Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Power Ranger related concepts within. A special thanks goes out to Akiko for her help in this fic. By the way, this fanfic contains excessive use of time travel. Thanks to Ellen Brand for the catch phrase, "I hate time travel," which appears in this fanfic on a regular basis. If you can actually follow the whole time travel thing in the fic without holding your head and screaming my name in anger, then you should stop reading Power Ranger fanfics and go teach Quantum Physics to that wheelchair guy.
Armageddon
By Jeremy Ray Logsdon
June 20
3:39 a.m.
"We keep this battle short, sweet, and it ends in our victory," Crystal said.
"Agreed," the rest of us said in eerie unison. With that declaration, the final battle of Armageddon was on.
7:28 a.m. CST
"No!" I shouted. I jumped from my seat down to the empty seat in the bottom level. I had gotten far too reliant on having Dana present in the cockpit. When morphed, she was our technical genius, and I was used to her spoon-feeding us information. "Tara, what are you readings up there?"
"We're losing energy fast," Tara said. The cockpit lurched as Crystal, Rocky, and Allison were still parrying with Anger. A suddenly strike from his sword hit out A.V. in the chest, sending us backwards. We had only been fighting for eight minutes, and our A.V. was already running out of energy.
"There is no way we can be losing energy this fast," I told Tara. "It's just not possible."
"He's draining us," Tara said. "Nadia, is that possible?"
"I can't imagine how he would do it without direct contact, but that sounds like something he would do," Nadia said over the communications line.
"Maybe he's drawing it through his sword whenever he hits us," Rocky suggested. He quickly gave the command that made the Mega A.V. somersault away, narrowly missing a powerful thrust from his flaming sword.
"You guys," I said unhappily, "there's only one way out of this mess and we all know what it is."
"We've had these A.V.'s for over two years," Crystal said sadly.
"We've had the planet for thousands," Allison told her.
"I'm in," I said, my throat suddenly feeling horribly restricted. "We self-destruct and take Anger down with us. What's your votes? We'll do what the team wants."
"I'm in," Tara said firmly.
"Me too," Allison affirmed, giving me a thumbs up.
"Count me in," Crystal added in a cracked voice.
"It's agreed," I said. "You guys lure Anger closer. Get ready to grab him in a bear hug if you have to."
"We'll turn our weapons on ourselves," Tara said. I nodded, and the two of us quickly began to initiate an on-the-spur self-destruct sequence.
"We've got him in position now!" Rocky shouted. "Can you get us to blow in five seconds?"
"Not a problem," I said. "Blue Ranger overrides lack of Pink and Green, Blue affirms."
"Yellow affirms," Tara said hurriedly.
"Rocky get us in position," I said.
"Red affirms," Crystal nodded.
"And when we teleport out, teleport down," I said. "It's best he doesn't know what we're doing."
"Purple affirms," Allison said.
"Three…," a soothing female voice said. "Two…"
"Let's go," I said. Five streams of light lit up in the cockpit and we immediately dropped straight down.
"One………."
7:30 a.m. CST
Blue, purple, red, and yellow light danced along the ground as we teleported a safe distance away from the Mega A.V. The five of us removed our helmets just as our Assault Vehicles exploded. A brilliantly beautiful cloud of white smoke, lit up with all six colors of light, burst forth from Anger and the Mega A.V. Despite what the explosion took away from us, I had to admit that it did look beautiful against the night time sky.
"It's gone," Crystal said softly.
"It's over," Tara remarked.
"They were just machines, Crystal," I said.
"You don't believe that any more than I do," she sighed softly.
"No," I agreed.
Rocky looked at the explosion before him in silent awe. It was eerily reminiscent of seeing the ThunderZords die, an occurrence that haunted his dreams for several weeks after the incident. He had no advice to offer.
Suddenly, a red mass leapt from the ground before us. We all defensively jumped back. "Anger," Allison said. However, he was hurt. He was dying. Anger no longer stood tall and proud. He was reduced to a bleeding mass of flesh, barely able to support himself.
Tara quickly tapped the large coin on her chest, morphing her back into Power Mode with helmet latched in place. She silently called her Saber-Tooth Tiger Bow and Arrow and pointed it at Anger. Pulling back on the bow, a yellow arrow materialized. "Rest in hell, Duran," Tara said coldly. She fired a yellow arrow point blank into his face. Anger's body of flesh died immediately.
A cylindrical spire of a crystal appeared above Duran's remains. Red light began to blow across his body and flowed up into the crystal, which promptly began to spin with a preternatural force. Leaving my helmet in the crook of my left arm, I reached out with my right hand. The crystal stopped spinning and dropped into my open palm. It glowed with an unearthly red light, holding the last of Duran's power.
The five of us began to slowly walk toward our dead Assault Vehicles. Brightly colored pieces of metal lay everywhere, along with other unrecognizable components from their interior systems. Showers of sparks were shooting up from everywhere.
"Hey you guys!" a familiar voice shouted.
I looked up to see Future Jeremy standing atop the remains of Triceratops. "Jeremy!" I called. "Is something wrong?!"
"No, everything's fine," he assured us. "You need to get back to the Command Center. Sigma will explain what's going on!"
"Jeremy?" Tara asked. "What's going in?"
"Let's go the Command Center," I said. "I'll let Sigma explain it there."
7:35 a.m. CST
"I believe this is yours," I said, placing a blood red crystal in Nadia's hand.
Nadia gathered the seven crystal up and stared at them. They cast colored beams of light onto her face, and despite the evil they possessed, they were beautiful. "Sigma? Is the rip ready?"
"I can open it any time," he said.
"Do it," Nadia said. A long thin rip appeared before Nadia, floating in the air. Blackness was within, but before any of us could have a chance to look inside it, she tossed the seven crystal in. Duran's sudden scream, long and angry, burst from the crystals, but as soon as the rip disappeared, the scream disappeared with it.
"It's over?" Tara asked eagerly.
"It's over," Omicron promised.
"It's over!" Crystal and I shouted in unison. There was a brief relapse from order while a small celebration among those who were conscious was underway.
Sigma suddenly pulled me aside and said, "I think I know how to fix your temporal displacement."
"Oh, that'll be great," I told him. "This is getting so confusing. Future Jeremy just told me to go back to the Command Center from the battle field."
A burst of light flew from the Sword and struck me in the chest. White light danced along my body and then dissipated. "The Sword obviously knows what it is doing," Sigma said. "Teleport to the battle field, and if you go into the past, tell them to come back here."
"You got it," I said.
Time Uncertain
I landed on top of a huge piece of Triceratops' chassis, just as a shower of blue sparks burst forth. I shielded my face from them and shouted, "Hey you guys!"
Past Jeremy looked up at me and called, "Jeremy! Is something wrong?!"
"No, everything's fine," I assured them. "You need to get back to the Command Center. Sigma will explain what's going on!"
"Jeremy?" Tara asked my doppelganger from the past. "What's going in?"
"Let's go the Command Center," he said. "I'll let Sigma explain it there." I watched as five streams of light darted into the sky and vanished.
"I guess I should go back as well," I remarked to myself.
7:43 a.m. CST
My teleportation signal split into two as soon as I appeared in the Command Center. When I materialized, I realized that Future Jeremy was standing beside me. I knew it had to be him, because I didn't remember experiencing a dual teleport.
"Hey," Future Jeremy said.
"Hi," I said. "Eight minutes?"
"Eight minutes," Future Jeremy said. "He's gonna merge us in a minute. In my future, we're fine. But I had to come back in the past to make sure this would happen. I don't completely understand it still."
"I hate time travel," I commented.
"Tell me about it," Future Jeremy added.
"Now this is just plain weird," Tara said.
"Now which one of you is Future Jeremy?" Sigma asked.
"That would be me," Future Jeremy told him, raising his hand.
"So you're the one who is temporally dislocated, now?"
"I think so," Future Jeremy said after a moment.
"Crystal, this concerns you, too," Sigma told her.
"What's wrong with me?" Crystal asked.
"You're lagged, too," Future Jeremy said, "because of the black hole."
"There aren't two of me," Crystal said.
"That's because you didn't touch the Sword," I told her.
Sigma jumped up to the pedestal and stood behind his Sword. "Jeremy," he began.
"Which one," Future Jeremy and I said in unison.
"Past Jeremy," Sigma said, "as soon as I've done this, you're going to teleport out and then back to the Command Center to be Future Jeremy, and then he will become the real and only you. Got it?"
"I hate time travel."
"Got it?"
"Yeah, I got it."
Crystal and both versions of me stood before the Sword. "This might tingle a bit," Sigma said. The Sword flashed white, and I was suddenly overwhelmed with the color blue.
Time Uncertain
I teleported into the Command Center along with an identical streak of blue. One materialized into me, and the other produced me from the past. "Hey," I said.
"Hi," Past Jeremy said. "Eight minutes?"
"Eight minutes," I said. "He's gonna merge us in a minute. In my future, we're fine. But I had to come back in the past to make sure this would happen. I don't completely understand it still."
"I hate time travel," Past Jeremy commented.
"Tell me about it," I added.
"Now this is just plain weird," Tara said, looking at the both of us.
"Now which one of you is Future Jeremy?" Sigma asked.
"That would be me," I told him, raising my hand.
"So you're the one who is temporally dislocated, now?"
"I think so," I said after a moment. I hate time travel.
"Crystal, this concerns you, too," Sigma told her.
"What's wrong with me?" Crystal asked.
"You're lagged, too," I said, "because of the black hole."
"There aren't two of me," Crystal said.
"That's because you didn't touch the Sword," Past Jeremy told her.
Sigma jumped up to the pedestal and stood behind his Sword. "Jeremy," he began.
"Which one," Past Jeremy and I said in unison. I shook my head stupidly, cursing my extremely short attention span. I should have remembered which Jeremy he meant from the first time I lived through it.
"Past Jeremy," Sigma said, "as soon as I've done this, you're going to teleport out and then back to the Command Center to be Future Jeremy, and then he will become the real and only you. Got it?"
"I hate time travel."
"Got it?"
"Yeah, I got it."
Crystal and both versions of me stood before the Sword. "This might tingle a bit," Sigma said. The Sword flashed white, and I was suddenly overwhelmed with the color blue.
I turned to see Past Jeremy teleport away. My body flashed blue, just as Crystal flashed red.
7:51 a.m. CST
"I think that did it," I said as the blue flash subsided.
"We were wondering when you'd come back," Sigma remarked.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You just lost eight minutes of your life," Crystal said. "We both disappeared to set the time line straight or something. I hate time travel."
"How much did you lose?" I asked her.
"Three minutes," she said, very nonchalantly.
"Is this over and done with?" I asked. "Do I have to worry about dodging my future self for the rest of my life?"
"I think there is just one of you now," Sigma said. "Man alive, talk about a happy ending."
The downed Rangers began to walk out of the infirmary. All looked weak, but they were awake and alive. "How'd that happen?" I asked.
"The Sword," Sigma said. "It fixed their injuries."
"The Assault Vehicles didn't survive," I told Beth and Dana.
"We know," Dana said. "But you did what you had to do."
"How long will it take you to make new ones?" Allison asked Sigma.
"A while," Sigma said. "The Sword is pretty drained from everything that's happened. It has put everyone back where they should be now, along with last night's memories of what they should have experienced, and all of the damage and debris has been taken care of. As for the A.V.'s, at least a month."
"It'll be at least a month until another attack," Nadia said. "I promise."
"Oh yeah, I guess you are an enemy now, aren't you?" I asked in shock.
"I suppose I am," she said. She walked over to a console and muttered, "I should go." She teleported away in a bright streak of white.
"We won," Tara said happily. "Duran is gone."
8:29 a.m. CST
"Shower's all yours," I said to Rocky as I walked past him, attempting to comb my short wet hair with my fingers.
"How are you feeling?" Kat asked Jason.
"Still a bit sore," he said. He smiled at me as I came in and said, "Thanks."
"Not a problem," I told him. I flopped down in a nearby chair and breathed out a sigh of relief. I hadn't felt that good in ages. I felt a slight twinge of pain at knowing Triceratops was dead, but I think she was a good sacrifice for the Earth.
"I'm going to bed," Kat said. "This has been just too long a night for me."
Kimberly walked into the living room just as Katherine left. "Did the dream come true?" Kimberly asked.
"Sort of," I said. "Crystal and I were imprisoned in a black hole, you got a pretty ugly wound on your shoulder, and Jason was dead for about half an hour."
I got out of my recliner and walked out onto the porch. Kimberly was close behind. "The world looks prettier today, doesn't it?" she asked.
"It sure does," I smiled. "Today is the first day of summer. I hope this adrenaline rush wears off before long so I can get to sleep."
"I'm sorry about your A.V.'s," Kimberly said. "I know it hurts."
"It was for the greater good," I assured her. "Besides, we still have our powers. We're not down."
"I think everything is gonna be okay," Kimberly said with a smile.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Everything is gonna be okay."