"Jason... please..." A voice from behind Dark Jason prompted him to stop just as entered the threshold of the Chamber. He cocked his head to the side and glanced next to him to see the Pink Ranger still lying prone on the ground. "Please..."
Dark Jason spun around to see her approaching him tentatively with Jason by her side. Kimberly. His Kimberly. At least the one from his world. He tensed his fists as his eyes moved to Jason before relaxing them again when they fell on Kim.
"I don't... how?" Dark Jason questioned.
"It doesn't matter... I am here and..." She spoke as she inched closer to him.
"No..." Dark Jason replied. "It is all a trick and it doesn't matter I have a mission to complete."
"No... no tricks," His Kimberly reached him and reached out to place a hand on his wrist. He heard the voice telling him to yank away and yet he didn't. "I came here to help you... to make everything better and take you home."
Dark Jason locked his eyes with hers before closing his. He suddenly felt really helpless. The voice in his head was screaming now. Loud. Evil. Overwhelming.
"Will you let me do that?" She asked, moving into his personal space now.
"I..." Dark Jason opened his eyes again. She saw a flicker in his eyes momentarily that made her heart swell. He was there, she saw him, the black gave way to the brown. "I can't..."
"You can," She insisted.
"Get out of here... go home..." Dark Jason responded. Suddenly the voice was all he could hear and the darkness clouded his eyes again. He yanked his hand from her grasp and she fell back but found herself being caught by this world's Jason.
"Get to cover," Jason whispered to her. She wanted to persist, she didn't want things to go this way, despite all that he had done the person in front of her was still her oldest friend and she loved him. She knew though what was about to happen so she ducked her head and ran for cover.
"Nice job," Dark Jason spoke to his counterpart now. "I will give you credit, it was clever that stunt you just pulled... but it also..."
There was a hesitation as Dark Jason stepped from the Chamber and back out into the dirt to square up with Jason.
"It also made me mad," Dark Jason finished his statement, his voice distorting more with each word.
Jason glanced around at all of his fallen teammates and friends. His eyes specifically falling on Kimberly who was leaning back first up against the Chamber.
"This.. what you are doing... it is going to end today," Jason stated.
"On this, we agree," Dark Jason responded.
"It is not going to go your way," Jason countered.
"We'll see," Dark Jason replied. He started to take a step toward Jason but was stopped by a blast of energy at his feet that backed him up. Both Jason's looked to see the White Ranger holding Saba.
"Big mistake," Dark Jason replied as his broken and tattered Red Ranger suit gave way to the Gold Zeo suit and he raced to meet both the White and Red Ranger. He elbowed Jason out of the way before tackling Tommy to the ground.
Tommy used Dark Jason's momentum to flip him backward off of him and get to his feet. He got up just in time to block a spinning kick and return one of his own that was ducked. A punch from Tommy landed, but immediately triggered one in response that knocked Tommy to the ground.
Dark Jason stood over Tommy and started to kneel over him to deliver another punch when Jason grabbed him from behind and spun him around to land a punch of his own, followed by a front kick. A side-kick was blocked and one was returned that landed on the top of Jason's chest and sent him back to the ground.
Tommy wasted no time in taking Jason's place throwing a series of quick punches followed by two elbows that landed, rocking Dark Jason back. A jumping knee strike by Tommy was missed and it opened him up to a spin kick that sent him twirling violently before crashing hard into the dirt.
"I can do this all day," Dark Jason taunted.
"Same," Jason replied from beside him as he threw a kick that landed squarely in his opponent's side and caused him to stumble to his side.
Dark Jason attempted to counter with a punch but it was ducked and another hard kick to the chest landed. Another stumble back gave Jason the confidence and space to throw a jumping kick at his evil counterpart. It landed and was enough to knock Dark Jason to the ground.
Jason stepped back just as Tommy moved to his side.
"Nice," Tommy remarked with a nod to his friend.
"You two..." Dark Jason began as he got up and dusted his golden armor off. "Genuinely think you can beat me don't you?"
"The thought crossed my mind," Tommy responded twirling Saba.
"You are going to learn a very hard lesson today," Dark Jason warned. "You are not only going to suffer defeat... and hear me clearly... not be able to do ANYTHING to stop it... but you are also going to feel what it is like to have all the power drained for you and know you can never get it back.
"Enough talking," Tommy countered before charging with Saba. A downward strike was blocked by a suddenly materialized Golden Power Staff.
"Agreed," Dark Jason responded before raising a knee to Tommy's midsection and then a spin with the staff connected to Tommy's helmet and sent him flying sideways.
Jason moved in with his sword and attacked. The blade clashed against the golden staff and sparks flew. Another swing, another block. A return swing from the staff, a duck, and a slash across the chest with the sword. No effect.
Dark Jason laughed as the sword bounced off his armor and caused Jason's stance to become unsteady. He used the opening to perform an uppercut under his chin with the staff that flipped Jason backward and crashed him hard into the dirt.
Jason attempted to lift his head but he felt dizzy and immediately felt a force on the back of his helmet for him face first back to the ground. He tried to press up against the force but could not.
Dark Jason pressed his foot as hard as he could down on the back of the Red Ranger's helmet, determined to crush it under his feet. He felt like he was well on his way to do so when he was struck in the chest with a sharp flying object. He stumbled back to see Saba flying back into the hands of the White Ranger who was in a full-on sprint his way.
Dark Jason attempted to move into a defensive stance but Tommy reached him before he could and slashed at him with Saba. It bounced off his armor but Tommy was not deterred and instead used the moment to spin and slash at the hamstrings of the evil Gold Ranger, effectively sending him to a knee.
Tommy maneuvered in front of Dark Jason and began to throw kicks that were hard to block with him in his downed stance. Tommy moved back enough to throw a spin kick that cracked off the black helmet of Dark Jason and caused him to roll away from him.
Dark Jason got to his feet just as Tommy moved in again and threw a flying spinning kick that connected again and prompted another roll away. Once more to his feet and once more a kick flying at him. He ducked his head back just in time to see the sole of the White Ranger's boot go whizzing past his visor.
Dark Jason used Tommy's attempt to recover from the miss to club him hard in the back with the Golden Power Staff. It knocked Tommy to his stomach and he looked over in time to see a kick coming straight at his helmet but couldn't react in time to avoid it and the strike sent him from flat on the ground to airborne and flying into the stone wall of the Power Chamber.
Tommy got all fours and raised his head to see Dark Jason running at him now. He attempted to get up to defend himself but was surprised when he was suddenly surrounded on either side by Rocky, Adam, and Kat. Tommy got up behind them just as the rest of the Rangers joined the line in front of him. He smiled under his helmet as he watched Dark Jason stop his charge.
The Rangers began to form a circle around Dark Jason leaving one spot open as Jason stepped up to fill the spot now in his own Gold Ranger suit.
"One last chance to give up?" Tommy posed to Dark Jason as he glanced down the line at Jason who gave him a nod of approval.
"Never learn," Dark Jason replied before there was a loud explosion coming from the distance.
All the Rangers turned to see that the Dragonzord had been toppled by a blast from Serpentera as it breached the Zords. The individual Zords fired up the behemoth but to no avail as one by one, they were blasted by it on one side and Pyramidas on the other.
The Rangers were so focused on that they never saw the Gold Rush attack happening before it crashed through their bodies sending them all slumping to the ground, leaving only Dark Jason standing in the middle of the circle laughing in a distorted and sinister tone.
(****)
"You are needed outside, and may the power protect you," Zordon spoke gazing down to the Pink Ranger in the center of the room in front of him.
"Thank you," Kimberly said as she smiled as the power flowed through her body once again. After losing them in her own world she didn't think she'd ever experience it again. She turned and ran down the hall to the exit hoping she could join the battle before it was too late. She reached the exit just as Dark Jason stepped inside of it.
"Whoa..." Dark Jason said upon seeing her. He spun around to confirm that the Pink Ranger was lying in a heap with the other Rangers outside. He turned back to the one standing in front of him. "It's you isn't it?"
"Yes," Kimberly from his world replied.
"Why... why did you do this?" Dark Jason questioned.
"You know why," She responded clenching her fists. "You know what you did to them... you know I can't let that happen here."
"Kimberly," His voice, the tone, no evil distortion. She felt her breath catch in her chest. "You don't know..."
"What are you talking about?" She questioned as she watched his helmet dematerialize and made eye contact with him. He held up his Golden Staff and she instinctively flinched. He raised his hand to calm her.
"Look," He spoke softly pointing to a globe forming above the staff. An image began to appear in it.
Kimberly shifted her gaze back and forth from the globe to him, not fully trusting him. What she saw in the globe got her full attention. It was her friends... all of them. They were bound with chains in a place that she knew all too well.
"No..." She remarked feeling her knees become weak and she couldn't stop herself from falling to them. She reached up to removed her helmet and her eyes moved to his. "Is this real?"
"Very much so... I sent them here," He responded. "He wanted them dead... I just gave him the power instead."
"I... don't... you are lying," She felt her heart being torn in so many directions.
"No, I am not," He replied. He lowered the staff and the image from the Dark Dimension disappeared. He dropped the staff on the ground and he reached his hand out to her. "Join me?"
Kimberly blinked some tears from her eyes as she studied his expression. Her eyes moved down to his outstretched hand.
"I promise... we will just take the power and return home and they will all be there waiting for us," He sounded sincere. Her heart ached for him to be sincere. "Please help me... and everything can go back to the way it was."
Kimberly's eyes moved back up to his. Brown and pleading. She felt drawn to them. Her oldest friend. Her leader. She loved him. She wanted it all back. She reached her hand out and placed it in his.
