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She appeared behind the stone instantly knowing the Rangers recognized immediately. Hexuba’s body had been restored from their last encounter, draped with exotic clothing. Her laugh grew more maniacal. Before they could respond, the Rangers experienced a strange sensation. Maroon energy streamed from each saber's emblem and made a crackling sound as it shot through the arms. Spearing pains forced them all to grab their chests; desperately gripping but with no rest. Paralysis spread from the chest out. Leo fell to his knees. Damon, Kai, Kendrix and Maya followed suit.
Hexuba then stepped in the center of the group. How lucky could a monster be? Here she was with her greatest rivals cowering before her feet. The horrid little things who made me look a fool with Mutiny. And here he was, the blue one with the Gorilla on his saber; he who destroyed my home base in the Lost Galaxy. The torture chamber she had planned for him afterwards made this moment undescribingly sweet. But first thing's first.
"Perrrrfect," her thick foreign accent stretched the word. “With your powers at my command, Anatari won’t have a ghost of a chance. As he loves to point out: there is no action without consequence.”
As she spoke, her formal rivals were coated with bright energy; all carrying the tint of a deep maroon. Once the energy ran its course, the Rangers stopped gripping their chests. One by one, they rose to their feet uniformly.
Darker colors caressed the suits, and the emblems on the Quasar Sabers were as maroon as the tornado’s energy; the eyes glowed grimly.
The Galaxy Rangers stood with Hexuba at their side as chaos continued all around them. A few surviving monsters ran freely and the lightning storm flourished.
Something caught her ear. Hexuba forged a lasso of electricity from her small crystal ball and unleashed the power, which speared through nearby bushes. It snatched something almost immediately and began pulling it back to her. She was pleasantly surprised with the catch.
The rope kept its grip around the creature and kept him in the dead center of all five Rangers. He looked up at them seeing nothing but darkness behind the visors. “What have you done to these humans?” asked a horrified Anatari.
“Oh come now, Anatari. Don’t pretend that this isn’t like the good old days.”
“I’m not like that anymore, Hexuba. And I’m surely nothing like you.”
“Yes, a point you made clearly when you betrayed me!”
“I betrayed a cause that was poisoning my soul. For that, I’d turn on you again in a heartbeat.”
“Valiant to the end, are we?”
“I have nothing to fear anymore. Your master’s gone, Hexuba. You were nothing more than an instrument to him. And what reward did you get for all your hard services? For all the souls you corrupted? Three thousand years in the Lost Galaxy! Under the rule of some pathetic treasure-digging swine. Tell me, what is it you wish to do? Bring him back? Start your own empire? If you’re going to finish me off, I request you do it. The sight of you sickens me.”
“As you wish, old friend.” Hexuba bowed to her former partner, stepping back behind the Red Galaxy Ranger.
Leo turned his head towards Kai, who then unsheathed the Blue Quasar Saber from his holster. He took off sprinting towards Anatari with the saber charging horizontally. He ran without hesitation. When reaching the target, Kai swung the saber behind him and unleashed the full force of the other clutched fist. The fist contained such strength that one could see the air bend around it. But the hand never reached the target.
From behind, Anatari slashed the Blue Ranger diagonally across his back, producing a field of sparks that stretched a dozen feet, peppering onto the ice.
A stern sizzling came from Maya’s saber as it charged with electricity. Anatari turned to her now, this Ranger who was teleporting towards him faster than the blinking eye. When the tip of the saber neared Anatari’s forehead, time slowed to almost a complete stop. The Yellow Ranger hung in midair; her backside caught in the teleportation. Anatari walked leisurely to her side. He energized a hook at his wrists and laid it onto the crackling steel, directing it towards Leo. She finally lost grip of the handle as she remained unmoved in the air. The gatekeeper took the saber and thrusted in its new direction. Now he allowed time to resume its normal course.
Maya found herself without a weapon and on a collision course with the sacred rock. She thrusted onto it and bounced off to the ground. The helmet cracked open easily.
Before knowing what it was, Leo was stricken in the chest by the Yellow Quasar Saber, hurling the leader onto the unforgiving frost of the earth. Clasping his chest, a large scorch mark was left behind.
In the instant to follow, a vice grip smashed Damon and Kendrix’ head together with such force that the helmets shattered into a thousand pieces. Both Rangers plummeted like dolls. Their victor stood above them, turning his sights on Hexuba.
“My, my,” Hexuba coyly said. “That was rather quick of you.”
“I showed mercy. Better they get beaten by me than serve under you.”
“And how far does this mercy of yours stretch? It wasn’t far at all for the people you and I annihilated for the Alliance.”
“For you, there is none.” In under a second, he had her in a one-handed choke hold five feet above the ground. “I’ll allow your destroyed creations to meet their maker. You’ll serve your time in the underworlds as I have all these millennia. My debt has been paid, and yours will finally be, too.”
From Hexuba’s loose sleeve dropped a card with a mirror on both sides. As it fell, it reflected Anatari’s image. The effect was immediate. Brilliant rays of light enclosed his body and froze all motor control. The grip was released.
“Not only has your time in the underworlds diminished your senses, but it’s limited the durability of your powers. This card merely amplifies that effect.”
Shoulder first, Anatari dropped. Next to him was the card which still radiated pulses of light to cover him. A white gloved hand with small spikes on the knuckles then picked it up. Though Anatari’s body movements became rigid, he recognized the sly snickering he then heard. To himself, he mumbled the name, “Jinxer. So that’s how Hexuba was reborn.”
The gloved creature turned to Hexuba. A dastardly grin stretched ear to ear of the mosquito-like demon. His skin was as icy as the ground with a rigid black nose that pointed to hell. Jinxer’s snivelly voice greeted the lady conjurer. “You should have me around more often. Family should stick together after all.”
“Too true, little brother,” she cackled with him before looking down to Anatari, whose stiffened body had rendered him motionless. “Poor Anatari. You spent all that time guarding the being whose freedom is at my fingertips. No hard feelings?”
“All of those bearing the name of Lothor have met unfortunate ends. You’re digging your own graves again.”
Hexuba pointed towards Kendrix and Maya. “Restrain Anatari to the sacred rock and guard him with your lives. He won’t interfere this time.”
Maya, the Yellow Ranger, gripped the gatekeeper’s shoulders with magnificent strength and heaved him from the ground, slamming his body against the three foot tall rock. Kendrix unsheathed her Pink Quasar Saber, aimed the tip at Anatari, and shoved the blade through his right shoulder and deep into the rock itself. The screams flooded the icy village. Both Rangers stepped back from the rock and stood like gargoyles facing Hexuba and Jinxer.
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