Upstairs in the loft, Theo and Lily spar against one another in combat practice while Merrick and Kel look on.
"Koragg could return at any moment", Merrick states. "Are you ready for a fight?"
"Absolutely" Kel answers. "I'll do my part. I just have a concern about my effectiveness in battle. What if I'm out there and suddenly-"
Merrick finishes the thought. "-your other half decides to come out?"
Kel nods. "My morpher can't contain it. I've tried, but S.P.D. just hasn't invented one yet with enough power to cover a massive canine form."
"Try not to worry too hard. R.J. said he knew a way to help me get my head in the right place, he'll come up with something for you too."
"I sure hope so. I can't even show my face to my family again until I do. I want my little boy to grow up thinking his dad's a hero, not a monster."
Lily and Theo stop their training and join the pair.
"How about getting up and joining us?" Theo asks. "You both look like you could use some activity to focus your minds on."
"I'd rather wait for my old team to get here to go over our attack strategy." Merrick replies.
"But until they're here, it could just be us out there." Lily reminds him. "And once the battle begins, regardless of which team, we're all in this together."
"I see what you're saying Lily, and I mean no offense to you two" Kel begins "But I've studied many forms of martial arts and combat techniques all over the world. I just don't think you have anything to teach me."
Theo smirks at how wrong Kel's statement is. Lily walks over to a cassette player and turns it on. As dance music plays forth from it, she pulls Kel and Merrick up by the arms to the floor.
"I don't think you've been taught this." Lily states with a smile.
When the Jungle Fury rangers were fighting Dai Shi's armies regularly just over a year earlier, Lily had frequently used her lifelong love of dance in her fighting style. She taught her teammates to do the same, but that isn't the only reason why she's making her new friends dance with her now. The reason is, between their troubling past difficulties and the fight they will later face, they should take some time for harmless recreation. Unfortunately, that time is short lived.
Flit comes up the stairs from the kitchen. "It's time! Koragg is back!"
The rangers run down and out to the courtyard outside the restaurant. They join R.J. who is already there as Koragg stands across.
"I have returned as I promised I would, wolf master" he begins. "Since you will not relinquish control of your power, I shall use my dark magics to summon the dark aspects of the wolf spirit. Behold."
He recites a spell and raises his hands to his side. From the energy released from his hands, a small army of wolf-like soldiers arrive out of nowhere.
"It's up to us until our friends arrive" R.J. instructs the others. "Let's morph!"
The three Jungle Fury rangers morph into their suits, as does Kel.
"Let me at Koragg" Merrick says.
"It's too dangerous" R.J. disagrees. "You can't morph. Stick to the foot soldiers for now. Theo, Lily, you help him out. Kel and I will take Koragg."
Every ranger team over the years have always had to deal with repeated encounters with a group of enemy soldiers, be them robots, aliens, ninjas, or giant birds or insects, but these wolves are stronger than any of them were. One grips Theo's arms with it's thick paws and forces him to his knees. Merrick attacks it to release it's grip, but two others ambush them. Lily is doing her best to fight off several, but the numbers of those surrounding her grow leaving her overwhelmed.
"Wolf Blaster!" shouts R.J. as he fires blasts of energy from his wrist morpher. Koragg merely deflects them with his sword. As he fires a blast of his own back, Kel uses the distraction to attack at close range.
The three fighting the wolf army become cornered by them. Merrick's arms are restrained by two of them. The others carry Theo and Lily above them like a mosh pit. They march ahead onto the city streets and fling them both into the air. They are spiraling to the ground until a blonde woman dressed in yellow unexpectedly leaps in and catches Lily. As they land on their feet below, Theo is caught by a younger African-American guy in blue with the same results. Still held in place, Merrick knows these two.
"Taylor! Max! I'm glad you're here. Where's Danny?"
"Right behind you" Max answers.
A larger Hispanic man wearing black pries the two wolves off of Merrick until they can fight them off.
"Man, it is good to be back fighting evil again" Max exclaims with excitement. "The big guy and I, we've been to Russia, Mexico, New York, England, everywhere in the world."
"Don't forget KO-35, Mirinoi, Aquatar and the other planets", Danny adds.
"Of course not. What I'm saying is, despite all the fun, it totally rocks being back in action."
Taylor steps forward. "Try to take this seriously, kid."
More wolves rush over to the new visitors, but again they are caught off guard as a young woman in pink and white kicks several of them from the air.
"Alyssa!" Merrick calls out.
"Good to see you, Merrick. Your turn, Cole."
Another man dressed in ripped red clothing leaps out from behind everyone like a lion. He strikes at some wolves like an animal, and they back off. The former Wild Force team is now assembled and Danny and Alyssa stand at Cole's side, striking attack stances. The wolves have some other tricks up their sleeve, however. They part as a member of their ranks positioned behind the pack fires balls of flame from its eyes. Unable to get out of the way in time, they cover their faces with their arms and hope for minimal injury. When they look again, they see that the blasts were deflected by the remaining Jungle Fury members standing before them: Red Ranger Casey, Dominic the White Ranger, and Jarrod, garbed in the black armor he originally wore as an enemy of the rangers while possessed by the spirit of Dai Shi. The wolves decide to run around them and flee down the streets. As the rangers prepare to give chase after them, they are also joined by Fran (who as you know has been with Dom this whole time).
"Where's R.J.?" she asks. "I have the package he asked us to bring him."
"He and Kel were fighting Koragg." Merrick remembers. "They might need our help."
"I think you're right about that", Theo observes. "Look."
As everyone looks back into the courtyard they see R.J. trying to dodge attacks from Kel, in wolf form, as Koragg teleports away to join his wolf pack. Jarrod and Dom rush over to pull the large werewolf away. Danny and Cole join in, making sure to avoid getting close to his clawed fingers.
"What's going on?" Casey asks.
"Long story, but underneath that werewolf is a friend" Lily answers.
Merrick addresses his former teammates. "I can't believe you all are her right now. You came to help me despite not having your powers anymore."
"Of course we did" Alyssa says. "You're one of us."
"This might sound clichéd" Taylor adds "but once a ranger, always a ranger."
The two girls and Max surround their friend with a big hug.
"Get Kel upstairs to the loft, and get ready to go out to find Koragg" R.J. instructs. "Fran and Merrick will stay behind here with me."
Merrick is surprised. "What? Why?"
"You asked me to help you, and I will."
"What about the Wild Force Rangers? They can't morph" Theo wonders.
"I could call my old friend at Lightspeed Rescue" Cole suggests.
"No need" R.J. responds. "Fran, you brought my package?"
She hands him the box. He opens it and passes out new wrist morphers to each ranger, excluding Merrick for the time being.
"I took the liberty of putting in a call to an old friend" R.J. starts to explain.
"Oh yeah, this old friend of yours whose uncle knew how to tap into the morphing grid?" Lily recalls.
"Two friends actually. Marah and her sister Kapri. After earning my master stripes at Pai Zhua, I travelled abroad and spent some time at the Wind Ninja academy. Their uncle, by marriage, is the head Sensei there."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Taylor responds. "Let's get back to action!"