- Astrid -

  "Not even knowing my name. How sad," the stranger replied mogly. "We are the Children of the Past, and I've e to show that you and all the Rangers are just mortals—just like us."

  As soon as the man finished speaking, the Pink Ranger apanying Astrid burst through the cloud of dust, ung herself toward the oppo. Her pink armor shimmered amidst the swirling debris, and her movements were swift, almost a blur.

  However, even with her augmented speed and strength, the stranger seemed uurbed. In one fluid motion, the rifle that had beeing casually on his shoulder slid into his hand. With a cold, calcuted precision, he pulled the trigger. A brilliant fsh erupted from the barrel, and an Energy-infused projectile shot forth.

  The bst ected squarely with the Pink Ranger's chest. The front of her armor exploded in a shower of sparks and shattered pting. The force of the impact sent her sprawling backward, skidding across the scorched earth.

  Astrid's eyes widened in shock. It was rare—nearly impossible—for a on to so effortlessly breach Ranger armor. Panic flickered in her mind as she tried to process what she had just witnessed.

  'It 't be just a human on,' she thought furiously. Through the haze, she could see it was some kind of sniper rifle as it bore a sophisticated souop the barrel. A faint bluish glow emanated from within the on's core—unmistakably harnessing Energy.

  Out of the er of her eye, Astrid noticed the White Raense, his posture shifting into a bat stance. He oised to strike. The Emperor, however, remained eerily calm, his gaze fixed on the assaint with steely defiance. He showed no iion of retreating.

  "See? Mere mortals," the oppoaunted, gesturing dismissively toward the fallen Pink Ranger.

  Before Astrid could react, the White Ranger sprang into a. His acceleration was instantaneous, a blur of motion that defied the on seo Astrid, it was as if he had teleported, c the distaween himself and the stranger in the blink of an eye.

  But just as the White Ranger's outstretched hand reached for the man's shoulder, the stranger vanished. In his pce, a pact device hovered in the air for a split sed—a greh a blinking red light.

  "Look out!" Astrid shouted.

  The greonated mid-air, a cussive bst erupting with a fiery plume. The shockwave rippled outward, whipping dust and debris into a frenzied whirlwind. The White Ranger instinctively raised his arms to shield himself, but the explosiohe force to injure him or push him back signifitly.

  Astrid shielded her face as the gust of hot air rushed past her. When she looked up, the battlefield was momentarily obscured by the settling dust. Her heart pounded as she sed the area fns of the enemy.

  "Where did he go?" Astrid excimed, spinning around in a desperate attempt to locate the vanished oppo. Her eyes sed the expanse of the wn, now cleared of the dust cloud. Despite having an unobstructed view, the attacker was o be seen. It was as if he had evaporated into thin air.

  "I hate teleporters," the Emperor muttered, his voice tight with frustration.

  The White Raurned sharply toward the Emperor upon hearing the ent. "Are you certain, Your Majesty? It's been a long time since we've entered a eleporter."

  "Yes," the Emperor firmed, his gaze sweeping over the chaotic se. "This one isn't registered in our databases. He has a teleportation limit of ten kilometers and requires physical tact with an object to sositions."

  The White Ranger's eyes narrowed behind his visor. "So he touched that grenade and sed pces with it? Ten kilometers isn't vast, but it gives him ample opportunity to evade capture."

  'How does he know the specifics of the enemy's abilities?' Astrid wondered, a flicker of suspi crossing her mind. 'Doesn't the Meridius House possess the boon of Earth Manipution? How is he so informed about his teleportation powers?'

  As the trio remained vigint, mers and rescue teams verged on their location. Bck Rangers established a perimeter, determio prevent any further attacks. Pink Rangers moved swiftly among the wounded, providing first aid and direg evacuation efforts to remove civilians from harm's way.

  "It's not over yet; stay alert!" a warning crackled through their unicators.

  "Sir, we have reports that there are still uified individuals on the rooftops," Astrid heard another Ranger rey over the el.

  Two Bck Rangers approached the White Ra a brisk pace. "Sir, we've received intelligehat there may be additional—"

  Their words were abruptly cut off. Before Astrid's eyes, the twers vanished into thin air, leaving not even footprints on the grass. Two grenades materialized in the exact spots where they stood, their activation lights blinking ominously.

  "Get back!" Astrid shouted instinctively.

  But there was no time. The grenades detonated almost simultaneously, twin explosions ripping through the air. The shockwaves collided, creating a force that threw Astrid backward despite her armor. She hit the ground hard, the impact rattling her bones. A high-pitched ringing filled her ears, her eardrums protesting the sudden assault.

  'What's happening?' Panic welled up inside her as she struggled to process the rapid turn of events.

  "Everyone, move away from the Emperor!" the White Ranger's voianded urgently over the unicator. "There's no way to know who among us has been promised by the enemy's touch."

  A palpable tension gripped the field. Rangers exged uneasy gnces, uaiched into their stahe realization that the enemy could be among them—or could manipute them—froze many in pce.

  "I will escort the Emperor back to the White House. We'll use the teleportation device. In the meahe rest of you tihe search for the terrorist!" the White Ranger anded, his voice cutting through the chaos with authority.

  As the White Ranger and the Emperan to retreat toward the house, Astrid heard the voice again—a chilling echo that seemed to resonate from everywhere and nowhere.

  "You don't o look for me."

  Her head soward the ter of the wn. Rising from the scorched earth was an enormous holographic proje. The same man who had frohem earlier now towered above them, his translut figure shimmering like a phantom, at least six meters tall.

  "Now that I have your attention," he announced, his amplified voice casg over the stunned crowd, "allow me to introduce myself. Our esteemed Emperor already knoe are, but perhaps many of you are unfamiliar with my aplishments."

  Astrid g the Emperor. He stid, his silver armlinting with an otherworldly sheen. "Cut that hologram," he ordered quietly, his voice a low growl meant only for those o him.

  A few Rangers exged uain gnces. Astrid thought frantically, ‘How do we interrupt a hologram of this scale?’ It wasn't a simple matter of jamming a signal; the proje was likely shielded and broadcasted through multiple els to prevent tampering.

  The holographi tinued, unfazed. His gaze swept over the assembge of soldiers, officials, and citizens, a sardonic smile pying on his lips. "I am the leader of the Children of the Past. For too long, this Emperor and his predecessors have treated those scarred by war as burdes to be cast aside in pursuit of their grand designs. Even now, they call us the Nameless."

  A ripple of murmurs spread through the crowd.

  "When we finally sought the right to establish a new House, a haven for our people, we were silenced by the Sehe leader decred, bitterness g his words. "Our pleas ignored, our sacrifices fotten."

  Astrid's heart pounded in her chest. She could feel the tensioing, and the weight of his words stirred unease among the crowd.

  "If you will not heed us in the halls of power," he tinued, his voice growing colder, "then we will bring the sequences of your decisions into the real world. I will make your Emperor bleed, just as hundreds of us Nameless have bled for the Empire."

  As his speech cluded, the holographic image flickered and dissolved. In its pce, a colossal hss suspended mid-air materialized, with grains of shimmering sand casg slowly from the upper chamber to the lower—a silent tdown.

  "Evacuate! Now!" the White Ranger barked, urgency sharpening his tone.

  Astrid didn't wait for a sed and. Sing the area, she spotted two officers sprawled on the ground, casualties of the initial explosion. One had two prosthetic legs that were malfuning, sparks arg from the damaged prosthetics.

  She sprioward the officers, kneeling beside them. "Hold still," she instructed. The officer with the meical legs grimaced, his face pale.

  "My legs... they won't respond," he gasped.

  "We're getting you out of here," Astrid assured him. She hefted him onto her back with a grunt, then reached out to the sed officer, who was clutg a bleeding wound on his side. "Lean on me!"

  Together, burdened but resolute, she moved as swiftly as possible away from the looming hss. Around her, Rangers and medics hurried to guide civilians to safety, sirens wailed, and the acrid st of smoke hung heavy in the air.

  "Time is running out!" someone shouted over the s.

  Astrid gnced back. The sand in the hss was nearly gone.

  Adrenaline surging, she pushed herself harder. Her muscles screamed in protest, but she ighem. Ahead, a team of medics waved her over, their evac shuttle idling with doors open.

  She all but shoved the injured officers into the waiting arms of the medics. "Go! Get them clear!"

  As the shuttle sped away, Astrid felt a tremor beh her feet. The st grain of sand fell, and the hss vanished.

  An instant ter, a deafening explosion ripped through the air.

  The destru that day made it impossible for the empire not to add The Children of the Past to their most wanted list.

  GCLopes