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“Together to the end,” Ollie said.
After a few moments, Ollie and Javi separated. Ollie took in a breath shakily before looking towards Javi and saying, “Time to face the wolves.”
“I’ll be with you every step of the way,” Javi responded. Ollie nodded briefly as he took Javi’s hand and teleported back to the Ranger’s base.
The three rangers turned to look towards the incoming teleport beams as Javi and Ollie materialized.
Izzy and Amelia had tear tracks running down their cheeks as Zayto stood with his arms folded against his chest.
“Start from the beginning,” Zayto demanded.
“I guess it started with the Darkness DIno Key. Once I saw it, I felt a tug-a pull- to reach out and grab it. I knew it understood what I was going through. It whispered that it could fix what had happened and I listened. I just had to find its partner. You know the rest,” Ollie explained.
“What did Void Knight want?” Zayto interrogated.
“He didn’t want anything,”
“Then why did he take you?”
“He offered me a solution. No strings attached. All I had to do was provide an energy source,”
“The sporix,” Amelia piped up.
Ollie nodded and glanced away from the group, towards the floor.
“Look, all that matters is that my brother is alive and some sporix are destroyed,” Izzy explained.
“That is not all that matters Izzy!” Zayto exclaimed, “What Ollie did could have backfired! Javi could have become a sporix beast or worse! Ollie did not think it through or ask us our opinions. And worst of all, he betrayed us!”
“He didn’t betray you!” Javi exclaimed, “If he betrayed you, then you wouldn’t be standing here yelling at him. Ollie could have killed you all a thousand times over, but he didn’t! All he did was walk a different path for a few months. And it was all to get me back.”
Zayto was in shocked silence after Javi jumped in.
“I think Javi’s right on this one, Zayto,” Amelia conceded, breaking the tense silence that was forming over the rangers.
“He could have told us though. Instead, he trusted Void Knight and kicked us to the curb,” Zayto replied.
“Yeah, I abandoned you, but I thought that you would have stopped me if I explained the situation. I knew that you would be like this, so I got Javi back before you stopped me. I lost one of the most important people in my life. I thought about the possible consequences, but after you lied about Javi? In front of everyone? What else could I have done? I was not going to let you slander his name,” Ollie responded, venom evident in his voice.
“I did what I thought was best for his family and for the trust of the people,” Zayto responded calmly.
“I am his family too! What you did was for your own self-interest, Zayto. This was never about Javi or his family. You did what you did to cover up a mistake that hurt your ego!”
“Ollie, you're blowing this out of proportion. I admit what I said wasn’t right, but that isn;t an excuse to attack my character,”
Javi gently placed a hand on Ollie’s shoulder after Zayto’s response. Ollie glanced back at Javi, took in a deep breath, and replied, “Zayto, you think you know what is best for our future as rangers and as people, but you’ve been at war for too long to fully understand the intricacies of human emotion and love. We are not your toys to play around with. We have thoughts and feelings. We decide what we want to do with our lives,”
“We trust and follow your leadership when we are in battle, but outside of it, we are not obligated to do exactly as you say. We don’t have to explain everything that happens. To hold us to this standard is unfair. We are our own people, Zayto,” Javi continued.
“I understand that you all are your own people, and I am sorry if I made you feel as though you weren’t. I realize that I may be too controlling outside of ranger duties, so I apologize. I still wish that Ollie had told us what he was planning, but we can not change the past. We will work through this as a team,” Zayto replied.
“Group hug?” Amelia suggested. Ollie glanced at the rest of the rangers before nodding and closing in for the hug.
“It all worked out,” Javi whispered in Ollie’s ear, an ear-splitting smile on his face.