"Oh no…" Misty breathed, hearing the Evil Green Ranger's words over the Command Center's intercom. She pounded on the console and shouted, "Green Ranger… Ash, get out of there!"
"He can't hear us," Alpha said, checking a monitor. "According to the computer, he's somewhere where our two-way communications can't be established."
"Then let's get him out of there!" Misty walked next to Alpha, who was busy at the nearby panel, and asked, "Where is he located?"
The screen flickered for a moment or two before giving the answer: Red Ranger Energy Signature: Sector 5B… Before the final two characters could come up, the screen bugged out yet again, producing only static. The sound then overtook the yells of fighting coming from the transmission.
"Sector 5B… 5B what?"
"I'll start searching the related sections," Tracey announced, going over to the panel and eyeballing the multicolored buttons. "Guys, go with Alpha and try to secure our connection streams."
The other Rangers nodded and went over to their robot friend. Tracey sighed and held his neck where he had been previously stabbed by the Green Ranger. While the others had helped repair things with Alpha's guidance, he had been quicker on the uptake thanks to all those years in Professor Oak's lab. He just had to find their friend before it was too late.
In the Dark Dimension, Ash could certainly use his friends' assistance. As Goldar recovered in the background, the Evil Green Ranger kicked Ash's Power Morpher to the far side of the chamber, chuckling evilly.
"Get out of the way, Green Ranger," Goldar warned, retrieving his blade. "I intend to finish off this little pest."
"Empress Rita has personally requested me to dispose of him," the Green Ranger said, not taking his eyes off of Ash, who was buckling to his knees. "It is clear you cannot handle even a human child."
"Your insolence has worn on me, Hayashi!" Goldar snapped. "Move aside or you will suffer!"
The possessed Hayashi grunted, cracking his gloved knuckles and saying to Ash, "Quite bothersome, isn't he?"
That did it. Rita's right-hand beast immediately thrust his sword forward, aiming for Green Ranger's spine, but he caught the blade under his arm and smashed Goldar's nose with a backfist and an elbow strike. Goldar went with the blow and caught the Ranger in the chest with a spinning knee to the ribs. He then tossed his opponent away and started for him again. As Goldar prepared to impale the Green Ranger, Rita's prized puppet rolled over and quickly tossed a blast of dark green energy at his attacker, sending him flying.
As the Ranger caught his breath, he caught sight of Ash dashing for his Morpher out of the corner of his eye.
"Oh no you don't!" he said, tossing another crackling green sphere. This one enveloped Ash in a curtain of shocks, knocking him to the floor once more.
The Evil Green Ranger stood erect and walked over to his new target, bypassing a writhing Goldar.
"Go on and get out of here while you still can," he ordered, not even looking at him. Goldar grimaced, turned his gaze to Ash, and then disappeared in a plume of fire.
Ash slowly rolled to his stomach, and every second of movement was just a nightmare. Crackling, stinging, searing…he couldn't describe the anguish as he attempted to stand. He looked over his arms, which were burning beet red. He didn't know how much longer his connection to the Dino Power would keep him from burning to a crisp.
"Your endurance is impressive," the Green Ranger said, slowly stepping in time with Ash. "You Power Rangers are indeed skilled and hardy, but you will not be alive much longer."
"Shut up, Hayashi!" Ash yelled, fighting the urge to lunge for his so-called friend. "Just shut up! I don't want to fight you!"
"It's okay to be scared, Ash," Hayashi taunted. "You don't want to fight because know I'll win."
"If you're truly a Power Ranger, you'd be fighting Rita instead of us!" Ash shot back.
"But I'm not a Power Ranger," Hayashi said, breathing calmly as the two kept eyeing each other. "I'm Rita's Evil Green Ranger, and she is my queen. Your world will be hers."
With that said, the Green Ranger snapped into a battle stance and began throwing punches at Ash, who rotated his hips and blocked them to the side. As the boy from Pallet Town shuffled back, Hayashi retaliated with a spin heel kick, but Ash caught his boot with a double hooking block and flipped him backward. The Evil Green Ranger landed right on his feet went to get his hands up, but he was met with a high sliding side kick to his jaw.
After his foe fell on his back, nursing his jaw, Ash crumpled yet again. The exhaustion was almost too much, but he had to do something. Pushing his black bangs away from his eyes, he breathed in and thrust himself next to the Green Ranger, reaching for his Power Coin. Maybe if he took the coin, he could stop Rita's trance or whatever she did to him.
"Come on, man. I can help you!" he pleaded as Hayashi caught his hands. "You help me!"
"You're a terrible liar!" Green Ranger hissed, taking Ash by the arms and flipping him over into an armbar. "I have taught you to get you to this point. You will see that I am the greatest warrior in the universe."
"Section 5B58- no signal. Section 5B59- no signal."
"He's gotta be around here…" Tracey groaned, pressing one button combination after another. This particular tracking system was not fully up to speed thanks to the Green Ranger's assault, so he slowly had to scan each section of the Amalei Region. But Ash was not there.
Tracey groaned again and mopped his eyes with his blue t-shirt sleeve. "I can't find him anywhere on this island. So he's obviously not being held captive here."
Alpha, who was working with the other three on stabilizing the connections, offered, "Then perhaps he was taken into another dimension like you were."
"Sounds like Rita, all right," Brock muttered, tightening some bolts in a console with a wrench. "Maybe there's a reading on some portal Ash was taken into."
"Doubtful right now," Lia said, who came over to look at the computer readout of the section findings. "With our system fried, we could only locate active ones. The residual energy would be too minute to find." She then turned to Misty, who was running an molecular output test per Alpha's instructions. 'How's it coming?"
"Things look normal," Misty reported. "But why the search is so slow, I have no idea."
"Man, if only we could give this thing a power surge," Brock commented.
"We have enough, so getting a horde of Pikachu here to jolt wouldn't do much," Lia joked, making Brock smile just a little.
"No…he's right!" Tracey realized, snapping his fingers. "The molecular output is full, but it's weak. If we exponentially increase the speed, it may just come back down and stabilize, kind of like an AED."
Alpha scurried over to Tracey, looking over the readout. "It could work, but the surge may destroy the system if the output is too much!" he chimed.
"It's better than doing nothing," Tracey said, cracking his knuckles. "Keep your fingers crossed, everyone."
The tech mind set to work, pressing a series of green, orange, and purple keys on the console. Within seconds, the lights in the Command Center flashed so bright everyone had to shield their eyes, but it was only temporary. After that, the lights dimmed and then returned to their normal luminescence.
"It worked!" Tracey shouted, the computer beeping with rapid tones. "That's a nominal tone!"
"Way to go, Tracey!" Brock congratulated. The boy smiled at his friends, who returned the look with high fives from the three and a cheer from Alpha.
Lia turned to the console, which was now scanning for any extraterrestrial openings in the area. "Look!" she exclaimed, pointing at the screen. "It's got something!"
Everyone else looked at the results, and they subsequently furrowed their brows in confusion at what they saw.
"It's at the Union," Misty said. "Earlier this afternoon."
"But I was there," Brock explained. "I didn't see any monsters there."
"Who could have taken him?" Lia asked.
Ash's heartbeat hammered in his ears. It was slow, but at least it was still there. He had spent the past few minutes absorbing several crushing kicks and strikes from Hayashi, and had only managed to land a few of his own—the last one being a spin punch that just bounced off his golden chest shield.
"I have to keep going…I have to keep going," he said to himself, backing away from the approaching challenger.
"Tough, right?" Green Ranger challenged, the mist in the room making his dragon helmet appear to be ready to breathe fire. "Not so easy when you have no friends or electric rats to bail you out."
"You leave my Pokémon out of this," Ash retorted. "We've always fought together."
Green Ranger chuckled, bursting out into maniacal laughter. "Please, boy. I know all about you and your father. He's a real disciplined warrior who fought alongside some of the most powerful creatures on Earth, which means they're pretty weak compared to me and Empress Rita. You're just a lost little journeyman with no real victories. So are your friends."
"You can't mean this," Ash said, gauging Hayashi. Neither young man was making a move. "You can't mean this. You're talking about your sister! She's strong just like you! Fight for her!"
"She's a liar, just like you," Hayashi returned. "She never told me she was a Power Ranger. But now that I know the truth, Dear Little Sis will get it worse than any of you." A cloud of green flames appeared in his hands, revealing the Sword of Darkness. He pointed it straight at Ash and noticed him putting his hands together. "Go ahead and pray."
The Evil Green Ranger swung his angular blade back and forth, going to cleave Ash in two, but the sword was stopped by the emergence of the shimmering red Dino Crystal. The two struggled for a bit, but then Hayashi snickered as he dove the point of the Sword of Darkness right for Ash's forehead. But Zordon's warrior was too quick this time, diving out of the way and dropping his crystal, making it shatter on the dimension's floor. As the Green Ranger stopped himself from falling into the electrified window nearest him, he turned and saw Ash finally reach his Power Morpher. He ran toward the boy to deal one more blow, but he was too late, and Ash was gone in a flash of red light.
"I've got a lock-on!" Tracey called out as he pressed a final command on the console with a white button. Now that the Summon Link was back to normal, it had to work. And sure enough, a streak of red light fell onto the surface of the Command Center, materializing into a burned, shirtless Ash.
Expectant pursed lips turned into wide smiles as the four Rangers and Alpha came upon him. He barely had time to open his mouth to breathe as he was swallowed up in a sea of shouts and shoulder pats.
"Welcome home, buddy," Brock said, slapping hands with him.
"You look terrible," Lia added, looking at his wounds. "What happened to you?"
"Easy, guys," Ash protested, trying to sink down again. "Goldar and the Green Ranger gave me a little more room than this."
"I getcha," Tracey said, patting his back. "We're just glad you're safe." Alpha then motioned him to come over to the computer once more.
Ash leaned up against a control panel, breathing and looking up at the starry skyline of the Command Center. He allowed himself a smile and stretched his arms when Misty approached him, looking at him warmly. She then did something she had never done before, throwing her arms around Ash and pulling him close.
"We missed you so much," she said, blinking a couple of times. She would not cry. "Things have really gotten bad here."
Ash raised his eyebrows for a second in surprise, but he was beaming all the way. He then drew back a little and locked eyes with Misty, whose elated expression never left her as well. "I expected that. But we're gonna get back on track. But at least you're in one piece, Mist."
"It's crazy," Misty began. "Our Zords have…"
"Ay-yi-yi!" Alpha squealed. Ash and Misty immediately joined him and the others near the computer to see what was the matter. "I don't believe it!"
"What is it, Alpha?" Ash inquired.
"The security records have shown that Zordon did restrain the Green Ranger when he invaded the Command Center," Alpha started. "While he was immobile, his biological signs were recorded in our Morphing Grid."
"That means we can find out who he is," Brock realized. "Can we get the data?"
"It's coming up on the Viewing Globe now."
Ash suddenly went cold, his eyes widening. He began to mumble incoherently, causing the others to notice.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Lia asked. Ash just shook his head, looking away from his friends and the globe, which began to project the image of the Green Ranger's real face. Lia turned to see the visage, and her jaw dropped along with everyone else's.