Sankari sat alone in his throne room. His legs were crossed and his eyes tightly closed. A calmness washed over him as meditation brought him closer to his own Ninjetti. Images floated around his head, thoughts that seemed to lack any real narrative or even context. He was a lone survivor or the world constructed by swirling colored and juttering sounds.
The lone pillars of light slowly began to crystallize, their existence seemed to gain a greater sense of stability. They formed tall building, gray stone surfaces with tight windows. Sankari knew this landscape well enough. It was graphed from his childhood after all.
A figured approached Sankari, his bulking body waddled carelessly. He may have been clumsy, but his eyes were focused and serious.
His green face frowned at Sankari, and Choobo spoke softly, "My friend, you must break the spell cast over you."
Sankari's insides stirred. He could feel something throbbing inside him, a cold hand squeezing his insides tightly.
"Sankari, you have been played, you aren't yourself anymore!"
Sankari flinched, was it guilt he was feeling?
For the first time in a long time, Sankari actually began to see the light from within his reclusive shell.
Vexacus watched from the outside, noticing the tears that flowed from his employers face. This wasn't good.
Not good at all.
Vexacus had a plan, though, a seed had been planted not too long ago. A particular warrior slowly became the key to the next phase. Vexacus prepared himself for Earth, so wrapped up in his own visions that he remained completely unaware of the green figure moving around the ship.
The Rangers all sat together, they were beat and battered. An ugly bruise was forming around Reese's neck and Jonathan had a similar mark on his back.
Luke and Vega sat together, the two of them sat back to back, staring at opposite sides of the walls. Reese had tried to understand the complexity of their relationship longer than he was willing to admit. On one end it seemed to carry hints of romance, subtle winks and quick flashes of big smiles. Yet other moments there was a sort of loving distance between them, something that seemed to emulate a sort of brother/sister bond.
Rocky slide into the dojo, following him was a lanky Asian with dark hair and a slightly slouched back. The kept his head, almost afraid to make eye contact with Rangers, though he catch glimpses of them from the corner of his eye.
Vega noticed that his eyes wavered over her just a few moments longer then the rest.
"So who's this?" Luke finally asked.
"A friend," Rocky replied simply. The boy followed Rocky to a room that rested silently in the corner of the dojo.
"Isn't that Rocky's lab?" Reese asked, he hadn't really spent enough time at the dojo to know where every room was.
"Yeah." Vega replied softly, her eyes seemed to follow Rocky, and nothing else mattered.
The group silently approached Rocky's lab, peering in through a small window that rested near the top of the door. Rocky and the strange boy both sat at a gray table. Rocky's lab wasn't that extensive, he had some basic knowledge of advanced technology, but nothing that really warranted a multi million dollar set up.
To the Ranger's surprise Ninjor stood next to Rocky, he peered down over the table, seeming to examine its contents.
Rocky looked to the Ranger, he shrugged and offered to let them in.
Vega stepped in first she moved closer to the table, gazing at the jumbled mess of wires sprawled out on the table.
"So you're a descendant of the Wanatabe clan?" Ninjor asked in an amused tone.
"Yeah?" The boy said with an amazed looked, "How did you know that?"
"I made that Morpher." Ninjor replied plainly, "An ambitious warrior came to me five hundred years ago, he needed his power to end a family feud. I'm surprised it's still around."
"Barely." Luke muttered. Rocky flashed the Yellow Ranger a dirty looked, but his grin didn't waver.
Ninjor waved his hand over the small green orb, it began to glow with a blue energy as the wires began to slowly retract. Ninjor turned to the strange Asian boy, "I need you to channel your Ninjetti into the Morpher"
"Wait." Reese interrupted, "Did you say Morpher?" He then turned to Rocky, "Does that mean we're getting another teammate?"
The boy shrugged,blushing a little bit, "Maybe." Cameron held his hands out, hovering them over the Morpher. He stood for a few moments, then flashed an embarrassed face. "Shouldn't it just happen? Am I doing something wrong?"
"You've never channeled your Ninjetti before?" Rocky asked.
The boy gazed at the other Ranger, glowing a deep red. "My grandfather talked about it, but I never imagined it was a real thing."
"Couldn't we help?" Vega offered.
"No." Ninjor said sternly, "His Morpher needs to absorb his Ninjetti, that will ensure it will be synced to his energy."
Rocky pressed his hands on the boy's back, "You can do it Cameron."
"I don't think he can do it." Luke said, "The punk just doesn't have the spark."
Cameron's fist tightened, his face darkened as well. To everyone's amazement the Morpher began to glow with an emerald light. The entire Morpher began to heal itself, the wires fully retracted, moving with the pace of snakes. When everything was in its proper place the entire Morpher sealed itself closed, leaving Cameron with a beaming expression.
Cameron lifted the Morpher, examining it with a beaming expression. "When do you think I can try this baby out?"
A sharp alarm answered Cameron's plea. "Look's like you've got your chance." Rocky said.
The four Rangers led Cameron out towards the location of the disturbance, the boy couldn't seem to hide his grin.
Twisted Crimson stood tall. He was in the center of Stone Canyons Center Park, everyone had left, leaving the villain in a strange hollow zone. His only companions in the empty void, where the stray wrappers people had left during their mass fleeding.
Finally his opponent appeared, thin body, large shoulders, and a pale shark face. Vexacus snarled at the creature. "So this is what you have become?" Vexacus asked.
Twisted Crimson merely nodded, "This is the true power of the Shards."
"I see…" Vexacus nodded. He drew his short blade, holding it close to his chest. "Let's see your skill." The fishy villain became nothing but a faint blur, appearing behind Twisted Crimson, ready to strike. The Crimson villain blocked the blow with little trouble.
He laughed softly, "Satisfied yet?"
Vexacus jumped back, he threw several shuriken at Twisted Crimson, but the former Ranger quickly dodged with a smooth roll. Crimson held out his hand and fired a blast of black lightning. The lightning struck Vexacus, burning his jacket and leaving his pale skin raw and pink colored.
Smoke raised from the villain, but it didn't seem to hinder him. He stood tall and powerful. "You think you can hold this up forever?"
"I don't think I need to," Twisted Crimson replied, "If you can't tell I'm winning."
"I'm not talking about the battle." The villain said coolly, "I'm talking about that tough guy attitude of yours."
Twisted Crimson swung with his staff, he threw all of his anger into it, allowing the weapon to move faster than Vexacus could dodge. Sparks exploded across the villain. He reeled back, more smoke rising from his skin, "You can't pretend forever." Vexacus warned and fled.
Twisted Crimson stopped something on the ground, he moved closer, examining the blob. It was a velvet sack, it must have fallen from Vexacus by accident. He opened it and peered inside, a wide smile formed behind his visor. Vexacus's Shards shimmered from within the bag.
Corvus sat inside his dark cell. The gloomy ship rocked through space, its hyperdrive gave the entire ride the vague sense of being at sea. A gentle rock, a sudden jerk, as uncomfortable as it could be.
He folded his dark wings back, keeping his beaked head low. He took a deep breath in, trying to contain his sanity from within his cage.
He had come from the same world as the Falcoids, he was a great warrior on that planet, one of the best ever to walk the Earth. Seeing that, Sankari had offered him membership aboard his ship. Him and his fleet of Falcoids would be treated with the utmost respect.
Everything had been good, until an uproar aboard the ship. Sankari had brought another being aboard the ship, a fishy creature known as Vexacus. The Falcoids had went crazy, and it was blamed entirely on Corvus.
Because of this Sankari had ordered Corvus to be sent home. The hero of the Galaxy didn't like keeping prisoners, so he was to be shipped immediately. Yet his word wasn't kept, and Corvus had been left to rot for months.
Nobody came to check on him, he fed on rats to survive. He spent the long days with his back to the wall, dreaming of his grand escape.
Corvus's heart stopped, he detected faint movement. A slight shuffle from the outside.
He moved closer, trying to find the source.
"Hell-o friend." A cheerful voice said to Corvus. A bright green light illuminated the room, causing Corvus to shriek and fly back. The sight of any light caused him pain."Shhh," The deep voice urged, "You mustn't fuss, I've come only in your favor."
Once Corvus could adjust to the light everything began to make more sense. The creature standing at the other end of the bars was none other than Choobo. Choobo smiled at Corvus.
"What brings you to me?" He asked the green sage. Choobo had been one of the warriors brought to his home world to free the Falcoids from Lord Zedd's wrath. He was a widely loved man, a sight to see.
Choobo pressed his hands against the iron bars, they began to glow slightly. In less than a few moments the bars simply vanished, and Corvus was free.
"Vexacus was poisoning your warriors, giving them a nasty drug that distorted their sense of reason. I destroyed the drug. Now our dear Falcoids need a leader, they need you my friend."
Corvus smiled, the drums of war were beginning to play in his head.
Twisted Crimson could sense the Rangers approaching. He didn't care much, as long as he got the time to finish what Vexacus had left.
The Shards shimmered in his hand, and he could feel the dark energy seeping from them, it smelled like candy to the villain. He began to absorb their darkness, causing them to glow purple.
"Devon!" Nova yelled, appearing in front of Twisted Crimson, "What are you doing? You haven't even begun to control the darkness inside of you."
Twisted Crimson uttered a laugh, and Nova noticed the dark shadow looming over him. She had already failed him, he belonged to Him now.
The Shards entered Crimson's body, melting against his armor like heated butter. His entire body glowed with a pulsing energy and his armor gained more elongated shoulder guards.
He took a step closer, dark vapor leaked from his figure, "I don't need to control the darkness within me, I simply accept it for what it is."
By now the Rangers appeared, following them was a strange Asian boy with lanky limbs and a serious expression. It didn't matter to Twisted Crimson, he would kill all of them.
Nova blocked the path between Twisted Crimson and the Rangers, she turned to the Rangers, a horrified look on her face. "Get Navy away from here, the Shards inside him are to valuable to let them get into the wrong hands."
Crimson laughed, he threw his staff into her side, knocking Nova down and actually managing to wind her.
"I hadn't thought about that until now." Twisted Crimson said, "Thanks for that."
The three Ninjetti Rangers and Cameron stepped in front of Jonathan, "Sorry," Reese said, "Us first."
"Gladly." Crimson prepared to rush.
"Ninjetti Power!" The three Rangers yelled as their armor covered them.
Cameron held out his green amulet, it began to glow with a green light, the metal inside of the Morpher's center pulsed light as it spun."Ninjetti Power!"
The Green Ninjetti Ranger armor was similar in design to the others, only it had a golden vest hanging from it's chestplate and his helmet was designed after a throwing star shuriken. Ninjetti Green unsheathed his thin bladed katana and pointed it at Twisted Crimson.
"I may not know who you are, but I'm knew to this Ranger thing and I'm looking for some ass to kick."
Twisted Crimson charged at Ninjetti Green, but the Ranger quickly side-stepped the blow and slashed back at the armored villain. Ninjetti Green's blade may have met open air, but Twisted Crimson seemed weirdly shaken.
Ninjetti Red quickly jumped behind Twisted Crimson, he armed his Hawk Blaster and fired point-blank into the villain's back. The villain flailed around as sparks flew from his body.
Nova regained herself and sprang up, she looked to the Rangers and shouted, "Watch out, he is even stronger than before." As if to demonstrate her claim Twisted Crimson sprang up and swung his staff wildly, throwing the Red and Green Ranger away.
The Yellow Ranger jumped at Twisted Crimson, his Lion Hammer ready to smash into the villain while Ninja Blue followed with her sword. They were both taken down without a second thought.
Nova was the only one left, she stood in front of Jonathan, she held a silver blade in front of her. While although he held her normal sense of authority, her gaze seemed to convey fear.
"It's considered a master's darkest moment when they are forced to face their own pupil in combat." Nova sighed, her body began to glow with a pulsing white light, "Ninjetti Power!" She screamed as her armor formed around her. Her armor seemed more solid then Ranger armor, with a shiny white chestplate and pants that were covered in gold etchings.
Twisted Crimson swung down at Nova but the Eltarian blocked with her own blade. The two seemed equally matched, a sight which brought both comfort and fear to the Rangers.
"And to think, you had assumed you were the master of this equation." Twisted Crimson pushed Nova back and fired a bolt of lightning into her chest, causing her armor to spark and smoke.
The dark figure appeared behind Twisted Crimson, to the Crimson villain's surprise the Rangers were able to see the manifestation. "It is time." The smooth voice of the shadow commanded, "Unleash the true power of your beast."
Twisted Crimson laughed, deep red energy began to flow from his body, following it was small black tendrils. "Yeah, let's do this." The ground began to shake.
The Rangers tried to stand up, but the tremors below them made that virtually impossible. Ninja Red was left to watch in awe as the ground began to split around them. A giant horn pierced up from the dirt. Just the horn alone was as tall as a single story building.
Ninja Red managed to gain a shaky stance, barely able to balance himself as long, insectile feet began to claw up from the ground. The entire beast was now completely revealed, it was a giant crimson beetle. It's legs were more akin to tracks, except for two claws that had been used to dig itself up from the dirt.
"It's like a tank!" Ninja Yellow exclaimed, "How are we going to stop a tank?"
"The Beetlezord," Nova whispered, "One of Zordon's deadliest creations."
The Beetlezord armed its horn cannon, the barrel of the machine began to charge with electricity. In a blast of powerful energy the Beetlezord obliterated a nearby building with zero effort.
Ninja stood in awe, panic was quickly filling his insides. He wasn't sure what to do, the beast seemed impossible to beat. They would need an army of Rangers.
Suddenly his mind flashed back to the vision he had seen in the Forgotten Lands, the millions of Rangers charging forward…
The Forgotten Lands! Everything suddenly made perfect sense to Ninja Red.
He found the scroll Choobo had given him. "Guys," He said in a quivering voice, "I need you to come here."
The two Rangers crowded around the scroll, the ancient text explained how to use their Ninjetti at the correct frequency to contact their spirit beasts. The three Rangers grew still, channeling all of their Ninjetti. They called to their beasts, and their beasts called back.
The ground began to shake as the three spirit beasts approached.
