POWER RANGERS ZEO
SHADOW OF THE DRAGON

Chapter Four

Written by DTM666

Originally Published on : November 2003 to May 2004

First volume of the Breakdown trilogy, which is followed by Power Rangers: Breakdown and Power Rangers: Zero Hour.

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.

-o-

When he materialized in the middle of the reservation, the Red Zeo Ranger studied the surroundings. Other than a couple of people running in fear, the village was completely deserted, but the enemy wasn't there and there were no explosions heard in the background. In fact, the village and surrounding area appeared to be intact. Of the many people fleeing, the only person he recognized was his brother David, who was slowly limping towards a tent.

"Bro," the Red Ranger called as he approached the teen, "are you alright?"

"Yeah," David answered, managing a smile, "I'm fine. Just tripped over a rock."

Tommy surveyed the area for a moment and turned back to face David. "He didn't attack?"

David shook his head. "He simply stood there and fired shots in the sky. Scared everyone into hiding, but he didn't hurt anyone."

The Red Ranger sighed, both in relief and frustration. "Something's going on here, Dave." he said, "I need you to keep an eye out on things here, but stay out of sight. I don't want you being the hero."

David nodded. "Good luck, bro."

"You too."

With that, the two brothers went their own separate ways. Tommy looked on for a while until David was out of sight. Confident that his brother would be fine, he began his search for the stranger.

-o-

The stranger roamed around a rock quarry. For a moment, he felt bored and wanted to do something. However, patience is something that he had much practice with the past year, the year he had kept in hiding. He would wait for his opponent to arrive and then he would give him a much needed lesson in humility.

He pulled out the dagger, the weapon from which he had managed to steal when the opportunity presented itself. He took a moment to study the weapon, which had seen little use for the better part of these years. Although it didn't surprise him that its magically properties had protected it from corrosion, he couldn't help but be in awe of its splendor. None of his previous arms were this well constructed, nor did they have the power that this mere knife possessed. The ability to control a battle zord without putting one's self at risk was not something to sneeze at. Even mental control mastered by the Aquitians did not match the efficiency that this dagger did.

After a moment of reflection, the stranger put away the dagger and looked on at the mountains, as he waited.

-o-

The rock putty general entered the chamber of Lord Zedd. In the center of view was Zedd, who was kneeling before a mini shrine, which consisted of two statues of serpent beasts and in between the two stood a marble statue of a three-headed dragon hugging a human figure of medium build and height wearing Zedd's mask.

Zedd slowly stood up and noticed the putty at the door. "What is it?"

"The Zeo Rangers, Lord Zedd." the general said calmly, "They're loose in the palace."

"I'm well aware of that," the fleshman replied, uncharacteristically calm, "Send a couple of your troops after them."

The rock Putty nodded and walked out of Zedd's chamber. From the other side of the room emerged Rita Repulsa, who had overheard the conversation in the smaller bedroom and noticed Zedd's apparent ease of the situation. This is something she didn't understand, as Zedd would usually be fuming (or at least be very angry) about such matters.

"Something you'd like to share with me?" she asked, almost sounding like an interrogator.

"For the moment, no," Zedd answered calmly, "Nothing for you to be concerned about."

Almost angered by Zedd's response, along with the fact that she had nothing to do with the Rangers' presence here, Rita studied Zedd for a moment, wondering what he is thinking. Of course, she has a way of knowing Zedd's thoughts despite the fact his face is hidden behind a mask. But today, she couldn't read his mind as well as she could before. She noticed a different aura around Zedd, something she hadn't seen since she had first served with him all those eons ago.

"What's the deal, Zeddie?" she asked, "Why are you feeling fine about Rangers amok in the palace?"

"Just a means to an end, dear" was the fleshman's only reply before leaving the chamber. Rita took one last glance at her husband before shrugging off any strange feelings and returning to bed.

-o-

"Lord Aradon," the Cog weapons officer called from his post on the bridge, "our forces have managed to destroy the main shield grid of Mondo's machine palace."

Aradon clasped his hands together in triumph. "Excellent. Commence the attack." He soon turned to find another gold-skinned Cog running up to him. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes sir," the Cog answered, sounding almost excited, "it's a small mass of parts that seem to fit with the specifications of Mondo and his Royal Family."

Aradon slowly stood from his chair and walked towards the Cog. He leaned his head closer as to whisper in the messenger's ear. "Are you absolutely certain?"

The Cog nodded in confirmation. "Positive, my Lord. I've triple-checked the scans myself and they match both in material composition and radiation output. It is them."

A small smile crept up the Machine lord's face. He would not only claim Mondo, but he would claim the Machine King and his family in pieces, where they will put up little or no resistance. This made him happy, as he doesn't have to struggle to get the fat bastard to come along. Snapping out of his momentary trance, he slowly returned to his chair and clasped his hands together.

"Send a team to recover the parts." he ordered, his voice showing no emotion, "If any resistance is met, deal with it by any means you see fit."

"Aye, sir." The Cog replied before bowing to Aradon and returning to his post.

Aradon pointed to the comm officer in the back. "Command our forces to concentrate all firepower on the palace. If we're going to drag that bucket of bolts back to Gorah Khan, we need to make sure his base is unable to send troops after us."

-o-

Tommy teleported in the quarry and saw the stranger stand there. Without hesitation, he ran as fast as human limitation would allow him and pulled out his Zeo Pistol, firing several warning shots. None of them hit; in fact, the shots were low enough that they merely impacted the dirt on the ground. However, the shots did gave the stranger warning and almost instantly, he turned and face the Red Ranger. That did not deter Tommy from firing several more rounds from his pistol, this time at the stranger. The stranger raised his left hand and just as before, the laser bolts that were fired from the Zeo Pistol vanished almost as quickly as they were shot. This caused Tommy to stop and slowly back away. When the stranger noticed this, he clenched his fist closed and soon his body began to glow a dim red.

Before Tommy could react, slight explosions occurred on his back, causing him to recoil forward. When he turned to find out what was causing it, he realized it too late. His gunblasts, the ones that he fired at the stranger but disappeared, had re-appeared to hit the one who shot them to begin with. Several hits to the chest and head later, the Red Ranger crumbled to the ground in pain.

Damn, he thought, I forgot he could do that.

Slowly getting up, Tommy struggled to gain back his strength to stand. When he did stand fully, he was met with a hard roundhouse kick to the head that knocked down Tommy again. Tommy coughed and felt a slight hint of blood from his lower lip. Getting back on his knees, Tommy looked up at the stranger who had just pulled out the Dragon Dagger from his coat. The stranger held the dagger firmly with both hands over his head. Out of sheer desperation and nothing more, Tommy landed a hard right uppercut to his enemy's groin. The stranger staggered back in pain, still gripping on to the dagger.

Behind the helmet, Tommy smiled. Pulling out his Blaster, Tommy fired a low-level shot at the stranger's chest. To his semi-surprise, the shot actually hit and the stranger recoiled a bit, although his grip of the Dagger was still strong. Tommy raised the energy level up and fired another shot. Scoring another hit to the chest that startled the stranger, the Red Ranger continued his attack; firing one shot and raising the level a bit before he fired again. Each hit scored, the stranger backing up in surprise, but his grip on the dagger was still firm. Finally, Tommy's blaster had reached maximum power and he let out several shots.

All hit the stranger in the chest area and after a few more hits, the stranger was finally lifted off his feet and landed on his back.

Breathing heavily, Tommy clutched on to his chest and dropped to one knee. He felt tired, but relieved that the battle is over. However, his relief faded to disbelief when he saw that the stranger slowly stood back up... with the Dragon Dagger still firmly in his hand.

"What the hell is this?" Tommy said, not believing what he is seeing.

The stranger reached for something in his pocket and pulled out a longer sword.

Tommy thought it was the Sword of Darkness, another old weapon he had used when he served as Rita's Green Ranger, but whereas that sword had a slightly curved white blade, this sword had a crooked blade made of black metal. Tommy went into a fighting stance, momentarily blocking off the pain that overwhelmed him. However, a slash across the chest forced the Red Ranger on his knees, his arms wrapping the cut area. Tommy felt immobile and helpless as the stranger extended his sword with both hands over Tommy's head. After a brief moment, the stranger began the downward stab.

But before the attack could make contact, the Red Ranger was enveloped in red light and vanished. The stranger was confused, but raised his hand and made his beams disappear.

-o-

Mondo's machine Palace stood high and tall amist a colony of burning wreckage and explosions. It was the only thing that stood between Aradon's forces and complete destruction of Mondo's colony. From the lower hangars, a dozen quadrafighters spewed forth, valiantly attempting to fend off against the more aggressive and more numerous forces of Lord Aradon. However, the black-colored quadrafighters and three stealth fighters were much too powerful for the technically obsolete quadrafighters that had served Mondo well in the past.

"Locking on polaron disruptors on target, Commander." the lead pilot transmitted, "We're going in."

The first three-fighter group fell in and managed to take out some of the palace's weapons platforms with a few quick hits. The second group, consisting of four fighters, attacked the power generators around the palace. Each generator's destruction resulted in a fierce explosion that took out a good piece of the massive structure. After a significant amount of damage was done, the two flight groups pulled away, the once mighty palace that served as the centerpiece of this colony a molting ruin.

"Lord Aradon," the lead pilot spoke through the transmitter proudly, "Mondo's palace is weakened. Give the genius behind this new weapon a promotion ASAP."

"Good work, pilots." Aradon responded, "Fall back. We'll take care of the rest."

The Quadrafighter squadrons distanced themselves from the palace as the lead skybase slowly flew over the flaming pride of Mondo's colony, awaiting to deliver the final blow.

-o-

Kat was depressed. It was bad enough for her not to remember her way around the palace in order to lead the other Rangers to an escape route, but all the hallways of the palace, despite having a unique aura, seemed mind-bogglingly similar to each other. For the past hour, she tried most routes that were opened and the least guarded, but they all lead to a dead end.

"This is hopeless." Kat complained.

"Wait a minute." Tanya said, stopping all the Rangers.

Adam approached Tanya. "What is it?"

"Do you hear that buzzing sound?" she asked.

The buzzing grew louder and soon red flashes of light occurred, momentarily blinding the Rangers. An instant after the red flashes faded, the Rangers found themselves facing five rock putties, similar to the ones before, each one accompanied with two of Zedd's traditional Z-Putties; the white vested putties with the giant "Z" plate. All four Rangers went into defensive stances.

"Just what we don't need." Kat moaned.

"Remember, guys," Rocky called out, "hit the white ones in their 'Z' plates."

Kat managed to fend off the white putties easily, but the bigger Rock Putty shrugged off her various kicks. Agitated, she pulled out her pistol and fired a couple of shots, which was enough to stun the rock putty for a short while. Boosting the power on her pistol, she fired two shots onto the putty's leg and drove her foot onto the monster's knee, following that attack up with two quick jabs to chest. The final blows forced the putty to retreat.

A few kicks were all Adam needed to eliminate the two flaking white putties and focus on the rock creature. The rock putty managed a lucky hit to Adam's chest, which momentarily stunned him. Adam was able to recover quickly with a spinning heel kick across the creature's head. There was enough momentum in the kick to send the creature towards the one fighting Tanya and through sheer chance, the creature's blade pierced through the other's chest, killing him instantly. This left Tanya with the two white Putties to fight, but not much longer, as the Yellow Ranger managed to defeat them easily with a couple of lucky punches.

The two remaining Rock Putties cornered Rocky, but the Blue Ranger managed to dodge their attacks and roll past them. Pulling out his Pistol, he fired several shots. The shots stunned them, but did no damage, forcing Rocky to increase the pistol's setting. The Rock Putty on the left started to fell pain from the various shots from Rocky's pistol. Noticing this, the Ranger concentrated his firepower on the weaker monster. Eventually several shots destroyed the creature. His partner was soon eliminated the same way.

The four Rangers gathered to surround the remaining rock putty. The putty, knowing he was the only one left, crossed his arms and began to glow. A second later, the single putty quickly multiplied into two. Those two began to multiple into two and the cycle continued. It wasn't long before the Rangers found themselves surrounded by putties that were reproducing at an incredible rate. Just as they manage to clear half the room, twice as much take their place. Rocky tries to fight off the advancing putties, but they prove to be too much for him. Adam's every move is blocked and countered. And neither Kat nor Tanya have any success landing a blow.

"There's too many of them!" Rocky called out, "We need help!"

As if on cue, lightning strikes on the various putties, incinerating them almost instantly. The room soon cleared up and the Rangers were easily able to clear out the rest of the putties with relative ease. When the last putties was destroyed, the Rangers cheered, but soon beams of energy pass through them and their Ranger forms dissipated, demorphing the teens back to their normal state. They all turned to face the door which served as their ticket to escape and stood in surprise as they saw Lord Zedd holding a strange blaster pistol in one hand and a jagged sword in the other.

"You play a good game, Rangers." he said, his tone void of emotion, "but the game is over."

TO BE CONTINUED...