MMPR Dawn of Primacy: Dark Maelstrom

by J Raine

When a time shift alters the past and history is rewritten Rangers from several generations are caught up in the conflict as Earth becomes the battle ground for the ultimate battle between good and evil. MMPRtoPRTF&PRNS. Check profile for release schedule

1. Chapter 1

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Dawn of Primacy: Dark Maelstrom

-1-

"Captain Logan," Alex called.

"What is it?" he asked coming to Alex's monitoring station.

"I'm tracking a temporal rift. It appears to be some residual effect of the time holes."

"And the rift's status?"

"So far it's stable but…"

Alex was interrupted as the alarms began to sound; the instrument panels reading a massive surge of quantum energy projecting into the past.

"What's happening?" the Captain demanded.

"It's not good," Jen replied. "Something just tore open the rift, the discharge has moved into the past, somewhere in the late nineteen hundreds!"

"Sir," Alex shouted trying to be heard over the alarms. "The surge has done something to alter history; the timeline is being rewritten rapidly. We have less than a minute until the resulting quantum shift overruns Time Force."

"Can we send Wes and Eric?" Logan asked.

"No sir, the ripple has already affected their era, they're gone sir." Jen replied.

"Gather the Rangers and prepare to send the time ship through." he replied.

"There's no time," Alex replied calmly already punching in some commands. "The shift is less than thirty seconds out. Trip and Circuit are currently on the Time Shadow helping with repairs. I'm launching it now!"

Alex punched in the final command. The ignition system sprang to life as the computer received the calculations for its temporal leap. Trip and the few members of the maintenance team were frantically getting strapped in, caught off guard by this sudden activation of the engines. He wasn't even sure what was going on. There was a quick transmission.

"Trip," Jen began. "There's been a time shift, the data has been uploaded to the Time Shadow, you have to fix it or we won't have a future."

As the transmission cut out the Zord swung its massive arm connecting with the force field on the aft of the craft transferring all its energy to the Time Shadow sending it rocketing down the platform. The gate opened a split second before the ship reached it. The craft vanished in a brilliant flash of light; the remnants of Time Force did not even have a moment to contemplate the situation as the shift hit their location washing over their existence, like darkness consuming the light.

Rita looked out over the Earth from her Fortress on the moon. For the past few months since her escape she had been thwarted repeatedly by Zordon's group of armatures, which made her defeat all the more painful. She would never admit failure though, and continued to blame her subordinates for the failures. Finster and his useless creations were the biggest problem as she saw it. His recent attempt to create the Dark Warrior and steal research from Trini's Uncle had ended as miserably as all his other attempts. They needed a new approach. Something that would unbalance their accursed teamwork and give her forces a much needed edge. As she looked through her telescope to observe the wretched teenagers she noticed an ominous red light drifting in space. Like a crimson Aurora Borealis this phenomenon seemed to be drawing closer to the moon. Though she did not know what it was, it left her with a feeling of terror.

"Finster!" she shouted.

"Yes my Queen?" came the reply as the pale creature came to where she stood.

"What is that?" Rita demanded.

"I do not know my Queen." Finster replied adjusting his spectacles. "I do not believe I have seen anything like this before."

Not content Rita looked to another of her minions. "Goldar!"

"Yes my Queen?" his tone much more gruff and resentful.

"What is that?"

"I don't know my Queen."

"Somebody find out what that is!" her tone furious at the lack of information. "I'm surrounded by idiots!"

Rita would not have long to wonder as the anomaly had drifted above her fortress. The air suddenly seemed cold, the energy was pulling inward, condensing, but rather than becoming brighter, the center seemed to grow darker, a deep blood red. Then with a scream like that of thousands of tortured souls a blood red gate appeared, the faces of countless beings from as many worlds twisted and pushed against this manifestation as if trying to escape. Then from the center, a place so dark even Goldar felt as if his soul was being torn from him as he looked upon it, three figures emerged.

On the left was a woman, her hair was blood red, streaked with a dark violet, her eyes an icy tomb. Her armor was comprised of black soft armor which covered her body like a wet suit and silver plate armor strapped on where they would not restrict movement. A silver band was around her forehead. On the right appeared to be a man, dressed in a black robe with no discernable features. His skin was a light blue and his hair was more akin to the quills of Earth's porcupines, yet small arcs of lighting seemed to flow between the quills at random. Leading these two imposing individuals was a large manlike being, twisted black onyx armor covering all vital areas glowed with the same blood red light as the gate; faces, contorted in pain seemed to swirl within the plates. What was left uncovered was tough muscular flesh as if he had no skin. He wore a helmet enclosing his head completely save for a slit at eye level. His eyes blazed with a flame that made those who looked on him lose all strength.

"Zedd…" was all Goldar could manage.

Lord Zedd stepped forward, no word was spoken. Squat and Baboo sank back, hoping Zedd had not noticed them. Goldar bowed his knee, Finster also bowed. Rita was filled with terror; she had seen Lord Zedd before, but never like this. When she had been imprisoned Zedd was powerful, but now he seemed almost omnipotent. She noticed that he no longer had his staff, but some form of enormous sword. The twin blades, joined at the hilt like a naganata, were the deepest black as if she was looking into an abyss, the hilt ornate with fangs and claws like some fierce beast.

"My Lord," Rita began, but she was cut off by Zedd.

"Goldar," his voice was deep and ominous like thunder.

"Yes my Lord," Goldar replied.

"Kill her."

Goldar wasted no time coming to his feet and drawing his sword. Rita, realizing her fate was decided turned to run, but Goldar was already upon her and in one swift swipe he separated her head from her body. Her body collapsed on the floor, the head rolling across the floor stopping at the wall. Her blood poured from her neck leaving a dark red pool. His task complete Goldar knelt again. Zedd looked to Squat and Baboo.

"Dispose of her body," he said, then turning toward Goldar he said, "Lokar, reward his loyalty."

The man in black stepped forward and placed his hand on Goldar's shoulder. Goldar could feel pain in his back, but he endured it giving no sign of his discomfort. Two bone spikes punched through the back of his armor, they extended and stretched upward. When it seemed they had finished growing, new fingers began to grow from the tips as muscle and sinew began to form. The bone began to form the shape of giant wings. As the tissue began to form so did the skin, a leathery covering like some giant bat. Goldar brought his wings down and pulled them tightly against his back, yet as he did they began to tuck into his flesh disappearing within his body. He could still feel them though they were no longer visible. Armor formed over the wing tips which still slightly protruded protecting them.

"Thank you my Lord," Goldar said.

"Serve me well and you will be rewarded. Fail me," Zedd looked to Rita, "And you will die."

Squat and Baboo wasted no more time, taking Rita's body and head the two departed happy to be sent out of Zedd's presence alive. Zedd turned his attention to Finster.

"Go and retrieve the Green Power Coin, and the Sword of Darkness." Zedd commanded, and motioned to the woman. "Astronema, go with him. Lokar revive Scorpina."

The two departed the room. Goldar wondered how Zedd even knew about the Green Power Coin, more importantly who was Zedd planning on giving the power to? Though these questions were on his mind Goldar would never venture to ask. He had already seen the results of those who were not in Zedd's favor and he was certain that Zedd's will was never to be questioned.

Joshua Raine was unpacking the contents of the last of his boxes. He was a young man in his late teens, standing just over six foot; he had short dark blonde hair complimented by his hazel eyes. He was wearing black shirt with blue jeans. His family had been in Asia for the last ten years, mostly in Japan, though he did spend some time in China also. He was happy to be back in the states, not that he knew much about daily life here other than what he saw on television while he was away. Thinking about it he realized he hadn't been on American soil since First Grade when his Dad got the opportunity of a lifetime to assist in some huge engineering projects. It had been a rough decade, but now his Dad was able to retire and spend more time with his boys. Joshua and his younger brother Alex had spent much of their time over seas training in Martial Arts. Both had studied Tai Kwan Do, but with Joshua's passion for the Martial Arts and his strict sense of discipline he had gone on to study Tai Chi as well as Ninjitsu. Alex had gone a different direction and picked up Judo, but had preferred to study the language and culture more than Joshua had, though Joshua still learned a great deal listening to Alex talk during dinner about all the things he had discovered that day.

It was going to be interesting to go to school next week, jumping in after several weeks of the fall semester would have seemed challenging normally, but with the Japanese school system having pushed him so hard it was likely that this year would be an easy one. Still it would be a good chance to make some new friends this year so hopefully there would be more to do than stay at home next summer. Not that home would be a bad place to be since his Father retired and they were able to get a nice place in the country. While it would be a change not being in the city, Joshua actually preferred the quiet of the country and the trees and grass to all the concrete and tall buildings.

"Hey Joshua," his Mom's voice called.

"Yeah?"

"When you finish up there we're having Lemonade on the back porch."

"Okay, I'll be right there."

Joshua pulled out the last item, a Championship Trophy from the World Shidokan Marital Arts Tournament. This was the greatest award to date that he had won, and one that was hard fought too. He hoped that this would allow him to compete in the Pan Global Games this time instead of having to wait until college. His Dad said he could go as long as his school work didn't suffer, but he still had to find some sponsors and make the cut.

His thoughts were interrupted by his Mother's scream. In a flash he was out of his room and running for the back porch. When he arrived his brother and father were fighting with these strange creatures, like golems made of granite, but each one had a 'Z' that appeared chiseled into the chest. His father was holding one at bay with a shovel, his brother was attacking another with a series of kicks, but it seemed to be doing little to the creature. Several more were closing in on his family. He saw his Mom was lying on the ground bleeding, she wasn't moving. Josh wasted no time jumping into the fray.

He lunged at the closest creature throwing several kicks, but the stone seemed unaffected by his efforts. The creature brought one of its arms back to punch, but as it did Joshua saw that the fist mutated into a jagged sword. As the creature thrust forward Joshua ducked under his attack and spun throwing his elbow into the creature's chest. When he did something unexpected happened, the rock cracked, an orange light like magma shone through the cracks. Joshua evaded as the creature attacked again and threw a hard kick directly into the 'Z'. The creature reeled backward as its body began to break apart, magma leaking from the cracks. It collapsed into a pile of burning rubble and molten rock.

"They seem to have a weak spot, center of the chest on the 'Z'." Joshua relayed.

"That's a dumb place to put it." Alex retorted as he threw one of the stone monsters to the ground and delivered an axe kick to the chest. Joshua was wishing that he had taken the time to learn Judo.

"Watch out, they have lava for blood." Josh warned; Alex jumped back. Magma sprayed up through the cracks as the creature dissolved into rubble. Joshua finally had a moment to look around, his Mom still hadn't moved, his Dad was still holding his own against one of the creatures and there were two more closing on him and one coming at his brother.

Joshua didn't have time to waste, his Mom could be in critical condition if not dead already, but he knew if this took much longer it would make little difference. He launched himself at the advancing creatures, throwing a spinning crescent kick into the chest of the first shattering it, using his momentum he placed one foot on the creature's shoulder and pushed off. The creature had thrown a punch, but using his reflexes Josh had kicked the arm, redirecting it enough to evade and land in front of it. Taking advantage of the creature being off balance Joshua launched a barrage of punches at the chest ignoring the sting as his flesh tore as he continued to assault the same spot. The stone cracked after the first hit, several more and the creature collapsed, tiny bits of magma hit Joshua's hands and arms, but beyond the pain it wasn't serious. With a quick look around Joshua could see Alex had dispatched his opponent and his father had jammed the shovel through the chest of his attacker. Alex was already at his mother's side.

"Is she alive?" Joshua asked running over.

"Yeah," Alex replied. "But we need to get her to a Hospital."

"I'll call 911." their father replied.

As he turned to go, he caught sight of a large being standing on the porch, towering over two meters tall. Lord Zedd was standing in front of the doorway, his massive sword drawn; he had been watching the whole thing. Joshua turned to look as he noticed his father had stopped and saw Zedd. Before anyone could move Zedd ran forward and slashed through their father, the blade cutting through him with violent power, the force of the attack causing his body to explode, the blood vaporized. Joshua and Alex were mortified and charged in enraged. Alex went in low to attempt to throw him off balance as Joshua attacked high to aide him. Zedd however made a single sweep with his sword; the ground was torn open as a hurricane force wind caught the two of them. Alex was thrown into a tree, his skeleton shattering. Joshua took less of the force as Zedd demonstrated his control; however he still flew back and landed on the patio table shattering the glass and plunging to the ground in a mess of blood and broken glass. Zedd walked over to Joshua's mother and ran his sword through her body into the ground causing a crater and explosion of flesh and bone. Joshua struggled to move but his body was too weak from the impact. Zedd sheathed his sword on his back and pulled out another, a curved blade, the Sword of Darkness. He also took out a small gold coin. He approached Joshua.

"Just kill me," Joshua said spitting blood on Zedd's armor.

"I'm not going to kill you," Zedd mused as he wet his hand with Joshua's blood and wiped it on the sword and coin. "You belong to me now."

In Angel Grove Park Jason, Zack, Trini, Billy, and Kimberly sat around a picnic table enjoying each other's company and the cool fall air. The last few months had been completely life changing for the teens. When Zordon had first recruited them to fight Rita they were already friends, but these past few months seemed to strengthen that bond as they had come to rely and depend on one another to deal with the difficult situations they faced in protecting their world. Despite the dangers each of them considered it a privilege to be entrusted with the power and responsibility they had been given.

As the teens talked about their most recent battle against the Dark Warrior Jason noticed that Trini looked lost in thought.

"You okay Trini?" Jason asked.

"Yeah," Trini said coming out of her daze. "I was just thinking about things,"

"Like what?" Billy inquired.

"I'm just concerned about Rita's more recent attacks is all," Trini said.

Jason already knew what she meant; the same thing had been on his mind as well.

"What do you mean?" Kimberly asked.

"It's just that more and more she seems to be dragging in people around us and our families as well. I'm just concerned about the people I care about is all." She replied.

"We can't let things like that stop us though," Jason said. "I've been noticing that as well, but if we focus on what Rita could do to us it will only drown us in worry."

"That's true," Billy said. "We might not have weighed the full measure of our choice when we made it, I know I've had new things to consider each time Rita's attacked, but as long as we're together I think we can handle it."

"Yeah," Kimberly chimed in, "We're all in this together, if Rita's messes with one of us she messes with all of us," Kimberly smiled giving Trini a nudge.

Trini smiled, "You're right," she admitted. "I guess I just let myself dwell on it to long."

The others smiled, seeing their friend feeling better. Trini felt reassured, maybe they had been given a heavy task, but as long as they were together she was sure they could pull through anything.

"Besides, Jace has got that Martial Arts Expo in a few weeks, and he could use a little more help training." Zack said patting Jason on the shoulder.

"That's right," Jason said, "You think you could help me training my mind for the Expo, Trini?"

"I think we could work on that later," Trini said with a smile.

"Oh, Kimberly, do you think you can help me with my invention later this week?" Billy asked suddenly remembering his own projects.

"I guess," Kimberly said with a shrug. "It's not going to switch our brains like the last one is it?"

"Not at all," Billy said with a smile.

"What are you working on anyway?" Trini asked.

"Yeah?" Zack said, "You've been working on that thing for a couple weeks now, what's it do?"

"I'll let you know after I've had a chance to test it." Billy replied.

"Oh come on…" Zack began.

The communicator beeped. Jason covered his wrist looking around at his friends. The five of them scanned the park looking for anyone in earshot. Not seeing anyone Jason activated his communicator.

"Go ahead Zordon."

"Ranger, my worst fears have been realized, report to the…" the communicator suddenly cut out.

Jason tried again. "Zordon?"

Billy gave it a try. "Zordon, Alpha, come in."

"What do you think happened?" Trini asked.

"I don't know," Jason said. "I think we should get to the Command Center."

"Yeah, I don't like this." Kimberly said.

The group activated their teleportation beacons, but nothing happened. They looked around puzzled.

"This is bad," Jason said. "Zack, Kim, Trini, wait here incase something happens. Billy, come with me, looks like we have a long trip ahead of us."

"Be careful guys." Trini said as the two jogged off.

Green Ranger stood before Zedd and his other minions. His helmet removed, his face was expressionless. Blood from his earlier battle with the Zedd had dried on his face. Most disturbing were his eyes which had faded to white. His humanity was clearly removed from him along with his free will.

"Why didn't you destroy the Command Center completely as well?" Goldar demanded. "You only disabled their communication and teleportation. It will only be a matter of hours before they restore those. Even without Zordon and Alpha they will still be able to oppose us."

"Your ignorance is astounding." Joshua replied.

"You arrogant worm," Goldar growled, gripping his throat.

Joshua smiled, which made him look even more sinister. "Do you honestly think Lord Zedd could not finish the Rangers in one swift blow? It is not for my Lord to grant such mercy to those who would stand against him." Goldar's hand was still on his throat. "I have been given this task for no other reason than to make them suffer before they are destroyed. I am toying with them just as I am toying with you." Joshua grabbed Goldar's wrist wrenching his neck free and spun his body landing a kick in the unarmored portion of his face.

Goldar staggered back, managing to stop himself short of hitting the wall. "Time to learn your place," Goldar snarled unfurling his wings.

Joshua rocked his head one way then the other popping his neck. His helmet vanished from the table into a streak of green light that flew to his head restoring his helmet. He held out his hand and motioned for Goldar to attack. Zedd was most interested in this fight as Goldar sprung forward, sword out, bloodlust in his eyes. If Goldar won it could mean the end of the Green Ranger, no matter, he had already served his purpose. However, Zedd was confident in his choice and knew Goldar would not prevail. As Goldar charged Green Ranger flung a fireball from his hands straight into Goldar, though not strong enough to knock him back it did blind him for a moment as Joshua made his move. He dropped low and as Goldar passed over him he stabbed his Dragon Dagger into his armor tearing it down his right side of his chest. Goldar crashed into the floor and flung himself to his feet with his wings. A huge gash was running down his armor, blood trickling onto the floor. Joshua didn't wait for Goldar to strike again, he charged in. Goldar swung his sword in a sweep as Joshua approached, but Joshua ducked under it releasing a two fold kick, the first blow knocked his sword from his hand the next hit his chest with such force that his chest plate collapsed and he flew back into the wall cracking the stone. Goldar fell forward onto his knee struggling to breath.

"That's enough." Zedd said.

"Yes my Lord." Joshua replied standing down. He returned his dagger to its sheath.

"As for you Goldar," Zedd began. "Know that I gave this task to Green Ranger and I will not have my decisions questioned. Finster, get him fixed up."

"Yes my Lord," Finster replied.

Finster started to help Goldar up, but Goldar pushed him off and staggered to his feet. Finster followed him out of the room making sure to keep his distance. The Green Ranger was certainly powerful. Finster had never seen anyone defeat Goldar so effortlessly. As they left Zedd turned to the Green Ranger.

"Go to Angel Grove and keep an eye on the other Rangers, confront them if you wish, but do not reveal your identity or your powers yet."

"Yes my Lord." He replied as he teleported out.

Jason and Billy forced open the doors to the Command Center. It had been a long run and they both were soaked in sweat, muscles burning. As they entered they were surprised to find the power still on and the lights on, the consoles all intact. Then Billy noticed Zordon's Time Stasis Chamber. The chamber had been completely destroyed. Crystal fragments covered the floor, though most of them were scattered in the chamber. The bottom of the chamber had multiple puncture marks as if something powerful had pierced it, a few frayed wires hung out the holes implying that equipment had been ripped out of the chamber. Billy wasn't sure if he would ever be able to fix it.

"Who could have done this?" Billy asked.

"Can you fix it Billy?" Jason asked avoiding the real question.

"There's no way, I just can't." Billy said feeling overwhelmed. "And even if I did I don't know if Zordon is somewhere out there or if…" Billy stopped unable to face that possibility. "I'm going to check the computer, maybe there's some information that can tell us what happened."

"Okay," Jason replied. "I'm going to try and find Alpha."

Jason walked around the main room looking for any sign of Alpha; then he saw the black puddle on the floor. He approached with dread hoping that he wasn't seeing what he thought he was. He knelt down by the puddle and placed his hand out, it was solid. He could see the scorch marks on the floor around the hardened mass. Jason didn't know what to do.

"Billy," he said his voice shaky. "I think I found Alpha… or what's left of him"

"I know," Billy said quietly. "It's all here in the log, a Ranger entered the Command Center, disabled Alpha, and destroyed Zordon's Chamber, I can't find anything else regarding Zordon's status."

"What do you mean a Ranger?" Jason asked, bitterness rising in his voice.

"I only have audio, but Zordon references a Green Ranger, says something about being controlled by Rita, it's hard to make out over the other sound."

"What other sound?"

"I think it's Alpha, there is some kind of high pitched electronic noise."

"Like a scream," Jason said under his breath. Billy didn't seem to hear him. Jason sighed, not sure what to do. They had always had Zordon, and now they were faced with something terrible and no way to gain outside guidance. Jason knew they needed to sort this out as soon as possible. "Billy, get communications and the teleporter back online."

"That's strange," Billy said.

"What?"

"The communication and teleportation systems aren't damaged. They've just been shut down."

"Call the others," Jason said, "And then see if the database has anything on this Green Ranger."

"Affirmative," Billy said happy to have work to distract him from the grim reality they were facing.

Zack, Trini, and Kimberly were walking back to Ernie's Gym and Juice Bar. They had waited at the park for a while, but the silence had made it hard to not think the worse, they needed a distraction, this whole thing could be nothing, but until they heard from Jason and Billy they had no way to know.

As they walked along none of them noticed the dark figure standing in the alley by the Juice Bar. Joshua had demorphed; his black shirt and blue jeans once stained by his blood had been restored. His eyes were a deep, sinister, forest green. As the three Rangers passed by Joshua stepped out to follow them, his footfalls making no sound as he crept up on the teens. He closed to within a few feet; he was close enough to touch them. He could kill them now and reduce their number. Certainly his master would not mind if he took one right now. His hand reached out toward Kimberly, yet even as he did two other teens rounded the corner coming toward them. One was a large guy with a leather jacket and cap. The other was smaller and thin, with a black jacket and red beret.

"Hey," the big one shouted. Josh's hand drew back stealthily taking Kimberly's wallet from her backpack, the Ranger's stopped. "What do you think you're doing?"

The other Rangers stopped and turned to see what Bulk was looking at. Josh stood there for a moment pretending to be shocked.

"Uh, you dropped this," Josh replied holding out Kimberly's wallet.

"Oh my gosh, thank you," Kimberly replied accepting the wallet from him. Kimberly looked into his eyes, the deep green caught her attention; she had never seen eyes like his. He was cute too, but something about him just didn't feel right.

"Don't go getting any ideas there loser," the other guy said. "That's my girl you're talking to." He said sliding up next to Kimberly and putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Eww, Skull get off me," she said pushing him away.

"So when are we going to go out again?" Skull asked as if nothing had happened.

"Again?" Kimberly asked wearing a look of shock. "We've never gone out and we never will."

"Hey," Bulk protested stepping in.

"Maybe you should just leave her alone." Josh replied stepping between the two guys and Kimberly.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Bulk said pushing him back.

Josh restrained himself; if he fought back it might make the Ranger's suspicious. Joshua stepped forward again looking Bulk straight in the eyes. As he did Bulk felt a chill run down his spine, something about this guy made him very uncomfortable. Despite his fear Bulk smiled.

"I've got better things to do than waste my time with you." Bulk said brushing past Josh.

"Yeah, better things to do," Skull echoed as he followed Bulk. "I'll call you later cutie," he said to Kimberly.

Kimberly pointed a finger down her throat gesturing like she was going to vomit. The two guys left the others there. Josh noted which way they left.

"I didn't catch your name," Zack said extending his hand, "I'm Zack.

"Josh," he replied shaking his hand.

"This is Kimberly and Trini," Zack said pointing to his friends.

"Nice to meet you," Josh replied.

Kimberly and Trini nodded.

"Do you want to come and hang out with us for a little while?" Trini asked.

"I'd like to," Josh replied glancing at Kimberly, "But I have something important I need to take care of."

"Well maybe we'll see you around later." Zack said.

"I'm sure you will," Josh replied.

Zack felt a chill run down his spine as he replied, but ignored it. "Cool, well see'ya later then."

"Bye," Kimberly said, "And thanks again."

"No problem," Josh replied as he turned and left.

"He was kinda cute," Trini said nudging Kimberly.

"Yeah," Kimberly said, "But something about him just didn't seem real, it was weird. I dunno maybe I'm just stressed about the current situation."

"Maybe," Zack replied thinking about his own uneasiness.

As Josh left the Rangers behind he began to walk faster in the direction Bulk and Skull had left. As soon as he was out of the Ranger's sight he began to run catching up with the two. Despite being in the suburbs of Angel Grove it was still fairly crowded. Josh fell back a short distance and continued to follow the two teens; after a while the two slipped through a chain link fence and down into an empty canal. Josh saw his chance and closed in. As soon as they had reached the bottom of the canal Josh leapt from the top hitting the two from behind. Bulk and Skull were thrown to the ground. Skull hit his head which rendered him unconscious. Bulk rolled over, the pain adding to his rage.

"You're dea…" he stopped as he saw Joshua. "Hey, it's cool man, I didn't know it was you."

Josh didn't acknowledge his words but grabbed his neck and lifted him off the ground.

"Look I'm sorry, I won't bother you again." Bulk choked out in a panic.

"You're right," Joshua said smiling, his eyes fading to white for a moment. "You won't…"

"Hey guys, where are Jason and Billy?" Ernie asked as the teens sat down at the bar.

"They had a little errand to run." Zack replied. "Can we get three fruit smoothies?"

"Coming right up," Ernie said walking back toward the back room.

As Ernie left the room Zack's communicator beeped. Zack placed his hand over the wrist band.

"Hey Ernie?" he called.

"Yeah?" Ernie called back.

"I just remembered we have something to do, but we'll be back later."

"Okay guys," Ernie replied emerging from the back.

The teens filed out of the Juice Bar and into the hallway, after a quick look around Zack answered.

"This is Zack."

"You guys need to get to the Command Center now," Jason replied. "It's pretty bad."

"What's going on?" Kimberly asked.

"You're going to have to come here to see it," Billy said.

"We're on our way." Zack said.

The three Rangers looked around and the teleported out of the hallway.

As the three Rangers materialized in the Command Center they were filled with horror at the sight of Zordon's destroyed Stasis Tube.

"Billy, Jace, what happened? Where's Zordon and Alpha?" Zack asked.

"They're gone," Jason replied. "Show'em Billy."

Billy hit a few buttons on the console. "Well when we first got here I only had an audio feed of what happened, but the video wasn't missing it was scrambled. I've had the computer working on it while I rebooted the teleporter. It's not perfect but, well, see for yourselves." Billy cued up the section of video.

"Alpha, contact the Rangers." Zordon said.

"Right away Zordon." Alpha replied activating the com. After a moment of silence Jason answered.

"Go ahead Zordon." He said.

Yet even as Jason was speaking they could see a Ranger in green, a gold shield over his chest and shoulders, emerging from a dark corner of the Command Center though neither Zordon or Alpha seemed to noticed.

"Ranger, my worst fears have been realized, report to the…" Zordon started, but at that moment the Green Ranger darted forward knocking Alpha back and hit a switch cutting the transmission.

Alpha began to issue a command to the computer but before he could utter more than a word Green Ranger unsheathed his dagger and plunged it through the robot's head. With a sudden spark Alpha five fell to the ground.

Kimberly gasped.

"Alpha!" Zordon called out.

Alpha attempted to take hold of the Green Ranger's leg, but the Ranger grabbed the back of his neck and flung him off to the side of the main chamber. There was a sudden discharge from Green Ranger's hand, a stream of green flame that burst forth and went in the direction of Alpha's body. Alpha was out of view but the fire could still be faintly heard roaring until it was covered by a horrible high pitched electronic sound. With his first task complete the Ranger shut down the teleportation system.

"Green Ranger you must stop, you must fight Rita's control she has you under a spell."

"Rita is dead," he replied. "I serve Lord Zedd ruler of the universe."

"So he has already arrived, things are graver than I thought. Green Ranger you must set your will against Zedd's, do not allow him to control you, I can help you."

"Silence!" Green Ranger shouted. "Time to get rid of you."

Green Ranger pressed a few buttons on the control panel scrambling the coordinates of the sensor array tied to Zordon's dimensional prison. As Zordon faded out, his final words lost in static, Joshua plunged his dagger into the panel, and proceeded to the Stasis Tube. He leapt into the air landing a brutal kick against the surface. The force cracked the tube all around like lightning. Then as the tube collapsed inward he began to punch through the base of the chamber ripping components from within it. With several in hand he tossed them off in the direction of the fire, the high pitched noise was subsiding now. Green Ranger looked around one last time and then teleported out.

Billy ended the playback. The room was silent for a moment as the others struggled to cope with the horror that they had just witnessed.

"That's what we discovered." Billy said solemnly.

"I don't believe this," Kimberly said tears forming.

"The sensor logs indicated that Zedd, who is apparently Rita's superior, has been conquering the Universe very quickly in the past few years." Billy said. "It was obvious that while he knew that a Green Ranger potentially existed he had no idea that Zedd had already arrived or that a Green Ranger was chosen."

"But it doesn't really matter now." Jason said. "We know there is a Green Ranger, that he's being controlled, and that we're no longer dealing with Rita, but someone who's a lot worse."

"Is Zordon dead?" Trini asked.

"I doubt it," Billy said. "Green Ranger scrambled the tracking signal that linked Zordon to our dimension, like changing the tuning on a radio, he's likely still in the same place, but without the equipment I can't get him back, even if the chamber was working I don't have his dimensional coordinates, it could take years to find him again."

"And Alpha?" Kimberly asked.

Jason shook his head, "Green Ranger completed destroyed him,"

"Man!" Zack shouted in frustration. "Do we have a chance against Zedd? I mean if he can come into the Command Center and take all this away whenever he chooses?"

"According to the sensor logs his level of power is great." Billy replied. "Much greater than Rita's, but only the Green Ranger can enter because he has a Power Coin."

"Exactly," Jason said. "So right now we need to defeat this Green Ranger. We can worry about Zedd later. We take out the Green Ranger we take away Zedd's access to the Command Center."

"But why did he leave everything intact, why didn't he disable the Zords?" Zack asked.

"He's playing with us," Trini said. "He's trying to create fear. He wants us to feel vulnerable."

"Then I say we go find him and break Zedd's hold on him." Zack said. "I don't want to wait around here for him to make the next move."

"I agree," Jason said. "But it's getting late and we don't even know where to start." He sighed, the current situation weighing heavy on his mind. "I think it would be best if we locked down the Command Center and go home and give ourselves time to refocus. The last thing I want to do is go after this guy without being focused."

"I think that would be very beneficial," Billy said. "I know I could use some time to collect my thoughts."

"I guess," Kimberly replied wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Zack sighed.

"How are we going to protect the Command Center though?" Trini asked.

"Simple," Billy replied going to work at the console. "I'll just set the computers to detect movement and then put a containment field around anyone without a communicator. As you know all our communicators have a locator installed, so if it isn't one of us then the system will know."

"Good idea Billy," Jason said placing a hand on his shoulder. "Now try to get some rest Rangers, tomorrow after class we're going after this guy."

The five teens looked around at each other, this day had hit them all hard, in a single blow they had lost the security of having Zordon and the Command Center, but they still had one another, they could still recover from this attack. With a brief word of acknowledgement to Jason the teens teleported out of the Command Center leaving it empty.

Kimberly walked through the door of her house, the day's events a blur in her mind. Without a word she walked down the hall and into her bedroom setting her backpack down by the door and collapsing on her bed, her gaze directed to the ceiling. She had come to expect hardship in being a Ranger, but today they had lost Zordon, it was his wisdom that they had all come to rely on against evil, now without him they were lost, struggling to piece together this puzzle. Even if they knew who this Green Ranger was how could they locate him? She hoped Billy would still be able to use the computers to provide some help.

As she was thinking her younger brother David came into the doorway. He was a few years younger than her having just started Junior High last fall. He had taken their parent's divorce harder than Kimberly, yet he still remained very optimistic, primarily because of his sister's outlook on life, but he would never admit how much he looked up to her.

"Hey Kim, dinner's ready."

"Okay," Kimberly said sitting up on her bed, "I'll be there in a minute."

David departed and headed back down the hall. As Kimberly watched him go she knew she had to be strong, she would have to be to keep her family safe.

Jason was sitting in the living room on the couch with his math book on the table trying to do his homework. No matter how hard he tried though he couldn't shake the images he had seen today and the decisions that now were on his shoulders. With Zordon gone he was the sole leader of the Power Rangers, yet without Zordon's guidance he questioned his own ideas. As he was lost in thought his father walked into the room and sat down next to him on the couch.

"You doing alright son?" his Dad asked. "You hardly said a word at dinner."

"I've got a lot on my mind," Jason said sitting back with a sigh.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's just that I'm in charge of this thing my friends and I have going right now and I'm worried about making a bad choice."

Jason's father smiled. "Son, part of being a leader means knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the people you're working with and allowing the team to work from its strength. I'm sure if you focus on the strengths of your friends you'll make the best choice. Just remember though nobody's perfect, but when you make a mistake it's important to acknowledge it and work together to correct it. I'm sure your friends will stand by you no matter what happens."

Jason smiled, "Thanks Dad, I guess I just needed to get things in perspective,"

Jason's Dad gave him a pat on the shoulder as he rose from the couch. "Just remember that we're always proud of you as long as you try."

Jason nodded in response and tried to get back to his homework. He knew they had to go after this Green Ranger tomorrow, get Billy on the computers, split the rest of them into teams, they'd find him, he was certain.

Zedd stood on the Balcony of his fortress looking out over his armies that were gathering on the moon preparing for invasion. He knew that he could take Earth this moment with the forces that had gathered, but it was not time yet, the seeds of fear must be sown, the moral of the planet destroyed or it would take years to break the spirit of the people and subjugate the world; nothing united people more than oppression. First he needed to defeat the Power Rangers, Earth's champions, then with the courage of the people waning he would strike fast and hard breaking their power, then it was only a matter of finding corrupt humans, those who would willingly oppress their own race if it would give them power, to govern the planet and herald in his new order. Zordon may have been eliminated, but things were still progressing too slowly. He summoned the Green Ranger.

As Green Ranger came to the balcony Zedd spoke to him.

"The time has come Green Ranger to reveal yourself to the Rangers. Engage them in battle, but do not reveal your full strength to them yet, gauge their strength, discover their weaknesses, soon you will move to destroy them."

"As you command my Lord." Green Ranger replied teleporting off the balcony.

Zedd turned from the balcony passing by Goldar and Scorpina who were standing guard down the hall. As he passed he sensed the eagerness of both to join in battle, their bloodlust delighted him, it was always good to have warriors who hungered for battle above everything.

The bell rang ending the school day. The teens rose from Ms. Appleby's class gathering their notebooks and papers and placing them into their backpacks, each of them focusing on the task that lay ahead. The day had been rather bland without Bulk and Skull present to interrupt class, not that their condescending attitudes were missed. Kimberly had thought it odd that they would both be out today, they both seemed fine yesterday. Though it was always possible they had both simply decided not come to school.

The five teens walked out of school and headed in the direction of the park. As they neared the park and fewer people were around Jason began to speak.

"Here's the plan guys, Billy you need to get to the Command Center and find a way to track this guy, if he was in the Command Center there must be something the computer discovered that will allow us to find him."

"I don't have a complete data set, but the computer did record a fragment of his interspatial bio-vibrations, I could try and use that." Billy replied.

"His what?" Zack asked.

"Each object in the universe has a unique biological signature, a type of body harmonic that can be used to find that person."

"Like a musical note?" Trini asked.

"Exactly Trini. The only problem is that with only a partial sample there is no way to be certain that we can track only the Green Ranger, even if I limit the search to our own planet and moon there could be other people or objects that share the same partial frequency as him."

"That's better than nothing though," Jason said. "The rest of us can investigate the signals,"

"Can I make a suggestion?" a voice from behind interrupted.

Startled the Rangers turned around to see a young man in black standing behind them. Zack and the girls recognized him from the other day.

"Josh?" Zack asked in shock. "How long have you been there?"

"Wait," Jason interrupted, "You're Joshua Raine."

Josh smiled.

"Have you met before?" Billy asked.

"We met him yesterday," Kimberly replied.

"We've never met," Jason replied still in shock. "But this guy is a martial arts master, he won the Shidokan World Championship last year."

"So you're the best in the world at martial arts?" Kimberly asked.

"I'm the best out of those who competed for the title," Joshua replied. "But I wanted to get back to helping you with your problem."

The teens fell silent, not knowing how much he knew, or had heard.

"I know where you can find this Green Ranger guy, I can lead you right to him."

Jason felt a deep uneasiness as he spoke, something felt very wrong about this situation.

"It's okay, it's not a big deal," Jason said wanting to change the subject.

"You sure?" Josh said smiling. "I think you should come with me and meet him."

"You're him aren't you?" Billy said.

"I was trying to make it obvious," Josh replied his eyes fading to white.

The teens recoiled at the sight. Even as they stepped back they all fell into fighting stances prepared to attack.

"Not here," Josh replied, his eyes reverting to green. "No sense drawing any unnecessary attention."

Joshua turned his back to the Rangers and began to walk into the park. The other Rangers stayed where they were not sure whether to follow him or not. After a few steps Josh paused realizing they were not coming along.

"Coming?" he asked. "It would be unfortunate if I had to find someone else to… play with."

"I think he's serious," Zack said.

"I know he is," Jason replied. "I guess we don't have a choice."

The Rangers began to follow behind him as he resumed his heading.

"And don't worry," he began. "I won't attack you until you're ready. I wouldn't want you at less than your best."

"Why are you doing this?" Jason asked as they walked along through the park, the Rangers staying a few steps behind Josh.

"Because my Lord has commanded that I destroy you." Josh replied his voice void of emotion.

"You don't have to serve Zedd," Kimberly started.

"Lord Zedd," Josh replied harshly his eyes flashing.

"We can help free you, please," Kimberly finished.

"If I were you I'd give serious thought to joining me," Joshua replied. "Those who oppose Lord Zedd perish."

"I'd rather die fighting Lord Zedd than bow down to him." Jason replied, the hostility in his voice apparent.

"Either way, by your choice or my hand you will be laid at his feet."

The conversation ended and the six of them continued to walk in silence, the Rangers, each contemplating the situation at hand and how to deal with this new threat. Jason had seen this guy fight before, he knew he was good, not to mention he was familiar with several forms of martial arts. Jason knew that even with the five of them this was going to be a difficult fight. The question that concerned Jason the most was why did he appear without being morphed? It certainly enhanced his natural abilities just as it did theirs, so why would he meet them as equals? Was it possible that some part of the real person was still left under all Zedd had done to control him? Was it possible that he was not completely subverted?

Jason was out of time to think as the Rangers came into a clearing amidst the trees deep in the park. Joshua turned to face them assuming his own fighting stance. Trini recognized the stance from Tai Chi, his left hand extended straight forward, his palm turned sideways, the other arm curled above his head his palm facing down. As he waited the right arm swept down as he brought the other hand inward in a swirling motion and returned to his starting stance. The whole appearance of his motions was like water.

"Whenever you're ready." Joshua said his eyes fading to white once more.

The Rangers assumed their fighting stances.

"Be careful," Jason said, "This guy's really good."

The Rangers charged at Joshua in unison, Josh stood his ground. As they approached Jason launched a tornado kick which Josh ducked under as he threw a kick into Jason's other leg knocking him off balance and sending him to the ground. Planting his hands on the ground Josh twirled his body and splitting his legs launched kicks into Zack and Kimberly before spinning back to his feet to punch Billy in the chest. Trini threw a punch as Billy fell away, but Josh grabbed her arm and threw her past him. He stepped back as the Rangers were lying on the ground.

"Maybe you should morph?" Josh suggested unimpressed by their abilities.

Jason leapt to his feet insulted at the implication. Without a word he rushed in and threw a series of punches and kicks which Josh proceeded to block. As Jason threw another punch Josh grabbed his arm and twisted it then, hitting a pressure point in the elbow, sent Jason down on his knees.

"You really should morph," Josh said, his vacant eyes starring into Jason's. "This is pretty pathetic." With that Josh pushed Jason over.

"Why are you doing this?" Kimberly protested, "Are you still in there somewhere? Can you even hear us?"

Josh smiled. "I can hear you just fine,"

"Don't do this Josh," Jason said. "We can help you. You don't have to do this."

"Morph," Josh demanded coldly, "Morph, or I will."

Jason rose to his feet, the others rose with him, Jason looked at each of his friends, they didn't seem to have much of a choice. They were no match for him this way and it seemed he was determined to escalate this fight, yet something didn't seem right, despite his superiority he still held back.

"Alright," Jason said as the teens reached behind their backs to grab their morphers. "It's morphin' time."

As the teens each called on the power of their ancient spirit energy surged forth from the morphers, their bodies blazed in a multicolored display, streaks of energy like comets flew from the morphers and impacted against their bodies forming plates armoring them in seconds. Finally the morphers dissolved into energy and impacted on the belts. The glow of power subsided as if drawn into the gold emblem of their respective power coins which were centered on their chests.

"Now this should be more interesting," Josh said as he rushed Jason.

Jason signaled the other Rangers to stay back for the moment. Josh leapt into the air attempting to land a kick against Jason's head. Jason grabbed his foot and pushed him back, Josh managed to recover though and flipped off Jason's hand landing on his feet. Josh signaled Jason to attack, reluctantly Jason charged in punching several times. Josh was having a harder time dodging Jason's enhanced speed, as he weaved side to side Josh caught one of his arms and redirected Jason's attack. Jason was shocked that he was able to do so. Josh felt the force against his arms, the power of Jason's attack nearly cracking his bones. The whole exchange threw them both off balance and Jason's last punch connected with Josh's chin sending him flying to the ground. Josh landed on the ground his jaw in tremendous pain, but nothing seemed to be broken. As he jumped to his feet he spit the blood from his mouth.

"This is more like it." Josh said reaching for his own morpher. Even as he did so he had second thoughts and put it away. "No, I don't need it yet." He said starring at Jason.

Shaking his body out Josh resumed his original fighting stance. Jason could not believe what he was seeing, an unaided human was actually holding out against his Ranger powers. Jason had to know if this guy was really this good. The other four Rangers stood by shocked that after that punch he was even still conscious, and not only that, but wanting to continue the fight. Jason charged in throwing another punch at his mid section, but even as he did Josh side stepped and grabbed his arm, and with a fluid motion threw Jason into the ground. As he landed Josh landed a drop punch to the emblem on Jason's chest. There was a thunderous boom as the emblem cracked, the flesh on Josh's hand was ripped apart and his blood flowed running onto Jason's armor. Jason felt the impact; the tightness in his chest like someone had just dropped a rock on it. He struggled to breath. The other Rangers were aghast.

"Jace!" Zack shouted. The Black Ranger charged in throwing a kick at Josh. Josh rolled out of the way and put some distance between them. The other Rangers ran to Jason's side.

"Are you okay?" Kimberly asked.

"Yeah," Jason managed to wheeze out as he started to catch his breath again.

"What did he do to you?" Billy asked.

"I don't know," Jason replied. "It sure hurt though."

Trini looked up, but noticed that Josh was gone. "You guys, he's gone."

The others looked around, but there was no sign of him anywhere.

"We should get back to the Command Center." Jason said sitting up. The others nodded and activated their teleportation beacons, in a streak of light the Rangers vanished from the park.

Green Ranger stood on the fortress balcony looking out toward the Earth. He had returned to his morphed state, the power of his Dragon Shield regenerating the damage he had done to his own body during his brief fight with the Rangers. Despite his outward appearance he was tormented inwardly. Yet there seemed no way to break the hold that was placed over him, forced to watch through his eyes as some other force carried out its sinister will using his body. He was a prisoner, his mind still functioning but being unable to control a single aspect of his existence, it was pushing him to a breaking point, he wanted to scream, but couldn't even manage that. He feared he would descend into insanity, maybe he already was. Never before had he felt so helpless, or more alone. There had to be something he could do to defeat this evil that held him, but what? He had fought against this power that held him until he had become mentally exhausted, his very spirit felt weak. Yet for all his trouble he seemed no closer to freedom. He knew the Rangers were trying to help him, but he had no way to reach them, and the more he struggled the more he seemed to be subverted as his own strength was diminishing. His thoughts were interrupted as his body began to move, what horrors was he off to commit now?

The Rangers stood in the Command Center, they had demorphed and were searching the computers for any information on Joshua Raine. His appearance had caught them all off guard and in a single fight he had demonstrated a level of prowess that surpassed all of them put together. Each of them was worried for the first time that they really had no hope of winning this fight. Jason was aware of this and was trying to think of some way to motivate the others. He knew if Green Ranger could defeat them inwardly then they were as good as lost.

"We need to pull it together Rangers," Jason said. "This guy needs our help and we're the only one's who can do anything to help him."

"I know Jason," Billy said, "But he was fighting you in your morphed state and was winning."

"You can't reach that conclusion," Trini said, "He got in one lucky shot, you know logically you can't conclude that Jason would have lost."

"You're right," Billy said. "This whole thing has really just got me worried."

"I think it has us all scared," Kimberly said. "But remember we're all in this together, and as long as we're together there's always hope."

"You're right," Trini said. "Even if he can't express it Josh is still counting on us."

"The world is counting on us," Jason said. "We can't give up as long as we have the smallest chance of victory we have to try."

"Yeah," Zack said punching his hand in determination. "We just need another shot at this guy."

The alarm began to sound. Billy punched up the visual feed. "Looks like we're not going to have to wait," he said.

The group turned to see a holographic projection of a Zord, dragon like in appearance. The form swiftly moved around the buildings ripping parts from them as if without purpose. Its tail carving up buildings, green plasma projected from the mouth and wrists.

"What is that?" Trini asked.

"Probably Green Ranger's Zord," Billy replied, "but, I don't have any significant data on it." He searched through the computer looking for anything useful, but the files containing data appeared to be locked. This seemed strange to Billy, but he couldn't concern himself with it now.

"We need to go now," Jason said, "before that thing destroys any more of the city. I know it's exactly what he wants, but we have no choice."

"We're going to try and free him aren't we?" Kimberly asked.

"We're going to do our best," Jason said, "Alright guys, it's morphin time!"

The five called on the power and transformed into their enhanced armored forms and teleported. A moment later they rematerialized on a building in the industrial district by the harbor. They wasted no time in calling on their Zords. Green Ranger saw their arrival and stopped in his random destruction and waited. He knew he could take the Zords out one at a time, but then they might escape with a few intact. He needed to wait until they formed the Mega Zord, then he could get them all.

With the Zords arriving, the Rangers teleported into cockpits, taking hold of the controls the Rangers prepared to engage. Kimberly was the first to charge in launching a volley of missiles at Dragon Zord, but Dragon Zord fired a stream of plasma from its mouth torching all the missiles causing them to explode in mid flight. Zack fired a blast from his zero-point cannon, but Dragon Zord moved and the blast hit a building reducing part of it to dust.

"Watch it Zack," Jason said, "We can't use weapons like that in the city."

"Sorry Jace," Zack replied.

Sabertooth Tiger fired its tail laser and Triceratops lauched a volley from its cannons. Jason already knew he would dodge, and carefully watched his direction, as the Dragon Zord moved left Jason fired his lasers toward Dragon Zord's destination. The blast struck the chest plate, but was refracted by the mirror like polish. The Dragon Zord's mouth glowed green for a moment and then with a pulse released a stream of plasma, the blast struck Tyrannosaurus and send the Zord cashing back into a building demolishing it. Jason brought the Zord to its feet. Realizing that fighting this way was futile Jason issued the order to form Mega Zord.

The Zords began to transform assembling in tank mode. This is what Josh had been waiting for. As they all were drawn up into the main cockpit the Rangers opened fire on the waiting Dragon Zord. Dragon Zord leapt forward as they attacked, the Ranger's fire hitting nothing but sky. Dragon Zord landed on the tank and began to tear into the Tyrannosaur's head. Jason knew they had to get him off and change modes.

"Give him another blast!" Jason shouted.

Pterodactyl, Tyrannosaurus, and Mastodon all fired again, but hit nothing as Dragon Zord vanished upward in streaks of green light. He reappeared behind them. The Rangers wasted no time in converting Mega Zord to battle mode, but as the actuators brought the Zord to its feet Dragon Zord launched a barrage of plasma. The superheated star fire slammed into the back of Mega Zord melting through two layers or armor and heating the surface to a glowing red. The Mega Zord stumbled as Pterodactyl completed docking.

"Temperature rising!" Billy shouted.

"Alright," Jason tried to gather his wits, "Power Sword, Mammoth Shield, now!"

With a bright flash of lighting from the sky the sword materialized in Mega Zord's hand, along with the Mammoth Shield. Dragon Zord launched another volley of Plasma, Mega Zord blocked with the shield and fired a blast from the shoulder cannons, but Dragon Zord dove sideways and evaded the shot. From the ground Dragon Zord sprung into the air and fired off its claw tips like missiles. With shots closing fast Mega Zord swung the right shoulder back and evaded some of the missiles however, the others hit the left arm. The armor penetrating tips pierced through all the armored layers and delivered their payload to Mega Zord's biomech muscle bundles. The left arm fell limp.

"Jason," Zack started. "The left arm is useless. He destroyed the upper arm's BMBs."

Dragon Zord did not relent in his attack, but leapt at the Mega Zord again. Jason fired the cranial laser cannon, yet Dragon Zord managed to change its angle in the air and the laser merely grazed the right torso doing minimal damage. Jason reacted quickly and swung the Power Sword. This seemed to catch Dragon Zord off guard and tore a gash down the Zord's left torso. Without even a second of rest Dragon Zord whipped its tail around and knocked Mega Zord off its feet. With unrelenting furry Dragon Zord pounced on the downed Zord and began clawing the chest plate. Mega Zord brought a foot up under Dragon Zord and kicked him. Dragon Zord flew back toward a large cargo ship. Flipping in the air it managed to land on all fours on the side of the hull, which rocked back from the impact, the steel tearing around the impact points. Then it pushed off the ship launching itself back at the Mega Zord, which had just managed to jump back to its feet. Dragon Zord hit Mega Zord, and with an earth shaking crash both Zords plowed into the ground. Mega Zord tried to bring the Power Sword around to stab Dragon Zord, but it could not move fast enough. Dragon Zord seized the Zord's hand, then grabbing the shoulder also, bit into the forearm, and tore through it. The hand fell limp and the sword dropped crashing to the ground, the impact an omen of defeat. Dragon Zord grabbed the head with both clawed hands and began to crush it.

"Jason!" Billy shouted, "We have to eject, the head is about to implode!"

Reluctantly Jason activated the ejection system. The Rangers launched from their Zord just as the Mega Zord's head collapsed. As they landed they turned to see the Dragon Zord plunge its claws into the helpless machine's chest ripping biomech muscle bundles and actuators from the chest, orange cooling fluid sprayed out bathing the Dragon Zord. The tailed sliced across the Triceratops and Sabretooth Tiger cutting in deep and rendering them useless. With its job done, Dragon Zord leapt back and launched another barrage of plasma at the downed Zord setting it ablaze.

The Rangers could only stand awe struck as they watched their Zords burn. Suddenly, above them, several F-15s streaked over launching a wave of missiles. Joshua detected the incoming attack, but his job was done, these vermin were below him, they would all bow to his master soon enough. Before the missiles even reached him Dragon Zord teleported in a streaked burst of green light and was gone. The missiles impacted in the bay exploding underwater with no effect.

"We have to get the fire out." Jason said.

"I agree," Billy replied. "But the damage control system isn't responding to remote commands."

"Then someone will have to go in and manually activate it." Jason said.

"Are you nuts man?" Zack said. "Look at that thing! It's burning white hot."

"I'm not going to sit by and do nothing." Jason said. He started running toward the Zord.

"Jason!" Kimberly screamed after him, but it was too late, he wasn't coming back. The others ran after him.

Jason could feel the heat coming off the Zord as he raced toward it. Hopefully the armor would protect him long enough to find the manual controls. Then a thought occurred to him, what if Dragon Zord had ripped them out? They were in the central body, but there was no time to worry about that, if there was even a chance he had to try. They would be defenseless without the Zords and that was all he needed to know. As he reached the Zord he jumped up and into the cavity in the chest. The fire was intense as he fell in, though once among the burning wreckage he was relieved to discover that the white hot metal was only on the surface where the plasma was still burning. He switched his visor mode over to structural analysis. That cleared up the mess a little. He scanned around the area keeping an eye on his rising temperature. Then he saw it, the emergency system. It was buried behind a burning slab of armor. Without thought Jason ran over and grabbed the armor piece and flung it aside ignoring the burning in his hands. There were three valves that had to be turned. Jason began, twisting each one, the suit warning him that the armor on the hands was failing.

Outside the others were standing by not knowing what to do. Jason had jumped into the Zord, but they couldn't reach him now on the communicator, they didn't know if he was dead or something was blocking their transmissions. Without warning the Mega Zord erupted, fire spreading.

"That was the core system!" Billy shouted. "We have to get back the Mega Zord is about to go critical!"

"What about Jace?" Zack asked.

"There's nothing we can do now!" Billy replied.

Reluctantly the four of them began to run. As they sprinted, their enhanced speed carrying them across the land faster than any living thing, they could hear the eruption of the system. They dove to the ground, but there was no blast wave. They looked up to see the fire dying out, a thick mist coming off the Mega Zord's remains. They quickly got to their feet and began to run back to the Zord.

"Jason?" Kimberly called out.

A figure appeared in the mist, staggering forward. The Rangers ran to him.

"Jason." Kimberly said relieved.

They reached Jason, who collapsed into their arms, his body demorphed. Billy checked his vitals.

"He's okay," Billy said, "he's just unconscious. We should probably get him back to the Command Center."

The Rangers and the Zords teleported out, the brilliant multi-colored display streaked the sky. For a moment the on lookers forgot that they had just seen the Power Rangers defeated.

From the Fortress Balcony Zedd stretched his arms out calling for Cyclopsis from its burial below the Earth. It had been obvious to him that Goldar would need a greater power if he was to be of any use to him. He could think of nothing better than to resurrect his War Zord entombed beneath the Earth for millennia. The one weakness was the Zord's power source which absorbed the arcane power from beings like him; however, he was certain this could be overcome through the efforts of Astronema's technology and Lokar's dark magic. Zedd focused his own dark energies reaching into the void summoning the Zord. Rather than raise the Zord from the Earth Zedd summoned it directly to his Fortress. The tower shook as the massive rift brought the Zord into the Great Hall that Astronema was already converting into a hanger. He had nearly everything for his plan it was time to make his will known.

Jason regained consciousness several hours later. He was lying on a medical table in the Command Center. Kimberly was sitting next to him, as was Zack. As he opened his eyes they both smiled.

"Are you okay?" Kimberly asked.

"Yeah," Jason struggled with his words. He tried to sit up.

"Whoa, hang on." Zack said. "Just rest a minute, your body and powers were under a lot of stress in that fire. Your body is still going to need a little time to recover."

Jason reluctantly laid down. He hated feeling helpless. "So what's the status of the Zords?"

"They're heavily damaged," Billy said entering with a data pad in hand. "It's going to take a few weeks before they're even able to function again. A few months to get them back to full strength at best."

Jason let out a sigh.

"Don't let it get to you Jace," Zack said. "If it weren't for you we wouldn't have the Zords anymore."

"And the industrial district would be gone too." Kimberly added.

"That's true," Billy said, "The core almost went critical, and that could have killed thousands of people."

"I know," Jason sighed. He was worried that they would never be able to defeat this Green Ranger, and even if they did, what chance would they have against Lord Zedd. He had to believe though, his team, his friends couldn't afford to have him fail them now. "So have we found out anything else about this guy that can help us?"

"Not much," Billy said, "While I was running scans I did discovered a news report about his family in Florida, they were murdered, though there were no signs of what killed them several areas on the lawn were scorched."

"Sounds like a Putty attack." Jason replied.

"Exactly," Billy replied, "the one member of the family that could not be found, but is presumed dead is Joshua Raine."

"We have to help him," Kimberly said suddenly filled with indignation. "It's not fair that Zedd killed his family just to make him a slave."

"How are we going to do that?" Zack said. "This guys has had us out classed since the beginning, he's been watching us the whole time and has been several steps ahead, we don't stand a chance."

"We can't give up," Jason said. "Come on Zack, I need you with me on this."

Zack sighed, "I'll try Jace, but this is more serious than anything we've ever faced."

The room fell silent for a moment as each of them meditated on what had happened and the battle they knew was coming. Rita's monsters had been tough, but not one of them would be disappointed to go back and face any of them now. They needed to come together as a team and save Joshua no matter what. Trini walked into the room, her face pale.

"Trini what is it?" Jason asked sitting up.

"Lord Zedd is sending us a message."

The Rangers looked at each other and filed out into the main chamber. As they gathered around the projector Billy opened the channel. An image formed, Zedd standing in his full armor, eyes blazing, slightly behind him to the right stood the Green Ranger, arms crossed, helmet removed starring at them with his vacant eyes. It sent chills down their spines.

"I am Lord Zedd, Supreme Ruler of the Universe."

The Rangers usual retorts were stifled by the shear terror these two produced as they stood together. The fear seeping into them like poison, it could not have been any worse had they actually been in the same room.

"I already know you will not surrender to me, nor do I care, I do not need you as slaves, but I want you as trophies. Therefore you will meet my Green Ranger on the top of the volcano east of your pathetic Command Center immediately, or I will send Green Ranger to destroy your city and all that you love."

Zedd cut the transmission and left the Rangers to grapple with the inevitable fate that awaited them all.

"Master," Green Ranger began, "What good are the Rangers as trophies?"

"You are young and inexperienced Green Ranger." Zedd replied. "You have defeated the Rangers once already for the world to see. You have already proven your superiority; to now display their broken bodies for the world, defeated by a single warrior, will cause the populace to become demoralized making it easier for my forces to conquer the planet."

"I understand. You are very wise Master."

"Yes, but you must go now and take Goldar and the Putties to make sure th-"

Zedd was cut off by an explosion that shook the fortress.

"What is going on?" Zedd demanded.

"It's the Machine Empire!" Goldar roared. "We are under attack!"

Zedd looked out to see waves of Quadra Fighters approaching as the enormous warships hovered over them, with more jumping out of hyperspace.

"I will destroy them my Lord." Joshua said.

"No," Zedd replied, "You deal with the Rangers. We can not afford to give them more time to recover. When you finish with them, return and join me in battle."

Zedd leapt from the balcony swinging his sword in huge arcs, the massive energy discharge ripping several fighters apart. Goldar had already reached Cyclopsis and was engaging the fighters and walkers. Even Astronema's Velocifighters were beginning to scramble to meet the new threat. Joshua complied with his Master and teleported out.

The Rangers stood around solemnly, the task before them was difficult and their chance for success was small. Jason looked around at his friends. He could see the fear in their eyes.

"I know this looks bad," he began, "but I think if Zordon were still here he would want us to fight. We have overcome everything that has tried to take our planet and even though we seem to be in a tight spot now we can win if we work together as a team. We weren't selected to defend the world without a good reason. If Zordon believed in us we should believe in ourselves. We can't give in to our fears, if we do then we might as well go home now, and I'm not ready to do that, are you?"

"No!" they replied.

Jason placed his hand in the center. "Then let's take this guy." The others placed there hands on top of Jason's. "May the power protect us," They all nodded. "Alright guys, it's Morphin Time!"

Green Ranger stood on the edge of the volcano. He looked down into the crater at the magma bubbling. It was unfortunate Zedd needed them intact as trophies. This volcano would have made a good place to dispose of them. His thoughts were interrupted as the Rangers teleported in. Joshua leapt back from the edge landing in an open area. Without a word they spread out and surrounded him, drawing their weapons, which manifested in streaks of colored light. Kimberly drew her bow back. There was an eerie calm, time seemed to pause as Joshua gazed at the Rangers he could see and using the visor reflections to watch to ones he couldn't. He held the Sword of Darkness in one hand, the Dragon Dagger in the other. The Machine Empire's untimely attack may have changed things a little, but he still had his Dragon Zord if he needed any help.

Kimberly let her arrow fly straight at his chest. As she did Jason and Zack both charged. Billy and Trini followed after them. Kimberly charged as soon as the arrow was in flight. Josh deflected the arrow with his sword and blocked Zack with his dagger. Jason flew in with his sword. Josh managed to side step slightly but still was grazed on his left arm. Jason had drawn first blood. Josh rotated and threw a back kick into Jason's stomach which sent him back. Bringing his leg forward he jumped and thrust his knee into Zack's chin. As Zack fell away Josh launched a spinning crescent kick and hit both Trini and Billy. He quickly dropped and did a forward sweep to Kimberly; as she fell, arcing over him, he punched her just below the ribs knocking the wind out of her. She fell to the ground unable to move for a moment. He had gone easy on this first attack, he hadn't even used his weapons offensively, but they had drawn blood, and it was only fair that he return the favor.

Green Ranger flew at Jason, who was just returning to his feet. He brought down his sword, but Jason blocked with his own. Josh flipped the dagger in his hand and plunged it into his helmet. Jason managed to partially block with his arm, but the dagger still penetrated coming less than an inch from his face. Jason pushed him back. Josh saw Zack's reflection in Jason's cracked visor and turned just in time to block his attack. Zack was caught off guard by his reaction time and Joshua managed to slash his dagger across his chest. As Zack relaxed the force on his axe, Joshua pushed him back and delivered a round house to the side of his head cracking the helmet. Jason hadn't given up and as Zack fell Josh saw him coming. Josh launched another round house as Jason swung his sword. Joshua pushed off with his other foot, spun over the sword and hit Jason in the head with his heel. The other side of Jason's helmet shattered from the force, and Jason could feel the strain on his neck, there was something unnatural about his attacks. He fell to the ground. Joshua turned his attention to Billy and Trini who had just gotten back to their feet. Joshua lunged at them slashing with his blades. They blocked most of the attacks getting away with minor scratches. Josh swung at Billy who blocked both attacks with his lance, but that was what Josh had hoped for and he launched a front kick into his chest, his attack cracking the gold emblem of the Triceratops, launching him back. Trini attacked with her daggers, the first getting through his defenses, only to be stopped by his Golden Dragon Shield. He parried the second attack and delivered an axe kick to the top of her head slamming it into the ground. Suddenly an arrow grazed his helmet, the pink blaze causing him to lose sight of his opponents for a moment. That was a stupid mistake, he had forgotten about her. Josh rushed her, Kimberly drew back another arrow and fired, but Joshua slid under it and kicked her above the knee. Kimberly collapsed as her leg broke. As she fell Joshua spun and hit her with a kick to the face, cracking her visor. He was done with this one. He began to slash furiously at her with both blades slicing into her armor and grazing her flesh. Blood began to flow from her wounds ever so slightly. Kimberly screamed as each cut stung her body. Jason raced in to stop him, but Joshua dodged out of the way seeing that the others were also coming. He jumped back a distance and waited. The Rangers all converged on Kimberly.

"Kimberly, are you okay?" Jason asked.

"I think my leg is broken," Kimberly panted through the pain. She gripped her leg; blood was trickling from the gashes and holes in the armor, her visor cracked.

Jason wasn't looking much better; his helmet was smashed and cracked everywhere. He reached back removed it and cast it aside.

"Jason what are you doing?!" Billy exclaimed.

"It's no good," Jason replied. "It's so damaged I can't see a thing with it on."

"We need a plan," Zack said.

"Trini, are you still okay?" Jason asked.

"I'm still able to fight," she replied though her helmet was covered in spider web cracks.

Jason could tell everyone was ready to break, they needed a plan or they were all going to die on this volcano and the Earth would be defenseless. "Okay, here's… here's the plan," He struggled to breath. "We're only going to get one more chance…" Jason looked toward the Green Ranger, he was waiting patiently in fighting form; his Dragon Dagger raised over his head, the Sword of Darkness pointed straight at them. There was a break in his armor, even a little blood running down his arm, but compared to them he was still in good shape. "We're going to rush him. All of us at once."

"What?!" the others asked in shock.

"He's been keeping us down to one or two at a time," Jason started. "Kimberly will provide support with her bow from here the rest of us will rush him and try to force him over the edge of the volcano."

"We can't kill him!" Kimberly protested. "He's being controlled by Zedd!"

"I know," Jason said his face grim. "But if we don't stop him now none of us are going to make it, and with Zordon and Alpha gone the Earth will be lost."

"I concur," Billy said. "I don't like the idea of taking a life, but given the alternative it doesn't seem we have a choice."

"Okay," Kimberly agreed, her voice soft as she choked back the tears, trying to be brave enough to do what she had to.

Jason looked at his friends worried that this would be the last time they were ever together, he tried to put it out of his mind and look confident. "Alright guys, let's do it!"

Kimberly pulled back an arrow as her friends charged toward the Green Ranger. Joshua did not move as the group charged him. As the Rangers approached within feet of the Green Ranger Kimberly fired through an opening hoping to throw him off balance. In a fluid movement Joshua deflected the arrow with his sword and jumped into the air executing a flip, as he descended behind them, still inverted, he plunged his dagger and sword into the backs of Trini and Zack. The blades sunk in piercing their spines, using his momentum the Green Ranger threw their lifeless bodies aside as he tucked into a roll. No longer able to stay morphed their bodies crashed onto the rocks, their mangled forms giving no doubt that they were dead. Joshua side stepped keeping Jason and Billy, and Kimberly in his view.

"ZACK, TRINI!" Kimberly screamed, tears streaming down her face.

Jason glared at the Green Ranger, his face twisted with bitter anger. "You killed them!"

The Green Ranger paused, the liquid metal armor around one side of his mouth curled up into a subtle smile. Without thinking Jason and Billy rushed in. Billy went low and Jason went high, with no other option Joshua jumped back, landing in fighting position, near the volcano's edge. Jason and Billy again charged forward though more cautiously, this time they both went in high. Joshua bent backwards as Jason's sword and Billy's lance passed over his chest and head. Jason began to sweep his leg, but Joshua had already brought his dagger around and plunged it into Jason's shoulder. With a hand hold established Joshua kicked his legs up and grabbed Jason's neck throwing him down and snapping his neck with a loud crack. Kimberly unable to see much more than three colored blobs through her tears gathered her strength and fired at the Green blob as Jason hit the ground. The arrow caught Joshua off guard, hitting him between his armor and shield, having his feet around Jason's neck set him off balance. Billy, seizing this rare moment launched a round house kick knocking the Sword of Darkness from Joshua's hand and sent it flying into the volcano. Billy moved in with his lances trying to strike the throat but Joshua had regained his balance and deflected them with his dagger. Joshua pinned Billy's lances down and kicked him, causing the lances to be lost as he staggered back. Joshua stood up and kicked the lances away and began to walk toward Billy. However, at that moment the Sword of Darkness cracked having landed in the magma of the volcano. A column of dark energy rose to the sky as the sword was destroyed. Joshua stopped, his will restored, his mind flashing with all the memories, trying to process what he had done.

As the shell of evil that had enclosed him was destroyed his true self reemerged from within. Screaming in torment he ripped his helmet off and threw it away, tears streaming down his face, his eyes regaining their color. Kimberly and Billy watched in shock and disbelief. Joshua fell to his knees sobbing uncontrollably, his gaze directed at the ground.

Billy, realizing Zedd's hold had been broken rushed to Kimberly to attend to her injuries. "I'm going to try and reset your leg." Billy said.

"What about Jason?" Kimberly asked apprehensively.

"I'm sorry," Billy choked out "He's gone."

"No," Kimberly sobbed as Billy set her leg. Kimberly hardly noticed the pain of her leg through the pain in her heart. Her friends were dead, he had killed them. Overwhelmed she put her arms around Billy crying uncontrollably. "This can't be happening," she cried.

Billy couldn't hold back his own tears any longer. The two remained embraced crying.

"What are we going to do?" Kimberly sobbed.

"I don't know," Billy choked out through his tears trying to reign in his emotions. "But we need to get back to the Command Center."

Joshua ripped the Golden Shield from his armor and cast it aside. His body began to shake as he clenched his fists in anger. He raised his face to the sky letting out a long tortured scream, his fists punching into the ground at his sides with the sound of a thunder clap sending a cloud of dust up.

"What about him?" Kimberly asked motioning toward Joshua.

"I don't know," Billy replied. "I don't know…"

Joshua awoke from the nightmare with a jolt; the sweat was running down his face and chest soaking his shirt. He rubbed his eyes and wiped away the sweat. He was sitting in the Command Center, it had been remodeled, the black interior, surrounded by monitors, seemed cold, but it always did at night. Faint green lights lit the pathways around the consoles and equipment, the center of the room still housing the holographic projector. The remains of Zordon's Stasis Tube still in place, most of the panels had been removed as Billy had been trying for sometime to fix it, but without Alpha or the design specs it was little more than futility. Joshua tried to regain his composure; it had been a year since that battle, why couldn't he shake the memory? Was there something more to these nightmares than just remorse? As he became aware of his surroundings again he noticed a figure in the shadows watching him.

"How long have you been there?" he asked.

"A little while," a soft voice replied. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Joshua sighed.

The figured moved closer to him, as she stepped out into the dull light of the monitors Joshua could see the concern on Kimberly's face.

"Fine except for the nightmares," Kimberly said.

Joshua sighed, "Yeah, except for the nightmares,"

"I know it's been hard for you to accept this," Kimberly started; standing behind him she crossed her arms over his chest. "Especially with no family to…"

Josh tilted his head down.

"I'm sorry, I know you miss them to." She said resting her head on his. "Just know that you're not alone."

"It's not your problem." Josh said trying to put it out of his mind. "I killed your friends, you don't owe me anything."

Kimberly's eyes began to tear up, and she struggled with her words. She wanted to leave, but she forced herself to continue. "You can't do this alone, so stop pushing everyone away, you can make this so hard sometimes," she paused as she choked back the tears. "I know what it's like to hurt and as much as I want to put this all behind me," her voice failed. There was a moment of silence.

"You don't have to say anything," Josh said. "I know I'm being a jerk, I'm sorry,"

"N-no, I want to, just give me a second," as hard as she was trying the tears began to flow, she gathered her strength and just talked through them. "As much as I miss Jason… Zack… and Trini… I-I know you were not in control, that Zedd was making you do things and you could only watch yourself do them." She had to pause again. Joshua could feel her tears drip onto his head. "Even though I've lost some great friends you've lost so much more, and I know you could really use a friend right now."

Joshua reached up and held her hand while she regained her composure. Kimberly let go of him and slid into the chair next to him; he let her hand go as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked over at him, he tried to smile, even though he was fighting back his own tears. Kimberly could see the pain in his eyes, but she still hurt every time she saw his face. As hard as she tried to be brave this was the guy who had killed her friends, she knew it wasn't his fault, but it was so hard to put it behind her, the wound just needed more time to heal.

"So what's going on?" she asked trying to change the subject.

"Just watching the monitors," Josh replied, confused by her random moods. "If this war between Zedd and Mondo ever has a victor we're going to be in trouble."

When Joshua failed to defeat the Rangers Zedd had been left without his most powerful warrior. This resulted in the death of many of Zedd's warriors as well as some Zedd was glad to be rid of, Squat and Baboo who proved to be completely useless, however he had also lost Finster to the Machine Empire. Badly wounded Finster was fixed by the Empire and serves King Mondo as a living cybernetic factory and war-machine for the creations of the Machine Empire known as Hephaestus. Had it not been for Goldar's Zord Cyclopsis and the arrival of Serpentera, Zedd's all powerful War Zord, the Machine Empire may have succeeded in their coup. However, with the added power Zedd was able to bring down many of the Machine Empire ships before the Zords lost power due to the strain of the long battle. Among the casualties were Prince Sprocket, Prince Gasket, and Archerina. With the Machine Empire deprived of all heirs and Zedd's army cut off from support a brutal war of attrition had raged on the Moon for the last year. Though both sides had managed to find some aide despite the loss of long range communications, a problem that the Rangers continued to prolong, the war dragged on with no side gaining a solid advantage. The various militaries of Earth, while on high alert, had opted to not interfere in the hopes that the two sides would destroy each other. Though it seemed strange given Zedd's immense power that things had dragged on so long, perhaps other forces were at work, unknown to them.

However, the time had given the Rangers a chance to regroup and regain strength and numbers. Billy and Kimberly, too torn by the loss of their friends left the task of finding new Rangers to Joshua. When he failed to return for several weeks the two of them began to feel that maybe they had given him too much trust. This fear was alleviated a few days later when he returned with new Yellow and Black Rangers, Ashley Hammond and Adam Park. He also returned the Red Power Coin with the admission that he had been unable to find a strong leader.

This problem still concerned him, and why the war concluding would be a problem if they had not found the leader they needed. Joshua had done his best, but despite his charisma he was no leader. His mind was in the moment and seldom on the big picture. Yet, he knew they needed someone to not only fill the role of team leader, but someone wise like Zordon had been. This was not something he had taken lightly.

"Where's Beta?" Kimberly asked breaking his thought.

"I shut it down," Josh replied. "I know Billy did his best, but that robot is just that, a machine, it just makes me uncomfortable, how empty it is."

"It's too bad you didn't have the chance to know Alpha,"

"Yeah," Josh replied, the memories flashing in his mind. He shook them out trying to refocus. "I'm sure I would have liked him." Joshua looked at his watch; it was early, not even four in the morning yet. "Why are you here so early? Your watch isn't for another six hours."

"I couldn't sleep," she paused, not sure if she wanted to tell him she was concerned about him. Why couldn't she just be honest, it wasn't his fault that Zedd had used him, he was a nice guy, and he had done a lot for them since that day, he wasn't that person. Before she could reach a decision Joshua interrupted.

"Well if you can't sleep, watching the monitors will definitely help."

"So tomorrow's Monday," she said stretching forward. "Are you going to come to school?"

"I don't know, I mean I know you took the time to get me enrolled, but I think I've finally found a solution to our team deficiency that I want to pursue."

"It might do you some good though to just come hang out, relax for a little bit?"

"I don't know Kimberly."

"Just think about it." She said resting her hand on his shoulder as she got up from the chair. "I'm going to get something to eat, do you want anything?"

"Something with caffeine would be nice."

The last Cog dropped to the ground, the mess of circuitry still in Goldar's hand, his sword through the Cog's head. Goldar looked around in disgust at the dismembered machines and snarled flaring out his wings. His disdain for this army was increased even more because of the lack of satisfaction he gained through the destruction of these machines. He longed for living opponents, the thrill of watching the life leave their bodies, the hot spray of blood on his face; just the thought improved his disposition. If he succeeded today it would only be a matter of time before this war ended and he could finally return to Earth to settle things between the Green Ranger and himself. The wretch that Zedd had praised as his greatest warrior and he had been defeated and was now working with the other Rangers. That human may have been a match for him a year ago, but a year of war had made him an even greater warrior, next time would be different. Goldar shook the thought from his head and proceeded down the dark corridor. To a human the silence broken only by Goldar's heavy footfalls, the ringing of his armor against the metal grate floors would have been unnerving. To Goldar it was beautiful, like a symphony. He reached the end of the hall, the door was sealed; scratched and faded warning symbols covered it. He thrust his sword through and forced it open; a soft blue glow flooded the hallway giving everything an eerie ethereal feeling.

Goldar stepped into the room, his eyes delighted in what he saw. The Neo-plutonium reactor was still intact, even after a year of lying dormant and half buried on the moon. Goldar searched the room until he located the emergency core jettison system. He smiled in satisfaction. He activated a control on his arm gauntlet and proceeded to pull the core release, twist, and push it back in. With the emergency power long depleted the locks securing the core flung loose and then everything went black. In the silence Goldar could hear the heavy foot falls of a Zord as the vibrations resonated the hull of the ship, Cyclopsis was on his way, soon Zedd would have the reactor, soon he too would have what he wanted.

Ashley sat next to Kimberly as she was watching the monitor. She had come over even though she didn't have watch duty today to keep Kimberly company. Not that there was much else to do with the whole planet under martial law. Ashley felt fortunate that as a Ranger, despite the responsibility and training and the raids against the two armies on the moon she had a greater degree of freedom being able to teleport anywhere. She had arrived near the start of Kimberly's watch to find her and Josh talking and laughing, it was unusual for her to see Josh in such good spirits these days. When he had first recruited her he had been so much more sincere and open, but in the days following and especially within the last few weeks he had begun to shut people out as if something heavy were weighing on his conscience. Not that he and Ashley had even been very close, but she still considered him a friend and was concerned about his well being. She had learned to let it go though, as long as he had Kimberly to talk to she figured he would open up when he was ready. Still there was no reason not to discuss the matter with Kimberly since they were already talking about Josh and the possible lead on a new Red Ranger.

"You two looked pretty cozy when I came in this morning." Ashley said.

Kimberly blushed a little, "What do you mean?"

"You two looked like you were having a good conversation this morning. Lately he's been so closed off and I can't even remember the last time I've seen him smile."

"I guess it has been a while," she admitted. "He is having nightmares again."

"I would imagine that what happened to him isn't something you get over quickly," Ashley said.

"No," Kimberly replied. "It's got to be hard when your family is killed in front of you and then you're forced to do the same to others." Kimberly stopped; the thoughts were overwhelming as she began to think of it happening in her own life. "Honestly I'm amazed he is holding up as well as he is, I just wish he would let people in, he's got to be lonely." Kimberly folded her arms over her chest as if hugging herself.

"He just needs time," Ashley replied. "Healing for hurts that deep can't be rushed."

"I know, it's just frustrating when he tries to do everything on his own and shuts everyone else out, it's like he can't let go of what Zedd made him do and now he talks like this whole thing is his fault and he has to fix it all," she stopped with a sigh. "It's really hard to know what to say to him at times."

"I know," Ashley said softly "but just like he can't shoulder the weight of this whole war you can't shoulder the weight of all his burdens on yourself. Maybe you two need each other, but you have to help each other, not try to carry one another, you both need to heal."

"I know," Kimberly said putting her feet on the chair and curling her arms around her legs. "But, when I look into his eyes I can see this beautiful… something, but it's so torn apart by what's happened," her gaze dropped "I just wish I could do more to help him."

"Maybe you are." Ashley replied. "I mean even with how closed off he's been he still talks to you, give him time, I know he'll always come to you when he needs a friend."

"Thanks." Kimberly said smiling.

"Zord activity confirmed, sensors tracking." The voice was so artificial, so unlike Alpha. Beta was already using its hand ports to interface with the main computer. The spherical head out of proportion with the body, like a child's doll. His blue and silver coverings, which resembled the Ranger armor design, yet smooth and streamlined, reflecting the light from the monitor, the only sign of life the red dot that streaked back and forth across its optics like a comet. A single gold lighting bolt was running down the left arm, Billy's memorial to Alpha 5.

"Where is it?" Kimberly asked.

"What is it?" Ashley asked. "I thought both the Zords Zedd had were out of power."

"Negative," Beta replied. "Cyclopsis showing thirty percent power, heading North-east, Manzinus Crater, Zedd's Fortress."

"Scan for any transmissions." Ashley said.

"Negative, no transmissions detected." Beta replied.

"Run a scramble signal anyway."

"Confirmed, scrambling transmission frequencies."

Kimberly pressed the com button. After a brief delay a voice came over the com.

"Billy here, what's going on?"

"Billy," Kimberly started. "Beta just detected Cyclopsis on the Moon, and he's moving."

"Are you sure?"

"Confirmed, Cyclopsis at twenty-nine percent power." Beta responded.

"I'll be right there." Billy ended transmission and teleported.

Billy materialized in the control room, his mind shifting to compensate for the sudden environment change. It seemed to get easier each time he did it, but it was still a little disorienting even after all this time. As soon as things became clear he raced forward to the control panel, scanning over the data trying to determine what was going on.

"It doesn't make sense." Billy said. "Cyclopsis is heading back to Zedd's Fortress, but I'm not seeing any evidence of combat, and if there had been weapon's fire the sensors should have found it immediately." Billy was puzzled. "Beta, get me a visual on Cyclopsis."

"Compliance."

The visual came up on the screen, Cyclopsis was moving at a slow pace across the Moon's surface. Then Billy noticed the arms extended, it was carrying something.

"Magnify."

"What is it?" Kimberly asked.

"He's carrying something," Billy said, concern evident in his voice. "Beta, plot a probable trajectory to determine the origin of his cargo."

"Calculating."

The screen displayed the most likely route given the shortest distance while taking into account terrain and Machine Empire forces. The line stretched through the Rheita Valley and wrapped around the dark side of the Moon.

"Scan along that line, wide sweep, five miles in either direction."

The computers began to go to work; this was going to take some time.

"What do you think it is?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know," Billy replied "I really don't know."

The three of them stood in silence watching the progress indicator on the screen, something was happening; despite the rational thoughts, Billy couldn't help feel a sense of foreboding. He couldn't explain it, but he just knew this was bad.

Joshua was standing before the memorial, the graves of the fallen Rangers. The countless hours he had spent here, trying to come to grips with everything never made this any easier. His eyes were focused on the black marble surface etched with the words, "Here Lies Earth's Greatest Heroes" below was written "And the Greatest Friends". Each Ranger had their name written on the surface, the emblem of their Power Coins etched in marble of their color had been set in the face of the giant slab. Below the slab, three cylinders sunk into the ground, each containing the cremated remains of a Ranger. Joshua looked over the names, Zack Taylor, Jason Scott, Trini Kwan, three lives that he had ended. He stood solemnly, paying his respects. Though he knew they could not answer him, this is where he came to find direction, to face the past and plan for the future. His hair was blowing slightly in the wind, a look of resolve in his eyes. He was lost in the thoughts of the last year, so much had changed, he had discovered so many things; things that made him question all he had ever believed. Joshua stepped forward kneeling before the memorial.

"Forgive me," Josh said quietly. He sighed heavily.

"Object detected." Beta said.

"Identify." Billy commanded.

"Wreckage of Machine Empire Command Ship."

Billy looked worried.

"Do you know what he has?" Kimberly asked.

"No," Billy replied "But if Zedd wants it you can be sure it isn't good. I think you better call in Adam and Joshua."

Ashley pushed the com button. A moment later they both answered.

"You both need to come to the Command Center immediately." Billy said.

"What's going on?" Josh asked.

"Something bad," Ashley replied. "Cyclopsis just took something from the destroyed Machine Empire Command Ship, we don't know what though."

"On my way," Adam replied, and his signal terminated.

"I'm coming," Josh said. "But I have some," he paused searching for the words "News that may seem bad at this moment."

"Wait," Kimberly started, but his signal terminated.

Ashley looked over at Kimberly, her look of distress was apparent. Billy noticed it too.

"Don't worry," Billy said trying to reassure her. "He's never let us down."

She tried to be brave and smile, "We better Morph."

Ashley and Billy nodded; the three took out their Morphers and held them out calling on the ancient power. In a flash of multicolored light their armor formed on their bodies, the power flowing through them enhancing their natural abilities to superhuman levels. Adam teleported in, already morphed into his armor.

"So what's the plan?" Adam asked.

"We'll decide that as soon as Josh gets here." Billy said.

"I'm here," Josh said as he walked through the door of the Control Room. He was dressed in a black shirt and blue jeans, a backpack on. With his stature he would have looked intimidating had they not known him.

"Where were you?" Billy asked.

"I had to take care of something," he paused "kind of personal."

"So what's this news?" Kimberly asked.

Josh paused giving careful thought to the words he was about to say.

"If you want to wait we can go after Cyclopsis first." Billy said.

"I can't go with you," Joshua said "I have to leave for a while and I don't know when I'll be back."

Copyright J Pearson 2006-2008. Power Rangers and all related Characters are property of Disney, all rights reserved.