Disclaimer: The Power Rangers are the property of Disney. Sailor Moon is the property of Naoko Takeuchi/Kodansha, TOEI Animation. I would like to thank JustJill and Wingzero for their help in this story. If you have any questions, contact me at ericpaladin@hotmail.com
The
Coming of the Dark Kingdom
Part 1: When Lightning Strikes
By: David Knight
"Your attention please; we have now arrived in LAX. We thank you for flying for our airline."
//Ough... I have mixed feelings about this mode of travel your race has come up with// Raye groaned to her other half, //On one hand I'm impressed you've actually managed to construct such a thing; on the other hand its still ridiculously slow in comparison to what I remember.//
/We don't have spaceports here. Our best space shuttles can only reach the moon./ Trini chuckled. It had been a rather interesting four months, getting to learn about Raye and vise versa. The two of them had formed a strong bond and their training had paid off very well. The maximum amount of time they found themselves able to sustain their form as Sailor Mars had gone from the initial five minutes to five hours.
/Now we did agree that we are going to speak to Zordon,/ Trini said to her.
//Of course, but we should also find out what the situation is with the villains in your old hometown. I can't believe how redundant Rita and Zedd are. Why don't they just take their entire army down to strike if they wanted you gone? They may have power but they sure are poor planners.//
Trini blinked when hearing that, "... that's actually a very good question."
"What is?" Zack asked.
"Oh sorry Zack," Trini replied, "Just had a bit of a talk with Raye about Rita and Zedd."
"What about?"
"Fill you in later," Trini said getting up, "Right now, let's get off this plane and get Luna, before she goes totally nuts."
Jason waited for the flow of traffic to slow before he stood, ducking down so he didn't hit his head on the too-low ceiling above him. He'd spent part of the flight in the center seat, and it was beginning to tell on him. "Ugh," he groaned, as soon as Zack had moved so he could straighten up and grab his carry-on. "I'm stiff. Think Tommy's here yet?" He handed Trini her bag as well, then turned to follow Zack off the plane.
"Dunno," Trini said as they made off into arrivals, "But I'm going to get Luna."
"Yeah, before she really has a fit," Zack muttered, remembering what happened when the moon cat had been put inside a cage to travel from Europe to North America.
"Point taken," Jason agreed.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," Trini told them, leaving her bag with Zack.
"Man why am I always the one left holding the luggage?" Zack groaned.
* * *
Tommy Oliver waited just outside customs, shifting from one foot to the other. Normally, he could wait patiently, but this was different. His best friend was coming back from a long trip away.
The arrival had been announced nearly twenty minutes ago. "Come on, come on," he muttered in frustration. It was too bad Billy and Kim weren't here, too. He dismissed the thought and the pain it brought with a shake of his head.
He caught sight of Jason and Zack about the time they caught sight of him. As soon as they were through the barrier, Tommy grabbed Jason, then Zack, in a hug. "Man, it's good to see you!" he exclaimed. "It's so good to have you back!"
"It's good to be back, Bro," Jason said. He was unable to stop smiling. "It's really good to be back."
"Where's Trini?" Tommy asked after a moment.
"Coming," Zack said, a smile playing around his lips.
"Do we wait for her here?" Tommy asked.
Jason shrugged. "Here's as good as anywhere," he said.
"Let's get out of the way, then." They moved a few steps to the side of the gateway, and when Tommy turned around again, there was Trini, walking toward them from further down the concourse, a small black cat with a gold crescent moon on its forehead. "Um... Jase? Zack? Is there something you have to tell me? Because I've seen weird, you know, and that cat is definitely weird. Explanations in the car?"
Jason chuckled. "Wait til you meet her," he said as Trini arrived.
"Tommy," Trini said giving him a hug only to notice his colors, "... and in red?"
"Explanations in the car," Tommy emphasized with a grin. "I expect we all have something to catch up on."
"More than you know," Trini smirked as they all went into the car.
After loading their stuff into the car, Tommy got into the drivers seat and was about to start the car when Jason spoke to him, "Um bro, before you start the car up, I think you need to know one thing. No matter what, don't freak out."
"Believe me, after all I've experienced I don't think anything could freak me out," Tommy chuckled.
"Well then I'll be assuming that a talking cat won't freak you out as is it did with your friends."
Tommy turned around and lifted one eyebrow. "I have walking machines threatening me quite often, I consider a talking head a great friend - I won't even go into Alpha - and I'm supposed to be phased with a talking cat? The gold moon on your forehead gave you away as something other than normal. At least you didn't turn into a cat monster like PC did." He chuckled and turned back to the road. "I assume she has something to do with this sudden return home?"
"I think I rather like him," Luna said sounding amused.
"Well since that is settled, think I'm going to go get some sleep." Trini yawned, "I stayed up all the way through the flight. Raye, your turn."
"Who?" Tommy asked.
"Surprise number two bro, don't freak." Jason said.
Suddenly before Tommy's eyes, he watched as Trini changed into totally different person, an Asian girl around the same age with purple black hair. "Thanks. Glad to be able to stretch." She looked at Tommy, "Oh hi. You must be Tommy. I'm Raye Hino. Nice to meet you. Your friends have told me a lot about you."
Tommy blinked and then blinked again. "My friend is possessed?" he asked carefully, turned around, and turned the car off again, keeping his back to her. His eyes slid over to Jason, who sat in the passenger seat. "Just tell me she isn't evil, and we can head for my house." His voice sounded brittle, and listening carefully, Jason and Zack could hear just a bit of rage in his words.
"Whoa, bro, she's not evil. We would not have done that without warning you," Jason said, turning to face his friend. "She has a story behind all this, and I promise, Trini's okay with this whole - two personality thing." He glanced at Zack, then back at Tommy.
"It's true," Zack confirmed. "She's... well, sort of like a Power Ranger. And not an evil one," he added.
Tommy nodded shortly. "Okay. Home it is." He started the car again, and they pulled from the parking garage into the bright California sunlight.
There were signs of storm clouds on the horizon.
* * *
In the Skybase of the Machine Empire, King Mondo was throwing a fit over his most pressing problem to date. Namely, the persistence of the Power Rangers Zeo.
"Blast it all! Why can't they just die like every other Ranger Team we've ever come across," Mondo fumed.
"Darling you need to watch your temper," his wife, Queen Machine, consoled him.
"I know I said it was going to be nice to have a worthy rival to destroy to gain this planet, but I wasn't expecting them to last this long," Mondo grumbled, "There has to be a way to beat them."
"Perhaps we should send down another monster to attack Angel Grove," Klank started to say only to get Mondo's fierce stare directed at him.
"What good is that going to do? We have tried that for the better part of nearly two months with no success. We send a monster to the city, the Rangers fight it and then they blow it up. We make the monster grow, and then they use their blasted zords to destroy it."
"Come on dad! Let's send a monster! I want to see some destruction! It doesn't even have to involve the rangers!" his over eager son, Prince Sprocket, clamored.
"Sprocket now is not the time to bother your father," Machina said softly.
"No wait! That's it!" Mondo exclaimed, as if the gears in his CPU were turning like never before. "Sprocket my boy, you are brilliant."
"I am?"
"Klank. Prepare your best monster at once." Mondo commanded.
"But I thought you just said...-" Klank muttered.
"DO IT!" Mondo decreed.
"Yes sire! Right away!" Klank scurried off to do his lord's bidding.
Mondo just had a gleam in his eyes. _If this works out as I plan, I will win no matter what!_
* * *
Once Tommy pulled in to the driveway of his house, everyone unloaded their bags from the car and left them inside the Oliver household. Raye couldn't help but notice that Tommy looked edgy around her. "You two didn't even react half as bad as this when happened." she whispered to Jason, who was right beside her.
"We've had four months to get used to this," Jason commented, "Your case is weird even by our standards. Completely new reincarnation, remember?"
"How can I forget?" Raye rolled her eyes at him just as Tommy came up to them.
"I just finished calling the others. They'll meet us at the Power Chamber..." Tommy started to say.
"Power Chamber?" Zack blinked, "What happened to the Command Center?"
"... Goldar and Rito blew it up." Tommy muttered under his breath.
"... um Trini. I think you might want to be awake for this." Raye muttered.
/That did wake me up. I think I better be the one that goes in first; otherwise we might have a few more problems./
"Good idea," Raye said as she closed her eyes and Tommy saw her change back to Trini who opened her eyes and looked at him seriously, "I know this must be really confusing for you Tommy. But really, I am alright with what's happened to me."
"This really had better be a good explanation." Tommy replied.
"So should yours young man," Luna chimed in, "As to how you allowed two of the universe's most inept bunglers blow up a fortress of good that had been standing on your planet for over fifteen millennia."
"That's what I'd like to know," Jason added. He was one of the original power rangers; yet nothing like this happened. Scratch that. Tommy, as the evil green ranger, broke into the Command Center, and completely wrecked the system, but at least he didn't blow the entire thing up.
"I'll tell you all when we get there," Tommy said, "Just hold on to me."
"Let me guess, you changed the teleport sequence so now our old communicators don't work," Zack replied.
Tommy nodded sheepishly as the three of them did take a hold of Tommy, Luna sitting primly on Trini's shoulders. When they teleported there were two streaks of white, one pure red, one red tinged with yellow and one white gold streak.
* * *
Rocky paced back and forth anxiously awaiting the news. Tommy said it was important when he called it in. "What could be taking them so long?"
"Calm down, Rocky," a young Korean man said, watching his best friend pace around the Power Chamber. It was like Rocky to get strung up, especially when he was left in the dark and pulled out of a baseball game. Good thing it was towards the end and they were ahead by a lot.
"Would you please stop pacing?" Tanya politely asked. "You're giving me a headache."
"Sorry," Rocky grinned sheepishly. He stopped pacing only to tap his foot on the floor continuously.
"I just hope everything is alright," Kat sighed, "Ever since Billy left to help the Aquitians, the Machines haven't let up."
"The Machine Empire will take any advantage it can get Katherine," Zordon said sagely, "We must be ever vigilant and prepared for the unexpected."
Just then four normal sized teleport streams and one small one appeared. It took the form of Tommy along with three others... and a strange cat on the girl's shoulder.
"Well... this is new." Zack blinked, looking at the new base of the power rangers.
Jason looked around the new headquarters. The new one had more space and equipment than the Command Center. Then he noticed a lack of familiar faces. "What happened to Kimberly, Aisha, and Billy?" There were two new people. "And who are they?"
"Kimberly ended up getting a chance to compete in the Pan-Global games and chose Katherine to take her place," Tommy started out with the introductions, "A little while ago there an incident when Rita's father..."
"Wait? Rita has a 'father' now?" Zack asked.
"I'll get to that later," Tommy replied, "Anyway, Master Vile, Rita's dad turned back time, turning us back into kids. We ended up having to get the Zeo Crystal pieces from different time eras in order to use the complete crystal to reverse the damage. Aisha however stayed in her time frame and Tanya took her place, both in this time and as a Ranger."
"And Billy?" Trini asked.
"Billy is on the planet Aquitar helping the natives of that planet against an invasion by the Hydro Contaminators." Zordon answered for them.
"Zordon!" all three of the former rangers exclaimed.
Zordon looked down at them with a smile, "It is good to see you again too my young friends."
"Jason! Zack! Trini!"
"Alpha!" Trini cried giving the robot a hug.
"It's so wonderful to see you all together again." Alpha cried.
"Yes well it is rather nice to see you too old friend."
Everyone in the room save for the ones that had just teleported in stared at the cat on Trini's shoulders, who had opened her mouth and spoke English.
"Did that cat just talk?" Tanya said once she recovered enough of her senses and speaking ability to answer. "Or am I just imagining it?"
"I think so unless we're all dreaming the same thing," Rocky said, shocked that a cat could talk.
Adam had seen many strange things as a power ranger and he knew it was going to see more as he continued to be a ranger. "What do you expect as a Power Ranger? Our lives are anything but normal."
As for Katherine, considering her own history regarding cats, she wasn't surprised.
However the big shocker for all of the current rangers was the looks of expression shown in both and Zordon. Alpha was the first to speak, "L... Luna... is that...is that really you?"
"Yes it is old friend," Luna said kindly, jumping off of Trini's shoulder and landing on the console, walking over towards where Zordon was, looking at the wizened sage, "I see you've upgraded since the last time I came to visit."
"Over a thousand and three years ago," Zordon said solemnly, with a look of joy in wizard's eyes, "I am surprised and gladdened to see you alive, Luna. I had thought that you had died along with Queen Serenity and the rest of the Moon Kingdom when Prince Trey broke the news to us all."
"Prince Trey?" Luna asked.
"He came to help you at the final battle; unfortunately, he was too late."
Luna felt a tear coming down her face, "A loyal friend to us and to the Princess till the end. It means a great deal to hear that."
The five current rangers looked at each other with confusion. They had no clue as to what their mentor and the cat were talking about. Feeling out of the loop, they wanted information on this Moon Kingdom and Prince Trey.
"Who is Prince Trey?" Rocky was the first to speak up.
"Why haven't we heard of the Moon Kingdom?" Adam was next. He thought the moon was empty and devoid of life, unless you count the villains residing there.
"How do you know each other?" Katherine asked before they could answer.
Finally Tanya opened her mouth to ask, "What news are you referring to?"
"Everyone please be quiet!" Luna asked of them all.
"But Zordon," Tommy asked, looking to his mentor, "I don't understand any of this. There's so much..."
"All will be revealed now Tommy as this is a very long and complicated story," Zordon started to say.
"More than you know Zordon." Trini said stepping forward.
"Trini?" Zordon asked but then looked at her and saw something different about her.
"Your turn now," Trini said softly. Before everyone's eyes, Trini's entire body changed into a totally different person: one that was recognized instantly by both Zordon and Alpha.
"AI-YI-YI-YI-YI!" Alpha exclaimed, "P-PRINCESS MARS?!!"
"Alpha. Zordon. It is good to see you again and please, call me Raye Hino. It's my new name for this life time."
"Princess Mars... Miss Hino... Raye," Zordon fumbled, for the first time in a very long while found himself almost practically speechless and fumbling for words. Here now before him was a young woman he had once called friend, who had died a millennium ago. Yet here she was, having transformed from his very first Yellow Ranger. "... how?"
"Queen Serenity," Raye said softly and with great respect, "With her last remnants of strength, sent the Princess and her court to be reborn in the future. However, her strength was not where it needed to be for the spell to work properly. Instead of being reborn with no memories of my past life, my soul was intertwined with Trini's from the moment she was conceived. I only awakened recently, when she nearly died in a burning building."
"Ai-yi-yi!" Alpha muttered out, unable to fathom all of this yet the proof was right in front of him.
Zordon himself was in a state of shock, something the Rangers had rarely, if ever, seen in him. However his face turned serious looking at her. "If what you say is true, then Queen Serenity used the Ginzuishou to accomplish this. But also I must assume the worst as well then."
Luna sighed, "I'm afraid so. With Raye's awakening, it can only signal the coming return of the Dark Kingdom."
"No! Not the Dark Kingdom!" Alpha exclaimed, "I thought Queen Serenity..."
"Only temporarily Alpha," Raye sighed, "Only temporarily."
"... Okay! Could someone come back to planet earth and clue in the rest of us on all of this!" Rocky exclaimed.
"This is so confusing," Tanya stated as she rubbed her temples. "It's also giving me a migraine."
"I know how you feel," Adam agreed with her. So many names and events, it was hard to remember what was what.
Zack just looked at Jason smugly, "You owe me."
Jason groaned as he pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and handed it to Zack, getting Tommy's attention. "What was that about?"
"Oh we had a little bet going on to see if you guys would freak out about the whole thing either as bad or worse than we did when we found out four months ago back in Switzerland," Zack said with a grin, "I bet on worse."
Jason shrugged, "... sorry but, this does look worse than our reaction."
"I think we should all take a moment to calm down," Luna stated.
"Indeed," Zordon agreed. "Alpha if you would."
"Right with you Zordon, if only because I need one myself," Alpha replied, and suddenly half a dozen chairs materialized. Alpha took a seat on one of them.
Raye looked over at the Rangers, "You guys better sit down. There's a lot you have to know."
"And she does mean a lot," Zack said.
* * *
Astrea Walker paused in the doors of the school, scowling out at the rain. _This was going to make it hard to sleep tonight._ she thought, and stepped out. Wet clothes were never fun, and she was soaked before she'd even reached the street.
She didn't have much in the way of fashion sense, wearing simple clothes, today being drab green shirt and black pants. Maybe if only to just fade into the background, her blonde hair was cut short, barely reaching her chin. She wasn't much into having friends. Any real relationships she had, she had been burned in. _Story of my life. Lose my family, adopted ones turn out to be real pieces of garbage, and now I'm stuck here living only on what I'm given by my guardian._
It wasn't the first time that she thought of how much her life pretty much sucked. When she got like this, she felt almost unstable and when feeling that way she needed to find something to vent on. The thunder and lightning going on around her only seemed to contribute to her current disposition.
"Stop! Please!" cried out a panicked female voice.
The sounds of fists hitting flesh got Astrea's attention, and a cold smile formed on her face. "Just what the doctor ordered."
"Look here you little scank! You are going to tell the coach what I tell you!" Astrea walked into the alleyway, seeing three members of the varsity football team confronting one of the cheerleaders. "I am not going to be kicked off the team when we are nearly at the state championships, just because I had innocent fun with a girl."
"Innocent? Is that what they call rape?" Astrea asked coyly.
"What?! I didn't do..." the guy said, turning around only to get hit by Astrea's backpack, which she had thrown in his face.
"Maybe you did, maybe you didn't," Astrea commented, "Either way, you just hit a girl in the face. I'd say you just screwed yourself."
The cheerleader took that opportunity to run. The three jocks glared at Astrea.
"You are so going to pay for this," the lead jock growled.
Astrea let out a smirk, "As if simple jocks could even make me break out in a sweat."
That had been the last straw as the football players went after Astrea. The first one just charged her, swinging haymaker punches at her head. However Astrea simply evaded the first two punches and caught the third. She then landed an elbow to his chest, stunning him before driving a kick into his midsection, sending him sprawling.
"A kung-fu witch huh? Let me show you my kung fu," the jock that wasn't the leader said, trying to be funny.
Astrea punched him straight in the face, knocking him out. "Pathetic." she turned to face the lead jock, who was now looking rather intimidated. Astrea let out a grin, "What happened to your attitude before? 'You're so going to pay for this.' Those were your words, weren't they?"
"Look, you don't want to do this," he pleaded, "My father's really rich."
"I don't care who you are or who your daddy is," Astrea said coolly walking toward him, "All I want to do, is fight you until I feel better. And that is exactly what I plan to--"
*ZAPPPP!!!*
The last thing Astrea felt was her entire body in shock, as if electricity had just been sent through it. It was pain beyond anything she had ever experienced before. She collapsed to the ground, the darkness enveloping her.
* * *
The remaining football player couldn't believe his luck. Lightning had just struck that crazy girl and now she looked like she was dead. If anyone saw him here, he could be blamed for this. He heard his buddies starting to get up on their feet.
"Hey... what gives?" his buddies asked.
"Run... just run!" the leader said and his buddies followed, wanting to get out of there before anyone saw him. He didn't want to take the fall because of crazy girl. Not his fault, not his problem.
* * *
"... and that's everything." Raye concluded. Between her and Luna, she had given the Zeo Rangers a brief summary of the Silver Millennium, the Moon Kingdom, the Dark Kingdom and the final battle on the moon. Zack and Jason then added their own input on what happened in Geneva four months ago.
"You're right, it is a lot to take in at one time," Adam agreed with Raye's statement before the entire explanation. "I would have never guessed a thriving civilization lived on the moon."
"Neither would I," Kat said. She shifted around to a comfortable position. After all, it was a rather long story.
"I wonder what happened to the others," Rocky stated thoughtfully. Raye mentioned the other princesses and that she was a princess herself.
"... so that's what those ruins were of on the moon." Tommy said softly.
"Bro?" Jason asked.
"When I was working for Rita as the Green Ranger," Tommy started, "I didn't spend all my time on earth. I was up on the moon. Some times I went off on my own when she didn't need me. I found ruins of pillars, things that shouldn't exist there. I naturally I assumed it was Rita's, now I know it wasn't."
"Nice to know not all traces of the Kingdom are gone," Luna mused.
"But what about the Dark Kingdom?" Tanya asked. "I mean, should we be worried about them?"
"When they do awaken, I would say so Tanya," Zordon stated, "The Dark Kingdom in its prime would make the Machine Empire look like almost nothing at all."
"You're exaggerating... right?" Rocky asked.
"I only wish I was Rocky." Zordon shook his head. "The Dark Kingdom was the most formidable force of evil for many millennia. Queen Metallia's power was only rivaled by that of Dark Specter's."
"Dark Specter?" Tommy asked. "Who's Dark Specter?"
"That's something I'm curious about," Raye commented, "I've never heard that name before."
A serious look came before Luna's face, "He is the one isn't he? The one that made the pact with Metallia."
"I am afraid so Luna," Zordon answered. "Dark Specter reformed the United Alliance of Evil. Since the end of the Silver Millennium, he and his forces have been at constant war with the forces of light in his quest to conquer the entire known universe."
"What is it with all of these sickos that want to take over the universe?" Raye said rolling her eyes. "Honestly."
"It's all part of the evil villain code," Rocky stated with dry humor. "To be an evil villain, you must have ambitions to take over the universe."
"By whatever means necessary," Adam added in bitterly. Even if he wasn't there, he had heard about the time Rita used Tommy to do her dirty work. She had also used Kat in the same manner, but Katherine was able to break the spell and become good. When Kimberly was leaving, she stepped up and became the Pink Ranger.
Suddenly alarms went off in the power chamber.
"And speaking of evil villain code," Tommy growled, "They know exactly when to drop in unannounced."
"Alpha, where is the disturbance located?" Zordon asked.
"I'll patch it onto the viewing globe right away," Alpha said. Once he did that, the Rangers could see that the attack was well under way. The streets were filled with panicking people as Cogs and a metallic shark monster were attacking the city and its citizens. The black storm clouds only heightened the gloom and doom of the situation.
"I don't understand," Kat shook her head, "If it's this bad already, how could we not have known about the attack on Angel Grove."
"That's because it is not in Angel Grove," Alpha answered, "It's in Stone Canyon."
With a glance to each other, Rocky and Adam knew they had to go there. Their old friends might be in the line of fire or were caught in the fight.
"What are we waiting for?" Rocky inquired, extremely tensed. "Let's go."
"Not without me," Everyone turned to face Raye who had annoyed expression on her face, "What? You think I am just going to sit here and cool my heels?"
"Um, look Princess," Rocky said only for Raye to glare at him.
"One, I am no longer a Princess, and two, I am far from powerless," Raye stated.
"Are you certain of this Raye?" Zordon asked. "You may be exposing yourself with what you have in mind."
"I say better now, on my terms, than later," Raye replied, "Besides, there are innocent people that need help. I'm not going to abandon them."
"Very well. My only request is that you work with the Rangers," Zordon stated.
"Of course." Raye nodded. "Ready for action now Trini?"
/Yes./
"Good," Raye said, willing her small wrist bracelet to transform into the larger Mars Star Bracelet. "MARS POWER, MAKE-UP!" She yelled and was transformed into her Sailor Soldier appearance.
All five Zeo rangers couldn't believe how short her skirt was. It reminded them of a sailor's outfit, but with a skirt instead of pants, and no cap. Not to mention, sailors didn't wear high heels or look good in their outfits. Maybe a few did.
"Are you sure you can actually fight in that getup?" Rocky was the first one to speak the question.
"I've fought in this outfit since before you were even born and never have had any problems at all. And by the way, the name's Sailor Mars."
"It would take a miracle for me to be able to fight in high heels," Tanya commented.
"You wouldn't happen to be from Mars?" Katherine inquired while inspecting the outfit for the last time. From most of the television and books, she heard Martians were green little things with strange antennae.
"Yes and no my people were never little green men," Sailor Mars answered, refraining from rolling her eyes, "I'd love to figure out where your race came with that idea."
"We'll discuss that some other time. Right now, we got work to do," Tommy said, taking charge, "Ready... IT'S MORPHIN TIME!"
"ZEO RANGER I-PINK!!!"
"ZEO RANGER II-YELLOW!!!"
"ZEO RANGER III-BLUE!!!"
"ZEO RANGER IV-GREEN!!!"
"ZEO RANGER V-RED!!!"
"Teleporting now," Alpha said once he saw the Zeo Rangers and Sailor Mars standing together. In six teleport streams, they had left to confront the enemy.
"Good luck guys," Jason said wistfully.
"Makes ya feel almost nostalgic doesn't it?" Zack mused.
Luna had an amused look on her face but then suddenly felt a tinge. It went away for now but it unnerved her. _What was that... I think I better keep my senses aware. What ever that was, I have a feeling it will be important._
* * *
Pain.
That was what she felt as air went through her lungs. She was gasping for it as she rolled over on the ground. _What... what happened..._ she asked herself rapidly as she tried to reorient herself.
The sound of thunder made her sit ramrod straight. It was only then that she realized that she was in a puddle of water. As she got up, felt her chestnut brown hair was damp and loose. Looking herself over, she felt concern.
"These... these aren't my Soldier Garments..." she whispered to herself, getting a look at her surroundings, she realized something else, "And this... isn't the moon..."
Seeing one of the sleeves was ripped, she tore a part of it off and used it to tie her hair into a ponytail to keep it from being a distraction. Staring out into this strange and unknown world, she wondered just where she was. Her memories were all jumbled up. Not just her own, but images that she knew she had never seen before, memories that couldn't be her own.
"Will something just make sense already! Where am I?" She screamed out.
"AHHHH!!!"
The scream of another human being running from a walking machine with a golden head brought her out of her state of shock, as she recognized the machine. "A Cog?"
"Run for it!" the man yelled running past her. She saw the Cog running for her, shaking its arms at her as if to scare her.
"Give me a break!" she roared as she landed a knife chop to its head, shearing off its head in one clean blow. That act made her emerald green eyes go wide, "HOLY! I was only trying to knock it down, not take it's head off! That's way strong, stronger than I'm supposed to be!"
However, seeing more Cogs coming down the street, she couldn't help but grin viciously. "You want to pick a fight with me? Fine, just know I'll be the one that ends it."
She went at them, believing they should consider it a royal honor to get themselves recycled by the Princess of Jupiter.
* * *
The streets of Stone Canyon were over run with Cogs. Never before had this city's citizens been subjected to being the battle site of the alien menaces that attacked their neighboring city of Angel Grove. They never assumed they would be attacked at all, as it was always Angel Grove that the alien forces seemed to attack.
Thus the citizens and the police were very ill prepared with the machine menace that came to attack them. Citizens fled in terror as the Cogs chased after them and police officers weapons had little affect on the foot soldiers of the Machine Empire.
Along with a large contingent of Cogs was a metallic blue machine that had been constructed with a shark-like appearance. "This is great! So many humans running in fear and terror! I love it! We should attack other cities more often!"
"Except in the end, the result will still be the same."
The sharkbot turned to face its worst enemies. "The Zeo Rangers! A little late aren't you?"
"You're going to pay for what you've done, bucket-head," Blue Zeo promised.
"The name's SharkBlazer blue boy, and you'll have to do more than talk tough to do that," the machine monster sneered, "Cogs! Attack!"
A large contingent of Cogs came rushing for the rangers who for once didn't seem to be advancing for them right away, as if they were waiting for something. And they were.
"FIRE SOUL!!!"
A blast of fire came down and mowed down around a dozen Cogs or so, reducing them to various forms of molten scrap metal.
"Hope you don't mind I cut in like that," a female voice spoke out.
"Who dares to interfere in the affairs of King Mondo?!" SharkBlazer demanded.
It was then that a certain sailor suited heroine came into sight. "You've done enough damage, you pathetic machine. Guardian of flame and passion, I am Sailor Mars! And in the name of Mars, I'll punish you!"
"Like I'm supposed to be afraid of a scantly clad teenager!" SharkBlazer sneered.
Sailor Mars glared at the shark machine, angered by his insult. She gave a glance to Red Zeo who understood the meaning. Without saying a word, the Zeo Rangers went on to fight the remaining Cogs, allowing Sailor Mars to face SharkBlazer one-on-one.
"Let's see if I can't mess up that pretty face of yours!" SharkBlazer sneered, throwing a punch right for Sailor Mars's face, only to have it blocked. "WHAT?!"
Sailor Mars just smiled. "Nice. You're actually stronger than that low class Youma I killed a few months back. This might actually be fun."
"FUN?!" SharkBlazer screamed, angered and insulted by the insinuation that she was toying with him. He shot off from his back his fin blade, which glowed dark blue. Sailor Mars had begun to move though the blade clipped her in her left arm. "Ha! Hope you like having lots of blood coming... what?!"
To SharkBlazer's shock, instead of a gash, there was only a bruise forming.
Sailor Mars looked up at SharkBlazer with a serious face, "Just because this may look revealing doesn't mean I'm that vulnerable. However, I want to thank you for reminding me of something important before you get blown away. Always take a battle seriously." She took to the air and came down hard, her high heels piercing through SharkBlazer's armor. Then she went on the offensive, landing strikes to further disorient and damage the machine.
Looking over to her comrades, she saw they had taken care of the Cogs and were already forming their gestalt weapon. "All yours, guys." Flashing a grin she leapt out of the way just as the Zeo Rangers fired off the Zeo Power Blaster, which caused the monster to blow up.
"Well there's another monster that goes back to the scrap heap," Yellow Zeo stated.
"Assuming Mondo doesn't decide to send Orbus down to make the monster grow," Green Zeo replied.
"In which case I am out of the fight," Sailor Mars announced.
"You are?" Blue Zeo asked her.
"You think I can grow fifty stories?"
* * *
Meanwhile, Jupiter had already dealt with the machines that had come her own way when she felt something very familiar, or rather someone. _Mars... I feel Mars! But how? I saw her die... die right before me._ She suddenly clutched her head as she felt a sharp pain come over her, "Oh by Jupiter, what is happening to me! Why do I keep seeing things I don't even remember?"
/Because they are my thoughts! Get out of my body!/
Jupiter froze at once when she heard a voice in her own head. "Who is there! Show yourself!"
/I don't know what you are, but give me back my body!/
"Your body?" Jupiter snapped incredulously, "This is my body! Are you a Princess of Jupiter?"
/Shut up! My life has sucked enough in these last few years! I don't need this! I don't! I want control back! I want my place in life back!/
"Are you just going to whine in my head?" Jupiter growled, "Cause it's really aggravating me."
/It's my head!/
After that much of an argument, both Jupiter and the voice decided to let each other have it, by flooding the other with all of their memories.
Neither was prepared for the backlash that followed.
Nor could they have known that others would feel the psychic backlash that they had created.
* * *
In a room on the planet Onyx, Zoicite was in the middle of another song when a familiar feeling washed over her. It was a feeling that she had felt once before in the last few months.
_Again! There it is again!_ she realized, recognizing the feeling for what it was. _They have come back... some of them at least._ She contemplated the best course of action to take and realized going there physically would take too long for her tastes.
Playing once again on her piano, she began to prepare to send herself to earth via astral projection to inspect the matter personally.
* * *
In the Power Chamber, Luna felt the hairs on her back stand on end.
"Luna, what is it?" Zordon asked.
"Jupiter, by the Queen it was Jupiter I felt!" Luna exclaimed.
"What?" Jason asked, "You mean another Soldier's awakened?"
"Zordon you have to send me to that city where the Rangers and Mars are fighting right away," Luna exclaimed, "I must find Jupiter before something terrible happens, to her or the young girl she's been born into."
"I will teleport you outside of the battle zone as a precaution, even though the battle has ended," Zordon replied, "Good luck to you Luna."
Luna was teleported outside of the power chamber.
* * *
Also on Earth, in a secluded area, another person felt the jolt that Zoicite and Luna had. He thought it impossible to feel that aura after all this time. Using his senses, he found not just that aura but another one. Both of which were familiar to him.
_Well now... this definitely bears investigating,_ the man mused, looking over at the dismembered cogs outside his home. _And without interruptions._ He then vanished in a cone of red black energy.
* * *
In space, the members of the Machine Empire's Royal Court were not happy with this recent turn of events.
"No! Slag! They still defeated me!" Mondo roared.
"With the aid of a scantly clad harlot no less," Machina fumed.
"I must have my revenge!" Mondo roared.
"Sire! I have news! The former blue ranger is beginning to return to earth!" Klank said.
"Excellent! We'll either kill him or use him as bait to get..."
"Unfortunately, you'll do neither." An unfamiliar voice spoke.
The entire royal family only had a few moments to wonder before they all went offline, as did their entire sky base.
"As I said, no interference." The man said with a smile. "And that will keep you off line for several hours. Enough to do what I need to do." He held up a black crystal, looking down at the earth. "From the depths of your defeat, I give you the chance to become much more. Become my instrument and let us find out if they have truly returned."
The crystal glowed and a beam went all the way down to earth.
"Now to watch the show unfold," he chuckled before leaving the Skybase in the same way that he arrived.
* * *
At the battle site, the Zeo Rangers thought that Mondo wasn't going to have them fight a giant sized version of the monster and were about to get rid of what was left when suddenly a dark beam of light hit the remains. Before anyone could even speak, the remains of the machine started swirling around, as did other pieces of debris and metal.
"Well this is new," Red Zeo muttered as he and others watched in curiosity. All of the metal ended up forming itself into a blue metal humanoid female, reminiscent in form to that of a mermaid.
"What kind of joke is Mondo pulling on us now?" Blue Zeo asked.
The creature simply opened its mouth, spraying a mist at Blue Zeo, which made Sailor Mars's eyes go wide. "MOVE!" she cried, tackling him down to avoid the blast.
When the mist hit a traffic light, it turned entirely into ice.
"What the?!" Pink Zeo gasped.
"That is not one of your enemies creations... not any more," Sailor Mars said with a solemn look, "That is a Youma."
"Great," Green Zeo muttered.
"Any thoughts on how to attack this thing?" Yellow Zeo asked.
Before anyone could answer, the Youma attacked, flicking its tail fin and shooting metal shards, which might as well have been spears. They all dodged out of the way to avoid getting hit.
Pink and Yellow Zeo opened fire with their Zeo Blasters and scored direct hits; however, they realized they weren't doing much except irritating the Youma. Even when the other Zeo Rangers added their own fire power in, did the Youma attempt blocking.
"I can't believe this!!" Blue Zeo cried. "How can it be this strong?!"
"Maybe because it really is a monster," Red Zeo replied, "You ever remember fighting a monster that didn't like to talk while we fought it?"
"No."
"Well, I don't think this one is going to be speaking at all," Red Zeo shook his head and took a look over at Sailor Mars, who was setting up an attack. Unfortunately so was the Youma, namely its freeze breath.
"Not this time," Sailor Mars snarled, "FIRE SOUL!!!" Her attack connected against the Youma's, overpowering it and causing it to fall back. However it had only gained minor injury. _This is definitely an above average strength Youma. But how is this possible unless..._ she had a pretty good idea of what this could mean but decided to table it for now.
First priority now was making sure to survive this encounter, in order to worry about the ramifications of this Youma's appearance.
* * *
In the alleyway, Jupiter lay back against the wall, her eyes wide in horror as she relieved the girl's, Astrea's, memories. "How could anyone... do that to a child..."
/I never thought... the life you went through... the battles you fought.../ Astrea returned. /... we're so alike it scares me. Different lives, yet we live behind the masks of being strong, never to be taken down by anyone./
"My entire world... gone... all of it..." Jupiter breathed, "There isn't even any memories of it left... so why... why was I brought back?"
/I couldn't tell you that... and maybe this is sounding selfish, but oddly enough I kind of like the idea of having someone like you to talk to./
Jupiter couldn't help but crack a small smile, "Same here... don't worry. I won't pry into your thoughts. If you want to say something to me, you'll do it when you are ready."
/... thanks. Wonder where we go from here?/
"PRINCESS JUPITER!!!"
Jupiter froze in shock. "... Luna?"
"Princess! I can't tell you how glad I am to see you once again," Luna beamed with joy, joy that was unfortunately cut short as she felt something terribly wrong. Jupiter felt it as well.
"Mars! She's fighting a Youma... I can feel it..." Jupiter said, looking back over at the moon cat, "Luna what is going on?"
"I am afraid explanations will have to wait until after the Youma is taken care of," Luna replied.
Jupiter nodded, "Of course. Time to break out my transformation stick and—"
"I'm afraid you don't have it any more."
"I WHAT?!" Jupiter exclaimed.
"To give the short version, when you were reborn, you lost it and it found its way to me. However due to your unique condition, you can't transform as you once did."
"Unique condition?" Jupiter asked.
/I think she means me./ Astrea said, /Something I would love to get explained right now./
"Except we don't have time right now! Mars could be in real danger!" Jupiter snapped, her own anger and sorrow coming to the surface, "I failed to help her once... I will NOT fail twice! Not a chance in hell!"
/... so this is what its like./ Astrea mused, /The feeling of friendship. I never thought... I never thought it could feel so strong./
"You and I have a lot to learn about each other," Jupiter replied, "But Astrea, I need you to be with me on this."
/I'm not one that rushes in to helping others. Then again, maybe it is time for a career change./
"Thanks," Jupiter said relieved, "Alright Luna give it to me!"
"One Star Bracelet coming up!" Luna said as she did a spinning jump. When she had completed her jump, a light came forth and struck Jupiter's wrist. After a few seconds, a Star Bracelet appeared on her wrist. It was similar to Mars's, except this one had an emerald instead of a ruby. "Jupiter and... Astrea is it? You must be unified in your thoughts when you transform. It is the only way that you will be able to transform."
"Got it," Jupiter acknowledged, "You ready Astrea?"
/I've come this far. I might as well see where this goes next./
"Then it's time to get back into the fight," the Princess said with a smirk, "JUPITER POWER, MAKE-UP!"
* * *
Sailor Mars had to admit this Youma was more than she bargained for. It also seemed to be specifically made to deal out long range attacks. So far it had not moved at all from its spot at all yet it had kept her and the Zeo Rangers from getting in close.
They were trying to figure out how to attack just as it was preparing to send out another attack at them. They needed to come up with something fast.
Fortunately they didn't have to.
"SUPREME THUNDER!!!"
Sailor Mars's eyes went wide as saucers when she saw massive charge of lightning nail the youma, sending it flying. Looking up she saw someone she never expected to see, at least not now but was grateful regardless. "I don't believe it..."
The rangers looked up to see a young lady on top of a building, wearing an outfit that greatly resembled Mars' own. However, she wore a green short skirt instead of a red one. Her bows on her chest and lower back were both pink. On her ears, she had two pink rose earrings. Two short green boots with laces adorned her feet, allowing her to fight easier. However, like Mars, she wore elbow length white gloves and a golden tiara on her brow. Her brown hair was tied back into a short ponytail. Finally she spoke, "Guardian of thunder and courage, Sailor Jupiter! In the name of Jupiter, I'll punish you!"
"JUPITER!" Sailor Mars exclaimed as other Sailor Soldier leapt gracefully down to join her.
"Good to see you're back among the living too, Mars," Sailor Jupiter smirked, "We'll catch up after we take out the trash."
Sailor Mars returned the smirk, "Sounds like a plan to me."
"Mars look!" Red Zeo called out, seeing the Youma's bottom half trying to reassemble itself.
"What's it doing?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
"Trying to get its balance again," Sailor Mars muttered.
"Of course!" Green Zeo exclaimed, "We should have seen it when it wasn't moving at all. It has to be stationary to use its long range attacks."
"Then let's pick it apart before gets a chance to do," Red Zeo commanded. "Kat!"
"On it! ZEO I POWER DISK!" Pink Zeo cried, her Power Disk appearing in her hands. After charging it up, she let it fly like a Frisbee, slicing right into the Youma's bottom half, ruining what ever progress it had made in gaining its balance.
"Let's take care of this together," Sailor Jupiter said to Sailor Mars, who nodded. Both of them started to channel their powers to unleash their attacks, "SUPREME THUNDER!"
"FIRE SOUL!"
The two attacks went right for the Youma, striking it hard and totally engulfed it.
"And another one bites the dust," Sailor Mars said with a smirk.
"AGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!" cried out an inhuman scream. To the Sailors surprise, they saw the Youma emerge from the flames, though it definitely had seen better days.
"This is definitely not your run of the mill Youma," Sailor Jupiter growled. She prepared to fire up another Supreme Thunder only to see a multicolored beam blow a hole through the Youma's chest. It fell to the ground and soon dissolved into nothing. "... huh?"
"Turn around," Sailor Mars motioned and Jupiter saw the Zeo Rangers disassembling their gestalt weapon.
"Couldn't let you get all the kicks in," Blue Zeo said.
"Sense of humor. Nice," Sailor Jupiter said amused, but then looked over to Mars, "So like to tell me just what is going on?"
Before Mars could answer, there was a sudden sound of applause that filled the air.
"Now that was amusing, to say the least. That Rangers of your 'power' can even finish off a weakened Youma," a masculine voice spoke smugly to them from the shadows. "But I must say, I am surprised to find two dead princesses running around alive and well."
"Who's there!" Red Zeo demanded, "Show yourself!"
The voice simply laughed, "With pleasure." The laugh struck a cord within Sailor Jupiter.
"No... it can't be..." Sailor Jupiter breathed.
"Jupiter what is it..." Sailor Mars trailed off as she saw a tall man walking out of the shadows and into the light. He was about six foot tall, wearing a crimson red uniform with gold embroidery and a blood red cape that billowed in the wind. He had long curly brown hair and had a very handsome face, yet his red eyes had a cruel and dark glint to them.
"What's going on," Red Zeo asked, as he and the other rangers wondered who this person was to unnerve the Sailors like this.
"For those of you that don't know who I am, allow me to introduce myself," the man said with a malicious smile, "I am Lord Nephrite of the Dark Kingdom, one of the four Shitenno."
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: Well guess you weren't expecting this bit of a surprise now were you. If you thought the first two fights were good, starting next chapter we open up with Nephrite making his modern day debut, going up against two Sailors and the entire Zeo team. One thing is definite; it's not going to be how anyone expects.