The White Ranger and the Masked Rider charged at the Green Ranger, who hastily raised the Sword of Darkness to defend himself.

With a shower of sparks, the White and Green Rangers' blades clashed, before the Masked Rider darted to the side and punched the Green Ranger's helmet.

Reeling from the force of the blow, the Green Ranger staggered backward. Seeing an opportunity, the White Ranger immediately dashed forward, and kicked his foe in the chest.

Though the Green Ranger was able to keep stable enough footing that he remained standing, the champions of justice had bypassed his guard and continued hammering away at him with a flurry of punches and kicks.

"You... damn Boy Scouts," the Green Ranger rasped in frustration, "stop hitting me so I can kill you!"

Angered by the Green Ranger's words, the Masked Rider promptly kicked him in the wrist, disarming him of the Sword of Darkness. "Enough, coward! Your era of evil ends today!"

The White Ranger drew Saba, before slashing at his emerald enemy several times in succession, causing white-hot sparks to spray everywhere.

The Green Ranger went flying backward with a yell from the White Ranger's attacks, before he slammed into a wall.

As the two heroes steadily marched on the Green Ranger, he cried out in alarm, his voice sounding different from the way it had previously. "Wait, stop! I give up! I surrender!"

The White Ranger and Masked Rider paused, glancing at each other.

Seeing that the heroes had paused in their advance, the Green Ranger scooted away from them slightly, before slowly reaching up and removing his helmet, revealing...

"What the-! You're that kid from the other universe, Shinji!"

Though morphing into a Power Ranger had caused his body to temporarily age a few years, there was no mistaking that look of panic on the young Japanese boy's face. "Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa kidnapped me," he explained with hands raised in surrender. "They used magic to torture and then brainwashed me, forcing me to say and do all those things against my will!"

Hearing Shinji's words, the Masked Rider relaxed his stance, before reversing his transformation. Turning to the White Ranger, Dex said, "I believe him. From what I've heard, Rita and Zedd have used these kind of methods before."

The White Ranger merely stared at Shinji impassively, before turning Saba around and holding it in a reverse grip. "You're right. They have done this before."

With a yell, the White Ranger turned and shot several laser blasts at the Sword of Darkness, causing it to shatter and disintegrate while Shinji screamed in agony.

The White Ranger then de-morphed, leaving a weary Tommy Oliver in his place. "And usually," he explained, "destroying whatever medium they use to focus the brainwashing spell ends it. Feeling any better now?"

For several seconds, Shinji could only groan, holding his head in pain. Eventually, he de-morphed, causing his body to return to its natural state. "...I feel like someone hit my head with a sharp rock over and over until it broke open," he eventually muttered.

As Shinji continued to try and recover, Dex asked, "How did you know he was still brainwashed?"

"When he told us what Rita and Zedd had done to him," Tommy said with a grimace, "Shinji called him 'Lord'. No one would ever call him that unless they were one of his servants."

The former Prince nodded, reminding himself to be more alert for details like that in his future battles against evil. When it looked like Shinji had more-or-less steadied himself, Tommy and Dex extended him their hands to help him up. Shinji eventually noticed, and after a few seconds of hesitation, allowing the older teens to help him stand.

An uncomfortable silence blanketed the trio, before Shinji asked, "So... what happens next?"

With a tired sigh from the day's battle, Tommy said, "For now, we should be able to relax a little while. If I know Rita and Zedd, they're furious over their failure to take us down today, and it's going to be a little while before they're ready to pull anything again."

Unable to make eye contact with anyone, Shinji looked at the ground. "Will I... get brainwashed again?"

Clapping him on the shoulder, Tommy smiled. "Nah, I don't think you have to worry about that. Their brainwashing magic may be powerful, but once broken I don't think they can use it again on the same person."

Deciding to take his leave of the Rangers, Dex pulled up the hood of his robes, to obscure the gem on his forehead. "I'm glad I could help, Tommy, but I've got my own battle with evil that I need to return to."

Going to a motorcycle he'd parked around the corner, the former Prince nodded to Tommy and Shinji. "Here's hoping our paths cross again!"

And with a quick rev of the engine, he was gone.

Tommy waved farewell to his friend and ally, before Shinji turned to him. "So... what's going to happen to me now?"

The downed Rangers began stirring at that moment, finally starting to recover from their ordeal.

"Well, a lot of that's up to you." After making sure that his friends weren't injured, he continued, "If you want to use the powers Rita and Zedd gave you to help us fight them, then we'd be happy to have another Ranger on the team. And if you want to try and go back to being a normal kid, then that's fine, too."

Shinji seemed startled by that, as if he hadn't expected to be given that second option.

"But for right now," Tommy concluded as he raised his communicator, "let's all get back to the Command Center."

Sorry it always takes so long to get an update out for this. The way I have everything planned right now, I would like to think that I can finish this story in the next couple of chapters.