The Witch laughed victoriously as Shane's Key fell to the ground.

"There's nothing sadder than premature celebration," Troy announced as he dropped out of one of the trees.

"What?" The Witch shrieked.

"Hey lady, volume," Jake said as he came casually strolling around the tree to stand beside Troy.

"This is impossible!" The Witch said.

"We're Power Rangers," Noah said as he stepped up beside Jake. He pushed his glasses back into place, "Statistically speaking, this is what we do."

"But I captured all of them," the Witch said. She looked stunned, confused, and deeply troubled.

"Who? The Earthian Rangers?" Gia asked as she stepped up on Troy's other side.

"Funny thing," Emma said as she followed Gia, "we're not on the rolls yet, at least on Eltare."

"Shane and Carter formally acknowledged us about two weeks ago," Troy said, "we've been around for months though, just… busy."

"No matter," the Witch said and lifted her hand.

"Go, go Megaforce," the team shouted. "Metallic Armor activate."

The Metallic Armor developed by Zordon to counteract Master Vile was one of the more powerful enhancements used by the Rangers, and one of the most maligned. While powerful, the original design had made the Ranger uniforms appear as if they had been dusted with glitter. Justin, aided and abetted by some of the finest Ranger techs on Earth, had taken the principle enhancement and twisted it for the Megaforce Rangers. Where they had once worn white body suits with chest armor and helmets in their colors, they now had body suits in paler versions of their colors, the metallic designs on their armor were muted, and some of their helmets were changed. Emma's pink uniform had lightened several shades, and Jake's black now seemed to almost absorb light. Troy, Noah, and Gia all looked as if their chest pieces were more like liquid metal than the more cloth-like appearance that was normal.

The Witch flung a green orb at Troy, and the world seemed to explode instantly.

When the fire and smoke cleared, Troy stood unharmed and unchanged.

"That's impossible," the Witch insisted.

"You've spent nearly two weeks hunting Rangers, Witch," Troy said. "You've been flinging those orbs around like confetti at the Macy's parade. Did you honestly think it was going to be that easy? We've been ahead of you every step of the way."

"It doesn't matter," the Witch said. "I will have you all. Loogies!"

"How pedestrian," Emma said as they attacked the Warstar minions.

"Do you think someone should tell her we're not Pokémon?" Noah asked as he ducked a punch. "She doesn't actually have to catch us all."

Jake grabbed his friend's shoulder, "Who are you and what have you done with Noah?"

"I'm still me," Noah said, "I don't know where that came from."

"It's the Power," Troy said, "it's stronger. Remember what Mrs. Rowling said? We've enhanced our connection to the Power, so there might be bleed over from that."

"If you say so," Noah said.

Troy smiled as he flipped a pair of Loogies, "We'll ask later, okay?"

"Agreed," Noah and Jake said.

Troy pulled a Loogie away from Gia's back and gripped her shoulder, "You okay?"

"You know it," Gia said.

As Troy pulled his hand back, he realized that he could feel how Gia was doing. As he grappled with another Loogie, his mind processed the feeling, which was yellow-strong-determined, that was Gia. He knocked the Loogie down and turned for another one as he saw Emma use a leg sweep on another Loogie. Pink-focused-worried rippled through his mind, that was Emma. He grunted as Jake bumped into him, black/green-gleeful-strong. Then Noah, blue-focused-analytical, and that was his team. As Troy used a hip throw Justin had taught him to put down the last minion, he felt, for a brief moment silver-hope-fear but it was gone before the Loogie hit the ground and Troy could look around.

"I'll be back Rangers," the Witch said. "I will not be stopped."

"Neither will we," Troy replied.

The Witch vanished in green light and Troy turned to look at his team. "That was interesting," Noah said, "should we demorph."

"Reporters," Gia said, pointing over Troy's shoulder.

"Do we stay or go?" Jake asked.

"The question," Troy said as he turned around, "are we ready?"

"Will we ever be?" Gia asked.

"Let's do it," Emma said.

Troy led the way over to where the reporters, mostly older men and women, were waiting. "Excuse me," one man said, "I'm Alec Chapman with Daily News. Can you explain what just happened here, Rangers?"

"We'll be happy to," Troy said. "But first, Power Down!" The reporter contingent looked stunned and none of them spoke. "My name is Troy Burrows, Megaforce Red Ranger. My team is Noah Carver in Blue, Emma Goodall in Pink, Gia Moran in Yellow, and Jake Holling in Black. As for what happened here today, it started nearly three weeks ago on Mirinoi, when the Witch, the purple alien, captured the Galaxy Rangers and Magna Defender. They sent someone to KO-35 to warn them, but Karone intercepted the pod when it ran out of power. Later that day, Ashley Hammond was captured by the witch on KO-35 along with Analyn of KO-35, the former Pink Kerova Ranger and stand in since the death of Cassie Chan.

"Karone summoned a number of Earthian Rangers, including ourselves, to a meeting on Javor to discuss the news, where plans were made. The Witch has captured the Rangers by transforming them into figurines, to what purpose I am not at liberty to say. But when the Witch crashed the meeting on Javor, she captured a number of Rangers, including the Red Zeo Ranger, TJ Johnson and Carlos Vargas, the Red Aura Ranger of Javor, the Blue Earthian Ranger, also known as the First Blue Ranger, and Karone, who you may know served for a period as the Pink Galaxy Rangers. Following the instructions and plans we'd made, my team evaded the Witch and returned to Earth with the Blue Zeo Ranger to prepare.

"Although we were unable to warn Jason Lee Scott, Doctor Trini Kwan-Scott, and CIA Agent Zack Taylor of the Witch's arrival and intentions, Earth's senior Rangers have staged a planet wide distraction for the Witch, allowing us to acquire numerous figurines, analyze the Witch's powers, and prepare a counter movement. What was witnessed today was the final part of stage one. With our enhanced armor, we Megaforce Rangers will not only defeat the Witch, but also drive off the Warstar Armada, whom we were originally called to fight. We have agreed among us that we cannot fall back on a habit of secret identities at this time. The Witch is a fast opponent, who favors striking without warning, and if we were forever having to hide away to morph, we would lose before we begin. Instead, we want the world to know who we are and what we're doing. All we ask is that we be allowed to deal with the threat to Earth unhindered."

Troy looked at Alec Chapman, "Did that answer your questions?"

"I believe it did, Mister, uh, Burrows," Alec Chapman said.

"Ranger," Troy corrected him, "Ranger Burrows is considered the appropriate title. If there are no more questions, you'll have to excuse us. We need to return to our base and review the fight today and begin training for the next step."

Ignoring the tentative hands, Troy stepped back and tapped the communicator that Justin had made for him while they were repairing the teleportation network the Witch had disabled. Red light filled Troy's vision and he was whisked away, back to the facility outside Beacon Hills.


This is the opening of Come the Dawn, the follow on to Against the Dying of the Light. While I cannot post the image I did of the new "Metallic Armor", which isn't exactly metallic honestly, I do have a tumblr, my name there is guardian-of-hope and you can find it tagged as "Megaforce Metallic Armor"!