Part 5
Ashlyn looked around, this place was unfamiliar to her and she hated being caught in unfamiliar situations 'well I guess I have to get used to it if I'm going to be a Power Ranger' she thought to herself. The place was a small village, the air was hot and there didn't seem to be any people around. The Yellow Ranger got a creepy feeling that she was being watched but didn't see anyone around so she started to walk through the village. The place felt deserted but looked like there had been activity here recently. 'I hope I can find this Zord soon, I want to get out of here as fast as I can.'
The Yellow Ranger stopped to prop her feet on a rock, a small animal that she had never seen before ran past her she, looked at the animal curiously and stood up to continue her search. The animal followed her a few feet and then stopped to look at her. The animal circled her and then when it decided that it posed her no threat it approached her. Ashlyn knelt down and put he hand out. The small cat-like animal sniffed her hand and then rubbed itself against her leg. "You're cute aren't you?" Ashlyn said as she scooped the animal up in her arms and stood up. The animal started to purr. "Where are you from?" the animal simply continued to purr to her.
Ashlyn and the her new friend had been walking around the village for hours and she still had no idea of where she was or where she should go next. She was getting hungry and none of them had thought to pack food. 'I need to find this Zord so I can get home eat, I'm starving.' She put her friend down and sat by a tree. "THIS SUCKS!!!" she screamed, at the top of her lungs. The animal looked up to her and rubbed it's nose on her hand sympathetically. "Thanks" she said with a smile and reached down to pick up the animal, but this time it ran from her. "Hey what's wrong?" she asked it. Of course she didn't expect it to respond so she stood up and walked over to it. "Come here you." She said. The furry creature ran behind a tree and Ashlyn followed it. She noticed that the creature had led her away from the village and turning around to head back shrugged her shoulders. A bright flash of light shot through the sky and landed in the center of the village. There was screaming coming from a place where moments ago was dead. The village came to life with sounds of terror filled screams and Ashlyn found herself racing towards the now very alive place.
The village was being bombarded by some type of fire and people were trampling each other trying to get away. The Ranger reentered the village and that's when she saw them. A small platoon of Vandairre soldiers had entered the village and grabbing the people. The ones that fought back were being shot (which was a standard slave raid practice). Ashlyn started to cry. 'No I can't let this happen to anyone else. I went through this for years and now that I'm free I'm going to make sure that noone else gets hurt by the Vandairre.' The Yellow Ranger ran towards a group of Vandairre soldiers that had taken a large group prisoner. The Vandairre saw her coming and one of them moved in to grab her. He got quite a surprise a Ashlyn quickly sent him flying back to the others with a kick to the ribs. Two other soldiers leveled their guns on her and she didn't know what to do next. She lowered her head preparing for the worst when she heard a scream come from one of the soldiers. She looked back up to see her new friend clawing the face of one of the soldiers and the other trying to knocked it away. Ashlyn saw this as her chance and ran towards the second soldier. He must have realized that she was coming because he brought his weapon up but was to slow to avoid getting hit by in the face by her fist. "No one messes with my kitty." she told him as he fell over. Two other soldiers saw what happened to their comrades and ran to take Ashlyn on but she saw them coming and grabbed the weapon of one of the fallen soldiers. The girl quickly turned around and took aim, the two ducked but Ashlyn wasn't firing at them but at the large branch that they were running under. The branch came down with a thud on their backs and Ashlyn discarded the weapon feeling horrible for even having to use it. She was determined that none of these people would be taken.
A loud rumbling sound came erupted. "That sounds familiar." she said as she tried to spot where the sound had come from. Her heart jumped at what she saw. "Oh great not another one of these things." she said as she spotted the robo-tank that was rapidly approaching. "Oh well I guess, it's morphin time!" she shouted, reaching behind her back to grab her yellow morpher.
"Cheetah!" the Yellow Ranger called as she felt the now familiar sensation of the Morphin Grid enveloping her body. "Now lets see what this things made of." The Yellow Ranger charged at the robo-tank and leapt over it executing a backflip and pulling out her blaster. She fired three shot, which all hit in a perfectg line down the machines back. The tank slowed and turned around to face her. Yellow ran towards the tank.
"Earth Sword" her weapon appeared in her hand. "HYPER CHARGE!!!" the Yellow Ranger cried as she ran full speed at the robo-tank. She hit the tank and sent it flying back, spark shooting from it. The tank spun around and began to grow. "Man how come I cant get a break." Yellow sighed. The now gigantic machine lifted its leg to step on her. She rolled out of the way and looked up at it. Something brushed against her leg. She looked down and saw her new friend standing there. "Go on kitty you have to get out of here." Ashlyn told the animal. It however didn't listen, but instead ran towards the robo-tank. The machine lifted its treaded foot as if to step on the animal.
"No!!!" the Yellow Ranger cried out, breaking into a run. The robo-tank saw her coming and opened fire catching her in the arm. It then turned around to the animal and raised its leg once again. Ashlyn stood up an dove out for the small cat. The cat was fast and jumped out of the way avoiding both the robo-tanks foot and Ashlyns attempt to grab it. It then ran towards Ashlyn and looked up at her. The Yellow Ranger felt a strange sensation, as if the animal were trying to tell her something. She reached down and this time the cat jumped into her arms. The Cheetah emblem on Ashlyns chest shield began to glow and detached from her. The cat jumped up and was bathed in light from the glowing shield. The creature began to grow, "Wow kitty pretty impressive trick." Ashlyn said as the cat transformed before her eyes into the Cheetah Titan Zord. The Yellow Ranger looked up and was amazed by what she had witnessed. "Well kitty cat lets get to it. The newly formed Zord looked down at her, its eyes glowing yellow and the Yellow Ranger found herself seated inside the Zords cockpit.
The Cheetah Zord, with Ashlyn now in control leapt into the air and fired a beam of light from its eyes. "Now to get these aliens away from here. Cheetah Zord sonic rush." She commanded. The Zord broke into a run and its body began to charge with energy as it crashed into the alien machine. The robo-tank exploded sending a large cloud of smoke and schrapnel into the air.
The Yellow Ranger sat on a rock, holding her helmet tucked under her arm. She took a moment to look at her new Zord again "Well kitty that was interesting. We'd better get back to my friends. I just hope the Vandairre don't mess with these people again". Ashlyn took one more look around the outside of the village and then put her helmet back on. She then hit the teleport button on her communicator and went home with her new Zord.
Mark stood in the clearing looking at the forest wondering what he should do next. 'I wonder what I'm supposed to do.' he thought to himself. The Black Ranger pulled out his morpher and took a look at it. He had been having doubts about his place on the team and why the Panther Spirit had chosen him to take its power and now he felt even more unsure. These last few days had been even more of a shock to him than he ahd thought. Not to long ago he had been content to spend his life in his village with his family, but the Vandairre had taken that away from him and now he was in the middle of a war to free a world that he hardly knew anything about. Not only that but his family was gone and he if he didn't stop the aliens he would never see them again. 'Why did I have to go snooping around at that ceremony?' he asked.
"Black Ranger it wouldn't have mattered if you were at the ceremony or not. You are the chosen one. The power would have been yours that night no matter what." came a voice from in the clearing.
Mark walked into the clearing "Who's there?" he asked.
"It's me Mark." said the voice.
"Phillip is that you?" Mark said looking around to find out where his brothers voice had come from.
A flame shot up in front of Mark and two figures walked out of it. "Mark Storm, why do you doubt yourself?" the Panther Spirit asked.
"Because Phillip is more worthy of your power than I am. He's been training for it almost since the time he was born. I was just at the right place when he got hurt."
"No Mark don't think that." Phillip told him. "If the power were meant for me I would've been chosen."
"Mark I think that it's time for you to sit and listen to my story." the Panther said.
Mark sat down on a tree stump. Phillip sat beside his little brother and the Panther in front of them. "I far as what you call spirits go I am young. I was there at the time that the first group of Power Rangers came into being but I don't have any memories before that event. My first memory is of an ancient wizard standing before an altar holding nine coins. He called to me and I appeared to him. He was in a war with the forces of evil and needed help in his battle. He had chosen five young warriors that he would give great power. The warriors accepted the power and fought in the battle. I saw the whole thing and was amazed by the way in which the warriors and the wizard battled evil and never swayed from their fight. Then the wizard fell into a trap and found himself cut off from the warriors that had become like his own children. The warriors thinking their mentor dead attacked the sorceress and trapped her in a prison and buried that prison in a place where they thought that no one would find it."
"Your talking about Zordon and Rita Repulsa aren't you?"
"Very good Mark." the Panther answered him.
"So what does this have to do with me?"
"Just listen little brother." said Phillip, standing up and putting his hand on Marks shoulder.
"I found the wizard nearly dead and took him to the desert. He had a ship there and his assistant and I quickly began working on a way to save his life. We placed him in a plasma tube that suspended him betweem time and space. The wizard then asked me to guard one of the coins until the time came when its powers would be needed to fight evil. I took the coin and searched the world over for someone to take hold of it so I could return to my realm. There was a tribe that had settled on near the area that we had built the Command Center and I chose on of its warriors to hold the coin until my return. The coin bonded with him almost instantly and for some reason even though the coin had not been activated he was able to use a fraction of its power. I determined that it was to dangerous for me to leave the coin in his hands but knew that when the time came who I was to give the coin to. Mark you share the spirit of that long dead warrior and that is why you were chosen to recieve the power and why you are destined to be the BlacK Ranger."
"Your telling me that I was given this power because I have the spirit of some long dead warrior?"
"That's exactly what I'm telling you and now the time has come for you to have the next part of your power. I will no longer serve as guardian of the coin. The time has come for me to give up my spirit powers and take on a form more suiting to my role in the battle of good v.s. evil." With that the Panthers body froze in place and began to grow. Its body took on the look of metal then standing before Mark was his Zord.
"Mark, the Panther Spirit has given up its powers to help you in your battle. Take you new PantherZord and fight against evil. Our people will be waiting for you to join us." With those final words the Phillip vanished leaving Mark and the PantherZord standing their.
"Well I guess it's time to get to work." Mark pulled out his morpher "Panther!" he shouted raising it to the air. The Black Ranger climbed aboard his new vehicle and rushed off back to the Power Chamber.
Tara was surrounded by soldiers and they were moving towards her. The Purple Ranger know that she could take these guys in her sleep but there were so many of them that she was a little worried. Tara loked around to see if she could get through and into a place that was more to her advantage. 'I wish Jarrold was here' she told herself. There was nowhere for her to move, they had her boxed in and she was starting to get nervous 'maybe I should morph' she said reaching for her morpher. 'No I can handle this myself.'
"Stand where you are." one of the soldiers said, pointing at her.
"Shove it in your ear soldier boy" Tara said, sticking her tongue at at him.
The soldier became angry and charged at her. Tara responded by planting a roundhouse kick in his chin. The soldier went down with a thud, grabbing his broken jaw. Another soldier decided to try his luck and reached for the girl. Tara was to fast for him and spun out of his reach. He grabbed for her again but was this time met with a punch in the face.
"Why are you making this so hard on yourself?" asked yet another soldier.
"I'm not the one invading your planet, so you might want to ask yourself who's making it hard on who." Tara returned.
For some reason her words infuriated the soldiers and they all charged at her. 'Oh great, just what I need.' Tara told herself. 'Well I guess...' "It's Morphin Time!" she said as she pulled out her morpher. "Dragon!" in a flash of brilliant purple lightning Tara now stood in front of the Vandairre soldiers as the Purple Ranger.
"Well, well, looks like she's a Power Ranger." one of the soldiers bellowed. "Take her out." he said a little to calmly.
"I'm flattered boys but I'm not really into the world conquering alien type." Purple smirked. "But here's a consolation prize for you. Plasma Bow!" The Purple Rangers weapon materialized in her left hand. A stream of energy formed in the shaft and she released it, hitting one of the soldiers in the helmet and causing him to stumble into another. The second soldier became distracted with trying to get the first one off of him that he see the Purple Rangers blow coming before it was to late. He quickly joined his friend as a pile of dust.
"Surrender Purple Ranger!" ordered the lead soldier.
"Yeah right, why would I surrender when I'm kicking your asses?" Tara said shaking her head at their ridiculous demand.
"Well little girl my friend here might give you the reason your looking for." With that a large shark like creature rose from the lake behind her. "Sharkticon please destroy this pest.
"Sure boss" the creature growled, turning to face its target.
"You've got to be kidding. I'm gonna trash this thing just like I trashed you guys. Why don't you just give it up?" Purple laughed.
Before Tara knew what hit her the Shark Monster was on her and was lifting her by the neck. "You're gonna trash who?" He said as he throw her against the wall of a long abandoned building.
Tara slowly got up 'wow that things a lot stronger than I thought' she thought to herself "You've got to do better than that to take out a Power Ranger." she told the creature.
"How about this?" Sharkticon said as he slammed into her sending the Purple Ranger crashing through the wall.
"I've had just about enough of you. Now you're in for it." Tara warned. The Purple Ranger raised her Plasma Bow and fired. Sharkticon ducked under the blast and dove head first into the ground. It appeared as if he was swimming through the ground and the only thing visible was his fin. The shark moved fast and Tara barely had enough time to jump out of the way before the fin hit her. Sharkticon reappeared above ground just behind the Purple Ranger grabbed her leg, and spun her around before slamming her onto the ground. He then began to move towards her.
Tara began to tremble 'He's too strong, I can't beat him.' she thought as she started to scoot back away from her enemy.
"Where are your smart comments now Ranger. I see you don't have anymore of your little remarks now." The monster said as he lifted the Purple Ranger by her throat.
Tara was shaking with fright, 'This is it' she told herself 'I'm dead'. Taras hand dropped to her side and brushed she remembered the Dragon Dagger. Thinking quickly she grabbed the dagger and plunged it into the Sharks nose. "Let go of me!" she exclaimed kicking him in the some spot that she had just stabbed him.
Sharkticon let out a howl of pain and ran from the building. Tara followed him and drew her bow. The Vandairre saw her coming and called out to the monster, trying to warn him.
"PLASMA STORM!" the Purple Ranger shouted, as she let loose with her weapons special attack.
Sharkticon turned around just in time to be hit by the full brunt of the Rangers attack. The monster went down in a screaming heap.
"Who wants some of this?" Tara threatened, waving her bow at the soldiers.
There was roar coming from behind Tara and she turned to see where it was coming from. She stood staring as the monster began to grow. It was now the size of a building. "Your going to pay for what you did to me Ranger."
"What is it with you guys, why don't you just give up. You know you can't beat me." She said trying her best to sound confident. 'Great' she thought 'now how am I supposed to beat this thing.' "You think your so tough, huh? Well why don't you come down here and try to get me." Tara know that she shouldn't be antagonizing the monster but she couldn't help herself.
"Why would I do that when I could just squash you from here." Sharkticon said in a booming voice, as he brought his foot up to crush the girl.
Tara rolled out of the way a mere second before the giant foot came crashing down on top of her. 'This sucks, All I did was come here to get my Zord, the next thing I know I'm getting thrown through a wall, slammed into the ground several times and now a giant fish is trying to step on me. This is getting ridiculous and I refuse to deal with it any more.' Tara pulled out her dagger and looked at it "DragonZord Arise" The Purple Ranger shouted as she raised the Dragon Dagger into the air. A ball of fire shot up for the lake and the water parted. There was a roar and the ground began to rumble. Then they saw it, a large figure emerged from the lake. The Vandairre soldiers eyes grew wide with fear as the DragonZord stalked out of Lake Angel Grove. The Purple Ranger ran towards the Zord and stared up at it. The Dragon Dagger pulled itself from her hand and flew to the massive robot. The Dragon Claw symbol that once signified the Green Ranger began to glow in its place on the side of the dagger and transformed into a replica of the Purple Rangers power coin. The Dragon then began to undergo a metamorphasis. The color changed from green to purple and the Zord grew taller and more slender. Massive wings grew from the Dragons back, the Zord then crouched on its arms and legs and finally its neck extended. Twin beams of light shot from its eyes hitting the Purple Ranger. The next thing that Tara knew she was sitting inside of some type of cockpit looking down at the Vandairre soldiers. "Pleased to meet you DragonZord, now lets kick some Vandairre butt." The long dormant Zord roared in agreement and Tara got the feeling that it was more than just a machine and that she had just made a new friend.
Sharkticon charged at DragonZord which responded by swinging tail and knocking him off balance. The monster regained his balance but Tara and her DragonZord were on top of him before he could fully recover. "Wing Drill!" Purple commanded. The DragonZords wings raised from its back and attached to its tail, which began to spin. The tail detached forming a giant flyng drill. The Wing Drill hit the monster in the midsection with the drill piercing it and the sharp edges of the wings cutting it in half. "That's what you get for picking on someone smaller than yourself." Tara said as she watched the monster explode. She then turned the Dragon to face the Vandairre soldiers "Now if I remember correctly I think the next step for you guys is to scream, drop your weapons, throw up your hands and run in terror for your sad little lives." The frightened troopers took this as a hint and did exactly as she said.
Tara climbed down from the cockpit of her new Zord. "Well we did good DragonZord. Those Vandairre won't know what hit em after we're done." DragonZord blow a cloud of smoke in the air as if it were agreeing with it's new pilot. "Come on buddy lets get out of here. I want to go home and take a shower." Tara climbed back into her Zord and two new friends took off, headed for home.
It had been a long time since Bryan had visited the Florida coast. His father had made it a point to visit this very area every year during Bryans younger life. His father made it point to especially bring him to this very area. 'This couldn't have been a coincidence. First dad brought me every year, then I find out that he was actually working to free the Earth from the Vandairre and he was killed was killed for his roll in the resistance. That was almost more than I could bare. Now I find out that my dad had ties to the Power Rangers and now it seems as if he had planned on me becoming a Ranger. Well at least it explains why dad used to bring me up here so much. I just wish he had told me. There's no way that I would have went to that military school.'
"Son I sent you to that school to protect you."
"Dad!" Bryan cried out, standing up to walk towards his father. "I thought you were..."
"It's not that easy to take me out." The senator said hugging the Blue Ranger.
"How did you get out of there?" Bryan asked.
"Sit down Bry. It's time for me to explain something to you."
Bryan took a seat and look at his dad intently.
"Bryan there's something that I've wanted to tell you for a long time. Well actually it's something that I'd better show you. It will explain how I escaped and where I got that coin." The senator pulled a bright red ruby from his pocket and held it towards his oldest son. "This is the Phantom Shadow Gem, nine of them were created but only one was ever activated. Because of my previous service as a Power Ranger, Zordon choose me to carry the gem and come to Earth to assist the Turbo Rangers. I used the last of the gems power so that your mother and I could escape the house that night and I have been hiding out here waiting for you to come for your Zord."
"So I did see something moving in the fire. I was hoping that it was you. Where's mom, is she okay?"
"She's fine Bry and you'll get to see her soon but for now you have other responsiblities. The Rangers need you and you need them. They are your family now just as my Rangers were a family to me. The power will protect you all and keep you safe. Now here is my final gift to you before I leave to rejoin your mother." The senator pointed out towards the sea and the Blue Ranger followed his finger.
A large shape rose from the water and moved towards Bryan. "Dad is that what I think it is?"
"Bry, this is the Fox Zord. It is swift and cunning and will serve you well. Take care of it and use it to take care of your new family."
The Zord took it's place standing over Bryan and a tear formed in his fathers eye. "I'm proud of you and I know that your mother is to. Now do something for me before you go."
Bryan already knew what his father was about to ask and as if by instinct he reached behind his back. "It's Morphin Time" he said pulling out his morpher. "Fox!" a blue field of energy erupted from the morpher and encircled Bryan. The energy tightened around him and slowly began to form his Ranger armor. The Blue Ranger stood proudly before his predecessor and removed his helmet. "Dad tell mom that I love her and that I will find my brothers and we will all come back to you after this war is over.
Bryan then placed his helmet back on his head then towards his Zord and jump onto it's back. He quickly climbed into the cockpit and sat at the controls "Lets go home." he told the Zord.
"Barberon you are among my mightiest warriors and certainly the most loyal. That is why I have chosen you to have the honor of once again destroying the Power Rangers. You have never disappointed me Barberon, do not do so now. I can make your life a pleasure or a living hell." Nicandros told his warrior.
"My emperor those new Rangers are mere children compared to the others. I will destroy them for you just as easily as I did the last group. Even now I have them beaten back and they are beginning to lose their morale. In a short time the will fall and then once again there will be nothing to stand in your way." Barberon said. He then turned around to walk away but stopped. He was trying to avoid telling Nicandros why the Green, White and Pink Rangers had escaped but he had never lied or hid anything from his ruler and he wasn't about to start now. "My Lord there is something that I must tell you." he said in a low voice."
"What is it my friend?"
"Tommy Oliver is alive he is the reason that the Rangers escaped me."
"I thought that he was dead!" Emperor Nicandros screamed, standing from his throne.
Barberon stepped back. He had rarely seen Nicandros this upset but the few times that he had nothing good came of it. "My lord I shall destroy the him along with the others." that said Barberon quickly turned and left the room.
Nicandros put his head in his hands 'this is horrible' he thought 'if Thomas Oliver is alive then he will be out for revenge and everything that I've worked for will be lost.' Nicandros shrank back into his chair.