Burning Crimson

Summary: The Champion of the Phoenix if fated to die to defeat a powerful enemy. But first the Universe will know . . . Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger. The conclusion of the Crimson Ranger trilogy. AU for MMPR Season 2 and beyond.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I intend/desire to make any money off the Power Rangers/Super Sentai concepts and characters presented in this story. They are fully the property of their respective owners and are used with loving respect. Furthermore, this story utilizes concepts borrowed/adapted from Chris Claremont's run on X-Men.

Chapter 14: Quests Part II

Karone was pacing around her room. It was a lovely suite, well appointed and comfortable. However, as the days passed it became to feel more and more like a prison. She had been told repeatedly by the Eltaran doctors that the isolation and the constant tests were a precaution to make sure that there were no lingering effects from the years under the Power of Darkness for her and the others freed by Zordon's energy. However, after her most recent meeting with the new Chancellor, Gant, she was beginning to feel that they were all being held until the Eltarans could come up with a legitimate reason to really imprison them.

The former Princess of Evil was pulled from her thoughts by the chime of the announcer. She was actually fairly shocked by the sound . . . the doctors and Gant had a tendency to just barge in. She took a moment to collect herself and then said, "Enter."

The door slid aside to reveal a pale human male with amber eyes and dark hair with a reddish tint . . . which marked him as being Terran, no other human species, save the now extinct Pheadosians, exhibited red tones in their hair. He wore a black uniform with a dark red shirt. Karone gasped slightly and took a step back when she saw the emblem on the jacket's left breast . . . the mark of the Phoenix.

He stepped into the room with a gentle smile and said, "Relax, I mean you no harm. I assume you know who I am?"

Karone gathered herself, "The Crimson Ranger. Champion of the Phoenix."

He nodded. "So, how are you enjoying Eltaran hospitality?" His voice dripped with sarcasm as he said the final word.

"Chillier than I had heard. But then, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised . . . given the circumstances."

There was an edge to the Crimson Ranger's voice, "That's no excuse. Come on, it's past time we got you home."

"What? How? The Council . . ."

"Really doesn't have a choice in the matter. Inquiris threatened to cut off diplomatic relations in order to get Devania back. Rita's still a sorceress, so they weren't really able to hold her, Alveth, Serena, and the others."

"Won't the Eltarans go after them."

"Not unless they want to piss me off they won't," the Crimson Ranger responded with a smile.

"And me?" Karone asked, still confused.

"KO-35's government informed the Council this morning that they could hold back Andros and his team one more day . . . after that anything that happened was on the Council's heads."

Karone couldn't help but smile at that. After everything she had put them through, that Andros and his friends would do that amazed her, prompting her to mentally correct herself to identify them as her brother and her friends.

"But before I send you home, I do need to ask you a question," the Crimson Ranger intruded on her thoughts.

"Anything."

"I need to know what happened to Dark Specter, from an eyewitness."

Karone related the story of Darkhonda's betrayal and Dark Specter's destruction. The Phoenix Champion's expression became dark for a moment, and then he smiled, "Thank you." Raising his left wrist Karone noticed he was wearing the same style bracelet communicator that the Space Rangers had their morphers programmed to disguise themselves as, and that they had given to her. "Alpha, you ready?"

A mechanical voice with a slightly deeper tone than the Alpha Karone was used to responded, "Locked on."

"Teleport."

Karone smiled as the familiar tingle of Ranger grid-teleporation moved across her skin. Although she was a bit surprised as her vision filled with blue sparkles.

"My Lady," the Chronitron at the sensor console called for Dimitria's attention in its mechanical monotone.

"What is it?" she replied, slipping the dagger she had been playing with back into its boot-sheathe.

"The sensor pod is detecting ten more morphing signatures on Earth. Two each share similar harmonics. The remaining six show a third harmonic variation."

Rising from her command chair she commanded, "On screen."

A topographical map of Earth appeared on the screen and then zoomed in on what Dimitria remembered Terrans called the North American continent. The two sets of two signatures were together and clearly marked on the map. The third set kept shifting around a roughly one hundred square mile area. "Why is the fix on the third signal unclear?" she demanded.

"There is a layered series of technological and mystical barriers scrambling the signal," the Chronotron responded. "This is the best the remote sensor can localize it. We are at too great a distance to use the ship's main sensor array to enhance the resolution."

Dimitria growled in frustration for a moment, and then smiled. "It really doesn't matter where they are. In fact," she now purred as her idea coalesced, "it has always been rather frustrating, this whole sending the monsters to the Rangers. Why don't we make the Rangers go to the monsters?" She addressed the Chronitron's again, "How many monster-class Tallicks are we carrying?"

"Three Mistress," the Chronitron at Ops responded.

"Perfect." Striding forward she ordered, "Expand map." As the image expanded to show a flat image of Earth's land masses Dimitria remembered a time that brat Justin had been prattling on about his geography homework. "Teleport a monster here and here," she commanded, pointing out the locations of two of Earth's larger cities.

Justin and TJ were monitoring the situations in Mariner Bay, Angel Grove, and Reefside with Eric and Wes via a feed from the Command Center in the Silver Guardians operations center in Silver Hills. Suddenly, their morphers started beeping frantically. The four exchanged a glance and then TJ answered, "TJ here, go ahead."

"Aiy, aiy, aiy!" Alpha's voice issued from the device. "There is a monster type Tallick in Berlin!"

Wes joined the conversation via his morpher, "Like the one Lightspeed fought in New York?"

"Affirmative."

"Then prep the teleport coordinates Alpha," TJ responded, "we're on our way."

The four Rangers exchanged a glance, and then . . .

"Shift into Turbo! Red Lightning Turbo Power!"

"Mountain Blaster Turbo Power!"

"Time for Timeforce!"

"Quantum Power!"

Cam had been monitoring the satellite feeds when he suddenly said, "Oh crap."

The other Ninja Storm Rangers gathered behind him and Shane asked, "What is it?"

But Cam didn't respond to Shane, instead he contacted the Command Center, "Ninja Ops to Command Center, are you reading a second monster in Sydney?"

"Affirmative Ninja Ops."

Cam and Shane exchanged a glance, "This one's ours."

Cam rose and he and the others formed on Shane, who asked, "Ready?"

His teammates responded, "Ready!" And then . . .

"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!"

"Thunder Storm, Ranger Form!"

"Samurai Storm, Ranger Form!"

"Ha!"

For the last several minutes the ground along the trail had become rockier. As the Rangers followed the path around several large trees they entered an impressive clearing at the base of the Monolith. The forest and two tall cliff faces, with a waterfall cascading down one of them defined the clearing and served to channel the eye to the massive stone doors set into the wall of the Monolith.

"It's amazing," Aisha commented as she and the other looked around.

"There is likely some final layer of defense to face," Billy observed.

Tommy nodded at Billy, and then glancing at the others said, "Okay, let's go. Nice and easy."

The new Ninjetti slowly approached the doors. As they reached the set of steps leading up from the ground to the doors, Tommy signaled the others to stop and proceeded alone. He reached the doors and noted the four inhuman warriors carved into the massive stones. He cautiously reached out to touch one. When nothing happened, he turned to the others and shrugged. However, no sooner had he made eye contact with Kim he heard the sound of metal sliding over stone and saw Kim's eyes widen. She cried warning, "Tommy!"

Tommy spun and then back just in time to evade a double slash from the now animate, armored, and armed carving as it stepped away from the doors. Another slash forced Tommy to back flip to the ground level. As the other Rangers gathered around him he looked up and saw the other three carvings become three dimensional warriors and join the first.

"They look tough," Rocky said.

"What's the plan Tommy?" Adam asked.

Tommy paused and then yelled, "Ninjetti! White Falcon!"

The others quickly followed suit: "Pink Crane!"

"Blue Wolf!"

"Black Ape!"

"Green Frog!"

"Yellow Bear!"

"Report," Dimitria commanded.

"Four Rangers have engaged Monster 01. Six have engaged Monster 02," the Chronitron responded.

Dimitria smiled coldly, "Teleport Monster 03."

Captain Mitchell slumped as the news came in, "Rio. They've sent another one to Rio. Everyone's in play. God help us."

There was a silence broken by Cole speaking into his communicator, "Alpha, teleport us to the site of the latest monster."

William spun and yelled, "Stop!" You don't have any powers! How do you expect to fight that thing?"

The expressions on the six Wild Force Rangers faces, and the edge in Zen Aku's yellow eyes spoke more than words. Pure, hard determination. And something else, something that William could only describe as faith. He had seen it in his team's eyes before that last fight with the demons . . . the unwavering belief that they were Rangers, and therefore they would find a way to win.

William nodded and Cole spoke into the communicator again, "Teleport."

High above Turtle Cove, a force as old as life on Earth moved through the jungle of the Animarium. It swirled around the unconscious form of Princess Shayla before coalescing in the form of a young boy. With a voice that betrayed his age and power, Animus spoke, "Awaken Shayla, the powers of Animaria are needed again."

Shayla awoke and her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the primal spirit's human avatar, "Animus, have the Orgs returned?"

"No Princess, but our Warriors are needed again. Stir the Wild Zords!"

Nodding, Shayla rose, centered herself, and sung the Song of Evocation in the ancient tongue of Animaria. Her song was answered by a series of roars, cries, and a howl. Seconds later six colored orbs streaked into the air from various points on the Animarium.

Cole went flying into a parked car, the windshield shattering as he smashed into it. Alyssa ran to his side as Merrick and Zen Aku snarled and attacked the monster-class Tallick with Danny as Taylor and Max attempted to clear the area of civilians, and get wounded Brazilian police and military officers to cover.

Cole was dislodging himself from the car as Alyssa ran up, "We can't keep this up. Without our powers we can't fight this thing. Even Zen Aku is outmatched."

"We can't just . . .," Cole paused, and then asked, "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Alyssa asked and then looked to the sky as Cole was where she spotted six colored streaks: red, yellow, blue, black, pink-tinged white, and silver. Realization dawned and she almost squealed, "Our crystals?!"

Hearing Alyssa, the other Wild Force Rangers looked to the sky, just in time to catch their animal crystals. Once contact was made, each Wild Zord reached out and touched the heart of their Ranger, and then the crystals transformed to Growl Phones in flashes of light.

Cole looked at the monster with a feral smile and yelled, "Wild Force ready! Wild Access!"

Aboard the Vengence a Chronitron called for Dimitria's attention, "My Lady, another set of six morphing signatures just appeared at the location of Monster 03."

"What?!" Dimitria screeched as she rose from her chair. She checked the readouts herself as a dark expression crossed her face. "Very well. Priority command signal to the sensor

probe. Fire the Statolasers!"

In Berlin Eric, Wes, TJ, and Justin watched the monster grow for a split second before Eric commented, "Well, we're screwed."

As the same thing happened in Sydney, Dustin turned to Cam, "Dude, please tell me you've finished rebuilding our Zords."

"I would love to Dustin," Cam responded, "but I don't want the last thing I say to you to be a lie."

"Call the Zords!" Cole yelled.

"Cole, wait," Taylor interrupted. "One of these things trashed the Super Train Megazord. The Wild Mega and the Predazord may not be enough."

Cole nodded, "Right, then we call all of them. Taylor, you and Danny take the Wild Mega. Max and Alyssa, you have the Kongazord. I'll take Isis. Zen Aku, you . . ."

"Merrick can fight the Predazord on his own, I will assist civilians," Zen Aku responded."

"Right." The others pulled out their crystal daggers, Merrick the Lunar Cue, and Cole the Falcon Summoner and as one they called, "Wild Zords, descend!"

In response a glowing rainbow flowed from the sky and the air was filled with the calls of the Zords as they responded. Within seconds the four Wild Force Megazords faced off against the monster Tallick.

In Angel Grove Goldar backed away from the advancing Zeo Rangers, the shattered remains of his Tallick contingent littering the ground. He snarled in challenge.

"Give it up Goldar, you're on your own. Cenagog and Vypra's forces have also been defeated," Trini informed him.

"That may be Red Ranger," Goldar spat, "but how will you deal with the monsters tearing apart your cities? Even with all the Zords on this planet, you can't hope to defeat the monster-class Tallicks."

Trini experienced a moment of doubt. Goldar might be right. They had limited Zord resources and, while they were holding their own and likely to win, even all the Megazords the Wild Force Rangers had brought to bear were taking a severe beating. Suddenly Trini was provided with her answer as light and fire exploded in the air above the city in the form of the Phoenix symbol. As it cleared eight colored streaks shot across the sky."

"Go on Goldar, I think you were gloating prematurely, as usual," Zack taunted.

The Ninja Storm Rangers used every trick in their arsenal to try stay ahead of the monster Tallick and keep civilians safe, as well as one of their own. Dustin had tried super growth and been knocked unconscious by the monster.

They were on the verge of losing hope when Tori spotted six colored streaks land on the roof of the nearby Opera house. Six Rangers, all wearing armor that matched Jason's in design, stood in a line. The Blue Ranger yelled at the monster, "Hey! My wife was born here!"

"Uh oh," the Yellow Ranger announced, "You pissed off Billy. Sucks to be you."

"Let's do it guys," the White Ranger commanded. "Ninjetti Falcon Zord, Soar!"

"Ninjetti Crane Zord, Take wing!"

"Ninjetti Wolf Zord, Howl!"

"Ninjetti Ape Zord, Swing in!"

"Ninjetti Frog Zord, Hop to it!"

"Ninjetti Bear Zord, Roar!"

The air above Sydney twisted, shifted, and then there were the six Ninjetti Zords. Unlike their predecessor Ninja Zords, these looked far more organic, almost alive while still being gleaning metal. The Rangers leapt to their Zords. Almost immediately the Falcon and Crane swooped in and slashed with their talons . . . and succeeded in gouging the Tallick. The Bear did the same as it reared up on its hind legs and swiped its forepaw claws across the Tallick's chest. The Bear cleared out as the Frog wrapped its tongue around one of the monster's legs and the Wolf sunk its teeth into the other. The Ape then took the Tallick to the ground with a flying tackle.

Over their comm-system Tommy called, "Okay guys, let's bring 'em together."

All six Rangers commanded, "Ninjetti Megazord Power!"

While the Ninjetti Zords fit together in the same pattern as their Ninja Zord predecessors, the connections were smoother, more interlocking, leaving the Ninjetti Megazord more streamlined, more with the appearance of a giant armored, winged warrior.

"Feels like coming home," Tommy commented as he smiled under his new helmet. "Time to break the monster."

In Berlin Brandon and Jason's Pegasus Megazord had made quick work of that monster. The one in Sydney never really stood a chance after the Rangers formed the Ninjetti Megazord. The Wild Force Megas took some heavy damage, but in the end they were victorious. With their ground troops defeated Goldar, Vypra, and Cenagog retreated.

On Earth, the Rangers celebrated. Aboard the Vengence Thrax's generals awaited the last of their number in the launch bay, waiting to find out whether their mission was the failure the Rangers believed it to be, or the success they had launched the various diversionary attacks in order to achieve.

Gant's shuttle cleared the atmosphere barrier field and settled onto the deck. With a hiss of gas as the pressures equalized the boarding ramp descended and Gant exited the shuttle. Dimitria stepped forward and asked, "Well? Was your mission a success?"

Gant smiled coldly and gestured to the shuttle and the Chronitrons offloading a large suspension chamber on an anti-grav skid. Floating in a chamber was a massive hunk, more massive than Goldar, of dark stone. However, from the myriad cracks in the stone's surface a red glow issued. "Behold," Gant announced, "the Heart of Dark Specter."