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Kendrix took another step forward, trying to ignore the pain as she did. She could hear Cassie behind her, calling out her name desperately, but she could hear the agony that laced the other Pink Ranger's voice. Cassie was hurt and Psycho Pink had the Savage Sword. Kendrix was the only one who could get close enough to destroy it. She had to save Cassie. She had to save Terra Venture. She had to save everyone.
The steps were growing increasingly hard, and through the swirling mists of power she almost thought that she could see a Zord fight in the distance. She almost paused to check on her friends, on her teammates. They would need her. But if she left, then there would be nobody here to stop the Savage Sword, and to free Cassie's morpher. She would have to keep going, and to trust in her teammates that they could handle themselves. Like she was counting on them to trust her.
Pain shook through her, but she didn't take that first fateful step back, although she did cry out. She heard Cassie shout her name again, but Kendrix kept going forward. The Savage Sword that pierced Cassie's morpher couldn't be that much farther away. She only had to hold on through the pain a little while longer.
She had a responsibility to stop Psycho Pink. She was a Ranger, and that was what Rangers did. No matter what it cost them.
Kendrix had always been the responsible one. That was why she had gone into the sciences. That was why she had signed onto Terra Venture in the first place. She had the ability to help, and she had always known that if helping someone was within your power, it was something you had to do. If you had made a promise, you kept it, as long as it was within your power. She had helped Carolyn Pickets realize that early on their time on Terra Venture. She didn't know what sort of person she would be if she backed out now. She wouldn't be someone that she would want to know. She took another step forward.
Cassie was crying, and the sounds of her sobbing nearly caused Kendrix to stop. She could hear the rest of her teammates, of two teams gathering to watch her. She could see her boys trying to get through the barrier, but they were held back. She heard Maya's cries mixing in with Cassie's.
They were asking her if she knew what could happen. If she knew what the cost would be.
Kendrix had known what could happen since she first followed Maya through the portal to Miranoi. There had been risks then - the risk of being left behind, since Terra Venture wouldn't wait for anyone. The risk that there would never be a way to get back. The risk that they could be stranded on some unknown world. That they could have been walking straight into a trap.
She had seen early on what the risks could be. Seen what could have happened if a battle went badly. They hadn't held their sabers for more than a few moments when they had lost Mike - when they had watched the ground swallow him up. Just because they had gotten him back didn't mean that he hadn't died.
All of the Galaxy Rangers knew the costs, knew the price that they might be asked to pay. She wasn't going to turn her back on it now just because it had suddenly gotten hard, because she might have to pay the price of being a hero.
She stumbled as the pain overwhelmed her, and she wasn't sure that she had the strength to make it the rest of the way. But she had to - there was nobody else who could do this. It was all up to her. As she stepped forward, she called on the thoughts of her friends to give her strength to battle through the pain, to get closer to the Savage Sword. To be able to end Psycho Pink once and for all. She thought of her new friends, the Space Rangers, heroes of Earth, and how they had inspired so many on Terra Venture to go out and see the stars. She thought of Damon, and how he always knew the answer to the problem. How he was always there, able to help out. Of Kai, her oldest friend on the station, and the friendship they had formed while preparing for the mission. For all his devotion to the rules, he would be the one who would break them to help out a friend. There was Leo, her Red Ranger, her leader. He was the bravest man she'd ever known. She thought of Mike, and how he had come back to them, and how even death hadn't stopped him. Of Maya, who had become her best friend. Of Maya's strength. How she had lost her entire world, but was still fighting to make sure that it never happened again. Maya hadn't let the destruction of her world stop her. Kendrix wouldn't let a little bit of pain prevent her from doing her job.
She thought of the times that the five members of her team had spent together. Of how much she loved them all.
Kendrix took the last step forward and brought her Quasar Sabre down on the Savage Sword. She could hear her teammates screaming for her. She could feel the energy swirling up around her, and she knew what was about to happen. There was no way for her to get away.
"It's all right," she whispered as the sword was destroyed. She knew what it would cost, had always known what being a Power Ranger could cost. But she wouldn't have changed a minute of it for anything, not even the promise of a longer life. She wasn't afraid at all. She was a Ranger, and she was doing her duty.
She would do it all again.