Teelo watched his friends as they followed him through the great halls of the Council of Phyre. They seemed to be awed by the construction. The council normally met on homeworld, but during the Time of Mating, it moved to the satellite orbiting Spawnworld. "This is where you have your council chambers?" the one called Kimberly looked at him and then back to their friends.

Teelo nodded and then said, "Yes. When we returned, we found that it had been infested by several vermin. We had to expose the whole chambers to vacuum to eliminate them." He shook his head, "And then we had to go in and clean out their nests. You wouldn't believe the detritus they accumulated."

Adam smiled over at him, "Yes we would." Then looking at Kimberly they both began to laugh.

Kimberly smiled at her husband and said, "The last remnants of the Machine Empire are considered vermin by the dragons."

Teelo gave her a questioning look, "The Machine Empire? These vermin showed no signs of life, only earth and fire."

"They tried to conquer Earth," Adam told Teelo. "It was the Ranger's job to stop them."

"And did you?" he asked.

"We're still here aren't we?" she smiled at him. "Either you beat the Machine Empire, you're wiped out."

"So you are familiar with the caverns here?"

Kimberly nodded, "Somewhat," she told him. "Although, whenever we came here, we tried to leave as quickly as possible. Mondo and his bunch took it over from Rita and Zedd. Most of mine and Adam's experience here comes from those days."

"Rita and Zedd were the ones who first infested this place?" Teelo asked.

Again the young brunette smiled, and nodded, "Uh huh."

As they passed through the corridors to the main hall, he looked over at his friends. He kept finding himself to looking back at the tall man behind them and his shorter sibling. Dr. Storm had returned to his normal form, not the ancient force of creation that blazed with a phyre older than any he'd seen before. Now, he was in this fragile form that was more like a banked fire than the blaze he'd been earlier.

Mostly though, his eyes kept falling to the smaller form of McKenzie Storm. Something about her called out to his phyre in a way he'd never experienced before. Maybe it was her ability to phyre-speak from the first, or maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, he found the small female on his mind a great deal over the past few hours.

Before he could consider the question any further, the five of them entered the great hall. Looking up, he saw the forms of the Great Elders- dragons of immense age and size- glittering black in the reflected light of Spawnworld. Elderath of the Void, turned his great black head to look at them, and Teelo understood how the humans must have felt facing him in that desert such a short time ago. *What have brought here Teelo? What are these creat…." Elderath cut off in mind sentence. Bending his great head down, he looked at the five of them and exclaimed, *"Great Beginnings! What have you found?!"*

Teelo turned back to his friends and held up a hand for them to wait there- he didn't want them to become injured when he shifted form- and then strode into the center of the hall. Releasing his will he allowed his tightly controlled phyre to reform his body into his natural state. Looking down he noted a slight beige beginning to tint the edge of the scales on his pinions and smiled. Evidently he was correct in what element he should next master. *Great Elderath ,* he turned and looked at the other nine members of the council one at a time before continuing. In the world of dragons, it was considered prudent to always pay homage to those who could blast you into your component particles with a mere thought. *I have made a most startling discovery on Spawnworld.* The other dragons turned to look at him as he continued, *It would seem that we are no longer alone in the Universe. I have found another race that is just beginning to touch at the edges of intelligence, and the ability to wield the phyre. These are my friends, Kimberly the Pink Power Ranger; her mate Adam of the Black; and two beings of phyre which have no official titles, Ben Storm, a healer, and his sibling, McKenzie Storm.*

Teelo twitched his tail nervously and twisted his neck down in supplication as the other dragon's gaze raked across the great hall to his friends. He could feel the intensity of their gaze as it rested on his friends and felt a slight shudder of worry ripple through his scales. *Come closer, so that we might see you better.*

Teelo turned back to see Kimberly and Adam step forward, followed closely by Dr. Storm and his sister. He heard Kim as she phyrespoke to the room, *We are the Power Rangers. We've come to talk to you about what's happening on Earth. *

The Power Elderath's mind suddenly beat down on the room, *What are Power Rangers and where is this Earth? *

*Earth is what you call Spawnworld. * Kimberly seemed to bounce for a moment as she looked nervously back over to her mate and her friends. *The world that you're destroying. You're killing us,* she told them. * As Power Rangers, it is our job to defend it.*

Her words sent a ripple through the Council. Teelo could see the great one's taken aback by the thought that the dragons might be harming another intelligent species. Since the other First Races left this universe, Teelo's people had considered themselves alone in the vast void of space. They'd discovered no other species capable of wielding the phyre and joining them in their councils. The discovery of a new race was cause of great joy, and the idea of harming that race was such an anathema to everything in which they believed that Kimberly's news had to have hit them like load of micro-earth.

Elderath leaned down, and concentrated his gaze on the petit young woman. Teelo was surprised when she held her ground and didn't flinch. He wasn't sure that even in his true-form, he would have been able to withstand such scrutiny from the oldest of their kind. Finally with a great exhalation that stirred up the dust in the council chamber the huge black drew his lips back in a grin that exposed his huge teeth. *How remarkable. * Elderath stretched himself back to face the rest of the chamber and Teelo could literally feel the ripple of phyre that went from councilmember to councilmember. This news WAS exciting, and he knew that he would gain a great deal of prestige among his people for being the first to make contact with the humans.

Kimberly stood there bouncing on her toes and looking first over at him, then back to her mate, and then to the Storms, and finally back to him again. *Over two billion of our people have already died. Granted, most of it was our own fault. We tried to warn the Chinese and the North Koreans not to use nukes, but they wouldn't listen. They thought it was an American trick. *

*What are nukes? * Grinneld an ancient female her scales glittering so black as to be almost as dark as a deadstar, asked.

Teelo stepped in. He understood that humans had different terms for some forces. They manipulated the elements through technology first and were just beginning to understand how to do it with phyre. *What we call micro-earth, learned one. *

*How is that you are capable of manipulating phyre while still are capable of using micro-earth as a weapon? * Elderath asked. *We do not react well to micro-earth.*

Kimberly smiled ruefully, and said both aloud and in phyrespeak, "We noticed."

*Is that what happened in one of the northern landmasses? *

Kim nodded and looked sadly at the floor, *Your mating flights were destroying whole cities. The governments of China and North Korea felt it was the only way to save themselves. Unfortunately, they were pig-headed when we told them that dragons reacted violently with radiation.*

Again Teelo could sense the councilmembers talking silently among themselves through the phyre. A great agitation was going through the whole room. He knew too that this news was being sent via long-range phyrespeak to every dragon in the universe. Kimberly's news was not good. The mating flights HAD to occur, but Teelo knew his people did not want to be the cause of so many deaths.

He sensed that the council had come to a resolution. One of the nice things about being able to speak mind to mind over any distance was that you were able to accomplish so much more less time. He watched as the Elderath again fixed his gaze on Kimberly and her comrades, only the rippling of his scales gave away any excitement he might be feeling. * Our mating flights must continue. However, we understand your distress. We were unaware that you even existed, and sensed only that you were like the other beasts of the fields and the void. We did not mean to harm you and regret any harm we might have brought to your people. Now Teelo has brought to our attention that there are other beings on the planet that are of the phyre. Grinneld has confirmed Teelo's findings. You are only now just beginning to come into your power, and not all of your people have reached sentience yet.* Elderath looked over at Teelo, and the great wyrm nodded his head in acknowledgement. Teelo felt his own scales ripple under the praise of one of the great leaders of his people. Finally he turned back to Kim and continued. *We offer you a compromise until further contact can be made with your people.*

~*~

Jason and Billy willed themselves into the Morphin Grid and felt the teleporter take them, the data Billy had been studying on the effect of the nukes the Chinese and the North Koreans had set off was producing still rattling around in his skull. The devastation on the Asian continent was complete. The kinetic blast created by the bio-nuclear conversion of the dragons' mass literally flattened the entire continent. All the rock and debris, not to mention the people, animals, trees, and man-made made structures had been pulverized and thrown high into the atmosphere as dust. The only thing that saved most of the rest of the planet was the curvature of the Earth, and the blast was eventually directed outward toward space. Billy suspected that the coming winters were going to be long and cold as the dust particles blocked the sun's rays. The Himalayas had been leveled, and there was now nothing to stop the moist air masses in Asia from reaching Africa. He suspected in an eon or so that Africa would be well on its way to being a tropical rainforest again. That is if the dragons let anything live there.

Landing on the Bridge of the Triangulus, he looked around carefully. Trey and several armed guards waited for them in one corner. With them were Delphine and Cestro standing slightly apart from the Triforians. Billy smiled at the guards; he understood that Trey was uncomfortable around him. The Triforian Ranger was correct; he should never have been able to take ANY powers again. Only the discovery of the dragonphyre had allowed him to once again to become a Ranger, and THAT was something he knew the other galactic races didn't understand. He also knew that he was in a position to advise Jason about things that Trey wished Jason wouldn't have access to.

Thinking of Jason brought a smile to his face as he looked over to his friend, his leader, and his lover. He still couldn't get over the last part. He'd loved Jason since he was fourteen, and the idea that he might reciprocate those feelings had not occurred to him- especially since that fateful night those long years ago when Jason had walked out.

"Welcome aboard the Triangulus, Jason," Trey told them as he looked back at the tactical officer on the bridge.

The woman glanced up at her commander with a concerned look, "Sir, I'm getting some strange energy readings from our visitors." At the woman's words several guards suddenly surrounded them, wicked looking weapons pointed directly at them.

"Hold," Trey told his guards as he looked back at the tactical officer. "What kind strange energy readings?"

"See for yourself sir," the woman shook her head and pointed to the scanner. "It doesn't make sense."

"What's this all about, Trey?" Billy asked as he stepped toward the scanner.

"Stay where you are, human!" one of the guards told him just before the world lit up as something crashed into the back of his skull. Billy went down to one knee and fought the reeling sensation as the bridge started spinning around him. As he lost the fight, somewhere he heard a roar of outrage before the room dissolved into blackness.

~*~

Kimberly looked up nervously and smiled. *I'm listening.*

* We will limit our mating flights to the landmass we discussed previously. Our phyre tells us that the devastation there is so complete that nothing will be able to live there for a considerable time as it is measured in your life-spans.* Elderath told her. * However, we would like a chance to further study what has become of you, and give you a chance to study us. Your existence is a welcome surprise to us. We have long waited to find another species who too can manipulate the phyre, who could join us in the joys we see in the universe .*

Kim nodded at him, *We would like that. We only want peace and a chance to survive.* She smiled over at her friends before turning back to Elderath, *Our leader, Jason the Red Ranger, told me to negotiate for the Rangers, and he'll take what we come up with to our world leaders.* Of course, she realized that the Rangers' status right now was somewhat up in the air. They were sanctioned by the military, but they hadn't been in touch with either Jason or Billy's superior officers since the Admiral Hazard impersonator went rogue and tried to kill them.

*Good,* Elderath told her. * We welcome our younger siblings to the universe. In return, we ask that you no longer interfere with the mating flights.* Elderath looked over at Teelo and she saw the great creature smile before he continued, * Even if Teelo finds the current situation to his advantage. * Turning back to the Rangers he said, * And please, no more micro-earth explosives. They are deadly to us.*

Kim smiled. She had gathered that Teelo was using the Ranger's attempt to drive off the dragons from populated areas as an opportunity to have greater access to the females. She was still a little confused about the dragons mating habits. Teelo had indicated that during the time of mating that dragons chose their mates based on who appeared to be the strongest, but he'd also said a few things that indicated that there were other considerations too- that there were something called phyre-bonds that superceded the mating flights. * I think we can arrange something like that,* she told him. * As long as we can make sure that the flights are away from populated areas.* She smiled, * When your males start rearranging the local geography trying to impress the ladies, we pay the price. You know how boys are.*

Kim was surprised to see the giant creature actually laugh. * I think Kimberly the Pink Ranger, you are a person with whom I can negotiate .*