Power Rangers: Eternal Light

[SPD_Red]

NOTE 1: This is a fic with dark plotlines (such as death etc.) and shouldn't be read by children
NOTE 2: The timing of this fic is after the end of Operation Overdrive, but a short time before the beginning of Jungle Fury

Contents
Begnnings Arc
I (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813348&postcount=1)|II (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813349&postcount=2)|III (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813350&postcount=3)|IV (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813351&postcount=4)|V (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813352&postcount=5)|VI (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813353&postcount=6)|VII (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813354&postcount=7)
The Dark Knight Arc
VIII (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813355&postcount=8)|IX (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813356&postcount=9)|X (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813357&postcount=10)|XI (http://rangerboard.com/showpost.php?p=2813921&postcount=13)

Beginnings Arc
Chapter I – The Dreams

It had been many years since the last battle against the Alliance Of Evil, where the final decision came and Red Space Ranger Andros took the brave decision of destroying Zordon’s energy tube, killing him to avoid the deaths of every good person in the galaxy. Even on Earth, the citizens of Angel Grove fiercely stood side by side as the final battle raged. Angel Grove wasn’t the only place where the armies of evil fought however, people all around the world were fighting for their lives. In the middle of it all, ex-pink Ranger Kimberly Hart fought to protect the people of Florida against the minions of evil; even without her powers.

Many years had passed since that fateful day, and she now moved on with her life. Not long after those events, she broke up with her boyfriend and went back to Angel Grove where she fell in love with an unlikely guy; Eugene “Skull” Skullovich. Although she found his personality when he was around his best friend Bulk hard to deal with, she had a few moments when she could talk to him on his own, and he turned out to be a completely different person, calm, caring, loving, all the things she wanted in a relationship. Shortly after, they married and eventually set up a hotel with Bulk, “Club Bulkmeier’s”. Things were going well for her; although one night changed everything for her forever.

Opening her eyes, she found herself looking into a bright white light, so bright it was almost blinding her. A booming voice echoed out. “Kim…ber…ly….” “Who are you?” She cried out, to no avail. The light began to approach her, completely enveloping her...

“NO!” Kimberly screamed and bolted up. Her heart was racing. It was that dream again; the one she’d had every night since those fateful events all those years ago. She was frozen in a strange fear. Suddenly, she snapped out of it when someone hugged her. “It’s OK Kim, relax, everything’s OK.” She looked to her side to find her loving husband firmly hugging her and reassuring her. “It was that dream again, right?” She didn’t know what to say to him. He had put up with this every night for years now, but somehow he never got tired of reassuring her and supporting her. “Yea. That dream…” Skull noticed some small, silent tears running down her face. He carefully wiped them away. “I’m sure someday we’ll find out what’s causing this dream, try not to worry about it, OK?” Kim nodded silently.

Suddenly, Skull noticed something in the corner of his eye, a pink glow coming from the other side of Kim. “Hey, Kim, where’s that coming from?” Kimberly seemed confused. “Where’s what coming from?” she asked him, her voice full of nervousness. Skull stayed silent, merely nodding his head in the direction of their bedside cabinet. She turned her head and was shocked by what she saw; her old Power Morpher, glowing in a faint Pink light. She kept it there as a memento, considering it powerless without it’s Power Coin. But powerless or otherwise, there it was, glowing.

The pair stayed silent for a few moments, watching the gentle pink light coming from the morpher, mainly from where the Coin would normally be. Skull decided to break the silence. “That’s impossible, right? I mean, you’re not a Ranger anymore.” Those words brought back to Kim just how understanding he was; she had told him all about her being an ex-Ranger long ago, and although he was surprised, he willingly accepted it and it didn’t change his feelings for her. “You’re right… This can’t be happening.”

Moments later, the glowing stopped. The morpher lay completely motionless on the table. Kimberly leant over and picked it up, showing it to Skull. “I don’t get it, it doesn’t feel like there’s any power left inside it…” Skull didn’t reply, lost in thought. It didn’t take him long to come back to his senses and return with an answer though. “I think it’s time we went to see the boss, eh?”

She didn’t know what to say to the suggestion at first. Tommy Oliver; one of her former boyfriends, the one responsible for setting them up in their comfortable lives. They originally met again not long after she and Skull got married; Bulk and Skull was looking around for money to start up the hotel business and to help out his ex-girlfriend, he helped them start up the hotel, becoming their boss for a while before moving on to Reefside to be a teacher. He kept in touch with Kim, and that’s how she found out about all of his new duties as the Black Dino Ranger (before the powers were destroyed), as well as his long research project into the Morphing Grid and other related areas alongside his assistant Hayley. If anyone could help them with this, it would be him, but she was unsure; after things calmed down at Reefside, they became very distant. They hadn’t been in contact for a few months now…

“Well, whaddaya think Kim?” Kim realized she had to give it a try; she had somehow convinced herself that if she could find the answer, then maybe her dreams would finally stop for good. She nodded slowly. “Yea, I’ll go see...” She was interrupted by Skull before she could finish. He held her hand gently. “You mean we’ll go see him, OK? You don’t have to do this alone. I want to help you however I can, you know that. I love you, you know?” With that, Kim turned to him, smiled and nodded gently and kissed him. “OK, you win. We’ll go see him together.”

TO BE CONTINUED

[SPD_Red]

Chapter II – Surprise Guests

The next morning, Kimberly and Skull phoned ahead to let Tommy know they were coming, and within the hour they were on the long road to Reefside, riding on Skull’s new bike. They decided against telling Bulk they were going directly, instead leaving a note for him. Although Kimberly had told Skull about her previous history as a Power Ranger, they decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to reveal the information to Bulk, just in case he accidentally told anyone and to avoid asking him any questions about it all.

Despite the fact that they left early in the morning, the sun was starting to set by the time they pulled up to Tommy’s house. They pulled up and got off the bike. Skull seemed impressed by it. “Nice place! I know you said he lived in the middle of nowhere, but this really is the middle of nowhere!” Kimberly sighed. She was slightly surprised too, it was miles away from the town itself. “I guess he wanted to make sure no-one found out about what he’s doing in there.”

As they started to walk up the steps of the patio, Kimberly stopped, looking over her shoulder. Skull was worried; he didn’t feel right either; something was very wrong. “What is it Kim?” Kimberly scanned the surroundings, but couldn’t see anything. “Something feels wrong, like we’re being watched or something.” She noticed Skull’s look of caution. “You can feel it too, can’t you?” Skull nodded slowly. “We’d better head inside, maybe the good Doctor can tell us what’s going on.”

They backed up towards the front door and rung the bell, but there was no answer. They rang again. Skull sighed and shook his head. “I guess he ain’t in. Come to think of it, I can’t see his jeep either. Well, one more try can’t hurt.” He rang for a third time. Suddenly, they heard the sound of smashing glass above them. They both spun round to see shards of glass landing on the floor. They both jumped when they heard something land on the roof above them, before rolling down and falling onto the ground in front of the house. Kim recognized the figure straight away. “TOMMY!” Kimberly ran towards him, dragging Skull along behind her. Tommy looked up. “You’re in danger, get back!” He leapt up and pushed Skull and Kimberly to the floor, just in time to avoid a massive boulder falling off the roof onto their heads.

Kimberly looked up in shock to see the boulder changing into a massive lump of green goo before changing once again into a full suit of Samurai armor, complete with a katana. It looked down through it’s facemask to see Kimberly, Skull and Tommy at it’s feet. It began to raise it’s blade, ready to strike. Skull began to panic. “It’s the end! I want my mommy!” Kimberly was frozen in fear, unable to move whilst Tommy was too weak to make any more sudden escapes.

It was ready to strike them “Goodbye, Doctor Oliver” it yelled in a metallic voice. It swung the blade at them. Kimberly screamed and held tightly on to her screaming husband. Just as it was about to land, a loud car horn beeped, distracting the Samurai, missing them all, plunging the sword into the wooden decking of the patio. It grunted angrily and turned around to see a jeep coming in it’s direction. It hissed before returning it’s attention to Tommy. “You were lucky this time, but soon I’ll kill you Tommy. And your pathetic friends here too.” With that, it melted back down into it’s greenish goo state and seemed to bury itself into the ground. Tommy chuckled. “She made it, just in time.” Kimberly and Skull looked at each other, confusion over the last few moments filling their minds. They looked up to see someone in Tommy’s jeep driving up. The driver started to get out of the jeep.

Kimberly’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that…?”

TO BE CONTINUED

[SPD_Red]

Chapter III – The Best Answers Leave More Questions

The mysterious driver ran up towards the three grounded friends and immediately helped Tommy get up. “Tommy, are you alright? I had a bad feeling and came back to check on you. Guess I scared it off.” Whilst she was talking, Kimberly and Skull stood up. Tommy looked over at them. “Take a look. Remember these guys? Told you they were coming.” She looked over at Kimberly and Skull. “You made it!” she grinned and hugged Kimberly before standing back and looking at her. “You haven’t changed a bit. It’s great to see you Kim.”

Kimberly smiled. “You haven’t changed either, Kat.” She looked over at Tommy. “I don’t understand Tommy, why is Kat here?” Tommy looked a bit nervous. “Well, y’know…” Kat interrupted. “You mean he didn’t tell you? We’re married now.” Skull, who had been silent until now, seemed to come alive when he heard those words. “You’re MARRIED? How? When? I thought you were in London!?” Kat smiled. “I lost contact with Tommy not long after I moved away to study in London, but a few years ago I found out he worked in this town so I contacted him through the school he teaches at. Then I came over to see him and… Things went from there really. We got married and we were living a peaceful married life.” Kimberly stepped forward “You ‘were’ living a peaceful life?” Before Kat could answer, Tommy interrupted. We should continue this conversation inside. Kat, if you could show them around, I just have to make a phone call quickly. Oh, and don’t show them the basement just yet, OK?” Kat nodded and smiled warmly. “Sure, c’mon you two, follow me. I'm sure we have a lot to catch up on.” With that, she walked inside. Kimberly and Skull glanced over at each other, confused, but followed her inside.

10 minutes later, Tommy had returned from the phone and they were sat down, talking about recent events. “And that’s how we got married.” Tommy finished explaining his story. He could see an obvious look of disappointment on Kimberly’s face. “Look, I’m… I’m sorry I didn’t invite you to our wedding. We just wanted to get it out of the way so we could get on with the rest of our lives together.” Kimberly smiled, but stayed silent. An uncomfortable silence settled for a few moments until it was broken by Skull. “It’s OK Tommy, I’m sure she understands. Before we move on to why we’re here, what on Earth was that monster just now?”

Tommy remained silent for a few seconds, trying to think of a way to explain it. “Truth is, I’m not entirely sure. It appeared once a few years ago, stealing some worthless equipment from my lab. I tried to stop it but unfortunately, I failed. That was the last I saw of it until today, it just reappeared out of nowhere. For some reason, this time it wanted to take my life instead of my equipment. I guess it’ll be back again sooner or later. I have a feeling it’s connected to why you’re here though. The dreams you’ve been having.”

At that point, they all heard someone coming through the front door. “Doctor O? You around?” Tommy smiled, recognizing the voice straight away. “Kira! We’re in here.” Kimberly and Skull looked confused as a blond teenage girl appeared in the doorway, dressed in yellow. “You must be Kimberly and Skull, right? The name’s Kira, Kira Ford. It’s great to meet you.”

Kimberly glanced over at Tommy. “Now I’m really confused. How does she know who we are? Who is she?” Kira seemed a bit agitated. “I am still here y’know… I’ll leave the explaining to you, Doctor O.” Tommy sighed. “She's Kira, the Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger, the only one of us left active. Look, Kim. You’re not the only one experiencing these dreams.” Kimberly was even more confused; she hadn’t even mentioned the dreams to him yet. She let him continue. “Kira has them too; has done ever since the Alliance of Evil was destroyed, just like you have. Most of her life she’s been wondering what it’s meaning is. Now you’re here too, maybe we have a chance to get to the bottom of it all. As I said before, that thing has been here once before. The last time that thing was here was the day that Kira first told me about her dreams. Now you’ve come here to tell me about your dreams, it’s appeared again. It can’t be a co-incidence.”

Kimberly and Kira remained silent, both lost in thought. Skull continued the conversation. “I don’t get it. If you’re saying the monster appeared because of their dreams, why does it have an urge to go and kill you?” Tommy went to answer, but Kat interrupted. “We don’t know. We’re hoping to find out as soon as possible though.” Suddenly, Kira’s Dino Gem started to glow in a bright yellow light. At the same time, Kimberly’s Power Morpher began to glow in the same faint pink light it had done the night before. She held it in her hands so everyone could see. “Look! It’s doing it again. What’s causing it?” Kat looked concerned. “I don’t know, but whatever’s doing it is doing the same with Kira’s Dino Gem.” Before anyone could respond, the lights faded once again. Kimberly looked towards Kira. “Tell me, did that happen last night too?” Kira nodded silently. Tommy stood up. “I have a bad feeling about this… It’s about time I showed you something. Kira, we’re going to the Dino Lab. Come with us.” With that, Tommy walked off and everyone else followed.

Upon seeing the Dino Lab, Skull was dumbstruck. “Woah. This place rocks. You’ve been busy eh Tommy?” Tommy chuckled. “Well, when the fate of the world is on your shoulders I guess every group of heroes need their own basement hideout. Goes with the territory I guess.” He walked up to the main computer and pressed a button on the nearby keyboard; a tray pulled out from the wall , revealing what appeared to be a draw. “Kira, put your Dino Gem in there, Kimberly, put your morpher in there too, but make sure they aren’t touching, OK?” They both did as instructed. Tommy pressed the button once again and the draw closed. The main monitor started up, showing different bar charts and readings. Tommy started typing on the keyboard, causing another window to open up on the monitor, showing a map.

He stepped back and analyzed the screen. “This doesn’t look good.” Kat walked up to him and put his arm around him. “What is it Tommy? Bad news?” Tommy shrugged. “I’m not too sure. Guys, come and have a look.” Everyone stepped forward, looking intently at the screen, although they were unable to understand most of it. Tommy continued. “Look at the bars on the left. Both Kim’s morpher and Kira’s Dino Gem show signs of being powered up by an unidentifiable source.” Kimberly interrupted. “But that’s impossible; without my Coin, there’s nothing powering it!” Tommy didn’t answer, continuing the explanation. “They’re being powered up remotely from somewhere. Whatever it is, it’s strong enough to activate the power sources on the morphers, even if there isn’t one there. Kira’s Dino Gem is powered up, that’s why it glowed brighter than Kim’s morpher without the coin. As for whatever’s powering it, there’s just enough of a trace to track it; look at the map.

Kimberly studied it carefully, then stepped back in shock. Skull hugged her. “Babe, what is it? What’s up?” Kimberly tried to answer. “That’s… That’s…” Tommy turned around to face all of his friends. “That’s the remains of the old Power Chamber in Angel Grove. Whatever’s powering it, is coming from there.” Kat gasped. “But the Power Chamber was destroyed!” Kira interrupted. “Hang on, I’ve heard about this before from the log you left behind after you got kidnapped Doctor O. The Power Chamber was the old headquarters of the Power Rangers, right?” Tommy nodded. “Yea, that’s right.”

Kimberly calmed herself down and walked up to the computer, looking intently at the map. “I have to go there. If I do, maybe, just maybe, I can find the answers I’m looking for.” Tommy nodded. I agree. I think you and Kira should head out there and have a look around. We need to make some sense of this. Kira gave a confused look. “You mean you’re not coming with us?” Tommy shook his head. “It’s not me that’s being called. I’ve helped you get this far, but for the moment, the rest is up to you.” He looked over at Skull. “Could you girls leave us for a moment, I want to talk to Skull for a minute. Oh, and take your morpher and Dino gem with you." Kat nodded. “Sure. Come on girls, lets go upstairs.” Kimberly felt slightly uneasy, but followed Kira and Kat.

Tommy turned to face Skull. “I don’t know what’s running through your mind right now man, but you should go with them. You might not be having any dreams, but Kimberly needs someone to look out for her right now. As her husband, make sure you stay by her side, OK?” Skull nodded. “Definitely. I’d never let anything hurt her, even that monster…”

An hour later, the girls were sitting on Tommy’s patio, watching the stars in the night sky whilst Tommy and Skull were checking the Jeep over. Tommy had decided to lend it to them since Skull’s bike wouldn’t hold 3 people. Kira looked over to Kimberly. “Think we’ll find our answers out there?” Kimberly shrugged. “I really don’t know. Even if I find nothing’s there, at least in my head I’ll know I tried.”

The girls continued to watch the stars for a while, and the guys joined them shortly after. Not long after that, they all went to sleep, in preparation for the morning. At sunrise, Skull, Kimberly and Kira drove off into the distance, heading to Angel Grove whilst Tommy and Kat looked on. Tommy could see the worried look on Kat’s face, leaning over and kissing her. She looked at him and smiled. “Don’t worry Kat, they’ll be fine.” She nodded. “Yea, the power will protect them…”

TO BE CONTINUED

[SPD_Red]

Chapter IV – Memories Of A Time Long Passed

It took the traveling trio over half the day to reach Angel Grove, but they finally arrived in the early afternoon. Kira and Kimberly had been sharing Power Ranger stories whilst Skull continued to drive. However, now they were in Angel Grove… “Where do we go from here?” Skull asked, looking puzzled. “Kim, I hope you remember where this Power Chamber is, otherwise we could be here a while.” Kimberly smiled. “Of course I remember where it is! Some of the best events of my life happened in there. Don’t worry, I know the way. It’s in the Desert.” Checking the map, Skull noticed just how big the desert was. “You’d better give directions then. This map is pretty useless.” With that, they drove off to find the remains of the Power Chamber.

As they neared the ruins, they could see two figures standing around. “Who are they? How did they know about the Power Chamber?” questioned Kimberly. As they drove closer, they began to recognize the figures. “That’s Adam and Alpha!” Exclaimed Kira, remembering the times when they fought in place of the Operation Overdrive Rangers, the times that restored her Dino Gem…

Adam heard his name being called and turned around to see the jeep coming towards them. “Hey Alpha, isn’t that…?” Alpha 6 turned round to observe. “Aiaiai! It’s Kira!” Adam walked towards the jeep to greet them as they stopped and unloaded. “Kira! Kimberly! Er… Skull? What are you doing here?” Quizzed Adam. “Hey, don’t be rude. That’s my husband you’re talking to!” Adam looked shocked. “You… Him… Married? I thought you were in Florida?” Kimberly and Skull sighed together and said in unison “It’s a long story.”

“Er… OK… Next question: What brings you all out here?” Kira stepped forward, it’s about her morpher and my Dino…” Before she could finish her reply, the Dino Gem and the morpher began to glow once again. Alpha started to panic. “Look, look! The ruins over there!” The group turned around to see a small white light glowing from the wreckage. They went over and started to dig frantically. “Y’know, this seems all too familiar to me.” Said Adam. Soon enough, they found the source. “Way too familiar.” He repeated. “What is that?” Kira and Kimberly questioned in unison. Alpha began to panic again,“Aiaiai! It looks like…” Adam interrupted; “The Zeo crystal! Well, a very small piece of it, anyway. Is this what’s causing the morpher and gem to glow?” Kira studied the crystal piece. “Sure looks like it. I wonder why?”

“YOU’LL NEVER KNOW!” The group jumped up and turned around to see the Samurai Armour standing opposite them once again. Skull panicked. “M…M…MONSTER!!!”

Adam stepped forward. “Kim, your coin doesn’t work, right?” She nodded. "Take Skull and Alpha, get clear. Kira, ready for a tag team?” Kira stepped forward too. “Yea, lets rumble!” Adam looked at the monster. “I don’t know what you are, but you’re going as fast as you arrived. IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME! MASTODON!” “DINO THUNDER, POWER UP!” Following a bright yellow and black flash, the two Rangers took to their positions.

“Black Mighty Morphin’ Ranger!”
“Yellow Dino Thunder Ranger!”
“You’re going down!” Both of them cried. It was a standoff; the monster on one side, the Rangers on another, with Kim, Skull and Alpha watching from afar. The Monster gripped it’s blade. “I never got a chance to whet my blade before. I will this time!”

The monster charged forward, as did the Power Rangers.

TO BE CONTINUED

[SPD_Red]

Chapter V – Battle In The Unforgiving Sands

As the mighty opponents charged at each other, the mysterious Samurai swung for Adam, who rolled under it whilst Kira front-flipped over it. Adam looked over at Kira “I hate it when they do things the hard way. I think we’ll need a bit more power than this; ready?” “Ready!” The Rangers rolled forwards, jumping up in a 180 degree spin, landing to face their opponent, readying their weapons.

“Blade Blaster, Sword Mode!”
“Ptera Grips!”

The monster turned around, ready to charge again, snarling at his opponents. “Your weapons won’t make you any stronger. You’re still weaker than I am! Hand over the Zeo Crystal piece you just found. If you don’t, I’ll just take it from you!” Kira charged at him, Adam couldn’t stop her in time. “I’m not going to let you have it!” “Kira, stop!”

Kira attempted to strike at it by bringing the Ptera Grips inwards diagonally, in an X pattern. Before it could land though, the Samurai’s katana swung upwards, locking blades with Kira. “You won’t win, girl. You’re too reckless!” Adding strength to his swing, he broke the blade lock and brung the blade back down, heavily striking Kira who rolled off to the side.

Adam followed behind, throwing his Blade Blaster into his left hand, and summoning his other weapon with his left.

“Power Axe!”

Jumping in the air, he attempted to do the same attack that Kira failed to do. The monster attempted to block it in the same way and succeded, but there was enough power within it to cause cracks in the desert floor for a few meters behind it. “I won’t let you take the Zeo Crystal!” However, the monster spotted Kimberly and the others hiding around the ruins, and it could tell that they had the item he was after. Using all his power, he kicked Adam back who was caught by Kira. “You OK?” “I’m fine. He’s really strong though. I don’t think we can do this for long.” Kira looked up at the monster. “Wait, what’s he doing?” Adam looked up at him too; something seemed wrong.

The monster held his right hand up and dissolved it into green goo. He then regenerated his and with an extra; now he was holding a bottle. Kimberly and the others watched on from a distance. “It’s changing again! This isn’t happening…”

Adam realized there was a lot more to his opponent than he originally thought. “What ARE you?” he demanded. The monster laughed, the sound booming across the desert. He unscrewed the lid on the bottle. Blue goo dropped onto the ground and disappeared. Adam and Kira looked around, but couldn’t see anything. “What did you do?” The monster laughed again. "Listen…"

Seconds passed then suddenly they heard screams from the ruins. It was Kimberly and Skull. “Haha. Soon, my children will take the crystal piece, and then you’ll all be finished.” Adam couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “No! Kira, you have to get over there and help them! I’ll handle this!” The monster started to change once again into a green mass, before turning into a larger form of itself. Kira knew she had to help them, but she couldn’t leave Adam, could she? Adam told her to move it. “I can handle this! GO!”

With that, Kira ran off to help the others. Adam braced himself. He’d have to do something he knew he was capable of with his restored powers, but hadn’t ever done. “Ok, I’m not going to hold anything back. Come get some! I NEED DINOZORD POWER, NOW! MASTODON!”

The gigantic Mastodon Dino Zord arrived. Adam knew what he had to do. He jumped up on top of his Zord, heading down into the cockpit. “Mastodon online! You’re not going to get away with this!” The monster just laughed again. “A mastodon huh? I can do that too!” He began to change, transforming into an exact copy of the Mastodon Zord.

Adam couldn’t help but be speechless. He wasn’t used to opponents doing this. He knew that if it found a weakness in his attacks, it would just change into something that could take advantage. “I don’t think I can win this, but I have to try!” The Mastodon roared forwards, as did it’s clone. A mighty gust of wind ripped through the air as they locked tusks. As the Zord took on damage, sparks roared across the cockpit, shaking wildly. Adam tried desperately to steady it as the battle continued. “Easy does it…”

Meanwhile, the blue goo that had appeared before Kimberly and the others turned out to be similar to it’s master, except they had only one goal; obtaining the Zeo Crystal! Kimberly was trying to fight them off, but they had turned into Stone Golems; nothing she could do would hurt them. One leapt at Kimberly she tried to defend herself, but she knew this was probably it. Before it could land, Kira knocked it aside using a little bit of help from her Raptor Rider! She quickly turned to Kimberly. “Run! Don’t let them get the crystal piece!” Kimberly nodded and ran over to Skull and Alpha, encouraging them to flee; looking back for a moment, she could see that Kira was getting heavily beaten up; she wasn’t a match for that many opponents. Her attention then turned to the Mastodon Zords locking tusks; it looked fairly even for now.

Kira took blow after blow. As she attempted to block another swing, she noticed one of the monsters dissolving into blue goo, disappearing into the ground. She looked around desperately, trying to see where it would attack her from next. All too late, she realized she wasn’t the target. She kicked another monster out of the way to see the blue goo appear beneath Kimberly, Skull and Alpha’s feet, making them slide and fall over. Skull, who was holding onto the crystal piece, lost his grip on it and it dropped to the floor. The monster reformed itself and took the crystal. Horror filled the hearts Kimberly and Skull, realizing they had failed. The goo absorbed the crystal piece into itself and disappeared underground. Kimberly knew that if it reappeared, there was everything to fight for. The world could be depending on it.

TO BE CONTINUED.

[SPD_Red]

VI – Blackout

Adam desperately tried to continue the duel, but couldn’t help but notice that the Zeo Crystal piece had been stolen. The monster took full advantage of this, moving back and ramming the real Mastodon Zord with full force. Adam regained his focus and tried to regain his position in the battle as the monster began to ram his Zord again and again, causing massive damage. “Can’t take much more of this… Power cells failing… Losing… Control! Ahhh!” Huge explosions threw Adam out of his cockpit, forcing the mighty Zord to go back into hiding. Adam hit the ground hard.

The monster shifted again back into his Samurai form before shrinking back down to normal size and charging at Adam, slashing him badly. He fell to his knees. “Stupid fool. I told you winning against me was impossible. You couldn’t even win against yourself!” Adam struggled to stand up. “You don’t understand what… It means… To be human…” He couldn’t hold the transformation any longer, reverting back to civilian form and collapsing.

Meanwhile, Kimberly attempted to aid Kira, who was getting beaten fairly severely by the monsters. One of them swung around to kit Kimberly, only to be blocked by Skull. “I won’t let you hurt her!” He yelled, before the monster redirected it’s aim towards him, knocking him over with the force. Kimberly ran over to defend him. “Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.” Kira was thrown into them both, forcing them into a pile on the ground. “This isn’t good. We’re completely surrounded…” She looked up only to find that Alpha had gone. “Alpha! Where are you?” Both girls looked at Skull. “I don’t know! He was right behind me!” The girls stood back up, ready to defend themselves. Suddenly, they all turned back into blue goo and disappeared into the ground. They all looked at each other, confused. “Where’d they go?” wondered a worried Kimberly. Kira stopped for a few seconds, then began running in Adam’s direction. Kimberly was confused. “Where are you going Kira?!” Kira stopped just long enough to say “The Zeo Piece! They have it! They might use it against Adam!” Kimberly realized that it was possible, looking down at Skull, who got up and looked straight into her eyes. “Let’s go Kim. Even if we can’t do anything, we have to try.” With that, they ran after Kira.

The monster kicked Adam, sending him a few meters across the desert floor. One of the blue goo monsters appeared next to it’s master, giving him the Zeo Piece before being absorbed back into it’s master. Adam tried to get to his feet. “What are you going to do with that?” The monster laughed. “This crystal, when in one piece, it holds an ultimate power. But that power is only useful for good. But what if cracks emerge? All the good energy would slowly filter out, whilst the evil energy takes over. Even though this is only a small piece of the whole crystal, I can still drain it’s power and put it into evil uses. Watch!” The small Zeo Piece began to float in front of it. Quite quickly, the light faded from it, being replaced with darkness. When it was finished, he grasped it in his hands once again. "Now, to remove you and all the other Power Rangers that live in Angel Grove. Dark Zeo Power; unleash!"

Kira and the others appeared over a nearby hill, just in time to see a barrier of darkness envelop most of the desert and the entire city of Angel Grove. Alpha was there as well, unable to reach his friend in time. The shockwave of the barriers creation threw Kira, Kimberly, Skull and Alpha to the floor. Kira tried to run into the barrier, but was stopped by Kimberly. “Kim! What are you doing? I have to save him!” She tried to break through, but Skull and Kimberly held her back. They could still see Adam and the monster clearly through the barrier. Somehow, Adam had managed to get to his feet.

“What are you doing? What is this? Tell me!” He ordered his foe. Laughing, he replied. “Everything within this barrier except me is being drawn into me, thanks to the powers of this crystal piece. My body’s heightened powers, combined with this piece, will make me unstoppable, even if I fail to get the rest of it!” He looked around towards Kira and Kimberly. “Your friends; they aren’t the only ones who dream. I do too; and once I do this, it won’t ever come to pass!” Adam thought quickly. He knew he couldn’t avoid the coming fate, but he still had a chance to stop the monster getting the powers he needed.

Adam allowed the barrier to close until it was only him and the monster remaining. Then he started laughing. The monster was confused. “What do YOU have to laugh about? You’re about to meet your end!” “Maybe, maybe not; either way, you’ve... just… LOST!” Adam used all of his energy to run full pace at the monster, morphing in the process. He grabbed the Zeo Crystal piece before diving into the barrier, absorbing him into the monster, effectively containing the threat for the moment; without the crystal piece, the monster couldn’t use the powers, and that piece just disappeared with him. The monster realized what had happened. “No! This can’t be!”

The barrier disappeared and the dust settled. Furious, but out of energy, the monster turned around to face the others in the distance. “YOU HAVEN’T WON! I WILL BE BACK!” With that, he faded into green goo and disappeared into the ground.

The others gave themselves a moment to take it all in before rising to their feet. Angel Grove was no more. All they could see was barren wasteland for as far as they could see. Flat, barren wasteland.

Kira, Skull and Kimberly fell to their knees in tears. They couldn’t believe it. Alpha stepped forward, looking onwards.

“…Adam…”

TO BE CONTINUED

[SPD_Red]

VII – There Are No Angels Here

Kimberly was the first person to regain her composure. She stood up and went to comfort Alpha, trying hard to hold back her tears, putting her hand on the Automaton’s shoulder. “It’s going to be fine, Alpha… There wasn’t anything we could do.” Kira heard this and took offence, jumping to her feet. She ran over to Kimberly and slapped her, knocking her to the ground. “How can you say that? You wouldn’t let me try! You have NO right to stand there and tell us we couldn’t do anything. No right at all!” With that, she de-morphed, a heavy stream of tears running down her face. Kimberly stood up. “If you had gone in there, you would have been… Gone…” Kira couldn’t say anything to that. She knew that Kimberly was right; but she didn’t want to admit it.

Skull came over and stood between the two. “Calm down, OK? Look.” He pointed over to the vast expanse of barren ground that used to be their home in years long passed, everyone else turning around to look. “Adam’s not the only one that’s gone. Everyone and everything that was in that city is GONE. That… That thing did this. And I’ll never forgive him.” Kira wiped the tears from her eyes. “You’re right. We can’t forgive him, but we can still fight him. Adam took the crystal piece with him. That buys us some time, right? We can still find the other pieces; that must be why he didn’t absorb the Power Chamber’s ruins.”

Alpha shook his head. “I’m afraid that won’t be happening. You see, I don’t think there are any more pieces here.” Kimberly, Skull and Kira looked at each other, surprised, then back to Alpha. Skull realized something. “Was the Zeo Crystal why you were here? I mean, you looked like you were looking for something when we found you.” Alpha nodded. “Yes! You see, after opening up his dojo in town, Adam would come here occasionally for inspiration. I always came with him. This morning I detected a disturbance with a similar signature to the Zeo Crystal, but much weaker. By the time we arrived here, the signal had become much weaker. Now the monster has taken that piece with him, I no longer detect anything. Someone else must have been here before we got here.” Kimberly looked confused. “You mean, someone besides us and that monster?” Alpha nodded. “Correct. I have no way of knowing who or what that could have been however.”

Frustrated, Kira clenched her fists. “So what do we do now then? We have no leads, no crystal, nothing.” Skull shook his head in disagreement. “We have more than we came with; didn’t you hear what that freak said before absorbing the city? He said that he had those dreams too. From the sounds of things though, it sounds like he has a much better understanding of it all. If you ask me, he sounds afraid of the dream becoming reality.” Kimberly smiled. She was always impressed by how smart he actually was in comparison to how he acted around Bulk. “I agree. Well, it looks like there really isn’t that much we can do… Maybe we should head back to see Tommy and Kat? They might have had more luck than we have.”

Alpha started waving his arms around, getting the attention of the other Rangers. “Take me with you, Rangers! I might be able to help Tommy with a few things. It’s not like I have anywhere to go now anyways.” They all nodded in unison. Skull pulled the keys to the jeep out of his pocket. “Guess we’re back on the road again then.” He walked off towards the jeep, turning around to survey the destruction one last time. ‘I owe you one man. Thanks to you, we still have a chance’.

Everyone began walking back to the jeep, with Kimberly following up at the back. Suddenly, she heard something.

“Hang on…”

Kimberly jumped, her face full of worry. “D-did you guys hear that?” Everyone stopped and turned around. Skull walked up to her, looking concerned. “Hear what honey?” Kimberly tried to explain it as best as she could, but found it hard. “It’s like… I’m not sure. Like a voice in the wind? Whatever it was, it was freaky.” She looked at the others, none of them seemed to believe her. “I’m not making this up! I’m telling you, I heard something!”

“…I’m coming…”

Kimberly protested “There it was again!”. Skull shook his head and sighed. “Listen, you’ve been through a rough experience. We all have. You should just take it easy, right?” Kimberly wanted to argue her case, but she knew that now wasn’t the time. Skull only used that tone of voice when he was trying to let her know she was fighting a losing argument, and Kira definitely wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. She nodded hopelessly. “Right… Lets get going then.” With that, they walked towards the jeep, the sun beginning to set over the town that was no more.

“…Rangers…”

TO BE CONTINUED

[SPD_Red]

NOTE: As explained above; this could be viewed as a story with various dark elements (i.e. - Death, violence etc.) and the story WILL get darker from here. Read at your own discretion. (Don't say I didn't warn you...)

The Dark Knight Arc
VIII – Red To The Rescue

Somewhere on Earth, deep in a forest, both near and far from Angel Grove, trouble was stirring. In what used to be a peaceful land, a mighty battle was underway. During this clash of forces, a young man was running through the forest, his mind racing. ‘Am I too late?’ the question kept going round and around in the back of his mind. A gigantic ball of fire came down from the sky, landing nearby, the force sending him flying. He forced himself to his feet, continuing to run, looking back to make sure no-one was following him. He was exausted, but he knew he couldn’t give up. “Come on body, don’t die on me now!” he cried as he carried on, his ears listening to the sounds of explosions in all directions, particularly in an area ahead of him…

A few moments later, he came to a cliff edge, forcing him to stop. Quickly, he surveyed his surroundings; deep forests in every direction with a few villages scattered here and there. Up ahead however, he saw a sight that filled him with fear. About 2 miles or so away he could see a small village in flames. “No!” he cried. “I have to hurry!” Looking down the cliff, he saw that there was a very long drop to the forest floor, easily a few hundred meters. He had no choice. The mysterious youth backed up a few paces before charging at the edge of the cliff and jumping off, somersaulting in the air. During the somersault, he brung out two wrist devices, slotting them together. “POWER OF THE AGES! RED KNIGHT, ANCIENT RANGER!” A bright red light encompassed him as he landed. He stood up, fully morphed into the Red Ancient Ranger. His armor looked just like a knight, gleaming in red, a sword in it’s holster by his side. His helmet was also the same shade of red, his visor resembling a sand timer on it’s side and his armor bore the emblem of a horse.

“Hang on, I’m coming Rangers!” he cried. He went to sprint forward, but he stopped. He could almost sense the feelings of some people nearby, confused and distressed. He quickly looked around, but couldn’t see anyone. Regaining his focus, he continued running towards the village.

15 minutes later, he had arrived. The sight before him shocked him to the core; the village he had sworn to protect was completely engulfed in flames, bodies everywhere. He heard the sounds of clashing metal up ahead. He drew his sword and raced towards the center of the village.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the village, a Blue and Green Ranger was fighting a young man, covered in a black aura, wielding a large two-handed sword with spikes pointing out from the edges.

The male Green Ranger, his armor resembling light chain mail with a dragon symbol on it attacked him with his weapon; a Green Spear whilst the female Blue Ranger, with armor resembling what an Archer would wear, a Sea Serpent as her symbol, fired at distance with her Bow.

Their attacker was clearly stronger than them, even appearing to be toying with them, constantly blocking both Rangers’ attacks. After knocking back the Green Ranger once more, he let go of his sword with one hand, his dark aura building in it. “Damn you!” Cried the Green Ranger as he charged again, but before he could attack again, the aura in the attackers hand grew to the size of a ball. Without uttering a word, he threw the ball of darkness at the Ranger, hitting him full force, knocking him into one of the burning buildings. The Blue Ranger looked horrified. “Kevin! NO!” The attacker turned his attention to her, walking towards her. His aura building up in his sword. The terrified Ranger tried to back up, but found herself against a nearby tree. Suddenly, the attackes sword shone brightly and he seemingly flew forward.

Just as this happened, the mysterious Red Ranger arrived, just in time to see the sword pierce through the Blue Ranger. He yelled, his voice filled with agony. “KARYN!!!” She looked up for a second before dropping her head, de-morphing. The attacker withdrew his sword and she fell to the floor.

Anger filled within the Red Ranger, his ears blocking out all sounds but the burning flames. He screamed and charged at his opponent, drawing his sword, bursting with a red aura. Calmly, his attacker’s aura surrounded his body, The Ranger swung at him, only for the attacker to raise his blade at a speed the young Rangers’ eyes could not follow, blocking it. As he blocked it, his body surrounded in darkness, turning into a Black Ranger, closely resembling a Dark Knight, his symbol was blank. He threw the Ranger aside, who quickly returned to his feet.

The Black Ranger gestured him to attack again; “Come, attack me if you must. This fight’s over.”

TO BE CONTINUED

[SPD_Red]

IX – Journey To Another World

The Red Ancient Ranger stood opposite his opponent, his body shaking not with overwhelming anger, but with overwhelming grief. Having regained his mental composure, he knew that fighting the Black Ranger with anger would be a waste. He knew he would only end up dead like his two comrades. Even worse, he knew that even if he thought with a clear mind, he wasn’t strong enough to win this battle alone.

“No.” He replied quietly. The Black Ranger laughed. “Giving up so soon? I’m sure all the people you failed today would be so proud to hear you say that, coward.” He replied sarcastically. He sheathed his sword, chuckling. “I’ll let you live after all, so that you can send a message to your pathetic mentor. Tell him that I’ve found my way to the other side. He’s welcome to try and stop me. Soon, the greatest power in the universe will be mine and you can finish watching the end of the universe, which has begun with this victory!”

With that, a black aura surrounded him and he teleported away. The Red Ranger stood in silence for a few moments before falling to his knees, reverting back to normal form and bursting into tears.

Seconds passed. Suddenly, the ground beneath him started to shake. He recognized it instantly – it was some kind of earthquake, but this was far stronger than anything he had experienced. Cracks appeared in the ground all around him, trees could be heard falling to the ground in the distance, the remains of nearby buildings collapsing in on themselves. He looked up and saw a small sphere of dark energy in the air not far from where the Black Ranger had been standing moments earlier. It started to expand quickly.

He remained completely still, frozen in fear, not knowing what was happening. Suddenly, small balls of fire appeared all over his body, turning him into a stream of fire, which condensed into a small ball before bursting off into the sky – he had been teleported away. Not a moment too soon, either; in seconds, the entire village and the surrounding area was covered in the energy sphere, which collapsed on itself without warning, turning everything inside it to fine dust. All that remained was a large crater that stretched out for miles...

Meanwhile, the Red Ranger materialized in a cave that would normally be far beyond the reach of normal beings. He quickly got to his feet and looked around, confused. Recognizing the cave, he turned around and saw his mentor. He rushed up to him. “Master Zordon!”

Before him was indeed his mentor, Zordon, a face trapped in a tube of blue light. Long ago he once walked across the Earth just like his Rangers did, but that time had long passed.

“Ricky, I am glad to see that I was able to teleport you away in time. I feared that you were lost forever.”

Ricky shook his head, tears still falling from his eyes. “Zordon, the others. T-t-they’re...” His voice trailed off. “Gone, I know. Their powers are also lost as well.” Zordon replied.

Ricky looked at Zordon, full of confusion. “What do you mean, gone? That can’t be! I accept they’re dead, but their Morphers should still be intact!” Zordon shook his head. “The ball of light that the Dark Ranger left behind him is called a Destruction Field. It destroys everything within a certain radius. I’m afraid that the village, as well as the surrounding forest for a long distance is gone.”

There was silence in the room for a few moments. Ricky had no idea what to think; his best friend Kevin and his fiancée Karyn were both gone. The two closest people he’d ever known, erased from existence. His hatred for his enemy was growing quickly, even robbing him of the chance to bury the dead.

A few minutes passed before Zordon spoke again. “I realize that this is the hardest moment of your life, Ranger, but I must ask for your help once again. The Dark Ranger has found a way to unleash the ultimate evil. If we don’t stop him, I’m afraid that all will be lost forever.”

Ricky didn’t hesitate. “Tell me everything I need to know. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he fails.”

“It’s not that easy, Ranger.” Zordon replied. “If you only had to stop him, then things would be straightforward. However, there is another evil being, one far greater than him, that must be stopped before it is too late.”

“Another being? Even stronger than him!?” Ricky replied, a strong sense of surprise in his voice. Zordon nodded and continued. “Many thousands of years ago, an unnamed being, the last of a race known as the Risarians staged a battle to decide the fate of an alternate universe. The Risarians were a race that essentially were made of a green liquid that could take any form and grew stronger with battle and from absorbing anything with a large amount of energy. In this alternate universe, another version of me fought it, but failed. With it’s growing powers, it ripped a hole into this universe and began using it’s incredible powers to try and collapse both universes, enabling it absorb enough power to create it’s own universe where it’s kind could flourish once again, so it wouldn’t be alone any more.”

Ricky shrugged. “I still don’t understand how this relates to this situation. It sounds powerful and everything, but it clearly failed.”

Zordon nodded. “Yes, myself and the alternate version were able to cast a spell, sealing the rift between the universes and trapping the monster between them, weakening it to a point where it could never escape. However, I sensed about a decade ago that the Zordon in the other universe had died. Without him, the barrier weakened. I’m sure it has escaped and is growing stronger, as I can feel my side of the barrier slowly weakening. The Dark Ranger appears to have found a way to head through the weakened barrier and has arrived in the other universe.”

“I still don’t get it.” Ricky questioned. “Why would the Dark Ranger want to have anything to do with this? Surely it would destroy him too given half the chance?”

Zordon paused for a few moments, thinking about what to say before replying. “I don’t know. What must be made certain however is that he doesn’t succeed. I think I can send you to the other universe, where you must attempt to stop the Dark Knight and the Risarian. You shouldn’t be alone, however. I sense there are many individuals that are aligned with the Morphing Grid as you are. If you can find them, you may just have a chance. However, I must warn you that if you go, you may not be able to return...”

“I’ll do it.” Ricky replied without hesitation. “I can’t let him take any more lives. Send me.”

Below Zordon’s tube was a stone slab. A small opening appeared in it’s side, revealing a ruby. “Take this with you.” Zordon asked.

Ricky leant down and picked it up, examining it closely. “What is it?” he asked his mentor. “It’s an object known as the Power Ruby. It has the powers of a Ranger long forgotten. However, it can only be accessed by someone the Ruby chooses to wield it. I can feel it’s powers reaching out into the other universe. Take it with you. You must find it’s rightful owner on the other side. The Ruby’s power may be the only thing that can win this fight.”

There was a long pause. Ricky thought about what he would be leaving him behind. A world that he might never be able to return to. A mentor that could be Rangerless forever. Suddenly, he thought of something. “Wait, I can’t leave. What about the forces loyal to the Dark Ranger? They’ll run over the Earth in no time if they’re left unchecked!”

“Fear not. Most of his forces left with him to the other side, those that remain here are small in number and the villages should be able to take care of it. The Dark Ranger is the real threat. Time is short. Make your final decision.”

Ricky nodded. “There’s no choice to be made. I’m all set. Send me, I’ll stop him for sure.”

Zordon nodded. “Very well. Let the Power protect you Ricky, always.”

A bright light began to envelope the room, wrapping itself around Ricky, turning him into a beam of white light. A dimensional hole opened up, showing a city on the other side. The light shot through and the portal closed, leaving Zordon alone...

Meanwhile, the portal came out into the other dimension, the white light shooting out of the portal at blinding speed before stopping by what appeared to be a highway. The portal closed and the light turned back into Ricky.

He looked around. “Looks like I made it... I think.” He looked around, seeing a city in the distance. He could hear explosions – a battle was raging. “Seems like the Dark Ranger is on the loose already... Or is it this monster Zordon told me about?” he thought aloud before running down the highway towards the city.

On the way there, he passed by a sign, which read

“WELCOME TO SILVER HILLS”


To be continued...

[SPD_Red]

X – Time For...

Back in Reefside, Tommy had been working with Hayley, trying to work out what might be powering Kim’s morpher. Meanwhile, Conner and Ethan were upstairs with Kat trying to find out if the monster had appeared anywhere else. Deciding to take a break, Kat walked over to the T.V. and turned it on. Both of the guys heard her gasp in surprise. “Guys, have a look at this!” she said.

They both came over and looked at the T.V. to see what looked like a Dark Knight attacking a city. Alongside him were dozens of small, thin Goblin-like creatures covered with crimson colored fur and had fairly long claws on both hands as well as fairly large wings. Conner looked shocked, whilst Ethan’s eyes widened almost comically. “Woooah.” He said in an astounded way.

“I’m going to go and get Tommy, he needs to see this.” Kat told them, walking out of the room. Ethan turned to Conner. “Do you think that this has anything to do with the monster that showed up here?” he asked. Conner just shrugged. “No idea, but whatever it is, it definitely doesn’t look friendly...”

A few moments later, Tommy, Kat and Hayley hurried into the room. “Turn it up, Ethan.” Tommy asked. Ethan nodded and grabbed the remote, turning up the volume. They all carefully watched and listened to the report.

“For those of you that have just tuned in, you are watching scenes from the town of Silver Hills, filmed moments ago. A mysterious Knight-like monster has arrived in the normally peaceful town along with some demonic looking creatures just over an hour ago, and they are destroying everything in sight!”

“This isn’t good.” Muttered Conner. “Shh!” hissed Hayley. “It’s not finished yet!” she stated as 3 Rangers were shown on the screen fighting the monsters. Tommy recognized two of them instantly as Eric and Wes, whilst he had heard of Jen, the Pink Ranger. It looked like they were all losing.

“As you can see, the Power Rangers that protect this town are desperately trying to fight back and defend us all, but the monsters seem too numerous and powerful for them. The Silver Guardians, a group that helps defend the city have been mainly been forced to withdraw after sustaining many injuries. At this time it is uncertain how many citizens are still inside the town, but very few have had the chance to evacuate. We’ll have more on this story as we get it.”

Tommy shook his head. “This doesn’t look good. Those Rangers are good people and excellent fighters, but I don’t think they’ll be able to win without some help. If only we still had our powers...” Kat leant over and hugged him. “It’ll be alright Tommy.” She whispered into his ear. He nodded. “Yea. I hope you’re right...”

Over in Silver Hills, utter chaos was enveloping the town. The Time Force Rangers had been forced to split up as the battle was unfolding all over the city. Wes and Jen were trying to hold off the minions whilst Eric was trying his best against the Dark Knight.

Wes was fighting in an very narrow alleyway, having been lured away from the main streets by the monsters. One of them flew at him from in front of him. Anticipating it, he backflipped and shot at it with his Chrono Blaster, hitting it in the chest. It flew under him and crashed into the floor, disappearing in a cloud of red mist. He turned around to check it was gone, only to see two flying at him incredibly close. Unable to react, he was struck by one of them, sending him flying. The second one flew into the air and grabbed onto him with his claws, speeding up and letting him go, flying the Ranger into the path of another monster which hit him with full force, sending him flying out of the alleyway into a van parked outside on the road.

Climbing to his feet, he looked up to see all 3 of them charging him again. Luckily he had time to counter this time, drawing his Chrono Blaster once more, killing all of them. He collapsed to his knees, still recovering from the previous blows. ‘If only I could use my Battle Warrior Armor...’ he thought. It was too dangerous to do so however, since there were still many civilians running around in terror. He climbed to his feet to get back to the fight, but another winged monster smacked into his side, throwing him down the road. Struggling back to his feet, Wes ran at the monster, desperate to keep the fight going, not willing to give up.

Meanwhile, Jen had been carried up onto the roof of a tall skyscraper and her fight was unfolding there. With enemies coming at her from all angles and distances, she had been forced to double up her weapons, wielding her Chrono Blaster in one hand and a Chrono Saber in the other. She was quickly growing tired, constantly swinging the Saber at her close targets whilst shooting enemies at range with her Blaster. As time passed however, it became clear to her that there were far too many of them to handle; their only hope was that Eric would come through for them and defeat their leader.

Being out on the open roof, she was an extremely vulnerable target. She could see the stairs leading to the building and was trying to get inside to be under some cover, but every time she tried the monsters kept getting in the way.

Up until this point, the monsters had been attacking her in a disorganized fashion, but suddenly they seemed to have a plan; some of them were circling above her whilst the others continued to charge at her on her level. It was no longer a case of trying to fight them, it was quickly degrading into trying to evade them as they kept coming. One came right up to her, with no way of dodging, she quickly delivered a roundhouse kick to it, making it career of course, only to have one knocking into her from behind, knocking her face down on the floor, dropping her weapons.

She quickly jumped up, just in time to see the circling monsters suddenly charging at her in a straight line. She tried to dodge but it was too late; they hit her full force, one after the other, pushing her towards the edge of the roof. Before she realized what was happening, the last one hit her, sending her flying off the roof towards the ground. The monsters came back around and swiped at her with their claws as she fell, hitting her about 20 times overall before she finally landed in a pool below...

Whilst all this was going on, Eric was busy in a frantic sword fight against their leader, the mysterious Dark Knight. As they locked blades, Eric shouted at him “Give it up! I won’t ever let you or your freaks here win!”

The Dark Knight pushed his sword to the side, getting close enough to elbow Eric in the face, causing him to stumble just long enough for the Dark Knight to deliver a heavy punch into his stomach, winding him, finishing the combo off with a spinning upwards slash, sending Eric to the floor.

The Dark Knight jumped in the air, pointing his sword downwards. Luckily Eric anticipated the move and quickly converted his Quantum Defender back into it’s gun mode, taking a few shots at the Knight. It didn’t hurt him, but the force was enough to send him off course, missing Eric by inches.

Eric rolled to the side and jumped up and started to switch back to sword mode, but the Knight quickly built up an aura in his sword and charged at Eric, far faster than his eyes could follow, slashing him as he passed. Eric fell to the ground once again, his Ranger suit starting to fade in colour and he was struggling to keep himself morphed, going in and out of Ranger form several times within seconds. He cried out and a burst of red light enveloped him quickly before disappearing, stabilizing his powers, for now.

The Knight turned to face his opponent. “It’s over.” He cried, walking over to Eric, still on the floor, too weak to get up. The Knight stopped in front of him and looked at him. “Pathetic.” He muttered, raising his sword and pointing it down.

Suddenly, a red blast smashed into the Knight’s back. He turned around to see the Red Ancient Ranger, who jumped over him and quickly pulled Eric away. He crouched down beside him. “You OK?” he asked. Eric looked up at him. “I’m fine, thanks. Who are you?” The mysterious Red Ranger shook his head. “That doesn’t matter right now. I’m a friend. That’s all you need to know.”

Ricky stood up and faced his all to familiar opponent. Eric struggled to his feet and stood beside him. The Dark Knight laughed. “You again? You never learn. So it’s two against one now, is it? That won’t make a difference. You’re both still destined to die...” The Knight burst into laughter as Ricky drew his sword and Eric readied his Quantum Defender, ready to fight their opponent to death if necessary...

TO BE CONTINUED...

[FlashmanX]

all the this fic is dark talk means i have to read this
so you better not disappoint

[Kali_WolfChilde]

okay, i just got finished reading what u wrote so far, and this is really good stuff. i actually LIKE that it's darker than PR normally is. can't WAIT for ur next ep.

[SPD_Red]

Thanks for your comments Kali_WolfChilde! I'm glad you like it; thanks for reading it all, I realise that there's quite a lot there! Luckily you don't need to wait that long for the next part!

FlashmanX - I'll try not to dissappoint, let me know what you think when you've read it!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
XI - ...Time Force

Eric and Ricky charged at their opponent with their weapons, both of them attacking with all of their strength and this time the Dark Knight made no effort to block, allowing both strikes to hit him. Even though both attacks hit him perfectly, he didn’t even flinch. ‘What? How can this be possible?’ thought Eric. Even Ricky was surprised. ‘I only fought him a couple of hours ago... How could he have grown so strong in such a short time?’ he wondered.

Running past their opponent to avoid a counterattack, they both turned back around to face their foe. Suddenly they could hear the monsters all around them. Looking around, they noticed that the monsters were gathering on the rooftops all around the plaza, watching the match intently. “What’s going on here?” asked Ricky.

“It’s simple.” Replied the Dark Knight. “They’re here to watch. I summoned them to defeat the defenders of this city, and since both the Silver Guardians and your other Ranger friends have now either been defeated or have fled, my monsters have returned to witness your end too.”

Eric shook his head. “THAT’S NOT TRUE!” he cried, reaching for the morpher on his wrist. “Wes! Jen! Answer me! Wes! Jen! If you can hear this, please, answer!” moments passed with nothing but silence, broken when the minions began to laugh and the Dark Knight also began laughing. “I told you, they’re gone now. And now it’s your turn.”

Eric raised his sword again, preparing to strike. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice through the morpher. “Eric! It’s Wes, I’m fine. Roughed up a little, but I’m OK. I’m worried about Jen though, I can’t get in touch with her.” Eric sighed. “Glad to hear your alive. We’ll take care of things here. You go find Jen!”

There was a long pause before Wes answered. “...We?” “It’s a long story. I’ll explain when you’ve found Jen, got it?” “Got it, I’ll get back in touch when I’ve found her. Over and out.” Eric laughed at the Dark Knight. “Dead or fleeing huh? Your little red furballs aren’t that good at their job are they?”

“Maybe not, but you won’t be as lucky as they were.” He replied, holding his sword up, ready to fight. Ricky turned to Eric. “The names Ricky, by the way. I guess if this doesn’t work out, it’s been nice knowing you!” and with that, he charged. Eric wasn’t sure what was going on between these two, but he knew he couldn’t let the Dark Knight win this battle. With that, he charged as well.

Meanwhile, Wes, beaten up and no longer morphed, started to look for Jen. The streets were a mess; rubble from damaged buildings littered the streets, along with broken cars and the bodies of citizens and Silver Guardian soldiers that either couldn’t defend themselves enough to stop them or just couldn’t run fast enough. ‘Jen...Please be alive.’ He thought to himself as he jogged through the streets,

Despite Eric’s battle being streets away, Wes could still hear the sounds of a vicious battle taking place. He had to hurry and join them, but Jen was his priority. He jogged down the road for a few seconds before stopping abruptly. He could feel someone watching him, and that didn’t make him feel too easy. Looking around, he couldn’t see anyone. “Hello?!” he called out. He heard nothing apart from the wind blowing. “It’s OK, I’m a member of the Silver Guardians. You can come out now.”

He turned back around to continue his search when he saw someone who made him jump; Jen in morphed form, just standing there literally feet away. “Jen!” Wes cried. “I’m so glad I found you. How come you haven’t been answering our calls?”

She just stood there, motionless, not uttering a word. “Jen?” he said with a worried tone in his voice. Still nothing. He was spooked a little, but calm. He walked towards her slowly. “It’s OK, tell me what’s wrong...” He reached out with his hand to hold hers, but suddenly she punched him hard in the stomach followed by a side kick, sending him to the floor a few meters away. She seemed unrealistically strong compared to usual.

“Jen?!” he asked, trying to get up. ‘What the hell is going on here? ‘ he thought. Looking up, he could see Jen walking towards him...

TO BE CONTINUED...

[Kali_WolfChilde]

holy crap! dude, as i told another person on here, i dont often read fics any more, but yours has got me hooked. i eagerly await the next ep/installment.

[SPD_Red]

Hey all, here's the next chapter!

Kali_WolfChilde - I'm glad you're enjoying it! I've had positive feedback off of other boards too! I'm surprised it's had such a good reaction really; this is just a side project ot keep me busy whilst I work on the MMPR re-write. I honestly didn't think it would do this well! Seriously; I came up with the plot for this in 3 minutes during work one morning! Anyways, enjoy chapter 12!

XII – The Battle Of Silver Hills

As Wes stood up, Jen performed a sweeping kick on him, sending him to the floor once again. Struggling to get up, he looked at his morpher. ‘I’m too weak... If I try to morph now I might not survive. And even if I do morph, I don’t want to hurt Jen...’ He looked up at her to see her drawing her Chrono Blaster and taking aim. Without a word of warning, she started firing shots at him. Luckily he was able to roll out of the way and take cover behind an overturned car.

“I must be nuts...” he muttered to himself, reaching for his Chrono Morpher. “TIME FOR, TIME FORCE!” There was a bright red flash of light and in a split second he had become the Red Time Force Ranger once again. He felt different this time though; he’d never tried morphing when he was this injured before, especially combined with the fact that his powers had only just taken a massive beating half an hour earlier.

Jen hadn’t moved, but she was still firing shot after shot at the car. It was a minor miracle that it hadn’t blown up yet. He drew his Chrono Blaster, knowing that he had no choice. After taking a deep breath, he raced out of the side of the car, shooting at Jen whilst heading for the alleyway across the road for more reliable cover. He tried to keep his aim on her Chrono Blaster, hoping to knock it out of her hand, but all of his shots missed. She continued to fire at him without doing anything else, almost like a robot...

Meanwhile, Eric and Ricky’s battle against the Dark Knight continued. They had formed quite an effective plan; Ricky would attack from one side with his Ancient Sword, whilst Eric would attack from the other side with his Quantum Defender., but even though the Dark Knight was outnumbered, he didn’t appear to be outclassed; easily holding both of them off. Some of their strikes did hit the Dark Knight, but they didn’t even scratch him.

Suddenly, Eric jumped back, listening carefully. He could hear the sounds of blaster shots coming from nearby. He had been paying enough attention to the monsters on the rooftops to know that none of them had left. Even if he hadn’t seen them leaving, he would have definitely heard the flapping of their wings. Whilst Ricky held off the Knight on his own, Eric reached for his morpher. “Wes, come in. What’s going on? I can hear blaster shots!”

It took a few moments for Wes to reply, pain echoing in his voice and in the background Eric could definitely hear blaster shots, but they were too close to each other to be just one Chrono Blaster, although he assumed he’d found Jen and she was helping him after running into some unexpected company. “Eric! We’ve got trouble. I’m not sure what’s going on, but Jen is attacking me! I found her and she just started attacking me. I’ve tried talking to her, but I didn’t get any reaction at all. She almost seems like a robot! I don’t think I’m going to last much longer like this.”

Eric was stunned. This was one bad day that was just getting worse. He knew he had a tough choice to make. He couldn’t leave Ricky to fight the Dark Knight on his own, but he couldn’t just abandon Wes, either. Ricky had already heard their conversation and knew what had to be done. This was his problem from his world, he’d have to deal with it alone. Luckily for him, he managed to lock swords with the Dark Knight, giving him just enough time to talk to Eric. “Eric! Go and help Wes. I’m fine, I can handle this myself.”

Eric shook his head. “I can’t just leave you to fight alone. He’s too strong for both of us as it is!” Ricky was forced to step back a little, quickly losing the sword lock. “Look, I don’t have time to explain, but I shouldn’t be here and neither should our friend here. This is my fight for now. Go and handle your own fight!”

“Damn!” Eric muttered to himself. “Alright, but you’d better be still alive when I get back!” With that, he started running towards Wes’ position. ‘This is crazy, what else could possibly go wrong today?’ he thought.

“You are foolish to think that you could beat someone of my strength alone.” Taunted the Dark Knight, pushing into the lock and breaking it, leaving Ricky off guard, following up with an upwards slash, throwing Eric aside, although he quickly returned to his feet. “You might have killed the others, but I won’t let you kill me. Their memories live on through my own!” he cried, charging at his opponent. His sword started to glow red and he jumped up at an angle, spinning around furiously towards the Dark Knight. “Ancient Sword Spinout!” he cried as the move started to connect.

The move failed however as the Dark Knight raised his hand and stopped the attack, grabbing hold of the Red Rangers’ sword. The sudden drastic slowdown in speed sent Ricky flying to the floor, spinning until impact, landing behind the Knight. The Knight turned around to face his foe, throwing Ricky’s sword to the ground beside the fallen Red Ranger. Ricky quickly grabbed his sword and jumped up and backwards, giving him valuable distance. He was growing tired, completely unsure if he could survive this battle.

“How did you get so strong all a sudden?!” He cried. “You were nothing like this in the our world!” His Dark opponent just laughed. “Let’s just say I have someone unwittingly helping...” With that, the Dark Knight drew his sword and charged again.

Back with Wes, both him and Jen continued to trade shots off. Wes peeked out of the corner to fire off another shot, but Jen beat him too it, scoring 2 perfect shots; one to the shoulder and one to he chest, the force of the blast making him drop his blaster. A third shot to his chest knocked pushed him back, and a fourth to the ground just in front of him, the force sending him to the floor. His Ranger energy was exhausted from the damage, demoprhing him.

Jen started to talk over to him as he questioned what she was doing. “Jen... What’s happened to you? Why are you doing this?” She stood over him and laughed. He recognised her voice, it was definitely her in there. She started to kneel down beside him, reaching for his morpher. Just before it she could touch it, a shot rang out, hitting her perfectly in the chest, throwing her backwards to the ground. The shot came from Eric’ Quantum Defender. He ran up to his friend and helped him up. “Wes! Are you OK?” Wes nodded. “Just about. What are you doing here? The fight isn’t over!”

Eric shook his head. “The other guy can handle it.” He replied. Before Wes could answer, they both saw Jen get up and walk over to them. She pointed at them. “You stupid Rangers. You won’t last forever...” Wes’ eyes widened. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Seconds later, something even stranger happened; Jen burst into some kind of gas before disappearing into the air. Eric and Wes ran up to where she was standing. “WHAT IS GOING ON?!” cried Wes. “JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!” he cried, collapsing on the floor in a burst of tears.

Looking around, Eric saw something at the end of the road, something that didn’t look good. “Jen?” he muttered. Wes looked up at him. “What?!” Eric pointed to a pool at the end of the road. “Look.” There was someone collapsed on the poolside, their legs still in the water. Wes and Eric ran over to the figure, shocked by what they found. “Jen?!” they questioned.

It was definitely Jen lying there. They both pulled her out of the pool and laid her out on the ground. Eric checked her pulse. “She’s alive, Wes. She’s alive.” Wes was speechless, not knowing what to think, what to say... Eric looked around for signs of what had happened, and he caught sight of her morpher not far from her. He walked over and picked it up. ‘What? There’s no power?!’ he thought as he examined it.

He took it over to Wes. “I’ve found this.” He said, passing it to him. Wes shook his head and placed it down beside her. “I can’t wake her up Eirc, I can’t wake herup.” Eric’s head bowed. “She’ll be fine, he muttered, listening to the wind. That’s when he realised; he couldn’t hear the battle anymore. “Ricky!” he shouted. Wes looked up at him. “Ricky?” he asked. “The guy I was fighting with.” Eric replied. “I have to go see what’s happened. Wait here!” he shouted as he run off. Wes didn’t reply, just sitting there, everything too much for him to take in…

TO BE CONTINUED…

[FlashmanX]

I was checking my ds readmore deleting unfinsihed fics

will there be more of this

[SPD_Red]

XIII – The Calm After The Storm

As Eric ran into the plaza, he came to a stop, shocked by what he could see, or more accurately, what he couldn’t see. All of the attackers that were here were now gone and looking around, he couldn’t find any sight of Ricky, either. “Ricky!” he yelled out, waiting for a few moments for an answer, but nothing.

He looked around as he walked over to where he and Ricky had been fighting before he left. The area was littered with destroyed cars, rubble from nearby buildings, small fires, all signs of the horrible battle that had taken place here, looking even more haunting against the backdrop of the golden skies as the sun was setting.

As he got to the spot where he had left Ricky to fight, he saw something – blood, small spots of it everywhere. Eric knelt down beside it to take a closer look, and to confirm his fears. ‘It can’t be…’ he wondered, a sinking feeling running through him. He shook his head. ‘Something about this just doesn’t sit quite right… If they won, why didn’t they finish all of us off when they had the chance? And what did they do with Ricky?’

Standing back up, something caught his eye – a very small piece of what looked like metal, and it was the same colour as the Dark Knight’s armour. He spent a few seconds looking at it, muttering aloud. “Well, well, well… What do we have here?” Deciding to keep it, he took one more brief look around for signs of life before running of to rejoin Wes and Jen.

As got to the road he’d left them on, he could see one of the Silver Guardians vans at the end of the road, Jen was being carried inside by Wes and a fellow Guardian. It looked like the groups that had fallen back had managed to regroup and had returned. One of the Guardians noticed Eric approaching and ran up to him. “Commander! Are you alright?”

Eric nodded. “Yea, I’m fine. The situation doesn’t look good though. How about you and the others? What’s your status?”

The Guardian didn’t look very hopeful. “It’s not good, Sir. Before we pulled back we lost over half our men, a further fifth of those that were left have been heavily injured and there are still some missing altogether. Those of us who are still able to perform active duties, including myself, have grouped up and are searching for civilians, our missing team-mates and any remaining hostiles.” He looked back to the van. “It’s not looking good… Not for any of us.”

It was clear to Eric that he was referring to Jen. “What’s her status?” he asked, hoping against hope that he’d hear some good news, but it wasn’t to be.

“Not good, Sir. We haven’t been able to wake her, and according to Commander Collins, her Powers appear to be gone too…” There was a slight pause before continuing. “…And that’s not our only problem. The Commander asked us to get his communication device from the van he was in so he could contact someone, but the van was destroyed and the device along with it. He told me that you needed to know.”

Eric was stunned into silence. Just when it couldn’t get any worse, it had done. Without that device, there was no way of contacting the future, which also meant no reinforcements. His eyes drifted towards the armour piece he’d picked up, knowing that he’d have to find someone else to have a look at that, too. It was then that he had an idea.

“Alright, I have some orders for you.” Said Eric. “I want you to make sure everyone available is combing the city in groups of 4. Have the rescue teams gather all the injured and get them to the hospital as soon as you can. If anyone runs into any hostiles, evade if they can. Engage only as a last resort and only after backup has arrived.”

The Guardian nodded. “Sir!” he said, confidence starting to come back into his voice. He ran off towards the van to start giving out the orders.

Eric followed him to the van, climbing in the back to find Wes looking over an unconscious Jen. “Any luck?” he asked.

Wes shook his head. “Nothing. It’s almost like there’s no-one in there anymore.” He replied, a tone of sadness clear in his voice. “How was… Ricky, was it?”

Eric nodded in confirmation. “That’s right. I’m not sure. Everyone’s gone. No monsters, no Ricky, just signs of one hell of a fight. Wes… I need a favour.” he said with a sense of uncertainty in his voice.

Wes looked up at him. “What is it?” he replied.

“I need Jen’s Morpher. I want to investigate it – you’re hardly in shape to do it yourself.”

Wes held the inactive Morpher up to his face, looking at it. He really wanted to look into it himself, but he knew Eric was right, he wasn’t exactly in the calm state that the job required. He lifted it up to Eric. “Here, take it.” He said in a monotone voice.

Eric reached out and took it. He demorphed, putting Jen’s Morpher and the piece of armour in his pocket before turning around to get out of the van, turning his head back to his friend. “It’ll all be OK, trust me.” He said. Wes remained silent, nodding slowly. Eric jumped out and shut the doors behind him. The van started up and drove off down the road.

“…It’ll all be OK…”


TO BE CONTINUED…

[SPD_Red]

Space Arc
XIV - Signal to Space

Unaware of the events that had transpired in Silver Hills, Kimberly and the others were finally pulling up to Tommy's house once more after returning from Angel Grove. It took them a full day to return since they had to stop for the night. As they pulled up in front of the house, the door opened and Kat walked outside to greet them.

"You're all right!" Kat cried as she approached them, she saw Alpha in the back seat. "Alpha! What are you doing here?!" Her voice was full of both surprise and happiness. It had been years since she last saw the automaton, seeing him brought back many happy memories for her.

"Aiaiai... Well..." Alpha started to reply, looking down at the floor.

Kat quickly looked at the rest of the group. All of them were completely quiet. Skull looked on in self-reflection, Kim had shut her eyes in an attempt to block everything out, not wanting to break the news to Kat, whilst Kira had silent tears falling down her face.

Kat had already found out about Angel Grove's dissappearance from Tommy, as well as the activation of a Power Coin, but she instinctively knew that there was more to the story than that since there were no other Rangers with them, yet Alpha was.

"Come on." Kat said in a caring tone. "It can wait until we get inside. Let's get out of the cold."

With that, everyone quietly made their way into Tommy's house, down into the basement where Tommy, Hayley, Ethan and Conner were working on some kind of device in the middle of the room.

Hearing the others come in, Tommy looked up to greet them, instantly knowing something was very wrong. Just like Kat, the fact that only Alpha had joined the group instantly made him aware that something bad had happened. He nodded towards some sofa's in the corner. Kat nodded in response and took the group over to sit down on them. Ethan and Conner went over to Kira to comfort her.

"Guys.. I know about Angel Grove, and I also know that another Ranger was there, as well as an extremely powerful being..." he began, kneeling down before the others. "I can tell you went through a hell of a lot out there, but please, I need to know what happened."

Tommy and the others listened intently as Kim and Skull told them about the monster, the Zeo Crystal, the end of Angel Grove and Adam's sacrifice. After all had been said, there was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, broken only by Kim and Kira's crying. Kat also had tears running down her face as she remembered the times she had shared as a Ranger with Adam. Everyone else was simply stunned by the shocking news.

Conner was the first to speak up. "This is bad... Doc, we really need to get a move on with that device." he said calmly.

Tommy nodded, jumping up and walking at speed to the device. "You're right. It shouldn't be long now until it's finished."

Skull looked up. "What are you building?" he asked as he comforted Kimberly.

Tommy looked over at the rest of them. "Alpha, this is a communication device. Can you check it over please?" he asked his old friend.

Alpha nodded. "Of course! Leave it to me." he replied as he walked over to the device to help Ethan and Conner.

Tommy pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the others. He looked up at Kat and nodded. As she walked off, Tommy began to explain.

"Just after Adam began battling that monster, which we now know is the same one that appeared here, a battle started raging over in Silver Hills, where half of the Time Force Rangers live. Most of the city has pretty much been decimated by another monster."

Hearing this, Skull interrupted. "Wait, there's ANOTHER one?!" he cried.

Tommy nodded. "It seems so, but this one isn't like anything we've seen before. His energy reading doesn't match anything in the database. But that's not our only problem." he continued, getting up and walking over to a screen, pressing a few buttons. An energy signature appeared on the screen.

"During the battle, we got this reading. It's definately a Ranger, from what I can tell, but again, it doesn't match anything on record. It could be a new team, but I think that's a long shot."

He pressed another button that brought up another reading on the screen. "This energy reading appeared twice. Once just before the battle started, and again when this Ranger appeared. I tried to analyse the readings, but we just don't have the equipment, so we're sending a message out to someone who might be able to help us find some."

"Who?" Kim asked.

"An old friend of mine, Andros." Tommy replied. "The leader of the Space Rangers. He's been to plenty of places over the years. He may have even seen similar things going on elsewhere. Besides, we need to start finding answers, and the questions are piling higher and higher by the day."

At that point, Kat returned with drinks and shared them out between everyone.

"One more thing." Tommy continued. "We've got another Ranger coming down here. His name's Eric, the Quantum Time Force Ranger. He managed to get a piece of the monster's armour which will help identify whether or not it's related to the monster that appeared here and in Angel Grove. Even more troubling, he's bringing the team's Pink Morpher with him. We didn't have time to discuss it there and then, but I'm hoping to find out more about that when he gets here."

Before anyone could reply, Alpha could be heard talking. "The communication device works, Tommy. It just needed a slight adjustment, but now it works perfectly!" he said, sounding a lot more cheerful than he had done previously.

Tommy went over to the device. "Ethan, Conner, help me get this outside." he asked. After a few minutes, the device was outside with everyone huddled around it.

"Here goes nothing." Tommy muttered, pressing a few buttons on the main panel. The device made a whirring noise for a few seconds before stopping. "Well, the message has been sent. Now we wait..."

[SPD_Red]

XV - Reunion

The next morning, Eric arrived at Tommy's house on Wes' bike, having borrowed it so the Silver Guardians could make the most of what little vans they had left. As he walked towards the front door, he felt something, or someone, behind him. He spun around, only to see nothing there. He continued looking for a few seconds before accepting there was nothing there.

"Hello there, friend." came a voice from behind him.

Eric spuin around once more to see Tommy standing there, smiling. Eric was caught off guard, but he laughed it off.

"It's good to see you again, Tommy. It's been a very long time." Eric commented, holding out his hand.

Tommy shook hands with him. "It's good to see you too, Commander." he replied with a grin.

Eric shook his head, laughing to himself. "This might be business, but I'm a friend, please, call me Eric!"

Tommy laughed too. "Well then, let's head inside, shall we?" he said, leading his comrade into his house. Neither of them noticed the cloud of gas behind Eric, which turned into Jen as they went inside before turning into the Pink Time Force Ranger...

Heading inside, Tommy introduced Eric to everyone and explained the situation they were in before asking Eric to explain about the Pink Morpher.

"Well... To be honest, I'm not really sure. All I know for sure that Wes was attacked by something that appeared to be Jen. I attacked it and it disappeared in a cloud of gas. We found the real Jen and her powerless Morpher nearby..." he finished, his voice trailing off.

Tommy got up and went over to one of the monitors. "Well, I've been scanning it for a while now, and looking at the results and what's been described, I'd have to suggest that it's nothing to do with either of the monsters we're aware of."

Conner jumped up. "You mean there's ANOTHER lunatic out there?"

Ethan shook his head. "Two were bad enough. And to take an educated guess, this one steals powers?"

Before anyone could answer, a blast came from down the stairs, barely missing Kira, who was walking across the room.

"What the...?" Kim wondered aloud.

They didn't have to wait long for the answer as the fake Pink Time Ranger jumped down the stairs before going into a defensive stance. Kira and Eric jumped up before morphing...

"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP!"

"QUANTUM POWER!"

Yellow and Red lights covered the two Rangers as they transformed, ready for another fight...

[SPD_Red]

XVI - The Third Evil

The two Rangers tried to anticipate the way their opponent would fight, knowing full well that they had to try and minimize the damage to the lab. Meanwhile, everyone else was trying to find some cover, realising it would most likely be too dangerous to get involved.

The Pink Ranger charged at her enemies, launching straight into battle with a flurry of kicks, catching both Rangers off guard and throwing them to the side.

"So much power, and this is the best you can do?" she screamed.

Kira got back up. "I'm only just getting started!" she replied, running up to the Pink Ranger and engaging in hand to hand combat. Whoever this was seemed far stronger than any ordinary Ranger she'd ever come across, but she knew she had to keep trying.

Eric meanwhile summoned his Quantum Defender's Sword Mode and ran into the fray. The Pink Ranger saw him coming, grabbing Kira and pulling her towards Eric whilst she jumped out of the way. Eric had no time to react and he hit Kira, sending her to the floor.

"KIRA!" Eric shouted, not realising that the Pink Ranger was aiming her Chrono Blaster at Eric. She wasted no time in firing several shots at him, sending him flying into the nearby consoles, followed by some more shots that destroyed the consoles completely.

As the others watched the chaos unfolding, Skull could see something near him on the floor - it was the piece of armour that Eric had brought with him for Tommy to analyse. Taking an unusually brave course of action, he picked it up and threw it inbetween the Pink Ranger and Eric to try and block a few of the shots.

Somewhat miraculously, Skull managed to throw it at just the right time for it to block several shots, although it seemed to do little more than to bring the Pink Ranger's attention to him. Skull started to panic as the Ranger ran it at him.

Tommy and Conner wasted no time in trying to stop their enemy as Ethan took Skull to the side, but they were no match for a morphed opponent. Several punches and kicks later and Tommy was thrown into a wall, whilst Conner fell to the ground unconscious.

Kimberly and Kat looked at each other, nodding. They also ran at the Pink Ranger, distracting her and evading the onslaught as best as they could rather than fighting the opponent directly. Ethan quickly joined them, but they were all overpowered and flung aside.

By this point, Kira and Eric had managed to get back up and charged once more with thier weapons. Both of them tried to hit the Pink Ranger, but by this point she had summoned her two Chrono Sabers and managed to get several hits in on both of them, sending them to the floor once more.

Kira was still morphed, but not moving. Eric was finding it hard to keep his form stable whilst trying to get up off the floor. The Pink Ranger dropped her Chrono Sabers and walked over to him, grabbing him by the neck. As she held him in the air, red light started to surround Eric before it flowed into her. The light became very bright, blinding everyone who was still capable of looking. When the light cleared, Eric was unconscious on the floor, demorphed, whilst the Pink Ranger had now turned into the Quantum Ranger...

[SPD_Red]

XVII - Reinforcements From Space

The new Quantum Ranger surveyed its surroundings. Eric lay motionless on the floor, his Morpher not far from him. Conner was still out for the count, as well as Kat, Ethan and Kira. Tommy was sat against a wall with a dislocated shoulder, Hayley and Alpha were trying to help Ethan up and Kim was standing in front of a terrified Skull, trying to protect him.

The Ranger started to approach the last two standing as Kim took up a defensive stance. She was hoping Skull would make a run for it, but he was completely frozen to the spot which seemed understandable considering what he'd seen.

The Ranger started to fight Kimberly hand-to-hand. The focus this time was solely on fighting, not evading, since Kim knew she was the last option the group had.

It wasn't to last however, within seconds Kim had fallen to the Ranger's powerful attacks and was thrown aside before the powerful being threw Skull over it's shoulder, throwing him across the room.

It was all over. Everyone was out for the count, except for Alpha who was hiding in a corner with Ethan and Hayley. The lab's equipment had been badly damaged and the whole area looked pretty unstable.

Yet the evil being wasn't yet finished. It walked over to Kira and picked her up off of the floor. Just as it had done with Eric, it absorbed her powers and left her unconscious on the ground before turning back into gas and disspearing...

After a few moments, Alpha and Hayley came out of hiding. "Hello? Can any of you hear me?" he asked, leaving Ethan resting in the corner. Hayley ran over to the injured Tommy, whilst Alpha realised Kim was still conscious and went over to help her.

"Tommy, are you alright?" Hayley asked.

Tommy groaned in pain as Hayley helped him up. "I think... I think my shoulder is busted, but otherwise, I'm OK... The others?"

Hayley said nothing, which told Tommy everything he needed to know. After helping Tommy sit down, Hayley, Alpha and Kim started to check the others. Kat and Conner quickly regained consciousness, but it wasn't looking good for the others.

"Skull? SKULL?!" Kimberly cried as she tried to wake up her husband, to no avail. He had a gash across his chest, probably recieved from landing on one of the damaged consoles and sliding off onto the floor.

Kira and Eric were completely out for the count too. They were alive, yet lifeless, their powerless morphers lying nearby.

Suddenly, they heard shouting from upstairs.

"Hello? Tommy, are you there?" came a man's voice.

Tommy recognised it immediately. "Andros! We're down here!" he replied.

Moments later, Andros, Ashley and Carlos came down the stairs, and all of them were shocked by what they saw.

"What the hell happened here?" Carlos asked as the trio started to help the others.

"We'll explain later. We need to get everyone taken care of first." Tommy replied. "Will you help?"

Andros nodded. "Of course. Give me a hand, Ash."

Ashley nodded in reply and got to work.

Tommy looked at them, confused. "Are the others upstairs?" he asked Andros.

Andros shook his head. "When we arrived in the atmosphere, we detected signs of a battle here, so we went to investigate. We also picked up on another battle taking place about 20 miles from here. TJ and the others are checking it out now." he replied.

Meanwhile, Zhane, TJ and Cassie had left the Megaship in their Galaxy Gliders to find out about the other battle. Zhane was the first to spot signs of trouble.

"Guys, over there!" he yelled, pointing towards a field in the distance. The others nodded and they headed towards the battleground as fast as they could.

When they got there, a Red Ranger they didn't recognise was injured and on the ground, whilst a Dark Knight and a strange Samurai were fighting each other...

[RedRanger67]

This is absolutely amazing. The best I have ever read. How you tie all the series together is perfect, and use of the alternate dimension was great. I'll be waiting for more

[SPD_Red]

XVIII - The Crossing Paths of Fate

As the Rangers approached the fallen Red Ranger, the Dark Knight saw them coming and quickly collecting a ball of pure darkness energy in his hand before throwing it into the back of the downed Ranger, causing a large explosion which threw up dust in all directions, the pressure throwing the approaching Space Rangers off of their Galaxy Gliders and forcing them on the ground.

As the dust settled, TJ was the first to get back up. Looking ahead, the Red Ranger had demorphed, lying face down and motionless. Further ahead, the two beings were locked in a fierce battle.

The Samurai was furiously attacking the Dark Knight, displaying impressive swordsmanship skills. No matter how hard the being tried to attack however, it's opponent seemed to be more than capable of matching it, but never appeared to better it either.

The two continued dueling for a few moments before locking blades, the clashing creating a small, gentle shockwave.

"Who ARE you?!" the Samurai hissed.

The Dark Knight remained silent, intentionally losing the blade lock, jumping backwards and lunging at the Samurai, only for the being to dissolve into a green puddle and reappear behind him. Just as the being went to attack the Knight from behind, the Knight rolled away, jumped back up and spun around, shaking his head in disgust.

"How dare you insult me!?" the being cried, dissolving into green goo again before changing into a Ninja-like appearance, wielding two deadly-looking daggers.

"Change forms all you like. The only thing you insult by fighting me is your intelligence. I'd pity you... But that's not why I'm here." the Knight replied, rushing forward.

The Ninja crossed the blades of it's daggers in an "X" position, hoping to block the incoming attack. However, the Dark Knight had seen the guard coming, and chose to strike upwards rather than downwards, smashing through the guard before body slamming into his opponent, forcing him backwards a few steps before the Knight lunged forwards, managing to pierce straight through his opponents shoulder.

Laughing it off, the Ninja dissolved once more before appearing a few feet away back in it's Samurai form.

"No matter how much you hurt me, you'll never destroy me!" he yelled as the two rushed towards each other once again.

Meanwhile, TJ had helped the other Space Rangers up and went to help the downed Ranger.

TJ ran over to him and knelt down beside him. "Hey. Hey! Can you hear me? C'mon, talk to me buddy!"

Cassie examined him. He was bleeding pretty heavily from the blast wound. She looked up at the fight in progress; it was extremely fierce. She knew instinctively it was very dangerous to move him, but she also knew he couldn't stay here, either.

"Guys, give me a hand. We've got to get him out of the way!" she said, starting to pick him up. The others nodded and helped out too.

Zhane looked at the fighting. "You saw what he did to this guy. Shouldn't we do something about him?"

TJ shook his head. "I don't think that's wise. They're tearing each other up pretty badly, but they're still too strong for us to handle alone, I think." he said, holding his communicator up to his face. "Andros, you copy?"

The communicator gave an error tone. "Oh come on! Not now, not now!" he said in frustration, trying again, only for the same thing to happen.

The three gently set the Ranger down on TJ's Galaxy Glider. TJ looked up at Cassie. "Cass, I need you to get this guy up to the Megaship. It looks like me and Zhane'll have to try and break up the fighting over there after all, before they tear the place apart."

Cassie nodded. "Right, just be careful. I'll try and get hold of Andros and the others as soon as I get there."

TJ nodded in agreement. "Thanks Cassie, we owe you one and by the looks of things, that guy will too. Zhane, think it's time to show 'em what we can do?"

Zhane didn't even need to think it through. "It's always time for that! Let's go!" he replied.

The two Rangers ran towards the battle, whilst Cassie carefully took the Ranger to safety...

[SPD_Red]

XIX - Double Duel

As the two enemies fought each other, they could both see the two Space Rangers coming towards them. The Dark Knight hissed and pushed his opponent away.

"This is turning into a trivial waste of time." he said, pointing his sword at the Space Rangers. He looked over at his opponent. "Well?"

The Samurai looked over at them, before looking back at the Knight. "You expect me to fight alongside YOU? What's your game?"

The Knight gave no reply. He simply looked towards the Rangers, who had summoned their weapons.

"I don't know who you guys are, but you have no place here. We'll give you one chance - leave now." TJ commanded, ready to fight.

The Samurai got ready to fight it's new opposition. "Very well, Knight. I'll play your game for now, but mark my words, if you survive, I'll kill you next." it said in a cold tone.

"I don't think so. I'm not finished with you." came the Knight's reply as he charged forwards, his new ally right behind him, albeit reluctantly.

"Split up!" TJ cried.

"Got it!" Zhane shouted back, moving to take on the Dark Knight.

Zhane attacked with his Super Silverizer, rushing at his opponent with fast spins and jumping attacks, but the Dark Knight deflected them all with his own blade as if the powerful strikes were nothing to him. He kicked Zhane straight in the chest, sending him reeling backwards.

"Sorry, Silver Showoff, but you aren't needed here." he taunted. He held his sword high above his head, black lightning striking the ground to his sides. Smoke started to rise up, and when it was gone, there were 3 Dark Knights standing there.

Zhane fell back a few feet to prepare himself for a defensive. Things weren't looking good.

TJ wasn't faring much better. Unlike Zhane, he was actually hitting the Samurai, but any damage it sustained simply healed over. The Samurai put all his strength into attacking the Blue Ranger, and he easily succeded in breaking his defence, sending him crashing to the ground.

It looked over towards the Dark Knight, who was easily besting the Silver Ranger.

'I don't understand. He would have no problem in beating them both on his own...' it wondered as TJ took aim with his Astro Blaster, firing several shots, all of them hitting their mark and harmlessly healing over.

"What is with this guy?" TJ wondered aloud as he took his Astro Axe in one hand and the Astro Blaster in the other as he rushed in...

Meanwhile, Cassie had arrived on the Megaship. Karone, who had been watching over the ship in the Rangers absense was helping her get their mysterious guest onto the medical bed.

"So who is he?" Karone asked.

"You've got me. At least one of the two troublemakers down there wanted him dead." she replied as they settled him down gently.

As they did so, Karone saw something slip out of one of his pockets onto the floor. Cassie heard it too and they both knelt down to find it. Karone saw it in the corner of her eye and reached down to pick it up. She stood up in shock.

"Cassie? Is this what I think it is?" she asked, holding something out in her hands. It was the Power Ruby.

Cassie's eyes widened as she picked up the gleaming gemstone, her hands shaking as she did so.

"It can't be..." she whispered as she looked down at their guest. "H-how did he get this?"