A/N 1: This is a complete AU for Dino Thunder. Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent are not going to be in this story. Instead, veteran Rangers will replace them as the newest team of Power Rangers.

A/N 2: Don't look for the Letter to be an issue. The story is T/K but, as many of you have seen in my more recent works, I've given the characters more of an adult twist. With that in mind, I highly doubt Tommy and Kim really would have gone that long without speaking to each other. I'd like to think they worked stuff out sometime after Murianthis and agreed to be friends.

A/N 3: As always, thanks to my beta-reader kdmarks.

"Behold the King
The King of Kings
On your knees dog
All hail

Bow down to the
Bow down to the King
Bow down to the
Bow down to the King

The King grinned red
As he walked from the blaze
Where the traitor lost both his name and his face
Through the halls and the corridors
Stinging in blood
He tasted his grin and it tasted good
The King took his head
Left him broken and dead

Bow down to the
Bow down to the King
Bow down to the
Bow down to the King
Bow down to the
Bow down to the King

The King left none living
None able to tell
The King took their heads
And he sent them to hell
Their screams echoed loud
In the place of their death
Ripped open they died
With their final breath...
They hailed to the King...
The King of Kings" - Lemmy Kilmister

That being said, on with the story…

--

Self-Destruct

Chapter 9 - "Behold…The King of Kings"

Original Posting Date: May 9, 2008

The placement of the White Dino Gem was as close to perfect as Mesogog could hope for; hidden in a location where only those who were of the utmost worth would find it. Naked eyes of the typical human were not physically capable of seeing the place where the gem had been hidden. Nay. Only someone whose very soul had been touched by some kind of great power could find it. And that was the only rub in Mesogog's plan, a plan that would have otherwise been perfect if not for its' one flaw.

The gem would not discriminate when it came to the person that was looking for it, so long as that person had been exposed to an incredibly strong source of power. Whether or not that power was good or evil was completely irrelevant. Either way, the person would become evil if the gem selected them but if a person who was naturally good bonded to the gem, the odds of that person resisting the gem's power and breaking free of its' control was increased exponentially. This situation required the most absolute of care and precision yet Mesogog had allowed his master plan to become a flawed one. He'd be lucky if it didn't end up backfiring right in his face.

Early morning energy scans were typical behavior for the Rangers, alternating days between Tommy and Hayley. On this day, it was Tommy that was in the basement Command Center spinning around in his chair; typing commands, flipping switches, and generally dealing with a pretty shitty morning. Strike one came almost as soon he woke up, when he staggered into the kitchen and realized that he didn't have any coffee in the pantry. Strike two followed shortly after by way of burning the last two pieces of bread he had while trying to make toast. The third strike was currently in the process of making Tommy's life a living hell.

Activating his link to one of the many satellites that were presently orbiting the Earth in outer space, Tommy input a few commands and then proceeded to tap his fingers loudly against the desk, waiting impatiently for the live video feed to appear on one of the many computer monitors that occupied the Command Center. Though he saw no buildings or familiar landmarks that would give him a clue as to what he was looking at, he recognized the location almost immediately. The sandy mountainside awakened a deep sense of nostalgia within Tommy that he had not been exposed to in quite some time. Subconsciously, he reached out and touched the screen, allowing himself just the most fleeting of moments to reminisce about a time in his life when everything had been so much simpler.

This wasn't the time for a trip down memory lane, though. The energy readings that Tommy was looking at were at a level he had never seen before. Not even Jason's Dino Gem had caused the scans to go this out of control. A typical scan looked very similar to what one would see if they looked at an EKG monitor. If things were calm, the only spikes would be the minor ones caused by the Rangers. When Mesogog's henchmen, monsters, or Tyrannodrones appeared the scan would spike higher. Usually the readings would fluctuate up-and-down but not this one. At a constant high that didn't waver even once, Tommy had never seen anything like it in all his years as a Ranger.

Using single-clicks of his mouse to zoom in Tommy would click, wait until the image refocused, and then click again. He repeated the same pattern over and over until the satellite had zoomed in so far that he could see the finest of bumps on the tiny pebbles that littered the ground along with each individual grain of sand. Once his image was close enough, Tommy started to move it side-to-side. His mouth had just opened up to take a bite of the banana he brought with him when he noticed a glimmer of something white poking out of the sand. The banana fell to the floor with a splat but his mouth remained wide open as he stared back at the screen in disbelief.

"No way," he muttered, shaking his head.

All at once, Tommy was hit with a rush of thoughts. What was it? Should he go and investigate? What about telling the other Rangers? They, after all, were the ones charged with the task of defending the planet, not he. But…images of Jason freeing and bonding with the Black Dino Gem suddenly flooded his head. It could have, no, it should have been his. Regardless of what he had said to his friend, Tommy had desperately wanted that gem if for no reason other than to say that he had gotten to fight side-by-side with Kimberly again. Selfish as it sounded, Tommy felt like he was entitled to something that he wanted for once. Considering all the sacrifices that he had been forced to make along the way by being one of the few to remain in the Ranger world after they retired, fighting on the same team as Kimberly once more seemed like a small favor to ask for in return for everything that he had done.

Right then and there it was decided that he was not going to tell the other Rangers what was going on. If what was out there was what he thought it was then he wanted it for himself. He wasn't going to risk losing yet another power source when one was so tantalizingly close yet again. It was almost as if he was being drawn to it. The longer he stayed in his chair the more he wanted to get up and go after it. Even if he wanted to fight it, he couldn't have. He had to have it, whatever it was.

Tommy was so quick out of his chair that he sent it tumbling backwards and skittering across the floor. After doing a quick check of the coordinates, he programmed them into his wrist communicator. Closing his eyes, Tommy took a deep breath and then pressed the button on the side of the device. He immediately felt the familiar rush of teleporting as his body became enveloped in a column of bright, white light. Flying this way offered Tommy a soothing comfort, his last tie to a life long gone, yet at the same time it made his heart ache for the exact same reason. The man who was widely recognized by every Ranger team as the greatest Power Ranger of all time had been reduced to nothing more than his skills in the martial arts and the ability to teleport.

If Tommy looked deep within himself he would find what Zordon and his friends had told him so long ago; that he didn't need power to be a Power Ranger. When he and the other Turbo Rangers had been forced to pass on their powers, Tommy went through terrible withdrawals. For the longest time he craved the Power as if he were a heroin addict trying to quit cold turkey. The only difference was that Tommy didn't have a way to get his fix when the pain became too much to deal with. Over time, those cravings slowly began to subside until one day he woke up and didn't once feel like he needed the Power to get through the day. But now that his friends were all Rangers again, not to mention the fact that he was relegated to the sidelines, those cravings had returned.

The gem would be his heroin; a Morpher, the syringe. Walking up the familiar hill, Tommy noticed the shattered remains of what had once been. Rubble was all that remained of the one place in Tommy's life that he never thought he would be unable to call home. That structure was supposed to be indestructible yet he had watched it crumble right before his very eyes. A piece of his soul died the day that Rito Revolto and the winged Titan Goldar decimated the Rangers' Command Center. Little pieces of his soul had been dying long before that, though, and they would continue to do so until the day he himself died.

Such was the life of the man who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders longer than any that came before him and all who would come after him. When life reared its' ugly head, the Power would always be there to soothe his aching soul. It was the one thing in his life that had never betrayed him. When everything else hit the fan, he knew that he would always be able to count on the small traces of power that remained within him to remind him that it was going to be okay.

Continuing to trek up the hill, Tommy held a palm-sized version of the energy scanners installed in the Command Center. The device was telling him that he was almost to the power source. He was only feet away when the location of the power suddenly changed and Tommy let out a defeated sigh. Maybe he wasn't meant to touch the Power again, after all.

No. Tommy forced himself to rid his mind of negative thoughts. He wanted that power. Needed it, even. He was going to hunt it down and claim it as his own if it took him until his dying breath to do so. The desire for the Power had already consumed him. Nothing else mattered at this point. Not Jason, not his parents, not even Kimberly. He'd die without hesitation before he let Mesogog or some other random pedestrian out for a walk in the outskirts of Angel Grove find it. Okay, so that last part wasn't likely but, still, Mesogog finding it and using it against the Rangers was not an option he was willing to consider. But for as badly as he wanted to keep it away from Mesogog, he wanted it for himself twice as much. Probably even more.

For almost two hours Tommy teleported back and forth to different locations, all of which were suspiciously within the same five-square-mile radius. One thing Tommy didn't miss about Angel Grove was how hot it got during the summer, especially in the desert. Thinking it would be a get-in and get-out type of job, Tommy hadn't remembered to bring any water with him and now he was paying the price for it. He didn't know if he was becoming delirious from dehydration or if he was really onto something but, the way the power source always stayed in the same general area gave him an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach, like someone or something that shouldn't have been intervening was. It was almost as if it was changing locations for no reason other than to keep him occupied.

Which was exactly what Mesogog had in mind. The gem had already been placed, so he couldn't bring it back or he risked exposing himself to its' power. At the same time, Tommy Oliver was not the man he wanted to bond with his precious gem. While there was still some residual evil left in Tommy, both from his days as Rita's Green Ranger and as Prince Gasket's slave, Mesogog did not see it as nearly enough for the man that he was in search of to be his evil warrior. If Tommy was to claim the power of the White Dino Gem, he was going to have to earn it. If not, Mesogog had no problem continuing his use of Elsa's newly created, miniature-sized Invisiportals to transport the gem until Tommy quit and went home, or died. Mesogog didn't care either way.

Stumbling through the desert, Tommy's arms flailed about wildly as he tried to find something to support himself with. The intense heat from the sun was definitely having strong effects on his body. His vision was starting to blur and he was finding that if he didn't continuously blink then he spots appeared. He knew that he was risking heat stroke and death but, tempting fate was what being a Ranger was all about, and there was nothing Tommy wanted more at that moment than to be a Power Ranger again.

Unfortunately, the mind was there but the body was long gone. Overexertion had left Tommy in a state so diminished that he couldn't even see more than a few feet in front of his face. With his shoulders slumped forward and his head hanging down, Tommy took a slow, hesitant step forward and felt his body give out. Still, he tried to fight and even managed a few more steps before he started to fall towards the ground. As he fell, he saw the sand growing closer in eyes that were glazing over. Just seconds before Tommy lost his vision completely, he noticed something white and then collapsed right on top of it.

The crackling sound of an Invisiportal being opened could have been heard had there been anyone in the area other than the presently unconscious form of Tommy Oliver. In the sky, a swirling mess of green and black energy appeared, followed by Zeltrax and Elsa. Just a few long steps was all it took before they were standing over Tommy's body. Zeltrax gave Elsa an extended look and then shook his head.

"Foolish human. It won't be long before he's dead," Zeltrax muttered, nudging Tommy in the side with the tip of his armored foot. When Tommy didn't wake up, or even stir, the cyborg let out a victorious laugh as he turned towards Elsa. "Let's go. Coming here was nothing more than a waste of time."

Nodding in agreement, Mesogog's henchmen retreated back towards the Invisiportal. Upon reaching the portal, Elsa gave Tommy one last glance just to make sure that he wasn't moving. Satisfied after a few seconds with no activity from him, Elsa joined Zeltrax in entering the whirlpool of green and black just as one of Tommy's arm reached out shakily, closing tightly around a handful of sand.

--

"Mama, I'm engaged not already married. What do you mean, why didn't I tell you I was going to propose? It's not a big deal, Mama. I don't even know when we're getting married, yet. " Shaking his head, Adam passed by Rocky laid out on the couch with a phone tucked between his ear and shoulder, the remote control in one hand, and the newspaper in the other. When he proposed to Tanya--yes, when, not if--he hoped his mother was nothing like Rocky's. Adam had known Mama DeSantos for years and looked at her like a second mom but there was no denying that she had the tendency to be more than a bit overbearing at times. "No, Mama. Yes, Mama. I love you too, Mama." Hanging up the phone, Rocky brought the device to his face and sneered at hit. "I hate you, Mama."

"You know she heard that," Adam interjected from the kitchen as he searched the cabinets for a clean bowl. When he finally found one, he went for the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch on top of the refrigerator. "She hears everything. Remember that time she heard you say 'fuck' from three blocks away?"

Biting his bottom lip Rocky nodded solemnly, trying not to think about it. Whenever he did, the familiar taste of soap returned to dance on his tongue. "She's superhuman, bro. I've been saying it for years that she has to be from Mars or something. I guarantee you I'm half-Martian or some shit."

"Half-retarded is more like it," Adam replied, getting a silent middle finger from Rocky in return. Adam just laughed as he plopped down on the loveseat with his bowl of cereal, snatching the Business section of the newspaper off the table. "So, what are we going to do today? Wanna hit the movies?"

"Again? We did that yesterday."

"I know," Adam returned grimly. A realization that had been a longtime coming was finally starting to hit them. Outside of being Rangers they had all the free time in the world yet their lives had become completely boring. "I never thought I'd hear myself say that I actually miss going to work every day."

Rocky nodded, feeling much the same way. Then Adam's words set off the proverbial light bulb over his head. "Dude, let's go check in on the dojo. We haven't been back in over a month. I bet the kids would be super stoked if we stopped by without telling them we were coming. Plus we could pay the ladies a little visit afterwards."

Moments like these reminded Adam why he was friends with Rocky, whose best ideas were usually an off-shoot of something Adam had already said. If Rocky wasn't around, those ideas would never flourish into anything bigger. Adam reasoned that even a blind squirrel could find a nut every once in a while. He just didn't know what role Rocky played in that scenario; the squirrel or the nut. After a quick glance at the clock on the DVD player, Adam looked back at Rocky. "If we leave now we can catch the last fifteen minutes or so of the advanced class."

The hint of insinuation in Adam's voice led Rocky to the conclusion that the words were a thought that he was intended to finish. "And being Rangers again, our skills have never been sharper."

"Willy and Brandon?" Adam asked.

"Only if they're still acting like cocky pricks."

The pair shared a look that conveyed all their thoughts about those two students. They were, without a doubt, their best students as far as skill and ability went but they both lacked severely in the self-discipline that was required to become a true master of the martial arts. Rocky knew exactly what it was going to take to get them on track because he had been that guy when he was just a few years younger than they were. At thirteen Rocky was the youngest in a class of students that ranged from sixteen to nineteen and not one of them could lay a finger on him in one-on-one combat. Then one day, at the hands of his sensei, Rocky was thoroughly defeated and utterly embarrassed in front of his entire class. It was then he realized that there was more to the martial arts than just being able to fight. Likely, Willy and Bandon were going to need that exact same treatment.

"I'll go grab my gi and then we can teleport," Adam continued.

"Don't talk about it, be about it."

Adam just shook his head and started for his bedroom where almost an entire half of his closest was devoted solely to his collection of karate gi's. Every gi that he had ever worn hung there proudly, each an everyday reminder of who he was and where he came from. The first one he had ever worn at the age of six always made him smile. He could still see himself on his first day at karate class. He was small for his age and his mom hadn't been able to find a gi that actually fit him. He swam in that thing for nearly two years. It made him proud to think that of how much he had changed since then. At six he was scrawny, shy, and had almost no self-confidence. The Adam of today was a complete one-eighty both physically and mentally. He filled out his newest gi--a red one purchased a few weeks ago--perfectly with the confidence and self-discipline to match.

Going into his room, getting his gi, and returning to the living room was a process that took all of three minutes but those few moments of reminiscing made it feel like hours had gone by. When he reentered the living room he found Rocky in the same position he had left him in, only this time Rocky's gi was resting on top of the recliner. "You all ready to go, sunshine?"

"Hell yeah, man," Rocky replied, popping off the couch as if his ass was spring-loaded. He snatched his gi off of the chair and then moved to stand next to Adam in the typical teleportation position. "Are we just gonna teleport into our offices, or what?"

Adam shrugged. "I guess so," he answered, thinking about the structural layout of their dojo. "The only problem with that is that the offices are at the front of the building. Everyone will see us coming. But if we teleported behind the building we could go in the back door and out through the locker room."

"See, I told you there was a reason that you're the leader."

Rolling his eyes, Adam grabbed a spoon off the kitchen counter and cocked his arm back threateningly, making Rocky flinch and Adam laugh out loud. "Haha. You're such a bitch, dude."

"Fuck off, man. I thought you were gonna throw the damn thing at me!" Rocky shot back, trying to ignore Adam's laughter. He was only delaying the inevitable by fighting his own laughter. Naturally, he lost the battle shortly thereafter. "Alright, I'll admit it. It was a bitch move on my part."

Adam nodded in agreement. "Yeah it was but we need to get going if we're going to make it to the dojo on time."

"Well then, in the words of my not-so-soft-spoken fiancée, lead on flyboy."

No reply came. Instead, the bodies of Adam and Rocky became enveloped in crackling columns of red and blue light respectively. They landed just a few feet away from the backdoor to their school. As they approached the door, Adam reached for his key and found that he was wearing a pair of basketball shorts with no pockets. He looked over at Rocky and saw the exact same thing. "No key?"

"No key," Rocky supplied, shrugging his shoulders.

Before a huge debate started over who was going to go back for the key, Adam decided to just do it himself. Thirty seconds later he was back and they were in the building. By the time they had changed into their gi's and were on the main floor, walking towards the rows of students with their backs towards them, they only had about ten minutes left before the class let out for the day. The senior students that were currently addressing the class noticed them but did not say anything. It was silently understood that this was an appearance intended to catch the students by surprise.

"You or me?" Adam asked softly.

"It's all you, pal."

When they were just a few feet behind their students, they came to a stop and Adam quietly cleared his throat, preparing for the ferocious greeting he was about to give them. "Pador!" Adam let out the call a master usually used to silence his students with such strength and impact in his voice that it brought everything to an immediate halt, including the whispered conversation that Willy and Brandon were engaged in. Adam and Rocky had recognized that interaction almost immediately, agreeing then and there that the pair was in for an ass kicking. With their arms folded across their chests, Adam and Rocky waited patiently until their students slowly started turning around to face them. "Class, Sensei Rocky and I are here for one reason and one reason only-"

The few seconds of silence let Rocky know that it was his turn to take the reigns. "You all are supposed to be some of the best martial artists this school has to offer. Sensei Adam and I want to see if that's really the case," Rocky spoke as he and Adam walked amongst the ranks with their arms folded behind their backs. "We're here to challenge two of you to a little sparring session. Are any of you up for it?"

Standing at the front of the class now, Adam and Rocky looked upon them, hoping that no one accepted their challenge. There were no lessons to be taught, no point in even sparring at all if it was with anyone but Willy and Brandon. Whether those two students were really that arrogant or simply stupid, Adam didn't know but their conversation in the back had resumed. Now they were just asking for it. Turning his head to Rocky, Adam gave him a look as the pair nodded to each other. "Brandon Richards! Guillermo 'Willy' Sanchez! Congratulations are in order! You've just volunteered yourselves!"

Rocky had to contain the urge to smirk at the way Willy's cheeks turned red when his full name was used. Like Willy, Rocky's real name was obviously Hispanic and both had adopted nicknames at early ages in an attempt to Americanize themselves with their mostly-white peers growing up in the suburbs of Southern California. Adam and Aisha were the only non-family members who knew that his real name was actually Ricardo.

The two young men approached hesitantly, much to the delight of their peers who were often the targets of the snickers and wisecracks that Willy and Brandon were known for. Adam pondered that they probably would have already been kicked out had he and Rocky been there instead of in Reefside saving the world. As he stood side-by-side with Rocky, Adam knew that this was where he belonged. He could have his fun being a Ranger for a little while but in the end, his life was in Angel Grove teaching karate to kids with his best friend and a girlfriend that lived twenty minutes away instead of ten hours.

"We only have a few minutes so we'll try to make this quick." The comment itself was made to the whole class but Adam's eyes were trained firmly on Brandon standing across from him as he spoke. "Brandon, you and I will go first. Every time someone scores a point, we'll switch. First to three points wins. Understood?"

"Yes, sensei," Brandon and Willy muttered in unison.

"I said, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD!?"

Snapped back into reality, Brandon and Willy quickly responded. "YES, SENSEI!"

"Good. Let's go." With a sweep of his hand, Adam directed Brandon onto the mats. Before they bowed, Adam turned to one of his senior students. "Jessica, keep score for us, okay?"

The nineteen year-old brunette nodded her head with a smile. Jessica Reynolds was perhaps his best student. Not only was she an incredibly gifted martial artist both physically and mentally but she also had the advantage in competitions of appearing rather defenseless to her opponents. Even in this day and age it was rare for Jessica to encounter an opponent who looked past her Prom Queen appearance and actually took her seriously.

Turning his attention back to Brandon, Adam bowed slowly as Brandon did the same. With that, the fight was on. Brandon was quick to go on the offensive but his strikes were predictable at best and Adam had no problem with blocking them until Brandon made a mistake. That opportunity came rather quickly when Brandon went for a spin kick that Adam somersaulted over to avoid. Adam landed on his feet, whipped around, and caught Brandon's punch before it connected, flipping his student over his shoulder and onto the mat.

"Front and center!" Jessica ordered, stopping the action as Adam and Brandon returned to the center of the mats. "Judges call," she continued, a closed fist meeting an open palm. It's hard to imagine anyone being able to point their finger gracefully, but Jessica did just that to Adam. "One point!"

With the first point awarded to Adam, he and Brandon retreated to opposite ends of the mats, allowing Rocky and Willy to take their place. Starting from the time they bowed, it took Rocky all of five seconds to leave Willy flat on his back at Brandon's feet as he looked up at the ceiling, the victim of a powerful snap kick. With intent written on his face, Rocky marched over to where Willy lay and looked down at him. Willy feared the worst, but breathed a sigh of relief when Rocky offered him a hand. The Blue Ranger pulled him onto his feet, yanking him in close instead of letting go. "Don't leave yourself so open next time. I could have told you exactly what I was going to do and you still wouldn't have been able to stop it," Rocky whispered, pushing off and turning away. As he walked towards Adam he felt the need to add, "You better step your game up, Willy!"

"Thanks for the breather," Adam muttered.

"No problem," Rocky replied, clapping Adam on the shoulder. "Show me your stuff, kid."

Rolling his eyes, Adam returned to the mats, standing face-to-face with Brandon once more. Bows were exchanged and both men had dropped into fighting stances when Brandon suddenly rose up with a confused look on his face. Not two second later Adam felt something tugging at the sleeve of his gi. He turned his attention downwards and found himself looking the at the seven year-old boy that everyone called Johnny Bananas, a nickname that stemmed from his real first name of Jonathon and his love for bananas. He came for Adam's beginner's class three days a week right after school and every day he came into the dojo eating a banana. A few months back, before the Ranger fiasco started, Adam had asked him why he never ate any other kind of fruit.

Johnny's response, "Cause I like bananas."

What more could you expect from a seven year-old?

"What's going on, Bananas?" Adam asked the boy.

"Um, I was in the locker room going number one," Johnny answered, raising his pointer finger and getting a chorus of chuckles in the process. "And I remembered that you and Sensei Rocky had the two biggest lockers and, um, I was walking by and I heard your phone beeping."

"My phone? My phone?" Adam replied in confusion. "But I left my phone at ho-" His eyes fell on his naked wrists and then wandered up to meet Rocky's. Both men had left their gauntlets locked away in their lockers, stuffed in between the rest of their clothes. Swiftly, Adam turned around to address his students. "Class, you'll have to excuse us. Sensei Rocky and I have an emergency that we have to attend to immediately." Not to be forgotten, he looked over at Brandon. "We'll continue this later. Until then," he continued, shifting his focus back to his students, bowing to them. "Class dismissed!"

As soon as the words had escaped Adam's mouth, he and Rocky took off towards the locker room in a dead sprint. Adam had momentarily thought about using his super-speed but thankfully remembered that he was surrounded by people that didn't know, and didn't need to know, about his extra-curricular activities. They were quick to remove their gi's, pulling on their street clothes and snapping on their gauntlets at a pace that had to be record setting. Once they had gotten far enough away from the school and taken a moment to catch their breath, Rocky brought his gauntlet to his lips. "It's Rocky. Adam and I are here, Jase."

"What's up man? You guys up for a little morning fun or what?"

"What'd you have in mind?" Rocky asked in return, eyeing Adam with a 'what the hell is Jason talking about?' look.

"Zeltrax and Elsa took a whole mess of Tyrannodrones to the park. Tommy's bedroom door's shut and I haven't seen him or Kim this morning. I think their doing the nasty but I'm too afraid to go to the door and listen so I thought we could make this a little event just for the boys. You guys think you can hang with the big dog?"

Regardless of whether or not they were up for it was completely irrelevant. They were Rangers. They had to go no matter what. But if Kimberly and Tommy were going at it then both Adam and Rocky were in agreement with Jason. There was no point in bothering Kimberly if they could handle it without her. Should things get out of hand, which they severely doubted, they'd call her then.

"We'll meet you there in a minute, partner," Rocky chuckled, cutting off the line of communication with Jason. Moments later, had any civilians been looking towards the beams flying through the air to their destination nearly five-hundred miles away.

When they arrived they found that Jason was already morphed and in the middle of dealing with the Tyrannodrones as Zeltrax and Elsa directed traffic from the sidelines. After doing a quick check to make sure there were no civilians watching them, Adam and Rocky raised their gauntlets and summoned their Dino Morphers. One bright flash of red and blue light later and the fully morphed Red and Blue Rangers stood where Adam and Rocky had just been. Rubbing his hands together in excitement, Adam cracked his neck on both sides and let out a pleasure-filled moan. "Oh yeah, baby. Let's have some fun!"

Across the street, in a dark alley shadowed by the buildings on either side, a man stood with his arms folded across his chest, watching as Adam and Rocky ran to join their friend in battle. Cloaked completely by the shadows, he was impossible to see from any distance more than a few feet away. After a couple minutes of motionless observation, the man slowly dipped his hand into his pants pocket and extracted a gleaming white gem. Snickering to himself as he rubbed the gem between his thumb and forefinger, he shifted his attention back to the Rangers and their battle with eyes that flashed white.

"Soon, Rangers," he muttered softly but with obvious conviction evident in his voice. "Soon, I will reveal myself to you and soon, you will know what the true meaning of the word pain really is."

--

Loving and living with Tommy, waking up to a house without him was not something that Kimberly could yet consider 'normal' but it wasn't so weird, anymore. More often than not, he was up early and either out for a run or at the gym long before she even woke up. Never one to miss a workout, on the rare mornings that he wasn't out exercising, Tommy still managed to sneak in some time for a little bedroom activity. Those were the mornings Kimberly wished were an everyday occurrence but loving and living with Tommy meant adapting to some of his quirks and routines.

Yawning as she walked into the kitchen she saw on the oven clock that it was nearly eleven in the morning. She never slept in that late and neither did anyone else from the look of it. Tommy was gone and apparently so was Jason. She called out for him a few times but got no reply and determined that he had more than likely gone with Tommy to the gym.

Seeing as how no one else was home, she reasoned that making breakfast for just herself would be rather pointless. Coffee and a piece of toast would do just the trick. She could practically taste the hot liquid running down her throat, giving her that morning jolt she so desperately craved. Poor Kimberly was awfully disappointed when she opened the kitchen cabinet where they kept the coffee and found that the bag was empty.

"Dammit, Tommy. You don't even bother to throw the empty bag away?" Kimberly asked herself with a sigh as she snatched the container off the shelf, stormed over to the trash can, and threw it in with a triumphant humph. She was all jazzed up until she remembered that there wasn't any more coffee which meant a trip to the Cyberspace was in order. There were half a dozen Starbuck's closer but Kimberly tried to avoid big chain places unless it was an emergency. She felt much better paying a little extra money at Hayley's, knowing that her money wasn't just fattening the pockets of the already-rich.

But her hair was messy, she didn't have any makeup on, and she needed a hot shower. A diehard feminist to the core, Kimberly felt like cursing the nature of her gender at times like this. Ninety-nine percent of the time, she loved being a female but she envied men when it came to getting ready in the morning. For a man all it took was a little deodorant and semi-clean clothes. Maybe some cologne if they smelt really bad. Women just couldn't get away with that.

Now, that didn't mean that she was going to bust our the iron, press off a blouse and skirt, and put on high heels to go get coffee but she certainly wasn't going to go out in public in her ragged, old-school, White Ranger pajama bottoms and the t-shirt that she had worn for P.E. at Angel Grove High School during her sophomore year. Looking at the tattered shirt, she silently wondered why in the world she had kept the damn thing for so long and then remembered that it was for two extremely important reasons. It still fit, for one, but the most important reason was Tommy. It seemed like it was at least once a week when her memory-challenged boyfriend would be late getting to school, arriving just as first period ended. On those days, he waited outside the locker room for her and would always tell her how sexy he thought she looked when she was all sweaty from exercising.

"When things were simpler," she muttered to herself as she stripped and entered the shower. Almost immediately the soothing sensation of the hot water raining down on her left her wide awake. With nowhere to be, she decided to put the coffee on hold and pulled the knob that switched the water from the showerhead to the faucet. A nice, relaxing, bubble bath was exactly what the doctor had ordered.

Laid back in the tub, Kimberly closed her eyes, leaning her head back as she slid her body neck-deep in the bubbly water. She was so relaxed she couldn't help but pay careful attention to her most feminine needs. It wasn't until the water began to turn cold that Kimberly reluctantly decided to get on with her day. Stepping out of the tub, she was hopeful that Tommy would be home when she returned from getting coffee. Perhaps Mesogog would take a break from his attacks and grant them a peaceful day with no worries. They hadn't had one of those since the day after the Fourth of July when everyone was so enthralled with having their significant others visiting that they all just disappeared.

Thinking of that weekend made Kimberly's heart go out to Adam, Jason, and Rocky. She got to live with her boyfriend and, while they had only been back together for a little over two months, she had a good feeling about where things were going between herself and Tommy. Her friends, however, were forced to live hundreds of miles--thousands, in Jason's case--away from those they loved. After being in the exact same situation as they all were, she understood exactly what they were going through. She knew how hard it was to be so far away, always living with that tiny voice nagging at you, telling you that he was going to find someone else because she had thought just that about Tommy and Katherine. It wasn't the main factor in their breakup but she couldn't say that it didn't play a part. But that was high school and she had matured a lot since then. Even when they argued there wasn't a moment where she could see herself living without Tommy.

Her friends deserved the same happiness too, though. For their sake, she prayed that everything worked out for them. And for her own, as well. She couldn't imagine how awkward it must have been for Billy and the other Zeo Rangers to be there when Tommy got her breakup letter, not to mention how terrible Adam had to have felt being the first one to read it, aloud no less. She couldn't imagine it but she knew that it had to be one of the most awful feelings in the world. There was no way she wanted to be around if something happened in her friend's relationships. Certainly she'd become a blubbering mess, incapable of formulating anything that even remotely resembled the thoughts of a coherent person.

Perusing her wardrobe, Kimberly tried to push those thoughts aside and focus on what she was going to wear. In the beginning stages of her tenure as Yellow Ranger, her half of the closet she shared with Tommy was predominantly pink or dark colors. But as she grew more comfortable with her new identity, so did her wardrobe change. The pale, yellow, Abercrombie tee that exposed just the bottom half of her dangly navel ring--Tommy's self-proclaimed favorite change that she had made--and a pair of denim shorts would do the trick. It wasn't dressy nor was it fresh-out-of-bed by any means.

With her purse in hand and her eyes hidden behind a pair of Versace sunglasses, she headed for the garage and the black Mazda MX-5 Miata convertible that Tommy had teleported to Reefside from her house. Speeding was one of her strongest vices. Not beyond using her sexuality to her advantage, flirting was her way of avoiding tickets. But her bank account was still plush. On the rare occasions where she was pulled over by a female cop or a guy that simply couldn't be sweet-talked, the tickets made her laugh. It wasn't like she would miss, or even notice, a few hundred dollars here and there. She had millions of dollars in a multitude of interest-bearing savings accounts, stocks, bonds, and other assorted investments that she had never even had to think about touching.

Top down on this mild, breezy, Southern California summer morning, Kimberly's long auburn tresses rode with the wind as she blasted her radio as loud as she could tolerate. She didn't even think about the possibility an attack could happen and that she wouldn't be able to hear her communicator because her music was so loud. All she was focusing on was the soy vanilla latte calling her name and the tunes erupting from her speakers. Presently, drivers and passengers of the other vehicles surrounding her at the red light she was stopped at were being treated to the classic Dead or Alive song "You Spin Me Right Round."

"All I know is that to me, you look like you're tons of fun. Open up you're loving arms, watch out here I come!" she sang, spinning her head in circles. "You spin me right round, baby right round. Like a record baby, right round, right round."

She didn't care if people stared at her, muttering nasty things to themselves or their passengers. God forbid someone on the planet actually had a little fun. In Kimberly's eyes, most people were so concerned with being politically correct and not offending anyone that they had completely forgotten what having fun was like. She was enjoying herself and that was all that mattered. If she was to quote her favorite comedian, Dane Cook, she would say that she was having a blasty-blast.

Somehow, someway, she managed to make it to Hayley's place without getting pulled over. She'd only had her car for a little over two weeks and had already been pulled over once. It was just her luck that Tommy was with her when it happened. No flirting with the nice male officer in his ealy-twenties when the boyfriend's in the car with you. She could vaguely recall a "this is why I didn't want to teleport your car" but that was in the very back of her head, nowhere near having a negative effect on her little party for one.

Climbing out of her car, Kimberly skipped perkily towards the front door but just as she entered the café she felt something tugging at her stomach; a sharp, jabbing pain that made her double over, pretty much killing her chipper mood almost instantly. She coughed violently as tears formed in her eyes, oblivious to the fact that she had the attention of everyone in the place, including Hayley who was currently filling a glass with water. As soon as that was done she was running over to Kimberly.

"Stand up straight, raise your arms high, and take a few deep breaths," Hayley ordered, her stern tone of voice leaving no room for arguments. Kimberly did what she was told and started to feel some minor relief almost immediately. It was slow at first, steadily progressing but the pain didn't seem like it was going anywhere any time soon. Then Hayley thrust the glass of water at her. "Now drink this."

Apparently the water was supposed to make the rest of the pain go away. Kimberly was too disoriented to remember any of the things she had learned about the human body, and she knew a lot. Mostly from her extensive gymnastics training. She took the glass and downed the room temperature liquid in just a few big gulps. Breathing heavily, Kimberly was forced to bend over in a struggle to regain her breath, water dripping from her lips. Quick to help, Hayley ran off for a towel but by the time she had returned, Kim was on her way back to normal.

"What was that all about?" Hayley asked, eyeing Kimberly carefully. Only recently had she started to truly look at Kimberly as someone she could call a real friend. Hayley's concern was genuine, both for Kimberly and Tommy, who she knew would be devastated if anything happened to the woman who meant everything to him.

"I don't know," Kim replied, using the towel to pat her face dry. "One minute I felt fine and then the next it was like this horrible pain just ripping at my stomach. Now," she continued, shaking her head slowly. "I can't help but feel like something terrible has happened."

Hayley gave Kimberly a look that posed the silent question of whether or not she was talking about something Ranger-related. When Kimberly nodded hesitantly, Hayley grabbed the petite brunette around the arm, leading her towards the stockroom that doubled as her office. Only stopping to tell her other employees that she would be back shortly, Hayley locked the door behind them and sat Kimberly down in her chair. "What's going on, Kim?"

"I-I'm not sure. Like I said, I just feel like something bad has happened," Kimberly reiterated, wondering to herself how insane that must have sounded to someone who had never been physically touched by the Power and exposed to its' many gifts. For those who had held it for as long as Kim, a sixth sense like hers was fairly common. "I don't know if it's Tommy or Jason or one of my parents or if anything has even happened at all!"

"Okay, sweetie. Just calm down." Hayley's voice was as calm as the hands she laid on Kimberly's shoulders were comforting. Still, a sense of fear remained in Kimberly's eyes. Having to think quickly, Hayley offered the only solution she could come up with. "I've got a complete hookup on my computer to all the scanners. I can check and see if everyone's okay if you'd like."

With a half-smile, Kimberly nodded her head and got out of the chair, standing behind Hayley and watching as the genius went to work. In less than two minutes Hayley had run scans on everyone she could get a read on. She couldn't check Kimberly's parents, though. Their energy signals weren't strong enough. "The Rangers are all fine, as are all your old teammates but you'll have to call your parents if you want to find out how they're doing."

"What about Tommy?"

His safety was at the forefront of Kimberly's concerns.

"He's fine," Hayley supplied, pointing to the little blip on the map of Reefside near Valencia Drive. Realizing that Tommy nowhere near anything dangerous, it was like all of Kimberly's fears suddenly disappeared as a huge sense of relief washed over her. Maybe she had been wrong about something bad happening. Unless it was her parents, no one else that could be in trouble came to mind. The small smile on Kimberly's face was contagious, Hayley now wearing one of her own. "He's probably waiting for you, you know? What do you say we get you a nice cup of hot chocolate to go and send you on you're way. No caffeine for you this morning, missy."

Hayley's sarcastic display of discipline accompanied by a wagging finger made Kimberly chuckle lightly. She caught the rocket-scientist/Ranger-techie/café-owner/super-genius/everything-else-under-the-sun off guard when she stood up and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Thanks, Hayley. You're the best."

Surprised, Hayley managed a small head nod as she patted Kimberly on the back awkwardly. "Umm, you're welcome." It came out more like a question than a statement but Kimberly didn't even notice. The whole time that she was hugging Hayley she was thinking about getting home to see Tommy as quickly as possible. Thankfully, Hayley's line of thinking was much the same. It wasn't that Kimberly's hug offended her. Hayley just wasn't a big fan of being touched by anyone. It literally took years of being friends with Tommy before a hug didn't make her feel weird. For over thirty-years she had tried to figure out why she was that way but so far hadn't had much luck. "How about we go and get you that hot chocolate?"

"Yeah. That sounds nice." It took all of five minutes for Hayley to make Kimberly a steaming cup of hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and some miniature marshmallows sprinkled in the beverage. Some small talk ensued for a couple of minutes but nothing major. Kimberly wanted to leave and Hayley had work that she needed to get done but neither woman wanted to be rude to the other. It was Kimberly who finally broke the ice with a muttered, "Well, I better get going."

"Probably," Hayley returned with a smile.

Kimberly nodded. "Thanks again for everything."

"No problem. I'll see you later, Kim."

"Definitely." With that out of the way and her confidence restored, it was due time for Kimberly to get on home to her man. Walking to her car, she silently hoped that Tommy wasn't too tired from his presumed workout. Thoughts of ravishing Tommy would have to wait, though. Halfway to her car she heard the beeping of her communicator. Rolling her eyes and cursing under her breath, she ducked into a nearby alley and brought her wrist up to her lips. "What's up, Rocko?"

"Oh, you know, just the usual stuff: Tyrannodrones, Zeltrax, and Elsa in the park. Nothing major, though. Just thought you might want in on the all the ass kicking fun that me, Adam, and Jason are already having."

Rocky's sense of humor never stopped making Kimberly laugh. If she could change one thing about Tommy it would be to make him not so serious all the time. He knew how to have fun but she couldn't lie; she found Rocky's playful side extremely attractive. She wasn't about to dump Tommy, though, nor did she have any feelings for Rocky outside of those of a close friendship. She just wanted Tommy to lighten up a little bit, that's all.

"What do you mean, already?" Kimberly asked.

"We decided as a team not to bug you. Jason said he saw the your bedroom door shut and we figured that you and Tommy might be, you know-

"Gotcha," Kimberly interjected quickly, not needing to hear the rest of Rocky's sentence to know what he was talking about. "I'll be right there, chief."

"Alright. See you soon."

Soon was officially twenty-three-point-two seconds from the time she cut off communication with Rocky until she arrived in the park, fully Morphed and ready for a fight. Having been deterred from her plans to seduce Tommy, she wanted to make this short, sweet, and straight to the point. There was something more important waiting for her back home that she needed to take care of.

The Yellow Ranger joined her friends in battle almost immediately, running towards them full speed ahead. Flipping through the air cartwheel-style, she landed right in between Adam and Rocky who were stuck in the middle of a circle of Tyrannodrones. "Looks like you two could use a little help right about now."

"You won't hear me complain," Rocky grunted, going for a kick. Underneath his helmet, the look on his face was wide-eyed and surprised when the drone he tried to kick caught his foot and tossed him backwards. The Blue Ranger smacked flat on his back with a resounding thud. Biting back his smile, Adam sprinted over to where Rocky was laying and offered him a hand up. "I should have seen that one coming, man."

"I'm not gonna argue that."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy," Rocky muttered sarcastically as Adam rolled his eyes and pulled him onto his feet. "It's good to know that we're playing on the same team and everything."

"Anything for you, sweet cheeks."

"Hey! Are you two girlies gonna stand there and flirt or fight!?" Jason yelled at the pair from across the park, bringing their attention back to the battle at hand. Adam and Rocky put their joking banter aside and ran in the direction of Zeltrax and Elsa who were keeping Jason quite busy. The Black Ranger used his Brachio Staff to parry the strikes from Mesogog's generals, moving effortlessly as he used the weapon to deflect blow after ferocious blow. Connecting with a shot to the side of the cyborg, Jason spun his staff behind his head and dropped into a stance that was both defensive and taunting at the same time. "Welcome to my nightmare."

Rocky scoffed at Jason's remark as he and Adam went back-to-back. "How does Jason, of all people, know about that?" Rocky asked, turning his head back slightly. "He wasn't even a Ranger back then."

"Beats me," Adam answered, doing the splits to avoid an oncoming fist. With his legs stretched out as far as they could go, Adam delivered a direct punch to the midsection of a Tyrannodrone, sending the creature stumbling backwards. He popped back onto his feet just in time to duck a clothesline, driving his knee high into the chest cavity of another Tyrannodrone. There was no rest for the weary, though. Two Tyrannodrones were diving at him, about to make a Red Ranger sandwich. Using his gem-enhanced speed, Adam sprinted out of the way as the pair of Tyrannodrones collided with each other in mid-air. Dusting his hands off, Adam admired his handiwork. "Not bad for less than a minute."

"Uh, I think the lady in yellow has you beat, bro," Rocky interjected, jerking his head in the direction of the Yellow Ranger who was dropping Tyrannodrones left and right as if it wasn't even a challenge for her.

Not only was Kimberly dealing with double the amount of drones that Adam and Rocky were taking on combined but she had already eliminated twice as many on top of that. Hell bent on ending this fight sooner rather than later, Kimberly was proving once again that, despite her small stature, she was a force to be reckoned with. This was made even more apparent when she finished off the last of the drones and then immediately took off to help Jason in combat against Zeltrax and Elsa. Running towards them, she launched herself into a graceful front flip, landing right next to Jason.

"Need some help, Bubba?"

"I'd love some," Jason answered, smirking beneath his helmet.

Still hidden in the alley, the man with the White Dino Gem continued to watch the fight with anticipation on his face and a glimmer in his eye. This was going to be fun. He hoped that Elsa and Zeltrax were thoroughly defeated for it would only make his appearance all the more grand when he revealed himself to the Rangers. Rolling back the right sleeve of his white shirt, the man revealed a device that was eerily similar to the Dino Morphers that the other Rangers used, only the faceplate on his Morpher was that of a white dragon. He let out a quiet, evil chuckle as he raised the Morpher to his lips, softly touching a red button as he wickedly muttered the words, "White Ranger, Dino Power."

Back in the park the fierce, determined warrior, and the true heart and soul of the Power Rangers gelled together in battle like they were still in high school. They knew each other's moves and when they were going to happen, and used that knowledge to plan ahead, giving them an advantage against Mesogog's generals. The only other person either one of them fought better with in tandem-form was Tommy. Kimberly may have been the heart of the Rangers but Tommy was the glue that held everything together. He was the one who fought so hard to keep everyone connected and he was the one who had sacrificed everything to make defending the world a possibility. Without Tommy, there wouldn't have even been a team of Power Rangers to fight against Mesogog.

Pushing thoughts of Tommy aside, Kimberly engaged Elsa while Jason started in on Zeltrax. With her Ptera Grips held tightly in her hands, Kimberly started an attack of continuous slashes at Elsa that forced the woman to backpedal. As Kimberly charged at Elsa the disciple of Mesogog sidestepped the attack, leaving the Yellow Ranger face-to-face with an oak tree of gigantic proportions. Any of the other Rangers probably would have ran right into the tree but not Kimberly. Years upon years of gymnastics experience allowed her to effortlessly scale the large oak, running up the trunk and using her momentum to flip backwards over Elsa's head. She landed perfectly and delivered an elbow to a surprised Elsa that left her reeling.

Just a few feet away from where this was taking place, Zeltrax was on the receiving end of a devastating beat down courtesy of the Black Ranger. After mastering his Brachio Staff, encounters with Zeltrax were more like a game than a battle. Jason didn't even know why Zeltrax continued to come back for more when the cyborg had rarely even landed a blow in any of their various fights. It really wasn't even fair. To Jason's credit though, he never once instigated Zeltrax. Even this fight had started with Zeltrax running wildly at Jason with his sword drawn. When Zeltrax tried to swing his sword at Jason's legs, the Black Ranger did a dive over the cyborg's shoulders. Grabbing onto a neck made entirely of black metal, Jason used his forward motion to throw Zeltrax into a flip, violently landing on his back.

Now finished with the remaining Tyrannodrones, Rocky and Adam ran up to Jason flanking him on either side at the same time as Elsa approached Zeltrax to check on him. Moments later, Kimberly arrived as well. At full strength and with the tide of the battle fully in their favor, it was time to bring out the heavy artillery. Weapons were combined to form the Z-Rex Blaster as the Rangers fell into their usual positions around the powerful cannon. A huge pulse of energy was shot from the blaster before Elsa and Zeltrax had a chance to defend themselves. They were forced to watch death swiftly approaching them with wide eyes.

"Oh my God!" Kimberly yelled.

Standing right in the line of fire was…another Ranger? A White Ranger? Kimberly and the other Rangers watched on in horror as the blast hit the figure square in the back. Horror quickly turned to shock, however, when the new Ranger didn't even flinch and the pulse of energy was sent right back at them. Diving in different directions the Rangers just barely avoided being struck by a piece of their own arsenal. Slowly, the White Ranger turned around getting his first look from up close at the scattered group.

Quite a few members in their circle of friends had worn different colors as Rangers but white had always belonged to one man. Everyone, but especially Kimberly and Jason, instantly thought of Tommy when they saw the familiar color. The jaggedly-shaped, red visor and the patches of black spandex that looked like spikes running up and down the White Ranger's uniform let the team know that this new Ranger was no ally to them. If that was the case and it really was Tommy underneath the helmet…

No one wanted to think of how utterly horrendous the repercussions would be if Tommy, a legend Ranger if there had ever been one, was fighting on the side of evil once again. As the White Ranger casually walked towards them, the four Rangers prayed silently that Tommy was not the man in the white spandex uniform. Truthfully, none of them were all that confident in their ability to beat Tommy in a fight, especially not if he had new powers at his disposal. For Jason, Adam, and Rocky, their prayers were not only for themselves and for Tommy but for Kimberly as well. They all knew how crushed and devastated she would be if it turned out that Tommy was indeed their newest foe.

"Hello, Rangers." It was apparent as soon as the White Ranger spoke that his voice had been altered somehow. His words were deep, almost robotic like he was speaking through a voice changing device. When the quartet heard him speak, devastation set in. They could be walking into a fight against Tommy without knowing whether it was really him or not. "I've been watching you today. Seems to me like you're all about having fun. Well, now it's time for me to have a little fun of my own! Drago Sword!"

Summoning his own weapon, the White Ranger stood at a distance of a little over ten feet and started firing a rapid stream of laser arrows at the other Rangers. Most of the arrows missed wildly in various directions but a few managed to hit their mark, and those that did exploded on impact. Rocky, who had gotten the absolute worst of it and was writhing on the grass in pain, had black scorch marks all over the top half of his uniform, and even one on his helmet. The Rangers were quick to tend to the needs of their injured friend but they did not forget about their assailant, continuously shifting their attention between Rocky and the White Ranger staring back at them expectantly.

"What's the matter? Don't want to have fun, anymore?"

Before anyone else could say anything back to him Jason was pushing himself onto his feet from one knee, pointing an accusatory finger in the White Ranger's direction. "What the hell do you want from us!?"

The White Ranger let go an evil laugh that sent chills up the Ranger's spines. "What do I want from you? What do I want from you? Well, that's simple. I want all of you dead in the most horrible of ways."

"Oh, yeah!? You want us dead, do you!?" Adam shot back in an angry growl as he moved to stand firmly beside his teammate. "Well you can go ahead and let Mesogog know that that is never, ever going to happen!"

Turning his attention to Elsa and Zeltrax momentarily, the White Ranger looked back at the Rangers shaking his head and laughing even harder. His reply to Adam came in the form of a near whisper. "Here's a little newsflash for you, Red Ranger. I don't work for Mesogog. I work for me. Mesogog's goals are pathetic. He wants to return the world to the age of the dinosaurs. I just want to conquer it."

"You're sick!"

The White Ranger's head jerked towards Kimberly's direction, his gaze focusing solely on the petite and--in his eyes--utterly defenseless Yellow Ranger for the first time. "Maybe so but when I am through with the four of you, the world will get on their knees and bow down to their king. Me! The King of Kings!"

Looking up towards the sky, the White Ranger arched his back and dramatically raised his arms high above his head as a bright, white light began to envelop his body. Then, with a thunderous crack he was gone, leaving behind only the echo of yet another horrendously evil laugh. It was like the more that the Rangers talked the more they made him laugh out loud at their expense. They really didn't have the slightest clue as to what they were preparing to get themselves into. Soon, however, they would know. After all, he had said it himself.

He was the King of Kings and it was time once more for him to rule kingdom.