Part 4
Emperor Nicandros sat back as he listened to his lieutenants report of his battles with the Power Rangers. 'These new Power Rangers are even less effective than the originals. At least they stayed to fight.' he thought 'no matter, these new Rangers will be destroyed soon as well as any that dare to come after them. Zordons stupid children and all those who would use his powers and fight in his name.' The Emperor stood up from his throne and walked over to Barberon, who went silent and knelt down before his ruler. "You don't have to bow before me old friend." he told his warrior. "You have done served me well over the centuries and you are to be rewarded for this. After you destroy these new Rangers I want you to come to me again and we will have a celebration the like of which the universe has never seen and then you will receive your due for your many deeds in my name."
"Thank you my liege." Barberon said as he rose to his feet.
"No need to thank me Barberon, you deserve this. Of all my warriors you have served me the best. Now go and finish your mission my warrior."
"Yes my Emperor." Barberon said with a bow. He then did a sharp turn and walked out of the throne room.
'Barberon will destroy these fools just as he did the others and then no one else will be able to stand in my way.'
"Mom, dad, I'm back" Jason called out as he entered his families home.
"Jason!" came a female voice from another room. "Tommy, Jason home."
Jarrolds jaw almost hit the floor when he saw the beautiful women that walked into the room. There was no way that this could be Kim, Jarrold had figured her to be a lot older than this. This must have been Jasons older sister, but it seemed weird that he never mentioned having one. What he saw next made his heart jump. A middle aged man with short graying hair walked into the room and hugged Jason. The two looked at each other and Jarrold know that he was standing in the presence of one of the greatest heroes Earth had ever known.
"Jarrold, Leslie I would like to introduce you to my Mom and dad." Jason said indicating his parents.
"Nice to meet you, you can call me Tommy or Tom if you'd like. and this is Kim." The former Ranger said as he took Kims hand.
"Who is this little guy?" Kim said as she pulled away from Tommy hand and leaned over to take a look at the kid.
"This is Elliot mom." Jason told her. "We found him wondering around the forest outside of town on our way here."
"Speaking of that, you're back so soon, you've only been gone about a week." Tommy asked his son.
"I did it dad!" Jason said excitedly. Pulling out the White/Gold Power Morpher that he was carrying.
Tommy quickly grabbed his sons arm and pulled him to the side "Jason, what are you doing?" Tommy whispered in his sons ear. "You can't tell anyone know that your a Ranger it has to be a secret."
"It's okay dad these are the Power Rangers." Jason announced proudly.
Tommy looked over at the others as they pulled reached behind their backs, Jarrold pulled out a Green/Gold Morpher and Leslie pulled out her Pink/Gold Morpher and held them out for Tommy and Kim to see. Jasons parents beamed with pride as they looked at the new generation of Power Rangers. Elliot simply stared at the coins that were in the morphers.
"Are you the only Rangers or are there others?" Kim asked.
"There are five of us ma'am." Leslie asked.
"That makes a total of eight but yhere were only six coins." Tommy commented.
"Well sir there are eight of us. We have no idea where the other two coins came from but there are eight of them." Jarrold told him.
"So now you have your own team son I'm proud of you." Tommy told Jason.
Jason stepped closer to his dad and handed him the Morpher so that he can see it. "Actually Jarrolds the team leader."
"Sorry, I just thought that since you had the white coin that you were the leader."
"So what are your powers based on.?" Kim asked.
"As far as we can tell their based on animal spirits." Jason started. "I have the power of the Lynx, Jarrold is the Eagle and Leslie is the Phoenix."
"Where are the others?" Tommy asked.
"The others are holding fort in the Power Chamber." Jarrold answered. "We were attacked by this guy named Barberon and..."
Tommy and Kimberly both gasped "Barberons back!" the former White Ranger exclaimed handing Jasons morpher back to him. He was obviuosly upset by the news. "If he's back I already know why you're here. You better follow us." he told the Rangers.
"Do you believe that?" Mark asked as he walked into the infirmary. "Tara's Zord is just a few miles away under that lake."
Aron thought for a moment "Yeah, well at least that's one less Zord we have to find. I just hope that it's okay. I mean that thing has been there for years and from what I hear it went through some pretty tough battles when the Green Ranger had it."
Mark looked at Tara who was laying on a bed not far from where they were standing. He twirled the Dragon Dagger that he was holding between two of his fingers "I just hope that Tara gets better soon." he said, not trying to hide his concern.
"She'll be fine." Aron said trying to comfort the Black Ranger. 'I just wish that I know where Jayna was and if she was safe. Maybe I should just tell the others who I am and why I came. I mean Tara already knows and things would go a lot faster if they helped me.' he thought to himself.
"We better get out of here and let these three get some more rest. Ashlyn should be up in no time but Bryan and Tara are down for the count so they need as much rest as they can get. Let's just hope there aren't any attacks anytime soon." Mark said, as he and Aron left.
Ashlyn rolled over and opened her eyes 'So they found the squirts Zord huh?' she thought to herself 'that dagger must control it. Well I hope they get back here with the others soon.'
"Since you're here with Jason I guess he's already told our story. So I won't bore you with that again. I'll also assume that as Rangers you know about Zords and that you're probably wondering where yours are."
"Tommy you're starting to sound like Billy." Kim said, cutting him off.
"Oh sorry, well anyway the Zords proto-forms were hidden in different places around the world until it was time for you to activate them. Just do something for me first and tell me about the team."
"Tommy they don't have time for this." Kim told him.
"It's ok you both should know who's on the team. You've earned it." Jarrold told her.
"Thanks" said the the ex Ranger.
"We already told you about us, well the others are Ashlyn, the Yellow Ranger and she has the power of the Cheetah. Aron, the new Red Ranger is the Bull. Bryan has the power of the Fox and is Blue. Mark is the Black Ranger and is power by the spirit of the Panther and finally my little sister Tara is the Purple Ranger and she'll be using your old DragonZord sir."
"So the DragonZord is finally going to be with it's rightful owner huh. Well my old buddy deserves to see some action after all this time." Tommy said "Well now that you,ve done me this favor I'll tell you where the proto-form Zords are. Jarrold the green-form is high on a mountian summit in the Rockies, Leslie your pink-form is in the near a volcano in South America."
Kim decided that it was her turn to talk. "The to find the yellow-form your friend Ashlyn needs to go to a village in Kenya. The Black Ranger will find his proto-form in the Sahara. Bryan will find the blue proto-form Zord in a small ocean trench off the Florida coast."
Tommy cut back in "The Red proto-form is in Russia hidden underneath the Kremlin in a cave. There is also one blank proto-form created with each set of power in case it becomes neccessary to activate a sixth Ranger. Now that there are eight of you I guess that last one will go to you Jason. It's buried in the bottom of the Power Chamber."
"One more thing" Kim started. "There are guardians for each proto-form. We thought that they might need protection. So be careful when you get there."
"Mom, I need to talk to you in private." said Jason as he walked towards the back of the house.
The former Pink Ranger follwed her step-son towards his room and closed the door behind them.
Jason looked at Kim and gave her a hug. Kim looked eye to eye with the young White Ranger "What is it Jason?" she asked.
"Mom we need you to do us a big favor." Jason told her.
"Go ahead."
"Well mom, it's about the little boy that came with us Elliot. You've been a Ranger and you know how dangerous things can get in our line of work. None of us want him to get hurt so I was wondering if you and dad can keep an eye on him until we can find his family."
"I think that we could manage that kiddo" Kim told him. "Now you guys better get going if your going to get to those Zords."
"Thanks mom" Jason said walking out of his room and back to the others. He walked over to his teammates and pulled them to the side. The three gathered into a circle and began to talk in low voices. Leslie looked over at Elliot a few times and then walked over to him.
"Elliot you're going to be staying here with Tom and Kim" Leslie told the boy.
"But I want to stay with you Leslie." the boy responded.
"I know, but we're going on a dangerous mission and I want you to be safe and there's no one I would trust more than the White and Pink Rangers to protect. I'll be back to see you." With that she turned to walk out of the door and the others followed her.
Elliot ran to the door behind her but Tommy grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "It'll be okay kiddo, come on let's show you to your room."Jason looked back at the house and saw Kim watching them from the window 'thanks mom' he lipped to her.
"This is Mark" he said into the communications terminal. "go ahead."
"We know where the Zords are" Jarrold told him. "we're on the way back now, be ready to move out when we arrive."
"No problem boss" Mark said teasingly.
"How's my sister?" the Green Ranger asked.
"Tara's doing better but she's still not up and around yet."
"Okay just do what you can for here" Jarrold told the Black Ranger.
"Don't worry Jarrold she'll be fine"
"Thanks, Jarrold out."
"Okay, I told them about the Zords so now we have to get back as fast as we can." Jarrold said as he pulled the communcator away from his mouth.
"How is your sister Jarrold" Leslie asked.
"Mark said she's doing better but that she's still not up."
"Well we better hurry and get back so we can find those Zords and take that jerk Barberon out." Jason told them.
"You won't be going anywhere kids" came a voice from behind.
The trio turned around to find that ten Vandairre soldiers had apparently managed to sneak up behind them. Jarrold stepped in front of Leslie. He know that the Pink Ranger was now a strong fighter and didn't want her to get hurt. He didn't particularly like her, after all she was no Ashlyn but he still couldn't stand it if she were to get hurt. "Leslie, you stay back we'll take care of this" Jarrold told her.
"I can handle this Jarrold." Leslie told him.
"No Leslie, Jarrolds right you stay back and let us do the fighting." Jason said. Leslie was frustrated by this but nodded her head in agreement. She hated being treated like she couldn't take care of herself but know that they were right. She would have to show them that she was just as good as Ashlyn and Tara were.
Jarrold looked over at Leslie one more and then ran towards the group of soldiers leaping into the air and performing a roundhouse kick on the one closest to him. The soldier fell down shaking from the attack.
Two soldiers surrounded Jason and one grabbed his arm but he responded by hip tossing him on top of the other. The two quickly scrambled to get up. Jason kicked the first soldier in the head and spun around to meet the other with a fist to the side of his helmet.
The lead soldier ran towards Jarrold and managed to duck under his kick and come up with a punch into his mouth. Jarrold hit the ground hard but bounced back up and charged at his foe this time coming with a low sweep to his feet. The soldier realized what was going on and jump up above the attack, extending a foot and catching the unmorphed Green Ranger in the chin and sending him skidding into Leslie, who was watching a few feet away. Jarrold was stunned, barely moving and the soldier was moving closer to them to fininsh off his attack.
Leslie leaned down and tried to help Jarrold stand but he was out of it. The Pink Ranger decided that she needed to act quickly. She lept into the air and and dove at the approaching soldier but he simply swatted her away like she was a fly. Leslie hit the ground hard and grabbed the arm that she had landed on and rolled over in pain.
Jarrold looked up and saw how Leslie had tried to protect him. He stood up and moved his head, trying to clear his thoughts.
Jason was finishing up with two more of the soldiers and starting on another when he noticed that Leslie was down. He ignored the soldier and ran to help her up.
Jarrold reached down and grabbed a sword from one of the fallen soldiers and ran at their leader. The leader pulled out a sword and the two warriors weapons collided. Jarrold was a little faster this time and also managed a kick to the ribs. The other fighter stepped back and looked at this chest. Jarrold saw the distraction and lept over him kicking him in the shoulder, a split second before he landed he spun around and brought the blade of his sword across the back of the soldiers helmet. The helmet split but to all of their surprise the soldier did not fall into dust. "What's going on?"Jarrold said aloud. "You should be dust."
"It's time to end this masquerade" said the soldier He then turned around and pulled off the remaining fragments of his helmet revealing that he was actaully Barberon.
"I thought so" Jason said. "That kind of stench is hard to miss."
Barberon feigned insult "That really hurts White Ranger, now I'm going to hurt you."
"Your welcome to try" Jason taunted.
"Obviously you haven't heard about what I did to you little friends."
"Oh we heard!" Jarrold shouted "and now your gonna pay for it."
"Bring it on then Power Rangers."
"It's Morphin Time!"
"Phoenix!"
"Lynx!"
"Eagle!"
"So you pathetic Rangers think that those costumes are going to help you huh?"
"No but these will" the Pink Ranger said looking at the others.
"Ice Blade!" called the White Ranger as he summoned his weapon.
"Storm Sword!" Green Ranger said pulling out his large blade. "Remember this?" Jarrold asked holding his Storm Sword up for Barberon to see.
"Oh I remember that, but I don't think it will do you much good this time. Just ask your sister."
This infuriated Green Ranger and he showed it by pulling his weapon into its separate parts and throwing the smaller sword at the warrior. The weapon began to glow green and struck Barberon sending the warrior flying. "Maybe you should learn to watch yourself Barberon" Jarrold said.
"No Green Ranger, maybe you should watch yourself." The warrior scowled. Barberon summoned his hammer and throw it at the Green Ranger striking him in the chest. Jarrold was sent spinning into a tree and slid down, breathe knocked out.
Jason ran to Jarrolds side as Barberon moved closer. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. Jarrold was the most powerful of the group (he thought back to about a week and a half ago to what Jarrold did to the robo-tank) and if Barberon had taken him out then what chance did the others have.
"What's the matter White Ranger, are you scared?" Barberon said.
"You gotta be kidding" Jason laughed, trying to pretend that he wasn't terrified. "Come get it."
"Are you sure kid? Your dad didn't do to well against me either."
Jason looked shocked.
"Don't be surprised White Ranger, I knew who you were as soon as I saw you. You enough like him that it wasn't hard to tell, even though the short hair was a surprise considering Tommys."
"Don't tak about my dad like he was your friend."
"We were friends, I just hope that thing with killing his wife didn't ruin things between us. Hold on that was your mom wasn't it? Sorry about that but maybe you could tell old Kat that I said hello because be seeing her soon."
Jason stood in shock, he had suspected that Barberon was responsible for his mom death out now that he know for sure he would make sure that his moms killer would be destroyed. "Do you know what kind of pain you've caused us you soulless piece of..."
"Jason be careful!" Leslie cried out but she was to late, as the White Ranger had already dove at the villain with his Ice Blade in hand. The blade struck Barberon in the arm giving the monster a deep cut. Barberon screamed in pain and back handed the White Ranger knocking the Ice Blade from his hand and sending him flying to the spot where the Green Ranger was still trying to recover.
"I was going easy on you White Ranger but now you die." Barberon snarled, walking towards Jason, holding his hammer above his head.
"Phoenix Fire Whip Strike!" shouted Leslie as she came flying through the air at Barberon. A large whip made of fire appeared in her hand and she lashed out with it. The whip found its target and wrapped itself around Barberons neck. The alien fell down screaming in pain as he fought to remove the fiery noose from his throat. Pink Ranger lept into the air and came down with both feet on his back. He howled and jumped up flinging Leslie from him. The Pink Ranger performed a flip and landed next to Jarrold and Jason. With a flick of her wrist she pulled her whip back to her. "Are guys okay?" Pink asked her stunned teammates.
Green and White simply stared in awe at what they had just seen. "Leslie that was awesome." Jason told her.
"Let's take him out" Jarrold said as he staggered to his feet.
"You guys relax, I'll take care of this"Pink said rushing off to continue the fight.
"Leslie wait!" Jarrold called out. She either didn't hear him or ignored him because the next thing he saw was the Fire Whip circling Barberons legs and pulling him off of his feet.
Barberon got back to his feet and slowly walked towards the Pink Ranger. "So you want to challenge me huh little girl?"
Leslie didn't respond but instead charge directly at him. He reached out to grab her but she flip over him at spun around lashing him in the back with her weapon. "Why don't you just get off our planet."
"Why don't you just die" Barberon said with a scowl.
"I have a better idea Barberon." came a voice from behind them.
Barberon spun around and found a foot planted in his face. The warrior stepped back and looked to see what had just hit him.
"Rangers get out of here, he's about to grow. You need to find those Zords." said Tommy as he ran to help up the White Ranger.
"Dad you shouldn't be here" Jason told him.
"Don't worry son. I've been waiting for 15 years to get another crack at this guy." said the former White Ranger. "Now you guys teleport out I'll be fine."
"Where's mom?"
"She's safe, we'll meet up with you later at the Power Chamber."
Barberon grabbed throw down one of the vials that he was carrying and started to grow. "So Tommy your still around. Now I get to finish the job that I started all that time ago."
"Your welcome to try" Tommy taunted as he disappeared into the forest that he had come out of.
Barberon turned around to focus his attention on the Rangers just in time to see them teleport away. "NOOOO!" he screamed as he returned to his normal size.
The three Rangers appeared in the Power Chamber and and moved to the view screen. Mark, Aron and Bryan entered the command room and saw the three standing there morphed. "How'd you guys get back so fast?" Bryan asked.
"We teleported in." Jarrold said as he unfastened and removed his helmet "Is Tara up yet?"
"She'll be here in a few minutes." Mark answered.
"What about Ashlyn?"
"She's with your sister." Bryan told him.
Jarrold, Jason and Leslie all look at each other in complete surprise. "It's been a long few days." Aron told them.
"Why are you guys morphed?" Mark asked just noticing his teammates in their uniforms.
"We had a little run in with Barberon and would have been toast if it weren't for Leslie." Jarrold answered.
Leslie blushed 'Did he just give me a compliment?' she asked herself. 'Maybe he doesn't think I'm useless after all.' "Thanks Jarrold."
"No problem, you did good out there" he said to her with a smile. 'Why am I being so nice to her? She got lucky is all. If Ashlyn was there we could have taken the guy out.'
Jason stood up and turned around to face the others. "I found them" he said excitedly "seven proto-forms and one DragonZord. Right where mom and dad said they would be."
"Good work Jason." Jarrold looked around and saw that Tara and Ashlyn had entered the room.
"Jarrold when did you get back?" Tara asked her older brother.
"We just made it sis." the team leader answered. "Okay everyone it looks like Barberon is hunting us down. Emperor Nicandros must really feel threatened. We have to get those Zords up and running. Mark hand me the dagger."
The Black Ranger reached behind his back and pulled out the Dragon Dagger. He looked it over and handed it to Jarrold. "Are you sure about this?" he asked.
"It'll be okay she can handle it Mark" Jarrold said confidently. The team leader then walked over the the Purple Ranger and looked at her.
Brother and sister stared at each other for a moment and then Jarrold grabbed Taras hand and placed the dagger in it. "Jarrold what's this?" Tara said as she accepted the dagger, showing her confusion.
"Tara this is the Dragon Dagger. It's the weapon of the original Green Ranger. He used it to control the DragonZord and now so will you."
Bryan and Ashlyn looked at Jarrold in surprise. "Your giving her your Zord?" Ashlyn asked.
"No the DragonZord is hers. I'll pilot the EagleZord. In fact just look at your Power Coin to find out what yours will be."
The others all pulled out their Power Coins and looked at them. "A Cheetah huh, well I quess that's as good as any." Ashlyn commented.
"Now we all have to hurry. This is going to be dangerous and we were told that there's a guardian for each Zord so everyone be careful."
"We're not going together?" Tara asked.
"No each proto-form Zord is hidden away from the others and only the Ranger that it was meant for can get to it. We'll all be teleported in and if everything goes well we can get our Zords to form and be back here with them in no time." Jason told the team.
"We'd better get going before Barberon attacks again." Jarrold suggested.
"One minute Jarrold" Bryan said. Jarrold nodded and the Blue Ranger raised his communicator to his mouth. "Captain Sawyer this is the Blue Ranger. The other Rangers and I are going to be on a mission we don't know how long it will be before we return."
"Rangers my second in command is nowhere to be seen." Becky returned almost panicked.
"Captain, I can assure you that lieutant Cranston is alright. He's been assisting us in the Power Chamber and should be back with you shortly." Jason cut in covering for Bryan.
"Thank you Rangers we haven't seen him in days and we're starting to worry. Captain Sawyer out."
"Good cover Jason, thanks." Bryan told his friend.
"No sweat." the White Ranger replyed.
"Let's go" Jarrold told them.
"The teleporters set. When you get your Zord or if you get into trouble just activate the emergency recall on your communicator and you'll brought back here. Remember we all only get on chance at this so be careful and don't teleport out unless you absolutely have to. Good luck everyone." Jarrold then looked over to Ashlyn the two of them exchange glances and the group teleported away.