A/N: As stated before, this story coincides with Ninjetti Force, this will become slightly more relevant to this chapter.
Philip stood in the wide empty room. This particular part of the command center had been built specifically for training purposes. He held his Morpher out, a determined look on his face. The key on his Morpher popped open, and Phillip tried to imagine himself as a sort of communication tower, a beacon for the Morphin energy to emulate through. He slid the key inside of the other end of the Morpher. A few sparks generated from the device, but little else happened.
"Having trouble?" Brandon asked, stepping into the room. He approached Philip, a genuine smile plastered on his face.
Philip sighed, all five of them had been training for a few months now. Everyone else had managed to Morph into Ranger forms. Caine was the Blue Ranger, Chelsea was Pink, and the other girl, Amy, was the Yellow Ranger. It was depressing, to see everyone else manage to fight evil while he stuck at the Command Center.
"It's alright." Brandon said, "It'll come to you eventually, you can't force the power to come to you."
"Then why has everyone else Morphed by now? What am I doing differently?"
Brandon kept his grin though it seemed slightly more forced now. He put his hand on Philip's shoulder, "Just relax, okay?"
Philip nodded, trying to seem as genuine as he could, "Yeah."
Scorpina sat in the luxurious hotel room. She was disguised as a human on vacation and had exchanged her golden armor for a pair of jeans and a tank top. It was humiliating, and left her feeling exposed, but it allowed her to roam around the humans with ease.
Her back was pressed against the wall as she read through old books. This one was a memoir written by none other than Zoltar himself. It cataloged the creation of the Sword of Darkness, one of the strongest weapons in the universe. Rita had even used the Sword at one point to control Tommy Oliver.
A smile spread across her face. The sword was destroyed by the Power Rangers ten years ago, but parts of it remained. Most were in the form of the Shards of Darkness, those little Shards alone were powerful enough to turn someone's heart to the darkness.
Then there was the Hilt of Darkness. It was even stronger than the Shards. It carried the ability to channel darkness into it and manipulate it to the user's desire. With power like that, she could achieve her true goal. The one thing she lusted for more than revenge.
There was a loud boom outside of her room. Scorpina frowned, she could already hear the gunfire from her minions, but soon even that was drowned out by another noise, something similar to lightning.
"Get out of my way!" A vile sounding voice yelled from the hallway.
Scorpina summoned her armor and drew her blade, whoever was in the hallway was stronger than she could have imagined.
All the noise stopped, it came without warning, even the gunfire ceased. Then a new noise, a very modest knocking.
Scorpina froze, she didn't know how to react to this development. The knocking continued.
"Are you going to let me in?" The voice from before asked. The voice seemed familiar, in a way she couldn't quite place. It wasn't nostalgic, quite the opposite, the voice gave her the chills.
Scorpina moved towards the door, her long curved blade rested in her hands. She slowly moved her other hand to the doorknob. She took a breath and turned it.
The creature that stood in front of her was something out of a nightmare. He was tall and strong, only his body was red and muscled as if he lacked any skin, dark armor wrapped around his chest, legs, and shoulders. His head was probably the most terrifying, only about a fourth of it was vaguely human., the top left of his face was okay, but the bottom of his left side was exclusively bone. The other side of his face was the same muscle texture, only it contained a chrome grill over his eyes and mouth. To add to his devilish appearance two giant horns extended from his head.
The creature had small bits of her past employers. He had a small bit of Rita in the human part of his face, and a small bit of Reto in his jaw bone and he had a lot of Lord Zedd in him.
"Who are you?" Scorpina asked the monster terrified her on levels she hadn't felt in thousands of years. It was like staring into the eyes of every vile creature in the universe.
"You don't remember me?" The creature asked in a hurt voice, "I've known you for years darling."
"I-I've never seen you in my life." She took a step back, but the creature followed her.
"Remember all those galaxies we've conquered, all those lives we've and I conquered Soren together."
"Soren…" Scorpina mumbled, she remembered the planet well, it had been the first planet she and Rita Repulsa had invaded together. She looked at the strange creature again, "Just what are you?"
"I am Thrax." The creature was in an amused tone, "I am a creature born from the darkness that Zordon had tried to destroy."
Scorpina smiled wickedly, "Does that mean the fools caught in Zordon's energy wave weren't destroyed?"
"That's right," Thrax said, "Their bodies were destroyed, but their darkness remained."
Scorpina tried to conceal her glee, "So what do you want with me?"
"You want what I want," Thrax said, "And I want to pick up the mantle and regain the glory of our empire. First thing's first, though, we need to destroy those pesky Power Rangers."
Scorpina nodded, "That's something I can get behind."
"Good." Thrax said, "Because I have the perfect plan for getting it done." Something glimmered in Thrax's hand, something that caused Scorpina to howl with a primitive laughter. This monster claimed to be born from the darkness of the United Alliance of Evil, and he starting to really prove it. The Power Coin shimmered in the cheap hotel light.
The alarms in the Command Center started to blare. The monitors displayed Scorpina along with a grasshopper style monster roaming the city. The grasshopper monster attacked civilians left and right while Scorpina laughed wildly.
Brandon collected Caine, Chelsea, and Amy and rushed out, leaving Philip alone with Tommy.
Brandon and the three other Rangers rushed into the city. A group of Scoprina's faceless warrior stood waiting for them, they held their bow staffs out, ready for a brawl.
Brandon drew his Thunder Changer, the others followed suit.
"Thunder Change!" Brandon yelled and slide the key into the other end of the Morpher. Light enveloped the Rangers and they assumed their Morphed forms.
"Power of the Dragon," Brandon yelled, "Thunder Ranger Red!"
"Power of the Unicorn," Caine yelled, "Thunder Ranger Blue!"
"Power of the Griffin!" Amy yelled, "Thunder Ranger Yellow!"
"Power of the Phoenix!" Chelsea yelled, "Thunder Ranger Pink!"
The four stood together as they assumed a fighting stance, "We are the Thunder Squadron!" They yelled in unison.
Thunder Red charged forward, he carried his twin Dragon Blades, which he used to slice into any of Scorpina minions that managed to get within reach. Following behind him was Thunder Blue, who bashed his Nunchucks into one of the oncoming enemies.
"Watch out." Thunder Yellow said, she used her nine-point whip to knock down one of the grunts that attempted to sneak behind Thunder Red.
A group of minions tried to use the confusion to overwhelm Thunder Yellow, but Thunder Pink fought them off with her Spear.
Scorpina appeared with her monster. "Hello Rangers." She said with a grin, it's wonderful to see you here." The grasshopper creature jumped down to attack the Rangers. Thunder Red and Yellow fought the creature, while Thunder Blue and Pink fought Scorpina.
Thunder Red swung his blades into the villain, generating a wave of sparks. While the creature was distracted by Red, Thunder Yellow slashed with her whip.
Scorpina and Thunder Blue danced around each other. "Shouldn't there be five of you?" She asked, dodging one of Thunder Pink's strikes.
"That little punk is still at our base." Thunder Blue replied the Ranger swung down fast, causing his weapon to hit Scorpina and send sparks down her armor.
Despite the gashes in her side, the villainess was smiling.
Kat sat alone at her and Tommy's dwelling. The place wasn't extremely nice, but the two of them were well off. Kat looked at a framed picture of her and Tommy. It had been during their time as Zeo Rangers. She felt a knot in her stomach, she hoped Tommy was okay.
There was a strange noise, the sound of someone's boots echoing off the porch outside. Kat lifted herself up, she wasn't expecting company. She brushed down her hair with her hand as she rushed to the door.
When she saw the figure in the window her heart stopped. The man was a Power Ranger, but not one of Tommy's new team. This Ranger was older than that. The Ranger drew his blade and sliced into the door, cutting in half before knocking it down.
Kat hadn't seen what Tommy's armor looked like before he was the White Ranger but she had a feeling this was it. The Green Dragon Ranger followed her as she ran back into the home. She ran into her and Tommy's room and slammed the door closed.
The Green Ranger slashed into the door, but his attempts were futile, Tommy had installed a powerful door made of the same alloy as the Command Center. He had meant to do the rest eventually but got held up with his Mentor duties.
Kat grabbed her phone from the nightstand and dialed Tommy's number. The sound of the Dragon Ranger pounding on the door was deafening, and she could feel her heart skipping with every slash.
"Hello?" Tommy said, "What's wrong hun?"
"Tommy, someone's attacking our house," Kat quickly spat out, "They've already broken in," The noise of the door grew louder, "I'm stuck in our room, I don't know what to do."
Tommy swore a few times, then after a few seconds, he spoke. "Listen very closely," He said in a shaking voice, "Your Zeonizer is in a box under the bed, get it right now. I'll be there as fast as I can, but if he gets in you'll have to fight him yourself."
Kat nodded, then realized Tommy couldn't see that "Yeah, I'll do that."
Kat left the phone unhooked as she went under the bed. She found a box and lifted the top off, her Zeonizer sat like a forgotten toy. She strapped it to her wrist and took a deep breath, hoping Tommy would get there soon.
Tommy had said only a handful of words to Philip before dashing around the Command Center, a few of those were, "Follow me." Tommy rushed into the teleporter and punched a few numbers in. Philip followed and the two of them were transported outside of Tommy's apartment.
The door was already busted down, so they didn't have to worry about that before they entered. Tommy stepped close to his door but was immediately thrown off his feet by a bolt of lighting.
A figure stepped over to the two Rangers. He looked like a strange combination of Rita and Zedd, his smile was wide and filled with poison. "Hello again, White Ranger!"
Tommy took a fighting stance, "I don't know you, but if you get in my way I'm going to kick your ass."
"Come on then." The creature offered, "Show Uncle Thrax what you're made of."
Tommy looked to Philip, "Go inside and help Kat."
Philip froze, he couldn't Morph, how was he going to help anybody. "I…" He stuttered.
"Just go!" Tommy barked, he carried a feral look on his face as he activated his Zeonizer. "Zeo Ranger Red!" Tommy yelled as he rushed at Thrax.
The two of them clashed weapons, Zeo Red used his blade while Thrax used a familiar chrome staff.
"We've done this before," Thrax said smugly, "It didn't work out very well." Thrax slammed his staff into Zeo Red. The Red Ranger buckled down as sparks flew from his body.
Inside the apartment Philip found an alarming sight, another Power Ranger was at the end of a hallway, stabbing his blade through one of Tommy's doors. The Ranger turned to Philip, "I guess I can kill you first." The Ranger said with an amused tone.
Philip didn't know what to do, he froze as the Dragon Ranger approached him. Philip pulled out his Morpher if there was any time to work it would be this one. He slid the key inside and his body flashed with Morphing energy. Unfortunately, all it was, was a flash. It died as quickly as it came, leaving Philip exposed and vulnerable as the Ranger stalked towards him.
Another figure dropped down and attacked the Green Ranger, he turned around and slashed his Dragon Dagger at the figure causing sparks to fly from her armor. Philip gasped in surprise, it was another Power Ranger, a Pink one.
Zeo Pink parried blows with the Dragon Ranger. It was clear that she had some basic fighting skills, but they were rusty, the Dragon Ranger was just too fast. He slashed his blade against her chest, causing an entire barrage of sparks to fly from her body.
Philip was helpless but to watch as this evil Ranger continued to slam into Zeo Pink.
The feeling of uselessness was overwhelming, it swallowed him, eating him up from the inside out.
Zeo Pink was finally hit hard enough to demorph and the Green Ranger slashed his blade across her exposed body. More sparks flew as her skin was torn open, leaving an ugly gash that bled across the carpet.
Outside Zeo Red and Thrax continued their duel. Thrax seemed happy enough to throw Zeo Red around like a rag doll. His power was stronger than anything Zeo Red had ever faced before, it was like fighting all of his old foes at once.
Thrax laughed to himself, "I just wanted to say, Tommy, I'll be here for you."
"What are you talking about?" Zeo Red asked, his answer came in the sound of a shrill shriek coming from his apartment. Zeo Red dashed into his apartment, completely ignoring Thrax.
Once Zeo Red entered his home he was exposed to a sight that must have been graphed straight from his nightmares. The Green Dragon Ranger stood in his living room, he stared at Red, his Dragon Dagger dripping blood.
Everything became clear to Zeo Red. Scorpina had attacked the city to distract the Thunder Ranger while she sent Thrax and this Evil Ranger to attack his house. This was smarter than anything Rita and Zedd would have accomplished. Scorpina was a terrifying enemy.
Zeo Red's heart shattered as he stared down at the ground. Kat laid there, bleeding her life away. Tommy's mind flashed with a million thoughts, Kat and he had been together for so long. He had expected to live the rest of his life with her, to have children of their own and get the chance to watch them grow into individuals. Now here she was, wasting away, and a figure clad in Tommy's own past stood between them.
Zeo Red charged at the Dragon Ranger, the two of them clashed blades. Sparks raced across both of their armor. Zeo Red used his blaster to quickly fire into the Dragon Ranger's armor. The Dragon Ranger was forced to take a few steps back, but he quickly regained his footing and threw his Dagger at Zeo Red. Zeo Red covered his face, and his deflection worked, unfortunately, the blade stabbed right into his Zeonizer, demorphing Tommy on the spot.
Philip could feel something brewing in his chest, a powerful emotion born from the fear that flooded his mind. His Morpher began to glow and Philip knew what to do next.
"Thunder Change!" He yelled as he his armor surrounded him. The armor was green, "Power of the Lion, Thunder Ranger Green!"
The Lion Ranger armed his staff and slashed it against the Dragon Ranger. The Dragon Ranger was knocked back, sparks flew from his armor.
The Dragon Ranger looked around himself, Tommy with his broken Morpher, and Kat as she slipped in and out of reality. The Dragon Ranger left.
Tommy rushed over to Kat, he lifted her head into his arms and press his face into hers. "Kat… I'm so sorry…"
Kat expelled a gurgling cough, blood was starting to pool inside of her mouth, and a tiny, little tendril of it slid down her mouth. Kat looked at her wound, she shuddered and looked back at Tommy. "When we met, I thought you were an angel." She tried to break into a coughing fit, but her body was too weak, too flooded with her own fluids. "I was wrong… you are a Power Ranger."
Philip had called the ambulance, and they were pulling in, but it was too late. Katherine Oliver died in the arms of Tommy Oliver, the original Dragon Ranger. Tommy sat there, expressionless, emotionless, everything swirled around him, but none of it mattered. Not anymore.
The Thunder Rangers defeated Scorpina's monster and the villainess had fled the scene. They all cheered and returned back to the Command Center. There they found Philip, he sat quietly. He looked up at his fellow Rangers.
"Hey." He said softly.
"Where's Tommy?" Amy asked, "He usually congratulates us on this kind of thing."
"Gone."
"What do you mean?" Amy asked she could tell by the worried look on Philip's face that things were pretty bad. His face reminded her of how her dad used to get when he got one of his late night calls from the police station.
"Another Ranger appeared," Philip explained, "He destroyed Tommy's Morpher, and killed his wife."
The other Rangers stared at Philip in utter disbelief. The information settled in their minds very slowly. None of them spoke for a very long time.