This story takes place in the same universe as my Personality Shift series and while being a continuation of that continuity you don't have to start there to understand what's happening here. Although it will clue you into some plot points that'll be relevant later ;)
The Devil's Playground, a world where the Power Rangers lost the battle against the Evil Space Aliens. But it was a place of hope, a place that saw the arrival of a man who would not only destroy Lord Zedd but also his apprentice Lord Drakkon.
But is it a world better off in the end?
Kimberly Hart ran through the empty street. New Angel Grove, that's what they called the city before it fell.
Behind her, charged soldiers coated head to toe in medieval armor. Despite their humanoid appearance, Kimberly knew they were machines.
They were the pawns of the Praetor, the one responsible for destroying everything Kimberly and the rest of them had struggled to create.
But they weren't what she was running from.
He watched from above the rubble of a destroyed building, and he was smiling.
The figure jumped down, engrossed in purple light before landing perfectly on his feet.
His armor was similar to a Power Ranger, the warriors of light that defended all life.
But he was far from that himself.
He raised his purple arm and pointed his sword towards her throat. "The chase is over. Surrender yourself to my master before I have to resort to force."
Kimberly grimaced and drew her Power Morpher.
"Try me."
The ship violently rocked back and forth, throwing everything around the young man into complete disarray.
But he merely ground his teeth and kept his grip on the controls.
Trox wasn't born for this, he knew this even as he wiped his blue, sweaty, hair out of his eyes. He was the son of a farmer, born on the planet Sentai 6. But fate had played its mysterious hand, and he was being chased through space with three of the most important objects in the entire universe.
Energems.
The ship behind him was close on his tail. It was a strange almost insectile ship, covered in black plates of metal that shifted as the machine dashed through space as if it were alive.
As if it were hungry…
Trox was suddenly thrown from his seat as the ship was halted by two metal claws that penetrated the ship's side.
He knew this was it. Trox stood up and clutched the bag tightly. He knew he was going to die.
The sound of footsteps.
"Do you know what I hate about you heroic types?" The voice taunted from the other side of the wall. "You never make things easy."
The metal door slid open, revealing a man dressed in black leather armor with bits of gold plating across his legs and up to his right arm.
"So why not a change of heart?" He asked with a sideways smile. "Just give up the Energems and we can call it a night."
Trox was frozen with fear, it rooted itself into his very core. Weighting him to the ground.
But before the man could continue the ship was thrown into another rocking fit.
And by the look on the intruder's face, this wasn't a part of his plan.
A noise from above collected their attention as a small hole was punched in the ceiling and another figure arrived.
Their cloak flew behind them as they landed, it fluttered a few moments as they drew a pistol and pointed it toward the first intruder.
"Good old Scorpio, son to the infamous Scorpina," The voice said, cluing Trox in that they were female.
"Leave my mom out of this," He spat, "The only thing that old bag gave me was this-" The man blinked his eyes as they suddenly flashed yellow. His muscles then began to bulge and the veins in his face shifted to a purple hue.
But his transformation was halted when the figure opened fire. The blast hit him in the chest and knocked his body backward.
"The blaster was set to stun," She said and grabbed hold of Trox. "Until I saw him do that." She then pointed a small grappling hook up towards the hole she had made and they were both jolted upwards.
Trox was still too stunned to respond, but at the very least this intruder hadn't tried to kill him yet.
Trox then found himself in the loading area of what he could only assume was a Megaship by the interior. When the hatch they had entered closed the ship instantly knew to take off.
The girl turned to him and threw her hood back, revealing a beautiful round face and blonde hair.
"Astrid," She said and held out her hand.
"Trox…" He said and took her hand. "Why did you just save me?"
"Those Energems can't get into the Praetor's hands," She explained. "At least that's what he said to me."
"Who?"
"We don't have time for explanations," She said, "We have to get to Earth before any more of those freaks can come after us."
A tense silence fell as Trox was thrust towards the unknown.
Kira Ford knew it was going to be a bad the moment she found the paper taped to her fridge.
After all, only one other person had a key to her house.
She pulled the paper off and unfolded it, finding the same messy scratch she'd struggled to read on her essays a decade and a half ago.
She frowned. Hard. Then she sighed and threw on her shoes.
What the hell was she going to tell Hayley?
At the Oliver residence in Angel Grove, Hayley Oliver frowned as she took a sip of her coffee.
"Did he tell you to lie?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Kira lowered her gaze, feeling like she was a teenager again. "Yeah. But I knew it would be stupid."
"Stupid?" Hayley asked with venom in her throat. "You wanna hear stupid? He told me he was done. He told me!" She shook her head. "But what should I have expected?"
"What are you going to do?" Kira asked. She then flinched as the sour look escaped Hayley's face.
"I'm going to wait, and probably worry every night until he comes back."
It was then that a young girl stepped into the room. She was still clad in her Green Ranger PJs with her long dark hair a mess.
But she rushed towards Kira with a giant smile on her face.
"'Sup gorgeous," Kira said to Chelsey Oliver, Hayley and Tommy's second child. "Staying out of trouble?"
"Depends on who you ask," She said with a mischievous glint in her eye.
And for a brief moment, Kira missed being so young.
But then Chelsey noticed the stressed look on her mother's face.
"Wait… what's up?" She asked.
"Well…" Hayley said, struggling to find the right words. "Your dad is on… a small business trip."
"When is he coming back?" She asked with a panicked look on her face. "And why didn't he tell me?"
"It was really impromptu," Kira said, "He might be gone for a while."
"This isn't some weird way of saying you guys are getting a divorce is it?" She asked.
"No, no, no," Hayley said. "We're fine."
Although I'm definitely going to have a few harsh words when he gets back. Her face said to Kira.
"Well someone should tell Jace," Kira said, looking down at the door that led to the basement.
"If he even cares," Chelsey muttered. But her attitude was quickly shot down by a hard glare from her mother.
Kira shook her head and stood up, "Let's go see if I can awaken the beast below…"
But to both her shock and unsuprise the young boy was nowhere to be found.
It's the same dream every night. The shadowy world wrapped in a red sky. The figure shrouded in mystery, his face hidden under a red visor.
Jace Oliver watched helplessly as the figure stood over him, arms wide and triumphant as he proclaimed.
"Reality is shattered, and everything will be mine."
He awoke with a shake, shooting up as the sweat crawled down his face.
Then the pounding headache continued.
"Ugh," he grunted and fell back, feeling the hard pulse behind his eyes.
"When you asked me if I wanted to hang out last night this wasn't what I expected," Rylan DeSantos muttered as he picked up an empty bottle and threw it in the trash. "You're just lucky my dad is still out of town. He'd lose it if he saw you like this."
"Only because your dad is friends with mine," Jace muttered.
"Is that really how you see things?"
Before Jace could offer a sarcastic response the two boys were both silenced by the violent shaking that tore through Rylan's house.
"That sounded close…" Jace said still nursing his head pain.
"Yeah," Rylan said before turning back towards Jace. "So?"
The young boy fought the pain and forced himself up. "So I'm gonna check it out."
"Y-you're not serious are you?" Rylan asked with wide eyes.
But by then Jace was already throwing his shoes on.
"I swear to God you're going to be the death of me," Rylan said, knowing that he didn't have to follow Jace but still did so anyway.
It turned out what they were looking for wasn't that far. In fact, it was several houses down.
"That's not good," Rylan muttered.
But Jace couldn't help but smile.
"What are you doing?" Rylan asked as Jace took a step forward.
"What do you mean? I'm checking this out!" Jace stepped closer to the empty lot, his feet meeting grass as he approached the object that had descended from the sky.
The blue colored spaceship.
"Shouldn't we call someone?" Rylan asked.
"Who? NASADA?" Jace asked. He was a few feet away from the ship by then. His hand outstretched towards it.
Then the ramp opened with a loud hiss.
"Stop!" The girl shouted the moment her eyes met Jace's.
But Jace smiled and raised his arms. "We come in peace," he said as if he couldn't see the gun pointed at him. "Oh wait. I think that's your line."
"She's serious," a boy said who stepped up from behind her. "The last person who questioned her didn't fair well."
"I don't know why she's so tense," Jace said. "I'm a part of the neighborhood welcoming committee. I'm just here to give you guys a tour."
"Unless you can bring us to the legendary Tommy Oliver I'd suggest you get out of the way and forget you ever saw me." the girl said in a stern tone.
Jace took a step back, his eyes wide and his mouth silent for several seconds.
"Well he isn't in town right now," Jace said, "But I can bring you to his house."
The two stepped down off the ramp, with the girl keeping a careful eye on Jace, who was both completely aware of this and smiling because of it.
Although his smile didn't last when the second ship arrived.
The girl took a defensive stance, holding her gun forward instead of at the ship that blocked the sun above.
This action made much more sense when the teleportation beam shot down to the ground and materialized into a man dressed in black leather.
"Sorry for the slight delay," The man said, "I was tending to my energy burns."
"You're welcome," The girl said, the barrel pointed toward the man.
"So I take it this new guy isn't with you," Jace said and took a basic defense stance his dad had shown him. "Cool."
"Hey Jace," Rylan said, "Maybe we shouldn't get involved in this."
"What do you mean?" Jace asked, "I'm just welcoming all of our new friends." He looked toward the man, "I'm Jace Oliver, welcome to planet Earth."
"Oliver?" The man asked with a sneer. "Interesting…"
The man rushed forward, his hand pulled back into a fist.
A fist which Jace easily caught himself.
The man seemed completely unfazed by Jace's reaction, and instead merely smiled at the boy as his stinger extended from his back and shot towards Jace's neck.
But the girl managed to subdue it with a blast of energy.
"Watch out!" She warned him. "Scorpio is one of the galaxy's deadliest assassins."
"So my reputation precedes me," The man said. "I suppose I can't disappoint, then."
Jace was suddenly thrown back by a fist so fast his eyes couldn't perceive it.
The young man flew backward and into the arms of the blue-haired boy, who managed to catch him by reflex alone.
"Four deaths for three Energems…" The man said, "What a tragic loss…"
"Four deaths?" Rylan said, "Oh no. No, no, no. Please don't drag me into all of this. This isn't my business."
The man's smile widened to a mask of pure bloodlust as he took a step towards the four of them.
At that moment, as death inched closer Jace was overwhelmed by a strange floating feeling. It rose from his chest and flooded his system. It was something primal, but familiar.
And the bag at the blue-haired boy's hip began to glow.
Scorpio's tail extended as he prepared to attack the four of them. But as its white, poison dipped tip extended towards them a bright light escaped from the boy's bag and enveloped them all.
The stinger punched into Jace's chest but was easily knocked away when it hit the red material that suddenly covered his chest.
"What's going on?" He asked, looking at his hands, now covered by gloves.
"Y-your a Power Ranger!" Rylan exclaimed then looked down at his own form, "I'm a Power Ranger!"
"Stop gawking!" The girl said, now also covered in the unmistakable armor of a Power Ranger. Their armor was mostly their prime color, with their right arms silver and a black zigzag across their chests. The Pink Ranger rushed forward, her helmet emulating a dinosaur and a knight's visor. She drew a silver medieval sword deflected Scorpio's stinger.
The man scowled at the new Rangers.
"We're Power Rangers now!" Rylan said, now the Blue Ranger. "So like- you better leave!"
The man just laughed, "If you think that three Power Rangers are going to slow me down you haven't read my file."
Jace moved moments later, hoping that the man was too distracted by his own monolog to react. He swung his sword down, trying to slice into his chest.
But the man grinned and his stinger wrapped itself around Jace's sword and pulled it from his grip.
The Pink Ranger then moved in and managed to jab her sword into his side. Tearing clothes and pulling sparks from his body.
But he didn't seem too affected by the attack and kicked her body back.
"Is this really all that Earth can throw at me?" The man asked. "This is the same planet that defeated Dark Specter, and the Armada! I'd expect a more exciting fight."
Blaster fire then exploded across his chest, knocking him back before he could continue his speech.
Jace looked towards the other Rangers, but neither of them seemed to know what had just happened.
That is until the Yellow Ranger landed in front of the Rangers. She was one that Jace actually recognized, the Yellow Dino Ranger. He had received a decent amount of action figures of them as a child. The Ranger drew her Petra Grips and took a stance towards Scorpio.
"I don't know who you are," the Yellow Ranger said. "And I don't know why you're here, but if you don't back away you're going to regret it."
Jace was completely speechless, watching the new Ranger stand stoically between him and the alien assassin. It was like something ripped straight from a childhood dream.
Or maybe a recurring nightmare.
The man swung his stinger towards the Yellow Ranger but she knocked it to the side with a flashy swing of her weapon.
"Just another slummy space freak," She said, "Total yawn."
That voice… Jace suddenly realized.
The man growled and his stinger punched into the dirt where the Yellow Ranger had been standing moments before. She had since then leaped into the air, and drew a blue blaster that unloaded red shots of energy directly into his chest.
The man reeled backward, smoke pouring from his chest. "Lucky shot…" he spoke through closed teeth. "Maybe I'll describe it at your funeral." And he proceeded to disappear through another teleportation beam.
"You guys okay?" The Yellow Ranger asked the trio.
"Kira?" Jace asked, still in complete shock. He then felt a stab of vertigo as his form melted away.
"Oh shit," Kira said and caught his descent. "Looks like we're both in for some explaining."
Scorpio sat alone in the main chamber of the battleship. His face a mask of annoyance as he touched the freshly wrapped wound on his chest.
"You look a little rough," a voice said as it's source entered the room. "Try this."
Scorpio caught the metal tin and examined it.
"Healing ointment?"
"It'll really help those burns," the human, little more than a boy, said.
"These?" Scorpio asked with a frown. "They're hardly blemishes."
The assassin couldn't help but grin as the hurt expression crossed the boy's face.
It was good for him to feel a little upset once in a while. Being the Praetor's pet the boy was far too often spoiled.
The only way to ensure a warrior grow strong is through grit. A soft warrior isn't one at all. Merely fodder.
But what did it really matter to Scorpio? If something happened to the boy it would only move further up the rank and get him closer to the Praetor's side.
"The Dragon sent me a message," The boy said.
Scorpio frowned and silently let the boy continue.
"They finished their conquest of KO-35 and captured the Rangers there. Now they're going to Xybria."
Scorpio nodded, trying to withhold how irked he felt that the boy was contacted before him. He knew throwing a fit would be pointless. In the end, he'd just have to keep his cool and wait.
"And another thing," The boy said as he turned back towards his own chambers, "Kiaido captured the target."
Scorpio couldn't help but crack a smile at that news. The boy seemed so confident now, but what would he do when the Praetor had a brand new toy?
A/N: After a little break I'm back and ready to deliver my personal brand of fanfiction to all of you fine folks. To anyone who's stuck with me, thank you :) and to anyone jumping in now, welcome to the adventure ;)
-Shadowhenshin
