Like a pit crew at a NASCAR race, the hypnotized citizens of the southern California neighborhood busily rebuilt the Zulwarn, welding, hammering, and patching every damaged section of its massive superstructure. They blankly tinkered away at the mech without a care for anything else, devoid of their former personalities. They worked throughout the evening, the late night, and the morning following, even into the afternoon.
"That should do it", Puck declared. "Great work, everyone! Ultragunner's ready and stronger than ever!"
"Good to hear; that was a lot of work." Jason weighed in.
"At least we took a break to sleep and get breakfast," Zack added.
"C'mon, let's go tell Zordon!" Kimberly suggested.
They 7 teens left the zord hangar and filed into the command center.
"Zordon?" Trini asked, seeing his empty tube.
In a flash of symmetrical blue lights, Zordon re-appeared in his tube. "My apologies, rangers. My attention was needed elsewhere."
"The zords are restored," Billy informed.
"And improved!" Puck added.
"Excellent work. Your efforts.."
Blaring alarm sirens interrupted Zordon's voice. Changing his focus, he informed the rangers, "Power rangers, the Zulwarn has reappeared and is initiating another assault this very minute."
"Faulkner's back? Already?" Kimberly asked in great surprise.
"Let's go stop him for good this time!" Tommy confidently suggested.
"Wait a minute, rangers," Alpha-5 buzzed. "Before you go, Zordon and I would like to introduce you to the newest and most powerful addition to the power rangers."
"New power ranger? You mean..?" Trini wondered aloud.
Bastion walked out through the door from the side-chamber, looking healthy and confident. "Hey guys!" he greeted.
Zack approached Bastion excitedly asking him, "Wait a minute: you're a power ranger now?"
Bastion produced his morpher for the whole team to see. The rangers reacted excitedly with shouts of "amazing!" and "incredible!"
"But Bastion, what about your shoulder?" Kimberly asked.
"It's fine" Bastion told her. "The ranger-izing process healed it."
"That's great!" Tommy stated.
"So, how about we stop Faulkner together?" Bastion asked
"Sounds excellent," Jason agreed. "Ready for your official induction?" he asked.
"Lead on, Jase; I was born ready," Bastion affirmed.
"All right then: It's morphin' time!" Jason ordered. The rangers, all 7, reached for their morphers in response.
"Dragonzord!"
"Mastodon!"
"Pterodactyl!"
"Triceratops!"
"Saber-Tooth Tiger!"
"Tyrannosaurus!"
"Ultragunner!"
Sleek power suits formed over the rangers as they flew out of the command center leaving streaks of colorful light behind them. After a short flight to the edge of Angel Grove Park, they landed atop a large city building with a flat roof, proving an amazing view of the tree-filled park. Inside the park, they saw civilians running in terror from the newly rebuilt Zulwarn.
Upon landing, the rangers curiously looked at their new teammate. Bastion now wore a white power suit, adorned with gold ankle and forearm pads and a black and gold armor vest bearing the same symbol as his power coin. His white helmet featured a gold, tiger-face mask. Trini and Kimberly flanked him on both sides and started gently touching his arms and shoulders.
"Look at you!" Kimberly proclaimed. "You look awesome as a power ranger!"
"Whod've thought we'd be getting a white ranger. And such a cute one!" Trini added.
His awkward blushing concealed under his helmet, Bastion stammered, "Well..I.."
Jason called for his team to come to focus, "C'mon guys, we gotta stop Faulkner!"
The other rangers turned to Jason as apologies such as "Oh right right" and "Sorry; I'm with ya" could be heard.
"All right, rangers," directed Jason. Zack, Trini, Kimberly, and Billy proceeded to join him as the 5 of them spoke in unison, "We need dinozord power!"
First, the big strong Tyrannosaurus rose out of its pit with a mighty roar. Second was the stalwart Mastodon, which marched out of its cold hideaway. Up next was the tough Triceratops rolling out of the sandy desert. Finally, the nimble Saber Tooth Tiger jumped out of the woods while the speedy Pterodactyl flew into battle. Upon the zords' arrival, the original 5 power rangers boldly leapt into their respective mechs and took the controls. Calling the team into action, Jason ordered, "Rangers, log on!"
"Zack here! Let's do this!"
"Billy! All systems go!"
"Trini! Ready and raring!"
"Kimberly! Flying in!"
Retaking the mic, Jason guided the team, "Rangers, power up your crystals!" as he moved his red power crystal into the slot.
The other 4 responded in kind, "2, 1, power up!" as they followed his lead.
"Move!" Jason shouted as the zords once again converged into their tank shape. Now that all 5 were in the bridge of the Megazord, Jason declared, "Going to battle mode!"
"Megazord sequence has been initiated!" the system voice acknowledged. Megazord's 2 strong arms unfolded, followed by the detaching of the Pterodactyl and the rising of the superstructure to its feet. Pterodactyl flew back towards the main body as the head of the Tyrannosaurus folded down into its chest revealing the stern face of the Megazord. Pterodactyl affixed itself to the Megazord's chest, and immediately after, the zord's spiked helmet enclosed its face. Once the helmet was locked in, the system voice verified, "Megazord activated" while its eyes glowed yellow.
Beholding the Megazord, Tommy asserted, "Time for some Dragonzord power!" as he reached for the green Dragon Dagger. Tommy slowly paid the summoning song. A few short seconds later, the waters around Angel Grove harbor violently exploded as the gigantic Dragonzord rose out of the ocean, stretched its arms, and marched into battle. Tommy made a tremendous jump from the roof of the original building to the top of the Dragonzord so he could board it.
Now alone on the rooftop, Bastion felt the eyes of the rangers fixed upon him. Guiding himself, he said, "All right; let's see if I got this right." He reached into a small pouch on his belt and pulled out the Gratia stone. Holding it tightly, he shouted, "Power up, Ultragunner!"
An enormous green wire frame shaped like Ultragunner erupted from the Gratia. Moments later, the real Ultragunner around the wire frame and struck a defensive pose. Bastion proclaimed, "Excellent! It worked!" as he jumped into the ATAC with a "Hya!"
In the command center, Puck said to Alpha-5 standing near him, "That's my cue!"
Alpha replied, "Good luck, my new friend," as Puck vanished in a flash of white light.
As Bastion arrived in the bridge of the Ultragunner, he saw Puck, now wearing a white power suit similar to Bastion's but lacking the shield vest, sitting in the co-pilot's chair. The 2 longtime friends high-fived each other just before taking to their controls. Finally, Bastion placed the Gratia into the console, causing Ultragunner to light up and flex its arms into a ready stance.
Now aware of his mecha-sized company, Faulkner shouted to his longtime opponent, "Bastion! This time I will finish you!" Faulkner focused his energy into Zulwarn's console, prompting it to emit rings of dark miasma. The 7 rangers painfully reacted to the brutal pulsing waves.
"Not when I have a team like this with me!" Bastion retorted. "Ha!" he grunted as he strongly spread his arms. In perfect synch with Bastion, the Ultragunner emitted comforting waves of light that dispelled the miasma and relieved the power rangers of its grip.
"Bastion, take point. We'll get him from the sides," Jason instructed.
"Got it!" Bastion agreed.
Once again, Ultragunner's Eternus and Zulwarn's Soulstab clanged loudly as the 2 mechs briefly dueled. After a few blocked strikes, Zulwarn snuck a stab through Ultragunner's defenses, jabbing it in the chest. As Zulwarn raised the black halberd for a combination, it movement was cut off as Megazord and Dragonzord each grabbed one of Zulwarn's arms. Ultragunner fiercely sliced the vulnerable Zulwarn with Eternus. The force of the chop pushed Zulwarn out of the zords' hold. Though shaken up, Faulkner willed his mech to blast a ring of dark energy that violently shoved his 3 opponents back several yards in a sea of sparks. Not skipping a beat, the big evil ATAC charged the Megazord violently with a shoulder tackle, causing the colorful zord to lose its footing and fall on its back.
"Uhgf!" reacted the power rangers as the sharp impact sent their Megazord flying.
"He's gotten nastier since last time!" Zack warned.
"Keep it together, guys," Jason motivated the others.
Zulwarn speedily turned around to deflect incoming attacks from the other 2 mechs. Faulkner fired a blast of dark energy from the Soulstab at Ultragunner, disorienting Bastion and Puck. Dragonzord slashed Zulwarn across its head and chest with its claws, now unsheathed.
"What'cha got, Faulkner?" Tommy challenged from the Dragonzord bridge.
Cringing from the damage, Faulkner nonetheless gloated, "More than you know, power ranger!"
Dragonzord attempted to follow its first slash with another, but Zulwarn caught it by the arm and performed a Judo throw, slamming Dragonzord into Ultragunner.
"Waaa!" the frightened Puck screamed as Ultragunner fell from being struck with its own partner.
"We need the power sword!" Jason shouted.
The beautiful steel power sword gently descended from the sky and dug itself into the ground near Megazord's position. Megazord gripped its broadsword and stared towards Zulwarn. Ready for a difficult duel, Megazord marched toward its deadly adversary and took an aggressive swing. Faulkner met the strike with Zulwarn's black halberd, Soulstab. The mechs weapon's clashed loudly again, but then the Megazord successfully struck Zulwarn's left shoulder. In one fluid motion, Megazord finished its follow through, then sharply reversed the direction of its right hand to backfist Zulwarn in its face.
"I'll show you my real power!" Faulkner boomed. Zulwarn quickly kicked Megazord in the chest, then held its hand out, fingers stretched out as far as they could go. A black pentagram flew at Megazord. Zulwarn then flicked its hand once, sending a black star to the top of the pentgram. Finally, Zulwarn closed its fist, triggering a massive energy explosion upon the Megazord.
The rangers shouted in shock as the Megazord bridge quaked and sparks flew from every corner.
"What was THAT?" Zack asked in shock.
"It's a new variation of that 'Heaven's Gate' move of his," Trini explained. "It's not as powerful, but it's a lot faster!"
While Megazord was stunned, Faulkner aggressively spun the Soulstab, hitting Megazord in the head twice, and then chopped it in the chest, denting and cracking its armor.
"Hang in there, guys!" Tommy encouraged. Tommy then drew the Dragon Dagger to play the fight song. Dragonzord's red lights beeped and blinked as the mighty green mech rose to its feet, gave a Godzilla-esque wail, and armed its missiles. Their blasts rattled Faulkner, which left him vulnerable to Ultragunner's hard left hook.
"Combinations, Bastion!" Puck reminded his longtime friend.
Ultragunner followed the punch with a sword thrust. Continuing the assault on Zulwarn, Ultragunner slashed again. Faulkner was able to weakly block the Eternus, but Bastion and Puck then took arm control of the Zulwarn, moving its guard down. Recognizing the opportunity the teamwork generated, Tommy instructed the Dragonzord to whip Zulwarn with its drilling tail.
"Gaahhh! Enough of this!" Faulkner angrily bellowed.
Zulwarn shot several of its feather-spikes at Ultragunner, which proceeded to explode, mildly staggering Bastion and Puck. Faulkner then turned his attention to Dragonzord. Focusing more energy into the control panel, Faulkner willed Zulwarn to hurl another black pentagram at Dragonzord. This time, Zulwarn, flexed its right arm, then immediately extended the arm back out in an open-handed pushing motion, causing Dragonzord to soar backwards into the air then fall on its back.
"We gotta get back in this!" Jason urged.
"Jason! Megazord's armor is damaged; if we take another hit he could break it. Or us." Kimberly warned.
"We need more armor, then," planned Jason.
"But we're separated," advised Billy.
"Bastion, can you keep him busy for a few moments?" Jason asked.
"Good as done, Jase!" Bastion affirmed.
Ultragunner closed in on Zulwarn, Eternus drawn. Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Dragonzord lay flat on its back. Inside its bridge, Tommy reached for his Dragon Dagger and encouraged "C'mon partner, we got a job to finish!" and played the 6-note Dragonzord fight song. The red lights on Dragonzord's chest plate rapidly blinked and beeped as the heavy green mech re-energized and rose its feet. Once fully balanced, Dragonzord started marching past the dueling Ultragunner and Zulwarn.
Upon landing a jab on Ultragunner, Faulkner turned its attention to the moving Dragonzord, still separated from Megazord. Tommy slowed his advance and prepared to defend against Zulwarn's impending advance, but then he heard Puck tell him through his communicator, "Tommy, keep going; we'll cover you!" as Ultragunner slashed Eternus, causing an arc of neon green light to slice Zulwarn in the back of its head.
"Aghf!" Faulkner startled.
"Thanks, buddy!" Tommy told Puck as he directed Dragonzord to the opposite side of the field. Bastion moved Ultragunner towards Zulwarn.
Dragonzord finally reached Megazord's side. Upon seeing his right hand mech beside the Megazord, Jason lead, "All right, rangers: We need Mega-DRAGON-zord power!"
Dragonzord's chest plate detached while its arms and shoulders lifted, producing an opening in its superstructure. It then affixed itself to the Megazord like a set of football shoulder pads. Tommy now appeared in the Mega Dragonzord's cockpit, sitting directly behind Jason. Upon joining the other rangers, Tommy told them, "Bastion and Puck need backup!"
"Move!" Jason instructed as Mega Dragonzord quickly charged Zulwarn, Power Sword in hand.
Eternus and Soulstab clanged together loudly twice, followed by Zulwarn harshly jabbing Soulstab's pointed spear into Ultragunner's chest. Faulkner quickly had his midnight blue ATAC deliver a left-hand punch to Ultragunner's face while pulling the Soulstab back with its right hand. Faulkner angrily charged the Soustab with black energy, pointing it Ultragunner, but was suddenly met with Mega Dragonzord's Power Sword down upon its elbow-joint. The strike disarmed Zulwarn, and the metallic axe of the Zulwarn made a loud clanging sound as it fell onto the ground. Zulwarn retaliated with a blast of spikes, causing more damaging sparks to fly. Zulwarn quickly kicked Mega Dragonzord in the stomach, then came in close to grab and twist Megazord's massive arm, causing it to drop the Power Sword, which loudly fell flat on the grassy field surface. Not wasting any time, Zulwarn backfisted Mega Dragonzord in the face, disorienting the rangers in the bridge.
Recovering his balance, Zack declared, "Man! This guy's nasty, even for the big zord!"
"Our elevated durability has proven essential," Billy explained.
"Billy's right; we're still in this!" Trini stated.
"Bastion, Puck, we need to work as a team!" Kimberly instructed her newest teammates.
"Coming right up!" Bastion confidently asserted.
Ultragunner grabbed Zulwarn's shoulders from behind and drove a knee into its back. With Ultragunner holding it in place, Mega Dragonzord delivered a fierce uppercut punch to Zulwarn's stomach. Then, Ultragunner wrapped its arms around Zulwarn's waist and performed a German suplex, slamming Zulwarn's upper back into the solid earth.
"All right, let's blast him!" Jason ordered. "Mega Dragonzord, fire!"
Mega Dragonzord tapped the backs of its fists into the heavy armor plates on its sides, seemingly triggering an energy charging glow. Energy from the 2 plates starting flowing the center of Mega Dragonzord's torso, forming a large glowing orb with a shining 'Z' in the center. Mega Dragonzord made a pushing motion with its fists, hurling the deadly orb at Zulwarn, still stumbling to a vertical base. As the orb slammed into Faulkner's wretched ATAC, a gigantic explosion sent Zulwarn flying backwards until it brutally hit the hard ground. Inside both Ultragunner and Mega Dragonzord, the power rangers cheered happily, proudly celebrating their apparent victory.
Outside of the rangers' notice, Zulwarn glowed with dark energy, its mobility and health slowly returning. Still laying on the ground, Zulwarn reached out towards the opposing mechs and started throwing black stars towards them. It then extended its right arm in the direction of the dropped Soulstab, which flew a short height off the ground back towards Zulwarn's waiting hand.
While the most of the rangers reveled in victory, Kimberly's happiness gave way to concern. Looking outside and seeing the Zulwarn's black pentagram, she warned, "Hey guys, isn't that..?"
Also noticing the eerie symbol, Puck shouted, "Look out!"
Zulwarn sprung to its feet and chopped the Soulstab downward, triggering a brutal explosion of dark energy on the ground between Ultragunner and Mega Dragonzord. The immense impace sent both mechs onto the sides as each hit the turf shoulder first.
Faulkner marched his ATAC back to the fray and gave the still-fallen Ultragunner a heavy stomp.
"C'mon, Power Ranger! Show me what you got!" Faulkner taunted.
"I don't how he survived that, but let's help Bastion and Puck!" Zack suggested.
Tommy once again drew out the Dragon Dagger and played the fight song. A steady lime green glow emanated from the eyes inside Dragonzord's head, still affixed to the Megazord like a coif over its regular helmet. As the glow wore off, the Mega Dragonzord regained its mobility. Mega Dragonzord reached for the Power Sword where it previously dropped it and climbed back to a vertical base. With a heavy swing, the power rangers bludgeoned the distracted Zulwarn with the shining broadsword. Faulkner aggressively retaliated, backfisting, axe-slashing, and finally side-kicking Mega Dragonzord. Mega Dragonzord staggered, barely managing to stay up.
"Give me all the power we have, Puck!" Bastion instructed.
"You got it!" Puck affirmed.
Ultragunner ascended once again and engaged Zulwarn with the great Eternus sword, which was met with a block from Soulstab. Zulwarn quickly turned to block a slash from its other side as Mega Dragonzord re-engaged. This change of attention bought Bastion enough time to fire a blast of white light energy from the tip of Eternus. Jason immediately followed by firing a heavy blast from Mega Dragonzord's chest cannons. Finally, Ultragunner and Mega Dragonzord front-thrust kicked Zulwarn in unison, pushing it backwards.
"Wuhhh?!" Faulker shouted as Zulwarn fell on its butt. The 2 heroic zords looked towards each other.
"I have to finish him," Bastion explained. "The light of the Ultragunner can vanquish the Zulwarn's dark power. Without Ultragunner's light, Zulwarn will just reassemble itself."
Bastion engaged the controls but Puck quickly interrupted its motion. Puck clarified, "Wait, Bastion! You're part right; Ultragunner has to destroy Zulwarn, but you don't have to go it alone; Billy, it's time!"
Over in the bridge of the Mega Dragonzord, Billy acknowledged, "Right. Guys, we need to activate the new zord formation."
"It's gonna take every zord working together to stop Faulkner," Trini clarified.
"All right then, let's finish him! All together! I call on Titanus and the power of the Ultrazord!" Jason commanded.
Titanus, the colossal white brachiosaurus mech, rolled out onto the field behind the bipedal zords. Mega Dragonzord took an enormous leap into the air, then slowly descended into the bay on Titanus's back. Pale yellow lights appeared between Mega Dragonzord's feet and Titanus's back as the mechs fused together into one massive vehicle. Now fully formed, Ultrazord rapidly rolled its way over to Ultragunner.
"All right! We're ready for you, Puck!" Kimberly confirmed.
"Thanks, Kimberly!" Puck replied.
The chest plate of the Dragonzord, now affixed on the front of the Ultrazord on Titanus's belt, folded downward. Following this, Titanus raised its long white neck raised up several yards, making room for Ultragunner to fit underneath whilst standing with its feet on either side of the Dragonzord chest plate. Barely touching the chest plate, Ultragunner seemed to hover in front of the Ultrazord as blue beams of electricity emanating from the chest plate secretly held it aloft. Bastion and Puck appeared in pillars of white light on opposite sides of Tommy in the bridge of the Ultrazord.
"Rangers, meet the brand new, Ultragunnerzord!" Puck introduced.
"This is incredible!" Tommy opined.
"Not as incredible as what we're about to do!" Zack added.
In unison, the 8 heroes shouted, "Ultragunnerzord, fire!" as they shot their arms forward extending 2 fingers on each hand in the process.
The stunned Zulwarn had finally stood back up when Faulkner noticed the newly constructed mech before him. "Wha?" he stuttered in shock.
Ultragunner extended its Eternus sword with both arms as the numerous cannons on the Ultrazord were turned inward. Immediately following, its wrists began to turn causing the gigantic sword to spin like a drill. Titanus roared as its red eyes lit up and emitted two red lasers. Finally, all the remaining weapons on the Ultrazord fired a series of energy bullets. All of these fired weapons rapidly accumulated in a pillar that glowed around Eternus. After charging for a quick couple of seconds, Eternus blasted the immeasurable mass of gathered energy at Zulwarn in a series of deadly spiraling lights.
"What the..!" Faulkner screamed before the brutal impact of the Ultragunner's assault interrupted his speech.
As the bolts violently slammed into Zulwarn, massive explosions erupted as its superstructure was torn asunder, blue armor plates flying in a myriad of directons. When the pyrotechnics stopped, Zulwarn stood motionless for a brief moment before lifelessly falling over. As his defeated ATAC plummeted to its impending death, Faulkner managed to shout, "No! Impossible!" before Zulwarn crashed into the hard ground and viciously exploded into a mess of flames and shrapnel.
The Ultragunnerzord bridge erupted into a cacophony of cheers, high 5s and 10s, screams of merriment, and gentle laughter as the delighted power rangers all felt rushes of joy, relief, and satisfaction. The celebrating power rangers smiled jovially under their helmets as Alpha-5 and Zordon observed from the Command Center.
"They did it, Zordon! Woooo!" Alpha celebrated.
"Yes they did, Alpha. Their dedication to the continued safety and freedom of the Earth truly inspires me," Zordon revealed.