AUTHOR NOTE- Welcome to another episode of Power Rangers, Mighty Morphin fans! Thank you guys so much for your interest, favorites, and reviews. It means a lot!

One important note: I'm going to "try something new on" with my MMPR stories that many of you hardcore fans will immediately notice. Some of the names of weapons and items will be changed in the interest of diversity (Using the prefix "Power" for everything gets a little dull, in my opinion, and doesn't highlight the unique nature of the Mighty Morphin series very well.). I hope you enjoy!

It was another Saturday morning in Feron Grove, which meant the Feron Grove Union was packed with all kinds of kids. Everyone was playing games, exercising, or just hanging out. The workout floor on the far end of the room was going to be packed with different workout classes that day, the first being beginning karate.

"Ichi! Ni! San! Shi!"

Sixteen teenagers clad in white crossover jackets, pants, and belts punched along with the count of the instructor. They repeated this for twenty counts, then moved across the floor executing front and round kick drills to no count.

Lia, clad in a short-sleeved white karate uniform and black-and-red colored belt, was going from student to student, correcting their technique and keeping them going.

"Turn that knee all the way around, Terry. You'll extend your kick further."

"Karen, Snap all the way back after completing the technique. If you leave your leg out, an attacker will trip you."

During the next punching and kicking combination, a double-punching drill followed up by a back leg side kick, she turned her attention to Ash, who was furiously launching his attacks.

"Ash, flow and snap. Don't throw."

The new student looked at his friend and junior instructor with a flushed look on his face, red as the wristbands he wore. He nodded and breathed out the universal Japanese acknowledgement "Osu," and continued.

When the rounds of combos were finished, Lia stepped to the front of the class to face the sensei.

"Arigato, Sempai Lia," the sensei said, thanking to the senior student.

"Osu, Sensei Hayashi," Lia responded, deferring to the leader of the class and standing to the side.

Hayashi stepped forward to take control of the class again. The young man looked to be a little older than Lia, but looked identical facially and had a determined yet calm look on his face, only slightly obscured by strands of long flaxen hair that fell over his headband and a little above his collar. He wore the same uniform as Lia, except he had a black belt with two gold bars on the right side, signifying him as a second degree black belt.

Off near the dining portion of the Union, Brock kept a close eye on what was happening in the class, diverting his attention away from his animal anatomy and physiology homework. At the same time, Misty walked up from the cycling area, having just completed an hour on the exercise bike.

"How's it going out there?" the girl asked, wiping beads of sweat from her brow. Perspiration dripped from her flaming hair and on to her yellow workout shirt.

"Pretty good," Brock responded, running his hand through his tall, bushy black hair. "Looks like Ash has really taken to karate in the past couple of weeks. Very strong."

"I'm just glad he's got Lia and Hayashi as teachers," Misty added, sitting down at the table. "They're awesome at running the classes."

"And that brother-sister team dynamic only helps keep everything together," Brock said, turning the page of a veterinary book to a chapter on treating wounds. He recoiled when he came across a particularly nasty-looking injury. "Ugh!" he uttered, turning the page again.

"Something wrong?" Misty questioned.

"Ah, it's this chapter on injuries. I can't stand to see animals hurt like this."

Minutes passed as the kata portion of the class took place, with everybody practicing Heian Shodan, the first of five "Peaceful Way" forms. After going through it on no count, Hayashi broke it down by count, adjusting hammer fist levels to face level and blocks to one fist-length away. He came upon Ash during a punch sequence, who threw them so hard his shoulders wouldn't be in line.

"No, Ash," Hayashi warned, holding the boy's shoulders down and moving them in line. "Everything should be level. Relax and snap, don't throw."

Toward the end of the class, Hayashi lined everyone up to address the class.

"You all have been improving and are putting forth great effort," he began, folding his arms in front of his belt. "But there is so much more for you to learn and tighten up on, even at this level. Karate is a defensive art meant to enhance your body, mind, and soul, and to protect you in the most dire of situations. But remember, you must be relaxed and in the moment to achieve the full effects. Breathe, extend all the way, and bring balance to yourself."

Hayashi finished and bowed the students out, who left the floor sweaty, a little fatigued, and even more invigorated then when they came in.

Far away on the cold, gray moon, Rita Repulsa and her court of minions congregated in the sharp, iron-wrought Moon Palace.

"Those last two monsters were utter failures!" Rita's main henchman Goldar snarled, tightening his gilded, beastly fists. "It is time that I go down there and rip those Power Rangers limb from limb!"

"You tell 'em, Goldar!" Squatt squealed, a demonic grin crossing his fat berry-blue face.

"But Goldar," Baboo interrupted. "these ambushes haven't been working! You'll just get blown up…" the bat-like creature cowered as the winged griffin-ape hybrid struck him across the face.

"Baboo is right, you golden nimrod!" Rita screeched, pacing across the floor of her balcony. "If physical threats don't get those Earthlings to surrender, perhaps we can bring them into submission another way."

"But they clearly fear us, Empress! We can crush them!" Goldar protested.

"That's it!" Rita shouted. "Finster, did you hear that?"

"Yes, your Evil One," Finster said, scuttling up to her. "We need a soldier that can amplify the fears of everyone it comes across."

"I want it to literally turn up the voices of fear in their minds," Rita ordered. "Can you do that?"

"Even better, my queen," Finster assured. "Not only can I bring forth a monster that does just that, I can create a twin that literally deafens the innate self-confidence and reason within humans."

"Then what are you waiting for?!" the evil queen asked. "Get to work!"

BANG!

A large plume of smoke flowed from the end of Finster's Monstermatic yet again, and this time two creatures came down from the machine. The aliens were slender, their skin as white as alabaster, and had long, straight hair running down the back of the formal choral dresses they wore, one midnight blue and the other the color of dark dried blood. Their hair was colored the same as their respective dresses, as were their lips, which couldn't conceal the large fangs in their mouths.

"Empress," Finster began as Rita looked on. "I present to you Piano and Fortissimo."

"So hideously beautiful, the both of you!" Rita said with glee.

"Thank you, your highness," Piano, the demon in blue, whispered.

"We look forward to bringing the people of Earth to your rule!" Fortissimo screeched, saliva flying from her maw.

"Finster and I have worked for weeks on these monsters," Baboo reported, raising his four hands. "In addition to their destructive musical acumen, I have helped bolster their durability in battle. Not even the Rangers' Tower Formation can bring them down!"

"Correct," Finster said.

"Very well," Rita said with satisfaction in her voice. "Piano, Fortissimo, turn up the volume on those humans' fears, including those pathetic Power Rangers! Show them no mercy and bring them to their knees!"

"Let the concert commence!" both creations sang, and with that, they vanished to make their journey to Feron Grove.

"This is my greatest work yet!" Baboo told Squatt. Finster held his hand to his face.

"So you were useful for once. Big deal!" Goldar cut in, stomping into the monster workshop. "You may be torturing the humans, but I will be bringing them to our Empress!"

"What are you talking about?" Rita asked, growling at her charge.

"I have commissioned one of our top generals, King Sphinx, to ensnare the monsters' victims and hold them as our slaves!" the warrior answered.

"You stupid monkey! " Rita yelled, getting right in his face. Her anger made the other three cohorts huddle in a corner. "King Sphinx is supposed to be guarding the hidden treasure!"

"Ah, but he is!" Goldar said. "King Sphinx will be bringing them to the hidden treasure chamber, where his guardian spell is so powerful not even that fool Zordon can penetrate it! And with his Power Rangers succumbing to their own fears, there's no chance of ever breaking in!"

The gilded one and his queen, along with the other three lackeys, burst out with venomous laughs, confident that their plan could not fail.