A wave of relief and joy flowed through Sky's body as he looked at the faces of his friends and Naomi. Kovak was there too, but he didn't elicit so much joy despite the things he had done so far to redeem himself.

So many people were gathered behind them, vowing allegiance to Naomi, that Sky was in true awe of his aunt's skills to convince people, to make them follow her instead of Mrs Evergreen.

Sky stood up, his sonic gun in his hand, unafraid of being spotted by both enemy parties. Now, we do have a chance!

As he turned to the current battle between Endurance and Mrs Evergreen and her brainwashed phoenixes, the foul CEO called the attention of the group. She cried as she rode the Blue Ranger, with his brows furrowed, "What is this? Captain Alana! Why are you standing beside that traitor, Sky Falcon?! Apprehend him immediately!"

Captain Alana, a woman with blue hair in her mid-thirties, stood right by his side with a fire shotgun in her hands. The rain kept falling over their heads. Her bravery showed through her tense body as she puffed her chest forward and yelled back, "Not gonna happen! We know the truth now. How dare you lead us to certain death just to satisfy your thirst for power?!"

"Naomi Hardy and these idiots are liars!" Mrs Evergreen replied with anger. "Go back to battle by my side!"

"No! Too many of us have already died this evening," Captain Alana yelled back as she held the shotgun tighter. "This ends now!"

Naomi then took a couple of steps forward. The rain made her bright ginger hair duller.

"Endurance!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "We rescind any loyalty to this human being called Mrs Evergreen, CEO of Anti-Ageing Inc. We were deluded into following her and obeying her commands under false pretences."

"I understand," Endurance replied. "However, I will not accept any allies. I detest humanity. Evil is inherent in you."

Naomi turned to the group and said, "This stupid bird won't let us get out of here alive."

"I don't think so either," Captain Alana added.

"What do we do?" Winona asked.

"We fight for our freedom! For our lives." Sky said as he faced all of them as he stood by Naomi's side. "We'll take down Endurance and Mrs Evergreen. For those who have fallen. For us. For the truth!"

A loud cheering was heard as many raised their arms.

"The surviving phoenixes are just tools at the hands of these two," he added. "We can free them too!"

More cheering filled the air.

"What a pathetic moment," Mrs Evergreen said with some pity, watching them from above. "How useless and sentimental! You don't understand anything! Why I had to do all of this!"

At that, Sky turned with a glare at her, but before he could reply, Alistair aimed and shot at her with an electric shotgun, specially customised for that battle. A bolt of lightning emerged from it and threatened to hit the Blue Ranger and Mrs Evergreen, but the phoenix dodged with finesse.

"For a moment, I thought you had come here to redeem yourself, Sky, and help me. I would've forgiven your sins, your pride, your stupidity, even. But no. You're here to get your 'friend' back, is that it?" Mrs Evergreen scoffed. "And you, Alistair, we'll talk about your lack of discipline later. Now, why don't you do something useful and fight Endurance instead of attacking me, your boss, like the rest of these idiots?" she said with cheek. "I saved your life!"

"No, you used me!" he yelled back. "Why don't you come down here and face me, bitch?"

"Bitch? Nice use of language."

"Nice use of unethically-customised drugs—the ones you've used on me all these years," he went on. "Now that I'm free, I'm no longer your guinea pig. Does that sound nice enough to you?!"

"Ah, there he is," Endurance said with satisfaction, interrupting their argument. He leaned forward to Sky, Alistair, and Halle. "The Entity."

Sky clenched his teeth and fists.

Endurance's enormous eyes fixed on him, sending chills down his spine as he gulped.

"I was wrong, I see," the gigantic cybernetic bird added calmly.

Sky's eyebrows shot upwards. What?

"You are the one I have been looking for all this time," the huge beast went on, as his menacing eyes focused on Alistair instead. "You are the true Entity, not this teenage chick. Your genetic similarities fooled me."

Sky raised an eyebrow with incredulity. What's going on here?

"The Lifebringer's evil seed will be crushed today..." the foul, giant bird added, "at long last after all these years."

Sky frowned. What?! So, Endurance was looking for my father? How did he know he existed? How did he know he had the Lifebringer in him?

Mrs Evergreen smirked and laughed out loud, as if she was a maniac. She tapped into the tablet, issuing some commands to both rangers. The Blue Ranger growled but didn't seem to resist it—while Haywire did.

The golden phoenix whined and shook his head, making Mrs Evergreen push one more button with a sly grin. A lightning bolt emerged from the prong collar around Haywire's neck, activating the device. The spikes of the collar wrung the poor bird's neck as the electricity coursed through his entire body.

Haywire couldn't resist the pain any longer. Besides, he had been fighting for quite a long time by then. With an exhausted grunt, his eyes closed and he lost all strength in his wings. His body succumbed to tiredness and pain as it spiralled down without control.

"No! Haywire!" Sky yelled as he ran to him. His sonic gun fell from his grasp in the heat of the moment.

Haywire fell with a loud crash not far from him.

"Serves it right for fighting my every command," Mrs Evergreen yelled with pride.

Sky rushed to his dear friend and knelt beside him. No, what's she done to you?

The air reeked of scorched feathers and acrid smoke. His eyes inspected the burns on his dear winged friend's skin, the charred feathers, the massive blood clots plastered all over him, the scratches over the metal parts of him... He was truly in a pitiful state.

A weak, broken whine emerged from his beak, his metallic voice failing like a broken toy.

Sky took his head in his hands and, leaning his face onto his, he softly hugged his face with his hands. His tears mixed with the rain.

"Pathetic," Mrs Evergreen said.

To which Sky yelled back in ire as he shot his head up, furiously glaring at the woman as his wet fringe got plastered on his face, "You'll pay for this!"

She simply chuckled and took everybody aback when she stood up on the Blue Ranger's back with surprising ease. Her slender body was suited up with a skin-tight, black full-body suit.

What's she doing?! Is she crazy? With her MS, she could fall!

But she didn't.

She stood impassively, leaning on the right side as the Blue Ranger took sleek curves in the sky around Endurance, as if she were riding a motorbike. Not only did she stand there with a smug smile on her face, she unsheathed two long words, ran up the back of the Blue Ranger's neck with her arms and swords spread behind her, and stepped in the back of its head with brute force when her race got some momentum.

A loud groan emerged from her throat as she jumped forward at an impressive speed, aiming for Endurance's face. Her arms swiftly jerked forward, with her long swords pointed at the giant beast's eyes.

A second later, the swords pierced the beast's eyes. Her feet landed on the bridge of his beak. Displaying her canines like a mad, hungry wolf, she pushed her swords deeper into Endurance's now bleeding eyes.

His subsequent cries deafened all the humans and phoenixes present. The high pitch of his voice threatened to tear up the sky as Sky and his allies covered their ears in pain.

I don't understand! Mrs Evergreen's MS would never allow her to do that! What's going on here? Oh, wait... Don't tell me that... Oh, my God.

"She took the Lifebringer serum!" Sky yelled at the closest to him at that moment. His father, Naomi, Captain Alana, Halle, Kovak, and Hazel.

"What?!" Hazel exclaimed, with her eyes open wide in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?" Naomi grunted.

Kovak clenched his fists. "How else can you explain what she's done?"

Endurance was flapping his wings in despair as it wailed.

The group fell silent as they witnessed the brutal force and speed Mrs Evergreen was using at that moment to take her two long swords from the eyes of the beast. Then, she jumped over one of his shoulders and surfed her way down as she slid over his giant back and tail.

Once her feet no longer touched his body, she rolled in the air with the prowess of a professional acrobat and landed on her two feet, spreading her arms on either side of her with a smirk on her devilish face.

"You took the Lifebringer serum?!" Sky yelled at her as he glared at her.

Silence reigned supreme. The battleground lay sodden beneath a relentless deluge, the earth churned into a quagmire of mud and blood. Rain lashed down with a fury, each droplet a relentless assault upon the weary combatants.

"Wow. You are so clever, aren't you, boy?" she replied with sarcasm and a condescending shake of her head.

Mrs Evergreen, now transformed into an empowered force of malevolence, surged forth with a terrifying velocity, her eyes ablaze with a thirst for blood. Brandishing her two long swords with deadly precision, she cut through the downpour like a vengeful spectre.

Sky, unarmed, cradled the fatally wounded form of Haywire in his arms, his heart pounding with a primal fear as he beheld Mrs Evergreen's approach with wide eyes. The air crackled with tension, each heartbeat a thunderous drumbeat heralding the impending clash between predator and prey.

Mrs Evergreen's lips curled into a chilling smile, her gaze fixed upon Sky with a murderous intensity that sent shivers down his spine.

His grip upon Haywire tightened as he braced for the inevitable clash.

In that fleeting moment, time seemed to stand still. The only sound was the pounding of rain upon the battlefield and the ragged gasps of the dumfounded witnesses.

The voice of a worried party broke the silence with its urgency.

"SKY!" Halle yelled, her right hand shot forward.

The teen's sonic gun went flying in the air. It cut the distance between mother and son with grace as it flipped over and over. A primal instinct ignited within Sky. With his eyes wide open and dilating pupils, he reached out to grab it.

Then, with a steely resolve, his arm rushed ninety degrees to face his enemy. Their eyes locked.

Her swords were drawn forward. His index finger was on the trigger. In that moment of reckoning, amidst the fury of the storm, their destinies were about to get intertwined in a dance of death.

Hello, my sugar cubes!

Did you expect Mrs Evergreen to take the Lifebringer serum?
How is this duel going to end?
How will the war end?

Stay tuned!

XOXO

Mar