THE WORSE OF TWO EVILS Sequel to THE ONCE AND FUTURE RANGERS by Joe Rovang --- Legal Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I am using concepts and characters from _Mighty Morphin Power Rangers_ and _Power Rangers Zeo_ without the knowledge or permission of Saban Entertainment, Inc. This story was written solely for entertainment value and may not be distributed for profit of any kind. When reproducing this document, all parts, including this disclaimer, must be kept together in their original, unaltered state. Thanks to the various people on #alt-mmpr for helping to cure my several instances of writer's block. :) --- PART ONE (Two Years Ago) As Kimberly Hart crawled into bed, she listened to the constant echoing of firecrackers in the distance. Though she was eager to get to sleep after such a long day, she would tolerate the noise. After all, it was the music of celebration. The people of Angel Grove were rejoicing. As she listened to the noise, she recalled the day's bizarre events. It had started right after school had ended, when a guy named Tommy Oliver had freaked her out by knowing everything about her. As it turned out, he was her future boyfriend, part of a team of Power Rangers from the future called "Zeo Rangers". The Zeo Rangers had new suits, new Zords, and a new enemy - King Mondo. When Mondo and Rita teamed up, the two teams of Rangers had joined forces to vanquish both of the villains. And that was that. The Zeo Rangers had gone back to the future, and Zordon had closed down the Command Center now that the Earth was safe again. Billy had later noticed that Zordon had sent several probes into deep space before shutting everything down. Kim wondered if Zordon wasn't telling them something. In any case, the day was over. It was hard to believe that, in such a short time, they had actually managed to defeat Rita and fulfill their duties as Power Rangers. It seemed too good to be true. Kimberly's mind returned to Tommy. She had felt bad for him; she got the impression that they would have something special in the future. But what was she to do? She didn't even know him yet! As the gentle explosions in the night lulled her to sleep, Kim wondered how long it would be before she finally met him. Her answer came the next day, when, much to the surprise of the Power Rangers, Tommy Oliver came to town. The five teens huddled together and watched him from afar as he took several books from his new locker. They were quite excited to have such a legend in their midst. "I can't believe it," Kimberly giggled. "Here he is the very next day!" "That's some coincidence," Trini remarked. "Perhaps the incident's not as random as it might appear," Billy theorized. "If King Mondo intentionally arrived directly before Tommy's arrival, maybe Tommy has some sort of significance in future events." "Yeah, but this early?" Zack asked. "I mean, look how much younger he is than when we saw him as Zeo Ranger Five." "And his hair...!" Kimberly noted amusedly. Just then, Tommy shut his locker and turned around, looking in their direction. The teens quickly ducked behind the wall. "You think he saw us?" Zack wondered. "Wait, guys," said Jason, "he's the future leader of the Power Rangers. And one heck of a fighter. Maybe we should get to know him instead of hiding from him." "With the timestream dependent on our every move," said Billy, "it would be beneficial for us to disregard our knowledge of future events in order to avoid altering the sequence of events which..." "In English?" Jason pleaded. "He means act natural," Trini explained with a smile. Zack peeked around the corner. "You don't need to tell Kimberly that," he said with a chuckle. The others looked to find their friend in pink happily talking up a storm with the young Tommy. The teens laughed and emerged from their hiding place to meet the future Power Ranger. Goldar chuckled to himself as he walked through the smoking ruins of the Command Center. It had been so easy to crush Zordon and his base of operations, he mused, as if he'd caught the old man taking a nap. He gazed into the crystal sphere cradled in his fingers. Its power was unbelievable. Mondo had been a fool to leave it behind. But now, with its power, Goldar had succeeded where Rita had failed. Lord Zedd wouldn't be happy with Rita's failure. Lord Zedd - of course! Zedd would surely reward him for destroying Zordon! Perhaps Goldar might even get his own planet to rule! Goldar held the orb in front of him. Beyond it opened a swirling vortex of energy. "Goldar reporting to Lord Zedd," growled the golden beast. "Goldar to Lord Zedd." Silence lingered in the air, and Goldar wondered if Zedd would reply. Slowly, the horrible visage of the emperor of evil formed into view. "Who dares to disturb the mighty Lord Zedd?" he bellowed. "G..Goldar, your majesty," Goldar replied, his voice wavering slightly. "Goldar?!" Zedd shouted. "I don't know any Gol...!" He paused, then spoke in his normal, garbled voice, "Ah, yes. Goldar. The sniveling one. This had better be good." "I'm afraid Rita was unable to carry out the orders you gave her once we escaped from our dimensional prison," Goldar told him. "Everyone but me was returned to the hyperlock chamber." "I should have known that miserable witch couldn't do anything right!" Zedd grumbled. "Commander, there is good news," stated Goldar. "I have destroyed Zordon of Eltar." Zedd fell silent. He soon spoke calmly, "This truly is good news." He then asked, "What of the Power Coins?" "Rita never used the Dragon Coin, so it's trapped with her," Goldar replied. "The other coins were surely destroyed." "Excellent," Zedd spoke. "I am sending you an unlimited supply of my special brand of Putties to help you finish off the Earth. Consider the planet yours." Goldar grinned, bowing his head. "Thank you, my lord." In the back yard of the Hart home, the five teens were having a celebration beneath the night sky. Trini and Kimberly crouched on the patio beside the CD player, trying to make a selection from Kimberly's stack of CD's. Jason and Zack stood in the yard, tossing a football back and forth, and beyond them, Billy gazed intently into his telescope. Mrs. Hart emerged from the house with a tray of burgers. Kimberly jumped up to her feet and took the tray from her mother. "Thanks, Mom!" Mrs. Hart smiled and said, "I hope I didn't hurt Jason's feelings." As Kimberly put the burgers onto the six plastic plates on the patio's table, she replied, "No, he's okay. He burns them, anyway." "I heard that!" Jason called out playfully. Mrs. Hart took the empty tray back and told Kimberly, "I'm going to go to the store to get some more drinks. You guys stay out of trouble, okay?" "Who, us?" Zack asked innocently. He dropped the football into the grass, and he and Jason headed toward the table of food. Mrs. Hart smiled. "Bye Mom!" Kimberly said as her mother went back inside. Billy continued to stare at the surface of the moon through his telescope. Where Rita's palace had once been, there was now a castle, seemingly made of a black crystal. He just couldn't figure it out. They'd defeated Rita, but now there was a new structure up there. Surely Alpha knew about it... "One soy burger," Trini announced. Billy looked up from the telescope to see Trini had brought him his food. "Oh, thanks!" he said, surprised. He stood up and brushed his hands on his blue overalls, then took the plate. Trini watched him take a bite of his burger. "Billy, you know how much Alpha worries," she told him. "If anything seemed unusual, he'd call us in a second." He swallowed and thought for a moment. "I suppose you're right," he agreed. Together they walked over to the patio. "How nice of those Powerless Rangers to all be in one place," Goldar mused from the balcony of his onyx castle. "It will be that much easier to finish them off." "Still talking to yourself, I see," said a woman behind him. Goldar spun around to see a beautiful warrior clad in golden armor. "Scorpina," he spoke in a low growl. "I came as soon as I heard Rita was out of her prison," Scorpina told him, walking up the steps to the balcony. "Where is she?" "Back in her prison," Goldar replied curtly, turning his back to her. Scorpina laughed and sat on the railing of the balcony. "Don't tell me little Goldar is running this place all by himself." Goldar glared at her out of the corner of his eye. "I am the ruler of Earth now," he stated. "Are you here to serve me, or were you on your way out?" Scorpina smiled. "I'll stay. But only to see what my betrothed is made of." "Then watch," Goldar told her, "as I crush the Earth's last hope!" "Hey, Kim, sorry I'm late," Tommy apologized as Kimberly let him in the front door. "Oh, you're just in time for the food," she said, closing the door and then leading him through her house. "Everybody's out back." As the two teens stepped out into the back yard, the others greeted their future leader. "Hey Tommy," Jason welcomed him. "What's up, Tommy?" Zack asked with a nod. "Salutations," Billy said. "Glad you could make it," Trini told him. "Thanks," Tommy replied with a smile. Off in the distance, the sound of firecrackers echoed through the air. Handing Tommy the remaining burger and showing him the drinks and bowl of chips, Kimberly said, "I'm surprised anybody has any firecrackers left after last night." "Really," Jason agreed. "I guess some people waited 'til the weekend to celebrate like we did." "Tommy," said Zack, "you wanna join us in a game of flag football later?" Tommy made a face. "Uh, I haven't really played football... I've studied karate all my life." "Jason teaches lessons at the Youth Center," Kimberly volunteered. "Really?" Tommy asked. "I used to teach back in Stone Canyon." "Yeah," Jason said. "You know, I've been working on a new form... maybe you could take a look at it and give me some input." "Hey, I'd like that," Tommy agreed. Kimberly smiled, happy that Tommy was fitting in so well with the others. Suddenly, four gray beings leapt down from the roof of Kimberly's two-story house, over the teens, landing in the lawn. They were Putties, but a paler gray. They wore silver vests, and in the center of each vest was a circle which bore a stylized "Z". "Putties!" Trini exclaimed as she and Billy retreated to the table where the others stood. The teens quickly put their drinks and plates on the table and assumed defensive stances. "Jason and I will handle these guys!" Tommy said, waving the others toward the house. "You guys get inside!" "No, Tommy, you don't..." Kimberly tried to explain. But before she could say more, the Putties attacked, and the teens scattered. One Putty smashed into the table, knocking it over and dumping all the food onto the patio. "You goons! Look what you did!!" Kimberly shrieked at the Putties. Babbling menacingly, the Putties split up to confront the separated teens. Trini and Billy teamed up against a Putty, Zack and Kimberly teamed up against another, and Jason and Tommy each fought one solo. Even using their best martial arts skills, the teens were unable to beat the Putties. Every time a Putty fell, it got right back up. They were seemingly indestructible. Just as the teens began to realize they were in trouble, six more Putties arrived. "Hey, Jase...?" asked Zack, ineffectively pounding the Putty in front of him, "...isn't it about 'time' for you-know-what?" "But what about...?" Jason asked. "He would've found out eventually!" Kimberly told him. "All right," Jason called out, "everyone regroup!" Upon Jason's command, the teens retreated onto the patio. As the ten Putties began to close in, Jason yelled, "It's morphin' time!" Tommy watched as Zack, Kimberly, Billy, Trini, and Jason sequentially held out metal devices and called forth their respective dinosaurs. "Mastodon!" "Pterodactyl!" "Triceratops!" "Saber-toothed Tiger!" "Tyrannosaurus!" Colored energy washed over the five teens, suiting them up in the uniforms of the Power Rangers. Tommy watched in awe as the superheroes cut loose on the Putties with a flurry of kicks and punches. Yet, with their enhanced strength and speed, the Rangers remained unable to destroy the creatures. Finally, Jason delivered a palm heel strike to the "Z" on a Putty's chest, and the Putty shattered into fragments of clay. "What the...?" Jason wondered aloud. "You hit it in the 'Z!'" Tommy called out to the Red Ranger. "It must be their weak spot!" Having found the weakness of the new Putties, the Rangers began to destroy Putty after Putty, until only one remained. The Rangers watched as Tommy rushed into the fight and shattered the last Putty into nothingness. "All right!" Zack exclaimed. The five Rangers touched their chests and powered down into their civilian forms. Tommy walked up to them and breathed, "Whew, you guys were awesome!" "You weren't so bad yourself," Jason replied, patting Tommy's arm. Tommy smiled. "I can't believe you guys are the Power Rangers!" "We're quite fortunate Zordon allowed us to keep our Ranger powers," Billy stated. "We'd better ask Alpha about those new Putties," Trini said. "Yeah, like who sent them!" Zack added. "Zordon? Alpha?" Tommy asked, confused. "Zordon gave us our powers," Kimberly explained, "and Alpha runs his Command Center." Jason pressed the orange button on his communicator. "Alpha, this is Jason," he said into the device. There was no response. "Alpha, come in," Jason spoke. The teens exchanged concerned glances. "Alpha?" Billy asked into his own communicator. "We'd better go check this out," Jason told them. "You should come with us," Zack told Tommy, "in case those Putties come back." "Somebody's got to watch out for Mrs. Hart," Tommy argued. "I'll stay behind and clean up this mess." "That's sweet, Tommy," Kimberly said with a smile. She turned to the others and said, "I'd better stay also." "So will I," Trini stated. To Jason, Zack, and Billy, she said, "You guys go and call us if you need us." Jason nodded. "Right." The three then touched their communicators and vanished in streaks of red, black, and blue. Upon arriving at the location of the Command Center, the three teens quickly noticed they were still outside, for the stars twinkled above them. Then it hit them: the enormous mound of rubble on which they stood was the remains of the Command Center. Jason gasped. "No." "Zordon and Alpha," Billy moaned. "Oh, man," Zack sighed, turning around to survey the 360 degrees of destruction which surrounded them, "how could this have happened?" Billy gazed up at the moon in silence. "Hey, do you hear that?" Zack asked. A sound, barely audible, continuously repeated itself like a faint beacon. The three teens stumbled through the rubble in the darkness toward the direction of the sound. As they grew closer to its source, Jason noted, "It sounds like a voice." Suddenly, Billy recognized the sound to be the syllable "yi" repeated over and over. "Alpha!" he exclaimed. He rushed forward to the spot in the rubble which sounded to be the voice's origin and dropped to his knees to begin digging downward. Jason and Zack joined their friend, and after a few slabs of concrete had been lifted aside, the voice had become much clearer. A final rock was moved, and the three Rangers discovered the mangled body of Alpha Five; his head was dented severely, and he was missing an arm and both of his legs. "... yi ... yi ... yi ... yi ..." Alpha repeated weakly. "Poor guy," Zack remarked. Billy gently removed the battered chestplate of Alpha's torso and examined the robot's circuits. He inserted his hand into Alpha's innards and felt the connections leading to the neck. "Billy," said Jason, "no offense, but I really doubt you can..." Jason was cut off when Alpha twitched and exclaimed, "Rangers!" Zack smiled. "Billy, man, never doubted ya' for a second." "Alpha, are you nominal?" Billy asked. "Enough," the robot replied. "Rangers, Goldar is on the loose. He's tapping a source of great power!" "This is Goldar's doing?" Jason asked, anger welling inside of him. "Yes. Please listen," Alpha told the teens. "Because the Command Center was not connected to the Morphing Grid in its dormant state, your Power Coins are still functional. But they will not be enough to stop Goldar. "Zordon planned to create another Ranger from his sixth Power Coin. But now Zordon's link to our world is gone. You're the only hope of creating this new Ranger." "A new Ranger?" Zack repeated. "The White Ranger. He may be your only hope," said Alpha. "Under the basement of the Command Center is a cave which Zordon planned to make into an emergency base of operations known as the Power Chamber. There, you will find the White Ranger's Power Coin, which you must activate by combining your Power Coins. I'll teleport you there, and from that point on, you can return there any time you need shelter." "Hold on, Alpha," said Jason. "We need to get the others first." He touched his communicator's call button. Moments later, Trini's voice responded. "Trini here." "Trini," Jason spoke, "you and Kimberly need to bring Tommy here right away. And, uh, brace yourselves." "Wait, what does that mean?" came Kimberly's voice. Jason looked around in dismay. "You'll see." Kimberly let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, but this place is still a mess, and my mom'll kill me if we all just disappear!" "Kim, look, do you want to avoid being grounded or save the world?" Jason asked. The communicator was silent for a moment, then Kimberly said, "You're right. We're on our way." Several seconds later, yellow, pink, and white streaks of energy coalesced into the forms of Trini and Kimberly holding Tommy's hands. Their grip quickly released as they saw the destruction around them, dimly illuminated by the light of the moon. The girls gasped simultaneously. "Whoa," Tommy spoke. "Oh my gosh," Kimberly's voice wavered, "how did this happen?" Trini bit her lip and motioned Kimberly and Tommy toward the others. "Look, over there," she told them. As Tommy and the girls approached the other three, they saw Alpha's mangled body lying in the wreckage. "Oh no, Alpha!" Kimberly cried out. She looked around and desperately asked, "Where's Zordon?" Jason, Zack, and Billy were reluctant to answer. It was Alpha who finally spoke up. "I'm sorry, Trini," he said. "The planet I mined for the crystal of Zordon's transmission cylinder no longer exists. His connection to our universe is gone forever." "Zordon..." Kimberly grieved. "Alpha's going to teleport us underground," Zack said, "so that we can combine our Power Coins and make the White Ranger." Kimberly looked at Tommy. "You mean...?" "You guys want _me_ to be a Power Ranger?" Tommy asked incredulously. Jason looked at his fellow Rangers. "I think we all agree you'll be a great Ranger," he said, neglecting to mention that their great faith in Tommy's abilities stemmed from having met his future incarnation. Tommy smiled. "Count me in." "How is it possible that they still have their powers?!" Goldar roared as he stomped through his main chamber. He pounded his fist against the onyx altar which held the Orb of Doom within a glowing crimson talon. "The Morphing Grid should have been destroyed with the Command Center!" On the balcony above, Scorpina turned away from the Earth and smiled at Goldar. "Oh, Goldar," she said mirthfully, "don't get so upset about it." She chuckled, "Just wait until you see what they're about to do!" Goldar stormed up the steps to the balcony. "What are you talking about?" He summoned the power of the Orb of Doom into his body and focused his eyes on the wreckage of the Command Center on Earth. Billy snapped Alpha's chestplate into place, then stood up and took Trini's and Zack's hands into his own, completing the circle of teenagers. "Okay, Alpha," said Billy, "we're ready. You sure you have the strength to do this?" "Don't worry about me," Alpha replied. "I just hope I don't miss and bury us all under tons of rock. Ay yi yi..." "You hope??" Zack managed to blurt out before a sphere of energy rippled outward from Alpha's body, enveloping the six teenagers. The sphere vanished into the ground, and the teens and their robot friend were gone. Deep underground, seven forms materialized in a dimly-lit, rocky cavern. "We made it!" Kimberly cheered. "Nice job, Alpha!" When no response came, the teens quickly examined the robot. His body was motionless, and the various lights on his chestplate were off. "Alpha?" Trini asked anxiously. "He must have blown a circuit teleporting us," Billy guessed. "Look!" Jason exclaimed, pointing toward the center of the room. Hovering inches above a stone pillar was a small crystal sphere, within which blazed the white symbol of a tiger's head, illuminating the cavern. "Go ahead, Tommy," Kimberly encouraged, smiling with excitement. As Tommy approached the pillar, the sphere began to flicker, and he could see that it was actually a coin spinning rapidly to create the image of a sphere. He held out his hand, and the coin's spinning slowed and then stopped. Tommy plucked the coin from the air and turned to face the others, a questioning look on his face, as if he were making sure they thought he was worthy. In response, the five teens formed a circle around him and produced their Power Coins from behind their backs. "You ready, Tommy?" asked Jason. Tommy nodded. The teens closed their eyes and projected the energy within their Power Coins into Tommy. A white light enveloped the teen, cloaking him in energy. --- PART TWO The next morning, Billy snored lightly, his head resting on the control panel he'd salvaged from the basement of the Command Center. Around him were numerous cardboard boxes labeled "Command Center" and "Do Not Discard," along with several crates, all of which he and Tommy had brought into the cavern once the others had returned to Kimberly's house the previous night. The others, fortunately, had beaten Mrs. Hart to the house and had managed to clean up before she returned. They had all spent the night at Kimberly's house for fear of another Putty attack. Kimberly had called Billy's and Tommy's fathers to tell them that their sons had fallen asleep at her party and that they were spending the night. Of course, they had actually spent the night in the cavern Billy had decided to call the Power Chamber. After getting a spare communicator for Tommy from his lab, Billy had attempted to repair Alpha but found nearly all of the robot's circuits were burnt out. He had then sought out the mysterious Command Center basement Alpha had alluded to, figuring he might find something to help repair his damaged friend. What he'd found was a plethora of Command Center equipment which he and Tommy would transfer into the Power Chamber. After installing the Viewing Globe, Billy had fallen asleep at the control panel while researching the slightly outdated data banks for instructions on creating a Power Morpher, for until he constructed a new Morpher, Tommy couldn't demorph for fear of being unable to morph back. And so Tommy had spent the night in the Power Chamber wearing his White Ranger suit. It wasn't the most comfortable of situations, but Tommy had admitted to being able to sleep any place, any time, and under any circumstances. And apparently, so could Billy, as the button-marks on his face didn't give the impression of comfort. The sudden blaring of an alarm startled them both awake. Billy sat up, put his glasses on, and examined the control panel. Tommy groggily got up from the stone floor, his helmet under his arm. "What is it?" Tommy asked. "We'll find out whether the parametric spectrometer works momentarily," Billy replied. He pressed a button, and the Viewing Globe lit up with life. An image formed in the crystal sphere: a giant creature in gold armor, an apparent cross between a woman and a scorpion, was demolishing a suburban town beneath its monstrous feet. "Th..that town - isn't it...?" Billy asked. "Stone Canyon!" Tommy exclaimed in horror. "We've gotta stop that monster!" "I'll alert the others," Billy told him, pressing a button on the control panel. A signal went out on the frequency Billy had configured the previous night. "These eggs are delicious, Mrs. Hart!" Jason told Kimberly's mom as he wolfed down his third helping. Mrs. Hart smiled as she collected the emptied plates of the other teens. "I'm glad you like them," she chuckled. Just then, the four teens' communicators chimed simultaneously. Mrs. Hart raised an eyebrow. Zack jumped up. "That's probably my mom paging me," he lied. "Do you mind if I use your phone?" "Not at all," Mrs. Hart replied as she headed for the kitchen with the plates. "There's one in the kitchen." Zack laughed nervously. "Actually, I really like the one in the living room." Mrs. Hart looked back amusedly. "Use whichever one you like," she told him before vanishing into the kitchen. Zack rushed into the living room and whispered into his communicator, "Zack here. What's up?" "Zack," said Billy's voice, "Stone Canyon is being demolished by an enormous monster! It's imperative that you bring the other Rangers to the Power Chamber!" "I'm on it," Zack replied. He returned to the dining room, where Jason, Kimberly, and Trini stared at him, waiting for information. Zack glanced toward the kitchen and then whispered to the Rangers, "There's a monster attacking Stone Canyon. We've gotta go!" Kimberly looked around, trying to think of a way they could excuse themselves. She then called out, "Hey, Mom, we're gonna go take a walk in the park! Thanks for breakfast!" "All right," came Mrs. Hart's reply. "Don't stay gone too long!" As the teens got up to leave, Kimberly noticed Zack piling more food onto his plate. "Zack, don't you think you've had enough already?" she sighed. "This isn't for me!" he explained. "It's for Billy and Tommy. They can't fight on empty stomachs!" Billy absently chewed on a piece of toast as he scanned the computer records, the other five Rangers looking over his shoulder. "This is taking too long!" Tommy complained. "Stone Canyon doesn't have any abandoned warehouses! Nearly every building that gets destroyed is someone's home! And my family lives in one of those homes!" "I apologize," Billy lamented, "I... I hadn't even thought to search for records of your Zord..." "Look, it's not your fault, Billy," Jason told him. "We just can't wait any longer. Trini and I will try to distract the monster in our Zords." He stared at the image in the Viewing Globe of thousands of people trying to evacuate the ravaged town. "Zack and Kim, you go with Tommy and try to keep those people from crushing each other." "I'll inform you once I locate your Zord," Billy told Tommy. "All right," the White Ranger replied. "I'm outta here." He slipped his helmet over his head and stood motionless for a moment. "Okay, how do I teleport?" he asked. Trini told him, "Just visualize being wherever you want to go and touch your..." She paused, noticing the White Ranger suit had no external Morpher. "...belt buckle." Tommy placed his hands on his belt and vanished in a streak of white energy. "It's morphin' time!" Jason announced. The Pink and Black Rangers appeared behind Tommy as he stood in the flattened wreckage which had once been the neighborhood of the Olivers. The scorpion woman towered over the town, trampling a nearby neighborhood and shaking the earth with every stomp. "My family..." Tommy groaned, staring at the crushed remains of the house of his adoptive family. "Tommy, they probably escaped," Kimberly tried to comfort him. "If they did, we're not doing them any good here!" said Zack. "Unless we start working crowd control, the survivors are gonna kill each other trying to evacuate!" Tommy sighed. "You're right." He pointed to the green hills at the edge of town, beyond which was the skyline of Angel Grove. "I'll bet everyone's going to head east, over those hills." The ground began to rumble more intensely. Tommy, Zack, and Kimberly watched the Tyrannosaurus and Saber-toothed Tiger rush onto the scene. "People of Stone Canyon," boomed Jason's voice across the town from the mighty red dinosaur, "you must evacuate immediately. Please do so in a calm, orderly manner. Again, you must evacuate the town immediately! Head to Angel Grove in a calm, orderly manner." "Yeah right!" Kimberly half-chuckled. Tommy nodded toward the hills. "Let's go." "All right, fangface," Jason called out to the scorpion woman as Trini maneuvered the Saber-toothed Tiger behind her, "you'd better go back to where you came from before things get ugly!" "Hah!" hissed the scorpion woman, brandishing a curved blade. "No one speaks that way to Scorpina!" She hurled her blade at the Tyrannosaurus; it curved through the air, taking a chunk out of the robot's neck before returning to Scorpina's hand. At that moment, the Saber-toothed Tiger pounced. Scorpina extended her scorpion tail, impaling the Tiger's chest in midair. Scorpina hurled the Zord to the ground, demolishing a good portion of the business district of Stone Canyon. Billy sighed as he toiled through the computer records. It had to be in there somewhere. Suddenly, one file caught his attention. "'White Tigerzord,'" Billy read with a smile. "Prodigious!" Before analyzing the data, he noticed an alternate file cross-referenced with the Tigerzord. His brow furrowed as he repeated the name in his mind. "'Thunderzords?'" "Everyone, calm down!" Tommy shouted from the large boulder on which he, Kimberly, and Zack stood. "You're gonna be okay!" Zack tried to reassure the enormous flood of people vaguely following the road which led the way over the hills to Angel Grove. "Just don't push!" "There's no need to panic!" Kimberly cried out. Like an echo, another girl's voice cried out, "There's no need to panic!" On the other side of the river of people, an attractive African American teenager in yellow climbed to the top of a boulder. "Everything will be all right!" she yelled to the people. Then, from the mass of people, two more teenagers joined the girl, one in red and one in black. "Zack, look!" Kimberly exclaimed, pointing at the three teens. The Black Ranger examined the teenagers. "Hey," he said, "those two guys..." "They're future Zeo Rangers!" Kimberly stated. "We'd better go make sure nothing happens to them. We wouldn't want to risk the future getting screwed up." Kimberly effortlessly hopped across the vast distance from one side of the mob to the other, landing on the other boulder. After Zack had leapt across, he looked back at Tommy. "Tommy, you comin'?" Zack yelled. "I saw somebody!" Tommy shouted back, staring into the mass of people. He hopped off the boulder and was lost in the human river. "Tommy!" Kimberly shouted. She twirled around to face the future Zeo Rangers and their female companion. "Um, I mean, White Ranger," she chuckled nervously. "Hi," she said to the staring teens. Zack looked at the battle on the horizon and hoped Jason and Trini were okay. Scorpina easily sidestepped the Tyrannosaurus's eye blasts and lunged forward, carving a huge gash in the gut of the dinosaur with her sword. Her tail whipped over her shoulder, stabbing the Dinozord in the top of the head. Sparks erupted from Jason's controls, and smoke began to fill the cockpit. "Trini," Jason called out over the communications system, "We can't take much more of this!" "I know, Jason," came Trini's reply. "My Zord's front legs are too mangled to move! Scorpina's just too powerful! Not to mention the fact that the Zords aren't even fully repaired from our battle with Rita and Mondo!" Jason brought his wrist to his mouth to speak, but a jarring blow sent the Tyrannosaurus toppling to the ground. After recovering from the impact, Jason tried again to call the others. "Guys," he spoke into his communicator, "we need some major help here!" "We're trying to keep an eye on... some friends," Kimberly replied. "Billy, can you help them?" "Not right now," Billy replied curtly. "I'm on to something of great importance." Kimberly looked around with a frown. "All right," she said into her communicator, "Zack and I are on our way." She turned to the three teens and said, "We'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." The Black and Pink Rangers vanished into the sky as the three teens watched. "Awesome," said the one in red. As Scorpina reared back her sword in preparation to decapitate the fallen Tyrannosaurus, bolts of electricity struck her in the back. She turned to see the Pterodactyl screaming through the air toward her. Before she could throw her sword at the flying Zord, the Mastodon, having crept up beside her, sprayed a stream of liquid nitrogen at the scorpion monster. "Go blow your nose somewhere else!" Scorpina shouted, slicing off half of the Mastodon's trunk with her sword. The Pterodactyl circled around and took several more shots at Scorpina. Scorpina picked up the Mastodon and hurled it into the air toward the Pterodactyl. Despite Kimberly's skill at swerving out of the path of the oncoming pachyderm, Zack still found himself tumbling through the air in his immensely heavy Zord. "Abandoning ship!" Zack declared as he leapt out the escape hatch of the Mastodon. He flipped through the open air until he had managed to point his feet earthward. At the moment his feet touched the ground, Zack could simply watch as his Zord struck the heart of Stone Canyon, shaking the ground violently and throwing tons of debris into the air. Scorpina glared at the Pterodactyl. She prepared to throw her sword and growled, "This time I won't miss, Pinkie." "Uncle John!" Tommy cried out. He squirmed through the crowd, which had grown a bit calmer upon entering the city limits of Angel Grove. Tommy reached out and grabbed the shoulder of the man in front of him. The man turned around, and Tommy realized it wasn't his uncle. "No," Tommy groaned. At that moment, a shockwave rolled through the area. He looked back and saw an enormous cloud rising from Stone Canyon. "Guys, what happened?" Tommy asked into his communicator. As he spotted the Pterodactyl encircling Scorpina on the horizon, he heard Kimberly reply, "That was the Mastodon. We're really getting trashed out here." Tommy watched the tiny form of Scorpina throw something toward the Pterodactyl. Kimberly continued, "I don't know how much longer w..." An awful mixture of metal squealing and Kimberly shrieking was the last sound to come from Tommy's communicator before the transmission ended. "Kim!!" Tommy shouted. "Kimberly?!" Billy's voice cried out. After a long pause, Kimberly replied weakly, "I'm okay." There was another pause, and then a soft chuckle. "I just wish I could say the same for my Zord." "Kim," Tommy sighed in relief. "I'm on my way as expediently as possible!" Billy said. "Tommy, I'm sending you the Saba Saber. Use your Power Coin in crystal mode to summon your White Tigerzord, then use Saba to control it." A white and gold saber streaked down from the sky, a tiger head at the end of its handle. Tommy grasped it and said, "Got it." He could almost swear he heard the sword yawning, but he decided it must have been his imagination. He nodded to the crowd of people staring at him and teleported. As Kimberly crawled out from the wreckage of the Pterodactyl, she saw Zack running up to her. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Yeah," she replied. "But what are we gonna do?" Jason and Trini teleported to the scene as Kimberly continued, "I mean, we definitely won't be able to form the Megazord with the Zords in this condition!" "We can only hope Billy and Tommy come through," Jason told her. Tommy rematerialized at the outer edge of Stone Canyon. He held his crystal orb toward the sky and called out, "White Tigerzord, power up!" Off in the distance, the creature awoke and heeded the call. Tommy could see the speck on the horizon approaching. It was the White Tiger - it was his. As the creature grew near, Tommy leapt high into the air, landing on the Zord's head. A hatch opened, and Tommy jumped down into the cockpit. "This is too cool," he chuckled. "But what do I do now?" "Perhaps you should plug me into the control port," Saba suggested politely. "Whoa, you can talk!" Tommy exclaimed. His gaze fell upon the control port Saba had mentioned. "Here goes..." He stabbed the blade into the port, and the control panel lit up. "Awaiting your command," said Saba. "Um," said Tommy. He pointed toward the form of Scorpina, who was getting closer on the viewscreen. "Get that scorpion monster!" Scorpina spotted the oncoming Tigerzord moments before it leapt into the air, its front paws extended to pounce. She ducked, and the Tigerzord sailed over her head and landed behind her. She spun around and held out her sword defensively. "What have we here?" she wondered as the Tigerzord turned to face her. A blast of energy struck her back, causing her to turn to look at the Triceratops. Realizing Scorpina was distracted, Tommy ordered, "Pounce!" The Tigerzord leapt at Scorpina once more, and she saw it coming out of the corner of her eye. She crouched, grasped the belly of the Tigerzord, and redirected its momentum so that it crashed head-first into the Triceratops. "You didn't land on your feet, kittycat," Scorpina sneered. As the Tigerzord rolled off the Triceratops, the Triceratops launched its horn grappling hooks, which wrapped themselves around Scorpina's feet. Scorpina quickly grasped the chains, used her sword to cut the chains from the horns, and then yanked the Triceratops forward. Once the Zord was close enough, Scorpina lashed out with her tail, puncturing the dinosaur in the back of the neck behind its armor-plated head. "This course of action is accomplishing nothing!" Billy sighed from his cockpit. "Blue Ranger returning to Power Chamber!" He then vanished in a streak of blue. In the Tigerzord cockpit, Tommy admitted, "I don't know what to do, Saba. Nothing's working." "Might I suggest Warrior Mode?" Saba asked. "Warrior Mode??" Tommy repeated. "Why didn't you say so? Convert to Warrior Mode!" To Scorpina's astonishment, the Tigerzord transformed into a mighty robot warrior wielding a gleaming golden sword. She was further shocked by the sudden disappearance of the fallen Dinozords, as were the Rangers below. "Uh, Billy?" Kimberly asked into her communicator. "What's going on?" "A surprise," he replied. "But I had to borrow the energy accelerators from the Dinozords. The Tigerzord was, oddly enough, the only one constructed with an energy accelerator." "One what?" asked Jason. "What are you talking about?" "Allow me to present the Thunderzords," he replied. On the horizon appeared a new fleet of mighty Zords. "Whoa!" Zack remarked. "Jason, you now pilot the Red Dragon Thunderzord," said Billy. "Kimberly, you pilot the Firebird Thunderzord. Zack, you pilot the Lion Thunderzord. Trini, you pilot the Griffin Thunderzord. And my Thunderzord is the Unicorn." "They're amazing," Trini commented. "All right, guys," Jason said, "let's go!" The four Rangers simultaneously leapt into the air to rendezvous with their new Zords. "I don't believe it," Scorpina groaned. "Believe it!" Tommy retorted, the Tigerzord taking a swipe at her with its sword. Scorpina took a step back, barely managing to block the attack with her sword. "We need Thunder Megazord power!" Jason announced from the Red Dragon cockpit. The five Thunderzords then merged to form a new Megazord in the form of a mighty samurai warrior. The Thunder Megazord unsheathed its razor-sharp sword and touched it to the sword of the Tigerzord. "I'm going, I'm going!" Scorpina shouted angrily. She thumped her fist to her chest and vanished from sight, leaving the Rangers to stare at the destruction around them. Barely a tenth of Stone Canyon was still standing. --- PART THREE "I don't understand," Kimberly said, she and the other five Rangers standing around a boulder, "I told them not to go anywhere." "Oh, I have them," said Goldar's voice casually. The Rangers spun to face the source of the voice: a hologram of the armored beast. "Goldar!" Jason shouted. "I'd like all of you to surrender your Power Coins to me," said Goldar. "And just in case the destruction of Stone Canyon and the capture of the two future Zeo Rangers and their friend isn't enough to convince you I'm serious, I've prepared Putty Armies outside four major cities around the world and will unleash them in one hour unless I have your Power Coins." In a small flash of light, a piggy bank appeared on the boulder. "Deposit at will," Goldar told them. "The clock's ticking." The hologram began to fade but then suddenly returned. "It's a shame you only got to use your new Zords once," Goldar said with mock sadness. "Oh," he added, "and the piggy bank was Scorpina's idea." The hologram then vanished completely. "Oh, man," Tommy sighed, "this is all my fault. I shouldn't have gone off on my own." "No, Tommy," Billy argued, "I should have tried to assist Jason and Trini earlier so that Kimberly and Zack wouldn't have had to leave." "Look, this is nobody's fault," Jason stated. "We just have to figure out what to do." "We'd better discuss this in the privacy of the Power Chamber," Trini suggested. The others nodded, and the Rangers teleported to their subterranean headquarters. The six helmets of the Power Rangers resting on the back of the control panel stared Billy down as he worked with the computer. "I've located the four Putty Armies," he told the others. "New York City, London, Moscow, and Tokyo. We should see a visual momentarily." The Viewing Globe began to cycle through overhead views of the four Putty Armies. Each army consisted of several thousand Putties, all grouped together in one large mass in a remote area outside their target city. "Hey, look at that," said Zack. Trini noted, "Goldar couldn't have made them easier targets." "He probably didn't foresee our ability to detect their presence," Billy guessed. "Kimberly and I have the flying Zords," Jason said. "We're the only ones who can cross the oceans, so we'll go take care of the Putties." "I can get to New York in the Tigerzord," Tommy volunteered. "I'll work on trying to recover the Stone Canyon teens," Billy offered. "All right," Jason said, nodding to Tommy and Kimberly. "Back to action!" After the Red, Pink, and White Rangers had taken their helmets and teleported away, Zack asked Billy, "Is there anything we can do to help?" Billy looked around. "Well, these boxes could use unpacking. I'm uncertain of the contents of half of them." He then resumed his work at the controls. Trini and Zack shrugged and each took a box from the stacks of boxes in the corner of the cavern. As the waters of the Pacific Ocean rushed beneath the Firebird, Kimberly could see Japan creeping down the horizon. She followed the scanner readout to the remote area outside Tokyo where the Putty Army was located. Before long, she could see a large mass of Putties traversing an open plain. "Hey, they weren't on the move before..." Kimberly spoke. Standing in a snowy field, the Red Dragon bathed the entire army of Putties below in flames. "I know," Jason radioed back to Kimberly. "Goldar must have launched them early when he saw us coming!" Relatively unharmed by the Zord's flame breath, the Putties continued marching toward Moscow. The Red Dragon craned its mighty head down and began to gobble up the tiny beings, grinding them into chunks of clay. "All right," said Kimberly, targeting the Putty Army in her viewscreen, "let's see what this 'Primary Weapon' does..." She pressed a button, and pink streaks of energy began to emerge from the Firebird. They coalesced into an enormous funnel trailing beneath the Zord. As the Firebird swooped over the Putties, the energy twister lifted the entire mass of beings into the air. "Gotcha!" Kimberly laughed. She pulled back on the stick, and the Firebird climbed high into the air, taking the Putty Army with it. Once she was flying over the Sea of Japan at several thousand feet, she shut off the energy funnel, and the mob of Putties dropped like rocks. Kimberly changed course toward London. "Thanks for flying Firebird Airlines!" A third swarm of Putties surged onward toward the New York skyline. They suddenly noticed a rumbling sound and turned their blank red gaze behind them, where a cloud of smoke was approaching on the horizon. Upon realizing that in the center of the cloud was a fearsome robotic tiger, thousands of Putties babbled in panic and scrambled in the direction of New York City. Their efforts were in vain, however, for the Tigerzord was quickly upon them, crushing them beneath its enormous paws like ants. The Putties fled in every direction. Though it was stomping as many Putties as possible, hundreds were escaping. "Sorry, guys, you're not going anywhere," Tommy told them. "Tigerzord, convert to Warrior Mode now!" The tiger transformed into a robot warrior and began stomping the Putties much more efficiently than before. Yet several small groups were still escaping in various directions. "Saba, what kind of firepower does this Zord have?" Tommy asked. "The White Tiger Thunderbolt is behind you," Saba replied. "Insert it into the hole beneath my command port." Tommy turned around and plucked a transparent sphere from the wall behind him, then shoved it into the hole in the control panel. "Thunderbolt armed and ready!" Tommy said. "Fire!" The Tigerzord spread its arms, and from the tiger mouth in the center of its chest rocketed a crimson ball of energy. The fireball struck one group of Putties, sending chunks of earth and Putty flying into the air. Tommy turned to find another sphere had replaced the first. "These guys've had it!" "Whoa," Zack said, peering into a black crate. "What is it?" Trini asked with a smile. "I think I found Alpha Four," he replied. Trini reached over and brushed the layer of dust from the side of the crate, revealing the name "Alpha 4" written in large red letters. "I think you're right," she chuckled. "Guys," said Billy as he stood up from his seat at the control panel, "I've located the teleportation coordinates of the lunar structure." "Jam-o-rama!" Zack cheered. Trini watched as Billy took his helmet. "Billy, where are you going?" she asked. "This is my responsibility," he responded, pushing a button on the control panel. He then teleported from the Power Chamber. "Billy!" Trini yelled as she and Zack rushed over to the controls. "We've gotta go in after him!" Zack said. Trini pressed several buttons on the control panel. "We can't," she told him. "He locked us out with a security code." The alarm began to squeal. Zack asked, "Hey, what's going on?" The Viewing Globe formed an image of thousands of Putties flooding the streets of London. "Oh no," Trini said. She scanned the countless buttons and readouts on the control panel; fortunately, the layout was very similar to the Command Center's version, with which Trini was quite familiar. She activated the Zord intercom and spoke to Jason, Kimberly, and Tommy: "The fourth Putty Army's made its way into London!" "Oh, man, this is serious!" Jason remarked. "I'm heading over there now." "Already on my way," Kimberly said. "Wait, you guys won't be able to take your Zords," Trini told them, watching the people of London run in terror through the streets. "You'll have to try to take care of things on foot." "If we don't need our Zords, then I can help," said Tommy. "But how do I teleport over there? I've never been to London." "None of us have," Kimberly told him. "Trini, can you teleport us, since you've got the coordinates?" "No, Billy locked us out of the teleportation controls," Trini sighed. "He just teleported to Goldar's castle to rescue the Stone Canyon teens and doesn't want us to follow him." "What??" Jason exclaimed. "When did this happen?" "Just now," Trini answered. "Look, you guys have to get to London somehow. Zack and I will see what we can do to help Billy." Jason sighed. "All right, look, we'll just have to try to visualize Big Ben. We'll meet at the top and go from there." "Gotcha," Kim said. "White Ranger out," Tommy signed off. Trini switched off the intercom and sat down with a sigh. Zack didn't know what to say, so he gently put his hand on her shoulder. Billy scanned the dark stairway in which he found himself. The walls, ceiling, and floor were made of onyx and reflected the image of the Blue Ranger. From above came the dim natural light of the sun; at the bottom of the stairs, Billy could see the orange flicker of fire dancing on the floor of a room below. Guessing that was where the three teens were, he rushed down the steps. As Billy neared the bottom of the stairway, he looked into the room to see the three teens imprisoned in a cell of iron bars. A single torch on the wall illuminated the chamber in orange light. "Blue Ranger, it's a trap!" the teen in black yelled, but he was too late. Just as Billy entered the room, someone to the side of the doorway wrapped a golden arm around his neck and pinned his arm behind his back. "Goldar!" Billy yelled, struggling against his attacker's grip. "Don't insult me," spat the female voice of the scorpion monster. She unlatched Billy's helmet and pried it off his head, dropping it to the floor. "Let me go, you repulsive abomin..." Billy was silenced when she spun him around, and he realized that she was no longer a disgusting monster, but instead a beautiful Asian woman. She removed his glasses and tossed them aside, sending them skittering across the floor into the teens' cell. She then turned him back around and shoved him over to a table, upon which lay a large bowl full of bubbling-hot liquid wax. "What are you...?" Billy tried to ask, but Scorpina quickly shoved his face into the hot gray goo. The three teens winced as they could hear his muffled screams gurgling up through the wax. Within the bowl, it seemed as if an azure dye were bleeding outward from Billy's face. Soon the wax was entirely blue. Scorpina pulled his head out of the wax, and he coughed and groaned as she reached down and removed his Power Coin from his Morpher. Billy's suit vanished, as did the blue helmet on the ground. Too weak to move, Billy could simply watch as she confiscated his Morpher and communicator. Scorpina set the Power Coin, Morpher, and communicator on the table and picked up an iron key. She dragged Billy to the cell, opened the door, shoved him in, and locked the cell. The teens caught Billy, and the girl cradled him in her arms. The teen in red gently put Billy's glasses back on his face. Scorpina returned to the table and held up the bowl of blue wax. "Excellent," said Goldar from the doorway. He entered the chamber and held out a piece of string over the bowl. The wax leapt out of the bowl onto the string and solidified into a large blue candle. Goldar grasped the body of the candle with his other hand and walked to the torch on the wall. "This is Gamma Tri wax," Goldar told his prisoners as he lit the candle on the torch's flame. "Your days as the Blue Ranger are over, Billy. The Blue Candle will give the blue power to me!" He bellowed with laughter on his way out of the chamber. Scorpina set the empty bowl back on the table and began to leave with the key to the cell. She looked back at the items she'd taken from Billy and smiled. "Salvation so close, yet oh so far away..." she said with mock sadness. "Must be awful!" She chuckled gleefully and left the room. Tommy, Kimberly, and Jason stood on the ledge above the clock face of Big Ben, watching the Putties surge forward through the streets, past ineffective barriers of London's police officers. The creatures grew closer to the Houses of Parliament by the second. "Looks like we got here just in time," said Jason. "I'll do some sharpshooting from up here," said Kimberly, holding out her hands. "Power Bow!" Her pink and white archer's bow appeared. "Good idea," Jason told her. "We'll do the cleaning up down below." He leapt off the tower, followed by Tommy. As he fell, Jason removed his Blade Blaster from his holster and transformed it into blade mode. Upon landing on the ground below, Jason and Tommy split up. Tommy pulled out Saba and rushed toward an oncoming crowd of Putties. He dove into the mass of creatures and began slashing at their chests with Saba. One by one he was destroying them, but there were simply too many to stop from advancing. "Perhaps we should split up," Saba suggested as his blade sliced the "Z" on a Putty's vest. "Good idea, Saba," Tommy replied. "See if you can take care of any Putties that have gotten inside buildings. We'll get the ones outside." "Right!" Saba agreed, flying from Tommy's hand. Now unarmed, Tommy began punching and kicking any "Z"'s in sight. Gleaming pink arrows streaked down from above and took care of any Putties which managed to advance too far. As Billy sat in the corner of the cell with his eyes closed, the two guys looked at him in concern, and the girl attempted to pick the lock on the cell with a hairpin. Billy slowly opened his eyes and looked at the teens. "Hi," he said weakly, "my name's Billy." "We heard," said the one in red. "My name's Rocky." "Adam," said the one in black. "And that's Aisha," Rocky told Billy. "Hi," Aisha said without looking away from the lock. "We were hoping you could tell us what's going on," Rocky said. "Emergency crews in Stone Canyon have estimated the death toll to be in the eight hundreds," reported the news anchor on the television of the Harts' living room, "and that figure continues to rise by the minute." Mrs. Hart changed the channel to another broadcast, one with a live feed from the streets of London. Just then, the phone rang. "Hello?" Mrs. Hart answered. "Are you watching the news there?" a male voice on the other end asked softly. "Who is this?" "This is Tommy's father," he replied. "Oh! Mr. Oliver! I... This must be so awful for you! B...but a lot of people got out of Stone Canyon! I'm sure..." "Can I talk with Tommy?" he requested. "Tommy?" she asked. "I thought he went home last night." "Your daughter told me he spent the night! He has to be there!" he stated, raising his voice. "No," she replied, shocked. "I went to the grocery for a minute last night, and when I came back, Tommy and Billy had already left." "Billy who??" he insisted angrily. "Cranston. I can give you his phone number if you'd like..." Mr. Oliver sighed. "Yeah, lemme have it." "Got it!" Aisha whispered as the cell door popped open. "So you're saying me and Adam are destined to be Power Rangers?" Rocky asked Billy as he and Adam stood up. "Zeo Rangers," Billy corrected. "Do you need any help?" Adam asked. "Negative," Billy replied, struggling to stand. Once he was upright, he immediately collapsed against the wall in weakness. Rocky and Adam rushed over to hold him up. "On second thought..." Rocky and Adam walked Billy to the table, and Aisha handed him his communicator, Morpher, and Power Coin. Billy prepared to activate the teleportation device in his communicator. "Teleportation requires tactile contact," he told Aisha. Aisha blinked. "Hold on," said Adam. Aisha placed a hand on Billy's shoulder, and the four teens vanished. Trini and Zack jumped in surprise as Billy, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha teleported into the Power Chamber. "Billy!" Trini exclaimed, rushing to hug him. "And..." Zack started to say. "Future Zeo Rangers Rocky and Adam," said Billy as he embraced Trini, "and their friend Aisha." The teens exchanged brief hellos. Trini then told Billy, "We were so worried you wouldn't come back! You should've let us help!" "I apologize for locking the teleportation systems," Billy said, collapsing into the control panel's chair and removing his security measures. "Yo, man, what happened to your suit?" asked Zack, noticing Billy's civilian clothes. "Goldar has created a Blue Candle," Billy explained, "which is currently draining my powers. I'm afraid I won't be the Blue Ranger for much longer." "What?" Trini gasped. "That's awful!" "Hey, don't worry, Billy," Zack said, handing Trini her helmet and taking his own, "we'll get that Blue Candle. Nobody takes the power out of the Power Rangers!" Trini nodded. "No, you can't go!" Billy protested. "It's much too dangerous!" "Billy, please," said Trini. "You helped Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. Now let us try to help you." Billy sighed. "If something happens to you..." "Nothing's going to happen," Trini told him gently. She tapped a sequence of buttons on the control panel, and she and Zack were gone. "No, he spent the night at a friend's house," Mr. Cranston replied. "May I ask who's calling?" "My name's Frank Oliver," said Tommy's father. "My son Tommy is friends with your boy. He and Billy didn't spend the night at Kimberly's house - they left last night." "Are you sure?" Mr. Cranston asked, pushing his glasses up with his finger. "Kimberly called me and told me Billy fell asleep and was spending the night with the others." "Damn it, that's the same thing she told me!" Mr. Oliver yelled. "Have you asked Kimberly...?" "She's not at home! Mrs. Hart says she took three friends to the park!" "Perhaps we should go to the park to straighten things out..." Mr. Cranston suggested. "I'll be there," said Mr. Oliver. "Meet me at the Forest Spirit statue in a half-hour." "Agreed." Mr. Oliver hung up the phone and picked it up again. He pressed the first button on his autodial, his parents' house in Stone Canyon, one more time. "We're sorry, all circuits are busy right now," said the operator. Mr. Oliver slammed the phone down and grabbed his coat. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha watched in concern as Billy pressed buttons and scanned readouts at a frenzied pace. "I've got to ascertain their situation," he spoke. "Is there anything we...?" Adam started to ask. Billy's eyes suddenly grew wide. "Please, no," he gasped. "What?" Rocky inquired. Billy shouted into his communicator, "Trini! Zack! Speak to me!" Billy's arm trembled as silence rang in his ears. Then came the reply. "I'm sorry, Trini and Zack can't answer your call right now," Scorpina told him. "Please leave a message at the sound of the crunch." There was a smashing sound, then part of another before the transmission ended. "No!" Billy yelled. "Billy, you're back!" said Jason through the communicator. "What's going on?" "Goldar began ... draining my powers," Billy explained between gasps of panic, "and Trini and Zack ... departed to terminate the power transfer. And now ... their powers are being drained as well!" "Oh god..." Jason remarked. "I'm going after them," Billy said in a sudden burst of determination. He then produced his Power Morpher despite a bombardment of warnings from Jason, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha. "If anything goes awry," Billy reassured them, "I'll return immediately." He held out his Morpher and called out, "Triceratops!" Then he was gone. Zack and Trini lay motionless behind the bars, the shadows from the torch dancing over their bodies. A dull flash of blue made them slowly open their eyes. The Blue Ranger was collecting from the table their two Power Coins, two smashed communicators, and two smashed Power Morphers. His suit was a grayish shade of blue, not its regular royal blue color. "Billy!" Trini said weakly. "Yo, man, we shoulda listened to you," Zack groaned with a smile. Billy brought his finger to his mouthplate to remind them to keep quiet. His fears became reality when he heard metallic footsteps rushing down the adjoining stairwell. He stuck his free hand through the bars and clutched Trini's shin. "Affix your hand to Zack!" he told her, for Zack was too far for him to reach. Trini placed her hand on Zack's ankle, and Billy touched the pinkie of the hand carrying his friends' belongings to his Morpher just as Scorpina bolted into the room. The three teens vanished before her eyes. She stomped her boot on the floor and shouted up the stairs, "Goldar, I _told_ you the Blue Ranger would be stupid enough to come back and save his friends!" In the main chamber of the castle, Goldar watched the Blue, Black, and Yellow Candles float through the air in a circular path around the Orb of Doom's altar. Scorpina walked up from the lower chamber and leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed. "All that matters," growled Goldar, "is that their powers will soon be mine." "Right, I'll keep you updated," Billy sighed into his communicator. "Jason out," said his communicator. "Man, what are we gonna do now?" Zack wondered aloud, sitting with Trini against a rock wall of the Power Chamber. "If Goldar gets our powers, that cuts our ranks in half!" Rocky, Adam, and Aisha, standing in the middle of the room, looked to Billy, who sat in the control chair, once again in his civilian clothes. He fidgeted with one of the two broken Power Morphers, the other lying on the top of the controls with the Mastodon and Saber-toothed Tiger Power Coins. "Zordon and Alpha would have known precisely what to do in such a..." he started to say. He then jumped up and tossed the Morpher onto the control panel. "Of course! Alpha!" The other teens watched Billy kneel down beside the mangled body of Alpha Five and remove the robot's upper cranial covering, exposing Alpha's electronic brain. "His body may be beyond repair," he explained, "but I believe his 'brain' is still intact. I just need the body of Alpha Four." "I see, Doctor Frankenstein," Zack laughed. "I'll get it," Rocky said, walking to the stack of boxes. "Which one is it?" he joked, spying the crate conspicuously labeled "Alpha 4." He lifted the limbless body of Alpha Four from the crate and told Billy as he set it down next to Alpha Five, "I don't know where the arms and legs are. This is all that was in there." Billy removed the casing of Alpha Four's head and delicately transplanted Alpha Five's cerebrum into the empty cranium of Alpha Four. As soon as the brain was connected, the lights on Alpha Four's chest flickered and lit up, and the red lights oscillated across his visor. "Alpha?" Billy asked, putting the cranial cover back in place. "Lex...ian?" asked the Alpha Four body. "It's me, Billy. We have a problem." "Billy. My neural net is breaking down," said the robot. "My problem-solving abilities probably aren't very reliable. But I'll try to help." "Goldar's using 'Gamma Tri wax' to drain the blue, yellow, and black powers," Billy told him. "Wax from the Gamma Tri System drains the energy from whatever host it comes in contact with," Alpha said distantly. "Yeah, we know," Billy told him. "How can we save the Power Coins?" "Power Coins: rumored to have been created a pupil of Zordon's mentor Dulcea on the planet Phaedos," Alpha seemed to recite. "Dulcea?" Billy repeated. "Phaedos?" asked Zack. "Phaedos..." Alpha said, his voice trailing away. He then spoke in a monotonous voice, "Neural network failure. Please return this unit to King Lexian of Edenoi in the Andromeda Sector for repair. Star charts available inside dorsal plate." "Edenoi?" Rocky queried. Billy returned to the command seat at the control panel and looked the planets up on the computer database. "'Edenoi:'" Billy read as the image of a greenish-blue planet appeared on the Viewing Globe, "'home to the peaceful and intelligent Edenoites. See also: King Lexian, Count Dregon, and Masked Rider.' And then it gives the teleportation coordinates." "What does it say about this 'Lexian' Alpha mentioned?" Trini asked. "'King Lexian:'" read Billy, "'kind and noble ruler of the planet Edenoi. Designer of the Alpha Series robots. See also: Masked Rider, Prince Dex, and Count Dregon." "What about Phaedos?" asked Adam. Edenoi's image was replaced by the image of a greenish-brown planet. "'Phaedos:'" Billy read, "'home to the Master Warrior Dulcea and her pupils. See also: Ninjetti Temple and Nathadian Monolith.' And then the coordinates." "I'll bet Dulcea could help save your powers," Aisha stated. "All right, look, we need to split up," said Zack, standing and helping Trini to her feet. "Zack and I are Alpha's friends," Trini told the Stone Canyon teens, "so we should probably be the ones to take him to Edenoi." Rocky nodded. "We'll go to Phaedos and look for this 'Dulcea.'" Billy felt the urge to argue that he should go but quickly realized he would be of more use to the Rangers in the Power Chamber. If something were to happen, no one would know how to run the place. "Allow me to retrieve more communicators from my laboratory," he told them. Upon teleporting into his carport, Billy immediately noticed that the car wasn't there and wondered where his father had gone. He entered his laboratory and pulled out a lead briefcase from beneath a table. He entered his combination into the lock and opened the briefcase, revealing a foam interior with two rows of five communicator slots. One row was completely empty; the other held four communicators with one empty spot. Billy carefully removed the communicators and shut the briefcase. "We're just fortunate I originally constructed a reserve set of communicators," Billy said, passing out communicators. When he got to Trini, he had already given them all out. "Tommy has the fifth reserve communicator," he told her as he removed the communicator from his own wrist, "so take mine." "Thanks," she said with a smile. "Now, what do these things do again?" asked Rocky, looking down at the black device hanging on his belt. "They're signal amplifiers," Billy explained a second time. "Switch it on," he said, demonstrating with Trini's, "and it will amplify your communicators' signals to enable them to contact the Power Chamber." "Got it," Rocky replied. "We're ready," Aisha told him. Zack lifted Alpha Four's body and said, "We are too." Billy sat down in the control seat and punched in a series of commands. "Destinations set," he announced. "May the power protect you all." "Hit it," Zack said. Billy activated the teleportation system, and the two groups vanished. "Back off, clayheads!" Tommy shouted, trying ineffectively to hold off the crowd of Putties which had him surrounded on three sides, his back against a wall. He heard a female "hyah" approaching. Within seconds, Kimberly emerged from the mass of Putties, cutting her way through the crowd with her Blade Blaster. She backed herself against the wall beside Tommy. "You looked lonely," she told him. "Thanks," he replied, and they began to fight off the Putties side-by-side. Their techniques blended perfectly, and soon the wall of Putties began to recede. "Hey, um," Tommy started to say to her, "you think ... after this is all over ... we could ... go ... somewhere...?" "Tommy Oliver," she remarked, kicking a Putty in the chest, "are you asking me out in the middle of a battle?" Tommy crumbled a Putty with a punch. "You're right," he sighed. "What was I thinking..." She quickly leaned over and bumped the mouthplate of her helmet against the part of his helmet covering his cheek. "I'd love to." Rocky, Adam, and Aisha appeared in a stunningly beautiful garden surrounded in all directions by trees. Stone steps twisted a path through the garden up to an ancient temple. The teens wandered up the path, taking in the garden's rare beauty. When they had reached the temple, two enormous doors swung open. Inside, they followed a large corridor to an iron gate blocking their entrance to the main chamber of the temple. Suddenly, light flooded the chamber, and the gate creaked open. The teens cautiously entered the chamber and looked around. A sea of mist covered the floor, and all around the room were racks holding candles. In the center of the room was an elegant table, on which lay a blue jar. "Wow, would you look at this place," Aisha said. "It's incredible," Adam remarked. "Who goes there?" a bombastic voice called out from the jar. "Um, friends of the Power Rangers of Earth...?" Rocky weakly replied. "Fascinating," replied the voice. "Now please go away." "But... we need the help of Dulcea!" Adam pleaded. "Dulcea..." said the voice. "Sorry, never heard of her." "Look, the Rangers' Power Coins are being drained of their power," Aisha explained, "and unless we do something, they're gonna be lost forever!" A red mass of energy shot out of the jar and coalesced into a figure in blue armor, a large "N" insignia on his chest. "The Power Coins?" he asked. "Why didn't you say so? Let me contact Dulcea." He turned his head and cupped his hands in front of his mouthplate. "Dulceeeeea!!" he shouted. A white owl swooped in from the darkness in the outer limits of the chamber and landed beside the armored figure. It sparkled with blue light and expanded into a beautiful woman with curly brown hair, scantily clad in a small amount of green armor. None of the teens spoke, so Dulcea asked, "Why have you come here?" "We're friends of the Power Rangers," Aisha explained a second time, "and three of their Power Coins are being drained of their power." "Did Zordon send you?" Dulcea inquired. "No, whoever 'Zordon' is," said Rocky, "Billy made it sound like he was gone. We've never met him." Dulcea sighed. "If what you say is true, your world is in grave danger. You must lead me there right away." She turned to the man in blue armor. "Ninjor, will you keep an eye on the Ninjetti Temple?" "Don't worry," Ninjor replied. "Your youthful good looks aren't going anywhere while Ninjor's on guard!" Dulcea cracked a weak smile. She then said to the teens, "We must hurry if there is to be any hope for your world." "Right," said Rocky, flipping on the signal amplifier on his belt. He spoke into his communicator: "Billy, we've got Dulcea, and we're ready to teleport back." "For future reference," Billy's voice crackled, "you can teleport yourselves simply by visualizing your destination and pressing the silver button located on the side of your communicator." "Oh," said Rocky. Adam swallowed and held out his hand to Dulcea. She placed her hand in his, and the teens teleported. Mr. Oliver raised an eyebrow at the group of people standing near the Forest Spirit statue. A man with blond hair wearing glasses and a blue sweater stepped forward and shook hands with Mr. Oliver. "I'm Harold Cranston," said the man. "We spoke on the phone." "Who are these people?" Mr. Oliver asked. "Oh, I called the others' parents," Mr. Cranston explained. "I thought they might be interested in getting to the bottom of this." He pointed to each couple in the group. "These are the Lees, the Kwans, and the Taylors. And I believe you spoke with Mrs. Hart." Kimberly's mother smiled slightly and nodded to Mr. Oliver. "Frank, we're really sorry to hear about your family," said Mr. Taylor. "I don't want your sympathy," Mr. Oliver replied. "I just want to bring Tommy home safe." The other parents looked away, and there was an awkward silence. "I just want him home safe," he repeated. "I won't be angry with him; I just want to find him." Dulcea and the Stone Canyon teens materialized from four flashes of white energy. "Dulcea, Billy," Rocky said as he unclipped the signal amplifier from his belt and set it on the control panel. "Billy, Dulcea." "Salutations," Billy greeted as he looked up. His eyes landed on Dulcea. He immediately stood up. "I ... I ..." Ay yi yi. "I ... would like to thank you for coming." She smiled slightly and nodded. "What has happened to Zordon?" she inquired. "Oh, well, his connection to this dimension was lost when the Command Center was destroyed," he explained. "I see," she replied solemnly. Her gaze fell on the two Power Coins lying on the control panel. "Are these the coins being drained?" she asked. "In addition to this one," Billy said, placing the Triceratops Power Coin with the others. "The being known as Goldar is using Gamma Tri wax to steal their powers." "Goldar?" she repeated. "He was the warrior of Rita Repulsa," Billy told her. "He now wields powerful magical energies." "If he is using wax from the Gamma Tri System," Dulcea said, "the power drain can only be stopped by transferring the coins to new users." Billy and Dulcea immediately looked at the Stone Canyon teens. "Whoa, whoa," Aisha interjected. "You said Rocky and Adam would be future Rangers, not me." "Do you decline the offer?" Billy asked. She smiled. "Of course not!" "As Power Rangers," he told them, "you will be putting yourselves in great danger. Are you all certain you wish to accept?" All three nodded enthusiastically. Dulcea waved her hand over the three Power Coins, and they began to twinkle with their respective colors. Billy could feel a presence leaving him, and he wondered if Trini and Zack could feel it as well. "The Power Coins have been disconnected from their previous owners," Dulcea said, gathering the coins into her hand. She held them out to the Stone Canyon teens. "Choose your colors," she told them. Aisha immediately took the coin glowing yellow. Adam reached out, glanced at Rocky, and chose the black coin. Rocky reluctantly took the blue coin, but not before quipping, "You got one in red?" "Those stupid Power Rangers," Goldar chuckled from his balcony as he watched the Red, Pink, and White Rangers continue fighting the Putties in London. "When will they learn I have them beaten?" Scorpina leaned against a wall in the room below, absently examining the blade of her sword. "You want me to cut 'em a new...?" she started to ask but stopped when a small chunk of debris bounced off her leg. She frowned and looked up to see that the three candles encircling the Orb of Doom had faded to gray and were crumbling apart, slinging pieces of wax everywhere. "Oh, Golllllldar," she sang, looking up at the ceiling innocently. Dulcea pointed her finger at the Mastodon Power Coin in Adam's hand, and the suit of the Black Ranger instantly formed around his body. "Whoa!" Adam exclaimed. "Adam," said Billy, "as the Black Ranger, you draw your powers from the Mastodon. You wield the Power Axe and pilot the Lion Thunderzord." Dulcea pointed at the Saber-toothed Tiger Power Coin next, morphing Aisha into her suit. "Aisha," Billy told her, "as the Yellow Ranger, your powers come from the Saber-toothed Tiger. Your weapons are the Power Daggers, and your Zord is the Griffin Thunderzord." Aisha nodded in response. Finally, Dulcea morphed Rocky by pointing at the Triceratops Power Coin. "Rocky, as the Blue Ranger, you're powered by the Triceratops. The Power Lance and Unicorn Thunderzord are yours." Rocky replied, "This is too cool." "Remember, there are three essential principles you must observe as Power Rangers," Billy told them. "Keep your identities secret, don't use your powers for personal gain, and only use your powers defensively, never offensively." He looked to Dulcea, and she gave him an approving nod. "To teleport, touch your..." He realized that in the place of Morphers on the three suits were golden buckles like the one on the White Ranger suit. "...belts." "Right," Rocky acknowledged. Billy entered a command into the controls. "I'll transport you to London so you can assist the others... Jason, Kimberly, and Tommy. You don't know Tommy Oliver, do you?" Aisha thought. "I don't think so..." Billy shrugged, not wanting to waste any more time on the conversation. "Well, good luck," he told them before teleporting them across the planet. "There weren't many Putties in that direction," Jason explained, joining Kimberly and Tommy. "Did you hear anything else about the yellow, black, and blue powers?" asked Kimberly, impaling a Putty's "Z" with her Blade Blaster. "We overheard you talking on the communicator." "No, that was the last I heard," Jason replied. The three Rangers heard the familiar sound of rushing air which accompanied their teleportation sequence. They glanced over their shoulders to see the other three Power Rangers. "All right!" Kimberly cheered. "Welcome back!" "Um, this is Aisha, Rocky, and Adam," Aisha said as the three new Rangers jumped into the battle. "Zack and Trini went to another planet to get Alpha repaired, and Billy's in the Power Chamber with Zordon's mentor Dulcea." Jason and Kimberly paused in shock for a moment, nearly getting clobbered by Putties before recovering their composure. "Wow," Jason exhaled. Suddenly, the hundreds of remaining Putties simply vanished into thin air. The Rangers looked around, unsure what to make of their sudden victory. The people of London began to cheer, and the roar of happiness echoed through the city. Saba soared down the street and placed himself in Tommy's hand. "Maybe we scared 'em away...?" Rocky suggested, waving to the cheering masses. "Let's get back to the Power Chamber," Jason told the team. Goldar raised his arms and spread his wings. In the room below, the Orb of Doom crackled with electricity, occasional bolts leaping away from the sphere and striking the walls and ceiling. Scorpina squinted in uneasiness and turned her head away. "Those Rangers haven't taken me seriously yet," Goldar growled, "but maybe this will show them who they're dealing with!" "Wh..what are you going to do?" Scorpina asked calmly, trying to hide her anxiety. "I'm going to send their parents to another dimension!" he bellowed merrily. Scorpina blinked. She didn't think her betrothed was capable of subtlety. "Oh," she replied and straightened her hair. The six helmets of the Power Rangers again stared down Billy from the back of the control panel, but this time, none was his. Nearby, Dulcea was surrounded by the six curious Rangers. Everyone was too preoccupied to notice Kimberly slowly reach over and intertwine her fingers with Tommy's. "So you really taught the creator of the Power Coins?" Jason asked her. "Yes, Ninjor was an excellent pupil," she replied. "Hold on," said Aisha, "_Ninjor_ was the creator of the Power Coins??" "Yes, they were the project which completed his training." Rocky blinked. "Whoa, you're saying the Power Coins were, like, a final exam??" "You make it sound so trivial," Dulcea chuckled. The Rangers' communicators began to crackle. "Trini to Power Chamber," said Trini's voice amidst the hiss of static. "Trini, we read you," Billy replied into the communications system of the control panel. "Zack!" Mr. Taylor called out. "Billy?" Mr. Cranston yelled. "Kimberly!" called Mrs. Hart. Mr. Oliver sighed. "Let's split up." "Good idea," Mrs. Kwan responded. But before the cluster of parents could disband, the sky grew a purplish color, and an enormous hole of swirling blue energy opened up in the sky. The parents felt their feet leave the ground, and they all soared upward into the vortex and were gone. "We found Lexian," said Trini's voice, "but we also found a really messy situation here. Some woman named Nefaria is starting a rebellion, so Zack and I have decided to stay a little bit longer to see if we can help Lexian keep the peace." "We'll miss you," Billy told her. "You guys be careful," Jason spoke into his communicator. "We will," Trini assured him. "Listen, could you tell our parents that Zack and I went to Stone Canyon to help wi..." The signal faded into static in the middle of her sentence. "Trini?" Billy asked. His response was the blaring of the Power Chamber's alarms. Goldar's eyes widened as a black spot above California began to swell, consuming the east coast of the United States. "Hmm, I have two problems," Goldar admitted. Scorpina stood beside him on the balcony, watching as the blackness enveloped the Americas and spread to the eastern hemisphere. "You're an idiot and ... you're an idiot...?" she sneered. "I don't know where I sent the Rangers' parents," said Goldar, "and I don't know what I just let into this dimension." Scorpina turned away and stormed down the stairs. "You know, I wasn't too fond of Rita's magic," she yelled, "and _she_ knew what she was doing!!" She stood in the main chamber and hit her fist against her sternum. "I'm outta here!" Then she was gone. Goldar stared at the planet above. It was completely enveloped in blackness. For a fleeting moment, he felt sorry for the people of Earth. --- PART FOUR It had been a year and a half since Goldar's Fifty Days of Darkness, when shadows had covered the planet and billions of hungry pseudopodia had stretched down from the sky to devour billions of people and ravage the surface of the planet. At first, the Power Rangers had used their Thunderzords to dig subterranean cities in North and South America to shelter survivors from the angry sky. Dulcea had summoned the Ninjazords from Phaedos and had brought the dozen Zords to life, allowing them to function without pilots. While the Zords continued digging shelters, the Rangers had worked crowd control, moving survivors around the planet into existing shelters, which were all located in the Americas in order to minimize the distance between them and the Power Chamber. By the time the darkness had left the planet fifty days after it had begun, the Earth was a desert wasteland. Had it not been for the unlimited supply of vegetation which grew in the darkness of the underground cities as a result of Dulcea's magic, the survivors of the Fifty Days of Darkness most certainly would have died. "Hey, dad, I thought you said this was the perfect planet to hit next!" a squat, chubby robot pointed out in a gratingly whiny voice, referring to the image of the ravaged Earth on the viewscreen. "Sprocket, dear, don't sass your father," scolded his gold-plated mother, hitting her collapsible fan against her palm. "Well, son," replied the rotund mechanical monarch known as King Mondo, "it has been quite a while since I was last here. But don't worry; I'm sure we'll find a planet suitable to our needs." Far below, two figures sat in the sands of the desert formerly known as Angel Grove. The stars twinkled overhead, and on the western horizon was the final glowing remnant of the sunset. "Oh, look, a shooting star!" Kimberly told her date, pointing at the speck of light streaking across the sky. "Make a wish." He looked at her and smiled. "I don't need to." She giggled. "Just make a wish." He returned his gaze to the stars and inhaled. "I wish we could set things right." She smiled slightly. "It'll happen one day." Tommy looked down from the stars and into her eyes. He leaned in, and their lips met. Months later, in present day, the six Thunderzords were scattered across the continent under the moonlight, each guarding an entrance to a subterranean city, for at night, the entrances' solar-powered force fields shut down, and the cities became vulnerable to attacks from the Putty Armies roaming the planet. Guarding the remaining cities not protected by the Thunderzords were the Power Rangers. Tommy found himself guarding the entrance to a subterranean city in the North American Southwest. He didn't mind guard duty itself, but what did slightly bother him was the small crowd of city-dwellers who repeatedly peeked out from the massive cavern leading underground to gawk at him. He wished the Ninjazords would return so that they could guard the cities and let the Rangers get back to hunting down any stray Putty Armies out of the range of the Zords. 'Man,' he thought, 'I'll bet they didn't stare at a big robotic falcon _this_ much.' He scanned the horizon, pretending not to notice his observers. "I'm sure he doesn't wish to be disturbed," said one of the men in the cluster of Native Americans watching the White Ranger. "But I want to know what he's doing here," another spoke. "I really don't think he'd mind," said a teenager in white. His face and long, dark hair gave him a striking resemblance to Tommy. "I'm going," said the second man. Slowly, the group emerged from the opening. "Excuse us, White Ranger!" he called out. Tommy turned his head to look at them. "Hello," he responded politely, giving a slight wave. "We were wondering why you've taken the place of the mighty falcon," the second man declared. Tommy approached the men. "Well, we got a distress signal from another planet," he explained. "A planet with its own set of Rangers. And they needed help, so we loaned them the Ninjazords." "I see," said the first man. "I mean, they were in serious trouble," Tommy elaborated. "And the Ninjazords were built for them in the first place. If anyone's borrowing the Ninjazords, it's us." "Well," said a third man, "that explains it." "Thank you for your time," said the first. Tommy nodded. "No problem." He and the group went their separate ways. After returning to the opening leading down into the city, the teenager stopped, allowing the older men to leave him behind. He looked out at the White Ranger and told himself, "He is the one." Just as Tommy was beginning to think he had appeased the Native Americans' curiosity, he could see another spectator out of the corner of his visor. He turned his head to look at the long-haired young man in white. The observer immediately turned and ran home to his underground city. "All right, this is crazy," Tommy sighed. He spoke into his wrist: "Aisha, would you mind switching places with me?" "No problem," replied Aisha's voice. The teenager emerged from the entrance leading to the underground city. He was out of breath, and the arrowhead pendant hanging from his necklace rose and fell with every heave of his chest. His shoulders slouched in dismay as he realized that the White Ranger was gone; the Yellow Ranger now stood where he had been. On the horizon was the first trace of daylight. The teen placed a hand on his arrowhead and stepped beyond the boundary of the opening. He realized the danger in what he planned to do: once daybreak came, the force field would trap him outside. But danger could not stop him from completing his mission. He crouched behind a rocky outcropping and waited for the sun. When it had risen, the force field crackled to life, and the Yellow Ranger left. The teenager left his hiding place. "Spirit of the falcon," he spoke into the air, "guide me true as an arrow, so that I may find my brother." The sands of the desert blazed with the heat of the midday sun, amplified by the greenhouse effect from the utter deforestation of the Earth's surface. While the Thunderzords roamed the continent in search of Putty Armies, the Rangers slept soundly in the sleeping quarters of the Power Chamber. All but Tommy. Tommy's slumbering consciousness wandered into a dream. Detached from himself as if he were watching a movie, he saw the vision of a Putty Army standing over the limp body of a young man in white. It was the teen who'd been watching him from the cavern. As his view zoomed in on the teen's face, Tommy realized the strong resemblance between himself and the teen. It could have been his brother... Tommy stirred himself awake from his dream. He jumped out of bed and rushed into the control room in his white pajamas. He lifted his arm and twisted his wrist, forming a black wrist computer on his arm. "White Ranger," he announced into the wrist unit, "power up!" The generators in the Power Chamber hummed noisily, and a white flash of light morphed Tommy into the White Ranger. Hanging on Tommy's belt, Saba wondered what Tommy was doing up at such an hour, but he sensed tension in his master and decided not to speak. Tommy stepped onto the lift platform and rode it to the surface. Billy and the Rangers, having heard the commotion, emerged from their sleeping quarters and met in the control room. "What's going on?" Rocky yawned. Billy took a head count and said, "Tommy's gone somewhere." Upon rising up from the sand hologram which hid the Power Chamber's lift amidst the sand of the surrounding desert, Tommy spotted a small Putty Army not two hundred feet away. The image was exactly as he had seen in his dream: they were standing over a young man's body. Tommy grasped Saba tightly and cried forth with a gut-wrenching battle cry as he charged toward the Putties. "He's right outside," Billy told the others as he read the displays. He pressed a button, and a visual of Tommy's battle with the Putties appeared on the Viewing Globe. Kimberly gasped. "On no, look at all those Putties! We've gotta help him!" she cried, not noticing that Tommy was rapidly trouncing the creatures. "It's morphin' time!" Jason announced. The Rangers summoned their wrist devices and shouted in unison: "Power Rangers, power up!" Tommy crumbled the final Putty with his fist. Saba returned to his hand, and he returned the blade to his belt. "Thanks, little buddy," Tommy said softly. He looked down and realized the young man's body had vanished. All that remained were footprints in the sand from the Putties and the White Ranger. "Tommy," called out a voice behind him. He twirled around to see the ghostly image of the teen. The only opaque spot on the translucent specter was an arrowhead hanging from his neck. "Who are you?" Tommy asked. "I am David Trueheart," he replied, "and I am your brother." "What?" Tommy gasped, removing his helmet and dissipating it into the air. "I ... I ..." he stammered, his eyes beginning to sting. "Tommy, listen," said David's spirit, removing his arrowhead necklace. "My death will not have been in vain if you will take this arrowhead." Tommy tried to speak, but no words could come out. "We're the guardians of its magical powers," David explained. "And now that I'm gone, you must take it." He stepped closer to Tommy and pressed the arrowhead to the golden stripe running down the black vest of the White Ranger suit. When he removed his hand, the arrowhead was gone, and in its place was a faintly glowing spot of light on Tommy's vest. Tommy's head began to spin. Memories of events that never happened flashed through his mind. A world that could have been entered his thoughts and began to take over. The world he knew lost its familiarity, and soon all memory of it was gone. He was suddenly a stranger in this world. He stumbled aimlessly through the sand, alone in the vast desert, wondering where he was. Billy and the Rangers piled onto the lift and began to ascend through the elevator shaft leading to the surface. Kimberly looked around impatiently. The panel at the very top of the shaft slid open, revealing the blue sky above. "This lift is way too slow," she complained. She then leapt straight up the entire shaft. Tommy watched the pink figure emerge from the nearby ground and run toward him, flinging her helmet off. She nearly tackled him, throwing her arms around him and locking her lips onto his. Tommy blinked in surprise. She pulled back. "Tommy Oliver," she scorned, "don't you ever do that again!" She hugged him and said gently, "You scared all of us." Billy and the other Rangers then rose up from the sand. "Hey, look who's back," Jason chuckled. "Did you leave any Putties for us?" Aisha cracked. "What were you doing out there?" Adam asked. "...sleepwalking?" Rocky suggested. "Are you okay?" Kimberly questioned. "C'mon," said Jason, patting Tommy on the back, "let's go back to the Power Chamber." Tommy walked to the lift with the others, not hearing a word they said to him. "What's the date?" he asked, silencing the group's chattering. Billy eventually gave the date, and the lift began to take the teens back underground. Tommy inspected the teens around him in disbelief. "What happened to Trini and Zack?" he asked. The others grew uncomfortable at the mention of the former Rangers. They all remembered their recent expedition to Edenoi to check up on the two teens, who'd failed to contact the Power Chamber after their original transmission before the Fifty Days of Darkness. What they'd found was a dead husk of a planet, completely deserted. There had been no sign of the Edenoites, Trini, or Zack. The Rangers had tearfully pronounced their friends dead. Rocky joked nervously, "Boy, they must've hit you pretty hard, huh?" Dulcea watched the lift come to a stop and the Rangers step out. Tommy looked around the control room in confusion. "Tommy, welcome back," Dulcea greeted him. As Tommy's gaze fell on Dulcea, Jason asked her, "Dulcea, can you check Tommy out?" "Yeah," Billy agreed, "it's possible he has a case of selective amnesia." Dulcea laid Tommy down on a metal table. As she operated the scanning device, Tommy inquired, "What happened to the Zeo Rangers?" "The Zeo Rangers came from the future to help us," Billy replied. "We haven't seen them since." Rocky added, "Maybe one day we'll become the Zeo Rangers." Dulcea told him, "The Zeo Crystal remains undisturbed beneath Goldar's castle." Tommy sat up. "I've got to go get it. That's the only way I can go back and stop this from happening!" "What are you talking about, Tommy?" Adam asked. "I don't belong here," he explained. "I'm from a different timeline, where Rita was never defeated, where she married Lord Zedd, where I was the Green Ranger, then the White Ranger, then when the Machine Empire scared Rita and Zedd away; Rocky, Adam, Kat, Tanya, and I used the Zeo Crystal to become the Zeo Rangers, and Mondo went back in time to destroy us in the past, so we went back to stop him, and we ended up defeating Mondo and Rita, and we were going back to our time, and now I'm here in some weird timeline that I don't belong in, and..." "Tommy," Dulcea interrupted gently, "if what you are saying is true, then Adam and Rocky should remember this as well, should they not?" "Yeah, I guess so," he answered. "Rocky, Adam," Dulcea asked, "do you remember this happening?" Rocky and Adam glanced at each other and shrugged. "Nope," Rocky admitted. "Sorry," Adam apologized. Dulcea looked at Tommy. "Why would you be the only one to remember?" she asked. "According to your story, your memories should have changed as time changed. Unless you can tell me why..." She placed her hand over Tommy's sternum. "Tommy, there is something of great power right here," she said in awe. "What is it?" Tommy thought for a moment, then suddenly replied, "Oh! My arrowhead!" He then explained how he had received the arrowhead from a Native American shaman on his quest for his piece of the Zeo Crystal. "Somehow, your arrowhead has allowed you to remember," Dulcea theorized. Tommy stood up. "I've got to go get the Zeo Crystal and set things right," he declared, walking toward the lift. "In my timeline, Zordon's still alive, and Goldar hasn't driven the human race underground, and Trini and Zack are alive..." He suddenly stopped. Kimberly stood between him and the lift. Kimberly took his hands in hers and asked him, "In your timeline, what happens to us?" He looked into her eyes. "Tommy," she told him, "I love you. Don't leave me again." Tommy looked at the lift in anguish. "Tommy, there's still a long time until nightfall," Dulcea said. "Why don't you sleep on it?" "Power Rangers, power down," Billy spoke into his wrist unit. The Rangers reverted to their pajama-clad forms. "Good night," Rocky told the others, returning to his sleeping quarters. Dulcea and the teens looked at Tommy. Aisha, Adam, Jason, and Billy then reluctantly walked away to their respective sleeping quarters. Kimberly glanced up at Tommy, but he wouldn't look at her. She looked down at the floor and then turned away. She began to leave the control room. Once in the adjoining hallway, she gave Tommy a final longing glance before vanishing into her sleeping quarters. Tommy stiffly entered his sleeping quarters and threw himself onto the bed. His fingers ran along the edge of the arrowhead tied around his neck. Memories of Kimberly rushed through his mind. He remembered the first time they'd kissed. If he'd had to do it all over again, he would have traded the Green Ranger powers for that kiss in a heartbeat. He lay there for the next hour, enjoying the sweet memories of the times they'd spent together. His relationship Kimberly had been the best thing ever to happen to him. It was Heaven. Yet it had all crumbled when she wrote him that letter. She had found somebody else during her stay in Florida. He had wished with all of his being that they could be together again, and his wish had come true. Here she was, and she loved him. How easy it would be to leave things the way they were! Tommy realized there was no way he would be able to sleep. He got out of bed, walked into the control room, and sat at the controls. He examined the computer display and quickly familiarized himself with the operating system. He found his way into the historical records and accessed various video recordings of the Earth's recent past. He watched the progress of Goldar's assault on the Earth, beginning with the annihilation of Stone Canyon and leading to the slaughter of roughly five billion people in the Fifty Days of Darkness. Now the Earth was a desert, and the few hundred million survivors of the human race hid underground. The door to Kimberly's sleeping quarters slid open with a gentle hiss. Tommy slowly stepped in and gazed at her beautiful sleeping face. Half of Tommy's arrowhead hung around his neck; the other was in his hand, complete with its own string. Tommy leaned down and carefully tied the second half-arrowhead around Kimberly's neck. As he did so, she murmured in her sleep and smiled slightly. He stood back and whispered, "Something for you to remember me by." He then turned and walked away. In a flash of light, the White Ranger appeared in a dark, subterranean tunnel within the moon. A river of mist rolled along the floor around his feet. He hadn't taken two steps down the tunnel when he spotted the helmetless Pink Ranger in the distance. "Tommy..." she wailed. "Kim??" He ran toward her. "Don't leave me, Tommy," she sobbed, tears streaming down her face. "Kim, I have to," he tried to explain. "I have to set things right." "I thought you loved me..." He sighed in sorrow. He reached out to comfort her, but his hand passed through her, and her image dissolved. Of course! He'd been through this once before, in his timeline. The Caves of Deception would try to impede him in any way they could. He marched on, even more determined to find the Zeo Crystal and heal the world. Several hundred feet down the tunnel, Tommy was just beginning to wonder if the cave didn't have anything else to throw at him when Goldar appeared in front of him. In the beast's hand was the Zeo Crystal. "Looking for this?" Goldar laughed. Tommy stopped and examined the armored warrior. It had to be another illusion. Tommy watched as Kimberly stepped out from the shadows. "Hey, Tommy, remember the 'other guy' I dumped you for?" she asked bitingly. She grasped either side of Goldar's face and kissed the beast deeply. Tommy grimaced in disgust. Kimberly wiped her mouth and cackled. "That's it, Tommy. Change things back the way they were," she sneered as Goldar wrapped his arms around her. "Let someone else have me. Let a stranger put his hands all over your one true love." Tommy gritted his teeth. "It's not my decision to make," he told her before leaping through the illusion. He continued down the cave, his cockiness drained. "Hey, I understand why you're doing this," said Jason, walking beside Tommy. "You're upset I'm the leader again." Tommy looked at Jason out of the corner of his eye. Jason continued, "I mean, you obviously think you're a much better Red Ranger than I could ever be. I don't deserve to be a Power Ranger, do I?" Jason then yelled, "You're so self-centered! You'd change the flow of time just to take my position! Why don't you just admit it?" "Go away," Tommy sighed, brushing the illusion away with his hand. Jason vanished. Up ahead, Tommy spied a light. The tunnel opened up into a cavern up ahead. He began to run toward the light. "Tommy, you can't do this!" Dulcea told him, appearing from the shadows. "Yeah yeah, get your illusion over with," he told her as he stopped and rolled his eyes. "Tommy, I'm no illusion," she said. "I came to tell you that you mustn't play God." "Playing God?" he repeated. "I'm not playing God! I'm doing what's right!" "You're power mad!" she snapped. "Just like when you were the evil Green Ranger. You know what they say: absolute power corrupts absolutely." Tommy chuckled and shook his head. "No, I'm pure of heart. I retrieved the Zeo Crystal once, and I'll do it again." He passed through the illusion and ran the final distance to the Zeo Crystal's chamber. Inside, he saw the shimmering Zeo Crystal in its stone base, a column of white light protecting it. Tommy took a step forward. "Not on your life, White Ranger," Goldar growled. Tommy twirled around to see Goldar holding the Orb of Doom. "One last illusion, I see," Tommy said. "Could an illusion do this?" Goldar asked. An enormous claw of evil energy surged from the Orb of Doom, flinging the White Ranger across the cavern and pinning him against the rear wall. As Tommy struggled against the evil talon, Goldar approached him, chuckling to himself. "So, you thought you could stop me, huh?" he growled. "Don't you realize I've won? Why don't you Rangers give it up?" Tommy grunted in pain as the claw contracted, slowly crushing the life from his body. "That's just not what Rangers do," replied Jason. Goldar spun around to see the Red, Yellow, Blue, Black, and Pink Rangers standing in the mouth of the tunnel. "Power Rangers!!" Goldar roared. The claw around Tommy evaporated, and Goldar launched a series of energy blasts from the Orb of Doom at the Rangers. Tommy looked around, trying to figure out what Goldar was shooting. "Power Rangers?" he asked, not seeing them anywhere. He suddenly realized the Caves of Deception had turned their illusions on Goldar. He held out Saba and said, "Go get it, buddy!" The saber flew from his hands and soared around to Goldar's front side. Using the flat side of its blade, Saba knocked the Orb of Doom from Goldar's hand, sending it sailing over to Tommy. The White Ranger caught the sphere in one hand and Saba in the other. Goldar howled in outrage as he faced Tommy. "Go get it!" Tommy yelled, hurling the Orb of Doom toward the Zeo Crystal. The sphere implanted itself into the column of light surrounding the Zeo Crystal. "No!!" Goldar roared, scrambling up the pile of rocks leading to the stone altar. He thrust his hand into the light. Tommy looked away as the beast screamed in pain. He heard the Orb of Doom shatter, and Goldar grew silent. Tommy looked back at the altar to watch another rock fall and join the pile. Such was the end of Goldar. EPILOGUE Tommy sighed contentedly as he lay in the cool sand of Angel Grove Beach, listening to the waves wash against the shore. The cool night air blew gently across his face. Amid the stars high above, five colored lights streaked across the sky. They would fly from one horizon to the other, then emerge on the other side several seconds later. They had been repeating this cycle for two years. After the defeat of Goldar, Tommy had traveled back in time and had intercepted Mondo and the Zeo Rangers, preventing them from arriving in the past. He had then returned to the present - his present - and had unleashed the full power of the Zeo Crystal. The five pieces orbited the Earth and would forever protect the planet from danger. With the planet's safety forever ensured, the Power Rangers had been demoted from superheroes to an emergency rescue crew to help out during natural disasters, with the part-time job of rescuing cats from trees. Which was just fine in Tommy's opinion. The world was safe. Things seemed perfect. For Tommy, there was just one thing missing now... Looking through the window of the jet flying from Miami to Angel Grove, Kimberly watched the five colored lights blaze across the stars. She smiled and ran her fingers along the half-arrowhead around her neck. THE END