Chapter One: Surge of Evil

Location: Hartford Mansion, San Andreas

Veronica "Ronny" Robinson sat in front of her bed, thinking about the past week. The Fearcats' emergence, their cyborg-ification (as Dax had put it), having her Powers drained and the arrival of Tyzonne – the new Mercury Ranger. Of course, there had been other note-worthy events as well – the debut of the Sonic Streaker, the recovery of the Toru Diamond and the creation of the massive DriveMax Ultrazord. All those events had culminated into one thing – that Tyzonne was a permanent part of their team. The guys had welcomed him with open arms – with Dax and Mack practically tripping over each other to give the Mercurian the "Grand Tour" of the mansion. Rose had been more excited over the Ultrazord formation – apparently theirs was the first Grid powered Ultrazord to be created since the mid 90's. The Ultra Zords of Sydney's Ultra Rangers didn't count as true Ultrazords – but Ronny had left the conversation before she was in over her head.

That was another enigma – the Ultra Rangers. She knew from her own research that they were extremely powerful Rangers – but for the life of her, she couldn't find out how to contact them. She didn't think they needed any help though – Andrew was supposedly in the process of creating a Zord for Tyzonne and Rose…well, Rose was Rose. She stood up and stretched – before walking out to the living room. Spencer was no where to be found – but she was sure he was bent over one of the twenty seven bathrooms, scrubbing at the floor or cleaning the shower. She was also sure that he was in the same suit he was always in – with no raincoat or plastic on him to keep it from becoming dirty. She didn't know how many suits he had – but she knew better to ask him. The thought of wearing the same thing for hours on end made her a bit squeamish – but Andrew had ensured that they had completely clean uniforms every day. As she entered the room, she could hear the animated voices of Dax and Mack talking about something – and the voices were coming closer. They saw her and nodded – not missing a beat in their conversation. Finally, Ronny had enough.

"What's up with you two now?"

Dax and Mack stopped suddenly and looked at her in freaky unison. Sheepishly, Dax lifted his left hand, revealing a newspaper she hadn't seen. Giving it over to the Yellow Ranger, he nervously fidgeted as she skimmed over the article. Not seeing anything of particular importance, she gave the newspaper back to Dax and cocked an eyebrow. He felt a need to explain what they were doing – part of his Asian upbringing he guessed. He didn't want to look too closely into it. His voice was nervous, yet surprisingly steady.

"Well, we were just talking about the 9 month anniversary of the retirement of the Orange Ranger and – "

Ronny's eyes widened as she heard that. She whirled around – catching the Blue and Red Rangers by surprise – and snatched the newspaper out of Dax's hands. Hands slightly shaking, she re-read the article again – taking in every word. The article was a small blurb wondering if the Orange Ranger was to come out of retirement this month. Of course, it was pure gossip and speculation, but the words hit home. The last active Ultra Ranger had retired – ending the Ultra Ranger legacy. Of course, she knew that wasn't the case – the Orange Ranger had been seen helping out the new teams under the Ultra Ranger banner from time to time. The newest Rangers – the Elemental Rangers would continue the legacy – she was sure of it. She handed the paper back to Dax and turned to Mack – who was trying to switch off the TV. She furrowed her brow at the sight – no matter where they were, Mack could make any electrical appliance switch on instantaneously. She considered telling Andrew about it – but then, Mack did have enhanced powers…maybe it was a side effect or something. She called to him over the steadily rising volume, her voice carrying an amused lilt.

"So, what do you guys think about Tyzonne? Is he a "cool" guy or what?"

"Cool guy? Nah – that's Flurious!"

Mack smacked the side of the TV softly – finally making the device switch off – and smirked at Dax's comment. Of course, Flurious was anything but a cool guy - but he didn't seem to be making any more appearances either. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop the smile growing over his face. It was incredibly obvious how Ronny and Tyzonne were attracted to each other. Once, he thought that Tyzonne might have been attracted to him – but he chalked it up to compassion. Of course – in true fashion – everyone but the two involved were aware of it. He thought Ronny would have made the first move, but it seemed she was planning something else for the Mercurian. Ronny seemed to pick up on what he was thinking and whacked him in the shoulder – just as Tyzonne walked in. In a flash, Ronny's eyes were drawn to the curious, yet sad look on the Mercurian's face and she longed to take it away.

Ronny wasn't a romantic person at heart – but she had her fair share of admirers. She had been caught by the paparazzi multiple times sunbathing on whatever beach she found herself at. She had truckloads of fan mail – ranging from marriage proposals to love letters…even a few XXX rated pictures from 30-year-old male nurses. Those gave her the creeps, but she didn't let it show. But one look at the transformed Tyzonne had brought her into a new world filled with totally clichéd elements such as violins and flowers dropping from the sky. She had let herself be swept away by the tides and was amazed at how fast they were. She briefly wondered what it would be like at night with Tyzonne beside her…but she stopped herself. She wasn't ready to go that far just yet – even with a mysterious alien from Mercuria. Slowly, Tyzonne sat down beside her and smiled. She felt content and happy.

Nothing could change that fact.

Location: Unknown Loaction

The creature stumbled down the slope, shaking its head in pain. It had heard the thoughts of the one that had freed it. It had heard what he had called it. Dryken. Was that his name? He was fairly certain that it was. He was also extremely certain that he was a male – a quick check had reassured him of that particular fact. His mind was ablaze with questions and fuzzy memories where he saw himself staring down on himself…but that didn't make sense – even to his blurry memory. The creature dismissed the thought and the memory – thinking that it would do not good to keep dwelling on something insane.

But then that brought up a whole other group of questions. He knew he had a weapon, strong armour and what would be called "natural defences". He was aware that he had a reptilian snout – which meant sharp teeth. After another examination, he saw that he had sharp claws on the ends of his fingers and toes. He also had a tail studded with spikes – something for Ranger Kebabs. Dryken grinned at that thought – or tried to anyway. He was ready – but something was blocking his full Power. He knew – from vague memories – that he could drain memories and power from beings…but he had no idea how to do it. He finally sighed and shook his head. The only way to find out what everything did was to go out and find the jewels.

The jewels of the Corona Aurora. The crown and the jewels were powerful together – but the jewels on their own were extremely powerful energy sources in their own right. That left him at a massive disadvantage though – he didn't know who else was after the jewels…and he didn't know if any had been found. Dryken growled low in his throat and slammed his fist into a tree trunk – barely blinking as the tree fell down, uprooted. He needed to flush out the Rangers…but how? As if answering him, a phantom voice answered his question.

"Flush them out by destruction"

The mutant blinked. Well, mass destruction would work to his advantage. Depending on the amount of opposition, he could probably draw out all of the factions that were vying for the Crown. He lifted up his blade and pointed it at a nearby grove of trees.

This would be a blast…literally.

Location: Overdrive Command

Andrew Hartford wearily looked up from the schematics he was studying. He was so sure that he had heard a sound – something like an alarm or something, but he dismissed the thought. He looked at the plans again, stifling a yawn as he did so. He wanted the new Zords to have a different abiltily…but he wasn't sure what it was yet. Even coming up with an idea that fit the whole "Overdrive" theme was taxing enough. Lightspeed hadn't sent any ideas worth considering (A garbage truck for a Zord?) and contacting his college roommate George Frizz hadn't helped…much. He smiled at the thought of what his roomie had been proposing. A distinguished Battle Group where hulking robots would scour the outlying systems for "intelligent life"…or to quell rumours of rebellion and bandit groups. Andrew laughed again, Frizz would probably get himself blown up in one of his "Mekas" or go out in some ignoble way like a cancer.

The sound went off again. Louder this time. Andrew shook his head violently and glanced at the satellite view of San Angeles. The alarm sounded like one of his rarely used alarms – something that would have alerted him if the world was ending…or Mack had somehow found out about his true origins. Andrew hoped it wasn't the latter – he could almost see the look on his son's face when he told him…all the disappointment. He also hoped it wasn't the former either – but they still had about two more jewels to find…and somehow get the crown back from Moltor. He slowly stood up and arched his back – wincing at the symphony his back made – before walking to the screen and taking a closer look.

What he saw banished all thoughts of sleep from his mind.