his superior. "Yes, Lord Tracer."
Sitting down on the radiating throne, Michael continued, "I only wanted to use them to buy time, but somehow they catalyzed the Rangers into increasing their powers and abilities several times over. They have a new Megazord, new weapons, and whatever the hell it was the Black Ranger did. I didn't want that to happen."
"Assuming to understand OmniTech is like assuming to understand a rock," Corout sighed. Dust had clung to his clothing when he landed on the floor, and he delicately brushed it away with his hands. "Trinity Rising is complete."
Michael instantly returned to his feet, eyes widening, the rage he had exuded mere moments ago completely wiped away. "At last!" he gasped. Grabbing his Lifeblade and the Pseudo Morpher, he moved fluidly toward the exit while ordering, "Cancel all Twilight Legion operations immediately and begin recalling everyone."
Stunned, Corout gaped and asked without thinking, "What?"
There was a flash of light as Michael morphed into the Pseudo Ranger, but that moment of confusion was the last sensation Corout felt before he heard "Shadow Numb!" and felt every nerve in his body be paralyzed. "I distinctly remember telling you never to ask questions," Tracer laughed as though he were enjoying the experience. "The Rising is beginning now. Get every Legionnaire on board in six hours or you won't live to see the Eternal Demon's return."
Pain vanished. Corout was not even aware of the deadness sloshing through his arteries and veins. The Eternal Demon's return was at hand. On Omnis, it was what Rapture Legion called the "Prelude to Hell." Here on Earth, it was known by Twilight Legion as "the Rising." But it all meant the same thing: six hours from now, they were beginning their journey to the Nexus.
"It has been barely a week," Laurasia reminded Seraide, shaking an accusatory finger at her, "and if I remember right you were the one who wanted to stay and rebuild New Omnis! Now you say we have to leave immediately?"
Seraide kept her eyes lowered, focused on the wood panel floor of the hideaway, in a half-hearted attempt to ignore the claim. She was wearing the golden circlet in her silvery hair, the dedication to Oriquin and Craig back on Earth, and insisted the rest of them did the same to remind them of who they still were. Even without the OmniTech powers anymore, they had still sworn to serve for twenty-five years.
"Let's hear her out," Pyrial whispered, putting a hand on Laurasia's shoulder. "There's gotta be a reason for changing her mind so fast."
Sitting back down in her chair, Laurasia sighed, "I'm sorry. Go ahead."
"I was visited by a Lightguide," Seraide told them, sincerely, folding her hands in front of her. "It told me the Rangers would die unless I took the Spirit Seal to the Nexus. That is why we must leave here as soon as possible."
Pyrial sighed, scratching his head with his right hand. "What about Soleron?" he wondered. "He still has no memories, not even how to talk. When he's not sleeping, he's sitting down somewhere just staring at nothing. We can't take him like that."
"We have to," Seraide insisted. She started to say something else, but was drowned out by a loud crash near the front of the cottage. Immediately the former Rangers put their conversation on hold and rushed to the entryway, only to find a steady stream of men, women, and mutated creatures pouring into their home. "Rapture Legion!" Seraide cried out loud to alert Talyserys, who was in one of the bedrooms watching over Soleron.
Strapping his crystiglass-laced gloves over his hands, Pyrial fell into an offensive stance but remarked pessimistically, "There's too many for the four of us to handle. We're going to have to run."
Laurasia nodded, pulling her warp-blade from its sheath hidden in her left boot. They had anticipated some kind of counterstrike, but none of their guesses suggested they would be found this early, or by this many Legionnaires. "If we make it to Meridian Hope, we can get away safely."
Behind her, she heard Talyserys enter, his Lifeblade whirring and ready to engage in battle once again. "You two start running. I will hold them off until you are positively safe, then I will join you. Where is Seraide?"
"What?" Laurasia asked, but could not turn around to look because a Legionwoman jumped for her, trying to scratch her with talon-like fingernails. Casually, she thrust the warp-blade forward, into the woman's hand, paralyzing her instantaneously. With a quick pull back and two diagonal slashes, Laurasia severed her assailant's hands off, ignoring the cries of pain.
Talyserys roared, "Run!" and charged forward, the green energy blade in his hands springing to action, cutting down several Legion men and monsters along its path.
Pyrial grabbed Laurasia's upper arm and pulled her alongside him as they ran together toward the rear entry of the cottage. In between breaths, he whispered to her, "If there are Legionnaires behind the house, I'm going to guard you while you get inside Meridian Hope and escape. No excuses."
She wanted to protest, but knew arguing would be counter-productive, so instead she asked, "What about Sole? We have to get him!" Sliding around a corner, they burst into Soleron's room and found him sitting on the floor, staring ahead blankly, completely ignorant to the confrontation happening only yards away. Grabbing him by the waist with a painful grunt, Pyrial picked him up and held him perpendicular to his own body over the shoulders. They were moving slower, but they made record time to the back door that, thankfully, none of their assailants had discovered.
But another surprise waited for them. All around, dead trees began to tremble and emit a frightening hiss as their branches shivered. Hypegon Shadow was lifting off, in spaceship mode, at full speed. "Seraide!" Pyrial gasped. Soleron's head moved back and forth, maybe responding to the name, but probably just realizing something was happening. He gurgled a little, trying to form words.
"Seraide is protecting the Spirit Seal," Laurasia observed. She ran toward the main entry gate of Meridian Hope, the large ship that had been rebuilt from the incredible amount of wreckage of the old solar research ship Meridian Eye VIII, and opened it to allow herself, Pyrial, and Soleron to climb on board. "Hurry and launch us," Laurasia ordered as she posted herself at the gate. Then, back toward the house, she cried out as loud as she could, "Talyserys!"
A minute that lasted an eternity passed before the muscular former priest and former Green Ranger appeared, his back facing her. In one hand, he held the Lifeblade, and in the other was Soleron's plasma blaster, and he was firing repeated shots back into the house to hold off the Legion forces. The spaceship's engines began to roar as Pyrial initiated a launch sequence, drowning out all other noise.
Over the intercom, Pyrial announced, "We're taking off in ten...nine...eight..."
Talyserys dropped the blaster and lifted a small round device that Laurasia had seen him salvage from Rapture Fortress a week earlier. With a mighty heave he threw the item into Eztram's cottage, reached down to grab the blaster again, and continued running for his life. Within heartbeats, their haven for the last month exploded, flames licking the sky, pieces of wood and metal showering every direction. The sound was audible even over Meridian Hope's engines, and the sheer force of the detonation threw Talyserys into the air.
He was several feet to the right of the entry gate, and was in danger of slamming into the ship's plating and killing himself. Reflexively he turned the Lifeblade around, holding it upside down, and as his thick body smashed into the spaceship he thrust the energy blade into the wall. It stuck there, and he continued to hang there, holding onto the Lifeblade handle, in pain but still alive.
"...three...two...one..."
Their spaceship lifted off into the air, with the entrance gate still open and Talyserys's still dangling by one hand against its side. Laurasia frantically searched the area for a piece of the rope they had used weeks ago to pull pieces of the old ship from the crash site. Finding one, she raced back to the door, and threw it will all of her strength. Talyserys tossed the plasma blaster back to her, then used his free hand to catch the rope and tie it around the handle of his Lifeblade. With that end secure, and the other grasped firmly in Laurasia's hands, he inched his way along the rope until he was able to swing himself up through the entry gate. After he was safe, the priest's Lifeblade de-activated, dislodging itself from the ship's plating, and he effortlessly pulled the weapon back like a fish.
After he was safe inside, Laurasia closed the entry gate, and both she and Talyserys instantly collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily. "I just realized," she laughed, "even though I still look in my twenties, I'm almost fifty semino...I mean, years old."
He smiled, but the humor never touched his eyes, and somehow he seemed older and weaker than Laurasia could ever remember him. Using that magical weapon must take a tremendous physical and mental toll on a person. "Where are we headed?" he asked quietly.
"I imagine we follow Seraide," she answered, and shivered as she added, "To the Nexus." And if her heart sank the depth of a river, the expression Talyserys made clearly plunged his into the middle of an endless ocean. "Back to where it all started."
Somewhere in the deep silence of far outer space, Meridian Hope continued following Hypegon Shadow, bound for the center of the universe and the catastrophic destiny that awaited them there.
Carefully Craig pulled the shirt over his head, tucking the bottom into his pants, snarling to himself as he squinted into a glass window to try and see his reflection. His hair was greasy and twisted, died black, hanging haphazardly almost to his shoulders; hopefully the contacts in his eyes were still masking his natural blue color with a more unnatural blank white; various make-ups were masking anything else that might give him away, and were working so well he barely recognized himself. The only downside, the disgusting detail that had elicited his snarl, was wearing the costume of a Twilight Legionnaire. All black, with a single violet diagonal slash running from his right shoulder to the left side of his stomach. The symbol of the setting sun was emblazoned over his chest, the nauseating insignia used by Arcanza and Michael to mark the people who began their property.
The real Legionnaire was still coughing up blood on the ground nearby. Craig hoped he would be found in time, by paramedics, and they would perform a blood transfusion immediately like his note politely asked. That would purge the pseudoine poisoning the poor fellow's circulation, and let him live, but his DNA would still be severely rearranged.
"Just wearing this piece of shit makes me feel guilty," he thought, talking to Arcanza in the back of his head. "Are you proud of all the pain you cause?"
Arcanza hummed, but formed no words. Since the titanic battle between the Crusader Megazord and Xe'ex, the self-proclaimed god of destruction had been disturbingly quiet, where before even the smallest things provoked intense responses, usually hysterical laughter. Craig was sure the evil Omnian was intentionally unnerving him before the confrontation looming on the horizon.
Finally, composing himself, Craig teleported himself to a downtown side street and emerged about a block away from the Genetopia Building. He nearly fainted as he discovered close to one hundred other Legion men and woman, people from all over Earth, of various races and environments and socio-economic statuses, in a line filing into the building. Their forms took sinister shapes in the pre-dawn atmosphere, lighted by the halogen of the lightposts lining the street. High above, clouds were swirling in disturbing patterns, away from the area directly above the building as though nature itself was trying to get away from the Legion's vicinity. Craig approached the line slowly, pushing his way in between a thickly-built man and an exotic, dark young woman.
At the Genetopia entrance, Corout was standing watch, his arms crossed tightly. As each Legionnaire passed, his bloodshot black eyes jumped to them for a second and then away as he approved their passage. "Praise Lord Tracer," the drones answered in static voices as they fluidly passed him. "The Rising is here."
"Do not do this!" hissed Arcanza, finally breaking his speechless strategy. "The boy will find out for sure. He will kill us both! You are more of a Trinity-damned psychopath than I ever was. Stepping into that building is suicide. Stop now!"
For the first time since discovering the villain's presence in his mind, however, Craig was the one laughing hysterically.
Original Publication Date: 3 May 2002
