Chapter Nine: Triple Ranger

"We're joining up."

Weihan blinked in surprise and looked at them for confirmation. As they nodded their heads, he sighed in resignation. At the conclusion of the battle the day before, the three girls had come out of their hiding places and instantly come up to him; babbling in excitement. He had been about to start his explanation when Bree had shown up with the other four girls…raising questioning looks from the other Rangers and soft snickers from those who had met Applebloom. He had stopped further introduction as the Monster Shelters were starting to release the civilians, but had promised to give them a full explanation when they decided to take up the Power. He had thanked the others for their help, created a duplicate of himself in full view of the others and promptly teleported to the Ultra Cavern.

Rolling his shoulders absently, he grimaced at the soreness produced. Rachelle had come later in the evening to say that everything in and around the area of battle had been chalked up as Battle Damage – including the capital letters – and the businesses would be adequately compensated. He had profusely 'thanked' her for her rescue until she had to leave…but he was left with a dilemma. He had no idea where these Crystal Coins had come from and had been tearing his hair out as he tried to make sense of Zordon's logs…when Ninjor had called with some unexpected information. The Ancient Zord Master had sensed the awakening of a familiar power and had put a temporary hold on Rachel's training to try to be of some assistance. The revelations floored the Orange Ranger in their detail and intensity.

When the thirteen Ultra Crystals were sent out into space, they were jettisoned with the scraps of Zycordian diamond that the shells were constructed from. Over time, close proximity to the overwhelming power of the Ultra Grid had imparted these scraps with some degree of power. Apparently, it was a last-ditch effort by the Morphin Council to implement a team of Coin-based Rangers into the mix. It had been prophesised that the Ultra Rangers would fall in their final battle and the Council had taken drastic measures to prevent Evil from fully taking control. If the main twelve Ultra Crystals ever shattered, the Coins would become energised with Power and seek out their Chosen Bearers.

This process would have been automatic, had it not been for Zordon's intervention. Although the Coins had begun to be energised with Grid Energy, the recreation and reformation of the Ultra Crystals coupled with the gift of the Battlizer had slowed the process dramatically. It was clear that no one on the Eltarean High Council ever expected the Crystal Coins to be released, for them to have done so indicated a shift in the Evils that would threaten the Universe. Grumm was slowly coming closer to heavily populated worlds and his lust for destruction was growing with each passing second.

"You've thought about this thoroughly? This isn't a game you know."

Nodding once, Liz set her shoulders straight. Countless hours of thought and actually seeing what a battle was like has all but cemented her determination to make the world a better place. If accepting the Power meant that she could also create a copy of herself at will, it would be well worth the strains and stress of near-constant fighting. If it didn't…well, there were always other forms of stress relief. She was sure Bec and Jorja felt the same way and the others would come around eventually. Shaking the thoughts out of her mind, she nodded again and opened her mouth.

"We saw how hard all of you fought yesterday. We know this isn't a game or something to be taken lightly. This is our decision to make the world a better place."

Weihan sighed again and nodded. Looking around for onlookers, he led the trio to the nearby alley and closed his eyes. As he had spent the entire night in the Ultra Cavern, his magical double would ensure he didn't miss out on anything too important. The only issue here would be the three girls in front of him. As any information they learned would be transferred to him, they would be at a slight disadvantage…but it couldn't be helped if they wanted a head-start on their training. Drawing on the energies of the Grid, he concentrated hard on their images and crossed everything he could. The last thing he needed was to create a three-headed monstrosity. That would raise a few eyebrows and questions.

"Amazing…"

Opening his eyes, he found himself looking at six girls and snorted back laughter. As he had created the copies, he knew exactly what distinguished them from the 'real' girls and mentally gave them their instructions. As the first lesson of the day had to do with alcohol, what it was made from and the proper servings of it; he knew he didn't really have an issue with the slight sleepiness in the eyes of the doubles. Hoping that AJ had briefed Bree on his use of magical duplicates and their resemblance to the original persons, he checked around for onlookers before summoning his combination Morpher. Working the teleport controls, he couldn't suppress his mind falling straight into the gutter as he thought about 'seeing' that bathroom breaks of the duplicates. Pushing those rather deviant thoughts out of his mind, he activated the mass teleporter.

"Hang on."

In four flashes of light, the reappeared in the Main Control Area of the Ultra Cavern. Summoning his Ultra Crystal, the Orange Ranger walked over to the controls of the Dimensional Doorway and activated the Communication Station. With Xonix gone from pretty much any of his usual spots, there was a slight chance that he could have fallen through the dimensional barriers. The last thing he needed was to find Xonix rampaging in a dimension where the very concept of Power Rangers, Ultra Crystals and monster battle was relegated to the world of fiction. For one thing, it would cause a lot of confusion between him and his dimensional counterpart…but he was probably being paranoid. Checking the time it would take for the machine to fully warm up, he extracted the three Crystal Coins from the lightning bolt shaped structure and approached the trio of astounded girls.

"Millennia ago, a great battle was waged between Good and Evil. Each side fought hard and sustained many losses in the process. Eventually, it was decreed that a set of Crystals be created to combat the threat facing the Universe. The process to create the Crystals was long and hard; many great minds were lost during those days. Two, in particular, would never see the sky with free eyes again.

Eventually, the Crystals were completed, though it was too late for them to be of any use in the coming battle. The Morphin Council, a group of beings who wielded the energies of the Morphin Grid, though it was wise to create a separate set of Powers in secret, in case the Bearers of the Ultra Crystals were ever killed. Using the discarded scraps of the purest diamond in the Universe, they created seven coins and hid them deep within the most powerful Crystal of the set."

He paused, taking in the expressions of the girls in front of him. Out of all of them, Liz looked the most determined. The image of a realistic Tiger head looked back at him and he chuckled under his breath as he realised Tommy would now be the only Ranger that had an abstract animal head for a helmet. He was sure there would be more Rangers down the track with equally strange helmets but none of them would rival the White Ranger's helmet for sheer strangeness. Looking back on it, it looked like it had come from an entirely different Power Set. Shoving the thoughts out of his mind, he turned to the other two girls.

Rebecca had the same air of determination as Liz's, but there was a slight hint of apprehension in her eyes. Jorja was shaking with nervous excitement, but her eyes held the same note of determination and apprehension in them. Deciding that Liz would be the leader of the Crystal Rangers then and there, he released the three coins and allowed them to float towards their Bearer. The closer they came, the clearer the detail on the coins until they no longer resembled their clear and transparent forms. Names flashed through his mind and he could feel a slight trembling of the ground under his feet as their Zords were transported from Ninjor's workshop. He wondered what they looked like but mentally slapped himself as the images had come to him to day before. Plus, there was only so much you could do with Dinozords before they were transformed away from their general shapes.

"As you have chosen to accept the Power granted to you, reach out and grab hold of your destiny!"

As the trio reached out in unison, Weihan internally groaned at his choice of words. Honestly, there were better phrases that could be used besides the cliché of reaching out and grabbing, but it had been the only thing to spring to his mind. The only real time he had done a semi-long winded song-and-dance speech had been with Steven Johnston and, although that had worked out in the end, he had no intention of a repeat performance. Looking away as a glow of Power surrounded them, he silently counted to ten before clenching his eyes shut to protect them from the wave of white, blue and dark purple light. Slowly opening his eyes as the light died down, he turned to see what their uniforms would look like before nodding in surprised approval.

The armour was moulded in the same form as the Mighty Morphin Rangers, except with only one diamond in the centre of their chests. The diamond was shaded in their respective colours and held the same crystalline nature as their coins. Their belts were free of any Morphers and he wondered where they were. The only similarities he could see between his Battle Armour and their suits were the white gloves that were splattered with red and he sighed heavily. The reminders of his massacre in the Bad Future would always be with him, it seemed. As he had seen previously, their helmets were similar to the ones already on the suits of Linda and Alex with the obvious exception of the White Ranger's helmet. Crystalline Blasters were holstered on their left hips and their shoulders and upper chests were protected by a strange half breastplate; if such a thing were possible.

"Now that you are Rangers under the banner of the Ultra Rangers, you must follow one simple rule or risk losing the protection of the Power."

He could see the question and anticipation in their body language and braced himself for the confusion and barrage of questions.

"There are no rules."

As expected, the trio of voices assaulted him with a barrage of questions, comments and general expressions of disbelief. Sneaking a glance to the Communications Station, he saw that it was almost fully powered and would be ready to send and receive transmissions in a few minutes. Waiting for the din to die down, he explained the reasons why.

"The Morphin Council decreed that in order to properly protect the world from the Evils of the Universe, the twelve Crystals would be exempt from the three rules that govern all other Rangers. These three rules are as follows. Never use your Powers for personal gain, never escalate a battle unless forced and never reveal your identity. The Ultra Rangers have been following these rules because the world isn't ready to know who we are yet. Knowledge leads to risk, risk leads to injury and injury…well, will lead to death. Plus, we would be personally liable to the damage done in a monster attack and I don't really have a few hundred thousand resting in a bank account."

Chuckles came from the three in front of him and he smiled. First, he would allow them to see what they could do in their armour, next would be weapons training and, finally, he would have to sit down with them and inform them about the other Rangers in the world and in the other dimensions…although he had a strange and nagging feeling the third option would be coming up very soon. Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he nodded once – noticing how they snapped to attention immediately.

Time to get to work.

TBC…