An unlikely ally presents itself as the Rangers continue their quest…

Ivan Ooze towered over the Rangers as the purple slime continued to swirl around him. The Rangers were preparing for him to make some kind of move but he stayed still, almost as if he was thinking about what to do.

"What's he doing?" Kim whispered.

"I don't know," Tommy replied "But I don't think I wanna stick around to find out."

"Yeah, I'm with you, man," Rocky added "I don't like the looks of this at all."

Slowly and almost hesitantly, Ivan began to approach the Rangers.

"I'm disappointed," he began "No threats. No smart remarks. No 'we're the Power Rangers!' Getting soft in your old age are you?"

"We can still take you, Ooze," Adam interjected.

"Ahh, so everything hasn't changed. It's good to see one of you still has some fire," he replied with a snarl "And it appears you have some new friends. What's the matter, couldn't take on the bad guys without help?"

Tommy looked at Jason, Zack, Trini and Kat, those who hadn't fought Ivan, then towards Kim, Rocky, Adam, Billy and Aisha who had fought him the first time, then back at Ivan.

"Ya know, with ten of us, we wouldn't even need Zords to take you out," he said with confidence.

"Well that's probably a good thing considering you don't have any," Ivan replied.

Under their helmets, the Rangers all shared expressions of shock that Ivan knew they were Zordless. "How could he possibly know?" they thought.

On Earth…

Ninjor had arrived in the Command Center and was waiting on Trey when a flash of gold light illuminated the room. When the light had faded, a unified Trey was standing with a smile.

"It's good to see you my friend," he said as he approached Zordon.

"Same to you Trey although I do wish it was under different circumstances," he replied "This is Ninjor."

Trey and Ninjor briefly introduced themselves to each other as the alarm in the Command Center began to blare loudly.

"Trey, Ninjor, King Mondo has launched an attack on Angel Grove. It appears as if he is targeting a local school," Zordon began "You must go immediately."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Ninjor replied.

"Yeah, Gold Ranger Power!" Trey shouted as he called for his power "You ready Ninjor?"

Ninjor nodded his head and grunted a "yes" as Alpha teleported them out of the Command Center to the school that was under attack.

Ivan's lair…

"Hahaha, you are all so ignorant," he chuckled "After all these years you still don't understand that there are powers at work far greater than yours. Now, if you want to stop King Mondo, I suggest you follow me."

For the first time in their long and storied tenure as Power Rangers, every single one of them had to take a step back and think about what they just heard. Although Jason, Kat, Zack and Trini hadn't fought against Ivan, they had heard enough from the others to know that he was about as bad as they came.

Everyone immediately turned to Tommy, waiting for their leader to give them some kind of direction. He simply shrugged his shoulders, bowed his head and shook it slowly from side to side.

"I don't know guys. On one hand it could be a trap," he said quietly "But we really don't have any other choice. We can't beat the Machine Empire without help. I say we do it."

"Are you crazy, bro?" Rocky asked "This guy beat the holy hell out of us last time. I guarantee you he's got something planned for us."

"I don't know, man. I think if he wanted a fight he would have started one," Adam interjected looking at his slime covered suit "Especially since we're on his turf now."

"I'm with Adam," Jason added as Zack, Billy and Trini quickly agreed.

"Then it's settled, we follow Ivan. But be on your guard," Tommy reminded them.

They all turned to follow Ivan but Tommy noticed that the only movements Kim was making were here knees shaking. He called for her to follow them but she stood firmly in her spot.

He slowly shook his head as he walked to where she was standing. He unclasped his helmet and quickly did the same to hers as he took her hands in his and began to run his thumb over the engagement ring under her glove.

"Come on, Beautiful," he said as he looked straight in her eyes "I can't do it without you."

"I'm scared, Tommy," she whispered quietly.

"Don't worry, Ivan won't lay a finger on you. I promise," he replied "I told you, I'll always be here to protect you, Beautiful.

He kissed her softly on the forehead as they pulled their helmets back on. Tommy grabbed her hand as they followed Ivan down a dimly lit hall.

After about ten minutes of walking they came to a gigantic wall that was easily four stories high. They immediately stopped as Ivan turned around to face them. Ivan looked at Tommy and pointed to the wall.

"Why should we trust you?" he asked sharply.

"Because those giant tin cans have the ability to destroy you," he replied with a laugh "And as much as I'd love to see that happen, I want to be the one who does it."

"So then why didn't you try to fight us before?" Rocky asked.

"Again, so ignorant," he replied "Ivan Ooze never makes the same mistake twice. I have conceded that you are far stronger than me. As much as I want you all dead, I do not wish to quarrel with you any longer."

"Fine. So what do we do here?" Tommy muttered as they all looked at the wall but when they turned around, Ivan was gone.

Back on Earth,,,

"Ninjor look out!" Trey yelled as three Cogs jumped in the air to attack him.

Ninjor barely dodged the attack but the Cogs kept coming. It was as if King Mondo had a never ending supply of them and when one went down, three more appeared to take their place.

"I…can't…keep…fighting…them," Ninjor said as he struggled to fend off more Cogs.

"We have to," Trey replied "At least until the other Rangers return."

Soon the Cogs had formed a circle around Trey and Ninjor as the two stood back-to-back. The Cogs began to close in and as soon as they were within a few feet of them Trey raised his staff to the sky and slammed it into the ground causing a tremor that threw every Cog back at least fifty feet.

Suddenly the sky began to darken and as Trey and Ninjor looked up, more Cogs began to fall from the sky.

Back at Ivan's lair…

The ten Rangers all stood side-by-side as the looked up at the giant wall. In front of each of them was a handprint as if someone had stuck their hand in wet concrete. Instinctively Tommy placed his right hand into the hole. Kimberly followed as did Jason, then Kat, Billy, Trini, Zack, Aisha, Adam and Rocky.

The wall began to shake and suddenly the Rangers realized that they weren't walls, they were doors. They immediately stepped back and watched as the two giant doors swung outward to reveal a brightly lit room with ten pedestals each of a different color.

They slowly walked in as each one approached the pedestal that matched their color. Tommy looked at the gold stand in front of him and slowly shook his head as he realized there was nothing there.

"Hey, what gives?" Rocky muttered.

"Please tell me we didn't come all this way for nothing," Zack replied.

"Of course you didn't come all this way for nothing," Ivan yelled as the Rangers spun around "For people with such great abilities you seem to extremely lack common sense."

"What are you talking about?" Trini asked.

"The Lost Infantry of Eltar is just an Eltarian fairytale. As much as any story your parents told you growing up," he replied "But there is a power deep within each one of you that is stronger than any mystical weapon could ever be. It is the reason I couldn't destroy you before and it is the reason why King Mondo will not be able to now."

The Rangers looked at one another and slowly nodded their heads in understanding. Tommy wrapped his arm around Kim as he kissed her lightly on the head and Jason did the same to Kat. Zack squeezed Aisha's hand as Billy hugged Trini tightly. Rocky and Adam simply smiled at each other as they shook hands and apologized for their outbursts earlier.

"Here," Ivan said as he pulled two crystals from the pocked of his cloak "Give these to that robot of yours. He'll know what to do with them."

For the first time, all ten Rangers took off their helmets and thanked Ivan for his help.

"Thank me by taking out King Mondo and that stupid family of his," he replied "Now go. You have a planet to save."

The Rangers all nodded and put their helmets back on as they placed their hands on their belts. In a flash of light they were gone.

Ivan shook his head and smiled before he spoke five words that no one would ever have guessed could come out of his mouth.

"May the power protect you," he whispered.

Back on Earth…

Trey and Ninjor continued to fight valiantly but they were losing strength rapidly. The Cogs were continuing to multiply and the fight was not going to last much longer.

Suddenly ten beams of light came flying through the sky and landed in the center of the battle. Tommy immediately scoped the battlefield and saw that some of the Cogs had turned their attention from the fight towards four kids who were watching from the school. He quickly got the attention of Kim, Jason and Kat and they ran over stop the Cogs.

"Not so fast metal heads!" Tommy shouted as the Cogs turned around.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Kim yelled out.

"You aren't afraid to fight us are you?" Kat taunted.

The Cogs immediately began to charge towards the Rangers as they prepared to fight them.

"Come on guys, let's send these guys back to the junkyard," Jason added.

The four Rangers immediately began to run towards the Cogs but before a single punch could be thrown the sky opened up and sucked them back up. They looked towards the sky as a voice echoed throughout the school.

"This isn't over Rangers!" they heard as King Mondo's voice shook the ground.

Jason and Kat immediately ran back to check on the others as Tommy and Kim approached the four children who were still shaking from the potential attack. Tommy surveyed the three young boys, one wearing white, one wearing blue and one wearing red, and the young girl in yellow as he quickly took a knee in front of them.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked compassionately.

They all quietly nodded their heads "yes" except for the girl in yellow who had suddenly gained some courage now that the Rangers were around.

"I'm Kira," she said boldly as she introduced the others "This is Ethan, Trent and Connor. And one day, we're gonna be Power Rangers just like you guys!"

"No way, Kira," Connor replied "Girls can't be Power Rangers."

Tommy and Kim chuckled as they looked at the kids.

"Hey, you guys seem like good kids. Can you keep a secret?" Tommy asked.

The other three immediately perked up and nodded their heads. Tommy took the kids around a corner where no one could see them as he powered down, instructing Kim to do the same.

"See dummy, I told you girls could be Power Rangers," Kira said to Connor as she poked him in the arm.

"No way," Ethan said quietly "You're that guy that came to our class to talk about dinosaurs."

"That's right," Tommy answered "But you guys can't tell anyone who we are okay? You have to promise me."

"We do!" they all replied in unison.

"Good," Tommy said "Now you guys should probably get back to school don't you think?"

The four kids agreed and as Tommy and Kim turned back towards the other Rangers and began to walk away the boy in white came running up to them.

"Do you think I can be a Power Ranger too?" he asked sheepishly.

Tommy went to speak but Kim cut him off.

"You can do anything you want to little man," she replied as she ruffled his hair.

The boy smiled brightly as he ran back to his friends yelling that he was going to be a Power Ranger one day. Tommy looked at Kim, put his arm around her and laughed.

"I hope I'm still around when they grow up," he said "I have a good feeling about those kids."

Hopefully I didn't alienate any readers with the last bit about the kids who would eventually become the Dino Thunder Rangers. I know not everyone watched that far into the show but I thought it was a good way to shine a bright light on what has been a couple fairly tough chapters for the Rangers. Hope you all enjoyed this one, I think it's probably one of my better chapters in the story.

-WK