In the Cyber Dimension, Scrozzle and Meghan were overseeing the final stages of the creation of Evox's new body. Scrozzle had made more than a few robots in his time, some of incredible power, but this was to be the grandest creation of his long existence.
His kind, the robots that made up the Machine Empire had been created long ago by a race that to the best of anyone's knowledge had died out long before, so long that those of successive generations had long since stopped programming in knowledge of their original creators simply because the information was no longer deemed relevant. Whenever an update was deemed necessary, the next generation would be built and those that came before would eventually fall to obsolescence. He had been proud to serve under King Mondo, the one that had been created as the new ruler of the Empire, but the body they were creating now was stronger, perhaps than even him.
"It's glorious is it not?" Scrozzle asked, watching Morph-X flow into the new body. "It's beautiful! I could watch it all day!"
"It really is something, definitely some of my best work." Meghan agreed with a little smirk. Scrozzle had to do a double-take.
"YOUR work?" He said bad-temperedly. "We both built the body! I set up the interface…"
"Scrozzle, if you were capable of creating something close to this, you'd have done it long ago." Meghan chuckled dismissively. "You've been here more than twenty years and every one of your creations has fallen. I've barely been here…"
"Master Evox's body isn't ready yet?" Blaze snapped as he came into the lab, seeing them still working on powering it up.
"Blaze, relax. Even I can't create a masterpiece in a matter of minutes." Meghan told him.
"YOU?" Scrozzle screeched out.
"Master Evox has already powered down, preparing for the upload. Every second we wait, he's vulnerable." Blaze reminded her. "The Rangers will probably already be looking for a way to get here."
"My God, you two seriously worry too much! They're about fifty steps behind!" Meghan said, waving him off. "I'm smarter than Nate Silva, we've already proven that time and again. Just get ready to prepare the teleportation system because when he's got his new body, I'm sure Master Evox will be just itching to road-test it."
Just then, there was a flash of light, some way from the lab, and an alarm sounded. Scrozzle and Blaze both looked to Meghan.
"Fifty steps behind huh?" Blaze asked.
"I…I don't understand, they can't have…"
"I think it's pretty clear SOMEONE just came here, and since the three of us are all here and it triggered an alarm, I'd say that it's not the Girl Scouts." Blaze said sarcastically. "Scrozzle, keep this thing running, we can't let anyone get to the computer before Master Evox is ready to download."
With that, Blaze and Meghan both ran off, leaving Scrozzle to oversee the final stages of Evox's new upgrade.
Elsewhere, the Rangers broke through the Dimensional Barrier, geared up in the most powerful Zord combination they had ever created. Nate was always working on new ways to enhance their arsenal, and he had figured out in concept a way to combine all the Zords they had into one huge, powerful Ultrazord. The Rangers' Zord fell a few feet to the ground, landing with a crash, but remaining on its feet.
"Not the landing I was hoping for." Nate commented. "I'd definitely have preferred the chance to program some simulations before we tried this."
"Hey, we got here in one piece, I call that a win." Ravi reminded him. "Alright, where's the Mayor?"
"I don't see him." Zoey commented, looking around. "The beacon's still transmitting, but I don't see him."
"That looks like the beacon there." Steel said, pointing out of the window. It was just lying on the ground.
"That's the beacon, but the Mayor's not with it. That's not good." Nate sighed. "It means we've got one more thing to look for."
"Right now, I think we should probably be a little more concerned about that!" Zoey yelled as she started pointing frantically. The Rangers all looked to the monitors, seeing an army of Gigadrones coming their way.
"Yeah, sneaking into their back yard in a hundred-foot Ultrazord was never going to go unnoticed for long!" Ravi stated, beginning to punch at his controls. "Alright, it's time to see what this thing can do!"
In another area, Devon could hear the explosions, but he couldn't quite see anything. He was struggling against his shackles, though he knew his efforts were ultimately useless. All but one of his Tronic guards ran off, looking to join the battle.
Devon could see that the guard had the key to his restraints, dangling from its waist. So close, and yet it may as well have been a hundred miles away. He grunted and struggled, but no matter how hard he pulled, he could only succeed in hurting himself.
Then, he saw something he never expected. Someone leapt onto the Tronic from above, tacking it to the ground. He renewed his struggle, seeing the figure wrestling with it, bringing it to the ground, before grabbing a rock. Gripping it in both hands, the figure brought the rock down, smashing into its head. Again, and again he brought the rock down, until eventually the head was completely ruined and the robot lay sparking and jerking as the last of its power left it. The figure grabbed the key, before coming towards Devon. It was only then that he got to see who it was.
"Dad?" Devon asked, both surprised, and also a little alarmed to see him here of all places.
"Come on, son." Mayor Daniels rushed out as he started working on unlocking the shackles. "We've got to get you out of here."
"But dad, how are you…?"
"All you need to know is those explosions mean that your team got here." Mayor Daniels stated. "When I saw what I saw…I was shocked. But most of all, I knew I had to come. I came here to bring you home."
Devon started looking around, looking to see if there was any sign of more Tronics coming. As he looked back, he saw his dad smiling a little.
"Dad?" He asked, a little surprised.
"You…you look so natural doing this. The Red Ranger?" He said, with a look of pride in his face that Devon had always longed to see. "I used to give you a hard time about responsibility and here you are, leading the team responsible for saving the whole world."
"Dad, there were so many times I wanted to tell you." Devon replied sadly. "But it was against the rules, and honestly? I think we can both admit things haven't been right between us for quite some time."
"I know, son." Mayor Daniels sighed. "And that's my fault too. When we get out of this, no more secrets, however long it takes, you and I have to talk about this."
"I'd really like that." Devon said, hugging his dad. "We need to get to the others; they won't leave until they know we're safe."
"Well, as much as normally I'd advise against it, I suppose we head towards the explosions." Mayor Daniels said.
"Yeah, unfortunately that's pretty much the way it works in this business." Devon said with a smile as he and his dad ran towards the sounds of battle.
In the midst of that exact battle, the Rangers were mashing through the ranks of the Gigadrone army. Their Ultrazord was taking some shots, but it powered through, destroying Gigadrones left and right with huge swings of its main weapon.
"Well, we wanted a workout for this thing, and I'd say we got it!" Zoey chirped as she tugged at her controls. "I've never seen so many of these things!"
"I've also never seen so many of them going down!" Steel added excitedly.
"I've got to hand it to you Nate, this thing is legit!" Ravi congratulated him.
"I have to admit that I prefer to gather theoretical data before getting the final field test, but as far as stamps of authority go…" He said as he brought down the foot of the Ultrazord on a damaged Gigadrone, smashing it to pieces. "…I'd say this is pretty conclusive."
"Stamp of authority?" Zoey giggled. He just shrugged.
"I thought puns were traditional for Rangers." He replied.
"OK guys, I think that was the last of the Gigadrones…" Ravi started to say, before they were hit by an attack that staggered them. He just looked to the others. "Fine, that's on me."
"Ah, Nate, I see you've brought a new little toy to play with!" Meghan said as they saw a huge Megazord stepping out of the smoke billowing from the wreckage of the Gigadrone army.
"I'm not the only one." Nate answered. "Nice Megazord. Shame we're going to have to break it!"
"Please, you only got rid of me because you were afraid of me. Because you knew I was better!" She shot back. "And now I get to prove it!"
"Guys, leave this one to me." Zoey told them. They all just looked to her.
"Zoey?" Ravi asked. "This is no time for personal…"
"And trust me, this isn't a vendetta. But we need to find Devon and his dad, and we'll find them faster if we split up." Zoey told them. "I'll keep her busy. You find our friends."
"Alright." Nate said, putting a hand on her shoulder, his own way of wordlessly communicating to her. She just nodded as they all bailed out.
"Aw, your friends are all bailing out already?" Meghan taunted her.
"They just know it only needs one of us to take you down!" Zoey replied. "Bring it!"
With that, the two Zords rushed towards each other.
Down on the ground, Ravi, Steel and Nate regrouped. Nate cast one last look up towards the Ultrazord as Zoey and Meghan began their battle. He wished he could be by her side, helping her, but the fact she was willing to take her on to give them the time to find their friends was just the kind of person she was. It was one of the reasons he loved her so much.
"Alright, we need to find Devon and Mayor Daniels, find a way to stop Evox and get the Hell out of here." Ravi said, verbalising his goals. He'd always had a habit of doing that, structuring and listing his objectives to ensure that he didn't forget them. "First, Devon. Nate, where's his morpher's signal?"
He didn't answer. They all just looked at him.
"Uh, bro?"
"I'm sorry, what?" Nate asked.
"Can you track Devon's signal?" Steel asked. "Are you alright bro?"
"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine." He lied, still wishing he could have stayed with Zoey. He started working on his morpher, tuning into the signal. "It looks as if Devon is…just up that way."
"It looks like we're not the only ones that noticed." Ravi commented as he saw Tronics coming from nearby. "Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way."
With that, they all drew their weapons.
Up in the Ultrazord, Zoey was blocking Meghan's attacks, while Meghan came at her, hammering into her with massive, scything blows, which sparked off the Ultrazord's body, chipping pieces off.
"Aw, is the little bunny rabbit running scared?" She taunted her. "You know, I built this thing for an invasion. It's only about seventy percent complete, but it looks like that's more than enough."
Zoey just continued to block as Meghan came at her.
"Just think, I might even destroy this Ultrazord before Evox even uploads into his body!" Meghan carried on. "You can't win! I worked on those Zords! I know Nate's work! I know everything about how his mind works. I can see any tech he has coming a mile away!"
She hit Zoey with a huge swipe, knocking the Ultrazord off its feet. She stood over it, bearing down over it.
"Meghan, it's not about the tech." Zoey said as Meghan's Megazord prepared to strike. "It's how you use it!"
As the blow came down, Meghan saw the Ultrazord bracing its spear against the ground, the point up towards her. Now she saw that Zoey wasn't running, she was luring her in. By now the Megazord was committed to its strike, and it came down, the point tearing straight through it. She had no option but to bail out just before it exploded.
Meghan landed on the ground a little way off. Zoey leapt out of the Ultrazord, landing just a little bit away from her. Meghan started to get to her feet.
"I suppose you think you're clever. You think you're going to beat me again!" Meghan sneered as she summoned up her club. "You think you're so much better…"
"Meghan, I never gave a shit about beating you!" Zoey interrupted her. "You were the one that started all of this! I never had anything against you, YOU tried to blackmail me!"
"The only reason you didn't do anything to me is because you were to stupid to think of it first!" Meghan yelled as she swung the club for her. Zoey dodged this way and that, keeping just out of range.
"Meghan, how many times, I never sought to hurt anyone!" Zoey told her as she struck back with her Beast-X Sabre. "The whole world doesn't revolve around one person, no matter who that person is!"
She scored a couple of hits, but Meghan caught her on a back swing knocking the wind out of her. Zoey managed to peel herself off the ground and flip away just as Meghan tried to crush her with her club.
"There were times my life sucked. I went through half of my life wearing my brothers' hand-me-down clothes. I skipped school dances because I was too embarrassed to admit that I couldn't afford a dress to wear." She said as she fought to try and disarm Meghan. "There were times I saw what other people had and it sucked so bad to know that I didn't have it. I got so jealous that sometimes I wished I could hurt them, to take what I wanted and damn the consequences! But I knew that just because I was hurting didn't give me the right to hurt other people!"
She finally saw her opportunity, swiping the club out of Meghan's hands, before knocking her to the ground. Meghan went for her morpher to call another weapon, but Zoey lashed out with her Beast-Z Sabre, smashing it to pieces. Meghan screamed as she saw her suit fade and the pieces of her morpher fall to the ground.
"Why?" She demanded. "Why couldn't I beat you?"
"Because unlike you, I wasn't fighting for myself." Zoey told her, assembling her Beast-X Cannon. "Believe it or not, I was fighting for Meghan…the REAL Meghan."
She pulled the trigger, firing again and again, pouring blast after blast into the avatar, before it exploded in a massive fireball. Zoey turned and started to walk away, checking her morpher to begin searching for her friends.