"I hate Sundays. I am not supposed to be working today. It's my day off!" Nick whined, dipping a paint brush into a tub of red and splattering against the wall. He, and the others, had been roped into painting the outside of the Rock Porium in hopes of drawing in more customers.

"And you're filling in for Xander, just as he'd fill in for you if you had a cold," Maddie said, picking up a second tub of paint and a brush.

Kali snorted as she looped her leg through the top of a ladder and sat down. "Yeah, I somehow doubt that," she said, reaching up and slapping a thick layer of yellow paint onto the wall. It dribbled downwards, merging with a section of already wet blue paint.

"Hey, Chip?" Vida asked, setting a box of supplies down on a nearby table.

Chip turned, smacking a brush full of green paint against Vida's cheek. His eyes widened and his face drained of all it's colour. "Hey, hey, I-I-" he stammered as Vida picked up a roller, and rolled orange paint over his face and chest.

Maddie giggled.

"Guys, come on," Nick called, taking charge. "With Xander sick we don't have time to mess around."

Kali bit the inside of her cheek as she glanced down at her friends. Vida and Chip had shared a look, dipped their respective brush and roller into more paint, and turned to their leader.

"Hey, Nick..." Chip called.

Nick turned and his eyed widened. "No, wait, come on," he pleaded, as three out of four of his friends attacked him, forcing him up against the wall and covering him with three colours of paint.

Kali snickered until she felt the ladder quiver and she toppled sideways. She landed on a painting table, causing it to split under her weight and the paint supplies to crash down around her, covering her from head to toe in paint splotches.

"That's what you get for laughing!" Nick declared as he grinned in amusement.

"This is almost as bad as the cold shower!" Kali said, sitting up and shaking her head. She splattered paint all over the floor, and glared at Nick.

Nick gulped at the wicked gleam in his best friend's eye. "Wait, Kali, come on. Be reasonable," he pleaded.

"Reasonable?" Kali repeated, pointing at her paint soaked hair and clothes. "Was this reasonable?"

Nick stammered for an apology.

"I didn't think so," said Kali, picking up a bucket of black paint by the handle. She held it firmly at the top and bottom and then threw the whole thing at her friends. The four spluttered as the paint got everywhere.

Chip shook his head and turned to Kali. "What did we do?" he asked.

"Collateral damage," said Kali. "Besides, you started the paint fight."

~X~

The paint fight had continued for a little while, at least until Nick pulled away from the group, clutching his head and grunting in pain. Kali noticed first and stilled the others by holding up her hand. Once Nick had recovered, he had filled the others in on Koragg's message and the team headed off to the beach.

They morphed before reaching their destination, but Koragg wasn't there when they arrived.

"I don't see him," said Nick, looking around.

"He's here," said Kali, as the familiar shiver run down her spine.

"Come on, Koragg!" Nick called.

A dark seal appeared over the raging waters and the wolf warrior burst out, landing on the rocks to the left of the Rangers.

"Only five? It will have to do," said Koragg, looking from each Ranger to the next.

"Five is plenty!" Nick said, reaching for his morpher. "Let's power up!"

The others followed his lead, punching in their legend warrior codes.

"Legend Warriors!"

Jumping into the air, Nick pulled back the dial on his lion staff and unleashed a blast of fire at Koragg. When he landed he saw that his attack hadn't left a dent in Koragg's armour.

"What?" Nick gasped.

"Wolf attack!" Koragg yelled, holding up his shield and unleashing a series of blast at Nick.

Waving her staff, Kali rushed in front of Nick and deflected the attacks. "Code One!" she yelled, rolling her staff over her hand and blasting Koragg with a wall of dark flames.

"You're not the only one who can absorb attacks anymore, Black Ranger," said Koragg, sucking the flames into his shield.

"What?!" Kali yelled.

Koragg laughed and held up his shield again. The red eye gleamed in the dim light and then returned the black flames at both Kali and Nick.

The pair cried out and were thrown backwards through the air.

Kali shook her head and looked up, just in time to see Chip race past her and swing his staff at Koragg. The wolf warrior blocked with his sword, parried, and threw Chips staff into the air, opening the rest of him up to an attack.

Chip groaned and landed on the floor.

"Code One!" Maddie and Vida called, unleashing a water tornado at Koragg. The wolf warrior absorbed the attack, like he had done Kali's, and then laughed.

Pushing herself to her feet, Kali rushed over to the sisters, followed closely by Nick and Chip.

"Dark Magic Strike!" Koragg yelled, criss-crossing his attack and striking the team.

Maddie groaned as she rolled onto her side. "We're not doing so well," she grumbled.

"Got that right," Vida agreed.

"He's got his magic back," Kali said, wincing as she tried to sit up. "I can feel it. It's like 10x stronger than normal."

"Come on, Rangers!" Nick said, staggering back to his feet.

Koragg smirked and stepped back, assessing Nick and the situation. "Your move," he challenged.

"No problem!" said Nick, swinging his staff over his head and slamming the head into the ground. A blast erupted underground and travelled across the rock face towards Koragg.

Koragg grunted as he was propelled into the air. He landed directly in front of Nick, and attacked him several times with his sword.

"Nick!" Kali yelled.

"Wolf attack!" Koragg yelled, unleashing a second wave at the team. They were all propelled backward into another rock face.

"He knocked us out of legend warrior," said Vida, as she looked down at herself.

Nick groaned and pushed himself back to his feet. "This is brutal!" he grunted. "Come on, Koragg!"

Koragg made easy work of Nick, and soon he found himself back on the ground with the tip of Koragg's sword at his throat.

"It is time, Red Ranger!" Koragg said. "I have defeated your legend power. Now, I will defeat you." He raised his sword over his shoulder, and then down at Nick. The red ranger braced himself for the final attack, but it never came as a solid vine wrapped itself taut around Koragg's wrist.

Kali looked around and breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted Xander nearby. "You made it!" she called.

Xander shot her a wink and nodded.

"Thanks, X," said Nick as he returned to his friends. "Let's finish this!" he added, turning his attention back to Koragg.

The others nodded.

"Legend Warriors!" they called.

Koragg took a step back in alarm. "Impossible!" he gasped.

"Get him!" Nick yelled.

Rolling her staff over in her hand, Kali rushed at Koragg. He fired a wolf attack at her, but she absorbed the hit into the head of her staff, taking him by surprise.

"It's like you said, Koragg, you're not the only one that can absorb attacks now!" said Kali, jumping into the air. "How about a taste of your own magic! Code Six!" she spun the dial on her staff and rebuffed Koragg's wolf attack back at him.

Koragg staggered and as Kali landed the others rushed past her, each one landing a different blow to Koragg's armour.

"Lightning Bolt!" Chip yelled, jumping over Kali and striking Koragg with a strand of yellow energy.

Chip grinned and fist-bumped Kali as she reached his side.

"Firestorm!" Nick called, rolling his staff around.

The blast hit Koragg, rendering him to his knees. "I'm not done yet!" he panted.

"Word of advice, Koragg? You should really give up when you're ahead," said Kali. "But if you insist on..."

"Code Two!" the team called, putting the tips of their staffs together. "Legend Warriors, United Formation!"

With Koragg down for the time being, the team regrouped with Xander.

"Xander, way to go!" Nick said, patting him on the shoulder.

"I hope this means you're feeling better," said Kali. "Because, while I'm all for sharing, if you share your cold with me, I'll hunt you down and kill you."

Xander cocked his head to the side as he stared at her. "You got rage issues," he said.

Kali rolled her eyes but still smiled.

"Besides," Xander added, "I couldn't let you guys have all the fun."

Nick nodded. "Then Ranger up," he said, moving aside.

Xander grinned and punched 1-2-3 into his morpher. "Magical Source, Mystic Force!" he called.

Galwit Mysto Ranger!

"Follow me if you dare!" Koragg challenged, lifting into the air. "Uthe Mejor Ultimas! Centaurus Wolf Megazord!"

Kali tightened the grip on her lion staff. "You think he'd learn by now that I never back down when challenged," she said. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Code Four! Legend of the Jungle, Mystic Lion!"

"Code Three! Legend of the Skies, Mystic Firebird!"

"Manticore Megazord!" the team yelled, as the two zords combined.

"Your end is near!" Koragg threatened.

Racing forward, Koragg raised his sword to attack but was blocked by the arm of the Manticore. He stumbled back as the Rangers punched him three times, and then summoned their staff.

"Legend Striker!"

To counter attack, Koragg wielded his sword in a full circle, summoning every ounce of dark magic he had. Black tendrils whipped around him as he slashed at the Rangers.

"Striker Spin Attack!" the team countered.

Thrusting their staff at Koragg, the team unleashed a whirlwind of fire and flames which cut through the dark magic and struck Koragg in the chest. He stumbled backwards and fell to one knee.

"Remember what I said about giving up while you're ahead?" Kali asked. "Now would be a time to consider it."

Koragg glared at the Manticore. "Never!" he snarled.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," said Kali. "Ready, Xander?"

Xander nodded and slid across the check board and took his place at the helm.

"Manticore Lasers!" the team yelled, firing several bolts of energy at the wolf warrior.

"Counter attack!" Koragg yelled, in a desperate hope to tilt the scale back into his favour.

Kali raised her staff and absorbed the attack. "I can return to sender from this form, too, Koragg," she said. She spun the dial on her staff again and a pale black and purple sphere appeared before the Megazord. She slashed her staff at the energy ball and batted it back at Koragg.

The wolf warrior groaned and fell to the floor a second time.

"Game o -" Nick broke off as, to his left, Kali gasped and hunched over, clutching her chest and stomach. "Kali, what is it?"

Before Kali could answer, the whole cockpit flashed red.

"What's going on?" Chip asked, looking around.

Kali panted as she felt her energy drain from her body. "Whatever it is," she gasped. "It's riddled with dark magic."

"Not even you could fight this virus, Hellhound," called a familiar voice from the ground.

Kali raised her head and glared at Imperious.

"It will take down your megazord," Imperious continued. "Wait until the master hears about this." He pointed his fan at the team and cocked it onto its side, laughing maniacally as the Megazord tilted and hit the ground with an earth shattering quake.

Koragg regained his footing and looked from the Rangers and then around at Imperious. "Stop!" he yelled.

"We're in trouble!" Nick said, struggling to move.

Now, Koragg stood over their defenseless form and raised his sword. But he didn't strike them, instead, the red eye on his chest gleamed and he sucked the virus into himself.

The cockpit returned to normal and Kali gasped as a rush of energy and air refilled her body.

"Traitor!" Imperious yelled.

"It's wrong to leave them defenceless!" Koragg snarled, turning to face Imperious.

"You fool!" Imperious chided before disappearing through a dark seal.

Koragg returned his attention to the Rangers, just as a dark seal appeared beneath him. "I will only win with honour," he said, before sinking into the ground.

~X~

As the Rangers returned to work, Xander sat in the bed of Vida's truck looking through paint samples as the others continued to paint around him. He closed one eye and stared at a sample of white, before shaking his head and sliding the card behind the rest.

"You are going to help us, right, Xander?" Nick called, jumping down from the ladder and taking an empty paint tin from Maddie.

"I've heard paint fumes can be bad for someone recovering from a cold," Xander replied. "So, I'll just supervise from here." He pretending to cough into his hand, while still sifting through the colour charts.

Kali shook her head as she refilled a paint boat. "So much for Xander filling in if we were unwell," she said, looking up at Maddie.

The blue ranger smiled, sheepishly.

"I'm not sure who I don't understand more," said Nick, refilling the empty paint tin. "Xander or Koragg."

"What do you mean?" Vida asked, taking the paint boat from Kali.

"Well, Xander is..." Nick glanced around at the green ranger, just as he covered his eye again to examine the colour chart. "Xander."

The team laughed.

"And Koragg… does anyone but me ever think about when he doesn't finish a battle?" Nick asked.

Kali paused in her refilling and cocked her head to the side. She had thought about that, many a times, and even had long conversations with Nick about it, but neither one of them had been able to come up with a suitable answer as to why.

"He's always going on about honour," said Chip. "But, I didn't think that the dark side would care about all that. Like, how he helped us today against the virus."

"He said he didn't want to leave us defenceless," said Maddie, nodding. "Wouldn't cheating make it easier for him to take us out?"

"Imperious seems to think so," said Vida, nodding. "How many times has he cheated against us, again?"

Kali shook her head. "I've lost count," she said. "That virus was a particularly nasty cheat, though. I felt like I couldn't breathe."

"You're okay now though, right?" Chip asked.

"I felt better as soon as Koragg helped us," said Kali.

Vida looked thoughtful. "Do you think Imperious meant to just incapacitate us or do you think he meant to destroy us completely?" she asked.

"It looked like he was trying to help Koragg along," said Maddie. "You know, like slow us down long enough for Koragg to make the final strike."

"Then why did it only seem to affect Kali and the Megazord, not the rest of us?" Nick asked.

Kali lowered her gaze as she continued to refil the paint tins. "Imperious didn't actually refer to me as Black Ranger," she said. "Not like he normally does when he's trying to take us out. He called me Hellhound. What if the virus was meant for the Hellhound, and not me?"

"But aren't you the Hellhound?" Chip asked, confused.

"Only in title," said Kali. "The spirit of the Hellhound is inside me, what if the virus was created to attack that?"

"You have been a thorn since his resurrection," said Vida.

"No more than the rest of us," said Nick. "But then, we aren't his kid, and you have chosen to fight against him, rather than alongside him."

Kali made a small murmur of agreement. "It still doesn't explain Koragg," she said. "Or his choices to help us when he could easily defeat us at our most vulnerable.

The morphers chimed.

"Daggeron needs help!" said Udonna. "I'm sending the coordinates. Hurry, Rangers!"

Kali checked the coordinates and turned to her friends. "We're on it, Udonna," she said.

The others nodded and took off across the road.

~X~

"Now, Solaris, I will destroy you," said Imperious. He was standing over Daggeron, his foot pinning down Daggeron's arm. "And take my rightful place next to the Master."

"How about you take your rightful place locked away with the Master!" Kali yelled.

Imperious looked up in alarm as Kali kicked him in the side, knocking him away from Daggeron. He rolled across the ground before regaining his footing and glaring at her as the others arrived, each one racing to check on their teacher.

"You alright?" Nick asked, helping the knight to his feet.

"That was close," said Daggeron, nodding at each Ranger in turn. He took a deep breath and faced Imperious. "Nick and Kali, you come with me. The rest of you go after Koragg."

The others nodded and ran off towards the Wolf Warrior.

"Ready?" Daggeron asked the two left beside him.

"Ready!" said Nick.

"Do you really have to ask?" Kali asked.

Daggeron scoffed and shook his head. He then turned his attention to Imperious.

Imperious smirked and thrust his fan at them. Sending a wave of energy soaring through the air.

Nick and Daggeron ducked out of the way, but Kali merely absorbed the blast and threw it back at the Mummy.

"You grow stronger every day," said Imperious, clearly impressed. "One would think you'd found a trainer, but I know for sure that Merlock is dead. After all, I killed him."

"Admitting to your crimes doesn't make you innocent, Imperious," said Kali. "It just adds to the growing list of reasons to destroy you."

Imperious laughed and rushed forward.

Kali ducked and waved aside. "Magi Staff, Sword Mode!" she called, swinging the sword up and stabbing the tip under Imperious' arm.

Imperious' cried out in surprise and stumbled back. "You wench!" he hissed.

"That's not a nice thing to call your flesh and blood," said Kali, jumping back to avoid his next attack.

"My flesh and blood would stand beside me," Imperious said. "You've chosen to stand against me. You are no longer my child."

"Good," said Kali. "Because I never asked for that."

"Eithne would be disappointed in you," said Imperious. "We were both aware of how powerful you would be, even before you were born. We thought you'd choose the right side. We were wrong."

Kali shook her head. "What makes you think she would raise me your way? Especially, as you said in your own words, she didn't trust you either, in the end."

"Regardless of whether she trusted me or not," said Imperious. "She still fought for me."

"You're lying!" said Kali. "I know Eithne's history, and she had loads more to lose if the Darkness won the Great Battle. You had no one but her, and not even her death or my disappearance, caused you to come back. So, excuse me, for not believing you."

Imperious laughed and used his magic to block a surprise attack from Daggeron. "You'll learn one day, Hellhound, not everything in your history books is true," he said. "But, until that day, this battle is over. I always did like a big finale."

"I guess that's one thing we do have in common," said Kali.

Racing past Kali, Nick transformed his magic staff into its sword mode and struck the mummy across the chest and stomach.

Caught by surprise, Imperious staggered backward, leaving himself open for a second attack from Daggeron. The Solaris Knight leapt over Kali and fired his laser lamp, striking Imperious in the chest.

Recovering, but still panting hard, Imperious glared at the trio as they regrouped. "This game had an unfortunate ending," he said. "But, it's not over. Especially for you, Black Ranger, we will meet again, and next time, you'll either join me or be destroyed."

Kali rolled her eyes as Imperious disappeared. "Like either of those things will happen," she muttered as Nick turned her way.

Not long after Imperious' departure, did Koragg leave. The team waited, just to be sure that neither returned for a surprise attack, and then regrouped.

"Next time Udonna wants some Beetle's Bane, I'm sending Claire," said Daggeron.

The others laughed as Kali punched the Knight in the shoulder.

~X~

Maddie sighed and dropped her paintbrush into the collection of paint buckets, boats, and tins littered against the wall of the Rock Porium. She, and the others, had just added the final touches to their work and were now trying to decide whether or not they'd done a good enough job.

"I think we did great," said Chip, grinning.

"Are we looking at the same sign?" Vida asked, cocking her head to the side. The sign sat four feet off the floor, and looked like a couple of three-year-old's had painted it.

Shaking his head in disappointment, Xander walked over with a peeled banana in one hand. "Look what you've done," he said. "Toby trusted you guys to create a mural that signifies the uniqueness of the store, while still honouring the essence of music, and this is what you give him?"

"Toby's not exactly 'normal' in his own right," said Kali. "I mean, it may not be perfect, but it's quirky, just like him and the store."

"He didn't want quirky," said Xander. "You should all me - oh, hey, boss."

Toby nodded at the team and then looked up at the side of his store. He gave a start, his eyes widening in shock as he took in his mural. "Oh. Oh! This is… shocking! I've never seen anything like it."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Kali asked. "It means this is original and customised specifically for this store."

"It doesn't matter how you try to justify it, Kali," said Xander, shaking his head. "It's still ruined."

"Ruined?" Toby asked. "Are you kidding me? I asked for a sign that would make people who were passing want to come into the store, and I think this will do exactly that. It's amazing!"

"You just said it was shocking," said Chip.

"It is," said Toby, nodding. "It's shocking and beautiful, too. Well done, guys, you should be proud of yourselves."

Kali smirked and poked Xander in the side.

"You know what, boss? You're right. We did an amazing job," said Xander. "It was touch and go for a while, you know, trying to keep these guys in line with my vision, but we pulled through in the end."

Kali scoffed and folded her arms across her stomach. "You just said we had ruined it," she pointed out.

"Well, obviously I didn't mean it in the sense that you had ruined the store's chances of customer increase," said Xander.

"Yeah, then how else did you mean it?"

Xander stammered for an answer.

Toby chuckled and patted Xander on the shoulder. "Well done, Xander," he said. "I'm definitely feeling the vibe. Well done."

As Toby headed back into the store, Xander grinned and turned back to his friends. His grin dropped as he found them glaring at him. "What?" he asked. "What did I do?"

"It's more what you didn't do," said Kali, picking up a bucket of black paint.

Xander's eyes widened and he backed up against the wall of the store. "Okay, guys, think this through," he said. "You'll ruin the mural. Toby's already said he loves it… you don't want him to change his mind, do you?"

"See, I don't think he will."

"Kali, please, do you want me to apologise? Because I will. I'll apolo -" he cut off as Kali threw the bucket of black paint over his head, covering him from head-to-toe.

Kali grinned as Xander spat out a mouthful of paint. "Oh, my mistake, black's not your colour," she said and stepped aside for the others.

"No! No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"