Victor and Monty appeared back in Summer Cove, landing in a heap several blocks from the High School.
"Sorry." Monty grumbled. "I thought I'd be better at this by now."
"Don't be so hard on yourself Monty." Victor responded, peeling himself off the pavement. "They say any landing you walk away from is a good one."
"So, what do we do now?" Monty asked him. Victor just looked to him and shrugged.
"I guess we should let the others know we got off the ship." He suggested. "We don't want them risking a rescue mission when there's no one to rescue."
Monty positioned himself under Victor's arm for support, helping him as they started limping towards the school.
"You know, it's just a shame there's not going to be a trophy for this." Monty told him.
"Monty, trophies aren't everything." Victor declared. "Sometimes, the mark of a true hero is when those he saves have no idea he's saved them."
In another area of the city, Mick and Redbot were anxiously awaiting the Nexus Prism while Emma watched the battle between her fingers.
She hated the fact that her sister and her friends were out there, risking their necks while she was in here. She'd had a few lessons under Brody, but right now she was absolutely nowhere near ready to help them in a fight this important. She had learned some basics, but she was under no false impressions how long she'd last against someone with even a little more experience. Brody and Levi had been training most of their lives, Sarah and the others by now had a good couple of years under their belt and if they didn't qualify for a Black Belt if they were formally graded, then they were certainly only a little way off it. Her sister had a couple of months, but Emma was more likely to get in the way than anything else, just be something else for them to worry about.
"Oh…That isn't meant to bend that way." She said with a wince. "Mick, is the Nexus Prism ready?"
"Not quite." Mick told her. "This thing doesn't really come with an instruction manual or a user's guide. It doesn't even come with a 'Nexus Prism for Dummies'."
"So there's nothing we can do to make it go faster?" She shrieked. "What's the point in it doing…whatever it's doing…if the Rangers aren't alive to take whatever it spits out?"
"I really wish I had a good answer for you." Mick replied honestly.
"But my sister…"
"Hey, my family's out there too!" Mick reminded her. "You've got to believe being in here kills me. I would gladly be out there with whatever I could lay my hands on right now, but we have to believe in them and hope for the best."
"But…"
"NO BUTS!" Mick told her. "It'll be ready when it's ready…and that's as much as we can say."
"But Drakkon's guys still have powers. Our Rangers don't!" Emma reminded him.
"Which is why Brody called them out, playing their ego, challenging them to a street fight." Mick told her. "You've read your mom's old texts. You know all the same tenants of ninjutsu as they do. One of the most important things you can do is play all of your opponent's weaknesses, and vanity is a weakness. Drakkon's not the kind of guy that wants people saying that he could only beat them when they didn't have powers."
"So, what happens if he changes his mind?" She asked. "What happens if he starts to lose and decides to pull his trump card?"
Mick didn't answer, instead turning back to the Nexus Prism, but his silence spoke volumes.
Over at the site of the battle, the Ninja Steel Rangers and Drakkon's Rangers were engaged in a brutal battle for supremacy. Brody already knew it was a gamble to face them before the Nexus Prism did whatever it was going to do. Without powers, if Drakkon hadn't fallen for his invitation to a fight without powers, they would undoubtedly already be dead.
He was, however, starting to worry about how much better off they were in these stakes though. Even without their powers, Drakkon and his Rangers were seasoned warriors, with untold numbers of fights under their belt. In their respective dimensions, they'd all been the original Angel Grove team, which meant all of them had already faced hundreds of battles, even before anyone factored in however many battles they'd faced after they had turned.
Drakkon was bouncing on the balls of his feet as Brody spun away from him, getting some distance between them. Drakkon just smirked at him.
"You know, you're pretty good." He conceded. "If you'd just see the sense in what I'm trying to do, then you'd make great additions to my army."
"Sorry, but I'm not a psychopath!" Brody shot back, rushing towards him with some swift attacks that Drakkon managed to either block or dodge.
"Psychopath? PSYCHOPATH?" Drakkon roared. "Is that what you think of me?"
"You've killed billions across God knows how many dimensions so…yeah, kinda!" Brody shot back.
"You've seen what this world is like, what this universe is like! People all out for themselves, pillaging and stripping their worlds for every last scrap of natural resources all for themselves. They prey on the slightest little differences between themselves. Sure, every now and then there might be a time where things are good and people get along, but when times get a little difficult? When there's a little bit less to go around? We all see humanity's true face!" Drakkon preached as he started to rally back towards him, managing to get a good hit into Brody's gut through his guard and staggering him. "The least little difference, the smallest reason, the slightest excuse and suddenly someone is no longer worthy of the very basics of life. People divide themselves on the pettiest of excuses. What school they went to, what country they're from, what building they go to every week to pray. All when people are pushed just a little bit. I just want to tear it all down, to unite everyone behind one banner, to end all the needless bloodshed…"
"There's a word for what you just described. It's called FASCISM!" Brody yelled back. "You talk about wanting to unite people but you want to do that by taking away their freedom? To take away their right to follow or not follow whoever they think they should? You're not just a psychopath, you're a fascist lunatic!"
"And you think your world is so great right now? When you see the way people turn on each other…"
"It's not perfect, but given the alternative? This world is worth fighting for!" Brody answered. "That's all we can do, try to fight for a better world, and when someone else comes up that needs to be put down? We'll fight them too, for as long as it takes! If it takes forever, so be it!"
"Nice words." Drakkon responded as he caught one of Brody's kicks, throwing his leg up in the air and causing him to fall to the ground. He brought down an axe kick right for his head, but Brody just managed to roll aside before he caved in his skull. "Pity no one else will ever hear them!"
In another part of the battle, Levi tumbled down some rubble as Jason hit him with a hard kick. He got up, just in time to see Jason stoop down, picking up his hat. He twirled it, placing it on his head.
"Think it suits me?" Jason asked. "Maybe I'll just keep it as a souvenir. There's not going to be much else left of you."
"My dad gave me that." Levi told him.
"Aw, that's sweet." Jason replied sarcastically. "Tell him it fits perfectly."
"Give it back!" Levi warned him.
"Think you can do something to make me?" Jason mocked him.
"Anything happens to that hat, I'll skin you like a deer!" Levi warned him. "And just so you know, I've skinned a lot of deer!"
"TRY IT COWBOY!" Jason yelled at him, taking the hat off his head and gripping it in both hands, preparing to tear it in half, but before he could, Levi was on top of him, bearing him straight to the ground and hammering into his face.
Back at the Command Centre, Emma was still watching the battle, terrified of the outcome. Drakkon's Rangers, even without utilising their powers, were pretty close to overmatching their friends.
She could only watch as Billy was systematically dismantling both Preston and Sandy. They'd both targeted him, eager to settle the score from their previous battle, but so far as soon as they started to make a little bit of a gain, he was able to come up with a way to reverse the tide. Billy was more of a defensive, tactical fighter than some of the others. In his earliest days, being the one that had the least fighting experience, he was forced to use his intellect to look for ways to exploit the gaps in the offence of anyone who came for him. With his genius IQ, it wasn't too hard for him to analyse what was coming his way and form a new strategy, and he was never caught the same way twice.
She let out a yelp, covering her face as she watched Sandy take another hard hit. Mick had told her to believe, but all she could see was her big sister getting pummelled. She was trying to imagine going home to the room they shared and her not being there. She was trying to imagine how she'd explain to her parents what had happened. A million and one horrible thoughts were going through her mind when the room was bathed in a bright glow, far brighter than they had ever seen before. It was so bright that as they turned toward the Nexus Prism they couldn't even look at it. Even Redbot had to shield his eyes from it.
"I think…I think its working!" Mick called out. Just then, something fired out of the Nexus Prism, so fast and so hard it shot across the room and lodged in the opposite wall. Mick just stared at it in amazement.
"I…I don't believe it." Mick gasped.
"Mick, what's going on?" Emma asked. The Nexus Prism wasn't done there though, in quick succession, it fired out another few times. By the time it was done, they all marvelled at what they had seen.
"Uh…Mick? What are…?"
"I'd say things are looking up for the good guys!" Mick stated. "We need to get this to the guys as soon as possible!"
They started working to extract the Nexus Prism's gifts from the wall, before heading out to the parking lot to find a car to take. Now that they had the Nexus Prism's power, they could only hope they got it to the others before it was too late.
Back at the site of the battle, things weren't looking great for the Ninjas. Although they had given Drakkon's Rangers more than a few lumps, it was starting to feel more and more like an uphill struggle. They were looking for opportunities that just weren't there. Before they were evil, before they were agents of destruction, they were Rangers, which meant they knew more than most what the play book was. The experience was a huge factor as Sarah was finding out to her cost.
Trini blocked one of her kicks, before sweeping her legs out from under her. Sarah started to get up, only to be knocked down with a vicious punch to the face, turning her to her face.
"You might have slipped from my grip the last time, but you won't be so lucky this time!" Trini told her. They all looked skyward as explosions tore through the sky. They could see the Warrior Dome ship starting to descend through the clouds, flames engulfing it and explosions tearing through it as it started to come down. Sarah could only look up in horror. She remembered Monty releasing the Skullgators on board, she knew that they had to be causing a riot on the ship. It was only a matter of time before it couldn't take any more. She suddenly forgot all about Trini, stumbling away from her, staring at the ship wide-eyed as it came down, colliding with the shields over the city and exploding devastatingly, lighting up the sky. Tears started to well up in her as only one thought echoed through her mind. Victor and Monty were still up there! Victor had told her to go when Trini attacked her, Monty had stayed to try and get Victor out. There was no way anyone could have survived that. She felt an arm wrap around her neck, and another clamp behind her head. A rear-naked choke, a highly dangerous and devastating manoeuvre, one that Brody had taught her some time ago. With it, a ninja could silence a sentry and render them unconscious or kill them within seconds. Trini didn't seem to be interested in snapping her neck, she wanted Sarah to suffer. She felt her head starting to spin as her brain was deprived of blood.
"Looks like we lost Cosmo. Still, no great loss." Trini told her. "Don't worry though, soon it won't matter much to…"
"SARAH!" Someone called out as she was feeling herself starting to slip away. She looked a little way off, to where Victor and Monty were stumbling down the street. They'd stumbled into the middle of the battle on their way to the school. Sarah grabbed Trini's arm and wrenched hard to get one good breath, before flipping backwards right over her head. She grabbed Trini's arm, twisting it and wrenching it hard with a horrific snapping sound. The former Yellow Ranger started to back away from her, her arm hanging limp and useless with a look of fear in her face. She scrambled away to regroup with the others, at which Sarah turned and ran towards Victor.
"Sarah, I…"
Sarah cut him off by throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her lips to his. For a horrible moment she thought he was gone, incinerated in the explosion of the Warrior Dome ship. She'd spent weeks trying to tell herself how nonsensical it all was. That her feelings were nothing more than a physical attraction to Victor, that it was just a stupid crush that would pass, that in just a couple of months they'd probably never even see each other again, but for the briefest of moments, she could only think that he'd been killed and she never had the chance to tell him what he meant to her. As they parted, he looked to her.
"Uh…I feel fine." He told her. "But…thanks for the healing."
"Victor, I…uh…" She started to stammer, but he could see something in her. She just put a hand on his arm, at which he felt some of his bruising subsiding. He looked to her. "That…that's all it takes."
That was when he understood. It only took a touch. She didn't need to kiss him. There was only one reason she would have kissed him, one reason it would occur to her to do so. He had always admired Sarah, but he never would have dreamed she would see him as anything other than the joke she had met bragging about his trophies on the first day of school. He took her in his arms, kissing her intensely. They parted from each other once more.
"Uh…we should…um…probably talk about…"
"Yeah." She interrupted. "But…you know…not when the world is…"
"Yeah." He agreed. They turned in time to see Drakkon and his Rangers starting to assemble once more, while the ninjas started to come towards Sarah. Jason was nursing his jaw as he came to Drakkon's side.
"I have had it with this shit!" He roared. "Why are we playing this stupid game?"
"Funny thing, we're all good." Levi retorted, breathing heavily as he wiped some blood from his mouth. "We can do this all day."
"And every day after that!" Hayley interjected.
"For as long as it takes!" Calvin agreed.
"Because that's what being a Ranger is all about!" Sandy yelled. "It's not about power, it's not about cool toys and weird robots. It's about standing up to sickos like you!"
"And that's the thing you've all forgotten about being Rangers!" Brody declared proudly. "I'd sooner fight alongside any one of my friends than with your whole team!"
"You know Jason, I'm starting to come around to your way of thinking." Drakkon drawled, pulling out his morpher. "It's clear they will never see the light."
"So much for the great Lord Drakkon." Preston stated. "You're all big boasts and full of bluster when you've got power, but when it's just you? You can't hack it! No wonder you're all Zordon's rejects."
"Ooh, I'm so wounded." Kimberly mocked them as they all morphed. "What difference do you think your words will make when you're all dead?"
"Because you'll always know, on an even field, you're nothing but a cheap imitation." Calvin told her.
"See, that's the thing about history. It's written by the victor." Drakkon reminded them. "And since we're the only ones here and soon you won't be…the truth of this encounter is whatever we tell people it is."
"Alright, let's bring it together!" Jason roared as they all produced their weapons and started to form up the Mega Blaster. Brody and the others stood firm.
"Guys, I just want you to know…it's been an honour." Brody told them. "No one could have asked for a better team."
"All things considered." Calvin said, his hand linking with Hayley's. "I wouldn't have changed a thing."
They watched as Drakkon and his Rangers started to power up their blast. They were standing, ready to accept their fate, when Redbot flew into view, crashing a little way from them. Emma, who had been clinging to him for dear life, tumbled to the ground a little way from them.
"EMMA!" Sandy screamed. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I think this is what they call the Hail Mary!" She replied, reaching into her backpack and pulling something out. "CATCH!"
She threw something through the air, which Brody snatched to his chest. He held it out, staring at it in disbelief.
"No, freaking way!" He gasped. "It…IT WORKED!"
It had been a decade since he had seen it, but right there, in his hands, was the Ninja Nexus Star. It was much larger than the other Power Stars, and featured the colours of all the Rangers, including a new addition, the Green Ranger.
The others were surprised as Emma threw more to them, pretty soon each of them was holding their own Ninja Nexus Star. Just as Sarah caught the last, Drakkon's Rangers opened fire. Energy surged from their Power Blaster, surging through towards them. There was a huge explosion, at which they all turned away from a large cloud of smoke.
"No matter how many times we do that, it never gets old." Zack cackled.
"You know…now that I think about it…" They heard a voice behind them say as someone started to emerge from the smoke. "Maybe we shouldn't have turned our backs on all those explosions."
"No…" Drakkon gasped as they all turned back towards the Rangers. "It…It can't be!"
"Oh, it is!" Sarah said as the Ninja Steel Rangers emerged from the smoke, wearing suits that matched the style of their old suits, but shimmered and constantly shifted between all the Ranger colours. "Now, as my friend Tyler used to always say, it's about to get wild!"