A/N: Part I of my new series, entitled Project Phoenix. As a disclaimer, this series is inspired by Kctimes2's The Adoption (one of the best stories I've ever read here). It will be a Tommy/Kim/Jayden series eventually. One epilogue after this (focuses on how the Phoenix gets awoken) and then it's the main event...coming very soon.

A/N 2: In the meantime, this part of Project Phoenix is what I think should have happened with Kim at the Turbo movie and afterward. This Kimberly was never brought back by Lerigot. These last chapters will have a little Kim in them, but much more focus on some of the other characters as well.

A/N 3: Usual disclaimer. Power Rangers doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 9: Plans

June, Earth year 2009

Phaedos

It was early in the morning, and as was her custom every morning, the Master Warrior, Dulcea, was going through her usual meditation.

Usually, the spirits were pretty silent. They had been for many years since Zordon's six Rangers who had fought the intergalactic tyrant Ivan Ooze had gone their separate ways.

Year after year, team after team, Rangers had beat villain after villain and the universe had remained safe. This time, however, was different.

She could feel the spirits were restless. Something was very, very wrong. She reached out with her telepathic powers to feel around Earth. No danger. Things had been deadly silent since the defeat of Dai Shi.

Before she could think anymore, she suddenly felt something enter the planet's atmosphere. Quickly, she went inside her small home on the Ancient Ruins and activated her mirror, since she saw something was trying to contact the planet.

The scenery on her mirror changed to a small ship and it was taking a pounding. Lasers and missiles rocked the ship and suddenly a familiar voice chimed over the communications system.

"Alpha 5 to Phaedos, come in, Alpha 5 to Phaedos come in! I need help!"

"What the...Alpha!" Dulcea cried in shock. "What's happened to you?"

"My planet's been overrun and others have too! I've been chased by bounty hunters ever since I passed Mirinoi! My ship can't last much longer!"

"I'm teleporting you in. Give me a few seconds," Dulcea commanded. Seconds later, Alpha disappeared from the ship, just moments before twin rockets rocked his ship, obliterating it out of sight.

"Oh my circuits! Aye yi yi, thank goodness for you, Dulcea," Alpha said sadly. "I have no home once again."

"No home? What happened?" Dulcea said, her voice laced with fear.

"The evil in Kimberly never disappeared. Her evil side and her army conquered my planet and had it not been for that extra ship that was just destroyed, I would have died," Alpha said.

Dulcea's face dropped like a rock. She knew that 11 years ago, or 11 some odd years ago, Zordon had sacrificed himself to save the universe.

Not all the evil was dead. In fact, the one she hoped would be saved...might never be. Her former protege was now a monster.

"Oh, Alpha," Dulcea said sorrowfully, as she tried to comfort the robot who had been so close to Kimberly and the rest of the original Rangers. Alpha wasn't human and she knew this was just tearing him apart. And she felt the same sorrow.

"I need a place to go, a place to be. A lot of planets have been conquered," Alpha said. "Inquiris, Andresia, Mirinoi, Edenoi have all been conquered and I am sure others are coming. Please tell me she can't get here. Please."

"There is no way I will allow her or her army in here," Dulcea said with firm conviction. "As we speak I am activating one of my stronger spells which allows no one without a power coin on this planet. Sentinel Knight has constructed a similar spell which will keep Kimberly away from Earth."

"You may stay here as long as you wish," Dulcea said, pulling Alpha into a hug.

Tears then pricked Dulcea's eyes for what these planets had lost. She was sure the Lost Galaxy Rangers and Masked Rider had been taken prisoner.

The mighty Phoenix was the only hope for Earth now.

May 2010

Aquitar

16 Earth years ago, there was no way anyone could have dreamed that William Cranston, technical genius extraordinaire, first Blue Ranger of Earth and someone who had grown up in suburbs of Kansas City, MO and Los Angeles, would ever be inclined to live with a group of Rangers who relied on water based powers.

It was well known that even during his teenage years at one point, Billy hated fish. The mere sight of the Goo Fish monster back in the day had driven him into a tizzy, so much so that it had put the Rangers in peril.

People change, though, and that was certainly the case with Billy. He'd spent 14 blissful years on Aquitar, and though he and Cestria weren't together anymore (Cestria had passed away sadly about five years ago), he had no intentions of going anywhere.

It was a relationship that had benefited both Billy and the Aquitians. It had benefited Billy because his travels had afforded him to see not only Aquitar's, but other planets' capabilities and technology. He had been on various other planets especially after Zordon's sacrifice, helping them with their communications systems and helping them to be more technology savvy.

It had benefited Aquitar too, because when Billy got there, their communications were greatly inferior to that of Earth. The regenerative process had helped Billy in a way that Earth did not have, but they still needed work. So Billy had worked constantly with Cestro to get the planet up to speed communication wise.

That work that Billy had put in would now be put to good use, more than ever.

Billy had just taken his 10 year old daughter, Marissa Trini Cranston (her middle name was the same as his first crush Trini, hint hint) to school and was just sitting down in the control room when suddenly, the communication system blared to life.

Billy gasped at what saw come up on screen. That was most definitely an Eltarian based ship. It was heading towards the planet, being chased by two small ships, hot on the Eltarian ship's heels.

Fortunately for Billy, Cestro was just passing by at that very moment and Billy waved him in to look at the situation.

"If that is an Eltarian based ship...and it sure looks like it is, then I fear for what has happened to that planet," Cestro said. "Worse, take a look who is inside."

Cestro then made the visual change to inside the ship, and Billy gasped. That was not just any Eltarian inside that ship...that was their Queen!

"We need to answer the hail, Cestro," Billy said. "If that's Queen Rhiannon then their planet is in danger...or worse. Rhiannon must be brought to safety."

"Got it," Cestro said. "Communication established."

"Aquitar answering your call, this is Billy Cranston," Billy said loud and clear. "What seems to be the problem, Rhiannon?"

"My rulership...the planet as I know it...it's gone, Billy," Rhiannon cried frantically. "We got overrun and we haven't seen Power Rangers in many thousands of years. I need to land on your planet, I was on my way here anyway but I've been pursued since I passed Inquiris."

"Affirmative but when you land I want an explanation of what happened," Billy said, although he had a sneaking suspicion who was behind this.

The Ninjetti powers never truly passed and they always somehow or another knew what each other were doing. He'd been keeping an eye on Kimberly's rising evil army through the years and he was sure Kim had something to do with why Rhiannon was on the way here.

He glanced quickly at the pursuers that were following Rhiannon. They were small crafts, but extremely powerful. He gasped as a wave of fire just missed Rhiannon's ship.

"Cestro, activate the missiles," Billy ordered. "We're going to take out her pursuers."

"Got it, Billy," Cestro responded. A few seconds later he added, "Missiles activated and target locked."

"OK, Sister Crane, you want to play rough? Let's see how you like this. Launch missiles!" Billy ordered as he pressed a red button. From a hidden hatch, four missiles launched from the planet and rocketed towards Rhiannon's pursuers. The pursuers tried to dodge, but the missiles were activated to follow their every move and moments later, the missiles hit their targets, the pilots of these ships ejecting just in time.

"I got her. Bringing her ship in," Cestro said.

"Great, Cestro. Report to the command room and have Delphine and the others meet us there."

30 minutes later

Billy exhaled when he heard Delphine and the others finally arrive; upon her ship landing on the planet, Billy had Rhiannon brought to the command room for this important situation.

"We heard the communication system go off, Billy," Delphine said. "Cestro informed us that we were to come here?"

"Correct, Delphine," Billy said. "The reason why I had you all brought here today is that Aquitar, and the universe, are in danger once again. This is Queen Rhiannon of Eltar who has come to us in refuge."

"Refuge?" Tideus said. "That means..."

"Yes, it means my planet, my home, is conquered once again," Rhiannon said. Her eyes were red and her face clearly showed the stress of the situation. "By one of Zordon's Rangers no less."

"No, not Tommy again," Corcus said; like all Aquitians, he knew of evil Rangers and knew of Tommy's past as an evil Ranger. He would seem to be the prime candidate if any Ranger was to go to the dark side.

"After what happened to my planet, I wish it was Tommy," Rhiannon said. "How many of you know of Zordon's first Pink Ranger?"

"Katherine?" Delphine said. "She was evil too."

"Negative, Delphine, there was one before her," Billy said sighing as he pulled a picture out of his pocket. The picture was of a petite, five foot brunette wearing Zordon's Pink Ranger uniform. Billy had one such picture of each Earth Ranger that he'd served with.

"That's the one, that's her," Rhiannon said. "Kimberly I believe she's called, or was called in an earlier life. She's now Queen Flammia."

"Kimberly and I knew each other since kindergarten, well before we became Rangers," Billy said. "We were also two of the six Ninjetti that defeated Ivan Ooze."

"The Ninjetti are only myth," Delphine said.

"Wrong, Delphine," Billy said, "they are real and without them, Ivan Ooze would be ruling right now. The Master Ninjetti, Dulcea, still lives in fact. You never see her because she cannot come off her plateau lest she age."

"I can attest to that," Rhiannon said. "I've known Dulcea for a long time. We are close friends from way back. The Ninjetti are very powerful. You have all heard of the latest Earth team?"

"Jungle Fury," Billy said.

"Yes, their methods are very similar to the Ninjetti, just that the Ninjetti are more advanced," Rhiannon said.

"Unfortunately for Kim, there were some things that happened to her when she went to pursue some dreams of hers. Dirty laundry that I'd rather not air in front of all of you. This is an original team issue. The Flame of Destruction, the powerful Flame of Destruction corrupted her and thus, you saw the monster she is today. To my knowledge this happened shortly after I got here," Billy said, getting back on topic. "I have been watching her every movement for the last number of years."

"Shouldn't she have been turned back when Zordon was sacrificed?" Cestro pointedly asked.

"Very good point," Billy said. "I do find it weird she was never turned back. I will have to look into that. It may be some sort of personal issue...gosh I hope it's not."

"In any event, she has been slowly gaining an iron grip on the entire universe," Billy said. "You know she'd been conquering planets, Rhiannon, why weren't you prepared for her to invade?"

"Becauase Eltar hasn't seen Power Rangers in a number of years, not since Zordon's team. We are not a planet of fighters, we are a planet of scholars and artists," Rhiannon said. "We had no way of defending ourselves and there was no way I was going to hire mercenaries who didn't have ties to our planet."

"Fair point, but all I know is she knows I'd be waiting for her if she tried to invade this planet," Billy said. "I forgive you but when this is all over, Eltar's going to be more prepared to defend itself from invasions. It's too easy to invade the planet now."

"In the meantime, we must focus now on more pressing issues. Cestro, contact Phaedos and Dulcea right now," Billy ordered. "No wait, I'll do it myself. Instead, Cestro, raise the shields on the planet so that no one gets in the atmosphere of this planet on pain of death."

"Got it," Cestro said as he went to work. Meanwhile, Billy fiddled with buttons until he had what he wanted. Sure enough, Dulcea's face appeared on screen moments later. The Aquitian males all gasped...Dulcea had a physique that every woman wanted and every man from any part of the universe wanted to be with.

"Dulcea here, who is calling us?" Dulcea said.

"Oh, Dulcea I think you remember who I am," Billy said.

Dulcea allowed her face to form a small smile at seeing one of the six who had come to her many years ago.

"William, my Wolf, it is good to hear from you," Dulcea said. "How go things?"

"Up until this morning, things were going peachy," Billy said. "However we got a visitor today. I think you know her."

Billy stepped aside and Rhiannon stepped forward so Dulcea could see her.

"Rhiannon, what happened?" Dulcea said. "It looks like you have been through the wringer!"

"That's because I have my friend," Rhiannon said. "She got me too. My rulership...it's gone."

"You mean Eltar is now under Kimberly's control?" Dulcea said.

"We had no time to prepare and we have not seen Rangers in forever," Rhiannon said. "I am taking refuge on this planet until further notice. Cestro has assured me that Kimberly's army cannot come into this planet's orbit on pain of death."

"That is a smart plan," Dulcea said. "Alpha 5 was chased off Edenoi for the same reason. Dex is currently one of her prisoners."

"That news makes me sad," Billy said. "That's one ally we cannot count on for the foreseeable future. You said Alpha was chased off?"

"Yes, in fact he's been spending the last year or so with me. I find him good to have around, just as Zordon did," Dulcea said. "You know if she invades Earth you'll have to go back right?"

Billy sighed; like all of Zordon's Rangers he'd read and retread the Phoenix prophecy. Any fight between Kim's evil side and the Phoenix would require all of Zordon's past Rangers.

"I know, Dulcea," Billy said. "But she won't invade Earth for a while, correct?"

"No, not for a while," Dulcea affirmed, "but she will be there eventually. In the meantime, you stay where you are. You will know when to go back; the Wolf will guide you home."

"Tell Alpha hi for me," Billy said.

"I will, Billy," Dulcea said. "And Rhiannon, don't feel bad about Flammia conquering your planet. Yours is not the first she's conquered nor will it be the last. Keep yourself safe."

"May the Power protect you, Dulcea," Billy said.

"And you too. Until we meet again, Billy," Dulcea said as the transmission was cut.

"I take it from what she just said, that any fight between Flammia and Zordon's Rangers will be on Earth?" Delphine said.

"Yes, just like most of the major battles have. Of all the planets out there, Earth is the most well protected because it has so many Rangers to defend it," Billy said. It's also the home of the chosen one, the Phoenix. Our only hope to get Kim back and save the whole galaxy from destruction."

"The Phoenix? You mean, the most powerful Ninjetti?" Cestro said.

"Yes, the one that comes from the two most powerful Rangers ever, his father and his mother," Billy said. "My nephew, Jayden. It's a complicated story."

January 2012

Eltar

Flammia grunted in frustration.

"Curse you Earth Rangers and curse you Dulcea!" Flammia shouted in frustration. Somewhere deep inside, she knew the insignificant worm that was the Crane was smiling but she didn't care.

Granted, she had a lot of what she wanted. Riches, power and planets. But like any conqueror, she thirsted for more.

That having been said, she'd found out from soldiers of her generals that there were protection spells around several planets she desired. Phaedos, no chance, protection spell. Aquitar, even stronger protection spell. That damned Cranston was getting on her nerves.

And certainly Earth was a double no-go. Not only had that damned Sentinel Knight put a powerful protection spell on the planet, but the planet also had a would be conqueror as well, in the dangerous Master Xandred and his band of Nighloks.

"Mistress, allow me to calm your nerves," Scorpina said. "While we maybe can't conquer these planets you wish to have, we can torture what we do have. Put our prisoners to work and make it really hurt. Make them work for us and plant the seeds of the destruction of all they hold dear."

A cruel, cruel smile crossed Flammia's lips. Scorpina always seemed to have the answer and she'd done it again.

She allowed herself to imagine what she'd be like with her own war machine, causing destruction and mayhem in Angel Grove, Reefside, LA and everywhere else on Earth. It would be magical.

"If I may for just a moment, Mistress," Serpentes, Vipera's brother and commander of his own fleet of dangerous cobras, said. "I take pride in my smarts and my technical expertise. Over the years, I have studied past Ranger battles and gleaned some important information on what it would take to build a battle machine like they have."

"Serpentes told me that it would be a project, but if we could find the materials necessary and put our prisoners to work in building a battle machine for you, it may make the difference between victory and defeat," Vipera said. "It's not conquering planets but we can be doing something productive with our time."

Flammia smiled in admiration. Truly, she had the best generals one could ever ask for.

"Yes, I like that idea," she said cruelly. "Go find the materials necessary, Serpentes and then set our prisoners to work."

Meanwhile, deep inside, what was left of the Crane had of course heard every word. The thought of her evil half having a Zord to destroy California with gave her the shivers.

She too had kept an eye on the battle between the Samurai Power Rangers and the Nighloks, of course. She could feel Jayden's power growing by the moment, and all it needed was that one big moment where he could seize his destiny.

Unbeknownst to Jayden, that dormant power had protected him against that crazed lunatic Nighlok formerly known as Madimot. Though Madimot had made a little effort to turn Jayden against his friends, it hadn't been a prolonged effort, he'd sought to destroy Jayden instead. That had been a scary fight.

She only prayed that he could beat Xandred; it was only by defeating Xandred that he could save the entire universe.

'Come on Jayden, one time...' she thought to herself.

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