Tommy, the White Ranger, curled his lip into a malicious smirk as he surveyed Adam, Kimberly, Billy, and Richie. He imagined maiming them in combat, and relishing on their screams and pleas for mercy. The very thought invigorated him. He had not been this eager to fight since he, Goldar, and Scorpina had defeated the original megazord.
On either side of him, Goldar and Scorpina lightly snickered as they enclosed the rangers in a triangle, raising their swords to shoulder level. Hehad no doubt that that Kimberly and Zack remembered a similar scenario. Back when Tommy had been a warrior for his Empress (Rita) he, Scorpina, and Goldar had surrounded the first Megazord and defeated it during an eclipse. Wanting to match his memory of that time, Tommy unsheathed Saba, crouching into a back stance while raising both hands to chin level but spread out to either defend or attack.
He smirked under his helmet. Back then he had been the Green Ranger. Now he was the White Ranger, and thus more powerful. He could disintegrate each of the rangers with a punch or a swing of his sword if he desired. And the others knew it. Even Richie.
Narrowing his eyes, he stared at Sean, foregoing his classical evil laugh. Goldar and Scorpina could destroy the rest of them but Tommy wanted Sean for himself. It would be the perfect Martial Arts challenge to survive from a battle with a warrior like Sean. Everyone present knew that Sean had been holding back in almost every fight. However none of them knew why.
Tommy regretted he would not find out but after all he did have his order. Murder burned within his heart, darkening his expression. He hoped it showed through his suit.
Within the triangle, Richie, Adam, and Kimberly calmed their speeding hearts with discipline. Billy and Sean tracked their opponents, refusing to die idly. Both of them could face this trio without failing but they had to think of the others. Behind them, Adam put on his helmet, steadying his breathing. Each of them knew they could easily teleport away. There was no reason to continue this fight. Even if the Tommy, Goldar, and Scorpina wanted to attack a nearby city, their primary targets were the power rangers. Once they left, so would the villains.
Regardless, they would remain out of principle. Jason had taken away so much from them—their sense of ease, composure, and faith in each other. Despite their reformed sense of teamwork, Rocky's treason had rejuvenated their old concerns. Even Zack, safe in Tommy's Lab, wondered what else would occur before three more days would pass to complete the week.
"Sean!" Tommy called out.
Sean gazed into Tommy's visor.
"Face me, Green Ranger." Though he masked it, droplets of disdain leaked from his voice.
"Neither this helmet nor power coin was yours," Sean answered the unsaid accusation, for even Tommy had not even articulated it in his thoughts. "I was the first to own these powers."
"We didn't come here for a history lesson," Scorpina chided.
"Aw, but history is partially where wisdom grows from." He withdrew the Sword of the Phoenix and walked forward. "Show me what you have learned."
Scorpina and Goldar exchanged the fleetest of looks then fired a sweeping spread of fog-like deep yellow flames. The rangers scurried out of the way, Adam and Richie rolling while Kimberly and Billy flipped. Unfortunately, Goldar followed through with two eye blasts, hitting Billy and Kimberly; and Scorpina hit Adam with blue flames from her hand. Richie leapt quickly, missing Scorpina's onslaught.
With Adam momentarily stunned by the blast, Scorpina flipped over him, aiming an overhead slash at Richie. Summoning his Power Daggers instinctually, Richie spun out of the way and slashed back toward her chest. Scoprina locked her sword with the Dagger, grabbed his other wrist and then kicked his hip with a round kick. Letting go of him, she kicked again with a jumping sidekick. Richie dodged her, spun around with the bottom of his right fist. Without stopping, he stabbed forward toward the right side of her abdomen. However, she slammed her sword down, blocking the attack, and then punched the top of his outstretched helmet with her armored fist. Grunting, Ritchie stumbled into the sandy ground, rolled backward over his left shoulder, and stood with arms raised in defense. Though most of his vision had darkened for a brief moment, Richie did not shake his head.
"Well, you're better than I thought," Scorpina commented. "Won't save you though."
"Don't think about it, Scorpina," Adam threatened, pointing the barrel of his Power Axe Cannon at her.
Glancing behind her, she cursed under her breath. However she did not lower her arms, knowing what to do.
Meanwhile Goldar was busy holding off Billy and Kimberly. Kicking Kimberly back some feet, Goldar exchanged parries, thrusts, and cuts with Billy's Power Lance. Gathering her breath while standing, Kimberly was amazed at how fast Goldar moved. He and Billy's arms and weapons blurred as white stray electricity sparked when their weapons met. Taking aim with her bow she drew back an arrow, waiting for the right moment. Seeing it, she fired. Goldar swatted it away, hurling several yellow flames at Kimberly. While somersaulting away, one blast hit her on the outside of her right calf.
"Kim!" Billy cried out.
"I'm alright; just a graze."
Billy stabbed at Goldar's left wing. Seeing it peripherally Goldar stepped back, parried and reposted.
As the others continued fighting each other, Sean and Tommy stood with a yard of each other, staring into each other's visor. While Sean rested his hands at his side, Tommy draped his right hand over Saba's pummel/head; his fingers only millimeters away so as to grab it.
"Go, Samurai," Tommy challenged in a soft voice.
Not caring to respond, Sean telepathically surveyed the spell imprisoning Tommy's mind. He poked it. Several psychic discharges flared and scattered about from the wall around Tommy's mind but only two hit near Sean's consciousness. Sean did not move. Visually, he registered that Tommy had not flinched.
Peering through her Repulsascope from the Chamber of Command's balcony, Rita groaned, her face slacking into an exaggerated frown. "Lech!" she gagged, sticking out her tongue. "This is nothing more than a prolonged standstill."
Beside her, Lord Zedd sucked in a deep breath of air, and immediately blew it out. "Sean is trying to jar free Tommy's mind like he did before," he groaned.
Grunting out of weariness, annoyance, and frustration, Rita glared at Zedd. "I'm going to Jason to tell him we failed," she snapped at him.
Zedd snapped his gaze at her ready to argue but halted. "You're right. It's time we crush that annoying, psychic mosquito. I'm tired of swatting at him. If Serpentera was charged, I'd destroy the entire earth to wipe him out!"
"Then let's do something else about it!" Rita screamed.
Growling, Zedd replied, "Yes. Come Rita," he beckoned.
Crossing their staffs, they aimed them at Goldar, Scorpina, and Tommy. "Make our warriors grow!" they chanted. Crackling, electric, blue lightning shot out of the intersection of their staffs towards the battle.
Showered with the coiling lightning bolts, Goldar, Scorpina, and Tommy grew. Chuckling, they surrounded the rangers.
"What's wrong?" Goldar mocked. "Can't fight us without a megazord?"
Kimberly shook off her goosebumps. "I'm sick of this," she snapped. "We need Shoganzord Power now!" she called out, thrusting her hand up to the sky. Pink energy traveled up her arm, discharging at her hand.
Beyond the trio of villains, the White, Black, and Blue Shoganzords appeared.
Goldar growled with pleasure at the sight of them. "Think those will stop us?"
Swinging out her enormous pincer, she shot them with multiple crackling electric blue energy orbs. Goldar fired three fire waves from his sword and Tommy fired at Saba's eye beams at the White Shoganzord. Without their shields, the Zords staggered before tumbling down to the ground, sparks exploding about their bodies.
"Let's get up there!" Adam encouraged his teammates. He jumped up into his. "Black Shoganzord, power up!" he commanded while stepping into the cockpit.
Kimberly followed him. "White Shoganzord, power up!"
"Blue Shoganzord power up.
Yellow Shoganzord, power up," Richie supplied, having heard the others through his communicator. Now his teammates' voices came through to him from surround sound speakers throughout the cockpit.
"Sean, can you use your Phoenixzord?" Adam asked through the com system.
"I doubt it but I can help from the ground," Sean answered.
"I don't think so, Sean!" Tommy barked, slamming his foot down on top of Sean.
However Sean teleported to the summit of the mountain before Tommy could touch him.
"Come back here!" Tommy yelled striding after Sean.
"No more, Tommy," Adam commanded. "Shogun Megazord Power now!"
Understanding immediately, Billy immediately began tapping buttons on his controls. "Richie, jump onto the shoulders of Adam's zord," he quickly instructed. "Begin syncing your energies with the rest of ours."
"No problem," Richie replied. A second later, his zord did so while Billy's jumped on top of Kimberly's.
"This is risky," Kimberly warned.
"I have this," Billy replied, modifying the zords' energy levels.
Standing side by side, the group of zords revolved as a yellow energy cyclone whirled around them. Blue lighting struck out from it, as it approached Tommy. Tommy prepared to leap out of the way. Unfortunately, Sean fired a Dragon Buster into Tommy's armpit, halting him. Less than a second later, the cyclone smashed into Tommy, an intense explosion blasting Tommy backward. He tumbled backward, rolling several times over his shoulders.
Inside her cockpit, Kimberly kept holding her breath. However Tommy did not explode. "Thank God!" she whispered. Her chest loosened.
Meanwhile, Scorpina snuck up behind Adam's zord. Spinning around, she uncurled her tail (which sprouted from the back of her cranium) and stabbed the end of it into the the Blue Shoganzord's leg. Upon contact, she pumped it with surges of yellow electricity, overloading several systems. Several discharges surged through the others zords.
Snarling, Goldar swung his sword upwards at the zords, casting a skinnier yellowish electrical cyclone of his own at them. Crashing into them, it exploded. The zords tumbled over each other.
Dancing out of the way, Scorpina blasted the shoganzords again with her pincer, while Goldar added a few eye blasts into them.
"Billy, now would be a good time for a great idea!" Kimberly cried out.
"E-ahh!" .
"Billy, what happened?" Adam asked. "Answer us." Panic built up within him, threathening to overthrough him; but there was no time to panic.
Tommy staggered to his feet. Seeing the zords down, he smirked. "I never thought this was possible," he commented. The Shoganzords had always seemed invincible to him whenever he had used them. Moving into position he readied to behead the White Shoganzord. "Looks like evil wins today," he said, preparing to strike.
Just then, a familiar six noted melody trumpeted through the air. Tommy paused, looking up. Even Goldar and Scorpina froze, tensing and holding their breath. Tommy shook his head, convinced that he had misheard. Even if he hadn't, there was nothing Sean could do from the ground while playing that tune that could harm him. Having been the Green Ranger before, he would know. He readied Saba to plunge the blade through Kimberly's zord—his former zord.
"Kimberly, get out of there!" Adam yelled.
"I can't! My systems are fried!" she screamed.
Sean replayed the notes on the Dragon Dagger, playing it like a flute even though trumpet sounds came out of it.
"Quite!" Goldar yelled, talking toward Sean.
Lowering the Dagger from his mouth piece, Sean replied, "I'm finished with that piece." Placing the Dagger's hilt to his mouthpiece he played a quicker six note melody.
"You're trying m—Ahh!" Goldar yelled.
Scorpina and Tommy grunted also as ten missiles slammed into all of their sides. As the pain subsided, they turned around.
"That's impossible!" Goldar shouted, pointing to the Dragonzord now charging toward them.
"That's incredible," Adam gasped.
"Enough!" Tommy declared. Marching to the Dragonzord, he slashed three times along its chest plate. Groaning, the zord stumbled backward but regained its balance. Not for long, Tommy thought, squeezing his fist. Goldar, Scorpina, fire!"
Crossing their swords, they blasted the Dragonzord with a yellow energy as Tommy fired Saba's eyebeams at him. As his first zord screamed in agony, Tommy laughed. "Soon the rangers will be a memory," he declared, paraphrasing a similar line he had once spoken to Jason before attempting to murder him as they original Green Ranger. "And this time I'll make sure of it."
Tommy, Sean called to him, his voice echoing in Tommy's mind. These are your friends. That was once your zord.
"Oh, no you don't, Sean!" Lord Zedd yelled from his balcony. "That ranger is ours! I just need to remind him." Rings of white lightning flowed down his arms and into his staff, slithering along its length before sinking into it. Aiming at Tommy, he fired four lightning bolts at him.
As the lightning phased through the top of his cranium, Tommy grunted, gripping the sides of his helmet. His eyes flashed red before his irises flashed green and then crimson. He stood up straight, letting his hands fall to his sides. "No, Sean," he said calmly. "I'm evil. Now say good-bye to your friends!"
"They are your friends too," Sean said, sensing the reinforced wall around Tommy's mind. Pulling out the Sword of the Phoenix, he crossed its blade with the Dragon Dagger while aiming it Tommy. Without hesitation, he shot two dense emerald energy beams at Tommy's torso, hoping to dissuade him. Groaning slightly, Tommy faltered backward but regained his footing.
"Stop being such a pest!" Goldar yelled, blasting Sean with three eye blasts.
Sean jumped above the blast. However, Scorpina blasted him with her pincer. Flipping through the air, he landed on his feet, channeling his anguish into his heavy breathing—but not to the point of hyperventilating—while balancing his body, mind, and spirit again.
"One pesky ranger really needs to know when to quit," Tommy said, approaching Sean.
"In this, I refuse to," Sean announced.
"Then die!" Tommy commanded, raising Saba for an overhead strike.
Just then, the White Shoganzord tackled him.
"Tommy, you've got to stop this!" Kimberly screamed from her cockpit, praying that he heard her.
Eying the other Shoganzords, Scorpina and Goldar crossed their swords, blasting them with their combined energies. Immediately, all three zords put their hands together in their sacred pose (one hand pointing up while the other pointed down) and quickly nodded as the duo attacked. The blast immediately rebounded onto Goldar and Scorpina, hurling them backward onto the ground in a shower of sparks.
"Now that's Shoganzord power!" Adam said. "Good work, Billy."
"We all deserve it," Billy replied. "Kimberly, roll away." She did. Taking aim, Billy threw his spear at Tommy.
Jumping to his feet, Tommy caught it. "Thanks, old buddy," he mocked. Aiming at Billy's zord, he hurled the spear back at him. The spear collided with the zord's upper chest, causing a small explosion. "Guys, we need to regroup," Billy announced. "We can't win this fight separated. And I wouldn't recommend hand to hand combat."
"That limits our options," Adam pointed out.
"What about the earth?" Kimberly pleaded over the com.
"Our zords are too damaged."
"Rangers, combine your energies once more," Sean ordered. "Hit Tommy harder."
"That could kill him!" Kimberly screamed, commanding her zord to parry a slash from Scorpina. They had only wanted to stun Tommy before.
"Or devastate our zords," Richie pointed out.
"We must not surrender," Sean urged, firing individual beams from his Dagger at Goldar, Scorpina, and Tommy in turn. Staggering, but regaining their footing, they rounded toward him, b-lining for him.
"How many times do we have to squash you!" Scorpina barked, unleashing a storm of energy from her sword and pincer at Sean.
Evading the mountain's devastation, Sean teleported into the Dragonzord's cockpit. Under his direction, the Dragonzord spun its drill-ended tail and swung it into Scorpina, carving a gash into her right shoulder.
Screaming, Scorpina seized the Dragonzord's head with her pincer, slowly squeezing her grip. Suddenly, the dorsal blade on the back of the Dragonzord's head glowed with brilliant emerald energy. Sean launched it into Scorpina's forehead. "Ouch!" she wailed, releasing the zord. Arming his missiles again, Sean fired at Tommy and Goldar. As Scorpina raised her sword to attack. However the Dragonzord knocked her aside with her tail.
"I've almost had it with you! Si-aye-ya!" Tommy yelled, slamming a jump spinning kick into the Dragonzord and then slashing it with Saba.
"Guys," Kimberly spoke up. "The Dragonzord can't beat all of them."
"But we can," chimed in Zack over the com. From a nearby cliff Zack held up his power coin. "Guys," he said, "take some of my energy. It might be enough."
"We'll only get one shot," Billy counseled.
"Do it, Zack," Adam called out.
"Great Power, Ninjetti: help my friends!" he prayed, stretching his hand out to them. "Lion Power!" Immediately his power coin glowed golden. Zack took a step back, surprise and apprehension growing within him. Suddenly the golden light washed over him.
Inside his mind he stood before the ghost of his Sacred Animal again. The Lion sat before him. "Welcome again, Zack," it said. Standing, its lower body elongated as strips grew along its legs and trunk. Both its snout and mane shrank back an inch while its checks filled out in the side.
"What the—?" Zack started.
"This is who I really am: a liger. A rarity in your world but we do exist."
Zack took this in, vaguely recalling reading some articles about lions and tigresses breeding with each other.
"Now we must return. We must heal the morphing grid before it is irreparably scarred."
There was another flash of light and Zack became aware of the cliff he stood on. Staring into space he uttered, "Whoa."
"Zack, you alright?" Richie asked.
"I'm good," he answered, looking at the zords. "I feel alive." He smiled. "Guys, take this!" He yelled, holding out his coin. Four silver energy beams shined into the Shoganzords, repairing most of their damage. Zack collapsed to one knee, yielding to the urge to morph back to his civilian attire.
"You think one more ranger is gonna stop us?" Tommy asked. "We'll destroy you all." Tapping into his morphin powers (to vaporize the zords) he jumped into the air, aiming to hit the Black Shoganzord with jump spin side kick.
Doing its hand gesture, the Zord pointed at Tommy. The White ranger flew backward in the air, falling on the ground.
"What!" Tommy gasped. "Impossible."
I thought you were a Ninjetti, Tommy, Sean inquired. "Nicely done, Adam," he spoke through the com.
Tommy spun around, his face hot with anger. "Enough Sean. You're gonna die first!" He raised Saba to strike. Scorpina and Goldar flanked him.
Sean readied for the attack.
Just then two cerulean blue lightning bolts arched over the trio's shoulders. Turning around they saw the golden yellow cyclone swirling around the revolving Shoganzord Tower right before it slammed into them. They tumbled and rolled onto the ground.
"This can't be happening!" Tommy said, staggering to his feet. Shaking his head he blinked, trying to focus.
Yards from him the Zords crouched in battle stances, aiming their weapons at the trio.
"I'm not… gonna… give up so.. easily," he announced, his legs shaking as he stepped forward twice.
"He can barely stand," Richie observed. "None of them can."
Stomping to steady his balance, Goldar swung himself up to full height, folding his wings into his back. Pointing the edge of his sword at the Shoganzords, he declared, "What the Monarch of Evil orders, he will have." Growling, he sprang at Kimberly's zord, locking blades with her two curved, tuning fork shaped daggers. Kimberly held her ground.
"Not gonna happen Goldar," she said under her breath. Breaking free, she slashed at his abdomen with one dagger and then his chest with the other.
Hearing Tommy and Scorpina scrambling up to his side, Goldar held out his hand to halt them, his arm protesting under the gesture. Determined and loyal as he was, he knew he could not keep fighting now after the Rangers' last attack. Had Rocky's zord been added to the others, at least one of GOldar's company would have been destroyed. He could not risk that on desperate recklessness. Besides, his ribs complained from breathing.
"Release Tommy," Adam commanded.
Goldar sneered at them, breathing slower but nonetheless deeply now. "What good is an evil ranger to you?" he asked.
Grimacing Kimberly glared at Goldar, silently cursing him.
"You won today but will you win tomorrow?" Uttering a brief chuckle he, Scorpina, and Tommy vanished as silhouettes of flame.
"TOMMY!" Kimberly screamed, forgetting to restrain herself.
"Rocky," Adam murmured.